Chapter 25 (continued)
Lü Shunshun, who had been dozing off, was no longer sleepy. She blinked, picked up a steamed bun herself, and muttered, "Is it really that good?"
Lü Shunshun took a bite and said, "It does seem a little better than usual..."
Xia Putao usually ate only one at a meal, yet now he picked up a second.
Feng Yiqiao watched, utterly dumbfounded.
It wasn't that he begrudged her the buns—the agronomy department lacked all sorts of things, but steamed buns definitely weren't one of them.
What shocked him was-heavens, what backwater mountain valley had this poor kid come from? She had eaten five steamed buns in one go and looked blissfully happy doing it!
After eating seven steamed buns, Li Yang was too embarrassed to eat any more.
She could actually have eaten more. These buns were remarkable: they tasted wonderful and were sweet and fragrant. Most importantly, once inside her body, they turned into Starlight and flowed into her Star Apertures, without filling her stomach at all.
Seven buns had only filled one Star Aperture. She now had three open, so in theory, she could eat twenty-one.
That number was outrageous. Li Yang wasn't afraid of being called a glutton, but when she thought of the price these buns sold for outside, she was simply too embarrassed to keep eating.
A hundred each.
Twenty-one would be 2,100.
She had agreed to work that afternoon without pay, but she had nearly eaten her wages back!
Li Yang said, rather sheepishly, "I'm full."
Feng Yiqiao: "..."
Li Yang added, "The steamed buns were especially delicious."
The useless trio had a hard time responding, so they could only offer awkward yet polite smiles.
Li Yang got to her feet briskly. "Thank you for the food. I'll head back now and come do the task again first thing tomorrow morning."
"All, all right."
Li Yang left, and the trio looked at one another.
Xia Putao: "Senior brother, can she still come tomorrow?"
Lü Shunshun picked up another steamed bun, took a bite, and said, "Have more buns ready tomorrow. I keep feeling she didn't get enough to eat."
Feng Yiqiao: "..."
He didn't know what to say. Right now, his mind was full of one thought: This is too surreal!
Li Yang returned to the dormitory and happened to run into Fang Chuyun.
Fang Chuyun asked her, "Want to get dinner together?"
Li Yang said, "I've already eaten."
Fang Chuyun said, "Then I'll go eat."
Remembering what "Dean Si" had said, Li Yang asked curiously, "I heard the buffet at the main cafeteria costs one merit point per meal?"
Fang Chuyun said, "That's a higher-tier option. The regular one only costs 0.1 merit points."
Li Yang: "..." What was regular about a meal that cost a thousand yuan?!
But when she thought of those steamed buns brimming with Starlight, she could more or less understand. Like the dormitory, perhaps the buffet that cost one merit point a meal was also brimming with the power of Starlight?
Though it might not have anything to do with Starlight.
Poverty limited Li Yang's imagination, just as in her previous life she had never understood why someone could spend hundreds of thousands on a single meal.
Fang Chuyun went to eat, while Li Yang returned to her dormitory room alone.
She had been busy all afternoon, but she wasn't really tired. She had only worked up a light sweat, as if she had done some aerobic exercise, and it felt quite good.
Li Yang took a quick shower, changed into comfortable clothes, and sat cross-legged on the soft, spacious bed.
It was time to admire her system panel!
Nothing else had changed. Only the lifespan field had gone from 2 years/100 years to 100 years/100 years.
A hundred years!
Li Yang thought happily, Living to a hundred is a ripe old age!
But this world had Star Wielders, so presumably human lifespans had also grown longer. Maybe a hundred was still the prime of life?
When Li Yang thought of the piles of wheat waiting for her to harvest tomorrow, and how her lifespan had actually reached its limit, she decided... time to spend some lifespan!
Out with the old life, in with the new.
If she didn't spend it now, when would she?
Li Yang started with her Physique Points. "Consume five years of lifespan to increase my Physique Points."
As the saying went, wealth—or lifespan-gave one confidence. Li Yang would show the system what spending big looked like.
The system remained as lifeless as a dead fish:
[You cultivated in seclusion for five years. Because there was too little Starlight in your surroundings and your own Star Apertures were limited, your Physique Points increased to 250.]
Li Yang said, "System, I suspect you're mocking me." That 250 was too much of a coincidence!
System: "..."
Li Yang continued, "Another three years."
The system gave her much the same message as before, and no special events were triggered. Her Physique Points increased to 280.
Li Yang was quite dissatisfied. "It went up by twenty-five points a year before. Why has it gone back down?"
The system played dead.
Li Yang had no way to deal with it. She could only console herself—it was reasonable for cultivation to get harder and harder.
After spending ten years of lifespan, Li Yang's Physique Points rose to 300, while her Star Aperture progress also increased from 1% to 100%.
The system had a new note:
[Star Aperture count has reached its limit. Please seek an opportunity to break through.]
Last time, Li Yang had broken through by killing the intruder. There was no intruder this time, so she would have to spend money on a Realm-Breaking Pill.
No rush... Li Yang thought. I'll raise my Spirit Points first.
Her Spirit Points had always been harder to improve than her Physique Points. This time, Li Yang spent a full thirty years before raising her Spirit Points to 300.
"Profiteer!" Li Yang sighed. But on second thought, she made her peace with it. "Oh well, it's only an hour of harvesting wheat."
With both physique and mental stats at their limits, Li Yang turned her gaze to Star Skill: Hidden Shadow.
You're next.
I've got plenty of lifespan now. Let's raise your proficiency first!
Li Yang tried putting in one year. The system treated this Star Skill differently from Fist Burst; at least it didn't call it a low-quality Star Skill.
[You continuously cultivated Star Skill: Hidden Shadow for one year. Because your realm was too low, your comprehension too poor, and your compatibility extremely low, proficiency in Star Skill: Hidden Shadow increased to stage 1, 3%.]
As expected of a Star Skill that had taken four years to learn, its proficiency was quite difficult to raise.
Back when she cultivated Fist Burst, Li Yang had maxed out its proficiency in just two years.
Li Yang increased her lifespan investment.
In the fifth year, the system triggered a "bad event-cultivation speed was too slow, damaging your Dao heart. You lay flat for one year."
In the tenth year, it triggered a "good event-where there's a will, there's a way. Proficiency surged by 5%."
Even with plenty of lifespan, Li Yang felt the sting.
In the end, Li Yang spent the "huge sum" of twenty years of lifespan to raise Star Skill: Hidden Shadow to stage 1, 100%.
Li Yang activated it. She felt the Starlight within her drain away in an instant, and her body gradually grew insubstantial. She didn't become completely invisible; rather, she gradually blended into her surroundings like a chameleon.
"Whew!" Li Yang quickly canceled Hidden Shadow's effect. "That consumes a lot of Starlight."
Still, Hidden Shadow really was a good life-saving Star Skill. The intruder had also been at First Grade Low Stage, yet had managed to conceal herself from Lin Yuesuo, a Third Grade.
That meant Li Yang could also easily evade Third-Grade Star Wielders or mutated creatures after activating Hidden Shadow.
Another thought occurred to Li Yang. "...What would happen if I raised it to stage two?"
She still had forty years of lifespan. Her Physique Points and Spirit Points were both stuck at their limits, and purifying Star-Attracting Pills and Aperture Stabilizing Pills wouldn't take that much lifespan...
So she might as well raise this Star Skill another level!
Li Yang said, "Invest one year of lifespan to improve Star Skill: Hidden Shadow."
[You attempted to break through the grade of Star Skill: Hidden Shadow, but because you lacked a Star Core of the same name, the breakthrough was extremely difficult. Breakthrough progress: 5%.]
Li Yang paused. She read the notice carefully, pondering its meaning. "What's a Star Core of the same name? It seems I can still force a breakthrough without one? But it'll take more lifespan."
But...
She had plenty of lifespan right now!
Li Yang logged into the school app and searched the forum for information on "Star Cores."
Several paid posts popped up shortly afterward.
Li Yang's mouth twitched. It wasn't that she couldn't afford the 0.01 merit points; she just didn't think it was worth it.
Once classes started, she should be able to learn this kind of information soon enough.
Li Yang paid the 0.01 merit points anyway. She couldn't help it; she wanted to know now, so she considered it paying for time.
"Star Cores come from creatures of the Astral Realm... different Star Skills can be extracted from different Star Cores... refining a Star Core allows one to learn the corresponding Star Skill..."
Li Yang quickly figured out what Star Cores were.
A Star Core was essentially a "skill book," except it existed inside an Astral Realm creature and could only be extracted by chance after the creature was killed.
And after it was extracted, the exact Star Skill it contained still required further identification and refinement.
Not every Star Skill could advance in stage, so Star Skill: Hidden Shadow really was good quality. But the advancement requirements were truly harsh too: it actually required a Star Core of the same name.
Li Yang thought of what Fang Chuyun had said: "My older sister bought a rare Star Skill for five hundred merit points."
Forget it. Even if the trading office really sold Hidden Shadow Star Cores, she couldn't afford one.
But...
Looking at the system notice, Li Yang speculated, "Without a Star Core of the same name, can I also force a breakthrough by spending lifespan? Even if one year only gives me 5% progress, it's still better than spending five million!"
Li Yang steeled herself and decided to grind for this stage-two Star Skill.
She was being so extravagant because she would have a large amount of lifespan coming in tomorrow. If she didn't spend it now, even if she harvested the wheat tomorrow, she would have nowhere to store the lifespan.
"Consume five years of lifespan to break through Star Skill: Hidden Shadow!"
The system gave her the same response, but fortunately, the breakthrough progress didn't stop. It continued to accumulate bit by bit.
Five percent a year, 50% in ten years, and 100% in twenty!
The closer she got to the end, the more nervous Li Yang became. She was terrified that some "bad event" would affect her breakthrough progress.
After 90%, the breakthrough progress fluctuated slightly. Li Yang watched her lifespan figure while pouring lifespan into it.
Finally, after consuming twenty-two years of lifespan, Star Skill: Hidden Shadow advanced to stage two!
Li Yang looked closely at the system panel and couldn't help feeling as though she had "returned overnight to the days before liberation."