Knowing Each Other

After absorbing this human Star Bead, Jiang Xiao was truly swimming in profits.

As Silver Quality Star Techniques, Bell Chime and Bearing Seal required either 10 Star Beads of the same category or 100 Skill Points to upgrade their quality.

Jiang Xiao pondered for a long time before finally understanding how it all worked.

The White Ghoul Star Beads and White Ghoul Witch Star Beads that Jiang Xiao had absorbed had Star Techniques of Bronze Quality, thus requiring 10 Bronze Quality Star Beads of the same category.

However, once "Cyan Glow" and "Endurance" were upgraded to Silver Quality, they would require 100 Bronze Star Beads or 100 Skill Points.

But "Bell Chime" and "Bearing Seal" were already Silver Quality Star Techniques, directly skipping the Bronze Quality stage, so they required 10 Silver Star Beads of the same category.

Yet, if they were upgraded using Skill Points instead of Star Beads, the Skill Point requirement remained 100.

This meant: 10 Skill Points = 10 Bronze Star Beads = 1 Silver Star Bead.

After continuous experimentation, Jiang Xiao discovered that "Blessing" and "Bell Chime" were vastly different.

The White Ghoul Witch's "Blessing" slowly restored the target's vitality.

This vitality was all-encompassing; it could heal a human's physical state, such as nausea, vomiting, and general discomfort. It could also restore the target's stamina and had a certain effect in healing wounds.

It could be called a divine skill for the early stages.

However, the Lava Ghoul Witch's "Bell Chime" Star Technique had only a single effect: healing physical trauma suffered by the target.

And the effect was quite significant. On the way back to the city, Jiang Xiao had experimented on a White Ghoul that had been decapitated.

The White Ghoul's head had been severed by Xia Yan, its neck and head separated, with large amounts of blood flowing out.

Jiang Xiao directly used the "Bell Chime" Star Technique on the lone head, and the neatly severed neck began to slowly grow flesh and blood.

Although the speed of flesh and blood growth was slow, it was visibly apparent.

Finally, after Jiang Xiao's Star Power was depleted and he had cast the Silver Quality "Bell Chime" a full 10 times, the lone head stopped bleeding because a layer of membrane had grown on the severed neck.

Well, it was quite disgusting.

The trio ultimately decided to return home. They had run out of time; if they didn't go back, they would miss the latter half of their military training.

Jiang Xiao also had a daunting task: to integrate into the First Year High School class within 4-5 days and ultimately be selected as a representative student for the class.

Winning first place in the team competition wasn't important; what mattered was that Jiang Xiao demonstrated his immense value.

Of course, if the team competition resulted in first place, it would be even more perfect. Whether they were First Year or Second Year students, any team that won the championship would gain the right to challenge the "School Bully."

The so-called "School Bully" wasn't a single person but a team.

And at Jiangbin No. 1 High School, the School Bully team was the one Han Jiangxue and Xia Yan belonged to.

If First or Second Year students defeated the School Bully team, they would receive generous rewards, with the school offering some good quality Star Beads as encouragement.

But this was an unrealistic fantasy. If Jiang Xiao were a reckless hothead, he might be arrogant and eager to try.

However, after working on missions with Xia Yan and Han Jiangxue for so long, Jiang Xiao knew that defeating them would be harder than climbing to heaven.

To put it simply, Han Jiangxue could likely declare Jiang Xiao dead on sight.

Shattered Space + Barren Wind.

Jiang Xiao probably wouldn't even get a chance to make a move.

Such a challenge wasn't a battle for students to gain rewards and honor; frankly, it was a battle to show them that there were always people better than them.

The school used this method to temper the arrogance of new students and to motivate them to train harder.

Of course, if you couldn't handle such a blow and were utterly dejected by the Third Year School Bullies, that would be even better.

It was good to recognize oneself early. Awakened individuals with such fragile hearts should withdraw sooner rather than later, as the dangers they would face after leaving school would increase exponentially.

Xia Yan also explained the Star Power and Star Technique levels of her team's remaining two comrades to Jiang Xiao. As expected, both boys were at the mid-Star Cloud Stage.

Xia Yan specifically detailed the strength of the one named Gao Junwei.

His Star Chart was a blade, similar to a Tang Blade, with 25 Star Slots.

It contained 2 Bronze, 3 Silver, and 1 Gold Star Technique.

The Bronze Star Techniques were Cyan Glow and Endurance.

Two of the Silver Star Techniques overlapped with Xia Yan's: Scorching Flame and Exploding Flame. It was likely they were acquired in the Other Dimension Space around the volcanic cluster.

The remaining Silver Star Technique was quite interesting; it was likely a Star Technique provided by his family, named "Charging."

This Star Technique, which sounded like an auxiliary skill, was actually a bona fide offensive divine skill.

Gao Junwei was skilled in unarmed combat, and his Tang Blade techniques were even more formidable.

During his battles, the Charging Star Technique could exert great effect.

Whether it was with his fists or his Tang Blade, Gao Junwei could condense Lightning Power, unleashing a punch or a slash that would erupt with lightning. This not only dealt extremely powerful damage and had an exceptionally strong armor-piercing effect but could also cause the target to become numb and unable to move for a short period.

And his Gold Star Technique was called "Fearful Roar."

This was a rare, truly divine skill.

Although Gold Quality Star Techniques consumed a lot of Star Power, and Gao Junwei couldn't roar more than a few times, even one time was enough.

Especially when facing Different Dimension Creatures, this "Fearful Roar" would cause a considerable number of low-ranked Different Dimension Creatures to tremble in fear, their battle spirit extinguished, and flee in all directions.

This is a perfect Star Technique for saving lives and turning the tide of battle.

Gao Junwei's family spent a fortune and called in many favors to acquire these Star Beads.

You see, while Star Beads do contain Star Techniques, absorbing them isn't always successful.

Hearing this, Jiang Xiao asked Xia Yan in surprise, "Isn't Gao Junwei in the Star Cloud Stage? How did he get a Gold Quality Star Technique? Didn't you tell me Star Power had to reach at least the Star River Stage before one could possibly possess a Gold Quality Star Technique?"

"His family reportedly spent money like water on this Golden Star Technique, to the point of nearly going bankrupt," Xia Yan said with a mocking smile. "Who knows how many Gold Quality Star Beads he absorbed."

Although Gao Junwei was a genius with 25 Star Slots, his Star Power level was a limiting factor, making it almost impossible for him to absorb a Golden Star Technique.

But the result was as it was; he succeeded.

Regardless of whether his family went bankrupt, Gao Junwei was truly formidable at this moment.

Gao Junwei was completely different from Han Jiangxue. She succeeded in absorbing the Gold Quality Star Technique Shattered Space on her first try, not just because of her extraordinary talent, but also due to luck.

Of course, speaking reasonably, Han Jiangxue's aptitude was far superior to Gao Junwei's.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Han Jiangxue only had 5 more Star Slots than Gao Junwei. For Awakened individuals, each additional Star Slot represented a monumental change in aptitude.

Perhaps an Awakened with 16 Star Slots wasn't much more talented than one with 15 Star Slots.

But an Awakened with 30 Star Slots was vastly stronger than one with 29 Star Slots.

The closer one got to the limit, the harder it was to surpass.