Astonishing Balance, Purchasing Mental Skill Books

Even Jiang Damu, who was stationed outside the city, heard about what had happened within the city walls.

He was even surprised that the name of this prodigy was exactly the same as his son's.

"Could it be your son?" a comrade-in-arms joked.

"How could that be? My son only awakened an E-rank talent. If he had that kind of ability, I'd be laughing in my sleep," Jiang Damu sighed.

"Haha, that's true."

Monday at school.

Mo Xixi had just arrived in class.

Her close friend Xu Qing rushed over in a flurry.

"Xixi, I remember your cousin is named Jiang Yuan, right?"

Mo Xixi's heart skipped a beat.

Could it be that she knew Brother Yuan had become a First-Order martial artist?

"Y-yes, what about it?"

The girl next to Xu Qing said, "It shouldn't be possible; it must just be a coincidence."

"Yeah, with Xixi's personality, if it really were her cousin, she definitely wouldn't have been able to resist showing off."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Mo Xixi was annoyed and embarrassed. "I don't talk about everything, okay? For example..."

"For example, what?"

Mo Xixi remembered Tao Yufeng's warning and held back from mentioning her cousin, changing the subject instead. "N-nothing. You guys are acting weird today. What exactly are you talking about?"

The three girls exchanged glances.

Xu Qing said, "It's the challenge between the disciples of the Thunder Martial Arts Hall and the Chongming Martial Arts Hall. It's trending online, isn't it? Didn't you see it?"

"I didn't see it. What happened?"

Mo Xixi was telling the truth.

Stimulated by Jiang Yuan over the past two days, and in order to absorb the medicinal power of the genetic serum, she had rarely surfed the internet and had been training diligently instead.

Xu Qing recounted the events, and Mo Xixi's mouth fell wide open.

She hadn't expected Brother Yuan to do something like this right after leaving home.

What happened to keeping a low profile?

Seeing her reaction, Xu Qing said to the other two girls, "It seems it really isn't her cousin."

The two sighed in relief and laughed. "That's a relief. If Xixi had a cousin who was that handsome and that powerful, I'd be green with envy."

"I told you it couldn't be him. Just think about it—her cousin is just an E-rank talent who switched to the Assassin class. How could he suddenly transform into one of the top five super-geniuses in Nanjiang City?"

"Hey, hey! What do you mean by that?" Mo Xixi said, annoyed.

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

The three girls ran off, giggling.

During the cultural studies class.

As the teacher lectured on history, Mo Xixi sat at her desk, secretly watching the livestream recording on her phone. The look of admiration in her eyes grew more intense with every passing second.

As expected of Brother Yuan, he's just too cool.

Forget about this Liang Cheng; even Xia Qinghou, who is known as the number one prodigy of Nanjiang City, is no match for Brother Yuan!

Mo Xixi's delicate, fair face was filled with adoration. In her heart, her cousin was now the most powerful person of all.

She snuck a glance at Xu Qing and the others not far away, unable to stop herself from lowering her head and giggling to herself.

Qingqing and those idiots, they still don't know he's my cousin.

Just wait until after my cousin finishes the college entrance exam; I'll scare the life out of you all!

Hee hee hee...

Back at the Chongming Martial Arts Hall, Jiang Yuan, completely unaware of his rising fame, was on a call with his mother, Tao Chunru.

"Mom, how have you been lately? How is work?"

"I'm doing fine. You know how it is with nursing; there's never a moment to rest. How about you? Have you spent all your money yet? Did your dad send you some? If it's not enough, just tell Mom." A gentle voice came from the other end of the communicator. Looking at his mother's slightly weary expression on the screen, Jiang Yuan's lips moved, but he didn't say anything.

"In a while, if I'm not too busy, I'll see if I can take some time off to come to Nanjiang City and visit you."

"Mm, don't push yourself; I'm doing just fine here. Oh, right, I sent you some things. Remember to go pick them up."

"I got it. A patient just arrived, I have to go, I'm hanging up now."

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Yuan composed himself and opened his attribute panel.

[Character: Jiang Yuan]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 17]

[Level: Tier 1 Martial Artist (LV9)]

[Class: Martial God (Mythical)]

[Talents: Infinite Amplification (Primal), Supreme Analysis (God-tier), Undying Phoenix Flame (SSS)]

[Vitality: 1990]

[Strength: 2010]

[Speed: 1980]

[Spirit: 2250]

[Luck: 5]

[Passive Mastery: Limit of Strength (All attributes increased tenfold in normal state, thirtyfold in near-death state)]

[God Avoidance]: A long-range finishing move that requires a held weapon and consumes half of one's vitality. It ignores defense, cannot be dodged, and deals 1000% critical damage! Cooldown: 30 minutes.

[Star Explosion]: Explodes all blood energy to enter the Star Explosion state. In this state, 1% of vitality is consumed per second, all negative effects are removed, crowd control is ignored, defense is increased by 1000%, attack speed by 500%, and critical hit rate by 300%. No cooldown.

[God Speed]: Consumes a certain amount of vitality to instantly flash to the target's side (cannot be controlled by crowd control skills). The range increases with level (current range: 1000 meters). Cooldown: 2.5 seconds (refreshes upon killing the target).

[Cultivation Techniques: Ripple Force Method, Immortal Body Tempering Technique (SSS), Kindling Breathing Technique (SSS), Great Sun Ultimate Visualization Method (SSS)]

[Martial Arts: Space-Splitting Strike (Three-Star Mystery): Critical true damage, damage +150%, includes cutting effect]

[Equipment: Crimson Bracers (Rare)]

[Items: None]

[Remaining Free Attribute Points: 0]

[Remaining Merit Points: 357]

After comprehending the Great Sun Starry Sky Visualization Method, Jiang Yuan absorbed the mutated crystal of the spirit type, pushing his spirit attribute past the 2200 threshold.

Now, a single glance from him, combined with his burgeoning martial pressure, was enough to leave those with weak wills or insufficient mettle stunned, terrified, or even unconscious on the spot.

If only I had a spirit-type skill book, Jiang Yuan thought to himself.

His current spiritual power was comparable to a Tier 3 transferred mage; if he possessed a suitable skill book, he believed he could unleash terrifying power.

I wonder what the market price for spirit-type skill books is.

Jiang Yuan checked his current balance.

The signing bonus from joining Blood Rose, the sale of rare equipment and skill books from the Thunder Martial Arts Hall, and the rewards from the Martial Artist Association and the Patrol Bureau...

Combined, these brought his current balance to an unprecedented and staggering figure.

113,320,000.

Looking at his balance, a satisfied and joyful smile appeared on Jiang Yuan's face.

"It really feels good to be rich."

With a fortune in his pocket, he logged into the Star Domain and began browsing the market and forum information at his leisure.

He soon searched for what he needed.

Jiang Yuan filtered out four favorable options.

Option One.

[Spirit Spike (Skill Book)]: Intermediate skill book, offensive spirit skill. Condenses spirit into a spike to pierce the enemy's spiritual barrier, dealing significant spiritual damage.

[Learning Requirements]: Spirit attribute of 500. Suitable for Tier 3 to Tier 6 spirit-type classes. Price: 4.3 million.

Option Two.

[Nether Fire (Skill Book)]: Intermediate skill book, offensive & illusion-type skill. Deals burning and hallucinatory damage to the enemy's spirit, hindering their actions.

[Learning Requirements]: Spirit attribute of 500. Suitable for Tier 3 to Tier 6 spirit-type classes. Price: 5.1 million.

Option Three.

[Ultimate Terror (Skill Book)]: Intermediate skill book, illusion-type spirit skill. Uses illusions to manifest the enemy's most feared scenarios, dealing massive spiritual damage.

[Learning Requirements]: Spirit attribute of 500. Suitable for Tier 3 to Tier 6 spirit-type classes. Price: 4 million.

Option Four.

[Avici Cage (Skill Book)]: Intermediate skill book, illusion-type spirit skill. Uses powerful spiritual interference to lock the enemy's will within a dark, infinite cage, causing them to lose perception of time and space while inflicting massive spiritual trauma.

[Learning Requirements]: Spirit attribute of 1000. Suitable for Tier 5 to Tier 7 spirit-type classes. Price: 13 million.

Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment before choosing to purchase two skill books.

Martial artists who have logged onto the Star Domain network can conduct transactions directly through the Heavenly Dao system.

After spending 17.3 million, the two skill books appeared prominently within Jiang Yuan's system inventory.

He clicked to learn them immediately.

[Ding! You have used an intermediate skill book and learned the skill: Spirit Spike.]

[Ding! You have used an intermediate skill book and learned the skill: Avici Cage.]