【Ding! Your talent rank has been increased.】
Lan Qingyou, who had already resigned herself to fate, was stunned when the voice of the world consciousness rang in her ears.
Wait.
I already did all that mental preparation; did it really have to be so sudden?
Could this be the charm of a single pull?
Still a bit dazed, Lan Qingyou raised a hand, wiped a smudge of grease from the corner of her mouth, and opened her personal information.
【Talent: Lighten (D)】
1: Can reduce own body weight to achieve a floating effect.
2: Can reduce the weight of objects to achieve a floating effect.
3: Object weight must not exceed your own standard weight.
4: Consumes 1 mana point per minute.
After opening the talent description, Lan Qingyou looked it over. For the most part, it hadn't changed much, except for the added ability to make objects float.
She immediately decided to give it a try.
She activated Lighten and slapped her hand onto the magic desk. The desk performed an immediate vertical takeoff.
However, because there was no propulsion, it only drifted upward by about a centimeter.
And even that was mostly due to the vibration from her slapping the desk just now.
“Without propulsion, it’s not that impressive,” she muttered.
Feeling a bit disappointed, Lan Qingyou deactivated Lighten.
She had hoped this talent might bring her some major convenience.
But clearly, it wasn't quite there yet.
Then, a very interesting possibility occurred to her, and she went to test it out immediately.
She floated slowly out of the shelter and stopped before a massive boulder by the creek.
The boulder was clearly heavier than she was, making it the perfect subject for her hypothesis.
She struck it with her palm, but she felt nothing but pain.
The boulder showed no sign of floating.
“I guess that doesn’t work either. I thought I could find a loophole, but it seems the restriction in the third rule about ‘standard weight’ is absolute.”
Disappointed, Lan Qingyou floated back to her shelter.
She had wanted to see if she could make a boulder heavier than herself float while her own weight was effectively zero.
If it had worked, it would have been a massive exploit.
It would have given her a significant boost in combat or other tasks in the future.
Unfortunately, it seemed the world consciousness had anticipated her attempt to find a loophole and had locked it down with the third rule: ‘Object weight must not exceed your own standard weight.’
In other words, she could only use Lighten on objects lighter than her own body weight.
Still, a talent upgrade was a good thing no matter how she looked at it.
So, Lan Qingyou didn't dwell on it for too long.
As for the hundred or so leftover vials of talent ascension potion, she didn't throw them away. She packed them up and put them in the storage room.
Once everything was settled, she sat around idly feeding chicken slices to Steel Wool.
Perhaps because she had completely burned herself out over the past few days, she didn't feel like brewing any more potions for now. She wanted to rest for at least a few days.
That didn't mean she was done brewing entirely, though.
After all, with phenomena like the mana tide occurring in Kalim, mana potions were an essential reserve.
However, she didn't want to make any more +30 or +50 potions.
If possible, she wanted to try crafting D-rank primary potions once she found the right herbs.
Although her Basic Alchemy book contained no knowledge on the subject, it didn't matter—she still had her identification glasses.
She planned to head out tomorrow to see if she could find any D-rank herbs to use for experiments.
Both her Potions and Alchemy levels were now at D-rank.
That meant she could identify D-rank items, which naturally included herbs.
Although the glasses were a bit of a hassle, they at least scaled with her knowledge levels. For her, that was enough—or rather, it was exactly what she needed.
After all, even the best materials were useless if one didn't know how to use them.
Take the volcanic worm from before, for example. Used poorly, it was just an ugly-looking thing; used correctly, it could make one ascend on the spot.
Indeed.
In Lan Qingyou's eyes, the bonuses from that title were far more attractive than her talent rank increase.
It was something bestowed by the world consciousness, after all.
To some extent, it could be considered ‘world-class,’ right?
Heh.
Lan Qingyou couldn't help but chuckle at her own dry joke.
And so, she spent the day playing with Steel Wool or reading in her lounge chair on the second floor.
In truth, she wasn't the only one. After the exhaustion of the past three days, most people did essentially nothing that day.
Everyone just wanted to relax—or even indulge themselves a little.
No one wanted to remain in that state of high mental tension forever.
As evening fell, the sunset glowed like a rainbow.
Just as everyone was enjoying this rare moment of leisure after a month, the voice of the world consciousness rang out again without warning.
【One month has passed. Monthly ranking is now open.】
【This ranking will be based on three factors: shelter level, individual level, and contribution to the Kalim world. Furthermore, those without rewards will not be included in the ranking.】
Huh? Ranking?
Lan Qingyou, who had been sitting at her magic desk waiting for Gu Xiaobei to finish preparing her food, was startled. She immediately looked down at the desk's interface.
As expected.
Others were just as confused as she was.
But unlike during the mana tide, the current chaos was mixed with a sense of ease and excitement.
Having just survived a mana tide that caused massive casualties, an evaluation felt quite relaxing by comparison.
【...Ranking complete.】
【E-rank: 6,837,219,421 people. Reward: 100 obsidian.】
【D-rank: 854,044,518 people. Reward: 10 D-rank monster cores.】
【C-rank: 84,852,249 people. Reward: 1 mana crystal.】
【B-rank: 284,625 people. Reward: 1 D-rank tool of choice, 1 book of choice.】
【A-rank: 25,684 people. Reward: 1 D-rank magic of choice, 1 book of choice.】
【S-rank: 58 people. Reward: 1 C-rank magic of choice, 1 C-rank tool of choice, 1 book of choice.】
【Rewards have been distributed. Please choose carefully.】
“What! There are rewards too?”
“I was careless; I didn't expect there to be rewards.”
“Hahaha! I'm B-rank! I can choose a D-rank tool. Let me go check it out. Also, selling my book—just looking at that stuff makes me sleepy.”
“I'm so jealous of those 58 S-rankers. All C-rank rewards. They’ve got it made now.”
“What’s there to be jealous of? Look at me, I’m E-rank and I’m not complaining. Some things just can’t be helped.”
“The divide! The divide is starting after only a month! Haha! Die! You bastards should all just die!”
“Another one’s gone crazy. Kick him out.”
“I wonder what’s available in the C-rank options.”
“Do you even have to ask? It’s definitely stronger than D-rank magic and tools.”
“Are you just stating the obvious?”
Rate on N.U.
