Chapter 5 Secondary Somatization

  Wu Song woke up again after several hours, but this time, the pain in his body had disappeared, replaced by an indescribable feeling of comfort. This feeling was similar to what he had experienced when he first learned about Body Doubling. Therefore, he had some confidence that this upgrade would be successful. Wu Song excitedly checked the current status of his Body Doubling skill through his auxiliary device and immediately discovered that it had indeed been upgraded to level two.

  Physical Amplification (Level 2, Active Skill): All agility enhancements on the user's body are converted into strength and constitution enhancements at a ratio of 1:2 and 1:1.5 respectively. After conversion, the user's strength and constitution increase, but agility enhancements remain unchanged! Consumes 150 spiritual energy points. Additionally, after successful conversion, consumes 2 spiritual energy points per second.

  "Awesome!" After seeing the brand new Body Doubling effect, Wu Song couldn't help but let out a loud roar. Compared to the first level skill, the second level Body Doubling had made a huge leap in attribute conversion ratio. However, what made Wu Song feel most delighted was that after transformation, the user's strength and physique increased, but the agility bonus remained unchanged! This also meant that when using Body Doubling again, while gaining increased strength and physique, the original agility would still be fully retained. In other words, Wu Song could retain the smooth attack rhythm and movement of a thief while possessing the powerful strength and physique of a barbarian, which was something that the first level Body Doubling did not have. Otherwise, when facing the Silver-maned Magic Leopard earlier, Wu Song would have already used Body Doubling to fight it with all his might.

  "It seems that my wish to become a violent 'thief' may come true soon!." Wu Song excitedly used Body Doubling in the house after reaching the second level of Body Doubling standards.

  The secondary physical amplification also has a significant difference in appearance compared to the primary one. When Wu Song used physical amplification at the primary level, his body would rapidly expand uncontrollably. After advancing to the secondary level and using physical amplification again, Wu Song still felt the expansion effect, but this time he could control it. He tried adjusting the degree of expansion and quickly changed from a giant-sized muscular man back to his original physique before transformation.

  "Wow!" He transformed back to his original form, Wu Song smiled with satisfaction, and very happily, he slapped the wall of the toilet with a loud bang. The thick brick wall, which was at least 20 cm thick, was like tofu, and a hole as big as a washbasin appeared!

  "Hmm..." Wu Song shook his head with a mix of frustration and disappointment, having just upgraded to a second-level Body Doubling. He still couldn't control his strength at will, and looking at the large hole in the wall, he realized how foolish it was to test this new body's abilities at home. Wu Song let out a bitter laugh and quickly returned to normal.

  The main reason Wu Song finally chose the profession of thief was that he had a good understanding of the properties of this skill when he searched for relevant information about body duplication in the auxiliary device.

  He believes that the powerful combat capabilities and robust physique beyond the barbarians, combined with the speed advantage and agility of the thieves, will be invincible in actual combat.

  Wu Song was used to a life of relying on his powerful physique to charge into battle, but now he had become a thief. This kind of life, where he could only make small moves from behind and run away quickly, was truly like living in a state of constant fear for Wu Song. But with the skill of Body Double, Wu Song believed that happy days would soon arrive!

  "You bastards who bullied my dad, just you wait! One day I'll make you return what's mine and spit out what you've eaten of mine!"

  Actually, Wu Song's life for the past few months had not been comfortable. Although he was able to solve his basic needs of food and clothing with his own abilities and even have some surplus, in this world where strength is revered, the hardships of a tenth-level solo thief were something that Wu Song could never have imagined before crossing over.

  Before crossing over, Wu Song, a gaming otaku, had been living a simple and happy life for a long time, going online to kill people with friends and offline to build relationships with his girlfriend. However, after arriving in this world, Wu Song found that his old tricks no longer worked.

  Because he didn't have the strength, he had been robbed of his prey by other adventurers and even mercenary groups more than once. For this, Wu Song had almost paid with his life, and the repeated close calls made him realize how important it was to have strength in order to survive in a world filled with killing!

  Having been robbed and forced to swallow his anger, Wu Song, who had never suffered a great loss before, felt that this feeling of suffocation was even more unbearable than losing his life. He went all out to crazily boost his strength, sparing no cost, just so he wouldn't have to live in such misery again. And now, with his physical strength boosted to level two, Wu Song finally saw a glimmer of hope!

  As soon as he thought of the day when the salted fish would turn over, Wu Song felt that every cell in his body was revealing an unspeakable comfort. He pursed his lips and smiled, and with a hundredfold confidence, he checked the relevant information about the next level of physical doubling through the auxiliary device.

  Physical Duplication (Level 3, Active Skill): All agility enhancements on the user's body are converted into strength and physique enhancements at a ratio of 1:2.5 and 1:2, respectively. Additionally, after Physical Duplication, agility enhancements increase by 50%. Consumes 250 spiritual energy points. After conversion, consumes an additional 3 spiritual energy points per second.

  Upgrade required level: 20

  Upgrade materials:

  Evil Energy Grass x3,

  Misty Flower x4,

  Black Energy Crystal 150g,

  Rotten Bone Dragon Tooth x2,

  Bloodthirsty Vine 400g,

  Triangle Magic Rhinoceros Horn Powder 100g,

  Titan Spirit Essence 15g.

  "Whoa, that's awesome!" Wu Song was initially thrilled when he saw the effects of his third-level Body Doubling skill. If the second level could be described as "powerful", then the third level was enough to be called "transformative". Not only did it further enhance attribute conversion abilities, but also increased agility during transformation, meaning that once in this state, speed and evasion capabilities would also reach a whole new level. This was great news for Wu Song, but a complete tragedy for his enemies.

  But... When Wu Song saw the requirements for upgrading his skills, he couldn't help but feel a sense of despair. Level 20 was still manageable, and according to this world's standards, it should be considered the benchmark for a level 10 super-ability user. Although it wasn't easy to reach that standard, with the help of auxiliary equipment, it was still possible to achieve it within a few months. However, the materials required for upgrading made Wu Song feel thoroughly depressed. Each item was worth over 500 crystal coins, and some things like Titan's Spiritual Essence were even more expensive, with one gram costing thousands of crystal coins. Fifteen grams would mean spending over 10,000 to 20,000 crystal coins. Wu Song roughly estimated the total cost based on auction prices and realized that he needed at least 55,000 to 58,000 crystal coins to collect all the required materials. However, his savings from several months of hard work didn't even cover a fraction of that amount. Furthermore, advancing to a super-ability user also required a large sum of money for body modification. Wu Song suddenly felt like crying, but had no tears to shed.

  "NND, in the past when I didn't have money, I could still sell blood, but this damned world doesn't even have a place to sell blood, I'm just born with a laborer's fate...". As soon as he thought of the materials needed for upgrading skills, the excitement from previously upgrading his physical strength to level 2 instantly disappeared, and he faced reality. This poor guy could only passively accept it. He sighed while simply tidying up his doghouse, and after a few minutes, he removed the soundproof barrier and went out.