I Want It All

Under the gaze of everyone, Jiang Xiao walked forward at a measured pace.

Coincidentally, a boy with side-swept bangs named Zhang Hai had just come down.

"Yo, Jiang Xiao, huh?"

Zhang Hai had just awakened an extraordinary spirit weapon—with seven skill slots—and looked exceptionally impressive.

He said arrogantly, "Keep it up. If you play the Ghost Alliance poorly, it's fine; just don't be the same in real life."

The Ghost Alliance is a national game.

Jiang Xiao came from an ordinary family. His character normally had only three skills and was often beaten badly, remaining in the Silver tier.

Zhang Hai was different. His character boasted as many as seven skills, and with the advantage of spending money, he had reached Platinum and often used that status to attract girls.

"Ghost Alliance?"

Jiang Xiao thought for a moment, then flashed a set of big white teeth and smiled, "Even with three skills, I can still beat you!"

What a joke!

Although the original owner of this body wasn't impressive, Jiang Xiao was a master in MOBA games!

When he used to play League of Legends, Jiang Xiao was once a renowned "everyman," almost making it into the professional ranks.

Unfortunately, his parents later showed up wielding feather dusters.

Zhang Hai didn't get angry either. He chuckled, "All talk, aren't you the King of Verbal Sparring?"

Jiang Xiao couldn't be bothered with this little upstart and walked up to the podium.

Gazing at that milky white spirit stone, as round as an egg, something stirred in Jiang Xiao's heart.

For some unknown reason, he felt an inexplicable repulsion—as if he were looking at a disgusting clump of something akin to a certain repulsive substance.

"What's going on?"

Jiang Xiao was puzzled, not understanding why he felt such aversion.

"Forget it, let's do this—Oh, yeah, let's go!"

No matter how repulsive it was, Jiang Xiao gritted his teeth and grasped the spirit stone firmly in his hand.

At that moment, no one noticed that the shadow beneath Jiang Xiao suddenly produced a strange ripple…

Whoosh!

A dazzling white light flared.

Jiang Xiao was extremely excited and immediately widened his eyes.

A phantom image of a pitch-black dagger emerged from within his body.

"Dagger!"

Jiang Xiao was thrilled; this was far more useful than those spirit weapons like stones or scissors.

Its pure streamlined design exhibited perfect proportions; the blade was sharp, as if it could slice through the air. The subtle, dark luster combined with the hidden patterns on the blade gave it an extremely bewitching appearance.

By appearance alone, it was undoubtedly a peerless, fearsome weapon!

However, Jiang Xiao's excitement was short-lived. The next moment, a cold voice belonging to Chen Fan sounded,

"Common-grade spirit weapon, three skill slots."

Whoosh!

In an instant, Jiang Xiao stood frozen in place.

Did he...mishear?

"Hahahahahaha!!! Three skill slots—look at the ones at the bottom of Class 3, Grade 1!"

From the audience, the small group led by Zhang Hai erupted in ear-splitting laughter.

A chubby kid exclaimed in shock, "Jiang Xiao, how did you awaken such a trash spirit weapon as your true weapon?"

Three skill slots—this pretty much sealed Jiang Xiao's future.

Others had five or six skills—a control skill, a burst skill, a survival skill, and even additional healing or AOE damage skills.

With only three skills, what can you do?

Reality isn't like a game; there is no so-called balance.

The more skills you have, the stronger you are!

Chen Fan's gaze didn't linger on Jiang Xiao for long and soon shifted away. "Next!"

Jiang Xiao stood dumbfounded on the side, utterly dejected.

Earlier, he had been full of ambition, dreaming of awakening an extraordinary spirit weapon and having a brilliant future.

In the blink of an eye, fate had played such a huge joke on him.

"Extraordinary spirit weapon, six skill slots."

Chen Fan's voice rang out once more, and immediately a girl clenched her fist with joy; her cheerful expression stood in sharp contrast to Jiang Xiao's.

"This is such a waste—just like in the game, completely useless."

Zhang Hai sneered arrogantly,

While one of his lackeys quickly added, "Brother Zhang, what are you doing comparing yourself with this trash common-grade spirit weapon?"

"Hahahaha."

Zhang Hai was overjoyed; not only in the game but even in real life, everything was going his way.

"Sigh… three skills are just three skills…"

After a long while, Jiang Xiao sighed and walked back to his seat.

Sitting down, a chubby kid behind him offered a few words of comfort.

Jiang Xiao managed a weak smile, "It's nothing."

He summoned that dagger once more and began to play with it in his hand.

Truly a true spirit weapon—although it was the first time he held it, it felt as if he had been accustomed to it for decades, like a part of his body, evoking a sense of closeness.

"What a pity, what a pity… it looks so cool, but how can it only have three skills?"

Even though he wielded it with ease, when he thought of his future path, Jiang Xiao couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed.

At that moment, he suddenly froze as if electrocuted.

"…Just now, when you awakened your true spirit weapon, you were in anguish, but now you've opened a whole new door…"

In his pupils, words formed as if condensed from ink, inexplicably floating into view.

"What the heck?"

The text drifted in the air, and Jiang Xiao quickly looked around at everyone else.

At that moment, all the classmates in the classroom were summoning their true spirit weapons, and no one noticed this anomaly.

"What exactly is this? Am I the only one who can see it?"

Jiang Xiao rubbed his eyes.

When he opened them again, the text still hadn't disappeared.

Moreover, no matter where Jiang Xiao looked, this text clung to him like maggots on a bone, ever-present.

After a while, the jet-black text suddenly began to change,

"…Overwhelmed by the sudden change, you become somewhat at a loss, and then you lower your head and see your own shadow…"

Jiang Xiao was confused; he lowered his head to look.

In an instant, his face changed dramatically.

Beneath the desk, his own shadow was extraordinarily strange!

In the sunlight streaming through the window, everyone's shadow was just a faint black.

But his own shadow was pure pitch black—utterly black, as if it were a black hole that swallowed everything, not even light could escape.

What made Jiang Xiao's heart tremble even more was that he distinctly saw something twisting and writhing within his shadow…

"…Your shadow is very special. You suspect that it might have the ability to devour stray ghosts…"

That ink-formed text shifted in a bizarre manner once again.

"Damn it, what did I guess? Explain yourself! Hey!"

Jiang Xiao fumed inwardly at the text, "What on earth is this text? Why does it seem to be talking to itself, or purposely trying to mislead me?"

"…Doubtful of whether what you're seeing is real, you then decide to find a ghost to verify…"

This time, the text noticeably diminished, and before long it vanished completely.

For a long, long time afterward, Jiang Xiao never sensed anything unusual again.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, "Why is my shadow so strange? And what do these bizarre words mean? A hint?"

Looking at his now normal shadow, Jiang Xiao suddenly made a bold conjecture, "If this is true… could it be that my shadow can really devour stray ghosts and directly gain their abilities?"

With that thought, Jiang Xiao's heartbeat quickened.

Thump~ thump~

Like the beating of war drums, Jiang Xiao felt as though a whole new world was opening up to him.

Even if a Spirit Summoner's aptitude were extraordinary, even a top-grade spirit weapon only had, say, ten skill slots—there was a limit.

But if his thinking was correct, and his shadow could indeed devour other stray ghosts without limit…

His future—

was beyond imagination!

Search the whole world, and you'd probably never find a single Spirit Summoner who could compare to him!

Zhang Hai? Extraordinary spirit weapon? Seven skill slots?

Nonsense!

All the pent-up resentment in Jiang Xiao's heart suddenly dissipated, sweeping away his previous dejection!

"Jiang Xiao, it's alright. Three skills are actually enough. Later on, you can exchange for an Attack Soul Orb, a Mobility Soul Orb—won't that be enough? Why need so many? It'd just be a waste, wouldn't it?"

At that moment, the chubby kid, still thinking that Jiang Xiao's knot of frustration hadn't been untied, comforted him a few more times,

"Regarding the skill for restoring blessings, you can always find a healer in your team; for strong offensive power, find a Spirit Summoner who specializes in that…."

"I want it all!"

Upon hearing these words, a slight smile tugged at the corner of Jiang Xiao's mouth.