Chapter 14: Giving and Learning

"Alright, put the other one away. Since the sailor attribute hasn't increased, there's no need to use this item for now. Let's hold onto it and see if I can qualify as an alchemist within this period—that’s the real critical secondary profession," Liu Zhi said as he began picking up the scattered items.

[Slowing Poison: Main ingredients—19g Moonleaf, 2 Stoneheart Fruits... Auxiliary ingredients—100g Drowned Man’s Water, 3 Black Lizard Scales... Method: Evaporate using poison fire...]

[Description: A poisonous mist-type toxin. If inhaled without an antidote, it will permanently reduce agility by 3 points.]

"Quite a decent recipe," Liu Zhi remarked, storing away the formula.

Next before him appeared a naga-type model. The entire figure was black with a bronze shell, resembling a naga clad in corresponding armor.

[Naga General Chainmail: Equipment for servants, Grade D, requires naga race. Grants +3 defense and +1 agility upon equipping.]

[Description: A chainmail specially crafted for the naga clan. It effectively protects their vulnerable spots without compromising their agility.]

Liu Zhi pondered for a moment, then beckoned to Vednina, "Put this on."

Vednina approached the naga chainmail. In a flash of bronze light, a suit of steel chainmail appeared over her body. This armor differed from ordinary chainmail, consisting of four parts:

A helmet with a mask, an adjustable chestplate covering the arms, numerous bracers, and a tailguard that enveloped the serpent tail.

It was clear the entire set was custom-made for the naga physique; other beings would find it unusable even if they possessed it.

Casting a glance at Vednina, Liu Zhi then picked up the servant training manual. The moment he held it, the text transformed.

[Naga Training Manual: Growth and enhancement methods for naga limb development.]

[Description: For any naga, growing from four arms to six is a crucial milestone. Whether a new pair of arms emerges signifies the naga’s potential to transcend limits. This manual increases the likelihood of such breakthroughs.]

After some thought, Liu Zhi casually handed the Naga Training Manual to Vednina.

She accepted it and began reading attentively.

As for the Spinneret Widow, she currently lacked consciousness and remained a high-level undead servant, thus no corresponding benefits applied.

Liu Zhi then turned his attention to the books and scrolls strewn on the ground, gathering them all carefully.

Most of these were Extraordinary Training Books and Extraordinary Knowledge Manuals. They were quite similar—one focused on active skills, the other on passive skills.

[Extraordinary Training Book (Extraordinary Knowledge Manual): Randomly elevates a certain active (or passive) skill to extraordinary level (level 4). Skills already at extraordinary level cannot be further enhanced.]

This caught Liu Zhi off guard; this was an excellent opportunity. He could instantly upgrade one active skill and three passive skills to the formidable level 4 extraordinary.

The text also clarified that skills already at extraordinary level would not be upgraded. Glancing at his attribute panel, Liu Zhi noted only three swordsmanship skills had yet to reach extraordinary status. Using this now would be highly profitable.

Just as Liu Zhi prepared to use the Extraordinary Training Book, he accidentally found alongside it a Basic Skill Book and an Elite Active Skill Book from the novice survival pack. An idea sparked in his mind.

[Skill Book Detected—“Falling Stars”: Prerequisites—Constitution 4.0, Spirit 6.0... Requirements met. Consume 3,000 experience to learn?]

[Elite Active Skill Book Detected—“Celestial Beacon”: Prerequisites—Constitution 5.0, Spirit 7.0... Requirements met. Learn directly (reward skill, no experience cost).]

These two skills were far too enticing. Had they been something like a standard naval sword technique, Liu Zhi might have ignored them, preferring to invest in one of the three immediate upgrades.

But clearly, these were different: one was a large-area offensive magic, the other a spatial teleportation spell. Liu Zhi was reluctant to miss out.

Confirming he had enough experience, he swiftly learned both.

[Falling Stars Level 1: Consumes 30 mana to summon falling stars in a specified area, dealing 9 + 45.76% spell power astral damage over 8 seconds.]

[Description: The duration, area, and damage of the falling stars scale with skill level.]

[Celestial Beacon (Elite) Level 1: Places up to 5 beacons at designated spots, consumes 10 mana and requires 3 seconds to cast. Allows automatic teleportation to any beacon.]

[Description: Compared to portals, teleportation arrays, and teleport spells, Celestial Beacon enables cross-dimensional movement—a last resort for forceful escape from the game.]

Having mastered these two, Liu Zhi took a deep breath and, more cautiously than when opening the chests, tore open the Extraordinary Training Book.

Under a flash of white light, he felt torrents of information swirling before his eyes, finally settling on the Falling Stars skill.

[Falling Stars Level 4 (0+0 / 300,000): Consumes 25 mana, summons falling stars within a 10-meter diameter area up to 100 meters from the caster. Deals continuous astral damage to enemies over 15 seconds, 9 + 40.72% spell power per second.]

[Extraordinary Ability: Starlight Surge—consumes all mana to forcibly open a starlight channel at a specified location, unleashing massive astral damage equal to Falling Stars damage multiplied by mana consumed times three.]

Though he hadn’t upgraded his preferred Celestial Beacon, this was more than sufficient for Liu Zhi. He exhaled in relief, stroking his Death Staff and murmuring to himself,

“I suppose I’m now a qualified mage—at least the kind the Ide family describes.”

He gathered the three Extraordinary Knowledge Manuals, noting many passive skills had reached level 4. Those not yet upgraded weren’t particularly useful, so he planned to save them for when new passive skills arrived.

Before him lay the extraordinary library, awaiting his next move.