S-grade soul skill

Li Ming suddenly remembered something and pointed at the book glowing pale gold in Su Mu's arms. "The quality you get from a book like that is all down to luck. With the luck you've been having, why not strike while the iron's hot?"

Su Mu had been thinking the same thing.

A soul skill book in his hand was ultimately just a bargaining chip. Only by turning it into an actual skill could he improve his strength.

He nodded and took the skill book out of his soul space.

Its pale golden glow stood out against the night. Even just holding it, he could feel a strange ripple contained within.

Several students passing by noticed the light and cast curious glances their way.

"A random-quality soul skill book, and he's opening it right now? That's bold."

"If he doesn't get anything good, he'll lose out big time. Plenty of people would buy that book off him."

"But he won it anyway, so it won't hurt if he loses out."

Su Mu ignored the chatter.

He took a deep breath and poured his mental power into the skill book.

The book's cover opened soundlessly, and a dazzling light surged from its pages.

At first it was only pale gold, but it grew brighter and brighter, more and more blinding, as if someone had lit a golden flame in front of him.

The light grew stronger until it swallowed his entire outline.

"This light... something's wrong with this light!" someone in the crowd cried.

"With light that strong, it has to be at least B-grade!"

"B-grade? Could B-grade be that bright? I'd say it's at least A-grade!"

"A-grade? With that brightness, I think it might be..."

The light reached its peak, then burst apart with a boom, turning into countless tiny golden specks. They gathered again into a stream of information that entered Su Mu's forehead.

Su Mu felt a boom in his mind, as if something had been forcibly torn open, and a torrent of information surged in.

A few breaths later, the light faded.

He opened his eyes.

Li Ming stood beside him, his mouth hanging wide open. "Brother Mu... you... why do you look like you've seen a ghost? What did you get? B-grade or A-grade?"

Su Mu glanced at him and slowly said, "S-grade."

Li Ming's jaw nearly came unhinged.

"S... S-grade???"

His voice was loud enough for the whole street to hear.

All the passing students stopped in their tracks and stared at Su Mu as if he were a monster.

"An S-grade skill book? What are the odds of getting S-grade from a random-quality one? One in a thousand? One in ten thousand?"

"Holy shit, is that even humanly possible? He got an S-grade soul skill on the same day he awakened an F-grade core card!"

"Did I wander onto the wrong set today? What kind of luck is that?"

"If Wang Hao finds out this book gave him an S-grade skill, he'll probably cough up blood on the spot..."

"Forget Wang Hao. Everyone here is about to cough up blood. A random book worth five hundred thousand gave him an S-grade skill. Its value just shot up by dozens of times, at the very least."

Li Ming recovered from his shock and grabbed Su Mu by the shoulders, so excited he could barely speak. "Quick, look! See what skill it is!"

Su Mu's consciousness had already sunk into his soul space.

On the skill panel, a golden skill icon floated in place, the text beneath it clearly visible.

He took a look, and his expression became somewhat peculiar.

Had he obtained an S-grade soul skill because of his good luck?

And the skill was none other than...

"Years Like a Blade," Su Mu read the skill's name softly.

Li Ming's expression froze.

"Years... Like a Blade?"

He repeated the name, the wild delight on his face fading at a visible pace. An extremely complicated expression took its place, as if someone had dumped a basin of cold water over his head.

"Why did it have to be this one..." An indescribable disappointment seeped into Li Ming's voice.

Some of the passing students had also heard the skill's name, and looks of understanding appeared on their faces.

"Years Like a Blade... the most useless of the S-grade soul skills."

"So that's what it was. No wonder he got it. This book obviously has the highest drop rate for that S-grade skill, because it's no use to anyone else who gets it either."

"You can't say it's completely useless. It's a time-type skill, at least. Very rare."

"Rare, yes, but that's all it is."

"Sigh, I was just envying him, but not anymore. In any mainstream system, Years Like a Blade is destined to be a secondary skill used to make up the numbers."

Those gazes that had been red with envy all softened, turning into looks of understanding: "So that's what it was."

Some even held a trace of sympathy.

Li Ming seemed to realize how his expression had changed. He hurriedly coughed, patted Su Mu on the shoulder, and forced a comforting smile.

"Brother Mu, well... it's not like it's completely unusable. A time-type skill, and S-grade at that—it's still something to be proud of when you tell people. And in certain dungeon scenarios, this skill can work wonders. Think about it: say your Little Drill Wind gets hurt. One use of Years Like a Blade catalyzes ten days, and all his wounds heal..."

His voice grew quieter and quieter toward the end, because even he couldn't keep making things up.

Years Like a Blade.

Su Mu silently repeated those words in his heart, but the light in his eyes was even brighter than when he had opened the skill book.

[Soul skill: Years Like a Blade]

[Grade: S-grade]

[Cost: 1,000 momentum points]

[Cooldown: 10 minutes]

[Effect: Applies time catalysis to living units within a large area, accelerating the passage of their life state by 10 days. Accelerates nonliving units by 1 year.]

[Note: A time-type soul skill, effective on both living and nonliving entities. Can be used repeatedly.]

Li Ming couldn't see the value of this skill.

More precisely, the vast majority of people in this world couldn't see its value.

That was because all their standards of judgment were based on the "conventional dungeon system."

What would happen if ten days of time catalysis were used on an ordinary monster?

How long did a goblin live?

Fifteen years.

Ten days was almost negligible on the scale of its life.

Unless the monster was already on the verge of death, those ten days would do no substantial damage at all.

But if the monster was already on the verge of death, would you still need to waste a thousand momentum points and an S-grade skill to finish it off? One strike would do the job, so why go to all that trouble?

As for using it on your own side?

After ten days of catalysis, a creature card could indeed "fast-forward" through its slow natural healing process.

If Su Mu's Little Drill Wind were wounded, ten days of catalysis would let him recover completely.

But the problem was that this was a large-area skill.

Once used, every living unit within range would go through those ten days.

The enemy's wounds would heal too, and the opponent's condition would be refreshed as well.

More importantly, most creature cards were in their prime when acquired. Repeated catalysis would artificially shorten that prime. After a few hundred uses, a card would be nurtured into uselessness by its owner's own skill.

Using it on nonliving units was even more laughable.

Accelerating the aging of a building card would only make the building collapse faster.

So in a conventional system, Years Like a Blade was a chicken-rib skill with an unclear role and enormous side effects.

It had an S-grade ranking and the rare "time-type" label, but its practical value wasn't even as good as that of some excellent low-grade support skills.

But as for those side effects,

Su Mu had none of them.

In fact, this time catalysis was exactly what he wanted.