Nine Star Burden

Chapter 42: Knowing Each Other Well

After absorbing the human Star Bead, Jiang Xiao could be considered to have gained a huge advantage and struck a fortune.

Bell and Imprint were both Silver Quality Star Techniques that required 10 Star Beads of the same type or 100 Skill Points.

Jiang Xiao thought about it for a while and finally understood the rationale behind its operation.

The White Ghoul Witch Star Beads and White Ghoul Star Beads that Jiang Xiao had absorbed were for Brass Quality Star Techniques, so he needed 10 Brass Quality Star Beads of the same kind.

However, after Green Glow and Endurance had both been upgraded to Silver Quality, 100 Brass Quality Star Beads or 100 Skill Points would be required.

However, Bell and Imprint were Silver Quality Star Techniques in the first place. Hence, 10 Silver Quality Star Beads of the same kind were required.

However, if Jiang Xiao were to rely on Skill Points to upgrade, he would still need 100 Skill Points.

In other words, 10 Skill Points = 10 Brass Quality Star Beads = 1 Silver Quality Star Bead.

After continuous examination, Jiang Xiao realized that there was a huge difference between “Blessing” and “Bell”.

The White Ghoul Witch’s Blessing was effective for slowly restoring the vitality of the target.

This vitality could be described as all-encompassing and could be used to treat physical illnesses for humans, such as nausea and vomiting, discomfort and many others. It could also help restore the target’s energy, and also had a certain effect on healing wounds.

It could be considered an amateur divine technique.

However, the “Bell” Star Technique of the Lava Ghoul only had a single purpose of healing the wounds of the target.

Besides, the effect was rather remarkable. Jiang Xiao had experimented with a beheaded White Ghoul while on the way back to the city.

The White Ghoul was beheaded by Xia Yan and even had its neck severed from its head, causing it to bleed profusely.

Jiang Xiao used the Star Technique, Bell, on the head that had been isolated, after which flesh slowly began to grow from the neatly severed neck.

Although the speed of growth was slow, it was still noticeable.

In the end, after Jiang Xiao’s Star Power was depleted and the Silver Quality “Bell” was released 10 times, the severed head stopped bleeding because a layer of flesh had already grown on the neck.

Okay.

It was just really disgusting.

The trio finally decided to go home because they were running out of time. If they were to stay any longer, they would miss the second half of the military training.

Jiang Xiao’s task was rather difficult too, for he had to blend in with his class in Year One of High School within four or five days, and finally, get selected as the class representative.

Winning was not important in the inter-teams competitions. The most important thing was for Jiang Xiao to showcase his massive value.

Of course, if his team were to come in first place in the competition, everything would be even more perfect. Be it a freshman or a sophomore, they would qualify for challenging the “School Tyrant”, as long as they emerged as champions of the team competition.

The so-called “School Tyrant” was not a person but an entire team.

In Jiangbin First Middle School, Han Jiangxue’s and Xia Yan’s team were the School Tyrant.

If the students in Year One and Two of high school were to win the School Tyrant, they would receive great rewards and the school would also provide them with good-quality Star Beads as a form of reward and encouragement.

However, that was an unrealistic fantasy. If Jiang Xiao were an inexperienced novice, he would have ignored everything else and got extremely eager to try.

However, after having worked on tasks with Han Jiangxue and Xia Yan for such a long time, Jiang Xiao knew that it would be harder to beat them than go to Heaven.

Besides, Han Jiangxue might directly eliminate Jiang Xiao in just one round.

—Sky Smasher + Barren Wind

Jiang Xiao probably wouldn’t have the chance to take action at all.

To the students of Year One and Two, a challenge as such was not considered a battle for rewards and glory. To put it bluntly, it was just a battle to let them realize that there would always be someone better than them.

The school was trying to use that method to encourage the freshmen to work hard and cultivate.

Of course, if they couldn’t take the blow and get beaten by the Year Three tyrants, it would be even better.

It was a good thing to get a clear idea of one’s limits and abilities as early as possible. The Awakened who were too emotionally weak ought to back out as early as possible too. After all, the difficulties they might face in the real world were much more than that of what they faced in school.

Xia Yan also explained the standards of the Star Power and Star Techniques belonging to the other two teammates to Jiang Xiao. Unsurprisingly, the two other guys were in the middle of the Nebula Stage.

Xia Yan emphasized on the strengths and abilities of a teammate named Gao Junwei.

His Star Map was in the shape of a sword and contained 25 star slots.

It was embellished with two Brass Quality, three Silver Quality, and one Gold Star Techniques.

The Brass Quality Star Techniques were “Green Glow” and “Endurance”.

Two of his Silver Quality Star Techniques were also similar to Xia Yan’s, namely Burning Flame and Bursting Flames. They were both acquired in the Dimensional Space near the volcanoes.

The remaining Silver Quality Star Technique was rather interesting, and Jiang Xiao reckoned that it was given to him by his family. It was called “Charge”.

That sounded like an assistive Star Technique, but it was, in fact, a true output divine technique.

Gao Junwei had quick reflexes and great swordsmanship too.

During a battle, the Star Technique “Charge” would exhibit massive effects.

Be it combat or swordsmanship, Gao Junwei could condense the power of thunder and lightning and use it on his skills. With every punch and stab, a massive and powerful amount of damage would be caused, and it had the extraordinary ability to break the defense of targets as well. It might even cause the target to become numb and temporarily paralyzed.

His Gold Quality Star Technique was called “Roar of Fear”.

It was a rare and genuine divine skill.

Although Gold Quality Star Techniques required plenty of Star Power and he could not afford to use it too many times, once would be enough to create significant damage.

Especially when faced with creatures of other dimensions, Roar of Fear would cause a portion of the creatures of other dimensions to tremble with fear and quiver from head to toe while losing their aggression and will to battle. They would then try to flee.

It was a perfect Star Technique for changing a battle situation.

Gao Junwei’s family spent a lot of money and pulled plenty of connections to ask for favors to buy those Star Beads for him.

The Star Beads did contain Star Techniques, but the Star Techniques could not be absorbed at will.

Hearing this, the surprised Jiang Xiao asked Xia Yan, “Isn’t Gao Junwei in the Nebula Stage? How did he get a Gold Quality Star Technique? Didn’t you tell me that one would at least have to be in the Galaxy Stage in order to obtain a Gold Quality Star Technique?”

“His family spent a bomb to get him that Gold Quality Star Technique, almost going bankrupt.” Xia Yan put on a derisive smirk and continued, “Who knows how many Gold Quality Star Beads he’s absorbed.”

Although Gao Junwei was a genius who had 25 star slots, he almost couldn’t absorb any Star Techniques because of the Star Power restrictions.

However, it turned out that he had succeeded.

Regardless of whether his family went bankrupt or not, Gao Junwei was truly domineering at this moment.

Gao Junwei and Han Jiangxue were different. Han Jiangxue managed to acquire the Gold Quality Star Technique, Sky Smasher, in just one try. It was not only because of her talent but also because of luck.

Of course, to be fair, Han Jiangxue’s qualifications were indeed higher than Gao Junwei’s.

Han Jiangxue only had five more star slots than Gao Junwei, but for the Awakened, each additional star slot would result in a drastic change in qualification.

Perhaps the Awakened who had 16 star slots were not better than the Awakened who had 15 star slots, but an Awakened who had 30 star slots would be much stronger than one who had 29 star slots.

The closer they were to the limit, the more difficult it was to surpass.