Chapter 135: System Upgrade

Xu Xiaoshou comforted his Soul Origin and emotionlessly withdrew from the Zifu Yuan Garden.

Jokes aside, he had never seen the system behave like this before.

"There must be a reason..."

Apart from occasionally popping up in the information bar, the system generally had no other operations.

Everything else, like purchasing skill points or spinning the roulette wheel in the shop, was done by Xu Xiaoshou himself. Well, it might have been rigging the lottery odds.

Nevertheless, its presence was undeniably low—so low that Xu Xiaoshou almost forgot it was actually called the "Passive System" and not just the "Information Bar"!

For it to suddenly do something like this today...

Before Xu Xiaoshou could ponder further, the seemingly "fed and watered" system reappeared in the information bar:

"Passive System upgrading. Please do not disturb!"

Xu Xiaoshou was stunned.

Upgrading?

His eyes lit up. Had it consumed his dual innate attribute power, finally had a change of heart, and decided to improve the lottery success rate?

His mood quickly sank. No, knowing the system's usual behavior... it was more likely to make the lottery rate even lower!

"No!"

Xu Xiaoshou wanted to interrupt its upgrade, but the system gave him no chance. After that single message, the entire red interface faded from his mind.

As it was about to disappear, Xu Xiaoshou quickly glanced at the text at the bottom of the information bar:

"Passive Points: 66666."

This string of auspicious numbers almost blinded him.

How could there be so many?

He remembered seeing it last time, and it was also a series of "6"s, but only four digits?

This time it was five digits?

He rubbed his eyes and looked again, but the red interface was gone.

A pang of panic hit Xu Xiaoshou's heart. He immediately pulled out "Hidden Suffering," pricked his hand with it, pulled it out, and watched the wound heal.

"Good, good, the passive abilities are still there..."

It seemed the system had indeed gone off to upgrade itself.

There was no point in overthinking it, so Xu Xiaoshou didn't pay it any more mind.

He recalled his last glance: over sixty thousand Passive Points... Calculating the time, he had only spent a little over three hours at the Blackfall Waterfall!

During that time, it was him getting injured, resting, resting, him getting injured...

He had accumulated so many Passive Points without even realizing it?

Hmm... actually, it wasn't that much. If calculated at thirty to fifty Passive Points per second, six or seven hours could yield around a million!

Xu Xiaoshou was startled by this calculation, but his initial excitement quickly subsided.

That was too exaggerated!

He couldn't actually stand in the Blackfall Waterfall and let the sword energy continuously strike him from beginning to end; he would typically be covered in wounds after enduring for only about half a minute.

And the healing time wasn't short; it took well over fifteen minutes!

"But!"

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly chuckled. He remembered that in the Passive System's shop, there was a "Tier Two Skill Point" that had appeared a long time ago but had always been grayed out, unavailable for purchase.

With this upgrade, he should be able to buy it now!

Xu Xiaoshou had been coveting it for a long time. Once he could upgrade "Endless Life"...

"Hehe, wouldn't that mean an endless supply of Passive Points?" he chuckled wickedly.

Hmm...

Oh, right, the un-upgraded passive ability's level cap was "Innate Lv.1." Now that it's upgraded... "Grandmaster Lv.1"?

Grandmaster level?!

"Holy crap!" Thinking of this, Xu Xiaoshou's eyes gleamed green.

If "Robustness" at the Innate level granted him an Innate body, then at the Grandmaster level, wouldn't it be the "Grandmaster Body" from Old Sang's stories?

This was a barrier that was incredibly difficult to break through for anyone on the entire continent!

Xu Xiaoshou's heart burned with excitement. It didn't matter if his dual innate attribute power was consumed; if this broken system could deliver a powerful upgrade this time, he'd even give his Soul Origin...

"Pah, I can't give that!"

His mind twitched, a sharp, knotting pain in his brain abruptly interrupting Xu Xiaoshou's daydream.

He quickly looked into his mind, but it was empty.

With a thought, his spiritual consciousness entered the Zifu Yuan Garden and clearly saw a new red interface that had appeared above his Soul Origin.

The Passive System!

"The upgrade is complete?!" Xu Xiaoshou examined it with full anticipation, but was taken aback.

This...

Hadn't it upgraded? Why did it look exactly the same as before, still like cheap street merchandise? So, all this upgrading meant was moving to a different spot and lying down again?

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes dimmed; this was not good news!

Without much thought, he immediately looked at the information bar, which was the only medium for the system to communicate with him.

Information Bar:

"Congratulations, Passive System upgrade successful!"

"New module unlocked: Awakening Pool!"

"Acquired special passive ability: Fist of Passivity!"

Three messages, one of which was useless filler.

Xu Xiaoshou's attention was immediately drawn to the word "special" in "special passive ability."

He currently only possessed three main categories of passive abilities: Basic, Extended, and Mastered Passive Abilities.

Judging by this, was this also a major category?

"Special Passive Ability..."

Xu Xiaoshou looked at the red interface, and indeed, this section appeared below it, with only one piece of information:

"Fist of Passivity."

Oh, really!

Cannot be upgraded?

Alright, it even learned to save him Passive Points; that was somewhat considerate!

Xu Xiaoshou's spiritual consciousness scanned it, and he immediately received the specific details of this passive ability.

"Fist of Passivity: True Damage."

"Fist of Passivity: Accumulates charge when attacked, and expends all charge upon release. One cannot always be passive; sometimes, it is necessary to take the initiative. When patience runs out, there is no need to endure further!"

"Fist of Passivity."

Xu Xiaoshou: "..."

He understood now. So, the series of passive abilities he had previously drawn were to lay a foundation for him, and now it was openly telling him to get beaten up, right?!

And it had the nerve to call it "When patience runs out, there is no need to endure further"?

What direction was this broken system trying to lead him in?!

Grumbling aside, Xu Xiaoshou fell into thought, looking at "True Damage" in the first line.

Was it the "true damage" found in games? Ignores defense?

If so, this passive ability was quite impressive!

He raised his fist and punched the ground.

A large crater!

This was created by his Innate body.

Xu Xiaoshou took a breath and shouted, "Passive..."

"Why does that sound a bit cringey..."

"Never mind... Fist of Passivity!"

"Hup!"

A large crater!

It was nearly identical to the one he had created before.

Xu Xiaoshou: "..."

"Is it because there's no charge value? 0.00 charge, so no damage amplification?"

Xu Xiaoshou flexed his fist and looked toward the Blackfall Waterfall; enduring damage there should increase his charge.

However, he didn't act immediately. Instead, he looked at the second message in the information bar:

"New module unlocked: Awakening Pool!"

He searched for it but couldn't find it on the red interface. Then he suddenly thought of the red roulette wheel in the shop and immediately entered the shop.

Sure enough, a dark, small pond lay quietly beneath the "Red Roulette Wheel."

"Awakening Pool!"