When the plot-skips players into the game world

But even so, if teammates completely fail to avoid any mechanics and take all the damage head-on, it's certain that there's no coming back from that.

After all, having maxed out three Container traits, it could at most refill fourteen tubes of health.

Moreover, this means that he cannot choose any "Affinity Class" traits to gain offensive capabilities before level thirty, nor can he select any rare traits.

The choice of Path attributes, in some cases, matters even more than the advancement of the profession itself.

Purple rare traits and golden mythic traits, which become available after level fifty, can permanently change the form of a skill.

Take for instance the [Universal Salvation] from the Path of Devotion, a must-have for nearly every Priest.

It is a purple attribute that turns all single-target buff spells into group effects while halving their duration.

Since it only reduces duration without diminishing effects, this is highly effective for team battles.

In addition to this, priests can also compensate for the lost duration with the general Path attribute [State Delay], which doubles the duration of all state skills; or they can improve their non-instant healing powers through the Path of Adaptation's [Origin of Life], enhancing their healing amount by a third and reducing the healing cycle by a third, which provides greater healing output from Illumination Art in a given time and effectively saves Mana; or they can use [Body of Light] from the Path of Devotion to add an extra one and a half times Mana consumption, to shift to using the entire body to release "Illumination," transforming Illumination Art into a movable, long-range, group healing capability that doesn't require sustained close guidance, thus further enhancing the group combat capability.

But a level fifty Priest could only choose five from this plethora of options, plus a given Container or Affinity.

Because everyone's preferences differ, leading to different Path attributes, the characters they build are also completely unique.

What's to be feared is not knowing the effects of Path attributes, hence choosing wrong. Or regretting halfway, or not knowing which Path to take anymore.

But unlike other Transcendents who have no clue about what Path they'll take in their future, Aiwass always has a clear goal and knows how to reach it.

This allows him to ensure that every advancement is worthwhile!

——I choose the second one.

Aiwass mused to himself.

After Aiwass chose the "Vessel of Blaze and Brilliance," the other two options shattered.

He felt the minor cut on his face that had just been made, heal remarkably quickly. A warm current flowed into his body along with the invisible seeds of light.

The Candle Master nodded at him slightly and then turned and left.

Aiwass felt an increasingly surging warmth inside his body; looking down, he noticed his skin becoming translucent and gradually starting to shimmer with light.

As a firefly does, a fire and light ignited within him——

And when the light in his chest became overwhelmingly bright, Aiwass suddenly awoke from his dream, drenched in sweat.

He was still seated in his wheelchair, and outside the sun had just risen. He had slept for less than six hours.

As soon as Aiwass opened his eyes, his attribute panel appeared before him with changes to indicate that his advancement was successful:

Priest LV10: [Basic Prayer-2nd level (3%)], [Rite of Fire-2nd level (5%)], [Illumination-2nd level (15%)], [Blessing-2nd level (0%)], [Shepherd's Nurturing (flesh)-2nd level (10%)]

Mana Pool: 22/22 (Light), 5/5 (Darkness), 44/44 (Fire)

Path attributes——

Dedication-Vessel of Blaze and Brilliance: Light arises from fire, and fire floats upon light. Your soul is nourished by both. Your "Flame Container" and "Light Container" levels increase by one.

Dedication-Light Container LV1: You ingested the Blood of the Candle Master, and your soul has been expanded. The maximum capacity of your Mana Pool (Light) increases by 14.

Dedication-Flame Container LV2: You ingested the flesh of the Candle Master, and your soul has been further expanded. The maximum capacity of your Mana Pool (Fire) increases by 42.

Aiwass took a deep breath.

He felt incredibly reassured.

With the "Vessel of Blaze and Brilliance," the minimum guarantee was enough!

——Regardless of whether he gets the "container" trait next time he advances or not, Aiwass is definitely going to gather enough mana to complete the production of the first Blank Card before level 20!

No, or rather—he doesn't need the blue Path trait of Flame Container at all anymore.

Next time, he can grab a rare trait to strengthen himself!

"...That being said, I still have to try to get first place in the next full moon ritual," Aiwass murmured, "But, to think there's an instant replay during the settlement phase..."

This was an important reminder.

Very timely.

Fortunately, each "highlight" is just a moment, so others probably can't understand what he did.

So, next time he would have to be even more cautious in his actions and not reveal too much—while still scoring high?

Although he was not certain how much the score ranking contributed to the enhancement of rare traits, Aiwass was pretty sure there was definitely a probability bonus. Otherwise, getting two purples in the first advancement ritual would be too frightening.

Generally, a Transcendent's first two traits could only be blue container or Affinity traits, and players often couldn't be bothered to grind—after all, you have to take "Affinity" and "container" a few times, so it's better to get them early on.

And the material for rerolling traits, "Heart of Reformation," has to be obtained through in-game purchases.

Because grinding for Path traits is both time-consuming and costly, even though this trait system, similar to that of a Rogue, offers high playability and possibilities, the game designer's 'dearest mother' is still frequently orbiting at the speed of the first universe outside the atmosphere.

Aiwass also originally thought he would have to rely on chance, and at that time, he felt quite pessimistic—after all, he didn't know how to obtain this in-game purchase item for washing away Path traits in reality.

It sounded extremely rare just by the name.

But as he completed an entire ritual, he suddenly realized something—

Wait, isn't the ritual in the game a castrated version?

Not only does the advancement ritual lack any storyline, you just land and fight a random BOSS... and the loot is random too.

At most, there's a "weekly UP" given by the game designer, which could slightly increase the probability of getting certain Path traits.
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But the three traits Aiwass got... they don't seem all that random.

The opportunity he got to choose the "Light Affinity" trait was probably related to his evident lack of combat ability at critical moments—if Aiwass were a native without the ability of a Prophet, he might have realized his own fragility during the ritual and thus chosen the [Light Affinity] trait to gain combat strength.

The trait "Vessel of Blaze and Brilliance" was clearly because Aiwass drained his entire Mana Pool at the moment of death.

Similarly, he might have felt a lack of mana, and thus chosen this trait... even though the depletion of his mana wasn't due to casting spells, but rather from using the "Nurturing Skill" to burn it off all at once. However, this judgment mechanism clearly didn't recognize the difference.

As for "Tainted Light," it is highly likely related to some of Aiwass's slightly unorthodox actions. His soul briefly merged with a Demon, and he even took the initiative to kill.

But the existence of "Nurturing Skill" does indeed make this behavior in line with the Path of Devotion, reasonable and justifiable.

So this advancement ritual might assume that Aiwass should belong to "the more unorthodox followers of the Path of Devotion," hence kindly offering him a similar unorthodox Path trait and asking if he wanted to switch to damage output.

Apart from the rarity, these three traits are essentially Path traits "customized according to Aiwass's personal style" by the advancement ritual.

Pretty smart.

——So that means, one's actions and evaluation during the ritual could potentially influence the category of Path traits one randomly gets?

Aiwass fell into deep thought.

Maybe he should conduct an experiment during the New Moon Ritual next month to verify it?

Meanwhile.

The other participants were gradually opening their eyes.