Chapter 153: The Bad News from the Mentor

Temporal Asylum (Awakened): Protected by the power of time, stepping outside of time itself to enter an invincible state.
Skill Effect 1: Actively trigger to enter invincibility, lasting for 15 seconds, with a cooldown of 5 minutes and a cost of 30 points of temporal mana.
Hint: While under the protection of the power of time, all environmental restrictions are ignored, allowing travel through any terrain or obstacle to any visible destination designated by intent.
Skill Effect 2: Passive, granting a 20% chance to induce a temporal shift in oneself, completely evading incoming damage.
Hint: This skill cannot be dispelled, and its priority is at the law tier.

"Good grief!"
"There's no need to think twice about this."
"It has to be Temporal Asylum!"
"Invincibility, oh yeah!"

Chu Cheng had previously hoped that his Level 30 hero skill would roll a damage reduction ability, but he never expected it to actually materialize, let on exceed his expectations by directly providing full-fledged invincibility in one go.
Furthermore, this hero skill possessed two distinct effects: one active invincibility and one passive evasion.
This evasion was absolute evasion, requiring no active input from him. Even if he stood completely still, any attack triggered it, allowing him to evade all forms of incoming onslaughts, including spells and martial arts techniques.
Although a 20% chance was not extremely high, it was far from negligible. When engaging bosses, dodging one out of every five attacks was already exceptionally reliable.

"This works, this totally works."

Chu Cheng made his choice with immense excitement, completely ignoring the steep temporal mana cost of the hero skill.
Invincibility! What did a high hero mana cost matter in the face of that? It was entirely justified!

Having completed his hero skill selection, this promotion came to a close. Chu Cheng opened his hero panel, revealing his updated attributes before him.

Name: Chu Cheng
Race: Human
Class: Eternal Sovereign (Immortal)
Level: Level 30
Talent: Spatial Refraction LV2
Hero Specialties: Eternity, Sovereign's Might
Primary Attributes: Constitution 70 + 100 + 76 (246), Strength 70 + 100 + 75 (245), Agility 70 + 35 + 58 (159), Perception 70 + 5 (75), Intelligence 70, Spirit 70
Secondary Attributes: Armor 24, Reflex 15, Willpower 7, Health Regeneration +30/sec
Health Points: 7380 + 500 points
Stamina Points: 7380 points
Mana Points: 2100 points
Melee Attack: 482 + 220 + 115 (817) slashing
Ranged Attack: 572 (piercing)
Physical Defense: 24% + 44 points
Magic Resistance: 50%
Movement Speed: 384
Basic Skills: Omitted
Hero Skills: Time Roam (Awakened), Time Lock (Awakened), Temporal Asylum (Awakened)
Class Skills: Blade Storm LV5, Thunder Shock LV5, Blood God's Body LV5, Berserker Charge LV1, Phase Shift LV1, Nether Strike LV1, Divine Might Critical LV1, Fiery Battle Soul LV1, Titan's Might
Lifestyle Professions: Advanced Fishing, Novice First Aid, Novice Cooking
Profession: Novice Enchanting

After reviewing his attribute panel, Chu Cheng felt thoroughly satisfied.

"The next steps are to acquire more skill points and fill up several more powerful skill slots."

Upon advancing to an elite professional, the skill slot limit had increased from 10 to 15. If he advanced to the transcendent tier, the skill slots would expand further to 25.

"I should go consult my mentor."
"And incidentally, I can ask if there is a powerful hero class suitable for Fang Xi."

Closing the panels, Chu Cheng opened his communication interface and sent a message to his mentor, Yun Dingge.
First, he reported his successful promotion to an elite professional, detailing his growth and gains within the dungeon—such as elevating his one-handed sword mastery to the grandmaster level and soloing the boss—before politely inquiring when his mentor would be free.

To extract benefits from a mentor, the prerequisite was to prove one's own excellence.
Mentors naturally favored high-achieving students because cultivating an outstanding pupil not only brought a greater sense of accomplishment but also tangible benefits to the mentor. Consequently, whatever resources a mentor held were prioritized for their most exceptional students.
Lacking family backing, Chu Cheng had to rely entirely on himself. If he wanted higher-tier resources, he needed to hold tightly to his mentor's coattails.

Yun Dingge was almost always at the academy, and less than a minute after sending the message, a reply came back:

"Come to my office!"
"Right away."

He quickly stepped outside, summoned his magic carpet, and flew toward the central mage tower of the floating city.
Five minutes later, he arrived outside his mentor's office, running into the teaching assistant Jiao Yi just as she was stepping out.
He offered a respectful greeting and stood quietly to the side until the assistant had departed before stepping forward to knock on the door.

"Enter."

Pushing the door open, he saw Yun Dingge examining something through a magnifying glass. Resting on the desk was a blackened piece of white jade, covered in densely packed, microscopic characters even smaller than grains of rice.
Upon entering, Chu Cheng swiftly closed the door, stepped forward to greet his mentor, and then stood quietly to the side without speaking.

Yun Dingge paused his inspection, set the magnifying glass aside, and looked up to appraise Chu Cheng with a nod.
"Not bad, your progress has been quite swift."

With a flick of his finger, a chair automatically slid forward.
"Sit."

Interlacing his slender fingers, Yun Dingge continued:
"Your progress is commendable. You are the third student under my tutelage in this cohort to advance to an elite professional."
"I've briefly glanced over your experiences in the Plague Lands dungeon, and your performance was stellar. What are your plans for your next step?"

Chu Cheng answered immediately:
"To continue strengthening my power, secure a higher-tier hero class for my teammate, strive for first place in the freshmen assessment to claim the legendary-tier equipment, and contend for a quota in the Star Ascension Ritual."

"You certainly harbor grand ambitions."

Yun Dingge smiled faintly and remarked:
"Given your talent and the standing of your hero class, your potential ranks in the top three of your grade. However, whether you can secure a quota for the Star Ascension Ritual remains uncertain."
"You possess one major flaw: you lack top-tier resources. The absolute highest-tier resources are entirely absent from your arsenal."
"In terms of talent, there are several students in this cohort whose aptitude matches yours closely, and a dozen or so who fall just slightly behind."
"In terms of hero classes, only two can rival yours in this entire grade, though there are over a dozen legendary-tier hero classes slightly inferior to yours."
"By those calculations, your comprehensive potential is indeed in the top three."
"Yet potential must be translated into reality, which requires top-tier resources to sustain and unleash, an area where you currently fall short."

Yun Dingge's voice possessed a magnetic timbre as he unhurriedly laid out the stark reality:
"Let me share some bad news first: several of your competitors in the same cohort already hold a piece of legendary-tier equipment in their hands."

Chu Cheng opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.

"Furthermore, quite a few are already preparing to forge their own legendary-tier equipment. Two of your classmates submitted applications to me regarding this just a few days ago."
"Forging their own legendary-tier equipment?"
"Indeed."
"Legendary equipment embodies high-tier power and can be forged personally. During your time in the Plague Lands dungeon grouped with the Thunder Squad, you should be aware that Thunder is currently forging a legendary weapon."
"He is forging the Blade of the Calamity Knight, a process that requires devouring the souls of the four Calamity Knights as one of the steps."
"Legendary equipment forged by oneself is guaranteed to be a legendary item perfectly attuned to one's own attributes."

Chu Cheng asked earnestly:
"Does mentor know how one might forge their own legendary-tier equipment?"