Chapter 10 - Black Screen?

Xu Xiaoshou leapt up off the bed like a spring.

17000!

He confirmed the number again. It was 17000!

"I've struck it rich, I've struck it rich…"

"Not counting the punches that didn't inflict any damage, 17000 Passive Points means I got punched more than 1000 times if one punch is worth one Passive Point…"

Xu Xiaoshou rubbed the back of his head. "What a miserable experience that was!"

He had crossed over to this world, yet he had to sacrifice his body to earn Passive Points....

How humiliating!

However, when he turned his head and looked at the five-digit number again…

It felt great!

"Calm down, calm down!"

Xu Xiaoshou sat on his bed again and forcefully calmed himself down. His hands were trembling he was so agitated.

This was just the start. He still didn't know what he could obtain from the wheel using 17000 Passive Points.

This nervous and excited feeling was his favorite.

Xu Xiaoshou tapped open the store. The two items on the shelves had already lit up, which meant that he had enough currency to purchase these items.

"Oh? There's something new?"

He realized that there was another gray item in the third box.

"When did this appear?"

Xu Xiaoshou was curious. He tapped on the option to have a look.

"Level Two Skill Point (Purchase: 5000 Skill Points)."

5000?!

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes bulged. He only saw the words "Level Two" preceding it a second later.

The only thing that could fit within the description of "Level Two" out of his passive skills was the Innate-stage Strengthen.

"Does that mean this Level Two Skill Point is required to level up Strengthen?

"Does an ordinary Skill Point lose its effect on a passive skill that's reached the Innate Stage? Do all those skills require a Level Two Skill Point to level up?"

Xu Xiaoshou seemed to understand what was going on. However, why was the item grayed out? Why couldn't he purchase it?

"I have enough Passive Points!

"5000 Passive Points into 17000 Passive Points means I should be able to buy three Level Two Skill Points!"

"Hmm…

"After nearly being beaten to death, all I can afford is three Level Two Skill Points." Xu Xiaoshou felt a little indignant when he thought about it like this.

The new Level Two Skill Point caused him to lapse into thought.

"Perhaps the Passive System is correlated with my cultivation level. Could it be that I'll only be able to purchase the Level Two Skill Point after my cultivation level has increased past the ten levels and into the Innate Stage?"

Xu Xiaoshou felt that his deduction was valid.

If not for this restriction, he could become a saint or a deity just by pumping all of his Skill Points into Strengthen and leveling it up way past the Innate Stage.

But was that possible?

According to the Wooden Bucket Theory, a bucket's capacity was determined by its shortest stave. However, this theory didn't hold if he only had one long stave.

Would a rabbit with a body as strong as a lion be able to defeat a real lion?

Hm…

Even though it was possible, that scenario probably wouldn't happen in most circumstances.

The rabbit might instinctively run away the moment it encountered the lion.

However, it might trip over itself because of its unnatural physical limitations and send itself into the cavernous jaws of the lion.

"That sounds logical…"

Xu Xiaoshou wasn't that conflicted. He didn't intend to continue leveling Strengthen up anyway. His current Innate-stage physical body was enough.

Furthermore, he had a long road ahead of him. He didn't want to be powerful by depending on just Strengthen alone. He had to expand his skillset.

He now had 17000 Passive Points. It was time for him to experience the joy of ten consecutive lucky draws!

"Hehe!"

Xu Xiaoshou rubbed his hands together and purchased ten Passive Keys without hesitation.

Passive Points: 7660.

Xu Xiaoshou felt a slight stab of pain in his heart when he saw his Passive Points instantly plummet by 10000. However, he felt a little comforted when he thought about the new skill he might get.

Also, he still had over 7000 Passive Points left. He could immediately level any new skill he obtained later to Lv 8 if the skill was powerful enough!

He'd managed to obtain Strengthen in three… no, four draws the last time, which showed that the odds of obtaining a skill from the wheel were decent.

Xu Xiaoshou followed what he did last time and stuck the ten keys into the red wheel that was covered by fog. He didn't dare to look at the notification panel while he inserted the keys.

The keys vanished one by one as he inserted them into the wheel, and the sound of Xu Xiaoshou's pounding heart was the only thing that could be heard in the quiet room.

"Hah! RNGesus!" Xu Xiaoshou shouted as the last key vanished, and drew an eight trigram formation in the air before looking at the notification panel.

"Better luck next time!"

"Better luck next time!"

"Better luck next time!"

"Better luck next time!"

"Better luck next time!"

"Puuu!"

Xu Xiaoshou was so upset he almost vomited blood and fell over.

The notification panel had given him five consecutive strikes of despair.

"I'll use my full power!"

His heart was in his throat. But he collected himself and continued looking down the notification panel in despair.

"Better luck next time!"

"Better luck next time!"

"One extra key!"

"Obtained Extended Passive Skill: Sharpness!"

"Better luck next time!"

Thud!

With a thud, the headboard nearly split in half from Xu Xiaoshou's violent strike.

One!

There's one!

Xu Xiaoshou was excited. He no longer allowed himself the hope of obtaining two skills from this draw, afraid that his heart wouldn't be able to stand it.

But he was more afraid of getting "Better luck next time" ten times in a row. That would send him straight over the edge.

Sharpness?

Xu Xiaoshou mulled over the term. What kind of effect would it have?

With the two lessons he'd learned from the Breathing Technique and Strengthen, he now knew that the skills he obtained from the Passive System wouldn't have any awe-inspiring names.

But even though their names were incredibly simplistic, all the items from the wheel were incredibly practical, and their names closely matched their effect.

Sharpness…

What effect would it have?

Since this was still an extended passive skill, it should still affect his body rather than have an effect like making the Hiding Pain in his hands sharper.

However, which part of his body would become sharper?

Teeth?

Hair?

Toes?

Xu Xiaoshou looked puzzled. How was this skill useful? Did he draw a dud?

He raised his hands and closely examined his fingernails. It seemed…

Had his fingernails grown longer?

Or was he just imagining things, sort of like a placebo effect?

Xu Xiaoshou extended all ten of his fingers and stabbed them toward the ground.

"Sssss!"

The next second, he grinned in pain and shook his hand.

He had pierced four holes into the ground, as well as made a tiny indentation.

This…

This wasn't Sharpness!

This was Strengthen. It was an effect that came with his Innate Stage physical body!

Xu Xiaoshou slipped into deep thought and finally realized a terrifying problem. Could passive skills overlap?

This thought nearly made him cry.

"Darned system. I spent 10000 Passive Points on this!"

"No, no!"

"The system wouldn't be this wicked!" Xu Xiaoshou consoled himself.

But when he thought about it... wouldn't he be able to draw things like "Strength" and "Power," or "Sharp" and "Lethality" in the future…?

He forced these nightmarish thoughts out of his mind.

"It can't be like that!"

"Definitely not!"

In that case, there was only one possibility left…

Xu Xiaoshou looked at the introduction in the second section.

Extended Passive Skill:

Strengthen (Innate Lv. 1).

Sharpness (Acquired Lv. 1).

"Acquired Lv. 1. That level is too low!" Xu Xiaoshou decidedly told himself.

He'd felt the same thing in the past; when Strengthen first appeared, he'd nearly despised it because its level was too low. The technique only showed its terrifying power after it had been leveled up from the acquired state to the innate stage, enabling Xu Xiaoshou, who was only at spiritual cultivation level five, to achieve victory during the group-stage competition.

"Maybe the effects of Sharpness will show if I put more points into it."

Xu Xiaoshou looked at his Passive Points. 7660.

"Do I continue spinning the wheel?"

"Or should I level up Sharpness?"

"Oh, don't I still have one key left?"

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly remembered that he'd gotten an extra key during his ten consecutive spins, and immediately smiled. "Let's use that first!"

He inserted the key into the red wheel and fiercely turned it.

He saw the key turn into specks of light and disappear, but he didn't pay much attention to this, as he was too busy thinking about how to utilize Sharpness.

The key vanished completely, and Xu Xiaoshou wasn't able to see the notification panel update before his vision turned black and everything shook.

"What's going on?"

Xu Xiaoshou was startled. Black… Black screen?