Strength Increased, the Cost of Upgrading Skills!

Yu Xian looked at the golden treasure chest in the system collection, his face full of excitement.

How long had it been since he had last seen gold after drawing Wolverine's Healing Factor?

He wondered what skill this random draw would give him.

He should open the (JOJO Series) skill treasure chest first.

Let me think this through. Should I choose another Stand ability, or keep digging deeper into Star Platinum's potential?

If he chose again, he could pick from several incredibly powerful Stand abilities.

Giorno Giovanna's Stand, Gold Experience, was quite good. It was an ability that involved causality itself and could even grant life to inanimate objects.

Its ultimate skill was [Gold Experience Requiem].

It could reset every "process" to zero, making an attacker's intent unable to reach its "result." That's the one.

"Choose the Stand, Gold Experience."

[System Notification: As this ability is a special restricted skill, the host must meet the specified conditions before it can be drawn!]

"What the hell????"

There were level restrictions on using skills?

A mighty system like you had restrictions?

How am I supposed to believe that???

Don't tell me you haven't figured out the skill effects yet, so you put it out there to tempt me and make me wait until Earth-level???

And what kind of level was Earth-level?

[Replying to host: Skyfather-level refers to extremely powerful individuals on the same level as gods, possessing galactic-scale power.]

[The host may compare them to Odin, Thanos (without the gauntlet), the Ancient One, Hela, and others...]

[What the host obtains are skills, and skills do not represent strength. The host's strength is determined by the total energy value gained from golden and purple skills. Related information functions will gradually unlock once the host's strength meets the requirements.]

[System Notification: According to my data, power levels in the Marvel universe are divided into Street-level, City-level, Continental-level, Earth-level, Skyfather-level...]

That was all useless nonsense. He should just stick with Star Platinum and wait for the related functions to unlock.

A budget version of Star Platinum—Superman's body of steel. Ever heard of it?

"System, choose the Star Platinum skill!"

[Understood, host. Consuming one designated (JOJO Series) skill treasure chest.]

[Host's Star Platinum has been upgraded. Star Platinum (2 stars).]

[Host's physique has greatly improved. Skill acquired: Finger Pistol.]

Finger Pistol???

Not bad. Another god-tier skill. But was this Finger Pistol legitimate?

Also, he had suddenly remembered that Star Platinum could ultimately freeze time.

Could he gain a time-stop domain once it was upgraded to the end?

More than two seconds of stopped time!

If he used that against The Flash, he could do so many things!

Yu Xian felt a massive improvement in his physique.

[System Reminder: Host, with your current abilities, you can directly withstand Hulk in a head-on clash.]

What kind of weird comparison was that?

Still, if he could take a punch from Hulk head-on, he would have confidence when Hulk's storyline came around.

With Wolverine's Healing Factor, wouldn't getting battered around amount to taking no damage at all?

"System, what level is Hulk in his normal state?"

[Replying to host: Hulk in his normal state is Continental-level, possessing the power to destroy a continent or fight an army.]

"This won't do. Can't you compile some statistics on my strength? It's too inconvenient to look at it like this!"

[Host, combat power visualization will unlock when you possess your first five-star skill. Golden and purple skills can both activate it!]

Was that how it worked?

Then it was time to keep upgrading his skills!

(Pirates Series) Whisper-Whisper Fruit (1 star)

(Pirates Series) Dango Dango no Mi (1 star)

(Fairy Tail Series) Ice-Make Magic (1 star)

(Bleach Series) Ryūjin Jakka (Incomplete) (1 star) (Shikai State)

(Naruto Series) Shadow Imitation Technique

(Fairy Tail Series) Fire Dragon's Roar (1 star)

(Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Series) Magic That Thoroughly Removes Stains From Clothes—Cleaning Magic

Yu Xian looked over his seven purple abilities and immediately ruled out Cleaning Magic. It had no upgrade marker.

This thing probably would not do much for his combat power.

That left the remaining ones.

Ryūjin Jakka (Incomplete), Ice-Make Magic, and Fire Dragon's Roar—he would choose from those three offensive skills.

In the early stages, he should prioritize maxing out his attack skills.

Support skills could wait.

He already had Hyorinmaru for ice, so Ice-Make Magic could be set aside for now.

Ryūjin Jakka (Incomplete) and Fire Dragon's Roar... they were a little hard to choose between!

"System, what's the difference between these two?"

[Host, Ryūjin Jakka (Incomplete) can use all skills from its Shikai State, while Fire Dragon's Roar has only one form.]

So the difference lay in their skill attributes. Was it like buying one and getting one free?

Then it was you, Ryūjin Jakka!!!

"System, use all the purple fragments on (Bleach Series) Ryūjin Jakka (Incomplete) (1 star)!"

[Understood, host!]

[Friendly Reminder: During Ryūjin Jakka's upgrade, a large amount of energy will be released. Please carefully choose a suitable location.]

?????

What did that mean?

[Ding!]

[Skill upgraded: Ryūjin Jakka (Incomplete) (2 stars)]

[Ding!]

[Skill upgraded: Ryūjin Jakka (Incomplete) (3 stars)]

Bzz—bzz—bzz—

Ryūjin Jakka suddenly appeared before Yu Xian, humming violently.

Hyorinmaru at his waist seemed to have been provoked, and a faint dragon cry followed.

Bang!

A burst of flame suddenly erupted from Yu Xian's body. In an instant, flames crawled out from every pore in his skin like living creatures.

The uncontrolled flames spread outward, quickly wrapping around his entire body and turning him into a walking torch.

And the temperature of the flames kept rising.

"Damn it, System, you set me up!"

Boom!

Seeing that he was about to cause a huge commotion, Yu Xian did not give it much thought. Staring at the floor-to-ceiling window in front of him, he suddenly kicked off with both legs. The floor was instantly blasted into a one-meter-wide crater by the sudden force, filled with fine cracks.

Crash!

The floor-to-ceiling window shattered instantly. Yu Xian's burning body appeared out on the street, and enormous ice crystal wings formed on his back.

Whoosh!

He shot into the air from where he stood and raced toward the distant sea.

The huge disturbance drew the attention of the people at the press conference and pedestrians on the street.

"Th-That's the Winter Lord?"

"God, the Winter Lord actually appeared at the press conference!"

"Mr. Stark, you said the Winter Lord was an old acquaintance of yours. Can you tell us who he is?"

"Sorry, no comment!"

Someone on the street was lucky enough to capture the scene on video, and it quickly began spreading wildly across the internet.

In just a few minutes, it had gained several million views, and the number was still rising at a breakneck pace.

"Haha, has the Winter Lord grown dissatisfied with dominion over ice? Is he starting to encroach on the domain of fire?"

"God, isn't that way too cool? Look at that ice-crystal silhouette covered in flames—the perfect fusion of ice and fire!"

"Say no more. Starting today, I'm the Winter Lord's die-hard fan!"