This was where Qin Feng hit the stumbling block.
Though he managed to diverge his consciousness into nine streams, he was exhausted at the end of the third cycle.
Qin Feng retrieved his consciousness half an hour later. His face was pale and he could tell that his conscious energy was completely emptied.
‘I can still go on!’
Qin Feng gulped in a bottle of Luminous Honey and his consciousness recovered swiftly. He could almost see the end of the road and was unwilling to give up when he was this close to completing the third cycle.
He immersed himself into the atlas and charged forward rapidly.
“Again!”
“Again!”
After the eighth attempt, Qin Feng finally reached the end of the jade maze. He felt dizzy when he split for the twenty-seventh time and retreated from the atlas.
Once he got out, he sensed that his conscious energy was gradually returning to him. More so, it expanded to the point beyond his previous limit.
A clear revelation occurred to him.
Without him knowing, Qin Feng’s consciousness had just breached E-tier.
Qin Feng’s eyes were beaming with newfound confidence.
“This Godwill Atlas is tremendous!” Qin Feng retracted his conscious energy and the cape fell right back into his arms. In his eyes, three rows of jades were blinking brightly at the bottom of the cloak.
Qin Feng estimated there to be at least nine rows on the atlas. If each row represented one cycle or stage, he could possibly reach SS-tier through it.
‘The function of this cape must be kept a secret.’
“Bai Li, store this for me.” He was reassured only after Bai Li had placed the cape back into her spatial rift.
There was no need to rush it. Qin Feng knew that he could easily conquer three cycles on the cape not because he was gifted but because he was already on the brink of entering E-tier.
It would take him a lot of effort and time to conquer the next stage.
After that, Qin Feng took out the leather scroll detailing the Fire Dragon Style.
Fire runes flickered on the leather as if it was on fire.
Absorb!
Qin Feng did not study the leather like others would have. Other ability users would normally analyze each rune carefully and then laboriously carve each rune onto their own energy core.
To Qin Feng, he would automatically learn the skill simply by absorbing all the runes at once.
He closed his eyes and freely consumed the fire runes from the scroll. The runes entered his E-tier conscious realm and spun rapidly around his diamond core.
The leather scroll suddenly caught fire at one point and the flame was absorbed through Qin Feng’s glabella. Within seconds, the leather scroll turned black, then grey, and finally dispersed as dust.
Within Qin Feng’s conscious realm, the large number of fire runes was all dyed by the gem of darkness and transformed into Hellfire. It spun around the diamond planet within Qin Feng and dark red flames gradually engulfed the entire core and took the form of a scarlet dragon.
After all the runes were imprinted onto the core, the dragon fully materialized and seemed eager to wreak havoc under the command of his new master.
Qin Feng had thoroughly mastered the new skill within a short amount of time.
His unique ability allowed him to improve drastically at an unprecedented rate.
Nonetheless, E-tier and below were considered entry-level. After that, the difficulty of being promoted to the next level would become significantly tougher.
***
The next day, Qin Feng contacted Chi Long to inform him about his departure.
“Why not spend some time to chill in our city? We have some extraordinary sceneries here.” Chi Long laughed and said.
“I wish to but I have many things to deal with. After all, I still have a small colony to take care of.” He was actually not involved much in the development and management of Fengli but he used it as an excuse.
“Haha. I get it. I have prepared an automobile for you. Take it as a sign of my gratitude and as a thanks for the help from Lady Bai!” Chi Long said joyfully.
In front of Qin Feng and Bai Li was a luxurious hover limousine. It was equipped with autopilot and was very spacious. The mobile appeared stylish and comfortable.
This luxury car cost Chi Long a fortune. It was priced at twenty million.
Chi Long did not earn as much and as fast as Qin Feng. Twenty million was considered ludicrous spending by his standard. But he decided to spend it anyway. After all, Qin Feng had given him thirty million before so he wanted to repay Qin Feng and leave him with a good impression.
“Thanks!”
“Don’t be. In the future, just call me if you need a hand!”
“Naturally,” Qin Feng nodded. He thought highly of Chi Long. He was smart, diligent, and comfortable to be around.
Qin Feng did not wish to make him an enemy. He did not say those words out of courtesy. It was hard to walk alone in this post-apocalyptic earth. Dangers that might emerge anytime would need aptitude users like them to save the day. Besides, conflicts between different parties would surely ensue in the future.
Qin Feng would do what he could to help those he viewed as allies and he hoped for the same from Chi Long.
Qin Feng exited the city in the limousine. He changed directions as soon as they were out of the city’s surveillance.
He was not heading back to Chengyang. This was the place he wanted to go all along.
Qin Feng checked his communicator. The time on it slowly ticked toward the same time in his past life.
At the junction, one after another, trucks swirled down the mountain route. On top of each truck, several gunners were puffing leisurely while standing guard.
It was just a normal conveyance. The only unusual thing about this group would be the freight they were transporting.
Slaves!
These cars were traveling to Sea City. The city formed a triangle with Chengyang and Fu City. As its name suggested, this city resided by the sea, threatened to be demolished by the raging waves at any time.
Here, brutal fights broke off every now and then. Aptitude users here were ready to give their lives at any moment. Hence, they lived on the knife’s edge every day and indulged extravagantly.
A lot of teenage girls from the slums would be kidnapped and sold to Sea City.
Qin Feng was unaware of this in his past life. He was one of those guards on the roof then.
Though he figured it out later on, he did not have enough courage and capability to save them after narrowly escaping death himself.
More than ten trucks passed him by like the wind. They did not notice Qin Feng at the corner. Qin Feng started the limousine’s engine and trailed behind them.
One of the gunners noticed Qin Feng’s limousine immediately.
“Wow! Where did this tycoon come from?”
The owner of the luxurious limousine must be showing off. Otherwise, he or she would not have driven this car out in the wild.
To an ordinary G-tier aptitude user, only a tycoon could have afforded such a vehicle.