By My Own Ability

The thing Jiang Xiao had always been worried about had finally happened.

Before this, Jiang Xiao had always been concerned about what would happen if his Star Power level failed to keep up with his Star Skill level. How uncomfortable would that be?

Now, Jiang Xiao clearly felt how powerful Silver Quality Green Glow was—and how much Star Power it consumed.

That punch alone had just consumed an entire segment of his Star Power.

So now came the question: White Ghosts were the most common Different Dimension Creatures in North River Land, and Gold Quality Green Glow wasn't an impossible task for Jiang Xiao. But if he upgraded its Quality again, would the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? What if his body was completely drained after using it only three times? Wouldn't he cry himself to death? To put it more extremely, what if he didn't have enough total Star Power and couldn't use it at all? I have an ultimate divine skill! It really does exist in my Star Slot, but no one in the world has ever seen it! Because I've never used it! It's not that I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it—it's because I can't use it. Fortunately, Xia Yan noticed Jiang Xiao's gloom and gave him some comfort.

She said Jiang Xiao was being a little too pessimistic. For a child who had only awakened a little over two months ago, his total Star Power was within the normal range.

With the beginning of high school, the total Star Power of these newly awakened children would steadily and rapidly increase over the next few years.

After all, fifteen- and sixteen-year-old children were still minors and still growing. They were at an age when their bodies developed explosively.

Unfortunately, Jiang Xiao's upper limit in terms of Star Skills had been drawn far too high.

Without realizing it, this had raised the demands on Jiang Xiao's Star Power, and consequently raised the requirements for his physical fitness as well.

Jiang Xiao carefully examined Silver Quality Green Glow after its Quality upgrade and discovered that its upgrade conditions had changed.

Green Glow, Silver Quality Lv.1 (Upgradeable).

Upgrade Requirement: White Ghost Star Bead (10) or Skill Point (10).

Originally, ten White Ghost Star Beads were enough to upgrade its Quality. Now, did he need ten White Ghost Star Beads to raise it by just one minor level?

Would it increase tenfold at every step?

Then, to upgrade Gold Quality to Platinum Quality, wouldn't he need one hundred Star Pearls for each minor level and one thousand Star Pearls to upgrade the Quality? That seemed... not entirely unacceptable.

Jiang Xiao's Star Skill Quality had improved, and Xia Yan was equally happy. As far as she was concerned, if something could be solved with money, then it wasn't a problem.

Of course, she dared to make such a guarantee only because this was a Bronze Quality White Ghost Witch Star Bead.

If Jiang Xiao wanted to upgrade a rare Gold Quality Star Skill, even Xia Yan's family savings wouldn't be enough to keep throwing money at it.

There were many ways to obtain Star Pearls.

If you became an Awakened and entered a formal school, the country would regularly issue you Star Pearls. It would also use Star Pearls as rewards in various assessments to encourage Awakened children to work hard and improve.

As for Awakened teams that had money and were qualified to enter officially opened Other Dimension Spaces, the Star Pearls they obtained in Other Dimension Spaces could be consumed internally. If they really had nothing better to do, they could also sell them to the authorities or trading houses.

Trading houses generally offered slightly higher prices than the authorities when buying back Star Pearls. Of course, people like Han Jiangxue and Jiang Xiao, who entered the Snowfield under their parents' names without spending money, should try to sell their spoils to the authorities for recycling.

It was better not to worry about those few hundred Ocean Coins. After all, they would need to enter the Snowfield again next time.

Besides, the Star Pearls Jiang Xiao and Han Jiangxue had obtained weren't even enough for themselves. How could they possibly sell them to anyone else?

In North River Land, the most common Different Dimension Creatures were White Ghosts, while in volcanic regions, the more common Different Dimension Creatures were Lava Ghouls.

Therefore, the prices of the Star Pearls from these two kinds of Different Dimension Creatures were relatively stable.

The market price of a White Ghost Star Bead fluctuated between 500 and 800 Ocean Coins, while a Lava Ghoul Star Bead cost around 3,000 Ocean Coins.

The price of a White Ghost Witch Star Bead had already been driven up to 200,000 Ocean Coins, and the final transaction price could be even higher.

One reason White Ghost Witch Star Beads were so expensive was the rarity of White Ghost Witches.

Another was that whenever White Ghost Witches appeared, they were generally accompanied by a huge White Ghoul Pack, making White Ghost Witch Star Beads extremely difficult to obtain.

Of course, the most fundamental reason was that they contained a medical-type Star Skill.

That was why a Star Bead of the lowest level and lowest Quality could sell for such an astronomical price.

When Jiang Xiao learned that a single White Ghost Witch Star Bead was worth 200,000 Ocean Coins or even more, his heart bled.

Damn, it really is "the poor study while the rich practice martial arts." This stuff burns money.

The real problem was that even if you had money, you might not be able to buy one. White Ghost Witch Star Beads had always been scarce and in high demand.

Still, this was good news for Jiang Xiao. If he was ever desperately short of money in the future, he could kill more White Ghosts, sell the spoils, and scrape together enough for his tuition.

The only problem was that the authorities' purchase prices were indeed a little shady. The recycling price for a White Ghost corpse could reach 200 Ocean Coins, while the recycling price for a White Ghost Star Bead was barely 300. Trading houses offered somewhat higher prices, but at most, they were only a few dozen Ocean Coins more.

Anyone with common sense knew that once someone awakened a basic medical-type Star Skill, then as long as their luck and aptitude weren't too bad, their future could be said to be limitless.

Even if you bankrupted your entire family for a White Ghost Witch Star Bead, as long as you bet correctly and succeeded, school after school, club after club, and civilian organization after civilian organization would come looking for you. Opportunities and resources would all be within easy reach.

It was just like the College Entrance Examination. A child from a mountain village could instantly transform like a carp leaping over the dragon gate and go to a university in a major city. The resources they obtained and the opportunities available to them would undergo earth-shaking changes.

Of course, leaping over the dragon gate was only one hurdle. Whether you could truly become a dragon would still depend on your own destiny.

Not everyone who graduated from a university was an elite. That was simply a fact.

Two hundred thousand Ocean Coins was an astronomical figure to Jiang Xiao.

But to Xia Yan, it was nothing.

If one Star Bead cost two million Ocean Coins, Xia Yan might have to think it over carefully. But 200,000 Ocean Coins for one Star Bead? Buy, buy, buy! Buy ten first, then think about it.

The Xia Family was only a family. It had some savings, but it wasn't a huge clan with substantial power, influence, and status.

In Jiang Xiao's eyes, Xia Yan was very wealthy. After all, there was still a 911 sitting in her garage. But compared with genuinely rich families, Xia Yan was just as poor as Jiang Xiao.

It was like how Jiang Xiao viewed NBA stars and Bill Gates. Shaquille O'Neal and Bill Gates were both tycoons to Jiang Xiao, since O'Neal could earn tens of millions of dollars a year.

But to Bill Gates, O'Neal was genuinely poor.

Xia Yan's mother, He Zeyun, was a businesswoman. To ordinary people, she could only be considered somewhat well-off.

Her father, Xia Shanhai, had also retired from the Wilderness Reclamation Corps due to injury. His status and influence were worlds apart from what they had been before.

For such precious and highly sought-after Star Beads, it was truly difficult to buy one without pulling strings.

Xia Yan intended to prepare in two ways. On one hand, she would properly trouble her mother and have her and her father look for connections through their friends.

On the other hand, Xia Yan felt that her own team could obtain a White Ghost Witch Star Bead through its own abilities.

If time hadn't been so tight, Xia Yan truly wouldn't have wanted to trouble her family.

She hoped to raise Jiang Xiao's Blessing Star Skill to Silver Quality within ten days. That would greatly help Jiang Xiao join her team ahead of schedule. It would definitely earn him extra points.

Now that she had made her decision, every second counted. Xia Yan urged Jiang Xiao decisively, and they immediately left the Snowfield and returned to Jiannan Village.

The moment they returned to Earth, Xia Yan called her mother. Afterward, Xia Yan also called Han Jiangxue and brought in the team's main damage dealer.

This operation could only involve these three people. Otherwise, it would create many unnecessary problems.

Jiang Xiao stared blankly at Xia Yan the entire time as an idea rose in his heart: Have I been kept!?

Did I get kept through my own abilities?