This body was still too weak. A Slime's Life Skill really wasn't suited to fighting.
Bai Chen took no pride in his victory. Instead, he thought to himself.
Although this world isn't as dangerous as the Monster Forest, its circumstances are more complicated. It looks like I need to absorb and Devour more Life Skills as soon as possible if I want a better chance of survival!
Although his Shadow Touch was already S-Rank, it currently had only one form.
Its main effect had been to turn him from a mass of shadow into a physical being.
It was more useful for practical purposes than for pure combat.
This S-Rank skill, which he had gradually raised from a Slime's tentacle, was a Life Skill that had never appeared in this world before.
The Shadow System was considered a rare attribute among Contract Spirits, and Life Skills of rare attributes were usually not weak.
So Bai Chen believed that Shadow Touch's time to shine might not have arrived yet.
For now, though, relying on his tentacles to strangle and lash at enemies left him with too few options.
Take the Cold Moon Fox in front of him. Its S-Rank talent, Moon Ice Domain, could control the temperature within a small area even when the Contract Spirit was only First Tier. It could also conjure ice out of thin air and unleash ice spikes with tremendous offensive power.
At this stage, its combat power was much greater than Bai Chen's. It was just that the little thing had no idea how to use it.
Just then, the tentacle that had sent the Cold Moon Fox flying retracted. A drop of the fox's crimson blood clinging to it fell right onto Bai Chen's main body.
Almost instantly, a system notification suddenly sounded in his ear.
[Successfully Devoured the blood of the S-Rank Contract Spirit Cold Moon Fox. S-Rank Life Skill "Moon Ice Domain" progress increased by 0.001%.]
[Devouring Points may be spent, or Devouring may be continued, to increase progress.]
Bai Chen froze for a moment when he saw the notification.
Based on his experience over the past year, progress toward abilities gained by Devouring low-level Devil Creatures rose rapidly.
But the higher the level, the slower the progress.
Even if he Devoured the entire Cold Moon Fox right now, he would gain at most 10% progress.
S-Rank Contract Spirits were rare to begin with. Where was he supposed to find Cold Moon Foxes to Devour and complete the remaining progress?
But the next second, he immediately thought of something else!
After forming a contract with Lin Luoluo, he had gained a chance to instantly max out an ability's progress!
Could that chance...
"System," Bai Chen asked urgently in his mind, "can I use that chance to instantly max out the progress of 'Moon Ice Domain'?"
[Yes.]
The system's concise answer made Bai Chen's heart leap!
[Host request detected. "Complete Devouring Chance" x1 consumed.] [S-Rank ability "Moon Ice Domain" progress increased to 100%!] [Congratulations, host. S-Rank ability unlocked: Moon Ice Domain!] [Moon Ice Domain: Deploys a domain of extreme cold centered on the host. First Tier effect: Within the domain, the host can freely condense frost and create ice spikes and ice walls using the frost element within his control. All enemies within the domain will suffer continuous slowing and frost damage. Note: The degree of control depends on the host's mental strength. The host can also coat his body or tentacles with the power of ice, greatly increasing the tentacles' hardness and piercing power.]
It really works!
An entirely different power surged through his body: the bone-chilling power of ice, the exact opposite of the power of shadow.
Bai Chen was beside himself with excitement!
Moon Ice Domain was not only a top-tier S-Rank ability for both crowd control and offense.
Back in the Monster Forest, he had once seen a Cold Moon Fox above level fifty use the Life Skill Moon Ice Domain to turn the tables and kill two Sixth Tier Devil Beasts that were even higher-level than him.
The sight had left Bai Chen, then a First Tier Devil Beast himself, trembling on the sidelines.
And now he possessed the S-Rank Life Skill Moon Ice Domain too.
What was more, it could combine with his Shadow Touch in some marvelous ways!
He could already picture his once-limp tentacles, capable only of strangling, turning in an instant into hard, thick ice spears and spikes covered in sharp barbs with the power of ice bolstering them, doubling their damage in an instant!
A master with S-Rank mental strength, paired with a Contract Spirit possessing two S-Rank abilities and limitless growth potential...
Jiang Ruoxue? Cold Moon Fox?
Heh, just wait!
Calming himself, Bai Chen slowly withdrew the offending tentacle. At the same time, he extended another soft tentacle and gently supported Lin Luoluo's little bottom.
He set her still-shaken body back in the wheelchair.
At last, Lin Luoluo came to her senses after the tremendous shock.
She looked down at herself. She was completely unharmed.
Then she looked up at the trash can in the distance, where the fox had landed headfirst.
Finally, her gaze fell on the lump of black jelly lying quietly on her fair, tender thighs.
Under the pull of gravity, part of its body had sunk slightly into the space between Lin Luoluo's goblet-shaped legs.
"I... I'm all right?"
She murmured to herself, her mind completely blank.
The next person to come to her senses was Jiang Ruoxue.
All she had seen was a black shadow flash past at incredible speed. Immediately afterward, her precious Cold Moon Fox, which had been snuggling on her shoulder, vanished into thin air.
"Yueyue! Where's my Yueyue?!" Jiang Ruoxue's face went deathly pale, and she immediately began searching anxiously in every direction.
How rare were S-Rank Contract Spirits!
Even with the Jiang Family's connections, they couldn't simply get one for her!
This Cold Moon Fox was what she would rely on in the future. She was supposed to cherish it like a precious treasure!
Then, the next second, the old servant beside her raised a finger and pointed awkwardly at the distant trash can. "Miss, over there..."
Jiang Ruoxue looked in the direction he pointed. When she saw the two silver-white hind legs twitching feebly at the mouth of the trash can, her head instantly buzzed.
"Yueyue!"
Jiang Ruoxue let out a piercing shriek, hitched up her skirt, and ran toward the trash can.
But as soon as she reached it, a stench of rotten vegetable leaves and unidentified liquid hit her in the face, and she froze.
The Cold Moon Fox's beautiful silver-white fur was now covered in a dark, sticky, unidentified liquid that gave off a sickening smell.
Jiang Ruoxue reached out, then jerked her hand back, her face full of conflict. She simply couldn't bring herself to touch it.
In the end, the old servant beside her stepped forward.
Forcing down his disgust, he grabbed the Cold Moon Fox by the legs and pulled it out of the trash can.
Meanwhile, Town Chief Liu hurried over to Lin Luoluo.
He glanced at the unharmed girl, then at the bedraggled Jiang Ruoxue in the distance.
"That unruly young lady Jiang Ruoxue has no regard for law or order whatsoever!"
But the next second, his gaze returned to the lump of "black Slime" lying on Lin Luoluo's legs, and his eyes filled with shock.
He had seen that attack clearly.
A black tentacle.
It had been unbelievably fast and astonishingly powerful.
But the problem was...
As everyone knew, Slimes were among the lowest-grade Contract Spirits, standard F-Rank Devil Creatures. Apart from having elastic bodies and being able to secrete a little mildly acidic slime, they had practically no attack power.
Let alone at its current level of nine—even if it rose to level ten or twenty, it absolutely couldn't defeat a genuine S-Rank Contract Spirit like the Cold Moon Fox.
This completely defied the most basic common knowledge of the Spirit Tamer world!
More importantly, Slimes... didn't have tentacles at all!