Chapter 196 - 144: New Abilities and New Buildings

What was unexpected was that Mages could also use [Lethal Strike]!

THUD—

A dull blocking sound rang out as a massive shockwave struck, throwing the Fish Person momentarily off balance.

The player’s eyes lit up. He instinctively drew his Magic Staff, pressed it against the Fish Person’s chest, and then, a brilliant light flared!

With a BANG, the Fish Person was sent flying more than ten meters, carving a long trench in the sand before turning into a puff of Ashes, its life extinguished.

"Holy shit!"

"Our Mages actually have an exclusive execution move! This is awesome, bros!"

"This execution move feels so good! The animation’s impact is just perfect!"

"Ahhhhh, Dev-baby, I was wrong about you! I’ll be your mommy, mwah~"

"Fuck, there’s more than one execution move! You can do it at range too!"

"Backstabbing them in the ass counts too! Hahahaha! So satisfying!"

"Dev Dad, you’re my real dad! I was being an ignorant brat just now. I’ll go die for you right away!"

"..."

After realizing this, the Mage players who were just shaking with rage were now all smiles. They were fickle as hell; one moment they were baring their teeth, ready to bite, and the next they were wagging their tails...

...

Besides the new Candle Spirit Abilities, the new Spirit Candle Buildings were naturally also a focus of great attention.

When the Demon-Harboring Cottage was promoted to Tier Two, no one was happier than Mushroom.

After trying out the new Abilities, he immediately went to the Tier Two Demon-Harboring Cottage.

After its promotion, the Demon-Harboring Cottage seemed a bit larger and also looked slightly more refined than before.

The inside of the Demon-Harboring Cottage also looked much more spacious.

After touching the fire, it was the familiar process of spending Wax Oil to upgrade. But for Mushroom, who had earned a lot of Wax Oil, this wasn’t an issue.

After upgrading, Mushroom explored the Refining Platform and the planting area for a while, looking thoughtful.

’The three types of basic Tier Two Magic Potions are just upgraded versions of the old ones. There’s an extra grinding step...’

’Tier Two Demon Base Seeds have appeared, and they cost a bit more...’

After looking everything over, Mushroom scratched his head, slightly disappointed.

He thought there would be brand-new recipes this time, which would allow him to conduct speculative experiments based on existing ones. The success rate for that was much higher than just blindly mixing ingredients without any information.

In any field of study, progress is extremely difficult without the accumulated knowledge of predecessors.

Besides, there were still too few players focusing on Spirit Candle Magic Potion Science. It was very taxing for Mushroom to explore it all on his own.

’I wonder if there will be a dungeon related to Magic Potions next...’

With that thought, Mushroom began to feel a sense of anticipation.

...

The promotion of the Demon-Harboring Cottage seemed rather unremarkable.

As the players expected, the promotion of the Spirit Fire Port brought another reconstruction for the Spirit Fire Ship.

[Consume 80 Wax Oil to reconstruct the Spirit Fire Ship into a Spirit Fire Sail]

"Damn it, it’s getting more and more expensive."

"Ah, I’m already broke..."

"Son of a bitch, did the Candlekeeper steal our Wax Oil? How am I still so poor after killing so many monsters? I can’t even upgrade to a sailboat?"

"Well... it’s hard to say."

"Shh! Keep it down! Don’t you know the Candlekeeper is petty?"

The way the Spirit Candle demanded "money" at every turn naturally drew a wave of curses from the players. Some even blamed their poverty on the innocent Candlekeeper.

The world is truly going downhill... Sighing, Luo Ge silently increased the percentage of Wax Oil he skimmed from those two players...

However, ever since the Spirit Candle "market" was established, a group of "nouveau riche" players had emerged. In high spirits, they directly reconstructed their small boats into Spirit Fire Sails.

Before long.

One after another, Spirit Fire Sails appeared—larger than the original Spirit Fire Ships and sporting white sails.

[Spirit Fire Sail]

[Type: Spirit Candle Creation]

[Effect: Shelters the Candle Spirit, allowing it to slowly recover Physical Strength within a certain range. Also provides the "Salvage Net" Skill.]

[Salvage Net: Consume Physical Strength to cast the net and salvage various items. Takes a long time, but yields a larger harvest.]

[Explanation: Fast sailing speed, average Defense Power.]

"Huh? Salvage Net? What’s that mean?"

"There actually seems to be a fishing net on this ship!"

"Is it telling us to be fishermen?"

"What’s the difference between this and fishing?"

"Is your brain fried? Didn’t you read the info? It takes longer and you get a bigger haul."

"What fishnet stockings? Where are the fishnet stockings?"

"...You’re on another level, kid."

A group of players chattered away, shooting the breeze while they experimented with the Spirit Fire Sail’s new function.

[Salvaging...]

The Salvage Net was indeed very slow. A single attempt took at least five minutes, and the Spirit Fire Sail had to be kept in a sailing state the entire time.

"Haul it in, haul it in!"

A group of players excitedly began to slowly pull up the Salvage Net.

SPLISH-SPLASH!

Before the Salvage Net was even fully pulled up, the numerous fish inside began to struggle violently, splashing water everywhere.

"Holy shit, a huge haul!" a player exclaimed.

Perhaps because this was the very first salvage in the entire game, the yield was quite good.

[Obtained: Yellow Croaker x3]

[Obtained: Crab x2]

[Obtained: sea crab x2]

[Obtained: Cuttlefish x1]

[Obtained: kelp x3]

[...]

Putting quality aside for a moment, in terms of sheer quantity, this single net was definitely more satisfying and more cost-effective than fishing.

However, this kind of salvaging required Physical Strength, whereas fishing did not.

"Sigh, it’s still not satisfying enough. I suggest they add an electric fishing function."

"That’s a criminal idea you’ve got there..."

...

Candle Spirit Tree.

The trunk, nearly three meters tall, was the color of pure white wax. The leaves were replaced by faintly glowing flames, making the entire tree look fantastical and brilliant.

But compared to its function, the appearance of the Candle Spirit Tree seemed almost trivial...

"Holy fuck? It can change and upgrade character Talents, and even enhance character Abilities?!"

"Damn, if this building hadn’t shown up, I would’ve almost forgotten about my character Abilities."

"No wonder it’s called the Candle Spirit Tree! It really is related to us!"

"Awesome! I’m gonna upgrade my brute strength Talent into Super Hercules!"

The players erupted, absolutely ecstatic.

They had been playing this game for so long that they thought their character Talents were likely fixed as they were. Most players hadn’t even paid any attention to them.

But unexpectedly, the Spirit Candle hadn’t forgotten; it had just hidden this feature away in the update.

"...Bros, there’s something I want to say, but I don’t know if I should..."

"This so-called ’probability’ in the explanation is giving me a bad feeling..."

One player sharply scented that something was amiss.

Hearing his words, the other players belatedly began to examine the functions of the Candle Spirit Tree, word by word.

[Candle Spirit Tree]

[Functions: Repetition Blessing, Promotion Blessing, Enhanced Ability]

[Repetition Blessing: Consume Wax Oil to erase your current Talent and pray to the Candle Spirit Tree for a new one. There is a chance to directly obtain a High Tier Talent.]

[Promotion Blessing: Consume Wax Oil and, through the Power of the Candle Spirit Tree, there is a chance to successfully promote your own Talent.]

[Enhanced Ability: Select one of your existing Candle Spirit Abilities for Enhancement. There is a chance to improve its Effect.]

"Hahaha, what bad feeling? Bro, you’ve been playing too many Tencent games, haven’t you? What’s the big deal? If you fail, you fail. The Spirit Candle isn’t after our money."

"It’s not after our money, it’s after our *lives*!"

"Don’t say that, seriously, don’t. I’ve got a feeling there’s a trap here. How come the other Spirit Candle Buildings don’t have this many ’chances’?"

"Who says? Doesn’t the Sin Furnace have them?"

"Ah, who cares about all that? Let’s just try it first. I can’t wait!"