Whaling, Pulling Cards, White Light, RIP

"I still refused to let go of a player's arrogance... Sigh, if I wanted to change the entire industry, I had to start with myself."

Li Aoz silently warned himself: never be arrogant again.

Correct my mindset, correct my mindset.

Arrogance was what had destroyed the Starcaller community.

They should have had a gentle, inclusive, vibrant community culture too. People could have made fanworks, handwritten art books, video edits, fanfiction, and maybe even organized offline gatherings and meetups for Starcallers—the Martial Artists and mages had similar events.

This class was absolutely no worse than any other.

If players were willing to join, Li Aoz would definitely build this class into something great.

"Of course, I can't think like that either. So what if no players ever show up? I invested my youth, sweat, and passion into this class. I gained money, streaming income, and the audience's affection from it. Changing the Starcallers' doomed future was my unquestionable responsibility to begin with."

One should repay what one had received, and Li Aoz had gained far too much from Starcallers in his previous life: benefits, fame, and many friends. Those things brought far more than mere material changes.

"Whether players descend upon this world or not, I have to be prepared to establish a new school. Restoring the glory of the Starcallers is our duty!"

He would start with the Bloodfiend Style and carve out a stable path for himself.

Next, he had to consider how to lower the requirements for joining the class, making Starcallers accessible and widespread.

There were too few Starcallers. Even if their numbers increased by hundreds or thousands of times, they still would not face enough competition—and the universe was simply too vast.

Once one viewed things on the scale of the stars, one understood just how important population numbers were.

The universe was too large, and too few people meant there was no opportunity or justification to claim territory.

Mages could casually designate a vast stretch of space as their "research subject" in the name of "magical research." In essence, that was colonizing planets.

Martial Arts Grandmasters had countless disciples and thriving industries. Naturally, they expanded their territory and accommodated more people.

But Starcallers were in an awkward position. They lived too long and had too few members. They lacked organizations of any meaningful scale and simply could not make use of that much space. No excuse they gave would hold water.

"Besides increasing our numbers, my own strength is still the most important factor... Nothing is more reliable than strength."

"Li Aoz, Li Aoz—you have to stay calm. Arrogance will only make me weak and useless. I can't start down that path."

He muttered to himself.

Thinking carefully, ever since crossing over, he seemed to have retained a player's way of doing things. The unconscious condescension in his words and actions had also hindered his progress.

Humility led to progress was absolutely not an empty saying. Li Aoz felt that he had been far too impetuous and had never properly adjusted his mindset.

He no longer had the right to be as arrogant as a player—three resurrection chances, and even after using them up, they could reincarnate with all their memories and bound equipment.

Low-key, humble, steady, calm.

Those were the qualities he needed now.

Having finished reflecting, Li Aoz looked at Ya Wen and could not help feeling jealous.

Damn it, he still wanted to obtain her... talent.

"If I can find a way to get that talent, then after I become a bishop in Version 3.0, from Level 90 to Level 180, no one at the same level will be my opponent! No one!"

That being the case, he really could not just kill this wicked woman whenever he was in a bad mood.

Perhaps sensing Li Aoz's gaze, Agent Ya Wen raised her head. Their eyes met, and Li Aoz immediately glared at her in displeasure.

He still held a grudge over losing a specialty.

"I need to think... Is there any way to take someone else's talent, or copy one?"

Li Aoz had the Ability Pod and did not lack Aoneng, but personal talents were bound to their owners and were truly difficult to deal with.

His first thought was to open the Game Store.

—As the saying went, if money could solve it, then it was not a problem.

"This is the store from the final patch version. I remember there being several items related to talents..."

Li Aoz searched for keywords and looked around for a while. Sure enough, he found three kinds of items.

The first was the White Wax Fantasy Crystal, a Magic Side item. It could be used once Favorability with the other party reached 500 or above (Respect), allowing two people to mutually share their racial, personal, and class talents.

This item had been released in Version 3.7.1. It was quite cheap, costing only 168 Diamonds.

Li Aoz remembered that this was proof of a private deal between Spellcasters. When two mages had a good relationship, they would share talents.

After all, the Magic Side primarily relied on academic knowledge and accumulated skills. The main purpose of doing this was effectively to prove that the two shared an unbreakable friendship.

But... the prerequisite was a little too difficult.

Raising Favorability to 500 points was already very hard, and if he killed the other person after sharing talents, he would lose the shared ability.

That would not work. Li Aoz turned to the next one.

The second was a Tech Side item called the Gene Mirror Copier. It was absurdly expensive, costing a full 19,288 Diamonds. It could directly copy all the talents, skills, specialties, knowledge, and memories of a target incapable of resisting.

It was an incredibly powerful item, but Li Aoz was conflicted over whether to use it on Ya Wen.

The Gene Mirror Copier could only be purchased once, and it had no level restriction. Using it on a low-level target would be an enormous waste.

He wanted to save it for another high-level boss, such as one of the Annihilation Demon Lord Skawei, the Moon Maiden Jiesmin, or the Death Recorder De.

The specialties and talents of those three were what truly deserved to be called heaven-defying—an incredibly high return for the cost.

Objective Resonance was certainly a god-tier skill, but compared to those three version bosses, its value for money was nowhere close... Li Aoz had to think it over.

He did not want to give up on his future potential, especially with Song of Despair in Version 8.0—a version where individual strength mattered far more than teamwork.

That era should have been when solo-oriented classes, especially Starcallers, truly shone. Yet because there were so few of them, they never made much of a splash. Whenever Li Aoz thought of it, his heart ached.

"Let's wait until I get to space."

Seeking a breakthrough, he turned his attention to the third item.

The third product had no purchase limit, but it was not cheap. It was an item that randomly drew a skill, item, specialty, or talent from the other person.

Because it drew rather than copied, the skills and equipment obtained would theoretically undergo adaptive adjustments.

For example, if a skill originally suited to a mage was drawn by a Martial Artist, its attribute bonuses would be altered so the Martial Artist player would not feel cheated.

It sounded pretty good... but anything without even the slightest guarantee carried enormous risk.

Li Aoz remembered a professional player who had streamed himself spending a fortune on a thousand draws, swearing he would pull Summon Succubus from a demon warlock.

After all thousand draws were spent, he had pulled 986 Human Amber. From then on, he quit gambling entirely and never spent money in games again.

One cost 648 Diamonds. Li Aoz worried that if his luck was bad, he might keep buying these and still fail to pull a specialty from Yawen—only to end up drawing even Yawen's underwear.

After all, he was no longer a player. He could not wield the power of paying to win.

Most of the Diamonds in his account were better spent trading with others for rare resources.

Still, if he wanted to gamble on his luck, there was indeed a way to temporarily improve his "luck."

The price was a little steep, but it was acceptable for now.

After thinking it over, Li Aoz felt that his luck should not be all that bad. He could test it first, then go do that mission.

With that thought, he pressed the purchase confirmation button.

Purchase "Ticket to the Traiki Exhibition Hall"?

Purchase successful

Li Aoz pulled an exquisitely crafted ticket from his clothes. The rectangular ticket had a slight flexibility to it and felt somewhat heavy in his hand. On its front was a giant dragon covered in magnificent gem-like scales, while the back bore a short gold-foil inscription: "Please enjoy the Grand Exhibition."

"This thing seems a little different from the old lottery tickets."

Li Aoz checked the description. It was indeed a lottery-ticket-type item.

"Should be fine."

Qiu Ran and Yawen immediately noticed the high-end object Li Aoz had suddenly taken out, and their interest was just piqued.

"What is that? It looks so pretty." Qiu Ran asked curiously.

Riiip—

The next moment, Li Aoz aimed the ticket at Yawen and tore it apart.

You used the item "Ticket to the Traiki Exhibition Hall" on target "Yawen Hesksin."

Drawing...

You drew "Signal Transmitter."

"Damn it!"

Li Aoz reached into his clothes and pulled out a Signal Transmitter the size of a beetle. Yawen's gaze froze.

"How... did you get that?"

Li Aoz did not answer. He was in no mood to talk to women right now. Pinching the Signal Transmitter between his fingers, he began to think.

There was no question that his luck was terrible today. Drawing this piece of trash... he was screwed, yet perhaps not entirely screwed.

"This might come in handy."

Li Aoz recalled the mission he needed to do. One of its challenge requirements was to infiltrate the White Fang Gang's camp without being discovered from beginning to end.

But according to players' understanding of Qiqiao Network's terminology—the company that developed and operated Star Abyss—infiltration only counted as successful as long as one's personal information was not exposed.

From that perspective, wiping out everyone in the entire camp could also count as infiltration.

Even nuking the entire place could count as infiltration.

Even if he did not personally do it, luring monsters over to make the enemies kill each other would still count as infiltration.

Tell me, was he exposed or not? Since his personal information had not been exposed, then naturally the infiltration had not failed.

"I was just wondering how to deal with Nimoting, that hot potato. Fighting her would waste time, but if I didn't fight her, I'd already provoked her, and she kept chasing me around—it was getting annoying. In that case, I'll let the White Fang Gang atone for me."

After all, Li Aoz was not a bad person. What ill intentions could a little mutant possibly have?