473: Chapter 63 Divine Skills 473: Chapter 63 Divine Skills Jumu City’s early morning was exceptionally beautiful, with sunlight streaming down from the towering tree crowns, casting countless patches of dappled green shadows.

Xiao Jie was sitting in front of his computer, yet he had no mood to appreciate the surrounding beauty and was looking at the full pack of inner cores in his backpack with a troubled expression.

He had been in this state for a full half-hour already.

It was only a little past six in the morning, and both I Want to Be Immortal and Ye Luo hadn’t yet logged on, but due to the matter of the inner cores, he had come online early and was still troubled.

(Should I refine all these inner cores or not?) Xiao Jie sighed and asked himself once again.

So many inner cores, Xiao Jie calculated, would at least be able to elevate his Qi Refining Skill to the seventh level.

If he did so, his strength would undoubtedly get a huge enhancement.

Not to mention acquiring Legendary Traits, just the attribute enhancements alone was a very terrifying number.

His strength would naturally leap forward, reaching a new height.

However, this introduced a problem; the higher his Qi Refining Skill level, the more Spiritual Energy he would lose every day.

Fourth Level Qi Refining Skill, losing 96 points of Spiritual Energy Value per day.

Seventh Level Qi Refining Skill, that would be losing 168 points of Spiritual Energy Value per day.

That was a bit too terrifying.

One must know that a Deteriorated Inner Core could only be refined for about a hundred and eighty points of Spiritual Energy, an ordinary monster inner core only generates a few hundred to a thousand points, and Boss-level Bosses provide more, possibly only two to three thousand at most.

At the seventh level, if you did nothing else, ten days would mean losing an inner core, which is one million yuan!

Equating to one hundred thousand yuan a day…

The more Xiao Jie calculated, the more his scalp tingled.

It was too much of a loss, too much!

No wonder Master Hongchen dared not leave Konglao Mountain; he must be at the Ninth Layer now.

If he were to leave and couldn’t find a way to replenish his Spiritual Energy, he’d fall in realms within a few days.

But what if he didn’t refine them?

The loss of 96 points per day wouldn’t be much less.

And not refining them would mean he couldn’t improve his strength, which would mean that he’d still have to struggle fiercely when encountering demon Bosses.

From this perspective, the Qi Refining Skill was like rowing against the current; if you don’t advance, you fall back.

You either advance triumphantly and rush to full level in one go,

or you don’t cultivate at all, keep accumulating monster inner cores, and wait until you have enough for ten Layers of Spiritual Energy to cultivate to full level in one breath.

Since he had already cultivated to the Fourth Level, there was no possibility of turning back.

He not only had to refine these inner cores, but also immediately set out to find the next wave of Spiritual Energy Value after refining.

He couldn’t relax in the slightest; on the contrary, he had to collect inner core Spiritual Energy even more urgently.

However, although he had made a decision, Xiao Jie still didn’t act rashly.

There was another issue that caused Xiao Jie great anxiety: the Demonization progress.

The Fourth Level was already at 34%, and refining to the seventh level would likely reach close to 100%.

After all, the more Spiritual Energy Value consumed later on, the more Demon Cores would be absorbed, and this demonization progress was not gradually increasing but leaping.

Who knew what would happen then?

Another ten minutes passed, and Xiao Jie activated his Qi Observation Skill, watching the Spiritual Energy continuously dispersing from his body, and finally made up his mind.

Whether it’s a blessing or a curse, you can’t avoid it.

I have cultivated three volumes of the Heavenly Book, so there shouldn’t be a big problem.

Getting so many monster inner cores was like an unexpected windfall.

If heaven bestows it and you don’t take it, disaster will strike.

Let’s do this!

With that thought, Xiao Jie had made up his mind.

Let’s go for it!

With my gaming level and the experience of an ultimate grinder, it’s just about grinding for Spiritual Energy.

I grinded so much reputation, achievements, mounts, and badges in World of Warcraft, so why not grind once more?

Roar!

Big Orange, who was beside him, suddenly roared impatiently.

“Master, Big Orange wants meat.”

“Eat, eat, eat, that’s all you know…

But alright, considering you did well yesterday, go ahead, eat.”

He tossed a few pieces of Secret Dog Food over and watched Big Orange gobble it down with relish, thinking that his pet’s attributes also needed to be upgraded.

Before, considering survival ability, Big Orange’s attributes were mainly added to Constitution.

Not only did he level up four levels last night, the pet had also gained four levels and was now Level 21.

It was time to consider his development path.

Tigers as a species tend to feel somewhat stuck between extremes: both their strength and agility are quite remarkable, yet neither are top-tier.

Should they follow a path focused on strength, agility, or a combination of both?

After pondering for a moment, Xiao Jie decided that it was more sensible to follow the path of agility, especially since it needed to match his own battle strategy.

With his speed being sufficient, focusing on a dodge-centric approach, if Big Orange were too slow, it would be too easy for enemies to gang up and focus their attacks.

Better for both man and tiger to follow the path of agility.

After all, there is no martial arts that cannot be broken; only speed is unbreakable.

Thinking this, he allocated the 20 attribute points he had gained last night entirely to Big Orange’s agility attribute.

Now Big Orange’s agility attribute had also reached 50.

As for self-preservation, having the Lying Tiger Stone Form Skill was enough to save one’s life at critical moments; ordinary attacks could simply be dodged.

However, the Evolution Points needed some careful consideration.

Due to the intensity of last night’s battle, Xiao Jie hadn’t had time to allocate points for it.

Thanks to the Talent “Beast Scholar,” he had two Evolution Points this time.

Opening Big Orange’s evolution interface, three options popped up before him.

[Evolution Option 1: Kui Li Mountain Lord.

After continuous battling and growth, your pet Big Orange has finally acquired enough power to inherit the title of Kui Li Mountain Lord, becoming the legendary fierce beast that possesses the authority of the Mountain God.

Evolution Reward: Faith +10, unlocks Skills: Call the Wind Skill, Mountain Viewing Skill, Mountain Lord’s Majesty.]

[Evolution Option 2: Devouring Demon Spirit Tiger.

This powerful beast has gradually mastered the skills and talents to eradicate demons through constant battles with monsters and even killed a Demon King, hence evolving into a Devouring Demon Spirit Tiger.

Evolution Reward: Constitution +10.

Unlocks Skill: Devouring Demon Blood – Gain corresponding enhancements by devouring demon flesh and blood, limited to possessing up to three attributes at any one time.

Current Demon Blood enhancements — 0/3.]

[Evolution Option 3: Hang-up House Tiger.

This Demon Tiger has not participated in battles for a long time and only watched its master’s struggles from the sidelines, thus evolving into a battle-shy cowardly tiger.

Evolution Reward: Endurance +10.

Unlocks Skill: Hang up – When your pet is in hang-up status, you and your pet receive an additional 10% bonus to Experience Points.]

After giving it some thought, Xiao Jie immediately made a choice, decisively selecting both Kui Li Mountain Lord and Devouring Demon Spirit Tiger.

The Hang-up House Tiger was just too lousy; he guessed it was because he had let it hang up for too long, and such a rubbish advancement was not even worth considering.

As the two Evolution Points were allocated, Big Orange underwent another transformation.

With a roar, its size increased once more.

The change in bones and muscles wasn’t too dramatic, but its fur underwent a wonderful change, appearing thicker and more majestic.

Patterns on its head gradually took the shape of the character for “king”, and a tuft of white fur grew on its chin, vaguely giving off a royal aura.

At the same time, its fangs became shiny, and its claws seemed to be coated with a metallic sheen, looking both majestic and fierce.

This was the power of a double evolution.

At just Level 21, it had four evolved Talents, which made it much stronger than an ordinary beast.

Xiao Jie opened up Big Orange’s Skill Bar to check out the three newly acquired Divine Skills.

[Call the Wind Skill (Divine Power Skill)

Usage: Summon a gale to sweep across the battlefield, able to disperse clouds and mist or reduce the power of enemy ranged attacks.

It can also reduce the movement speed of enemies to some extent (limited to once per day).

Skill Description: There’s an old saying, ‘Clouds follow the dragon; wind follows the tiger.’ Kui Li Mountain is always enveloped in ominous black winds, according to local legend, summoned by the Kui Li Mountain Lord.

Now that it has inherited the name of Kui Li Mountain Lord, the Call the Wind Skill has also become Big Orange’s Divine Power Skill.]

[Mountain Viewing Skill (Divine Power Skill)

Usage: Perceive all units, veins, herbs, hidden treasures, and other special resources within a 1000-meter radius and mark them on the mini-map (limited to once per day).

Note: This Skill can only be used in mountainous or hilly maps.

Skill Description: It is said that the Mountain Lord is the master of the mountains.

In ancient legends, the Mountain Lord could sense everything within its territory, and this blind faith has thus enhanced Big Orange’s perception abilities.]

[Mountain Lord’s Majesty (Beast Instinct)

Passive Effect: When confronting beast or demon enemies, there is a possibility of invoking a “Bloodline Suppression” effect based on the target’s race category, making all skills hit with 100% accuracy and a higher chance of triggering a Vital Strike.]

Not bad, out of the three skills, there were two Divine Skills.

Well, it appears that before he could learn any Spells, his pet had already learned some.

Since his pet had become stronger, he couldn’t fall behind either.