Apocalypse: I Can See the HP Bar, Killing Monsters Drops Loot

A group of people returned to the villa, and Wang Tao gave them the physical awakening keys and ascension crystal cores.

There were only 5 people prepared for the awakening this time, namely Ding Yuqin, Lu Yingfeng, Xu Xiaojun, Xiang Hongbin, and Lu Gang.

It was a small number, but there was no helping it.

Wang Tao, Jiang Shixue, Lan Yulian, and He Jijun had already successfully awakened, naturally, they didn't need to awaken again.

Han Rui and Wei Zhenguo had tried to awaken before, but they had failed. They, therefore, decided not to try for a second awakening. The success rate of a second awakening was only 40%... With such odds, Wang Tao felt there was no need to gamble, for if they lost, the next attempt would only have a 30% success rate... They might as well wait until they had collected some advanced awakening secret keys before trying to awaken again.

As for the last five people, Li Qiuyu, Yang Changhong, Nie Siyan, Chen Zhuang, and Gao Hua... It wasn't that Wang Tao didn't want them to awaken, it was because they didn't have hidden attributes.

Hidden attributes were the foundation for awakening; without them, there was nothing to be done.

However, Wang Tao did have a few items in his possession that could increase hidden attributes...

"I have a few items that can increase hidden attributes, but they all have limitations..."

He took out 3 [Strange Poison Sacs] and 1 [Reality Illusion Pearl].

Strange Poison Sacs were obtained when he killed those venomous creatures from the Insect Clan.

[Strange Poison Sac: After consuming, there's a one-third chance of poisoning, a one-third chance that nothing will happen, and a one-third chance of gaining a hidden ability.]

This item only had a one-third chance of granting a hidden attribute and also a one-third chance of causing poisoning.

Wang Tao wasn't sure what this poisoning entailed, as he hadn't encountered it yet.

However, he had obtained [Strange Snake Fruit] this time, and the information on the fruit mentioned "deadly poison"... so Wang Tao had reason to speculate that "poisoning" wasn't too serious and that "deadly poison" was the more concerning issue. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a need to distinguish the two...

But that was just Wang Tao's personal conjecture. As to the actual situation, he wasn't clear.

As for the [Reality Illusion Pearl], its origin was even older. This was something Wang Tao obtained long ago in Zijing City when he killed a wild boar monster capable of creating illusions.

[Reality Illusion Pearl: Contains a certain amount of spiritual power which can be fused. If one's own spiritual power is higher than the pearl, a hidden ability can be attained. If it is lower, one will be trapped in a true illusion forever.]

The side effects of this [Reality Illusion Pearl] seemed even more significant, possibly worse than [Strange Poison Sac].

Poisoning from the sac was presumably not fatal, but being trapped in an illusion by the pearl... that could amount to a vegetative state!

When the pearl was obtained, neither Wang Tao nor his companions had strong spiritual power. Including himself, Wang Tao felt that merging with this pearl was hazardous, so he had kept it stored away.

Even now, Wang Tao thought using the pearl was risky.

He himself could probably handle it. With his current spiritual power, if he couldn't use it, there likely weren't many others in the world who could.

But he had no need to use it because a person can only gain a maximum of four hidden attributes, just like one can only gain four abilities.

The difference with abilities, however, lies in the fact that after merging four abilities, no more can be merged unless the abilities are extracted.

But if one already has four hidden attributes, one can still obtain more hidden attributes, though this will randomly displace one of the hidden attributes in one's body.

Also, once hidden attributes become awakened abilities, they can't be replenished like regular abilities. For instance, if Wang Tao were to awaken four times and lose all his hidden attributes, he would be unable to gain new hidden attributes.

Wang Tao was quite satisfied with his remaining two hidden attributes, [Body Strengthening] and [Plant Affinity], so there was no need for a change. A good swap would be fine, but a bad one could mean a severe loss.

As for the others, although their strength had increased, Wang Tao always felt there was danger in merging with the pearl... He did not like to engage in uncertain matters, especially when the cost of losing could be equivalent to death.

However, on the other hand, Wang Tao could now control his spiritual power and roughly sense the strength of others' spiritual power. So couldn't he study how much spiritual power was in the [Reality Illusion Pearl] and compare it to determine who could and who couldn't use it?

At that moment, Yang Changhong and a few others suddenly said with determination:

"Wang Tao, I want to merge with this poison sac!"

She had a strong desire for power and did not want to hold Wang Tao back.

Although merging might not necessarily be successful, they had to give it a try.

And with Lan Yulian, the great healer, there, there shouldn't be any accidents. If something does happen like Wang Tao instantly killing a [Night Demon Type I]... she would accept it!

Apart from Yang Changhong, several people without Hidden Attributes were also quite eager. This was a ticket to Awakening, and although the success rate wasn't high, they wanted to give it a try too. After all, with Lan Yulian, the great healer, they had strong confidence.

"Alright," Wang Tao nodded, respecting their choices, but then he added, "Wait a bit, let me study this first..."

Wang Tao slowly probed the [Reality Illusion Pearl] in his hand with his spiritual power. Although the pearl was tightly sealed, after fiddling around for a while, he actually managed to penetrate it with his spiritual power!

Inside was indeed strong spirituality, but it wasn't as strong as Wang Tao had expected... which was good!

Wang Tao was still a bit conservative.

He withdrew his spiritual power and then looked towards Yang Changhong.

"I just did some research, and I think with your spiritual power, you could fuse with this pearl. But I can't guarantee it with 100% certainty..."

Wang Tao couldn't be 100% sure; the spiritual power inside this [Reality Illusion Pearl] was only so much, and there might be areas he hadn't detected...

However, Yang Changhong was obviously adventurous.

"Wang Tao, I trust you! And I trust myself!"

Yang Changhong's eyes shone with excitement. Wang Tao had explained the pearl to her, and if her spiritual power was sufficient, then it would be a 100% success!

"Good, then go ahead and merge with it."

Wang Tao handed the [Reality Illusion Pearl] to her and then turned to the others without Hidden Attributes.

Li Qiu Yu immediately raised her hand to indicate that she would not merge with the Poison Sac and let someone else have the opportunity.

Li Qiu Yu felt she was the weakest. If it weren't for Wang Tao wanting them all to awaken, she would not have wanted to waste the hard-earned items...

Finally, only Nie Siyan, Chen Zhuang, and Gao Hua were left; coincidentally, there were three Strange Poison Sacs, and they were all willing to merge, so one for each person.

Yang Changhong and the other three began to merge simultaneously.

Moments later, Yang Changhong was the first to open her eyes.

As Wang Tao predicted, she had successfully obtained a Hidden Attribute!

Among the other three, Nie Siyan and Gao Hua looked bewildered as they couldn't determine their Hidden Attributes yet, so they didn't know whether they had succeeded. Chen Zhuang, however, turned green—he was poisoned.

Luckily, the poison did not deplete HP too rapidly. It might have been chaotic for others, but with Lan Yulian present, his HP was easily stabilized. It was just that the poisoning would last for an hour, making Chen Zhuang somewhat uncomfortable.

But Nie Siyan and Gao Hua both successfully acquired a Hidden Attribute!

The one-third success rate was a pleasant surprise for Wang Tao. Initially, the plan was for five people to try awakening, but now it had increased to eight.

"It looks like you're in luck! Let's take this good fortune and start trying to awaken right away!"

"Okay!"

Those with an Awakening Key and Crystal Core immediately started merging.

After a little while.

"Hey? One of my Abilities disappeared! Does this mean I've succeeded... so sleepy..."

"Ugh... my Ability is still here..."

Thud, thud, thud...

Amid several exclamations, some people collapsed onto the table, fast asleep.

Wang Tao immediately raised an eyebrow.

Today really was a lucky day! The proportion of successful awakenings was higher than he had expected...