Before Setting Out: Shopping

Si Ming returned once more to that dense forest and the temple. This time, he saw more crows.

They circled him, flying and cawing. Their cries carried a distinctive rhythm. If he listened closely and let himself feel it, he could once again hear the strange prayers of an ancient age.

[Revere death! Follow death! We shall all return to death in the end!]

The ancient prayers gathered together, and pure power took shape.

Amid the vast prayers and the crows' murmurs, Si Ming climbed to the very top of the pyramid temple. He crossed the altar used for worshipping the gods and sat down peacefully upon the divine throne that should never have existed.

The flock fell silent.

This time, a full eight crows landed in his hands.

--The total amount of Divinity Particles has increased eightfold.

--Its strength has increased once more.

The nature of his Necrotic Aura had also changed slightly.

Si Ming stood up and ran his fingers over the tips of Eve's hair as she slept beside him. The soft, smooth feel of her pure white hair was indeed comforting. But now wasn't the time to lose himself for long in a life of comfort.

It was time to leave.

And he needed to make some other preparations before heading to the Celestial Team.

He rose and went to the open field outside. The restless essence, energy, and spirit within him all shifted into calm Night Battle Qi, which flowed through his limbs like liquid. At its core, it transformed completely into an irregular, spiked crystal.

The peak of a Great Dou Master? Or had he already reached the threshold of a Dou Spirit?

Si Ming wasn't sure, but he was certain that his Night Battle Qi had already touched the boundary of A-rank. The nature of its energy conversion had not weakened as he grew stronger. And he knew perfectly well that the only reason it looked like Battle Qi was because he believed that was what it was.

Battle Qi was good enough.

He clenched his fist, and dusk-colored Battle Qi formed armor over his body. It could even overlap and merge with the Nanosuit, concealing the added defense and containing it beneath the suit.

And there was more...

A soft pop.

At Si Ming's will, the outer edge of his armor transformed once more into boiling qi. These fierce yet orderly dusk-colored currents lifted him off the ground.

Ten meters up.

By adjusting the structure of the boiling qi, he could make his body fly through the air for a short time.

The cost was high.

It wasn't even as good as an ordinary jetpack from the future.

Perhaps things would improve once he could form his Battle Qi into wings or turbine nozzles.

"I need battle skills."

Si Ming landed lightly on the ground. He realized that the experience he had gained through bloody battles in other worlds, along with the book on the Origin of Battle Qi he had bought from the Main God, was no longer enough for the level of power he had reached. They might still suffice for B-rank enhancements, but they weren't quite suitable for the A-rank realm.

He let out a soft breath and summoned the Profaned Greatsword into his hand. Its blazing, dark flames were even more vigorous and fierce than before. Even after he poured nine-tenths of his Battle Qi into the blade, its structure remained stable.

An idea suddenly took shape.

It mingled with his inspiration and combined with the many techniques described in the book on the Origin of Battle Qi he had read. A crude but viable framework emerged in his mind, urging him to swing his arm forward!

A pop—an upward slash from the left, stirring up a storm.

The Profaned flames suddenly spread in every direction, expanding rapidly. Dark flames mixed with spreading crimson, igniting and scorching the air all around them.

After the upward slash from the left came one from the right. Then he slashed diagonally down toward the left. The boiling air turned into a spinning vortex, and with the next slash down toward the right, the vortex formed by the blazing clouds of flame rapidly contracted toward its center.

The vortex became a cage. The first four strikes used the immense Profaned flames to build a cage, then suppressed and confined the enemy caught inside at the point of greatest pressure.

Finally, he raised the greatsword high and brought it down, igniting all the flames at once!

Five Strikes of the Cinder King!

BOOM!!!

The boiling Profaned flames baked the center into a crystallized pit. The flames that burst outward continued spreading in a vortex. It was a small tornado that had sprung up without warning, advancing more than ten meters before its power weakened enough to stop tearing apart and melting the earth.

"Whew..."

Nine-tenths of his Battle Qi had been almost completely used up. The dark Profaned flames spread across the ground and burned fiercely. It took quite a while for the depleted Battle Qi to gradually flow back into him.

Si Ming drove the sword into the scorched earth beneath his feet.

"It still needs a lot of adjustment and improvement."

The idea was viable, but it consumed too much energy. And to deliver the fifth strike, the first four involved far too much elaborate choreography. Still, that gave him a good use for his two remaining D-rank side-plot points.

"Main God, list energy-control techniques that can increase power and reduce consumption, especially ones that improve burst damage."

A screen of light descended.

The result was a little awkward.

There were plenty of exchange options that could effectively address Si Ming's current problem. The trouble was, most of them were expensive. He still had tens of thousands of reward points, but only two D-rank side-plot points. With so little hard currency, he couldn't exactly spend it on a double jump.

"Hmm... What about a battle skill that improves mobility?"

The Main God silently listed the high-quality, high-cost Three Thousand Lightning Movement at CC rank. Below it was the cheap Thunder Bat Wings at DD rank. After carefully reviewing the parameters for the Thunder Bat Wings, Si Ming felt that he might as well install a detachable jetpack on the Nanosuit.

He really did buy one, since this kind of accessory only cost reward points. Once he had it mounted on his back and maneuvered through the air a few times, the refreshing breeze made his eyes light up again.

Burst damage...

Corpse Explosion was an explosion, too!

--[Evil Explosion—A spell technique originating from the "general fantasy" category, specializing in dark and necromantic power systems. It can detonate a corpse to cause a negative-energy explosion within a certain radius. The blast radius and power adjust according to the energy output. The explosion also contains some of the user's energy characteristics, allowing it to inflict various effects such as erosion, corruption, and penetration.]

--[Exchanging for this skill requires 2 D-rank side-plot points and 2,500 reward points. The exchanger must possess an energy cycle with at least one of the following attributes: darkness, curses, evil, or necromancy.]

This had originally been an additional ability for summoned necromancers, and Si Ming hadn't planned to buy it. He had already figured out how to use Corpse Explosion himself, even if his version was a little weak.

But now... he bought it!

A pillar of enhancement light descended, then quickly dimmed and faded. A precise and distinctive set of energy-control techniques took shape in his mind. It was complex, but not too difficult to understand. He only needed to slightly unlock the First Stage of his Gene Lock. Then—

Crack!

A summoned Skeleton Soldier suddenly exploded.

The blast was close by, and its force was like a thunderbolt from the sky. A black flash ripped through the ground, blasting out a crater three meters in diameter. The next moment, an explosion of the same scale erupted around another Skeleton Soldier standing idle a hundred meters away.

Money really did buy a better product. That single strike had the power of a small grenade.

Then...

Si Ming's brow furrowed. The next moment, his Night Battle Qi shifted once more and flowed into the Profaned Greatsword. It was only a tenth of what he had used for Five Strikes of the Cinder King. The surging Night Battle Qi moved through the greatsword according to the Evil Explosion Technique's pattern, then burst forth.

BOOM! Its power had barely diminished.

The boiling dark flames spread out. A technique originally meant to protect fragile spellcasters had now been successfully adapted for close-quarters Battle Qi. The Five Strikes of the Cinder King, which had been little more than a rough framework just minutes ago, was now greatly improved. The time and energy needed to form the Burning Flame Cage had both been reduced. What had been a test skill suitable only for practicing on wooden dummies in a training ground had become a force he could use in actual combat.

Excellent. The Profaned Greatsword really did have its own unique advantages.

Si Ming smiled.

The sound of Eve playing the piano drifted faintly from the distance. Her pleasant music soothed him even further. That brought his testing of Night Battle Qi to an end. Next, he needed to practice his BB-rank summoning necromancy.

The total number of Skeleton Soldiers he could summon had increased dramatically. Before, he could summon only thirty. Now, he could easily exceed three hundred. What was more, he could also summon the special creatures whose effectiveness had been proven in the Third Generation.

First were the Skeleton Mages, advanced spellcasting units. Each one required roughly three times as much Necrotic Aura as a Skeleton Soldier. They could be created with one of three abilities—ice, fire, or lightning—and could unleash an explosive burst at close range or launch it as a projectile.

And that wasn't all. He could also easily summon more than ten Sub-Giant Skeletons, which possessed combat power equivalent to that of a second-tier standard-class fighter. They were immensely strong, with sturdy bone plates, and could easily destroy a small building. Each stood nearly ten meters tall. Besides swinging their fists, they could also unleash a roar that caused area-wide shock and destruction.

The results were good.

Besides those, Si Ming also tried summoning the Rock Giant and the Steel Giant, which weren't part of the usual necromancy system. Their destructive power and toughness were indeed sufficient. As meat shields, they were far better suited to defense than offense.

So...

"My basic offense, defense, endurance, and burst damage are all in place. Next, I need to shore up my abilities in specialized areas."

In World Two, the most valuable contributor had actually been the Burrowing Devil Worm. It had perished in the nuclear explosion and tsunami caused by the detonation of New York. Even a necromantic body couldn't withstand that combination of fire and water. And Si Ming truly hadn't been able to reach the center of the explosion to retrieve the destroyed worm.

He would remember it.

But for now...

He silently connected to the Main God and opened the classic ingredients section.

"Main God, get me the corpse of an adult Mind Flayer. Then—"

"Get me a Byakhee, too!"

The update is a little early today.