Now that Fang Senyan and Hegel had formed a partnership, his available Universal Points soared to 8800, with 9 Potential Points—a historical high. Fang Senyan had spent a full five hours haggling in the trading market, leaving him little time left to linger in the space. [Bookmark:] After a quick final sweep of the market, he intended to rush off to enhance his basic abilities. However, upon arriving at a newly opened stall, his gaze was suddenly snagged by an item.

Butcher’s Bone-Scraping Axe Origin: Blacksmith Shop, Temple Court, Arizona Equipment Rarity: Light Blue Attack Power: 3~16 Material: Un-forged Steel Weight: 11.2 kilograms Attack Speed/Durability: Slow Equipment Requirement: Strength must be 9 or higher, Stamina 6 or higher Equipment Slot: One-Handed (Left or Right Hand) Weapon Special Effect "Parry": You can use this weapon to parry incoming melee physical attacks from enemies. If the parry is successful, you reduce the damage taken by 10%~50%. When your combined Strength + Stamina attributes are higher than the attacker's, the damage absorption ratio is 30%~50%. If your combined Strength + Stamina attributes are lower than the attacker's, the damage absorption ratio is 10%15%. In addition, various other factors influence parrying success. Description: Every successful parry will reduce the weapon’s durability by 510 points. When durability reaches 0, this equipment is instantly destroyed with no possibility of repair. You can acquire repair capability within the space or from special mission figures in certain Nightmare Worlds. Axe-type Weapon Additional Effect: Accuracy reduced by 1%, Critical Hit Chance increased by 2%. This Equipment Combat Rating: 9 Evaluation: The broad axe head can effortlessly parry an enemy’s strike.

To be frank, this weapon felt somewhat redundant for many users, primarily due to its slow attack speed and utterly unremarkable base attack power. Of course, the passive weapon effect, "Parry," and the 2% increase in critical hit chance were definite bright spots; otherwise, it would be destined for the scrap heap.

What Fang Senyan truly valued about this axe was the passive effect that offered a chance to parry enemy attacks. Although achieving this might cost the weapon its very existence, for Fang Senyan, who had lost the Cobalt Steel Alloy Exoskeleton, a weapon that offered both offense and defense was perfectly suited to his needs. With the boost from his high Strength, even with the relatively low base attack, this weapon could still inflict respectable damage against most enemies. By wielding the axe in his left hand and his incredibly powerful flintlock pistol, Ambition, in his right, Fang Senyan believed he could handle most situations.

However, every advantage has its drawback. This Light Blue rarity weapon was clearly highly sought after. When Fang Senyan spotted it, a large crowd had already gathered around the contractor’s stall. Furthermore, this contractor seemed eager to depart and had spontaneously organized an auction right there, explicitly stating it would go to the highest bidder. Seeing the situation, Fang Senyan gritted his teeth and squeezed into the bidding fray. It turned out the contractor was highly interested in the Light Blue First-Aid Kit Fang Senyan had just acquired. After a fierce tug-of-war, Fang Senyan finally secured the one-handed axe, paying the First-Aid Kit plus 1000 Universal Points.

Next, Fang Senyan naturally proceeded to enhance his basic abilities. His current basic attributes were: Basic Melee LV1 Basic Footwork LV2 Basic Endurance LV1 Advanced Basic Ability: Grappling Combat Proficiency LV1

For the Advanced Basic Ability, Grappling Combat Proficiency, to advance to LV2, the preceding three basic abilities needed to be raised to LV2 first.

Fang Senyan checked his Nightmare Sigil and walked toward the northern section of the Nightmare Space. Upon reaching the boundary wall of the space, the Nightmare Sigil on his chest emitted a ray of light. After paying 200 Universal Points, a doorway naturally opened before him. Entering, Fang Senyan found himself in a dimly lit chamber where lines of text floated before him in a 3D holographic projection. A mere touch from his hand could summon the relevant services.

Clearly, Fang Senyan’s biggest current weakness in close combat remained speed. Therefore, even though Basic Footwork had been enhanced to LV2, he still chose to upgrade this attribute directly related to velocity. The prompt indicated a cost of 1000 Universal Points + 1 Potential Point. After selecting "Confirm," Fang Senyan successfully achieved the attribute enhancement.

But Fang Senyan quickly noticed a significant jump in the cost to upgrade Basic Footwork from LV3 to LV4—it required 2000 points + 2 Potential Points, doubling the equivalent currency cost! After a moment of thought, he decided to proceed with a test upgrade for Basic Footwork. To his surprise, after upgrading to LV4, an extra notification appeared: Basic Footwork LV4: Increases the owner's chance to dodge enemy attacks by 3%, increases the master’s base movement speed by 8%. Notification: You have upgraded Basic Footwork to LV4, triggering the relevant conditions. Please draw one additional special effect granted by Basic Footwork LV4. Notification: You will randomly draw one effect from the following special effects to serve as the additional special effect granted by your Basic Footwork LV4. You have ten seconds; if no action is taken, the space will automatically assign one attribute for you. A: Damage taken from falls from high places reduced by 33%. B: Owner gains an additional 2% Dodge Chance. C: Owner gains an additional 2% Base Movement Speed. D: Slowdown effects experienced by the owner in harsh terrain (deserts, swamps, etc.) are reduced by 33%. E: Owner’s chance to be hit by melee attacks increases by 2%, Evasion Rate against ranged attacks (including magic and ranged physical attacks) increases by 4%. F: Owner’s chance to be hit by ranged attacks increases by 2%, Evasion Rate against melee attacks increases by 4%.

"I can actually draw an additional special effect?" Fang Senyan was momentarily astonished. He immediately considered that perhaps other basic abilities would present similar bonus rewards when upgraded from LV3 to LV4! Given the ten-second time limit, Fang Senyan immediately chose to draw. The result settled on E: Owner’s chance to be hit by melee attacks increases by 2%, Evasion Rate against ranged attacks (including magic and ranged physical attacks) increases by 4%.

Finally, Fang Senyan’s final attributes for Basic Footwork LV4 were: Basic Footwork LV4: Increases the owner's chance to dodge enemy attacks by 5%, increases the master’s base movement speed by 8%. Additional Special Effect: Owner’s chance to be hit by melee attacks increases by 2%, Evasion Rate against ranged attacks (including magic and ranged physical attacks) increases by 4%.

Immediately after drawing the random attribute, Fang Senyan received another notification from the Nightmare Sigil: if the contractor was dissatisfied with this effect, they could pay 1000 Universal Points + 1 Potential Point to revert Basic Footwork back to LV3, making the acquired special effect disappear, and then upgrade Basic Footwork back to LV4, which would naturally grant another chance to draw!!!

Evidently, contractors who were financially secure and wished to pursue extreme attributes in a certain area could use this method to repeatedly train until they acquired the properties they desired. For Fang Senyan, the outcome of this draw was quite satisfactory—though, even if it hadn't been, he wouldn't have dared to reset the process, as he was now down to only 4600 Universal Points and a mere 6 Potential Points. After some deliberation, Fang Senyan spent a total of 1000 Universal Points and 2 Potential Points to raise both Basic Melee and Basic Endurance to LV2, thereby fulfilling the condition required to upgrade Advanced Basic Ability: Grappling Combat Proficiency.

However, advancing Grappling Combat Proficiency from LV1 to LV2 came at a steep price: a full 3000 Universal Points + 3 Potential Points! Fang Senyan gritted his teeth and reluctantly purchased the upgrade. The resulting improvement to Grappling Combat Proficiency was quite significant: Fang Senyan’s melee attack damage/dodge/block/parry rates all increased from the original 7% to 10%, which could be considered excellent value for money.

After this period of frenzied spending, Fang Senyan’s Universal Points had shrunk back to 600, and his Potential Points to just 1, plunging him back below the poverty line. He then visited the bar in the space and attempted to sell some relevant mission experience, but after interacting with several contractors, he realized this action would only expose his capabilities without yielding any real benefit. This was because every world experienced by a contractor changed dynamically, meaning most information was highly personalized and carried a high risk of being useless.

To use a simple example: in the Terminator world, Sarah Connor exists, and killing her is extremely difficult, but it’s not impossible! Fang Senyan had just heard accounts of contractors succeeding in killing her. If she were killed, would John Connor, the leader of the Human Resistance, never be born, thus causing the plot to stall and Skynet to completely dominate Earth? Certainly not. The Nightmare Space would automatically adjust; the leader of the Human Resistance would be replaced by another individual, serving the exact same function as John Connor, though perhaps with differences in personality and behavioral patterns. If you paid a hefty sum to buy information about a hidden quest involving John Connor... but in the Terminator world you experienced, that person no longer exists, wouldn't you be in tears with no recourse for a refund?

………… Happy Singles' Day. May my update accompany you through this festival, and may you all bid this holiday farewell forevermore.