Chapter 43
Primordial Blood Throne: Book 1 Chapter 44 - Purchasing Origin Skills
Edited by Owner
Night Charm came the next night.
Maybe it was because he had come many times and was somewhat familiar with Su Chen, but the first sentence he spoke after arriving was "I am hungry, do you still have the snacks from yesterday?".
"……Give me a moment, I will get some for you."
After a while, Su Chen returned and saw Night Charm sitting on his bed cross-legged, playing with a stone. Every time the stone was flipped, it released a strange blowing sound.
"That's an Oceanic Sound Stone, you can have it if you like it."
"I know." Night Charm acted disdained and replied, "Oceanic Sound Stones can only be found below one thousand meters under the sea, which only the Ocean Race could harvest. It's one of the main ingredients for making a Sound Recording Box."
"You actually knew about the Ocean Race and the Sound Recording Box?" Su Chen acted surprised.
Night Charm picked up a piece of cake. "Do not look down on me, alright? Who doesn't know about the Six Great Intellectual Races."
"The Six Great?" Su Chen was curious. "I only knew about the Five Great Intellectual Races, Humans, Feather Race, Ocean Race, Spirit Race, and the Violent Race…what's the sixth?"
"Arcane Race! An intellectual race that is much stronger even with the five races combined." Night Charm replied.
"Aren't they extinct, disappeared within the rivers of history?"
"Who says so?" Night Charm glared at him. "The Arcane Race had never gone extinct, they only went into hiding."
"Is that so." Su Chen said, indifferently.
Night Charm seemed to feel like she* had said too much and decided to change the topic. She waved her hand and a pile of marbles appeared on the bed, each of them released a faint glow, like tiny lumps of light.
(Cuppa: Yes, Night Charm is a female, Su Chen knew all along because he could 'see' but I feel that with the appearance of her name/nickname some might be guessing, I feel that it's better to address her properly now and let the sharper readers know haha.)
Spatial ring?
Su Chen's eyes lit up but he still acted as though he didn't know anything.
"These are everything you requested, take your time to select."
"I cannot see."
"No worries, all you have to do is to hold one and its information will enter your mind. However, there are restrictions being added, you will only be able to see a summarized version. Once you have made your pick, I will release the restrictions on them for you."
Night Charm began to eat the snacks after she finished speaking.
Su Chen picked up a marble, and indeed, the words began to appear within his mind.
Was this some sort of mind illusion technique?
It could be directly projected into the person's conscience.
This was a rather powerful trick and require a specialized Origin Armament Master to produce.
To be able to use this method to store cultivation techniques, was also an extremely outstanding feat.
At this moment, Su Chen saw a rather impressive Medium Grade Absorption Technique called, "Amoro Breathing Technique". Using a powerful breathing method to increase the amount of Origin Energy being inhaled, a technique that was much stronger than the others within the same grade. However, there was a shortcoming. Its environmental requirement was exceptionally stringent, it could must be used in areas with abundant air; the user would encounter breathing difficulties in places of high alt.i.tudes, extreme heat, or enclosed s.p.a.ces, resulting in a drop-in strength. In serious cases, the user might even begin to suffocate.
Su Chen would not allow himself to have such a large weak point. He put down the marble and picked up another one.
This Origin Skill was called "Thunder Guiding"; the skill didn't produce lightning but it could guide and control lightning. In other words, someone must produce lightning first before the user can attack using the Thunder Guiding Technique. As it's purely the guiding of lightning, therefore it could be used to manipulate powers that exceed the user's cultivation or Origin Energy limit, it was exceptionally powerful if used in a fight during stormy days, as for other times, forget about it.
Su Chen changed to another one, this was an Origin Skill called "Black Cloud", it could release a large amount of black fog and cover the person to remove their visibility, quite a practical skill. However, this Origin Skill had a prerequisite, it required the bloodline of a dark-type lifeform to be able to use it.
Change again.
"Radiant Art", imbue weapons with a powerful light, not only could it disperse darkness, it was also very lethal against dark or shadow lifeforms, but the user will also easily become a live target.
"Wind Speed", it can increase the user or the designated target's speed
"Fireball", it can create a large ball of fire to attack the opponent.
"Shadow Body", temporary bestow life onto your own shadow, creating a clone that can a.s.sist you
Wait.
As Su Chen continue to check, the corners of his slowly lifted inconspicuously.
This was interesting!
Su Chen discovered that several of the Origin Skills brought by Night Charm were related to Ancient Arcane Spells.
What are Arcane Spells, they were Origin Skills that were created by the Arcane Race.
The biggest difference between Ancient Arcane Spells and modern Origin Skills were their performance during battle.
Ancient Arcane Spells focuses on using long range methods to attack and kill their opponents, therefore, the Origin Skills of the Arcane Race were mostly long-range attacks and lacked a complete system.
To put in simple terms, one Arcane Spell could only deal one attack.
Take Fireball for example, it was the most cla.s.sic representation of Ancient Arcane Spells. You create a large ball of fire and throw it, as for the result, you can ignore it for now.
How is that different from Origin Skills of modern times?
Modern Origin Skills emphasizes on overall compatibility. The compatibility between close, mid and long range, as well as the efficient use of energy.
Take Su Fei Hu's Sunray Sword. It was a set of swordplay techniques that consists of nine moves, which also gave it the t.i.tle, Nine Sunray Strikes. This was also an Origin Skill, yet it had nine different basic sword attacks which the user could combine to create hundreds of different combo attacks.
If it was based purely on immediate results such as power or range, the Fireball would definitely be stronger than a Sunray sword attack, but if you were to also factor in the amount of Origin Energy that was to be expended, then with that same amount of energy, the Sunray Sword that could dish out nine different attacks that could be mixed to achieve versatility, making it more powerful than a Fireball attack.
What caused this scenario was due to the result of a different era, a different race.
During ancient times, when Origin Energy was still rather rich, the Arcane Race, who had a powerful mind but generally weak bodies, did not pursue close combat fights and also weren't stingy when expending their Origin Energy.
Now that Origin Energy was much thinner than before, making cultivation much more difficult, this influenced mainstream Origin Skills to focus on efficiency, at how to use the least Origin Energy to produce the greatest power. In addition, the human physique was also stronger than the Arcane Race's own, therefore, new cultivation and combat methods slowly replaced the outdated Arcane skill system.
Despite the case, some Ancient Arcane Skills were still used and pa.s.sed down.
Although it was undeniable that these Origin Skills didn't fit modern times, but they had their unique uses during special circ.u.mstances. Although they were being replaced due to the era but that doesn't mean that they were eliminated, just no longer mainstream.
Of the skills that Night Charm has brought, forty percent were Ancient Arcane Spells, forty percent were Modern Origin Skills while the remaining twenty percent combines both categories. These were referred to as Improved Arcane Spells; and they possessed the most value.
With so many Ancient Arcane Spells and Improved Arcane Spells, coupled with what he had gotten from his conversations with Night Charm, Su Chen began to have an idea on the real ident.i.ty of this organization.
Of course, he did not reveal anything on the surface, just quietly selecting the Origin Skills he needed.
"Have you made your choice?" Night Charm was still engaging in battle with her snacks, mouth stuffed with food as she asked Su Chen in a m.u.f.fled voice.
"Nearly there." Su Chen picked three glowing marbles.
Night Charm looked at it and mumbled: "Trade Wind Body, Spirit Eye and Arrow Frog Absorption Technique… so it's these three types."
Trade Wind Body was a rather rare category of Pa.s.sive Origin Skills. It did not possess an explosive ability but when mastered, it could increase the user's strength, stamina, speed and reaction, giving an overall boost to all parameters, like receiving a buff-type Origin Skill. This was an Improved Arcane Spell.
Su Chen picked this skill due to the Ink Pattern Battle Blade.
That piece of Eighth Grade Origin Armament was simply too handy.
However, it had that irritating side effect of draining your the stamina, preventing it from displaying it's true worth. After being promoted to the Energy Guiding Realm and being able to use Blood Slaughter four times, Su Chen noticed that the best way to solve this issue was to improve his body's attributes. With Trade Wind Body, he could boost his attributes, allowing him to use Ink Pattern Battle Blade more often. Naturally, Night Charm has no reason to know this, from Night Charm's point of view, Su Chen no longer had the chance to wield that blade again, but only Su Chen knew that, not long from now, the Ink Pattern Battle Blade would once again be held by his hands.
As for Spirit Eye, it was a mental eye technique, also another Improved Arcane Spell. The user stares at the target to release a mental shock. Su Chen's purpose for learning this skill was many. One, to find out if there will be any additional effect when he casted the spell using his eyes. Two, to train his mental power, so that when he had to use the remaining Soul Rending Spell Marbles, his resistance to the spell would increase, and lastly, he wanted to see if his eyes would develop further as he trained in Spirit Eye. In short, multiple advantages in one act. As for the issue regarding a blind man learning this skill, Spirit Eye was essentially a mental-type technique, the eyes were just a channel to release the attack. Therefore, a blind man could also learn and use Spirit Eye, but of course, whether the attacks..h.i.ts or not would be another problem altogether.
Su Chen's explanation was, it's precisely because I am a blind man that no one will think that I have learnt an eye technique nor will they fear to make eye contact, this will give me more opportunities instead. On top of that, after using multiple Spirit Eye attacks, my eyes might be stimulated and allow me to regain my vision.
Even the logic sounded plausible.
However, Night Charm was more willing to see this as Su Chen being greedy - A mental-type Origin Skill was exceptionally rare outside, even if he didn't learn it after he obtains the skill, he could also leave it as an inheritance for his descendants.
The last was the Arrow Frog Absorption Technique. This was a unique type of absorption technique. It's was an Ancient Arcane Technique. Not only did the user absorb Origin Energy through breathing, they could also use their skin to absorb Origin Energy, however, the efficiency wasn't high. As compared to other techniques, its overall efficiency was not advantageous. An absorption technique was used for long term cultivation; therefore, its overall advantage was more important.
The reason for Su Chen choosing it was very simple - Those Origin Energy Light Dots were absorbed through the skin. Increasing the speed in this category would also mean that his cultivation speed will increase.
It's the best when it suits you.
Of course, the reason Su Chen gave was because 'he had no money and can only pick a cheaper one".
This was however, not a total lie. Two Origin Skills and one Absorption Technique had costed Su Chen one thousand Low Grade Origin Stones. Of which, Spirit Eye costed five hundred. Night Charm added that they were already taking care of Su Chen, under normal circ.u.mstances, he wouldn't even get to purchase them with only a thousand pieces. One could see how difficult it was to obtain good skills or techniques.
Su Chen personally did not have such a great amount of Origin Stones and got the amount by consolidating the resources of his four properties.
Night Charm stated that she despised how he chose to buy rare skills that he could not use properly instead of buying a better absorption technique for himself.
"You have made a big mistake," she said with sympathy when she failed to persuade him.
Su Chen simply replied, "Then leave me a contact method. If I regret it in the future, at least I can look for you to buy a new one."