Chapter 18: Chapter 17: I'm Really Not an Assassin
Joseph looked at the bag in front of him, and after merely a moment's pause, took it again.
"Okay."
As he infused Yuan Force into the bag, multiple thoughts flashed through Joseph's mind.
It was Li Le who explained the interest rates before, not himself!
So whether the repayment schedule was one year, one month, or one week, it was all up to him to decide!
The loan of two thousand Yuan Force, along with 'happiness', should be about enough.
Joseph actually never intended to let Tao Yu repay those two thousand Yuan Force. He planned to keep him in debt indefinitely, treating the interest as compensation for his services, and with the help of 'happiness', that should be enough to maintain control over him!
With this thought, a slight smile could not help but curl at the corners of Joseph's mouth.
An Outsider with a Grade B talent was actually quite good; Dynamic Vision also counted as a talent that could rapidly develop combat ability, the Python he had killed alone being the best example.
A small investment could quickly yield a loyal henchman who's a human artillery piece, why not go for it!
This time they had run into a spacetime anomaly, making it somewhat difficult to find a valuable henchman!
While watching Tao Yu finish absorbing once more, Joseph even asked again,
"Do you want more?"
"Yes!"
Tao Yu, seeing such a good opportunity, did not hesitate at all.
"As much as you can lend, that's how much I want."
Having said that, he looked expectantly at Wino.
"And Lord Wino as well."
Upon hearing this, Wino scoffed.
"You belong to Joseph, I won't overstep and interfere."
"I... I also want to borrow!"
Chen Guan said, trembling as he raised his hand.
His gun had been taken, and now he had no long-range weapons, which made him feel very much in danger.
Indeed, Chen Guan didn't want to borrow Yuan Force at such interest rates, but, borrowing the lords' Yuan Force should prevent his easy demise, right?
Let the interest be the price for his life!
But no sooner had he spoken, Joseph, who had cheerfully lent three thousand units of Yuan Force to Tao Yu, backhanded Chen Guan across the face.
The blow lifted Chen Guan off his feet, his teeth spraying out mixed with blood.
"Tao brother has a Grade B talent, what are you worth? You can't even know your own value and you dare to speak?"
The teeth would not grow back; Joseph's slap had virtually crippled Chen Guan!
If it led to an infection in his mouth or something, he might well drop dead on the road.
Head spinning, Chen Guan staggered to his feet, his vision layered with multiple images, but after such a blow, he didn't dare utter a word of retort.
Instead, he kept apologizing profusely, with his now whistling mouth,
"I am wrong, I am wrong..."
"Aren't you going to take your things and get up front? You really want Lord Wino to go in front?"
It was Wino, who was always quick to anger, who now noisily spoke up,
"Enough, if this guy really dies on the road we'll have to find another replacement. Just let it be, don't get in my way."
After speaking, he even cast a teasing glance at Tao Yu,
"Since you have Yuan Force now, practice well on the road. The one with the Endurance talent doesn't have much shooting ability, right? Give the bullets to him, don't shoot recklessly."
With Chen Guan in front of him having just had his teeth knocked out, Zhang Wei didn't dare to say anything and nodded repeatedly, handing all the spare bullets over to Tao Yu.
And Li Le, who had been observing coldly from the sidelines, also laughed inwardly.
Did you really think borrowing Yuan Force was a good thing? Haha, ignorant!
Only Tao Yu at this moment cheerfully thanked Jose for a moment, then took the bullets passed by Zhang Wei and began to distract himself by focusing on his numerous skills.
Three thousand Yuan Force units credited!
His own parents would have to scrimp and save for several years to accumulate the amount of Yuan Force that a child of the Inner City could lend casually!
Although by the 'free' offer of 'happiness', Tao Yu also knew the general idea and intention of the other party, but the fact that they could lend it outright was sufficient to demonstrate the absolute disparity in wealth accumulation.
Without the issue of the facehugger, Tao Yu actually had no intention of borrowing Yuan Force.
Now that the two children of the Inner City had joined forces, there wasn't much room for him to maneuver unless there was a significant change in circumstances.
The gap in absolute strength was just too great.
But now that there was the facehugger, knowing what kind of monster was out in the grasslands, he didn't hesitate at all. Safety first, he must use every means possible to improve himself!
Basic Combat, Basic Blade, Stealth - Python, Burst - Python.
Tao Yu underwent Deification of the four combat-related skills with his eyes closed.
Three thousand Yuan Force units credited— he had never been this wealthy!
The first Deification of skills was the most cost-effective choice!
Basic Combat - Modified lv2: Consumes a small amount of mental energy to have certain insight into the enemy's weaknesses and can add a mental shock to combat attacks when concentrating.
Basic Blade - Modified lv2: Consumes a small amount of mental energy to have certain insight into the enemy's weaknesses (stackable) and can add a mental shock on the blade when concentrating.
Burst - Modified lv1: Able to compress muscles for a sudden increase in explosive power, significantly draining physical strength when concentrating to enhance the compressed state, which could damage the body if exceeding physical limits.
These three skills, consuming about eighty to one hundred Yuan Force units, satisfied Tao Yu greatly with their usual efficiency in Deification.
What caught Tao Yu's attention the most was Stealth - Python, which alone consumed more Yuan Force than the other three skills combined!
"No wonder it's more than twice as expensive as Basic Breathing Technique in terms of strengthening cost," he couldn't help but admire the skill as he felt the influx of skill information.
Stealth - Modified lv1: Can passively reduce one's presence and actively expend more mental energy to fade into shadows. By increasing physical energy expenditure, one can move through shadows, with a certain chance of being detected by perception abilities.
Originally, it was just ordinary stealth, a camouflage and ambush technique similar to how a python stalks its prey, but after the enhancement, it took on a magical quality!
Shadow Evasion!
Had this turned into a skill for invisibility?
Moreover, by expending more physical strength to move in shadows, through the information sensed, it wasn't about moving slowly as some stealth abilities suggest, but instead, it could allow one to burst forth at speeds faster than one's full sprint when in the shadows!
Even theoretically, this speed could also be applied to attacks!
Paired with Burst - Modified as well as the Qi-Blood enhancement from Basic Breathing Technique - Modified, along with Bullet Time, and the mental attacks added by Basic Blade, Tao Yu realized that with the right weapon, his melee burst capabilities seemed to have suddenly increased substantially.
"So I've really become an assassin..."
Tao Yu felt somewhat rueful, but this was also somewhat of an inevitable and cost-effective choice.
For people like Jose and Wino, who could freely lend three thousand Yuan Force units, their starting funds from earlier conversations were at least one hundred thousand! Plus, with mechanical modifications, alien implants, and some high-level skills training from the past eighteen years, once they slammed their Yuan Force into boosting their strength, they surpassed the endpoint of most Outsiders right at the beginning!
When Tao Yu was given 'happiness' for free, he observed Jose with Bullet Time, who seemed to have metal covering even his vulnerable head area, making it very difficult to achieve a one-hit kill.
Adding the shoulder cannon, mechanical arm, and other related abilities, one could say that their panel abilities comprehensively crushed Tao Yu.
Even if Tao Yu spent all three thousand Yuan Force points, it was still the same!
But...
Even as strong as they were, if they were successfully ambushed by a python or an alien, the chances were high that they would be done for. Now, with the skills Tao Yu had to enhance his assassination burst, it was also very likely that he could reach the threshold to kill them!
But since he hadn't actually tried it yet, he couldn't be completely certain.
With the troublesome alien enemy out there, Tao Yu really wasn't planning on doing anything extra in the following time period. He simply wanted to focus on improving himself.
Looking at the remaining two thousand plus Yuan Force, Tao Yu hesitated only for a moment before focusing his attention on auxiliary skills such as Basic Herbal Identification.
Even though they seemed to offer little support in combat, they were cheaper to use at about fifty units each. Fully strengthening them wouldn't affect his plan to preserve most of his Yuan Force for acceleration...