Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

After the transaction was completed, Lin Yi finished the last bit of "Echo" in his glass. The slightly pungent sensation once again soothed his slightly agitated mood caused by the noise of the smoke rings.

He nodded slightly to the witch as a farewell.

Ten minutes later, Lin Yi found himself in the skill enhancement hall of the Reincarnation Paradise.

This is always one of the busiest areas in the park, with countless contractors moving through the huge halls and entering the skill enhancement pods.

Ignoring the surrounding noise, Lin Yi walked straight to a lift cabin deep inside that had an idle indicator light on.

Sensing his approach, the hatch silently slid open to the sides, revealing an extremely pure, silvery-white interior.

Apart from a sleek chair that perfectly conforms to the curves of the human body, there is nothing else.

As soon as you step inside, the hatch closes rapidly behind you, instantly isolating you from all noise, smells, and light.

Absolute silence descended, leaving only his steady breathing and heartbeat.

After lying down, Lin Yi took out the [Dream Walker's Fortification] scroll, and with a forceful movement of his right hand, the skill scroll shattered.

"Om-"

A torrent of energy surged into his sea of ​​consciousness in an instant. Lin Yi clearly sensed that his soul essence seemed to be suddenly tightened by countless delicate and tough threads, while the other end was deeply embedded in every cell, every inch of flesh, and every bone in his body.

The soul is no longer a high and relatively independent "commander," and the body is no longer simply a "container" that carries the soul.

It was as if sturdy bridges had been built between them, making the transmission of information more direct and efficient than ever before.

Using his understanding of concepts, he realized that the "coupling" between the soul and the body was forcibly increased by several orders of magnitude by this skill through violent means.

This means that in the spiritual dimension, such as the dream world, the proportion of power from his physical body that his soul projection can bear will be greatly increased.

However, this close relationship also means risks.

Once the soul suffers a severe blow, the pain and damage that tear the soul apart will be fed back to the body without hindrance along these bridges, causing a double devastating blow to both the soul and the body.

Conversely, the severe breakdown of the physical body, and the resulting death and disintegration information, will also flow upstream along the bridge, impacting and even dismantling the stable structure of the soul.

"Fortune and misfortune are intertwined." Lin Yi understood.

The high risk is exchanged for an unparalleled advantage in survival and combat on special battlefields, a point he had repeatedly weighed before deciding to acquire and use this skill.

The rewards far outweigh the risks, especially given the upcoming mission that clearly points to the "dream world".

【Dreamwalker's Fortitude lv.MAX (Passive Skill)】

Skill Effect: Permanently increases the user's base physical resistance when entering special mental/consciousness dimension spaces such as "Dream World," "Nightmare World," and "Sea of ​​Consciousness." Upon entering the mental world, the user's physical attributes mapping ratio will increase to 50%, while the intelligence/mental attribute mapping ratio will remain unchanged.

Synopsis: A sturdy physical body is the ark for consciousness's voyage. This is the cornerstone of survival forged by generations of explorers in countless perilous mental environments.

This skill, which involves the connection between the soul and the body, is at its peak from the very beginning. To advance further, one must invest even more precious resources: Gold Skill Points.

Without hesitation, Lin Yi invested all four gold skill points into [Dream Walker's Fortification].

The next world will be the dream world, so Lin Yi naturally needs to make more preparations.

As four gold skill points were invested into [Dream Walker's Fortitude], Lin Yi felt that his body seemed to have undergone some kind of change.

If learning [Dreamwalker's Fortification] is like building a bridge, then investing gold skill points is like frantically reinforcing and widening those bridges.

Lin Yi felt that the connection between his soul and body had become stronger, and even faintly revealed an immortal quality.

They are no longer just channels for transmission, but rather form a more efficient circulating network.

【Dreamwalker's Fortitude lv.MAX++++ (Passive Skill)】

Basic attribute mapping ratio increased: When entering special mental/consciousness dimension spaces such as "Dream World", "Nightmare World", and "Sea of ​​Consciousness", the mapping ratio of Strength, Agility, and Stamina attributes is increased to 65% (from 50%). The mapping ratio of Intelligence and Spirit attributes remains unchanged at 100%.

The temporary buff effect of soul power on the physical body is increased by 15%, and the nourishing and protective effects of the physical body's qi and blood on the soul are increased by 15%. Collateral damage caused by soul/physical damage is reduced by 10%.

Mental Erosion Resistance: In a special mental dimension, the basic resistance to negative effects such as mental erosion, consciousness distortion, and existence dissolution is permanently increased.

Synopsis: With the soul as its rudder and the body as its vessel, this is the ultimate ark for exploring the boundless sea of ​​consciousness. Golden power has strengthened its keel, extended its range, and enabled it to remain steadfast even amidst mental storms.

This 15% increase may not seem like much, but in high-level battles, every bit of attribute improvement can be the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

In an environment where superior attributes determine life or death, this 15% represents an absolute leap forward.

What he values ​​even more is the newly added "Soul-Body Coordination Enhancement".

The former means that he can better exert his overall strength in any situation, and the four golden skill points are excellent value for money.

Moreover, this time, the [Dream Walker's Fortification] skill did not upgrade after investing four gold skill points, which means that the potential of the [Dream Walker's Fortification] skill is much stronger than imagined.

After resolving the [Dream Walker's Fortification], Lin Yi took out the second scroll—[Ode to Life].

"Shoot-"

The scroll was torn open, and a burst of emerald green light instantly filled the entire skill enhancement chamber.

A massive amount of information flooded into Lin Yi's mind like a burst dam!

Unlike the rule-based embedding of "The Dream Walker's Fortification," "Ode to Life" instills a vast amount of knowledge.

Analysis of the essence of life energy, the resonant frequency of life rhythm, the construction principle of life field, the design of energy circuit... This information, like the most complex three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, instantly filled Lin Yi's consciousness space.

Even with Lin Yi's current true intelligence of 127 points and his mental resilience that had been strengthened many times, he still felt a strong dizziness and throbbing pain.

Faced with an overwhelming flood of information, Lin Yi immediately focused all his attention, like the most sophisticated computer, and began to process, sort, and understand this knowledge at high speed.

With the assistance of the skill enhancement pod and in a state of high concentration, those five minutes felt like five long and arduous days and nights to Lin Yi.

Sweat had already soaked his forehead and hair, sliding down his temples and dripping onto the cold seat.

But his eyes grew brighter and brighter after the initial hardship.

"I see!" Lin Yi exhaled a long breath, his eyes filled with understanding and a hint of solemnity.

He finally understood why the activation conditions for [Ode to Life] were so demanding, and why Tianlei, a sixth-tier mage, couldn't afford to use it.

The core of this skill is not simply "releasing a powerful group healing spell".

Its essence is to instantly construct an extremely complex and highly stable "life energy field generator" around the caster.

This requires the caster to have a near-master-level understanding of the nature, flow, transformation, and resonance of life energy.

This is why the prerequisite for skill scrolls is the strict requirement of having a master-level or higher basic healing skill.

Without this foundation, you wouldn't even be able to understand the design diagrams of these tens of thousands of micro energy circuits.

Each circuit corresponds to a specific frequency of the life rhythm, and is responsible for the absorption, transformation, transmission, release, rebound, and addition of gain states of energy.

Its complexity is comparable to building a sophisticated life energy factory in an instant.

What are the consequences of forced learning? At best, it will result in a backlash of skills, causing the failed energy field to explode and severely injuring the caster.

In severe cases, the energy can completely spiral out of control, with the violent life energy either bursting the caster into pieces or instantly draining all their life force, turning them into a withered, dried-up corpse.

The base cost of 10,000 points now seems not only justified, but can even be considered the "minimum fuel" necessary for activating this skill and maintaining the stability of its basic framework.

The vast majority of the energy is used to instantly ignite and start this massive life field and maintain its basic framework in the real world.

As for life recovery, abnormal resistance, and physical strength recovery, these are merely "byproducts" and auxiliary functions that naturally arise after this massive life field generator operates normally.

Like a nuclear power plant, its core function is to generate electricity, but the heat generated can be used for heating. This is the true source of the terrorist strategic value of "Ode to Life".

Once you understand the principles, mastering them will come naturally.

A vast knowledge system was imprinted deep within his soul, transforming into instinctive skills.

【Ode to Life lv.1 (Active Skill)】

Skill effect: Consumes 10000 points of Abyss Power. Creates a spherical area with a radius of 1000 meters (increases with skill level) centered on the caster, which is a mental link for all friendly units within the area that have established a mental connection or have been marked.

Restores 1% + (Intelligence Attribute × 0.5) points of maximum health per second to the target for 1 hours (increases with skill level).

Friendly units under the healing effect will reflect magic damage equal to 5% of the healing amount back to the attacker each time they are attacked by melee attacks during the duration of the healing effect.

Friendly units within the aura's range gain a 10% increase in abnormal status resistance and a 20% increase in stamina recovery speed.

Description: Whispers of the heart of the forest, a hymn to the revival of all things. [Do/Do not upgrade Life's Blessing to level 1. Each level requires 20 Soul Coins to upgrade this ability.]

As soon as Lin Yi confirmed the upgrade, the Soul Coins in his personal space were instantly deducted by the Paradise of Reincarnation.

【Ode to Life lv.10 (Active Skill)】

Skill effect: Consumes 10000 points of Abyss Power. Creates a spherical area with a radius of 2000 meters (increases with skill level) centered on the caster, which is a mental link for all friendly units within the area that have established a mental connection or have been marked.

Restores 1.2% + (Intelligence Attribute × 0.5) points of maximum health per second to the target for 2 hours (increases with skill level).

Friendly units under the healing effect will reflect magic damage equal to 10% of the healing amount back to the attacker each time they are attacked by melee attacks during the duration of the healing effect.

Friendly units within the aura's range gain a 12% increase in abnormal status resistance and a 25% increase in stamina recovery speed.

Synopsis: The whispers of the heart of the forest, a hymn to the revival of all things.

"Duration and range doubled!" This is the most intuitive and important improvement after the upgrade.

With a super-large spherical coverage area of ​​2000 meters in radius, the number of friendly units that can be protected will increase exponentially in large-scale team battles and legion confrontation scenarios. Its strategic value can no longer be described as a simple "powerful healing" but is almost a capability that changes the rules of a local battlefield.

The slight increases in recovery amount, damage reflection ratio, and buff effects are icing on the cake.

"We must test the actual effect." Lin Yi stood up and left the skill enhancement pod.

He needs a sufficiently open space, and ideally, a "target" to be hit before he can conduct the test.

Without a doubt, the training grounds are the perfect place to do this kind of thing.

After paying a small amount of Paradise Coins, Lin Yi selected the "Custom Battlefield Simulation" mode. A complex set of settings options popped up on the screen in front of him.

[Scene: Ancient battlefield for defending a city.]

[Friendly Units: 10,000 standard human soldiers (average stats at early Tier 2), equipped with medium shields, no special abilities.]

[Enemy Unit: Simulated ranged attack. Set as: outside the city walls, a continuous, over-the-top arrow rain attack generated by rules. Each round of arrow rain covers an area with a radius of 300 meters. The arrow damage type is physical piercing, with a base damage of 50 points per arrow (ignoring light armor). Attack frequency: one round of over-the-top arrow rain per second.]

[Environment: A section of the city wall that has been breached, a densely defended area by friendly units.]

After confirming the settings, the teleportation light instantly enveloped Lin Yi.

The damp, cold air, mixed with the strong smell of blood and dust, rushed towards Lin Yi. The deafening shouts of battle, the clang of metal on metal, the whistling of arrows, and the screams of the dying filled Lin Yi's ears instantly.

He was standing on a section of dilapidated ancient city wall, with huge stone slabs covered in knife marks and arrow holes beneath his feet.

The surrounding area was densely packed with soldiers dressed in simple leather armor and carrying leather-covered wooden shields.

Most of them looked terrified and exhausted, their bodies tense, shields held tightly above their heads or at an angle in front of them, forming a not-so-solid shield wall.

The sky was a gloomy, oppressive gray, but what was even more suffocating was the dense rain of arrows that blocked out the light of day, like a locust swarm passing through!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The sharp, piercing sounds of air being torn apart blended into a deathly shriek.

Black arrows rained down like a storm, relentlessly striking the shields held high by the soldiers, producing a series of crackling sounds.

"Hold on! Hold on!" an officer shouted hoarsely, but his voice was instantly drowned out by the sound of arrows.

puff!puff!puff!

A shield cannot protect the whole body, much less completely stop every powerful arrow.

Almost every second, soldiers around Lin Yi let out shrill screams.

Some had their limbs pierced by arrows, while others were unlucky; their shields were repeatedly struck in the same spot and shattered, and subsequent arrows hit vital points, causing them to fall to the ground, twitch a few times, and then remain motionless.

Blood spread rapidly across the city walls, soaking the ground. Soldiers fell every second, and the defensive formation became increasingly shaky under the constant pressure.

Lin Yi stood in the center of the shield wall, ignoring the stray arrows that brushed past him; this was exactly the kind of extremely high-pressure environment he needed.

"A Celebration of Life!"

boom--!
Centered on the spot where Lin Yi was standing, an intricate and dazzling emerald green magic circle instantly unfolded beneath his feet.

hum!
A rich, emerald-green halo enveloped this area of ​​the city wall.

Something incredible happened!

The wounds on the soldiers' bodies, torn by arrows, were visibly stopping bleeding and shrinking, with tender new flesh growing back.

The arrow lodged in his body was gently expelled from his body by a soft force, and the wound healed rapidly.

Her face, which had been pale from blood loss, quickly regained its color, and her fatigue vanished.

Ah! My injury... is healed?

"A miracle! This is a miracle!"

"I feel... my strength has returned! I can fight again!"

The soldiers shouted with a mixture of surprise and joy, and the previously shaky shield wall instantly became as solid as a mountain.

Those soldiers who should have fallen after being hit by arrows only staggered slightly before gritting their teeth and raising their shields again.

"It's quite convenient," Lin Yi thought to himself, evaluating the skill.

As long as the core framework of this field is stable, the subsequent energy distribution and healing processes are completely automated, requiring no distraction or manipulation.

Soon, a new problem arose – how to quickly mark friendly units?
Marking 10,000 soldiers one by one with mental power while they are constantly moving in a chaotic battlefield is too inefficient and almost impossible.

However, Lin Yi was prepared. In the active activation state, the [Ultimate Aura] can actively select "friendly units" within the aura's coverage area that meet Lin Yi's will to link with.

This kind of link itself carries a clear spiritual symbol.

As the [Ultimate Aura] covered the area, it instantly swept across all soldiers within a 2000-meter radius.

Almost simultaneously with the sweep of the halo, an extremely faint spiritual imprint appeared on each soldier.

The marking was completed in less than fifteen seconds.

These more than 10,000 soldiers were instantly added to the "friendly units" list of [Life Tribute].

The effect was immediate!

"Effect verified." The skill's range, healing efficiency, group buffs, damage reflection mechanism, and the ability to quickly mark enemies when combined with [Ultimate Aura] all met expectations, and it performed even better under the pressure of actual combat.

With a thought, Lin Yi stopped the output of the Abyss Power.

hum...

The enormous and dazzling life magic array beneath their feet quickly dimmed.

Without the protection of the domain, the soldiers' recovery effects vanished instantly.

Although they were still full of energy, the casualty figures immediately began to rise again when faced with the arrows that became deadly once more.

The teleportation light shone again, taking Lin Yi away from this simulated killing battlefield.

[Simulated battlefield test complete.]

[Battlefield Environment: Defense of a Breach in an Ancient Fortress Wall (High-Intensity Long-Range Coverage Strike)]

[Initial number of friendly units: 10000]

[Test duration: 7 minutes and 17 seconds]

[Life Praise Domain Activation Time: 5 minutes 02 seconds]

[Final number of surviving friendly units: 8873]

[Friendly unit survival rate: 88.73%]

Lin Yi looked at the settlement information and a satisfied expression appeared on his face.

An 88.73% survival rate is terrifying under such a saturation attack that takes place every second.

This fully demonstrates the strategic value of [Ode to Life] on large-scale battlefields. (End of Chapter)