Chapter 9: The Upgradable Qing Light Flash

...

After the game ended,

Looking at the perfect record of "A Single Overlord Flower"—21-2-6—Jiang Chan couldn't recover from his astonishment for a long time.

In the game, Jiang Xiao's character moved like a phantom; with a single displacement skill he played it to perfection, and the dagger in his hand flashed with a black glow. Every time it slashed through the air, it took a life. And when the enemy released a skill in an attempt to kill him, Jiang Xiao would vanish into the mist...

Ding ding ding—

A friend request came from "BigDongSama."

Another friend request arrived from "IamYourStrongBro."

A private message from "LilPanda" popped up: "Master, want to queue together next time?"

Jiang Xiao smiled and swiped past each request one by one.

"Bro" is nothing but an emotionless machine for climbing the ranks.

Jiang Chan's delicate, cherry-like lips parted cutely as she looked at Jiang Xiao as if he were a stranger,

"Y-you... have you broken your seal?"

"Shrimp?!" Jiang Xiao was taken aback.

In an instant, Jiang Chan threw her arms around Jiang Xiao in ecstatic delight. "Wahaha! I told you—how could there possibly be a good-for-nothing waste in this world? So your talent shines in the game after all!"

The gentle, fragrant warmth of the girl's embrace made Jiang Xiao's cheeks instinctively flush red.

My sister... though not related by blood…

…not related by blood.

Cough…

"Xiaochan, actually my other abilities are even stronger," Jiang Xiao suddenly said very earnestly.

"Oh? What do you mean?"

Jiang Chan narrowed her eyes slightly, her tone laced with suggestiveness.

Jiang Xiao, sensing a potential trap, quickly straightened his posture, "I mean, I'm just as strong playing other roles."

"If that's the case, then play support in the five-position for me—I want a pentakill and to be godlike."

With an extra twenty-something points added, Jiang Chan excitedly planned to surge up to Gold rank in one go.

But Jiang Xiao shook his head, "It's late; it's time to sleep."

Jiang Chan puffed out her round cheeks, "Hmph! Who cares about you! Without you, I'd climb ranks just fine."

As they headed toward the bedroom, Jiang Xiao thought about the blue-ranked soul bead in his pocket, planning to absorb its skills later.

Suddenly, he remembered something and stopped to turn around, asking, "By the way, Xiaochan, did you have your innate spirit tool tested?"

"Tested."

Jiang Chan, deeply engrossed in her game, replied without even looking up, "Oh? What kind of spirit tool?"

"A fan. It seems to be a Heavenly-grade spirit tool? Well, I'm not sure, but it has twelve skill slots..."

Pfft—

Jiang Xiao felt as if he'd been struck; he almost coughed up old blood.

Sure enough, they weren't real siblings—what does it even mean to have twelve skill slots?

At school, Bai Qimeng's innate spirit tool has nine skill slots, and she is celebrated as the "darling of the heavens," exuding an air of invincibility.

My sister… she's practically defying the heavens!

"How troublesome—how do you even match skills for twelve slots? It would be great if you could spare a few for your useless bro."

Jiang Chan sounded somewhat dejected.

Jiang Xiao's face darkened; he knew she was deliberately trying to piss him off.

"Hmph, stinky little sister—trying to get under your big bro's skin? You're so young!"

Jiang Xiao turned and walked into the bedroom.

…

Sitting on the computer chair, Jiang Xiao stared at the blue-ranked soul bead in his hand, which emitted a faint glow, and his head began to ache.

In his field of vision, that strange line of black text reappeared:

  "…At this moment, you wish to have this blue-ranked soul bead be devoured by your own shadow…"

At the same time, beneath the desk lamp, Jiang Xiao's shadow began to stir as if rippling like water.

Jiang Xiao sneered inwardly, "Why does it feel like I'm raising a dog? So greedy? And always trying to upstage me."

He had no intention of letting his shadow devour the blue-ranked soul bead.

First, his shadow was very strange—who knows if it had its own will? It was a bit like nurturing a gu, something to be wary of.

Second, this blue-ranked soul bead had been handed to him personally by Chen Fan. Although the innate spirit tool sometimes fails to absorb a soul bead, the higher the soul bead's rank, the greater the chance of failure. The success rate for a blue-ranked soul bead is around ninety percent—if it failed, that wouldn't be acceptable.

Moreover, he needed to have a skill he could proudly show off in public.

At that moment, disregarding the lure of the black text before him, Jiang Xiao directly summoned his dagger spirit tool.

Swish!

A flash of dark light appeared as the soul bead inexplicably levitated and then slowly merged into the dagger.

Instantly, Jiang Xiao felt that he had gained a new skill—

Qing Light Flash!

It released a powerful arc of blue light, capable of severely injuring white-ranked ghosts.

Its cooldown was one minute, and each use consumed one-third of his spiritual power...

"Good skill!"

Jiang Xiao was delighted.

He already had the misting ability of the White Mist Ghost to save his life; all he was missing was an offensive move.

Now, with Qing Light Flash, combining offense and defense, it was an excellent match.

Suddenly, Jiang Xiao froze for a moment.

In his perception, the three circular slots originally on his dagger had, after installing the Qing Light Flash soul bead in the first slot, inexplicably sprouted several new slots.

They branched out like tree limbs, forming three distinct categories.

The first branch was bronze-colored, with a label:

  Required: Bronze Ghost Soul Bead (power increased by 40%, range expanded by 30%).

The second branch was black, with a label:

  Required: Black Ghost Soul Bead (after hitting an enemy, disrupts the enemy's spiritual energy flow and prevents skill release for three seconds).

The third branch was white—

  Required: White Mist Ghost Soul Bead (this ability's buffering time is halved, required spiritual power is halved, and its release speed is doubled).

"What the hell?"

Jiang Xiao was utterly astonished.

He had never heard that soul beads in an innate spirit tool could further branch out into new upgrades.

Evolution?

Who would have thought that my dagger—my innate spirit tool with only three skill slots—could actually have such an ability!

Jiang Xiao examined these three evolutionary directions carefully. Each one had a tremendous effect, far surpassing the original Qing Light Flash.

They could even reach the level of red-ranked soul bead skills!

How precious are red-ranked soul beads?

This is evident from the danger levels of ghost creatures.

White-ranked ghosts, like the White Mist Ghost and the Night Road Ghost, can be defeated by a single-tier Spirit Master, and their market prices are generally only in the thousands.

Blue-ranked ghosts, such as the Bronze Ghost and the Basketball Ghost, possess rather strange abilities that even a Tier-Two Spirit Master might risk their life against. Their market prices range from hundreds of thousands to several hundred thousand.

As for red-ranked ghosts...

They are beyond the capabilities of even Tier-Three Spirit Masters alone—a team of Tier-Three Spirit Masters is required to contend with them.

Red-ranked ghosts are so formidable because their abilities, once fully unleashed, can turn an entire city upside down, leaving countless lives devastated.

Therefore, the market price of red-ranked ghost soul beads is—

In the millions to tens of millions!

And they are traded at exorbitant prices with no real market!

Even more challenging is that the success rate of absorbing a red-ranked ghost soul bead is only 50%!

If you fail, you could lose millions—a cost that ordinary people could hardly bear.

Yet here, my dagger innate spirit tool can cause a blue-ranked soul bead's skill to mutate, reaching a level no less than that of a red-ranked ghost.

If the subsequent skills can continue to evolve...

In the end, could a single Qing Light Flash be powerful enough to sever rivers or rip apart the sky?