Zhang Xiaoman had always been quite unclear about the concept of "friendly units."
The first time he encountered this term was when he drew the Sword Formation Skill.
For example, his Invincible Skill, Mountain River Suppression, mentioned in its description:
Grants the effect of Transformation State to "friendly units" within a certain range.
At that time, Zhang Xiaoman was puzzled about what exactly a friendly unit meant. He guessed it might refer to "human targets" or "targets he regarded as teammates."
Because he was busy with other things, Zhang Xiaoman never had the time to explore this issue.
It wasn’t until now, with the various changes brought about after activating the gang, that he formed a brand new guess in his heart.
Friendly units very likely referred to members of the Star Alliance gang or people bearing the mark of the Eye of the Starry Sky!
So, besides Zhang Xiaoman, whose hand bears this mark?
That’s right, after Zhang Xiaoman had killed the Shadow Demon and absorbed the first Space Node, he had spent 16 points to buy three items for his mom.
Among them was the "extractor," priced at only 1 point, which is now known as the "Eye of the Starry Sky."
Although Zhang Xiaoman had just checked the mall again, he found that the item that could imprint the Seven-pointed Star Array on people had been taken off the shelves. But the mark already imprinted on his mom’s hand shouldn’t just disappear, right?
As soon as he thought about it, Zhang Xiaoman got ready to activate his Teleportation Skill to see if he could teleport directly back home.
Before doing so, though, he had to perform another action—replenish his Dark Energy to full.
Extending his fingertip, Zhang Xiaoman used the Dark Energy manipulation method he had just learned and gently traced the pattern of the seven-pointed star on the newly modified Starry Stone.
Since he wasn’t converting Dark Energy Particles but simply guiding the Dark Energy in the environment, this process didn’t consume his own Dark Energy.
However, due to a lack of proficiency and such, it took Zhang Xiaoman nearly a minute to finish tracing the pattern on it.
Ultimately, the moment he completed it, he disappeared into thin air, and at the same time, reappeared beside the large stone in the Original Realm Space.
"Original Realm... I’m back."
Zhang Xiaoman looked around the familiar environment and muttered,
"This ability seems pretty good after all. If this teleportation is successful, doesn’t it mean I can enter and leave here anytime I want?"
Thrilled by the thought, he didn’t delay any further and prepared to continue with the Unlimited Teleportation to see if he could return to Qionghua City.
Having his Energy replenished by the Starry Stone, Zhang Xiaoman could now activate his Skill directly.
He issued the teleportation command in his mind, targeting his mom, a "friendly unit."
But the next second, the unresponsive Skill told him that his previous guess was wrong; his mom was not within the system’s identified friendly units.
"No, that’s not right... My guess shouldn’t be completely wrong... Yes, there’s one place I haven’t tried yet!"
Zhang Xiaoman furrowed his brows in thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up, and he quickly opened the gang interface recently added by the system.
Next, he saw that next to his mom’s information in the member list, unlike the others, was something different.
The others all showed "not activated" behind their names, but his mom’s read "maximum number of people reached."
Zhang Xiaoman’s gaze involuntarily went to the "1/1" at the top right corner representing the number of people. He gently tapped on the plus sign next to it, and a window popped up.
"Expanding gang membership will cost 1 Star Dust for this time, confirm?"
He didn’t hesitate to click on the button, and then saw the gang’s member count change to "2/2".
The information about his mom, Pei Lingsu, also reverted to a normal display color; the prompt "maximum number of people reached" was replaced by her current position within the Star Alliance, "member."
Then, when Zhang Xiaoman activated the Skill again, he instantly felt a destination for teleportation in his heart—his mom’s location.
"It worked! So that’s what friendly units mean! I can go back now!"
Zhang Xiaoman was thrilled.
He tried to sense his mom’s current location, but it was quite vague, like trying to see flowers through the fog.
However, based on his many years of experience living there, his mom should not be at home but likely in a small vegetable market nearby the neighborhood.
"Er... Well, looks like I can’t go just yet, if I teleport over there directly, I’ll be seen too easily. Better wait for mom to get home first."
Zhang Xiaoman abandoned the idea of teleporting, and the perception vanished as the Skill was canceled.
But to his frustration, the energy used to activate the Skill was still deducted. It seemed like his plan to use this method for remote observation was a failure.
Zhang Xiaoman waited in place for a while, and getting bored, he decided to browse through the Gang Store, which was rich in content and had many items that caught his eye.
"Daring Clothes... Gang Building Materials... Group Teleportation Talisman... Sect Battle Flag... Polar Star Robe... Huh? What is this?"
With no more worries, Zhang Xiaoman was happily browsing through items in the Gang Store when suddenly a product caught his attention.
"Strengthening Stone, special offer of the month, limited to 1 piece..."
Zhang Xiaoman clicked to view the details and discovered that it was a 90% discounted item. Usually, it requires 10 pieces of Star Dust to purchase, but now it was available for a mere 1 piece.
[Strengthening Stone]
Effect: Randomly strengthens a Skill or item with the "not upgradable" label.
—One hundred percent success rate.
"This... seems quite good."
Zhang Xiaoman regarded the item’s description, hesitated for a moment, then made the purchase for just 1 piece of Star Dust, figuring it would be worthwhile to see the effect.
Like when drawing a lottery, items in the Gang Store materialize with a twist in space in front of him and then drop out.
With a thought, Zhang Xiaoman caught the little stone glowing white in his hand.
"How do I use this thing?"
He examined the stone closely from top to bottom and found that other than glowing, there didn’t seem to be any other special traits.
"Could it be like the Skill Light Ball where I have to squeeze it?"
At this thought, Zhang Xiaoman instinctively applied a bit more force with his hand.
Who would have thought that the stone was actually hollow, and with just a bit of force he crushed it to pieces.
Immediately afterward, the glow from within the stone flickered, and white light burst out, enveloping him. At the same time, the outcome of the strengthening emerged in Zhang Xiaoman’s mind...