Chapter 88: So Upgrading Allows Me to Allocate Attribute Points!

“Hiss~” Shortly after entering the Magic Beast Forest, Zhou Tian transformed once again into his serpentine form. After releasing a multitude of snakes from the Myriad Serpent Basin, he embarked on his journey through the woods as the Snake King.

“Humans are an exceedingly xenophobic race. Unless absolutely necessary, I’d better keep my true form as a snake hidden from them.” Muttering this to himself, Zhou Tian avoided the mercenaries who had come into the forest seeking adventure and began attacking every magical beast that crossed his path.

Thanks to the power of the Myriad Serpent Basin, the snakes Zhou Tian summoned now possessed formidable combat strength. Even a single snake had the prowess of an ordinary soldier, and together, they were a deadly tide. Even a master swordsman would not survive Zhou Tian’s sea-of-snakes tactic.

Thus, as the serpent horde swept forward, every magic beast that encountered Zhou Tian was reduced to experience points. Merely circling the forest’s outer regions a few times sent his level rocketing upward, soon reaching level fifty.

By the time Zhou Tian attained level fifty, his own body had grown as massive as the Myriad Serpent in the world of ninja shadows. With such a colossal form, even without seeking trouble, he inevitably attracted it.

Just as players in games rally teams to take down bosses, so too did mercenary groups in the Magic Beast Forest. Whenever a high-level magical beast appeared, these groups would temporarily form alliances to hunt down the powerful creature that had ventured into the outskirts.

The reason was twofold: high-level magic beasts were treasure troves, and every group involved in their defeat stood to gain handsome rewards. The other reason was survival—such beasts posed a grave threat to ordinary mercenaries. If left unchecked, many adventurers on the fringes would become prey. To avoid having their own members consumed day after day, the mercenary bands had no choice but to unite against these formidable intruders.

Though Zhou Tian lacked the traditional aura of a high-level magical beast, his sudden, enormous size could not be ignored. While size wasn’t everything, few creatures of such bulk were weak.

So, before long, the mercenary guilds of the border town took action. They recalled all their members from the field, and the leaders contacted their counterparts in other regions, seeking to organize an alliance to hunt down Zhou Tian, the giant serpent.

Unaware of the commotion he had caused outside, Zhou Tian, upon reaching level fifty, had already left the outskirts of the forest behind and ventured deeper within.

In almost every game, there is a rule: the higher your level, the less experience you gain from fighting weak monsters. Though Zhou Tian did not know how his system had come to this world with him, such basic mechanics remained intact.

At first, Zhou Tian had barely noticed—killing even a chicken yielded some experience, and since he slaughtered monsters en masse, he hadn’t paid much attention to the gains. But after reaching level fifty, he realized that slaying lesser creatures no longer granted him experience. Only then did he notice that the system carried over this mechanic as well.

As he delved deeper into the Magic Beast Forest, Zhou Tian turned his full attention to the system.

Previously, Zhou Tian had focused entirely on the system’s shop, neglecting the leveling system. Now, upon discovering that killing weaker monsters yielded no experience, he realized he had not fully understood all the features of his upgrade system. Determined, he devoted every spare moment to exploring its functions, hoping to uncover what he had previously missed.

In fact, once Zhou Tian began methodically combing through each option, he discovered he had overlooked quite a lot.

To begin with, the upgrade system was not as weak as he had thought. His misconception stemmed from ignorance of its true capabilities. He was well aware that leveling up increased his strength—but in his focus on the tangible boost in power and the system shop’s various products, he had forgotten something crucial: leveling up also granted stat points.

Each level, the system awarded him five attribute points and one skill point. Because Zhou Tian had never touched these, they had accumulated on his character panel.

Upon realizing he had ignored such a vital feature, Zhou Tian was nearly beside himself with frustration. Consider how many years he had played games—and yet here he was, overlooking such a basic mechanic. He felt an overwhelming urge to bang his head against a wall.

After venting his annoyance against a few trees, Zhou Tian immediately began allocating his points.

First, attribute points.

The system provided five attributes: Constitution (physical toughness), Strength (physical attack power), Agility (movement speed), Spirit (mental power), and Fortune (luck and charisma).

Because he had not spent a single attribute point in all fifty levels, Zhou Tian now had a staggering two hundred and fifty to distribute. After careful thought, he invested one hundred points each in Constitution and Agility to maximize survivability, and allocated the remaining fifty to Fortune.

This was a rather lopsided distribution, and while it greatly enhanced his ability to stay alive, it did not lead to any obvious increase in combat prowess.

Once done with the attribute points, Zhou Tian turned his attention to skill points.

Skill points were less valuable than attribute points and felt almost superfluous. Ordinarily, skill points would be the primary means of enhancing a player’s abilities; beyond personal technique, one’s skills determined true power. However, due to the system shop—populated with many items that had no place in ordinary games—players could purchase all manner of innate skills with real money. As a result, Zhou Tian’s skill points, except for saving some spiritual energy, offered little practical advantage.

Faced with this realization, Zhou Tian felt torn between annoyance and amusement. Should he be angry that his skill points were devalued, or pleased that he could use spirit energy to learn a multitude of abilities?

Name: Zhou Tian
Race: Serpent
Level: 50
Strength: 0
Constitution: 100
Agility: 100
Spirit: 0
Fortune: 50
Innate Skills:
Unallocated Skill Points: 50
Deadly Venom (Level 10)
Equipment: Myriad Serpent Basin (Immortal Artifact), Immortal Binding Rope (Innate Treasure)