Chapter 483

The second threshold happened when you hit level thirty in one attribute and managed to raise at least one other secondary attribute high. It was a monumental shift and because of that, he had stored the notification that had arrived, looking it all over with a smile.

 

Second Threshold Reached!

Primary Trait: Body

Secondary Trait: Mind

Tertiary Trait: Soul

 

Bonuses to Primary / Secondary / Tertiary Attributes: 5/3/1

Bonus to Cultivation: +0.25 Refinement Speed, +1 Cultivation Speed

 

Along with the reaching of the threshold itself, Arthur had also gained additional traits that he could refine his cultivation and fighting style. Two body traits and a single mind one, with a soul trait to come soon enough.

The physical did not require much explanation of what it did, but what it did require was consideration of how best to utilize it. Thus far, Arthur had bent himself towards being fast and nimble. He had noticed, however, that as he grew stronger, that speed alone was not sufficient. Sure, he had more explosive strength and speed did equal force, but fine manipulation was fast becoming a problem - the sheer force of momentum behind each of his movements required greater strength than he had at times. 

It made handling his spear in particular quite difficult, so he needed to balance that out sooner rather than later. It was why he had invested in the trait 'deceptive build' which packed in more muscle fibres without actually increasing his bulk. It was not as efficient as some of the other traits that gave more pound for pound strength, but it let him stay in his general shape and form.

Next up, was enhancing his other senses. Tactile sensations would be useful, but he went for a more generalised Enhanced Senses option since it gave him an overall boost to all his senses, even the ones that dealt with things like balance and the sense of his entire body. Already, he had sensed the advantage it had given him in fights, making it easier to control his weapon and take deeper stances. It also, unfortunately, meant that he had to relearn how to filter out new noises, scents and taste.

No wonder so many Climbers started being luxury hogs - even the clothing he wore had started to annoy him, the burrs and the lining of his clothing rubbing against more sensitive skin.

Though Body traits were doubled, he also had a single Mind trait to upgrade. The increase in Mind attributes had increased his refinement speed, something he intended to upgrade even further since he would be utilizing many more souls rather than cultivating Tower energy to upgrade himself.

Or as he liked to put it, he was going to be a little emperor.

In the meantime, the Mind trait he had to choose from were so wide, Arthur eventually had given up. He figured if he was going to rely on any particular suggestion, it would be his intuition which had, mostly, done well for him. Grabbing another trait that bolstered that ability, combined with his own perfect recall could provide some helpful suggestions down the line. Or so he had read, at least - though the entire conversation on it was rather a mixed bag. Not too surprising when your trait was Intuitive Leaps and thus, when and where one might get them was up in the air and entirely dependent on the individual.

Either way, he figured it could be useful in battle too. He might want to pick up a few books on dungeon biology and general animal biology to bolster his basic knowledge, since intuition was nothing more than the subconscious mind pulling from information that had been embedded in it over the ages, things that might not be necessarily as easy to recall from the conscious side.

Which, you would think, scrolling endlessly on short video essays might help - and sometimes did. However, the format left a lot to be desired at providing detailed information, at the level of understanding needed for true expertise. It was a constant complaint about teachers and bosses, Arthur understood. Though, his knowledge of such corporate issues came from the very same reels.

Either way, the boost to his attributes were significant since breaching the threshold. More importantly, though, was the increase in his refinement and cultivation speed. That increase came not just from the threshold though, but increases due to his new cultivation technique and his understanding of it. He was beginning to get better with it, which meant he could cultivate and refine faster utilizing it. However, we beginning to hit the point where he was getting diminishing returns and would need to find - or more likely, purchase - a better cultivation technique.

Tricky, and expensive. The only good news being that Yin cultivation techniques were less popular, since they were 'women' techniques and the prevailing misogyny and patriarchy still discounted it.

Once he had breached the second threshold, Arthur had spent some time actually training with it, running errands and quests that had required him to fight and test his new body to the utmost. He still wasn't fully established and comfortable with his new body and traits, moving too fast, reacting too quickly, occasionally getting overwhelmed but his time limit was up.

There was a world out there, and other Towers to clear. There was but one last thing to check, before he left - and that was entirely about the Clan and not himself.

 

The Benevolent Durians Clan Status

Organizational Ranking: 118,372

Number of Towers Occupied: 2

Number of Clan Buildings: 9

Number of Clan Members: 894

Overall Credit Rating: E

Aspect: Guardianship

Sigil: The Flame Phoenix

 

No updates on the Aspect or Sigil, unfortunately. He was not surprised, it would take a couple more Towers before they ticked over. As always, some of it was dependent upon him, and while he had hoped that breaching the second threshold would be enough, he mostly had known it would not have been.

Still, he took a moment to look it over, making note of areas that could likely be improved or further developed for the Clan as a whole.

 

Aspect: Guardianship

• Modest increase in effectiveness of healing cultivation techniques.
• Minor increase in effectiveness of protection and shielding cultivation techniques. 
• Trivial increase in effectiveness of precision, speed and bonding cultivation techniques.
• Variable increase in cultivation and refinement speed dependent upon the number of Clan members within close proximity.
• Tower quest types have been expanded.

 

Such as a bonding or companion technique. He had never been one for pets - they cost too much money. But some others would love it, and there was something to be said about the benefit of such help. No real push for Tower quest types - there were some minor ones that showed up that had let him upgrade the Clan itself, but nothing major. The coolest was a line of sight texting system, that was the first of a series of increasingly hazardous quests that would give eventually a full Clan chat; but that was many Towers away.

 

Sigil: The Flame Phoenix

Sigil Bonus (Clan Head): Accelerated Healing – Refined Energy (Grade IVd)

Sigil Bonus (Clan): Cultivation Exercise – Accelerated Healing – Refined Energy (Grade IId)

Sigil Bonus (Clan) - Enhanced Magnetoreception and Equilibrioception

 

No updates on the Sigil, which mostly had stayed the same. He would need to research the ways he could increase that beyond upgrading his own Accelerated Healing; but he had a feeling it might require specific quests that only popped up occassionally. More research, though in this case, Arthur figured he'd throw one of his minions at it. Casey, most likely.

One last look over his status, his Clan information, and everything else and then sighed.

It was good, better than good. He'd gained a lot on this Tower, but now it was time to exit into the real world and deal with everything that he had missed out there.

A single step, through the glowing portal and the world washed away, as he completed his second tower. Just a couple thousand more to go.