Although the Talent Skill within his Gaseous Mana core was currently only Black Iron Tier, Fang Zhou was very confident. He knew that as long as he mastered High Tier shield Skills, like the Decaying Shield from the Corrosive Poison Series or the Soul Shelter from the Soul Series, he could gradually integrate them into his Talent Skill, allowing it to constantly refine and evolve.

Fang Zhou checked the Skills Bar on his attribute panel. The [Skeleton Armor] Skill had indeed transformed into [Death Protection], now marked as a Talent Skill. He closed his eyes, sensing the subtle changes within his Gaseous Mana core. The benefits of the solidified Talent Skill were simple yet extraordinarily powerful.

After solidifying [Death Protection] as a Talent Skill, a powerful Shield of Death Protection would now be permanently active on his body. Furthermore, each active use of this Skill would enhance its magical effect by fifty percent. This fundamentally improved Fang Zhou’s strategic capabilities and combat system.

By now, Fang Zhou had become a true Bronze Tier Undead Mage. Nevertheless, he clearly recognized that his current combat power still fell considerably short of a standard Bronze Tier Professional. After all, he had only mastered a few Black Iron Tier Skills and had yet to learn a single true Bronze Tier Skill or Mage Specialization.

Thinking about this, he looked at his attribute panel. His Spirit Main Attribute had jumped to a high of 300 points, while his strength, constitution, and agility Attributes had all risen to 150 points.

Satisfied, Fang Zhou took a deep breath and opened his personal terminal. All his hard work hunting in the Fierce Beast Mountain Range and completing tasks for Beast Fighting City had earned him a massive amount of contribution points and Magic Stones. This was all so he could immediately exchange them for the Skills and Equipment he wanted upon reaching the Bronze Tier. Now, it was time to cash in.

He opened the resource library of the Sea City Military Academy. Fortunately, the network connection in Beast Fighting City was relatively stable, and there was even an academy office established here. Using his personal terminal’s serial number, Fang Zhou successfully logged into the Sea City Military Academy’s internal network.

For Fang Zhou, the most direct and effective path to improvement was acquiring the Bronze Secret Medicines that enhanced basic Attributes. These Secret Medicines were designed specifically for Bronze Tier Professionals and could significantly boost a user’s four basic Attributes: strength, constitution, agility, and Spirit. Most importantly, they were extremely precious Cultivation Resources that came with no side effects.

Fang Zhou had taken the same series of Attribute Secret Medicines during his Apprentice and Black Iron Stages. Now that he had broken through to the Bronze Tier, he naturally planned to redeem and use them at the first opportunity.

His recent experiences in Beast Fighting City had made Fang Zhou fully appreciate the tremendous support the Sea City Military Academy provided for his Cultivation. For the vast majority of outside Professionals, rare resources like Attribute Secret Medicines were an unattainable dream they might never encounter in their lifetime. Even for most financially strapped students at the academy, the limitation of contribution points meant they had to live within their means, cautiously selecting only the most suitable Secret Medicines for their Profession. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

But Fang Zhou’s situation was different. Haven’t I worked so hard all this time just to enjoy a moment like this? While other students were still hesitating over a single bottle, Fang Zhou had already decided, without a second thought, to acquire all four types.

These Secret Medicines were not cheap. Each bottle was priced at 5,000 contribution points, a tenfold increase from their Black Iron Tier counterparts. The total for all four bottles came to 20,000 contribution points. Even with his seventy-percent discount, Fang Zhou still had to pay 6,000 contribution points. While this was a significant expenditure, for the ambitious Fang Zhou, the investment was undoubtedly worthwhile.

Besides the direct attribute boosts from the Secret Medicines, the newly ascended Bronze Tier Fang Zhou also needed to upgrade his Equipment. As his formless mana evolved into Gaseous Mana, his capacity to bear the load of more powerful Equipment increased significantly. He could now replace his entire White Common Quality Ember Mage set with the Green Excellent Quality [Sea City Radiance] Mage set. This was superior Equipment prepared by the Sea City Military Academy for its outstanding Bronze Tier graduates and was considered the best gear the academy’s logistics resource library had to offer. Paired with his Dusk Robe and Soul Shattering Magic Ball—two items that were already Green Excellent Quality—all eight of his Equipment slots were now filled with Green Excellent Quality gear. Beyond the raw stat bonuses from each piece, he also benefited from the [Sea City Radiance] set bonus, which provided a slight increase to his Spirit Attribute, enhanced his magic effects, and reduced mana consumption. These changes resulted in a significant and obvious boost to Fang Zhou’s overall combat power, allowing him to be far more effective on the battlefield.

However, Fang Zhou also realized that upon entering the Bronze Tier, some of the Marvels he had relied on during the Black Iron Stage had become ineffective due to their low tier. Marvels of White Common Quality, such as the Whip of Suffering, Charging Scroll, Bone Armor Phylactery, and Ring of Shock, had performed admirably against Black Iron Tier enemies. But when facing Bronze Tier opponents, their effects were negligible and could be all but ignored. Similarly, general Marvels like the Flower of Sighs, Flower Elf Dance, and Mirror of the Heart were now struggling to keep up, offering almost no substantive help for his current level of Cultivation.