Chapter 96: The Rescuer’s Unconventional Build

“First, the overall strategy had to be determined,” Wang Tianming mused, his gaze fixed upon the talent page. “Each individual possesses one hundred personality points, and since a single talent requires five points, this means a maximum of twenty talents can be unlocked.

Many talents, however, demand that prerequisite talents be fully leveled before they can be learned. The top-tier talents for a Hunter total four, each situated at the four cardinal points of a cross-shaped talent tree.”

“‘Frenzy’ is absolutely essential,” Wang Tianming thought, beginning to allocate his points. “This is because the Fallen Angel’s first-stage physical skill proves incredibly useful, yet the Fallen Angel’s external trait makes it remarkably challenging for her to gain Presence.

A normal Hunter typically acquires first-stage Presence after two hits, and then second-stage Presence after three additional hits. The Fallen Angel, however, requires four hits to activate her first-stage skill, and a staggering ten hits in total to unlock her second-stage skill.”

“‘Detention’, on the other hand, is entirely unnecessary,” Wang Tianming considered, scanning the talent page. “The Fallen Angel is not a killer role; she doesn’t require the one-hit down effect that triggers once the gates are opened.

Furthermore, the Fallen Angel’s second-stage skill inherently includes a ‘Detention’ effect, making it rather wasteful to equip ‘Detention’ again.”

“‘Confined Space’… well, this one isn’t strictly required,” Wang Tianming continued to examine the talent page, “but its prerequisite, ‘Berserker’, is an excellent choice.

It allows for rapid pallet breaking, which will undoubtedly be more convenient when pursuing Destroyers.

The ‘Wanted’ path, however, is not even a consideration; I cannot hook people, rendering that entire branch utterly useless.”

“Generally speaking, ‘Tinnitus’, though a minor talent, is an indispensable pick for every Hunter,” Wang Tianming observed, looking at the talent. He ultimately shook his head. “I’ll pass on this one,” he decided. “I don’t need to know if someone is nearby; I only need to know the Hunter’s precise location.”

****

Following his own unique strategy, Wang Tianming swiftly allocated his points, inadvertently creating what he dubbed a “Ba Gua Diagram” (TL Note: A traditional Chinese spiritual diagram with eight trigrams, often represented as an octagon or circle with symbols, used here to describe a scattered, unconventional talent build).

This was no conventional build that meticulously followed the paths of the two top-tier talents; instead, points were scattered far and wide, resembling the intricate pattern of a Ba Gua, hence its playful moniker.

To the left lay the path leading to ‘Frenzy’, encompassing ‘Hunting Instinct’ (1/1), ‘Desperate Fight’ (3/3), ‘Aftermath’ (3/3), and ‘Frenzy’ (1/1).

Among these, ‘Frenzy’ and ‘Aftermath’ proved particularly valuable. ‘Frenzy’ ensured a rapid, automatic increase in Presence even before the first stage, while ‘Aftermath’ guaranteed that Destroyers lacking ‘Self-Heal’ could only recover half their progress after being downed.

‘Desperate Fight’ reduced decoding, healing, and destruction speeds within the warning range. Yet, Wang Tianming secretly wished for them to repair the machines faster so they could make their escape, and he knew Destroyers certainly wouldn’t be diligently working on cipher machines anyway.

‘Hunting Instinct’ merely allowed him to spot downed individuals within an 18-meter radius, which was, at best, better than nothing.

Moving upwards, the path towards ‘Confined Space’ included ‘Deterioration’ (1/1), ‘Dreadful Shock’ (3/3), and ‘Berserker’ (3/3).

Only ‘Berserker’ truly offered utility, enabling quicker pallet destruction.

As for ‘Dreadful Shock’, given the Fallen Angel’s external trait, ‘Mercy’, it was unlikely to take effect even if triggered.

‘Deterioration’ slowed the decoding, healing, and destruction speeds of injured individuals, which held no practical use for Wang Tianming.

Further down was the path leading to ‘Detention’, where he only allocated points to ‘Inertia’ (1/1), ‘Taunt’ (3/3), and the right branch, ‘Tit for Tat’ (1/1).

‘Inertia’ accelerated his attack recovery speed, while ‘Taunt’ boosted his movement speed after a Survivor was placed on a sacrifice hook.

‘Tit for Tat’ granted him temporary vision of an opponent after being stunned by a pallet.

As for ‘Carnival’ and ‘Detention’ situated further along this path, Wang Tianming chose not to invest any points, deeming them unnecessary.

The path to the right, towards ‘Wanted’, remained entirely untouched; Wang Tianming didn’t allocate a single point there.

It served absolutely no purpose, and, indeed, all his talent points were already exhausted; he had fully allocated all twenty talent skills.

In summary, this was an unconventional and somewhat absurd talent build.

If a regular Hunter had adopted it, they would likely be regarded as utterly foolish. However, Wang Tianming was currently a Rescuer, so perhaps such a build might, against all odds, prove useful.

After all, it was inherently unsuitable for a Rescuer to use a Hunter’s talent page in the first place!