"I really don't know. It's entirely down to luck. I don't even know what kind of egg I'll draw next."
His first Soul Skill, Fate Gacha, was exactly what its name suggested: entirely dependent on luck.
Who knew what he would draw next?
So far, the skills he drew all seemed pretty good.
"And the cost is actually this low."
What surprised Su Mo most was how little Soul Power his first Soul Skill consumed.
He had already drawn three skill eggs, yet only used about a tenth of his Soul Power.
In other words, his current Soul Power would let him draw thirty skill eggs.
If he got lucky and all thirty eggs contained Light of Judgment, wouldn't he be invincible? Who could withstand thirty rounds of attacks at triple strength?
Still, that was only wishful thinking. The skill eggs he drew were entirely down to luck.
He had also timed the cooldown: three seconds.
That meant one skill egg every three seconds.
The cooldown was practically negligible.
"Oh, right, Xiao Wu. How long did that all-stat boost last?"
He needed to know that beforehand so he could adapt promptly in future battles.
Not only that, he needed to draw every possible skill egg and see what each one did.
That way, he wouldn't be left fumbling blindly if he drew an unfamiliar skill egg later.
"About fifteen seconds?" Xiao Wu silently worked it out before answering.
"Fifteen seconds?" Su Mo frowned. "That feels a little short."
After all, Oscar's sausages in the original story lasted several minutes.
Yet his only lasted fifteen seconds.
"How big was the boost?" Su Mo asked again.
Fine, fifteen seconds it was. In a fight, even fifteen seconds could be crucial.
Besides, it boosted every stat and rapidly restored Soul Power.
As long as the boost wasn't too small, fifteen seconds would be enough.
"Su Mo, this Soul Skill is definitely the strongest I've ever seen! Do you know how much it boosted me just now? Ninety percent! That's almost double!"
Xiao Wu gestured excitedly in front of Su Mo. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought it was her Soul Skill.
"Have you even seen any Soul Skills? And you're already calling it the strongest?" Su Mo tapped her smooth forehead, amused.
How long had it been since Xiao Wu took human form? She and he were both rookies who had only just absorbed their Soul Rings. What Soul Skills could she possibly have seen?
Still, the boost really did startle Su Mo: a ninety-percent increase to every stat.
Suddenly, fifteen seconds didn't seem so unacceptable.
His strength would double for fifteen seconds, and he could finish an entire combo with his Soul Power still full.
Let me ask anyone who makes an enemy of me: would that drive you insane or what?
Moreover, he could draw a skill egg every three seconds. If they were all all-stat boosts, couldn't he keep it going for seven and a half minutes?
Su Mo suddenly shook his head. No, he had forgotten the Soul Power recovery. If he applied every all-stat boost to himself, that meant ninety-percent Soul Power recovery.
He drew one skill egg every three seconds, and each cost roughly three percent of his Soul Power.
In fifteen seconds, he could draw five skill eggs, consuming only about fifteen percent of his Soul Power.
His Soul Power recovery rate was ninety percent.
Damn, wouldn't that mean it effectively cost nothing? If I kept drawing all-stat boosts, couldn't I keep drawing forever?
Hiss, that's a little terrifying.
Still, he knew that was impossible. His skill eggs were completely random.
"Su Mo, you're done for! Take this from your Sister Xiao Wu!"
Xiao Wu flipped sideways, her long, straight legs scissoring toward Su Mo's head.
Still busy calculating, Su Mo didn't react in time.
He only felt his face hit what seemed like a soft shield.
Xiao Wu clamped her legs tightly around Su Mo's neck, mounting him outright.
At the same time, she pinned both his hands behind his back with her small hands.
Su Mo carefully assessed the situation. His face had probably hit Xiao Wu's stomach.
There was even a faint fragrance.
Huh? Why did it feel soft above his head too?
He pressed upward a little, and the sensation became more distinct.
Still, he wasn't in the mood to enjoy it, because it really was uncomfortable.
Mostly because his nose was blocked and he couldn't breathe.
Su Mo struggled to open his mouth. "Hiss, get off me! I can't breathe!"
"Hmph! Now you know how strong Xiao Wu is, right? Let's see if you dare flick your Sister Xiao Wu's forehead again!"
Xiao Wu didn't torment Su Mo for long, mainly because his warm breath kept washing over her stomach and tickling her.
Besides, his head kept moving around, so she finally let him go.
She jumped off Su Mo, straightened her clothes, and planted her hands on her hips. "Do you know what you did wrong? Will you dare do it again?"
Su Mo really wanted to say he would. After all, the sensation just now had been both pleasant and uncomfortable.
But when the words reached his lips, he changed his answer.
"I won't! Sister Xiao Wu is the strongest!"
"That's more like it." Xiao Wu nodded, very satisfied with his attitude.
Looking at her expression, Su Mo found it rather funny. Who had really gotten the short end of the stick here?
At any rate, he didn't feel he had lost out.
"All right, hurry up and help me test the effects and durations of the other skill eggs."
Su Mo wanted to figure out his first Soul Skill as quickly as possible.
He had no time to bicker with Xiao Wu.
Over the time that followed, Su Mo drew more than thirty skill eggs.
He personally tested almost all of them.
He divided the skill eggs he drew into six main categories: attack, enhancement, domain, defense, recovery, and control.
Even Su Mo hadn't expected to draw so many kinds of skill eggs.
Across all the categories, he had drawn eighteen different skills.
A full eighteen.
Even Su Mo thought that was absurd.
For the first time, he felt just how ridiculously overpowered his first Soul Skill was.
Other people got one Soul Skill per Soul Ring. What did that make his?
One Soul Skill had yielded eighteen skills. Did that count as eighteen Soul Skills?
He imagined facing an opponent and declaring, "It's my turn now. Time to draw a card."
Just thinking about it made him a little excited.
He didn't even know whether there were other skill eggs he hadn't drawn yet.
He felt there probably weren't. After all, he had made over thirty draws and gotten plenty of duplicates.
First, the attack skills. There wasn't much to say about those: they were all instantaneous.
There was no duration to speak of.
Of course, several of the recovery skills were instantaneous too.
The other skills generally lasted anywhere from a few seconds to a little over ten.
None lasted very long.
Still, Su Mo was very satisfied. Their durations might be short, but they made up for it in variety.
He felt like a whole team all by himself.
Unfortunately, his skills couldn't stack.
He had tried using two different skills on himself.
His final conclusion was that only one skill from any given category could exist at a time.
Furthermore, a skill used later would overwrite the previous skill in the same category.
For example, if he drew two enhancement skills in a row,
the second enhancement skill he used would directly overwrite the first.
If the new skill's duration was shorter than the old skill's remaining duration, the new skill wouldn't take effect at all.
All he could say was that it had its pros and cons.
However, although skills from the same category couldn't stack, skills from different categories could coexist.
That was a pleasant surprise for Su Mo. With enough time, he could even apply several skills to himself at once.
Su Mo noted down all his discoveries, one by one.
Beside him, Xiao Wu was already dumbfounded.
"Su Mo, is this really your first Soul Skill?"
Before you continue