During this month and a half, Clearwater City remained quite stable and peaceful, with no unexpected incidents occurring.
Frederick came to visit Jiang Lin and the others once, simply out of boredom, to ask if they wanted to go out for a stroll.
When he saw that these three were working so hard even during the summer break, he instantly lost his composure.
Consequently, he used the excuse that his brother was pregnant and immediately ran back home to practice.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lin and Anya maintained a routine of moving between three points.
They shuttled back and forth between the dormitory, the training grounds, and the cafeteria.
Jiang Lin's control over his clone also became increasingly proficient.
He was already capable of splitting his mind, allowing himself and his clone to fight in coordination.
However, the clone's rate of progress was slightly inferior compared to his own.
Although it had a Blood Demon to devour every day, it could only devour one per day due to summoning restrictions.
As a result, it was currently only about as strong as Jiang Lin had been at Level 13.
Still, this strength was quite decent; at the very least, it could play a certain role in battle.
After all, the Level 13 Jiang Lin was already more than a match for uncommon adventurers; he could basically handle any ordinary rank-2 adventurer with ease.
As for rank-3 adventurers, Jiang Lin wasn't sure of their specific combat power yet, as he hadn't had the chance to exchange blows with one.
However, his personal level had reached Level 20.
At the same time, his stamina and mental power had already exceeded the limits that a normal adventurer should be able to reach.
【Stamina】：100,000 → 220,000
【Mental Power】：100,000 → 220,000
The fundamental 100,000-point increase was the result of the fifty days since his breakthrough, with 1,000 points per day from system rewards, combined with the natural operation of his limit-broken breathing technique.
The remaining 20,000 came from the attribute increases gained each time he leveled up, which provided roughly 2,000 points per level.
After reaching rank-2, the gap between each level was approximately 30,000 attribute points.
Therefore, Jiang Lin's current basic attributes were roughly on par with a Level 24 ordinary adventurer, which already far exceeded the level of a normal genius.
After all, even if normal geniuses accumulated attributes at Level 20, they would be unable to continue improving once they reached 200,000 basic attribute points.
Usually, they would choose to accept a breakthrough quest at that point to advance.
But Jiang Lin felt that he hadn't reached his limit at all.
He didn't feel the sense of being blocked that he had experienced when he was stuck at the Level 10 bottleneck.
He even felt that he could double his attributes again.
That would mean having 400,000 points at Level 20, equivalent to the basic attributes of a Level 30.
He speculated that because he had only begun his breakthrough to rank-1 after reaching the extreme limit of rank-0, his foundation was incredibly profound.
This allowed him to have a much higher ceiling within rank-1.
This is the legendary perfect foundation establishment, I tell you!
Thus, Jiang Lin surmised that after reaching rank-1, these geniuses would begin to pursue 'level camping'—staying at a level until they reached their limit before breaking through—to ensure they had a higher ceiling in the higher ranks.
If he now focused his attention on the other two breathing techniques, he could add an average of 5,000 points to each of these two attributes every two days.
In other words, as long as he didn't hit his limit, he could reach Level 30 attributes in all aspects within eighty days.
That would be exactly around two months after the start of the school term.
This kind of growth rate was absolutely appalling.
One had to realize that even counting those eighty days, it would only be a little over four months since Jiang Lin broke through from rank-0.
Without those eighty days, it hadn't even been two months.
Meanwhile, geniuses like Neil had been at rank-1 for over a year, and they didn't necessarily have the values Jiang Lin currently possessed.
Don't be fooled by how Neil and the others joked around with Jiang Lin; they were still geniuses capable of getting into the elite class of Saint Brilliance Magic Academy.
It could only be said that Jiang Lin had met many geniuses, but they all had to call Jiang Lin a genius.
He wondered how they would feel when they saw Jiang Lin, who had already surpassed them, once school started...
...
As for the number of random skill points, through Jiang Lin's constant accumulation, it had once approached a staggering 100.
However, Jiang Lin would occasionally push some high-tier skills to the limit-broken level, furthering his understanding of the magic essence circuits of high-tier skills.
Therefore, the remaining number of random skill points wasn't particularly large now.
For instance, with the Seven Star series of sword techniques, he had pushed the remaining five high-tier skills to the limit-broken stage, bringing the intensity of his sword qi attacks to a terrifying level.
Jiang Lin even felt that they could completely match or even exceed the power brought by most super-tier skills.
However, the greatest improvement that breaking limits brought to Jiang Lin wasn't in terms of skill power.
It was in the accumulated knowledge and his enhanced natural talent.
As the number of limit-broken skills increased, his improvement in swordsmanship continued to rise, and the time he spent locked in the dark room gradually decreased.
He tried it now and found that he could easily pick up a high-tier sword technique even without relying on Little Black.
Additionally, it was worth mentioning that although he understood the principles of these eight skills, Jiang Lin had never mastered any dark-attribute magic or combat techniques. Since he didn't understand dark-attribute magic essence circuits, it was difficult for him to modify these skills into a dark-attribute Seven Star sword technique.
Furthermore, after understanding the principles of these Seven Star sword techniques, Jiang Lin began to suspect that the reason he couldn't find a dark-attribute version despite searching through the library and various records was simply that dark-attribute magic essence circuits were incompatible with this sword technique.
But this wasn't much of a problem.
Because after thoroughly mastering the underlying logic of these eight skills, Jiang Lin began to prune and adapt some of the magic essence circuits.
Finally, after many days of experimentation, Jiang Lin successfully developed a stable eight-colored sword qi.
He finally didn't have to worry about it exploding in mid-air like before!
...
A while ago, Aili also completed her entrance assessment and successfully enrolled with fairly good results.
However, since there wasn't much time left before school started, and both she and Anya had grown accustomed to living in Jiang Lin's dormitory, the two of them simply stayed there and refused to leave.
Since Jiang Lin's dormitory was on the first floor, it wasn't very convenient for them to constantly go in and out of the boys' dormitory's main gate, especially since they needed Jiang Lin's key card.
So, they simply started opening Jiang Lin's window—climbing in when they wanted to return and climbing out when they wanted to leave, like two Mundos.
Sometimes when the group went to the cafeteria to eat, they would even drag Jiang Lin along, skipping the front door to go through the window.
This had even started to influence Jiang Lin.
Usually, when he was too lazy to look for his room card in his spatial ring, he would just climb back into the dormitory through the window.
In addition, since Aili had also tested her elemental affinity during her entrance exam, Jiang Lin became curious about what his own elemental affinity was like now.
After all, every time he broke the limit of a skill, if that skill had a clear elemental lean, he could improve his elemental affinity to a certain extent.
So, he went to get it tested.
To his shock, he found that his affinity for other conventional attributes was quite good—his light-attribute affinity was extremely high, but his affinity for the dark attribute had actually become 0?!
This meant that if he hadn't sought out dark-attribute skills to learn, he likely wouldn't even be able to initiate them if he tried.
Unless he could find a way to increase his dark-attribute affinity, he probably wouldn't be able to learn dark-attribute skills for the rest of his life.
Jiang Lin felt quite confused by this and suspected it might be because his light-attribute affinity was too high.
After all, light and dark were two polar opposite attributes. It was normal for an excessively high affinity for one to repel the other.
When he broke through with the Paladin Breathing Technique, he had obtained the 【Pure Heart (Pseudo)】 talent, which significantly increased his light-attribute affinity.
And in the subsequent process, he had also limit-broken many light-attribute skills he mastered.
Since some of his natural talents could be improved during a limit-break, his light-attribute affinity had been raised to a quite exaggerated level.
Even the testing teacher was shocked, stating that to have this kind of affinity at this level, Jiang Lin was definitely a one-in-ten-thousand light-attribute genius.
Although elemental affinity didn't directly improve performance in battle, it could subtly enhance an adventurer's strength.
The most basic manifestation was a significant reduction in the mental power consumed when an adventurer released skills.
In the long run, the higher the elemental affinity, the less effort it took to learn and become proficient in skills, and the faster the efficiency.
One of the school's important cultivation facilities, the "elemental tower," served exactly this purpose.
Practicing in a scene rich in a corresponding element could improve the efficiency of practicing related combat techniques and magic.
However, Jiang Lin didn't really have much need for the "elemental tower"; as for practicing skills, he could just talk to his dark room.
...
Coming back to Jiang Lin's current situation.
He was currently sitting cross-legged in his dormitory, feeling the changes in his body after reaching Level 20.
The shackles of his life level appeared, locking the path for his further elevation.
At the same time, the small basin inside his body changed once again.
It transformed from the original small basin directly into a small pool.
This represented the effort he needed to advance from Level 20 to Level 21.
Jiang Lin estimated that if he continued using his current breathing technique, it would take him about 100 days to fill this small pool.
Normally, Jiang Lin should have prayed to the statue of the god again to be granted a brand, gaining the qualification to challenge the rank-1 God-blessed Land.
But now, the holy light mark planted within his body was glowing brightly.
It seemed to have detected the change in his life level and began to bypass the statue, issuing a quest directly to him.
Then, Jiang Lin received a notification.
【Do you accept the Apostle of God Assessment?】
【After accepting the assessment, you may go to the statue of the God of Holy Light to pray.】
【The God of Holy Light will bestow a blessing, raising your power to the extreme limit your current body can withstand.】
【If you forfeit the assessment, you will permanently lose the qualification for the Apostle of God Assessment, and relevant memories will be forcibly deleted.】
【You have five natural days to make a choice. If no choice is made after five natural days, it will be deemed as forfeiting the assessment.】
Feeling the information transmitted from the holy light mark in his body, Jiang Lin couldn't help but be stunned.
It could actually raise his power directly to the extreme limit his current body could withstand?
If Jiang Lin's estimation of his physical state was correct, did that mean the god could directly pull his various values to 400,000?
For a moment, Jiang Lin felt like he was dreaming.
Could there really be such a good thing?
One had to know that the act of a god helping their followers improve their physical attributes was something usually only done by an evil god.
Meanwhile, whether it was the righteous gods of the human camp or the demon gods of the demon camp, they basically only provided help for their followers to head to the God-blessed Land for breakthroughs.
And occasionally, they would eradicate some minor evil gods who dared to show their faces in their territory.
For example, a certain Little Black currently lying on Jiang Lin's windowsill basking in the sun was a victim of this.
Jiang Lin looked at these prompts and, upon careful thought, felt it made quite a bit of sense.
If he became an apostle of the God of Holy Light, he would officially become an employee under its command, no longer just some wandering adventurer being raised casually.
So, giving its own employee some benefits seemed fairly normal.
However, he was a bit hesitant at this moment.
After all, the system had even crafted a sub-status for him to evade the apostle brand.
If he truly became an apostle of the God of Holy Light, wouldn't the other party's surveillance and control over him become even deeper?
Just as Jiang Lin was hesitating over whether to accept this quest, a prompt from the system made him make his final choice.
【Detection of a change in the Apostle of God brand.】
【Unlocking special quest.】
【Special Quest: Double Agent】
【As a heinous demon lord, you have actually gained the recognition of the God of Holy Light and obtained the stepping stone to becoming its apostle. At the same time, a Demon Lord Seed with the potential to ascend to the demon god sequence is still throbbing within your body. As a wicked demon lord who always has a backup plan, you naturally won't put all your eggs in one basket, so you choose to be a double agent.】
【Requirement: Accept the Apostle of God Assessment.】
【Reward: Upgrade of the sub-status effect, completely shielding the god's perception of your special powers, ensuring you can undergo its personal inspection without revealing any flaws, and transferring all of its hidden measures into the sub-status.】
【PS: Damage or collapse of the sub-status will not affect you in any way; any mastered power will not be lost because of it.】
Looking at the information in the introduction of the 【Double Agent】 quest, Jiang Lin was somewhat surprised.
Potential to ascend to the demon god sequence?!
What was going on?!
Was the Demon Lord Seed the system gave him that high-grade?
Jiang Lin recalled that this Demon Lord Seed was a reward given to him by the system after completing a phase of the system's quests.
And the next phase of the quest was this one called the 【Path of the Demon Lord】.
It required him to participate in some Demon Lord Trial.
It seemed the system's phase quests were intended to cultivate him toward this so-called demon god direction?
Jiang Lin stroked his chin in thought.
At the same time, he looked at this quest and began to fantasize.
He wondered what the other party's reaction would be when, after years of hard work, he finally transformed from an obscure little paladin into a supreme six-winged seraph under the God of Holy Light, only to suddenly change from an obedient little lackey into a great demon god standing on equal footing with it.
Rate on N.U.
