Chapter 44: Buying Origin Skills

Night Demon appeared again the next night.

Perhaps it was because he had come many times and was familiar with Su Chen, but when he came in his first words were, “I’m hungry. Are there any pastries left over from yesterday?”

“......Wait a moment, I’ll go get some for you.”

Su Chen returned after a brief moment. He saw that Night Demon was sitting cross-legged on his bed, playing around with a stone. Every time the stone tumbled, it would let out the cry of a phoenix.

Su Chen said, “That’s the Ocean Sound Stone. If you like it you can have it.”

“I know,” Night Demon replied disdainfully. “Ocean Sound Stones only exist three thousand feet below sea level. Only the Oceanids can harvest them. They are one of the materials necessary to make a Recording Box.”

“You actually know of the Oceanids and Recording Boxes?” Su Chen purposefully acted surprised.

Night Demon grabbed the pastries from him. “Don’t look down on others so much, will you? Everyone knows the six Great Races.”

“Six?” Su Chen this time was genuinely surprised. “I only know of five: the human race, the Harpies, the Oceanids, the Astrals, and the Ravagers. What’s the last one?”

“The Arcanists! The Arcanists that are stronger than the other five Great Races Combined,” Night Demon responded.

“But they are already extinct and have disappeared into the ocean of history,” Su Chen replied.

“Who said?” Night Demon opened his eyes wide, “The Arcanists never went extinct. They have just gone into hibernation.”

“Is that so,” Su Chen indifferently replied.

As if he realized that he had said too much, Night Demon did not continue talking about that topic. He waved his hand, and a pile of pearls appeared on the bed. Each one emitted a faint light, making them look like small balls of light.

Spatial Ring?

Su Chen’s eyes shined for a moment, but he pretended as if he hadn’t noticed anything.

“These are the things that you wanted. Take your time and pick them.”

“I cannot see.”

“No worries, pick any one of them, and what you need to know will automatically enter your mind. However, there is an Origin seal on it, so what you can see now is just the summary. Once you decide that you want it, the Origin seal will opened.

As Night Demon spoke, he began to eat the pastries.

Su Chen picked up one of the pearls. Indeed, words began to appear in his mind.

Some kind of Soul Mirage technique?

It allowed one to project some kind of image directly onto another person’s perception.

This was quite a powerful skill. Only special Origin Tool masters could use such a technique to create this kind of pearl.

The cultivation method that allowed one to use this skill was likely similarly outstanding.

At the moment, Su Chen had picked up a pretty good mid-tier Absorption Technique called the “Amoluo Breathing Technique”. It utilized strong breathing to increase the rate of Origin Energy entering the body. It was much stronger than many other similar absorption techniques of the same tier. However, it had a flaw; it required many environmental conditions, such as a place with plentiful air, at a high elevation, and the temperature had to be very hot. If one was confined in a closed space, it would become hard to breathe, and one’s strength would also decrease. In severe cases, one could suffocate.

Su Chen could not accept such a great weakness, so he put down the pearl of light and picked up another one.

This pearl contained an Origin Skill called the “Thunder Drawing Technique”. This Origin Skill could not create thunder, but it could attract thunder. Thus, someone would first need to be around thunder and lightning, before they could use the Thunder Drawing Technique to attack. However, because the technique only conducted the thunder, the strength of that thunder could surpass the limits of one’s cultivation base and Origin Power strength. It was particularly powerful on days with thunderstorms, but otherwise it was not very good.

Su Chen switched to another one, picking up an Origin Skill called “Black Fog Technique”. It could release a large amount of black fog, limiting one’s vision in the fog. It was quite a useful Origin Skill. However, this skill required that the user possess a bloodline of a dark-attribute beast in order to use it.

He switched again.

“Brilliance Technique” added bright light to one’s weapon. It could disperse any darkness but could also directly harm and kill dark- or filth-attribute beings. However, because of this, one would become a very obvious target.

“Windspeed Technique” would increase one’s or someone else’s speed.

“Fireball Technique” created a large fireball to attack the opponent.

“Shadow Body Technique” allowed one’s shadow to temporarily become alive and become a doppelganger, helping one in battle. It required the bloodline of a mirage-attribute beast to use.

……

Wait a moment.

As Su Chen continued to look at them one by one, the corner of his mouth pulled up into an unnoticeable smile.

Interesting!

Su Chen discovered that many of the Origin Skills that Night Demon had given him contained traces of ancient Arcana techniques.

The Arcana techniques were Origin Skills that the Arcanists had created.

The greatest difference between current Origin Skills and Arcana techniques was that their manifestations were very different.

Ancient Arcana techniques were primarily used to harm others from long-distance, and the Arcanists' Origin Skills primarily focused on long-range attacks. In addition, very few focused on improving one’s foundation.

One could also say that an Arcana technique only contained an attack, and had no other nuance to it.

The fireball was very representative of an ancient Arcana technique. It created a fireball and launched it at its attacker. The skill did not care about the outcome of that attack.

So how were current Origin Skills different?

Current Origin Skills mainly focused on overall compatibility, combining long-, mid-, and short-range, as well as how one’s strength was used.

For instance, the Dazzling Sun Sword Technique that Su Feihu cultivated was a complete sword technique. It had a total of nine stances, so it was also called the Dazzling Sun Nine Styles. This was also an Origin Skill, but it had a total of nine basic sword paths and hundreds of combinations and usage styles.

From the standpoint of power or distance, a large fireball was much better than one sword strike. However, if one also factored in Origin Energy consumption, the Dazzling Sun Sword Technique, which could strike with nine different stances and many variations was much stronger and more flexible than a single fireball technique.

The reason for these differences was that these techniques were created in different periods with different races, that had different needs and strengths.

In ancient times, Origin Energy was relatively abundant. The Arcanists had very powerful minds, but their bodies were weak. Thus, they did not pursue close-quarter combat, and they had no need of being conservative of their Origin Energy usage.

In the modern era, Origin Energy was much rarer than before, and cultivating also became more difficult. The focus became more centered on how to fully utilize the strength of an Origin Skill. Adding on the fact that humans had stronger physique than the Arcanists, newer cultivation and battle methods surpassed the previous system that the Arcanists had used.

Even so, a few ancient Origin Skills had still been passed down.

One had to admit that although these Origin Skills were not appropriate given the time period, they were still quite useful in certain circumstances. Though they had been rendered somewhat useless by time, they had yet to completely back out of the limelight. However, they were no longer the main focus.

Forty percent of what Night Demon had brought him were ancient Arcana techniques, forty percent were current Origin Skills, and the remaining twenty percent were new Origin Skills that had been produced after the two had combined. They were also the most valuable out of all the Origin Skills and were called Improved Arcana Technique.

For there to be so many ancient Arcana techniques and Improved Arcana techniques, as well as considering what Night Demon had spoken earlier, Su Chen’s understanding of this organization continued to deepen.

Of course, he didn’t say anything outwardly. Instead, he quietly chose the Origin Skills that he needed.

“Did you finish picking?” Night Demon asked, his voice muffled. He was still locked in battle with the pastries, so his mouth was filled with food.

“Pretty much.” Su Chen picked out three balls of light.

Night Demon looked at them for a moment, then mumbled, “Flowing Wind Body Technique, Soul Eye, and Dartfrog Absorption Technique...... So it was actually these three.”

The Flowing Wind Body Technique was of the rarely-seen passive Origin Skill category. It didn’t have any explosive qualities to it, but once it was mastered, it would improve one’s strength, speed, and reaction time, creating a holistic improvement. It was basically an Origin Skill that gave oneself certain attributes and was a kind of Improved Arcana Technique.

The reason why Su Chen selected this was because of the Black Streak Battle Blade.

As a grade eight Origin Tool this blade was too easy to use.

However, the high energy consumption rate made it so that he was unable to manifest the blade’s full power. Even after entering the Qi Drawing Realm, he could only use the blood aura four times. This made Su Chen realize that strengthening his physical body was the best way to deal with this. With the Flowing Wind Body Technique, his physique would receive an additional bonus. Hopefully, this would allow him to use the battle blade a few more times. Of course, he could not tell Night Demon this, since Night Demon believed that Su Chen would not have any opportunity to use the Black Streak Battle Blade anymore. Only Su Chen knew that before long this Black Streak Battle Blade would once again land in his hands.

As for the Soul Eye, it was a soul-related pupil technique. It was also an Improved Arcana Technique. The user would have to stare at the opponent, then activate a soul attack. Firstly, Su Chen wanted to experiment with this technique and see if any special effects would occur when he used it, and secondly, he wanted to temper the strength of his soul. That way, in the future if he were to use the remaining Cracked Soul Magic Pearls, his ability to resist any injury to his soul would increase. At the same time, he wanted to see if cultivating this Soul Eye technique would allow his eyes to evolve once more. That way, he could accomplish many things all at once. Because of this, even blind people could learn and use the Soul Eye. However, whether or not this attack would land was an entirely different matter.

The reason Su Chen gave was that because he was blind, no one would expect him to have a pupil technique and no one would avoid looking him in the eyes. This would give him more opportunities. In addition, if he were to use this soul attack enough, perhaps it would stimulate his eyes.

This was a reasonable explanation.

But Night Demon believed that Su Chen was just greedy. Soul-type Origin Skills were very rarely seen and were difficult to obtain. Upon obtaining it, even if he couldn’t use it, it could still be passed on.

The final technique, the Dartfrog Absorption Technique, was a very unique absorption technique. It was an ancient Arcana Technique that allowed one to assimilate Origin Energy not just through breathing but also through one’s skin. The Dartfrog Absorption Technique was not a particularly high-tier absorption technique; it was actually a low-tier one. Although one could breathe through one’s skin, its efficiency was not very high and did not have much of an advantage over other absorption techniques. Absorption techniques were needed for long-term cultivation, however; only absolute strength was the most important.

The reason why Su Chen picked this technique was very simple. Those dots of Origin Light were absorbed through the skin. Raising absorption through that medium would also increase his cultivation rate.

The techniques most suited for him were the best ones.

Of course, the reasons that Su Chen gave was that he was “Out of money, so I can only be frugal.”

However, this was not entirely a lie. Two Origin Skills and an absorption technique costed Su Chen a thousand low-grade Origin Stones.

Su Chen didn’t have so many Origin Stones on his own. He had used some from the four businesses that he had taken earlier.

Night Demon expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that he was willing to buy rare Origin Skills that would not be of particular use to him rather than buying a more practical mid-tier absorption technique.

“You’re making a big mistake.” Night Demon glanced at him with sympathy upon seeing that his advice was fruitless.

Su Chen replied, “Leave a way for me to contact you. That way, if there is a day that I truly regret it, I can at least find you to buy new ones.”