Hyuga Arin walked into an open area, found a rock, and plopped down on it. His gaze shifted to the experience counter on his status panel.
When he saw the number, he couldn't help but laugh.
[Experience Pool: 110,082]
Another hundred thousand experience.
Sure enough, the battlefield really was his blessed land.
He'd only been here for a single day, and his experience had already climbed back over a hundred thousand. If he farmed for ten more days, wouldn't he jump straight into the millions?
Just thinking about it made him excited.
A million experience points—enough to boost his strength enormously, possibly doubling his current combat power.
"Let's level up twice first."
[Name: Hyuga Arin]
[Profession: Hunter]
[Level: Lv35 (0/23,500)]
[Chakra/Nen: 3680 / 2110 + 50 + 20 + 1000 + 500]
[Name: Hyuga Arin]
[Profession: Hunter]
[Level: Lv36 (0/25,500)]
[Chakra/Nen: 3780 / 2110 + 50 + 20 + 1000 + 500]
"Finally, level 36." Hyuga Arin stared at the level displayed on his panel.
Reaching level 36 wasn't just about awakening.
[Detected that the player has reached Level 36]
[Hunter Awakening Skill unlocked (please input required conditions; awakening will be completed automatically)]
[Sub-profession unlocked (please select)]
[Furnace unlocked]
"The Furnace and sub-profession systems are still here!" Hyuga Arin looked at the newly unlocked features with delight.
He had originally thought these two systems wouldn't appear at all, and hadn't even factored them into his plans.
Sub-professions were the player's secondary way of earning experience—things like Blacksmith, Doctor, Alchemist, Scientist, and so on. By performing tasks related to the chosen sub-profession, one could gain experience. The amount wasn't comparable to killing enemies, but it was still a steady source.
In the game, it was more of a "nice-to-have" feature.
But the Furnace—that was a core system.
One of its functions was to throw unwanted items and skills into it, converting them into something called Essence.
Essence was good stuff—especially beloved by gamblers.
With just 1,000 Essence, you could enhance a piece of equipment once. Of course, the more times you enhanced it, the higher the failure rate.
It was basically a copy of Dungeon Fighter's enhancement machine.
Besides strengthening equipment, Essence could also be used like HP or MP potions—spending Essence would instantly restore health or energy.
The Furnace also had a Fusion function. By placing several items of the same tier into it, along with a certain amount of Essence, there was a chance to obtain higher-tier equipment. The same applied to skills.
This feature wasn't just loved by gamblers—ordinary players adored it too.
It was the only true path for low-level players to overtake high-level ones.
He didn't even look at the awakening options yet. Instead, he eagerly opened the Furnace.
A cauldron-like object appeared before his eyes.
It looked like an alchemy furnace, engraved with Taiji patterns all around. The lid was already open—the original cover was nowhere to be seen. Inside, flames burned brightly, yet no heat radiated outward at all.
He tossed in all his low-level equipment, redundant skills, and duplicate items, taking the chance to tidy up his inventory.
A screen appeared beside the furnace.
"Pretty high-tech, actually," Hyuga Arin muttered.
On the screen were only two options:
[Smelt]
[Fuse]
He tapped [Smelt].
The furnace lid suddenly reappeared and slammed shut. The entire furnace began to shake violently, flames erupting around it—yet Hyuga Arin still felt no heat at all.
With a loud boom—
The lid flew off.
Hyuga Arin vanished from his spot, leaving only the furnace behind.
A cold wind swept through.
Hyuga Arin emerged from the shadow of a tree.
"That scared the hell out of me. Such a big commotion, and no one heard it?" He let out a relieved breath.
The Furnace was surprisingly user-friendly—only he could hear the noise.
"Does that mean only I can see this furnace too?"
He rubbed his chin and looked back at it.
On top of the furnace lay a pile of fine, sand-like particles glowing with rainbow colors. He scooped them up and placed them into his inventory.
[Essence: 5,216]
"Over five thousand Essence."
Enough to strengthen a weapon five times.
"Nope." Hyuga Arin shook his head, forcibly pushing away the dangerous thought. "Can't become a gambler."
Enhancing weapons did make them stronger, but failure meant the weapon would be destroyed.
His weapon accounted for a huge portion of his combat power. If the Dark Battle Blade broke, where would he cry?
Next, he took out three low-level rings, one necklace, the all-attribute Wind Hole, and two bandit bracers, tossing them all into the furnace.
It wasn't that he couldn't equip them—but their benefits were no longer significant to him. If they could be fused into something better, that would be ideal.
He clicked Fuse.
[Please insert 1,023 Essence]
He poured in the Essence. The remaining 4,196 Essence automatically flew back into his inventory.
The Furnace made it clear it was fair and honest—no overcharging, no tricks.
Of course, if fusion failed, all the items inside would be destroyed.
But this kind of shortcut—how could it be called gambling?
The lid closed again. The furnace shook violently, flames roaring around it.
Boom!
The lid burst open.
A ring-shaped object dropped out.
[Furnace Wind Hole: +100 to all attributes]
"So it's based on the Juden Du Clan's Wind Hole?" Hyuga Arin examined the item.
Its equipping method was identical to the Juden Du Clan's Wind Hole.
He thought for a moment and tried embedding it into his chest. He had wanted to place it directly on his heart, but the item couldn't be embedded internally.
Still, placing it on his chest worked just fine—right over the heart. He canceled the hidden effect.
Lifting his shirt and checking with a mirror, he could actually see through his chest to the scenery behind him.
"In that case, my heart's protected too."
Hyuga Arin checked his inventory again.
He still had all the Phantom Troupe-related skills. He tossed them all into the furnace.
Skills and items with related origins had a fairly good fusion success rate—and the results were usually decent.
Bandit-type trash didn't count, of course.
Unfortunately, he was missing Bandit's Secret (Skill Hunter) and Phinks' Ripper Cyclotron.
He'd originally had the former, but had used it to complete the Phantom Troupe quest. As for the latter, Phinks hadn't died by his hand, so he never obtained it.
After thinking for a moment, he also tossed in Bungee Gum from Hisoka, as well as Flowing Rock Crushing Fist.
[Please insert: 3,333 Essence]
"So even this drains everything…" He dumped in all his Essence, leaving only 863 Essence after the Furnace spat the remainder back out.
Not enough to strengthen a weapon anymore.
He was starting to feel the urge to take a risk—maybe sneak to the front line and loot a few corpses.
"Fuse!"
The Furnace lid slammed shut once more.
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