Chapter 10: Black Screen?

Xu Xiaoshou sprang up from the bed like a spring.

Seventeen thousand!

He confirmed it again; it really was seventeen thousand!

"I'm rich! I'm rich..."

"Excluding those who couldn't hurt me, each punch was worth one passive point. Seventeen thousand means I took nearly ten thousand punches..."

Xu Xiaoshou patted his head. What a miserable experience!

As a transmigrator, he had sacrificed his body to earn money...

Disgrace!

But then he looked back at the five-digit number...

It was truly satisfying!

"Calm down, calm down!"

Xu Xiaoshou sat back on the bed, forcibly suppressing his excited heart and trembling hands.

This was just the beginning; what he could draw with these seventeen thousand points was still unknown.

This thrilling and exciting feeling was what he liked the most.

Xu Xiaoshou opened the shop. The items in the first two slots were already lit up, a symbol of abundant funds.

"Huh? Something new?"

He noticed that a gray item had appeared in the third slot.

"When did it appear?"

Curious, Xu Xiaoshou clicked on it to see:

"Tier 2 Skill Point (Purchase: 5000 Passive Points)."

Five thousand?!

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes immediately widened. Only then did he see the "Tier 2" prefix.

Among his current passive skills, the only one that matched the "Tier 2" description was the Innate-level "Fortitude."

This meant the Tier 2 Skill Point was used to upgrade "Fortitude"?

So once a passive skill reached the Innate level, regular skill points became ineffective, and "Tier 2 Skill Points" were uniformly required for upgrades?

Xu Xiaoshou understood, but why was this item gray and unpurchasable?

His passive points were sufficient!

With seventeen thousand against five thousand, he could even buy three "Tier 2 Skill Points"!

Uh...

After fighting tooth and nail, he could only buy three "Tier 2 Skill Points." Thinking this, Xu Xiaoshou suddenly felt a little wronged.

This newly appeared "Tier 2 Skill Point" made him fall into deep thought.

Perhaps the passive system was related to his cultivation realm. Maybe he could only purchase "Tier 2 Skill Points" once he broke through the Tenth Spirit Refining Realm and entered the Innate Realm?

Xu Xiaoshou thought this reasoning should hold true.

If there were no such restriction, he could simply solo-level "Fortitude," upgrade its skill level beyond the Innate stage, and becoming a saint or god wouldn't be a dream.

But was that possible?

According to the "barrel theory," if a barrel has one short plank, it can't hold much water. If it only has one long plank, then the entire concept becomes even more absurd.

Could a little white rabbit with a body as strong as a lion's definitely defeat a lion?

Hmm...

While not impossible, in most cases, it was unlikely to happen.

Perhaps the moment it saw the lion, its subconscious instinct would still be to turn and run.

But due to the restrictions of a body incompatible with its nature, it would trip itself and fall into the other's gaping maw.

"That makes a lot of sense..."

Xu Xiaoshou didn't dwell on it too much. He hadn't originally intended to continue upgrading "Fortitude," and his current Innate body was already sufficient.

Besides, there was still a long way to go; he didn't want to rely solely on "Fortitude" and getting beaten to become strong. He needed to explore other directions.

With seventeen thousand passive points, it was time to experience the joy of a ten-pull!

"Hehe!"

Xu Xiaoshou rubbed his hands and unhesitatingly bought ten passive keys.

Passive Points: 7660.

Losing ten thousand points at once made Xu Xiaoshou's heart ache, but the thought of new skills still brought him some comfort.

With over seven thousand passive points remaining, if he drew any good skills later, he could even directly upgrade them to Lv. 8!

Last time, three... uh, a four-pull yielded "Fortitude," indicating that the probability of getting good items from this roulette was actually not low.

Imitating last time, Xu Xiaoshou inserted the ten keys one by one into the red roulette covered in gray mist, not daring to peek at the information bar during the process.

Key after key plunged in and disappeared. The room was so quiet that only his pounding heartbeat could be heard.

"Haa!"

"Lucky star possess me!"

As the last passive key disappeared, Xu Xiaoshou let out a shout, drew a Tai Chi trigram in the air with his hands, and glanced at the information bar.

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"Pfft!"

Xu Xiaoshou spat out a mouthful of old blood and fell face-first onto the ground.

This wave of five consecutive "Thank you for your patronage" messages in the information bar instantly drained him of his spirit.

"What the f—!"

He swallowed the little heart that had jumped into his throat back into his chest and despairingly continued to scan downwards.

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"One more key!"

"Obtained Extended Passive Skill: Sharpness!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

With a bang, the bed board suffered a critical hit from Xu Xiaoshou and almost cracked.

One!

There was one!

Xu Xiaoshou was so excited; he no longer hoped for a "double yolk egg" (two good items at once), fearing his heart couldn't take it.

He was even more afraid that these "Thank you for your patronage" messages would suddenly result in a complete ten-pull of nothing, sending him straight to the rooftop to experience the bone-chilling pain of despair.

Sharpness?

Xu Xiaoshou carefully pondered the word. What kind of effect would it have?

After the lessons learned from the "Breathing Technique" (the time before last) and "Fortitude" (last time), he already knew that items drawn from the passive system definitely wouldn't have any grand or high-sounding names.

On the contrary, while the items obtained here had simple and unadorned names, they were all incredibly practical and closely relevant to him.

This Sharpness...

What would it be like?

Since it was still an extended passive skill, it should still apply to his own body, rather than making the "Hidden Suffering" in his hand sharper.

But on his own body, where would it be sharp?

Teeth?

Hair?

Toes?

Xu Xiaoshou's expression was strange. How would this be useful? Had he really drawn something so useless?

He raised his fingers, carefully observing his fingernails. It seemed...

...they had grown a bit?

Was it due to a subjective psychological effect?

Xu Xiaoshou straightened his ten fingers and jabbed them hard at the ground.

"Hiss!"

The next second, he grimaced in pain and shook his fingers repeatedly.

There were four holes in the ground, plus a small indentation.

This...

This wasn't "Sharpness" at all!

This was "Fortitude," the effect brought by his Innate body!

Xu Xiaoshou fell into deep thought. He finally realized a terrifying problem: passive skills might have overlapping functions?

This thought almost made him cry.

"Damn this system! This cost me ten thousand passive points!"

"No, no!"

"The system couldn't be such a rip-off!"

Xu Xiaoshou comforted himself. If he really thought that way, wouldn't he then be able to draw "Sturdiness," "Potency," "Edginess," and "Keenness" in the future...?

He forcibly pushed this nightmare-level thought out of his mind.

It couldn't be like this!

Absolutely impossible!

If that were the case, then only one last possibility remained...

Xu Xiaoshou looked at the introduction in the second section:

Extended Passive Skills:

Fortitude (Innate Lv.1).

Sharpness (Acquired Lv.1).

"Acquired Lv.1, the level is too low!" Xu Xiaoshou muttered decisively to himself.

It was the same last time: when "Fortitude" first appeared, its level was so low that he almost scorned it. Only after upgrading it to the Innate level did it unleash its terrifying power.

In fact, it directly propelled Xu Xiaoshou, who was originally only at Spirit Refining Stage Five, to the top of the group stage, making him champion.

"Perhaps the effect of this 'Sharpness' will only truly reveal itself once its level is increased!"

Xu Xiaoshou looked at his passive points: 7660.

Continue drawing cards?

Or should he upgrade the skill?

"Hey, don't I still have one key?"

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly remembered there was a "One more key!" in the ten-pull and immediately chuckled. "Let's deal with this first!"

He inserted the passive key into the red roulette and twisted it hard.

Watching the key gradually turn into starlight and disappear, Xu Xiaoshou wasn't too concerned, as he pondered the use of "Sharpness" in his mind.

The key completely vanished. Xu Xiaoshou hadn't even looked at the information bar yet when suddenly, his vision went black, and the world trembled violently.

"What's going on?"

Xu Xiaoshou was horrified. Black... black screen?