Although Zhang Yanhang was of the opinion that he should still be able to complete this minor goal, after all, once he returned to the Main World, he could try to trigger a related adventure, seeing if he could acquire something additional that would increase his Attack Speed Bonus. Though the likelihood was not high, he knew that he wouldn't know until he tried.

Having dealt with the issue of the six-piece set of Purple Quality Divination Tarot Cards, Zhang Yanhang then picked up the last piece of Equipment he had gained, which was the Divination Tarot Card - Pope that was Purple Quality from the start.

"The additional attribute of this Divination Tarot Card - Pope is a 5% reduction in Skill cooldown time. Although it seems rather insignificant now, if I can later collect both the Divination Tarot Card - Wheel of Fortune and Divination Tarot Card - Judgement to activate their Set Effect successfully, the reduction in cooldown time should become quite significant."

The only skill with a cooldown on Zhang Yanhang's person was the All Four Elements are Void, so the effect of this reduction in cooldown time was, in fact, very straightforward—it could be seen simply as a reduction in the cooldown time of All Four Elements are Void.

The cooldown time for All Four Elements are Void was 30 seconds; with a 5% reduction, it would roughly decrease by 1.5 seconds, allowing Zhang Yanhang to wait just 28.5 seconds after using All Four Elements are Void to use it again. It was, at best, a small consolation—set Equipment usually wasn't very impressive without their Set attributes activated, so this was understandable.

"Suddenly remembered, the Resentment Puppet also has a cooldown for its lethal attack defense.

However, for the Resentment Puppet's 24-hour cooldown time, a 5% reduction is even less meaningful. It would probably reduce about seventy-two minutes of cooldown time.

But it still takes almost twenty-three hours to defend against the next lethal attack, and who fights for twenty-three hours continuously in normal circumstances? So, it's practically unchanged.

Alright, maybe there is a slight change, after all, what if I encounter a lethal attack after the first time and then again after twenty-three hours?

Though the probability of such an event is extremely low, if I did come across such an extreme case, I suppose it could give me a bit more hope for survival, probably."

After settling the last of the Divination Tarot Card matters, Zhang Yanhang quickly placed the Divination Tarot Card - Pope along with the other six cards into his Waist Bag.

"Now that I think about it, even though my Waist Bag has already been fused to +4, it's still only of Blue quality. So here's the question: if I proceed to promote myself to Fourth Tier right away, and the Waist Bag becomes unusable due to the Rank Penalty, wouldn't I be unable to retrieve anything from it?

While it's true that even if I can't use it myself, I can still have other Low-level Awakened assist me in getting things out, someone like Zhao Yalan, but that's really not ideal... especially if Zhao Yalan decides to undercut me. Although, she wouldn't be able to beat me anyway."

Zhang Yanhang felt that he should wait to promote his Rank until he returned to the Main World and also take out the items from the Waist Bag in advance, lest they become unusable. Apart from the Equipment he was currently using, all his wealth was in that Waist Bag, especially the newly-upgraded Purple Quality Divination Tarot Cards and other protective artifact-type Equipment.

Luckily, even if the Waist Bag did become unusable, he could make do with a Storage Box for the time being. The Storage Box, originally a Grey Quality piece of Equipment, was not supposed to be brought out of the Ashen World, but after his modifications, it could now be used normally in the Main World.

Moreover, he had discovered that Grey Quality items seem not to be affected by the Rank Penalty, as Grey Quality items are generally categorized along with White and Green qualities, all belonging to First Tier Quality.

Yet, after his promotion to Third Tier, while the Green Quality ten-piece set was completely outdated, the unusable special Grey Quality Storage Box remained functional. He always took out the Crimson Iron Ore from the Storage Box for his strength tests.

Previously, Zhang Yanhang had fused the Storage Box to +3, giving him eight hundred compartments, or eight hundred cubic meters. Therefore, he could move the contents of the Waist Bag into the Storage Box before promoting his Rank to avoid having to find someone to help later should the Waist Bag indeed become ineffective.

"I remember the group leader once mentioned that she had spare Storage Items. If the Waist Bag really becomes ineffective, I'll ask the group leader for a new Storage Item to put the Storage Box in, to address the problem of how the Storage Box, although vast in capacity, is also large in size and inconvenient to carry around."

Zhang Yanhang thought his solution was perfect but was unsure whether other regular Storage Equipment could be used infinitely like the Storage Items from Raccoon City.

Fortunately, even if infinite stacking wasn't possible, it wouldn't be much of a problem. After all, the main reason he needed a large space was mostly just to store Crimson Iron Ore and Reinforced Concrete for strength testing. If it were truly necessary, he could easily discard these items.

At worst, he could source the materials locally each time he needed to test his strength, which would be just a bit more troublesome. The rest of the contents of his Waist Bag could fit in a Storage Item with a capacity of a few dozen cubic meters, which should be easy to find.

"However, aside from the Waist Bag, my other Blue and Purple Quality Equipment may also lose their bonus effects after promoting to Fourth Tier, which is something that needs a little foresight.

But all that said, there's really no pressing need to address these concerns just yet. After all, I won't promote my Rank until I return to the Main World. For now, it's better to focus on upgrading my skills."

The only skill Zhang Yanhang currently had left to upgrade was his Alchemy. He possessed a total of nine Ash Sources and required only seven to promote his Rank, leaving exactly two Ash Sources to upgrade his Alchemy.

"Choose! Skill Level Enhancement!" Zhang Yanhang immediately initiated the related options, and Time Pause descended once again upon the large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano. Simultaneously, a familiar plethora of text options appeared before him.

[Do you wish to enhance the Skill Level?]

[Option One: 'Gun Mastery LV.MAX' to be upgraded to '???'（Cannot be enhanced）]

[Option Two: 'Fighting Master LV.MAX' to be upgraded to '???'（Cannot be enhanced）]

...

[Option Six: 'Alchemy' to be upgraded to 'Alchemy·Original'（Consumes 2 Ash Sources）]

...

[Option Nine: 'Indestructible Golden Body·Original LV.MAX' upgraded to '???'' (Cannot be enhanced)]

[Option Ten: 'Heavenly Earth Skill LV.MAX' upgraded to '???'' (Cannot be enhanced)]

[Option Eleven: 'Three-Headed Six-Armed LV.MAX' upgraded to '???'' (Cannot be enhanced)]

"As expected, the Heavenly Earth Skill, after being upgraded to LV.MAX, also turned into a non-enhanceable status, just like the other skills.

Once this skill enhancement is complete, my entire skill list will really become non-enhanceable. In other words, they would be utterly maxed out with no room for improvement.

Fortunately, once I return to the Main World, I can be promoted to Fourth Tier. Based on past experience, the promotion should automatically unlock subsequent enhancement options, but it's just uncertain to what extent the upgrade requirements will increase..."

Although he didn't know how high the requirements would be, Zhang Yanhang knew that the less than twenty million Soul points he was holding onto would definitely not be sufficient when the time came. He might not even be able to afford a Profession Level increase, but thankfully, the efficiency of acquiring Soul points should significantly improve after advancing to the Fourth Tier, so he wasn't worried about gathering enough.

"So, I choose Option Six, upgrading Alchemy to Alchemy·Original." Because there was only one skill that could still be upgraded in the entire skill upgrade list, Zhang Yanhang quickly made his final decision. Time Pause vanished instantly.

After elevating Alchemy to the Original Stage, Zhang Yanhang unsurprisingly did not encounter any options to choose Additional Attributes, as it was a special kind of Alchemy without levels that could not involve such choices. So, he immediately began to view the Skill Effect of Alchemy.

[Alchemy·Original (Active Skill)]

[Skill Effect: Transforms one thing into another, no cooldown time, each use will consume 1-??? Energy Value based on the complexity, Quality, volume, and other relevant elements of the transformation.]

[Additional Attributes: Manufacturing]

[Additional Attributes: Fusion]

[Additional Attributes: Enchantment]

[Additional Attributes: Extraction]

"How should I put it, it's still the familiar flavor, although Alchemy has been upgraded to the Original Stage, the textual description of the Skill Effect hasn't changed at all, and the Additional Attributes only added 'Extraction,' which comes without any textual description."

Of course, even though Alchemy's Extraction didn't provide a textual description, after Alchemy was upgraded to the Original, Zhang Yanhang's mind was infused with a plethora of related Alchemy knowledge and specific operational experience, so he had a reasonably good understanding of Extraction.

As it stands, the function of this Extraction can basically be seen as an auxiliary feature, primarily used to extract various materials, mainly for enchantment materials, alchemy materials, medicine materials, and a series of related materials preparation and extraction.

Zhang Yanhang had previously not utilized the Enchantment function much, other than the lack of time, mainly because he lacked relevant materials. But now, with this Additional Attribute that allowed for material extraction, he could attempt to explore the Enchantment function more.

Moreover, the scope of this Extraction is fairly broad; or rather, it's almost universal. Whether it's a Monster's Corpse or ordinary soil, it's possible to extract and attempt to obtain useful things.

"It's a pity that the Crimson Iron Queen Ant's body is already shattered beyond repair, and will soon refresh. Moreover, the corpses of other Monsters inside the Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest Talano have also completed their refresh cycle, otherwise I could have used these corpses to practice Extraction."

However, in comparison to this ability of Extraction, what's most practical for Zhang Yanhang after this Alchemy upgrade is probably the improvement of the Skill strength of Alchemy itself.

If nothing unexpected happens, his Fusion speed should increase further, which can be considered a regular improvement, or say the most fundamental level of enhancement after Strengthening. And what Zhang Yanhang really desired was precisely this most fundamental point of improvement.

After upgrading Alchemy·Original, the additional Alchemy-related knowledge in his mind gradually led Zhang Yanhang to a daring idea.

"Since I can use the same Quality materials to craft weapons of the same Quality, then is it possible that I could transform same Quality Equipment through a simple modification into a high-quality weapon that is merely a shell without much Attack capability, to serve as a material for enhancing the 'All Four Elements are Void, Pure World Fist'?"

To be honest, Zhang Yanhang had nurtured this bold idea a long time ago.

But at that time, he never thought about realizing it due to limitations in his own skills and the strength of Alchemy, yet after this upgrade of Alchemy, he felt he might attempt it.

After all, if he could succeed, he might be able to immediately gather the five Dark Gold Quality weapons needed for upgrading the 'All Four Elements are Void Pure World Fist' to Orange Quality on the spot,

And also, if he really could succeed, he believes the speed of upgrading 'All Four Elements are Void Pure World Fist' will definitely get a significant boost.

"I had an extra Dark Gold Quality Flame God's Crown+1 leftover from my previous Fusion; perhaps, I can try modifying it. However, I still want to keep this Flame God's Crown+1 to see if it can undergo another Fusion, so I should find some other Dark Gold Equipment to experiment with."

But after searching through his Waist Bag, Zhang Yanhang didn't find any spare Dark Gold Equipment. After all, he had just recently acquired Dark Gold Equipment and hadn't reached the point of surplus yet, so he had to proceed with new Fusions temporarily.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yanhang immediately took out eighty un-used regular Crimson Marrow Flame Demon Armors from the surplus of Crimson Marrow Flame Demon Armor he had.

Zhang Yanhang quickly placed all eighty Crimson Marrow Flame Demon Armors into the Alchemy Array and started the regular Fusion process. After a good while of Fusion, five Dark Gold colored Crimson Marrow Flame Demon Armors+4 appeared before Zhang Yanhang, shining with a dark golden hue.

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