Chapter 25 - A Full Roster of Skills

This mission would have to be put on hold.

Lu Xing quite enjoyed seafood, and crabs were one of his favorites, but a Tide-class was definitely not within his current scope of consideration.

At least, not while he was still a Ranger-class. He absolutely wouldn't consider it.

There were other things that piqued his interest now, such as... a skill list that had precisely doubled in size!

Night gradually thickened.

Since Lu Xing didn't need to sleep anyway, he began experimenting with his newly acquired skills in the vast, empty desert.

[Appraisal] and [Power Strike] remained unchanged, as always.

Actually, that wasn't entirely accurate.

After his own attributes had experienced explosive growth, the 50% power increase effect of [Power Strike] had become exceptionally exaggerated.

With the charged effect of [Power Strike] applied.

Even a wing swung through empty air could kick up a sandstorm that affected an area dozens of meters wide on the ground.

Unfortunately, the desert lacked suitable reference points; otherwise, he really wanted to test this move by chopping at—

"Hmm..."

Lu Xing hesitated for a moment.

His internal Honkai energy reserves had recovered to about 30%.

The barren desert naturally bore no traces of civilization, so Honkai wouldn't appear here, and thus, no free-floating Honkai energy could be seen in the air.

That should have been the case.

But Lu Xing, whose perception had greatly improved, still discovered an oasis that had already become ruins — its water source and plants were long gone, but traces of past human habitation were still visible.

This place was probably once a supply station for travelers crossing the desert.

It had been destroyed by Honkai.

No traces of Honkai Beasts could be found.

But on this small oasis, there was a considerable amount of Honkai energy, shrouding the small oasis like a cloud of mist.

Lu Xing naturally wouldn't miss such a "treasure."

As the already pitch-black halo above his head began to flicker, it took less than half a minute for Lu Xing to absorb all the Honkai energy in this location.

This hard-won energy provided him with about a quarter of his reserves.

So then—

"Clang!!"

————

Lu Xing slammed one wing against his other wing!

That sounds a bit convoluted. In reality, Lu Xing just wanted to test the power of [Power Strike] and roughly what level his current defensive capabilities were at.

The piercing sound of metal clashing against metal rippled outwards like concentric circles in the vast, empty sea of sand.

It hurt a lot, therefore it was very strong.

Lu Xing had a rough understanding of the Great Universe's defensive power; after all, it had endured ultra-high temperatures and the baptism of aftershocks without any change.

And yet, this sturdy body.

Under the slash of [Power Strike], an extremely noticeable dent actually appeared.

It was a dent, not a crack — the "Great Universe's" body was no longer like glass. The translucent, ink-black body not only had increased hardness but could also buffer, absorb, and even conduct external impact forces, preventing attacks from concentrating their destructive power in a small area.

Its defense against piercing and cutting weapons was significantly enhanced.

To be able to leave a dent on such a body, and under circumstances where he wasn't even using his full strength, [Power Strike] was indeed satisfactory enough for Lu Xing.

Beyond [Power Strike].

The other two skills he had been yearning for, for who knows how long, also did not disappoint Lu Xing.

[Dash] and [Spinning Slash].

Faster, sharper, more energy-efficient, more stealthy — this was Lu Xing's evaluation of the two skills.

After all, Lu Xing had used bootleg versions of these two moves before.

Comprehending and using them was completely second nature — there was no need to waste a large amount of Honkai energy for acceleration; now, only a very small amount of "jet propulsion" was needed to achieve far more agile turns than before. There was also no need to worry about the counter-force causing self-injury; the Honkai energy integrated into the moves perfectly resolved all previous hidden dangers.

Lu Xing had already tried [Space-Time Rend].

The last two moves that needed testing were naturally [Ballista] and [Honkai Lance Projection].

Both belonged to the ranged attack category.

The former was suitable for area-of-effect damage, while the latter was suited for armor penetration.

Lu Xing initially didn't want to test [Ballista], as its usage was too masochistic. However, perhaps because he had mastered [Honkai Lance Projection], his application of [Ballista] was surprisingly quite different from what was shown in the original footage.

He could knead unstable Honkai energy into a ball and then solidify a not-so-sturdy shell over its surface.

This simple [Ballista] projectile wasn't as large as those made by Ballista-class Honkai Beasts.

To be precise, it was only slightly larger than an adult human's fist, but its appearance wasn't too different.

"Hmm..."

Lu Xing stared at the [Ballista] projectile resting on his wing for a while, then—

"I'll throw it!"

The [Ballista] projectile was hurled far away by Lu Xing, like a grenade.

The reason he didn't launch it with his wing (which would clearly send it farther) was because Lu Xing was worried its fragile shell couldn't withstand the impact.

If it exploded on the spot, that would be quite the spectacle.

"Boom!"

A brilliant purple light flashed in the dark night.

The explosion wasn't overly exaggerated, but its advantage lay in its massive production rate — in the short time it took for the [Ballista] to be thrown and then explode upon landing, Lu Xing had already "whoosh whoosh whoosh" created several more.

"Should be quite useful for clearing out mobs."

This was Lu Xing's final evaluation of [Ballista].

It wasn't that he couldn't create larger [Ballista] projectiles, but the key was that no matter how a Ranger-class evolved, "strength" would always be its weak point. If he could hit the [Ballista] like a baseball, that would be fine. But for any "hidden weapon" that needed to be thrown, Lu Xing had to consider his body's upper limits.

Any larger...

He'd probably just have to roll it like a snowball.

————

Finally, there was [Honkai Lance Projection].

There wasn't much to say about this skill; it was definitely the biggest contributor in the previous battles.

Apart from its relatively high energy consumption, it had no other drawbacks.

Currently, Lu Xing could only create one lance at a time. To become as effortlessly stylish as the "Lamppost King," he still needed more practice and to level up.

Speaking of levels...

"Huh?"

Lu Xing was still experimenting with his skills.

But the oasis ruins beneath his feet suddenly underwent an incredible change—

On the bright side.

Dense Honkai energy once again appeared on the surface, re-enveloping the oasis.

Clearly, the mass of Honkai energy Lu Xing had absorbed earlier wasn't a long-term fixture but had only recently appeared in the oasis.

If Lu Xing's senses weren't mistaken.

The location where the Honkai energy was surging from should be directly beneath the oasis.

"Is there something down there?"

Lu Xing suspected there might be a Honkai Fissure underground.

After all, the only thing he knew that continuously released Honkai energy was this.

After probing the ground a few times with his wing, a white "shell" appeared within his field of vision.

And when he tossed an [Appraisal] at it—

"!?"

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