The system notification faded, and Shi Feng watched his experience bar skyrocket.
In the blink of an eye, his level jumped from 61 to 63, and his Heritage Skill Points — which hadn't budged in ages — had finally increased by 20.
"What a generous reward!" Staring at the quest rewards, even Shi Feng couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement.
Heritage Skill Points were an exceedingly rare resource that players could normally only earn one of every three level-ups — outside of special quests. And now he'd been granted 20 at once, enough to learn one or even two second-tier Heritage Skills.
In the Divine Realm, zero-tier and first-tier Skill Books were still relatively easy to come by. But once you reached the second-tier level, acquiring them became incredibly difficult. Players relied far more on Heritage Skill Points to learn second-tier and above skills.
So once players advanced to a second-tier Class, they typically had very few second-tier skills. In combat, they relied almost entirely on first-tier skills, usually reserving their second-tier skills as trump cards.
More second-tier skills meant more trump cards.
This was something every top player desperately craved.
Moreover, the system had awarded 100,000 points of free Skill Proficiency — a crucial resource for leveling up skills. Higher skill levels meant greater power, which was essential for boosting a player's combat strength.
Without hesitation, Shi Feng spent all of his Heritage Skill Points to learn the second-tier Heritage Skill with the highest burst potential — Infernal Quintuple Slash.
Infernal Quintuple Slash — Action type, requires a sword-class weapon. Instantly unleashes five consecutive sword strikes, each stronger than the last. Each strike increases Strength by 20% and Attack Speed by 10%. Cooldown: 20 seconds. Current skill level: Tier 2, Level 1 (Proficiency 0/30,000).
After learning the skill, Shi Feng immediately spent 30,000 proficiency points to upgrade Infernal Quintuple Slash to Tier 2, Level 2. Each strike now increased Strength by 21% and Attack Speed by 11%. The improvement seemed minor, but for a second-tier player, even a 1% increase in Strength translated to over 10 additional Strength points — and this bonus compounded with each successive strike.
The remaining 70,000 free proficiency points were poured directly into upgrading his first-tier skill, Slash.
Slash was a skill players could learn as early as the zero tier, and it could only be upgraded to a maximum of first-tier level. Yet it remained one of the most commonly used skills in combat — primarily because of its short cooldown and respectable damage output. For Swordsman players, upgrading Slash provided a significant boost to their overall damage.
The remaining 70,000 proficiency points instantly raised Slash by two levels, from Tier 1, Level 3 straight to Tier 1, Level 5.
Slash — Action type, requires a sword. Deals an additional 1,600 base damage. Up to three consecutive strikes within one second; hitting the same location increases damage by 60%. Attack range: 7 yards. Cooldown: 3 seconds. Skill level: Tier 1, Level 5 (Proficiency 12,612/30,000).
Compared to the Tier 1, Level 1 version, the upgraded Tier 1, Level 5 Slash not only added 1,000 points of bonus damage but also raised the positional damage bonus from 50% to 60%. The overall output increase was substantial, and most importantly, the attack range had gained an extra yard, making it considerably harder for enemies to dodge.
Shi Feng was quite satisfied with this.
In his previous life, Swordsmen in their sixties typically only had Slash at Tier 1, Level 2 or 3. Reaching Level 4 was already rare, let alone Level 5.
After allocating all his free proficiency, Shi Feng turned his attention to the title — Herald of Devastation.
Herald of Devastation — High-tier title. Proof of possessing the Power of Devastation. Within a 200-yard radius, can bestow the Power of Devastation on up to thirty players, boosting all their attributes by 10%, increasing their damage by 20%, reducing magical damage taken by 30%, and reducing physical damage taken by 15%.
After reading the title's description, Shi Feng froze on the spot.