The storm outside the house grew fiercer, and the sizzling sounds of flames could faintly be heard.
The little raven, like a card-shuffling mage, displayed the Skill Cards in her hand.
She herself was a Transcendent of the Shadow Armor, and had just been promoted to an officer in the Black Whale Group.
The extraordinary resources available to an officer of the Black Whale Group far exceeded his imagination.
With a light wave of her small hand, the little raven displayed six Shadow Image Skill Cards.
Chen Qi scrutinized his options carefully.
Even a powerful Shadow Image Skill Card would cost over two million Shell Coins after a discount of thirty percent!
He only had five million Shell Coins in cash, so he couldn't afford them all.
Moreover, although he had eliminated the side effects of using too many Skill Cards, blindly absorbing knowledge could still lead to the madness of obsessively pursuing book-related skills.
Chen Qi's index finger moved over the cards, examining each in turn.
Shadow Flow Dance, a Floral Appearance Shadow Image Skill Card, summons two dark shadows that mimic one's movements and dance wildly, inflicting heavy spiritual attacks. It requires mastery of advanced dance skills, and a slight understanding of either Floral Appearance or Shadow Image.
Shadow Soldier Creation, a Hammer Shadow Image Skill Card, that can refine negative emotions and materials from shadow demons to create one's own shadow soldiers. It requires a small amount of understanding of either Shadow Image or Hammer Phase and knowledge of prerequisite techniques like 'Elemental Extraction' and 'Elemental Formation'.
Twisted Crawling, an Illusory Shadow Image Skill Card that sacrifices half of one's spiritual value to crawl on the ground emitting a shrieking wail, scaring away enemies. It requires belief in the principles of Shadow and has no other conditions for use.
Shadow Armor, a Blade Shadow Image Skill Card that represents an advanced form of Qi Power, converting Qi Power into a stronger dark Qi Power and enhancing one's defensive capabilities. It requires mastery of Qi Power and a small amount of Shadow Image understanding.
Shadow Step, a Lantern Shadow Image Skill Card that is a movement technique class skill. It significantly improves agility and requires a small amount of Shadow Image understanding, Qi Power, and 18 agility points.
Dark Spear, a Shadow Image Skill Card that allows one to conjure a dark long spear out of thin air. It requires a small amount of Shadow Image understanding and meditation techniques.
Chen Qi made his selection.
Shadow Flow Dance, though powerful, is better suited to professions such as dancers, which has nothing to do with me.
While the Shadow Soldier is nice, mastering it for practical use requires too many prerequisite conditions.
Twisted Crawling is an extremely underpowered skill on its own and is only of some use when one takes the sinister path of evolving into a dark creature.
The Shadow Spear is an attack technique for First Order Transcendents, and in terms of power, it's nowhere near as effective as bullets.
In the end, Chen Qi focused on Shadow Armor and Shadow Step.
The Shadow Armor is an advanced use of Qi Power, focusing on enhancing the defensive capabilities of Qi Power.
As a close-combat Transcendent, Chen Qi has a strong constitution but lacks defensive skills. With Shadow Armor, he could greatly improve his own defense.
An excellent Skill Card that compensated for his weak defense.
Shadow Step, too, was a quite impressive movement skill.
In player guides, movement technique skills and perception skills are essential for Second Order Transcendents and are important ways to improve agility.
Both of these Skill Cards must be pretty expensive... Chen Qi thought for a moment, then pointed with his index finger:
"I'll take these two."
The little raven pinched the cards between two fingers and flicked them into Chen Qi's hand:
"Your breathing techniques are well-practiced; these two Skill Cards are indeed suitable for you. Let me think, two and a half million Shell Coins for one, five million Shell Coins for both.
If you don't have enough money right now, you can always pay later."
Five million Shell Coins...
Chen Qi blinked, pausing his search through his backpack card.
These two Skill Cards were very practical and would easily fetch at least ten million Shell Coins on the market!
The price of five million Shell Coins meant they were practically half off!
The little raven gathered up the other cards:
"No need to pay with goods; if you can't afford it, you can owe it for now."
The little raven pondered; for a Chef, to come up with five million Shell Coins all at once was indeed an almost insurmountable challenge.
Chen Qi confirmed:
"Are you sure about the five million? Isn't that too cheap?"
Cheap? Do you really have that much cash? Little Raven rubbed her temples:
"Because of the Black Whale Blood, and that Black Hunter, my mental state hasn't been normal lately, consider it an apology for just having attacked you."
"Moreover, there aren't many buyers for the Shadow Image Skill Card, and selling it is a troublesome matter in itself."
Chen Qi didn't hesitate, he took out a pile of shiny Shell Coins from his backpack card and quickly counted them.
Ten thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thousand, one hundred thousand...
Chen Qi stacked the five million Shell Coins neatly and handed them to Little Raven.
The hard-earned money was quickly depleted.
"Huh?"
Little Raven took the hefty sum of Shell Coins and blinked.
The chef in front of her could actually come up with five million Shell Coins in cash!
Do chefs make that much money? Little Raven stared at Chen Qi for a long time, in a daze.
"How nice..."
Little Raven couldn't help saying it out loud.
She was like a young girl who had been bedridden for years, slumped on her sickbed, watching her peers make noise and enjoy their youth outside the window.
Although it was hard to believe, at this moment, facing Chen Qi who was less powerful than her, all she felt was sheer envy.
No pressure from parents, no oppression from superiors, no cunning rivalries among friends, no hostility from Black Hunters or witches, sailing the seas to one's heart's desire.
Most importantly, delicious food every day!
A carefree life, carefree sailing... Little Raven's lips curled into a smile, which vanished in an instant.
Chen Qi miraculously escaped from the Black Whale Group, but she hadn't.
Using the opportunity, she took out something resembling a radio from her backpack card and began to fiddle with it.
Chen Qi wasn't idle either; he directly used two Skill Cards.
The cards dissolved at his fingertips, merging into his bloodstream.
[You have mastered Shadow Feet Lv1]
[You have mastered Shadow Armor Lv1]
A surge of heat spread rapidly throughout his body... Chen Qi operated the Spiritual Power within his body, and some black Qi Power appeared on his limbs.
Both were upgradable skills, with a maximum level of three!
Relying on the accumulation from missions, he now had 8000 Spiritual Points.
Upgrading Shadow Feet and Shadow Armor to Lv3 would each require 3000 Spiritual Points.
Upgrade!
The six thousand Spiritual Points he had saved up vanished in an instant.
[Your Shadow Armor has been upgraded to Lv3, increasing the sturdiness of the Shadow Qi Power, and also, your defense has become much more stylish.]
[Your Shadow Feet has been upgraded to Lv3, movement technique enhanced, agility increased by +7 points.]
Chen Qi felt the vast Extraordinary Power coursing through his body.
Second-tier Skill Cards, like the Meditation Technique and Body Forging Skill, also required a period of time to master fully after use, to unleash their real power.
Tap tap tap!
Chen Qi frowned and looked at Little Raven before him.
He saw that Little Raven had taken out a radio at some point and was busily tinkering with it.
She was... Chen Qi remembered that the radio in her hands was an Extraordinary Prop for supernatural communication.