Chapter 56 | Infinite Reincarnation, Starting From a Slime

[You have died]

[Born: Month of Fresh Green (April), Year 640 of the Sacred Circle Calendar. Died: Month of Sowing (March), Year 641 of the Sacred Circle Calendar. Lifespan: 11 months]

[During your 11-month slime life, you stepped into the extraordinary world, advancing to a Lv. 26 Mid-tier Monster and surpassing 99% of humans. Soul Points +400]

[Achievement Unlocked: High-Quality Monster. Soul Points +100]

[You have accumulated 531 kills of Lv. 1–Lv. 10 lifeforms. Soul Points +53]

[You have accumulated 93 kills of Lv. 11–Lv. 20 lifeforms. Soul Points +930]

[You have accumulated 4 kills of Lv. 21–Lv. 30 lifeforms. Soul Points +200]

[You have accumulated 1 kill of a Lv. 41–Lv. 50 lifeform. Soul Points +500]

[In your 11-month slime life, you raised an F-grade skill to max proficiency for the first time. Hidden Achievement Unlocked: "Only a Smattering". You have gained the Talent: Developed Hair Follicles (F-grade)]

[In your 11-month... you raised an E-grade skill to max proficiency for the first time. Hidden Achievement Unlocked: "Limited Knowledge". You have gained the Talent: Soft Body (E-grade)]

[...you raised a D-grade skill... Hidden Achievement Unlocked: "Knows a Thing or Two". You have gained the Talent: Melee Genius (D-grade)

[...a C-grade skill. Hidden Achievement Unlocked: "Knows Quite a Lot". You have gained the Talent: Unearther (C-grade)]

[You defeated a higher-tier enemy. As a Mid-tier Monster, you killed a High-tier Rose Knight. Hidden Achievement Unlocked: "Breaking Barriers". You have gained the Talent: Wall Smasher (C-grade)]

[You acquired a magic item for the first time. Hidden Achievement Unlocked: "Treasure Collector". You have gained the Talent: Lesser Appraisal Eye (D-grade)]

[You established a territory famous in the surrounding area. Hidden Achievement Unlocked: "Lord". You have gained the Talent: Master Reincarnator (F-grade)]

[You may begin your next reincarnation at any time]

What a massive harvest!

Zoe looked at the various achievements unlocked before him and his massive pool of Soul Points. His soul flickered with pure excitement.

He was in no hurry to reincarnate. He had already confirmed that time in the Reincarnation Space was not synchronized with the outside world. Since time here was frozen, he could take all the time he wanted.

If not for the fact that he lacked a physical body in the Reincarnation Space and couldn't actually train himself, he really would have wanted to stay here grinding levels, only leaving once he had become an overpowered god.

First, he needed to carefully examine his newly acquired talents.

He had gained quite a few talents this time, including two high-level C-grade talents. He had to look over their effects carefully.

“So, reaching max proficiency on a skill for the first time rewards a talent of the corresponding grade.”

Zoe realized the pattern behind the achievements and rewards tied to skill leveling.

[Name] Zoe Sable

[Talent Skills] ●Infinite Reincarnation (SSS-grade), ●Reincarnation Space (S-grade), Wall Smasher [New!] (C-grade), Unearther [New!] (C-grade), ●Apprentice (D-grade), Melee Genius [New!] (D-grade), Lesser Appraisal Eye [New!] (D-grade), ●Diligence Compensates for Lack of Talent (E-grade), Soft Body [New!] (E-grade), Master Reincarnator [New!] (F-grade), Developed Hair Follicles [New!] (F-grade)

[Talent Skill Slots] ●●●●○ (4/5)

[Soul Points] 2094

Zoe began inspecting each of his talent skills.

First were [Soft Body (E-grade)] and [Developed Hair Follicles (F-grade)]. He had already rolled these two talents in his previous reincarnations, so he was already well aware of their effects.

Next was the F-grade [Master Reincarnator].

[Master Reincarnator (F-grade)] Active only when reincarnating into humans or other intelligent species with established social structures. Increases the chance of being born into a wealthy family.

This was only F-grade?

For something so incredibly powerful to be rated F-grade... This single skill was a starting line that many spent their entire lives trying to reach.

[Lesser Appraisal Eye (D-grade)] Slightly improves vision overall. Grants the ability to see through and appraise items and living beings.

It was pretty good—an information-type talent.

[Melee Genius (D-grade)] Comprehensively boosts close-quarters combat talent. Allows you to exert 120% of your power in close combat, and makes it easier to gain proficiency in melee-related skills.

A powerful skill. Perhaps in his next life, he could use this talent as a foundation and allocate his stat points to suit close combat.

[Unearther (C-grade)] Slightly improves learning talent. Makes it easier for you to unearth the effects, power, and potential of your skills, as well as discover your own talents.

A talent geared toward learning and general growth, though the description was a bit vague.

Unearthing skill effects and discovering his own talents.

Zoe recalled how it felt to activate his Withered Fruit State in his previous life—how he could easily combine and fully unleash the potential of his various skills.

“Could it be like that? No, it probably isn't quite that powerful.”

Zoe had experienced that minute and thirty seconds of the Withered Fruit State, feeling what it was like when his talent was pushed to the absolute physical limit.

If he could maintain that feeling for an extended period, it would definitely far exceed the effects of a C-grade talent.

This talent likely only possessed a fraction of the Withered Fruit State's capabilities.

[Wall Smasher (C-grade)] Increases the damage of your charged attacks and heavy strikes. Grants an innate mastery of hammers, making it easier to gain proficiency in hammer-related skills.

Awesome!

Hammers were incredibly powerful weapons, but they required immense strength and relied heavily on a user's raw physical traits.

If this talent were paired with [Melee Genius], the synergy would likely be outstanding.

Having secured two powerful close-quarters combat talents, he already knew what he wanted for his next life.

Focus on melee, and allocate his stat points with a close-combat core.

Should he invest in Flesh, Blood, and Bones?

Zoe had some reservations about that. Having zero Bones as a slime in his last life had actually been incredibly fun to play.

Thinking that melee characters absolutely had to invest in Flesh, Blood, and Bones seemed far too superficial to Zoe.

Extreme min-maxing was the only true path!

[Please review or adjust your attributes:]

[Eyes] 5

[Blood] 10

[Flesh] 10

[Brain] 10

[Bones] 0

[Talent Slots] 4/5 (1000 Soul Points to add 1 slot)

[Attribute Points] 35/35 (Before total attribute points reach 40, 10 Soul Points can purchase 1 attribute point)

[Soul Points] 2094

Zoe first spent 50 Soul Points to purchase 5 attribute points.

At this moment...

[Attribute Points] 35/40 (Before total attribute points reach 60, 50 Soul Points can purchase 1 attribute point)

“The price actually went up fivefold.”

Zoe suddenly felt like his stash of over two thousand Soul Points wasn't that much anymore.

He spent another 1000 Soul Points to purchase 20 attribute points.

The price had gone up again.

Zoe looked at his remaining 1094 Soul Points. Spending them now would only get him about 10 attribute points, which didn't seem very cost-effective.

He might as well unlock another talent slot; carrying an extra talent would yield far better returns.

After weighing the pros and cons, Zoe spent 1000 Soul Points to unlock an additional talent slot.

[Talent Slots] 4/6 (10000 Soul Points to add 1 slot)

“The price hike for these talent slots is even more ridiculous!”

Zoe complained inwardly but didn't dwell on it too much. He would leave the headache of rising prices for his future self to deal with.

He began allocating his attribute points.

[Eyes] 10

[Blood] 0

[Flesh] 40

[Brain] 10

[Bones] 0

[Attribute Points] 60/60

Indeed, Zoe had decided to challenge his softest trait once more.

With Flesh fully maxed out, sheer physical power would be the exact reason he would rule as king.

“Infinite Reincarnation, let's see where your limit lies.”

Next, Zoe turned his attention to his talent slots.

[Infinite Reincarnation] and [Reincarnation Space] were permanent talents that Zoe couldn't unequip from his slots.

Not that he would ever want to unequip them anyway—he wasn't suicidal enough to try that.

Thus, he had four usable talent slots remaining.

After careful consideration, Zoe ultimately chose to equip: [Unearther (C-grade)], [Wall Smasher (C-grade)], [Melee Genius (D-grade)], and [Lesser Appraisal Eye (D-grade)].

He discarded [Apprentice], which was also a D-grade talent.

[Apprentice] could boost learning capability. In his previous life, Zoe had combined [Apprentice] with [Diligence Compensates for Lack of Talent] on top of his Withered State to play the role of a genius.

However, since [Melee Genius], [Wall Smasher], and [Unearther] all boosted his potential or talent acquisition, Zoe chose to drop [Apprentice], which only boosted learning speed, and replaced it with [Lesser Appraisal Eye].

[Lesser Appraisal Eye] could enhance his vision and cover the information gathering department. It was highly practical.

Vision was incredibly important, after all.

In his previous life, Zoe had only invested 5 points into his Eyes. When flying high up, he couldn't track movements on the ground at all and had to rely on Vera.

And in the end, when facing Jaden, he had been toyed with repeatedly, unable to even see the man's shadow.

He finally finished adjusting and confirming his attributes and talents.

[Attribute panel confirmed. Requirements for reincarnation met.]

[Do you wish to consume 10 Soul Points to randomly draw a time-limited talent?]

“Draw.”

Drawing a talent was always the best part—using a tiny amount of Soul Points to gamble for endless possibilities.

[Drawing... Drawing complete. You have gained the Talent: Super Cheek Pouches (F-grade)]

[Super Cheek Pouches (F-grade)] Your cheek pouches are incredibly developed, allowing you to store a large amount of items.

[Reroll requires 20 Soul Points]

Of course, those "possibilities" were highly volatile.

Compared to pulling a legendary talent, the probability of rolling absolute garbage was far higher.

“Reroll.”

[...Drawing complete. You have gained the Talent: Large Stomach (E-grade)]

[Large Stomach (E-grade)] Your stomach can hold a massive amount of items, far exceeding its actual physical volume.

[Reroll requires 40 Soul Points]

“Does this reroll cost grow exponentially?”

The [Large Stomach] talent wasn't too bad since it worked like inventory storage, but Zoe couldn't help but feel that picking it would make his reincarnated appearance look incredibly unsightly.

“Reroll.”

[...Drawing complete. You have gained the Talent: Plunder (B-grade)]

[Plunder (B-grade)] You receive double experience from killing monsters and can seize one ability from the target.

Note: 1. You can only hold one plundered ability at a time. Plundering a new ability will cause the previous one to disappear.

2. This talent cannot plunder abilities of a grade higher than the talent itself (B-grade).

3. You cannot increase the proficiency of or permanently master plundered abilities.

[Reroll requires 80 Soul Points]

“A B-grade talent!”

Zoe felt like this run was completely secured.

The double experience would also allow him to speed through his initial weak phase.

In his last life, his level had reached Lv. 26. Before hitting Lv. 26 in this life, he could utilize this experience bonus to rapidly level up—or rather, reclaim his former strength.

It was a pity that such a fantastic ability was time-limited and would only last for this single run.

This was an absolutely god-tier starting hand. He had to make sure he cherished this life.

B-grade talents were not easy to roll. He had no idea how long it would be before he got another perfect start like this.

Zoe locked in the [Plunder] talent.

[Before reincarnating, you may choose one skill from your previous life to inherit.]

[Basic skills are inherited by default, and skills with max proficiency are inherited by default.]

[Basic Skills] Canon of Withered Life Lv. 3 (B-grade), Dragon Body Fusion Lv. 2 (B-grade), Sable-style Swordsmanship Lv. 3 (E-grade), Common Forging Lv. 3 (E-grade)