Chapter 1002 - 483: [Death Outline]

Instead, it was these special support Talents that truly piqued his interest. Seeing the frozen final moments before death through a corpse—to be honest, this ability was already somewhat extraordinary.

On a higher level, it touched upon the concepts of time and causality. It allowed Gauss to look back and see the images of the deceased while they were alive, rather than relying on his original, one-dimensional Perception. This actually had quite a significant use.

For example, if he came across the cold corpse or remains of a human Adventurer in the wilderness, he previously could only cast the Biological Positioning Skill a few times to perceive if there were monsters nearby. If he found nothing, he could only simply bury the remains, unable to do anything else. The monsters that killed them might have long fled, or perhaps the killers weren’t monsters at all, but other humans, natural disasters, or anomalous phenomena. He could only speculate based on clues left on the remains. In special circumstances, the exact cause of death would remain entirely undetermined.

Now, armed with the Death Outline Talent, he could stand beside a corpse and witness what transpired just before their death. This would provide direction for Gauss’s subsequent actions. He could figure out what kind of target he was looking for, whether it exceeded his capabilities, and which direction the threat had come from.

In this regard, compared to being an Adventurer, mastering this Talent might make him better suited to be a detective or crime-solving expert. He wouldn’t need any deduction to pinpoint the cause of death or even identify the culprit. As long as he appeared at the crime scene near the body, many perplexing cases would be effortlessly resolved. He could embody a certain short, red-bow-tied detective and boldly claim: "There is only one truth, and that is..."

Returning to the topic of Talents, Gauss was extremely satisfied with Death Outline after its advancement. Just as he had expected, the concept of a corpse could indeed be abstracted into a much more powerful ability. Moreover, he faintly felt that the reason for this specific direction of advancement was linked to his other existing abilities. His mastery of Future Sight seemed to have given him an initial glimpse into the abilities of the time Domain.

At present, the blue quality was not its peak; it still had room for further improvement.

"Commander Points: 88"

The amount of Commander Points he possessed was neither too much nor too little. Commander Points were much harder to obtain than Elite Points. The base population of Elite Demons was large enough, making their points relatively easy to acquire. In contrast, Commander Demons were essentially bosses within the monster ecosystem, so their numbers were naturally vastly smaller.

Furthermore, only the first kills of certain special Commander Demons rewarded twenty Commander Points. The vast majority of Commander Demon first kills only yielded ten Commander Points, and subsequent kills of the same type suffered diminishing returns: five points for the second kill, two points for the third, and a fixed single Commander Point from the fourth kill onwards.

Based on previous experience, advancing a blue-quality Talent to purple-quality would require at least several dozen Commander Points. Back when Ghost Form advanced into Tier Two Ghost Transformation, it had consumed forty-five Commander Points—even after absorbing a portion of the ghostified ogre bloodline, which had saved him quite a few points. So under normal circumstances, an advancement would require well over fifty Commander Points.

Gauss pondered briefly and ultimately decided not to proceed with the advancement.

Unlike advancing from white to blue quality, which required no hesitation, his current eighty-eight Commander Points would most likely only suffice for a single blue-quality Talent’s advancement to purple-quality. Meanwhile, the number of species in his Monster Atlas was nearing the fifty-species milestone. Once he hit that mark, he would be able to draw another blue-quality Talent. He wanted to draw that Talent first, compare the prospects of the two, and then decide which one to prioritize for advancement. After all, even if he hurriedly advanced Death Outline, it likely wouldn’t significantly boost his monster kill count or point acquisition across different tiers. He had plenty of leeway to wait for the optimal choice.

After finishing his Talent advancement, Gauss returned to the frontline camp.

Over the next few days, no major events occurred, and the overall situation remained relatively stable. The Green Dragon Army from the direction of the Jade Forest did not launch any more large-scale attacks, but small- and medium-scale skirmishes continued incessantly.

The Barry Alliance Army similarly chose to bide their time. Fighting from behind walls and defensive fortifications was generally more advantageous for the human side. They were also happy to let the incoming reinforcements and newly arrived Adventurers use these small-scale skirmishes to adapt to the battlefield, undergo a baptism by fire, and transform.

In fact, over the past half-month or so, a portion of the people in the camp had already completed their Profession advancements. Some had successfully condensed their Profession Tier, leaping from the bottom rungs to become true Professionals mastering a Professional Path. Others broke through level bottlenecks that had trapped them for years, or even longer, reaching new levels.

While war brought massive crises, it also presented unprecedented opportunities. Flipping through history books, one would find that alongside the massive campaigns sweeping across the continent came an endless stream of powerhouses from various races. During times of war, they rose like stars, using the turbulent world as their stage to leave behind their own Legendary Chapters. It was hard to explain in a few words whether heroes made the times, or the times made the heroes, but the two always arrived hand in hand.

Gauss also felt deeply about this. He could clearly sense that the Profession Tier manifestation deep within his consciousness had grown much more active. In practical terms, this meant that the "experience" he gained through various actions beneficial to his Profession Tier had increased. However, Gauss did not make a big fuss over this. He simply continued to toil silently, like a hardworking old farmer.

"Total Monster Kills: 94,515"

Over the past few days, despite the absence of any large-scale battles, his total monster kill count had steadily increased by around eight thousand. This was the result of his daily excursions to hunt down monster tribes in the wilderness, supplemented by the contributions from the Red Dragon Team’s outings.

If the higher-ups of the Jade Forest’s Green Dragon Army were to see his real-time kill statistics, they would likely gnash their teeth in sheer hatred. To the monster faction, Gauss was simply an unpardonable sinner whose crimes were too numerous to count. He was only level 9 and had been working as an Adventurer for just over two years, yet he was already such an efficient killer. It was hard to imagine how astronomically his kill count would skyrocket in a few more years.

Fortunately, the monster faction currently only had a vague sense that this Adventurer named Gauss had killed quite a few low-level monsters; they still had no clear concept of the exact numbers. This was because the dead could not speak. Or rather, those High Tier Monster Lords wouldn’t go out of their way to care about bottom-tier monsters and use special means to make their corpses talk.

Thus, many low-level Demons died at Gauss’s hands without anyone ever noticing. The higher-ups of the monster ranks only saw that their low-level cannon fodder seemed to be depleting faster than expected, prompting them to rush even more cannon fodder to the front from the rear. In a way, they were actually helping Gauss quite a bit.

At this moment, the total kill count that was fast approaching the 100,000 mark wasn’t the only thing Gauss cared about; there were two other aspects on his mind.

He opened his Monster Atlas and flipped to the Elite Demons section. He located the line detailing the number of species. Forty-nine species. He was only one species short of reaching fifty.

This acquisition rate was somewhat slower than he had anticipated. But it was actually understandable. Whether it came to humans or monsters, the overall distribution of numbers across strength tiers took the shape of a pyramid. The higher up the tier, the fewer the numbers. In truth, the number of Elite Demons was only small when compared to Ordinary Monsters. Since Gauss killed so extensively, his objective numbers were still quite high—it was just that many of the Elite Demons he encountered were duplicates of the same species.

Over and over again, it was always the usual suspects: goblins, Jackal-Wolf People, Slimes, Kobolds, trolls, Lizard People, and various common Beastmen. Their populations were massive enough that, even if the Racial Talents of some of these Demons were rather mediocre, their sheer base numbers allowed for the birth of many elite individuals. Moreover, they were the most accustomed to becoming vassals of the Giant Dragons, and thus more proactive in answering the call of the Green Dragon Army to attack humans.

Aside from the number of species in the Elite Atlas, the exchange supplies Gauss had reserved should also be nearing the frontlines after these past few days. President Monroe had specifically sought him out in private yesterday, advising him not to stray too far from the military camp in the coming days, ensuring he would be ready to conduct the trade as soon as the exchange supplies arrived.