The next day, morning.
Zhang Xiaoman slept in today, a rare occurrence, and didn’t get out of bed until nearly noon.
It wasn’t his fault, after all, he’d spent the entire night researching how to tackle the monster problem in Sheep Village, only stopping after 4 a.m.
You’re asking why he wasn’t with Lin Sisi?
He had actually intended to do just that.
But just as he finally mustered the courage to make a move, he was blocked by one of her relatives, nearly causing him to suffocate with frustration.
As for trying a different approach?
Zhang Xiaoman did consider it for a bit, but ultimately, he didn’t take any action.
Regrettably, the young lady was blind, and every time the thought crossed his mind, he was inexplicably overcome with a sense of guilt, as if he were taking advantage of her.
As the saying goes, initial vigor fades with time and exhaustion follows.
After such an emotional roller coaster, Zhang Xiaoman wasn’t sure if he would ever muster the courage he had today.
However, fortunately for him, the relationship between the two did progress further; from the previous nebulous ambiguity, they became a genuine couple.
Having gotten up and washed up, Zhang Xiaoman checked the time. With about an hour left until lunch, he decided to spend this time in the Original Realm.
After these days of accumulation, he had nearly two hundred points, and a significant portion was available for his own use.
Originally, he had planned to save these points to buy a surveillance Anti-gravity Car.
After all, the Dawn was simply too large and inconvenient to take anywhere, making a smaller and more portable surveillance Anti-gravity Car the obvious choice.
However, the sudden issue with Sheep Village forced him to alter his plans.
He had to use these points for an upgrade first, hoping to boost his own strength and gain an advantage in the upcoming confrontations with the Alien Species.
Moreover, according to Xu Fei’s description, the monsters in that underground cave were almost certainly Evolved Bodies of the Big Corpse Demon.
Although Zhang Xiaoman didn’t understand why Demon Series Alien Species would emerge from a Dimension Rift alongside Biological Species.
He knew that to deal with these High Order demons, he would probably need the power of Holy Water.
Otherwise, considering their peculiar traits, it would indeed take a considerable effort to slay them.
"I have a total of 180 points, with about 120 that I can use. There’s no point in buying ordinary Holy Water, it’s unlikely to be effective against those big guys, so I might as well go straight for Unicorn Blood..."
Zhang Xiaoman pondered for a moment before making his decision.
He planned to use 80 points for an upgrade, and then use the remaining 40 to purchase a bottle of Unicorn Blood.
Then, he intended to have Jannan craft it into bullets during lunchtime to load into his spare magazine.
Having made up his mind, he immediately took action.
As his finger tapped the marketplace interface for the 40-point Unicorn Blood, a small bottle fell from the void.
The silver-white blood inside the bottle looked so sinful that it made one feel a sense of guilt at a single glance.
"I’ve got the blood, now it’s time to upgrade. I hope this upgrade packs a punch and doesn’t randomly end up with some bizarre ability..."
Zhang Xiaoman silently prayed, his gaze turning to the Purple Level Dragon Egg beside him. Torn, he ultimately couldn’t bring himself to touch it.
"Randomly drawing an upgrade, please wait..."
"Upgrade successful! Purple Skill—Star Knight, has received 1 Upgrade Point."
"Randomly drawing an upgrade, please wait..."
"Upgrade successful! Purple Skill—Star Knight, has received 1 Upgrade Point."
Following a series of system prompts, Zhang Xiaoman saw his Star Knight skill, and the Upgrade Points for this skill began to rise rapidly, instantly reaching the status of 5/5.
"The Upgrade Points are full? Is this... Has the Star Guard upgraded again!?"
Seeing this scene, he immediately felt a rush of excitement and turned to look at the last record in the system, finding the prompted content to be as follows:
"Upgrade successful! Purple Skill—Star Knight, has successfully upgraded to Purple Second Rank Skill—Star Shining Saint Knight."
"Star Shining Saint Knight! As expected! The skill has successfully upgraded, Purple Second Rank Skill... It seems that after the Purple Level, the ranks are categorized more clearly, unlike the vagueness before."
Zhang Xiaoman looked at the attributes of his new skill, feeling that the choice to upgrade this time was truly profitable.
The Star Guard can be said to be one of his main skills, and being able to upgrade it was of course the best outcome.
"But, it takes 50 Upgrade Points to go from the Second Rank to the third tier? Isn’t that a bit too much? And what about from the third-tier to the Fourth-tier? 100? Or 500?"
Zhang Xiaoman was somewhat surprised by the consumption needed to upgrade a skill at later stages, but he didn’t have much time to dwell on this. He turned his attention back to the newly upgraded skill.
[Star Shining Saint Knight]
Effect: Utilizes the surrounding Dark Energy to summon 16 Star Knights or 2 Star Shining Saint Knights; the strength of the knights is enhanced by the user’s spiritual power.
Maximum Limit: 16 Star Knights, 2 Star Shining Saint Knights
Usage Consumption: (160)→320 Dark Energy
Summoning Range: (30)→100 meters
Control Range: (1500)→15000 meters
Duration: (24 hours)→240 hours
Cooling Time: (1 hour)→10 minutes
—The holy knights who have received the Star Shining Baptism, each one a hero of the past.
Looking at the changes in the skill’s attributes, Zhang Xiaoman couldn’t help but widen his eyes; the empowerment from this upgrade far exceeded his predictions.
Not to mention anything else, just the increase in control range, which increased tenfold from 1.5 kilometers to 15 kilometers, undoubtedly greatly enhanced his long-distance control ability and would be decisive in helping with the upcoming exploration of the Mist.
Aside from that, the duration and cooling time were more surprising than Zhang Xiaoman had expected.
hours, for him, was almost no different from being permanent.
The cooling time, likewise, no longer increased but instead saw a significant reduction.
However, this entailed a downside: the maximum summoning limit of the Star Guard skill was now restricted, preventing cumulative summoning.
"Hmm, this isn’t bad either. After all, if the cooling time were too long, I wouldn’t be able to use the cumulative summoning ability anyway. It’s better , as the mobility is much stronger."