While the Sword Grass was still evolving, a familiar holographic interface appeared before Ram, presenting a new set of information:
[Would you like to preserve Environmental Fortification, a Grade 'D' skill, by expending 1000 points of Spiritual Power?]
[Yes/No]
Ram checked his attribute panel again and saw that he had more than 1200 points of spiritual power.
He chose "Yes" without hesitation as he thought about Thorny.
[You have successfully saved the Environmental Fortification, a Grade 'D' skill, that can be used 1 time]
"I'll give this skill to Thorny next time I upgrade her. It'll make her vines exceptionally strong and resilient, comparable to forged steel."
Soon, the Sword Grass finished its evolution and broke free from its cocoon. The grass converged into a simple dress covering the newly evolved wood spirit.
Another attribute panel appeared in front of his eyes with details of the Sword Grass.
[ Name: Sword Grass]
[ Race: Wood Spirit]
[ Level: Black Iron (Tier-1)]
[ Quality: Rare]
[ Physique: 11]
[ Spirit: 1.5]
[ Description: A resilient blade of grass with a surprisingly sharp edge, rumored to have grown on a fragment of a legendary weapon. While seemingly ordinary, it possesses an extraordinary cutting ability.]
[Skills:
[Environmental Fortification]: Grown in a specific, harsh environment, the plant developed exceptional strength, resilience, and unnatural toughness, comparable to forged steel.]
[ Talent:
[Shattered Sword]: Upon activation, the Sword Grass can break into multiple swords or combine multiple blades of its body into a single, deadlier weapon. This grants the Sword Grass multiple unique effects:
- Activation: The Sword Grass can activate Shattered Sword at will, but it requires a brief focus period (one attack action in combat).
- Combining Blades: During activation, several blades (2-4 depending on the Sword Grass' current size) detach and fuse, creating a temporarily enhanced blade.
- Defense Piercing (70% Chance): The attack bypasses a portion of the target's defense, ignoring 30% of their defensive stat for damage calculation.
- Critical Hit (Guaranteed): Regardless of whether the defense is bypassed, a successful hit with the enhanced blade always lands a critical hit, dealing extra damage.]
Ram observed the newly evolved Sword Grass, marveling at its sharp, sword-like leaves and fierce demeanor.
Her body was composed entirely of sword leaves, and her long, flowing hair cascaded down her back in a wave of vibrant green leaves.
She held a small glowing blade in her right hand, completely made up of sword grass.
He then eagerly looked at the newly awakened talent of the Sword Grass, when he saw the talent of Shattered Sword, he felt very happy.
"The talent Shattered Sword is simply a perfect talent for sword grass to exert her maximum combat efficiency, especially with its guaranteed critical hits and a high chance of defense piercing," he even felt that this would undoubtedly be powerful with the Thousand Leaf Pinnacle.
As soon as she evolved, the Sword Grass rushed into his hands and rubbed his fingers affectionately.
Unlike the naive Thorny, the Sword Grass seemed very intelligent and mature, easily understanding his words and thoughts.
"From now on, I'll call you Jian Ling," he said softly. Although there were no other expressions except for a cold face, he felt her thoughts and how happy she was through the connection he had with her.
He then turned his attention back to the attribute panel and noted the changes.
Jian Ling's Physique and Spirit attributes were higher than expected, which meant she could endure and exert more in combat situations.
Her physique now is comparable to top Tier-2 professionals.
Typically, Tier-1 professionals evolve when their Spirit or Physique attributes reach 5 points, which is the lowest limit.
Most wait until their attributes reach the maximum their body can hold, about 5 to 10, before evolving into Tier-2 professionals. Rare or Hero professionals have even higher upper limits.
Attributes of ordinary Tier-2 professionals range from 5 to 20, and ordinary Tier-3 from 20 to 75.
Jian Ling had just evolved into a Tier-1 wood spirit, and her Physique attribute had already crossed 10 points, similar to ordinary Tier-2 professionals, thanks to her rare quality.
Seeing that he still had nearly a thousand points of life energy, he continued to infuse Jian Ling, trying to upgrade her again.
The process lasted for more than half an hour, and Jian Ling absorbed more than 700 points of life energy before she finally upgraded.
That was ten times what she needed to reach Tier 1. As soon as she upgraded to Tier 2, she awakened a new skill called Flowing and Agile.
[ Skill:
[Flowing and Agile]: Due to the nature of the leaves, Sword Grass can make swift, flowing movements that take advantage of the leaves' flexibility, making it easy to control.]
"Although this skill is not as high-level as Environmental Fortification, I still like it very much," Ram thought looking at the skill information. "This skill makes it easier to use Jian Ling with the Thousand Leaf Pinnacle."
He decided not to save the skill Flowing and Agile, as it was a common skill, and he was also short of spiritual power to save more skills.
Through the connection he built with spiritual power, he could easily communicate with Jian Ling.
Thanks to her talent Shattered Sword, he commanded her to slowly disperse her body into different number of small flying blades made up of sharp grass, up to 8 in total.
Each blade was as strong as steel, completely under his control and flying around him.
Using the memories of controlling grass blades from upgrading the Thousand Leaf Pinnacle technique to Level 1, he quickly familiarized himself with how to use Sword Grass for various attack and defense methods.
Ram gripped the first Sword Grass. Unlike the regular, soft blades that carpeted the fields, this one felt different.
It was thicker and sturdier, almost like miniature versions of kitchen knives but much thinner. The edges were polished to an inhuman sheen, like shards of green glass.
The green itself wasn't the vibrant green of new growth but a deeper, almost jade-like hue. It seemed to shimmer faintly, catching the sunlight with an unnatural sheen.
Running along the central vein of the blade was a thin, silver line—the telltale sign of its incredible sharpness.
His first attempt to control the blades was clumsy. He focused, willing the blades to dance, but they twitched awkwardly, more like startled insects than deadly projectiles.
He tried again, concentrating harder.
The blades responded better this time, moving more fluidly, but still not quite as he intended. "I need more practice," he muttered, determination setting in.
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