Two days later, in the snowfield.
“It’s safe. Hurry and warm me up,” Xia Yan ordered Jiang Xiao as she looked at the two of them in the natural cave.
Jiang Xiao scurried in and raised his hand to give them a Blessing.
“Mm...” Xia Yan squirmed in pleasure and continued in a shaky voice, “We’re far enough away from the battlefield~ we can take a break.”
Han Jiangxue looked around and said, “There are traces of White Ghouls around. They should be out hunting. Be careful.”
“Yes, yes, yes, you call the shots. Hurry and open it.” Xia Yan rubbed her hands excitedly and stared at Han Jiangxue with an intense gaze. Time passed too slowly in the past two days and Xia Yan was bored out of her wits.
Han Jiangxue glanced at Xia Yan, shook her head helplessly, opened the coffin, reached a hand in and fumbled about.
She then took out the tattered military backpack and the scattered items.
“Search for some goodies,” Xia Yan said as she frantically inched closer, squatted down and began to rummage through the bag.
Her face that was full of excitement began to stiffen. The military backpack contained the supplies and items required for survival in the wild that was given to them at the start. There was nothing valuable in there at all. Just like the military backpack that Jiang Xiao carried, the items were all of uniform specifications.
“There isn’t a single Star Bead at all? Don’t these guys keep anything in stock?” Xia Yan lamented in displeasure.
“They encountered an unprecedented crisis and possibly absorbed all of their Star Beads.” Han Jiangxue analyzed calmly.
“Ah...” Xia Yan sat down on the ground, grabbed her short and wavy chestnut-colored hair before continuing with a look of distress, “Absorb the Star Bead of that Awakened. Let’s see if it can help you break through the middle stage of Nebula.”
“Considering the needs of the team, you should take it.” Han Jiangxue was all proper and serious like she was going by the book. It seemed that she was not tempted at all and immediately took out the frozen corpse that was severed and covered in snow.
Jiang Xiao inched closer towards them, finally getting a chance to scrutinize the Awakened.
This is an adult male who’s about 40 years old. His facial expression is extremely scary and he has a full beard on his chubby face. He seems to have lived rather well.
“Probably an offline Awakened.” Xia Yan took a glance at the chubby face and continued in disdain, “No melee awakener will eat his way to this size. He looks like a spoiled person.”
Everyone knew that the upgrade of Star Power required physical strength. If it were an Awakened that was struggling to grow, he would definitely train himself as hard as possible.
They reckoned that this Awakened could have stagnated at a certain Star Power stage and was unable to break through the plateau regardless of how hard he tried. Hence, he decided to let himself go.
“Begin,” said Han Jiangxue.
“Hope he stagnated at a high level of Star Power,” said Xia Yan, who apparently analyzed the information and flipped the corpse over before picking out the Awakened’s brain skillfully with her dagger.
It was Jiang Xiao’s first time seeing what a Star Bead was like.
There was nothing too surprising, for it was just a Star Bead that was as big as a glass sphere. It was similar to a White Ghoul Star Bead and also emitted fluorescent light.
“Can I take a look at it?” Jiang Xiao asked.
“This was taken from a human body.” Xia Yan extended the hand that contained the Star Bead and stared at Jiang Xiao in a taunting manner.
Jiang Xiao pursed his lips in displeasure, for Xia Yan had teased him several times before in the past two days.
Everyone needed a growth process, that was inevitable. No one was born a cruel and ruthless killer. Acquired cultivation and environmental factors were extremely important too.
Jiang Xiao grabbed the bloodstained Star Bead and stood rooted to the ground at this instant.
Xia Yan and Han Jiangxue had repeatedly stated that it would be impossible for humans to absorb any Star Techniques from the human Star Beads.
However, at this moment, Jiang Xiao’s head was suddenly loaded with plenty of information.
?? Star Bead (?? Quality)
Star Technique:
1. Green Glow: Strongly strikes the enemy and increases damage to the targeted spot, adds a slight recoil effect. (Brass Quality, Upgradeable)
2. Endurance: Passive Star Technique, Increases self-defense abilities (Brass Quality, Upgradeable)
Can Be Absorbed Together.
Blessing: Slow Restoration Of Target Vitality (Brass Quality, Upgradeable)
Decoy: Creates An Illusion To Confuse The Enemy (Brass Quality, Upgradeable)
Can Be Absorbed Together.
Burning Flame: Condenses flames that can engulf one’s body or equipment (Silver Quality, Upgradeable)
Bursting Flames: Condensed fireball, creates explosions (Silver Quality, Upgradeable)
Can Be Absorbed Together.
Bell: Releases Medical light, heals the body of the target, can be linked to multiple targets (Silver Quality, Upgradeable)
Inheritance: Leaves a mark on the target and guides the Medical Light.
Can Be Absorbed Together.
Jiang Xiao swallowed his saliva and stared at the two women foolishly while holding the Star Bead in his hand.
“What’s the matter?” Han Jiangxue asked.
“I...” Jiang Xiao was a little hesitant.
“Xiaopi?” Han Jiangxue raised her head slowly while seated on the ground. Staring at Jiang Xiaopi intensely, she asked, “Is there anything you’d like to share with me?”
Han Jiangxue knew that Jiang Xiao was not a greedy person.
In the past, she wouldn’t dare to guarantee this.
However, ever since she confessed to Jiang Xiao about her Gold Quality Star Bead that contained Sky Smasher, being an inheritance left behind by his parents for him, Han Jiangxue found Jiang Xiao to be rather heartwarming.
After such a long time, Han Jiangxue had also seen the changes in Jiang Xiao.
At this moment, a rookie in the Stardust Stage would not need this Star Bead at all. Not only would it be of little use to Jiang Xiao, but it would also cause him to waste a lot of Star Power.
What made Jiang Xiao so shameless as to say that?
“I...” Jiang Xiao still hesitated.
Han Jiangxue realized that something was wrong and waved at him.
Jiang Xiao walked towards her and the two of them proceeded to walk towards the cave entrance.
“What’s wrong?” Han Jiangxue asked softly.
After thinking for a while, Jiang Xiao found a reason that he could give her. “I sensed that this Star Bead contains a Medical Star Technique.”
Han Jiangxue asked in bewilderment, “Huh?”
“I’m serious.” Jiang Xiao knew that his words were a little too bizarre, but he couldn’t tell Han Jiangxue that he had an internal Star Map.
“Can you extract Star Techniques from the Star Beads of humans? This isn’t good news for the other Awakened,” Han Jiangxue said leisurely.
Jiang Xiao was stunned to hear this.
Since Star Power could be extracted from the Star Beads of humans, it would definitely be tempting to some Awakened.
However, if Star Techniques could be extracted from Star Beads, it would be a thousand times more appealing.
The fact that Star Techniques could not be extracted from Star Beads was one of the greatest reasons the wold was still relatively stable.
If Jiang Xiao broke this restriction...
However, it turned out that Jiang Xiao could really break through the restrictions because his internal Star Map gave him unlimited possibilities!
“No, I can’t feel the other Star Techniques. I’m just extremely sensitive to the Medical Star Techniques.” Jiang Xiao whispered, “When I told you that my Star Technique could be upgraded, you didn’t believe me too.”
Han Jiangxue remained silent for a while, then asked, “Can you only absorb Star Techniques from Star Beads? What about the others?”
Yes, that was a problem.
Han Jiangxue had once asked about it before. What did humans have?
Indeed, humans were not born with Star Techniques but with Star Maps!
Can Jiang Xiao... really acquire a Star Map from human Star Beads?
Can he increase the number of his star slots?