Chapter 126: Choosing an Exotic Species
Chapter 126: Choosing an Exotic Species
On the horizon ahead, a familiar city came into view - Olympia.
Riding on the back of his Silver-winged Pegasus, Ji Xinghuo smiled.
The journey back from Cloud City had taken over ten days, nearly twice as long as the journey there. He had taken many detours, sometimes even backtracking, all in the name of safety since the Blood Spine Feather token given by Qian Ling had already lost its effectiveness.
Fortunately, he had made it back safely.
As the Silver-winged Pegasus entered the Dongxia District, Ji Xinghuo spotted Qinghao Street from a distance and descended.
Instead of heading straight to his villa, he returned to the horse shop where he had purchased the Pegasus.
While the Silver-winged Pegasus was indeed convenient, especially when one needed to travel quickly, it was also a hassle to care for. Its combat capabilities were lacking, and it was too noticeable, making it difficult to hide one's movements. The reason he had avoided any incidents on his journey to and from Cloud City was that he had been avoiding battles.
The first thing Ji Xinghuo did upon his return was to sell the Pegasus.
Before long, he walked out of the horse shop with an additional 5.5 million yuan in his pocket. Compared to the purchase price over twenty days ago, he had lost 500,000, but Ji Xinghuo didn't mind.
He considered the 500,000 yuan as a rental fee for the Silver-winged Pegasus. Compared to what he had gained, it was a negligible amount.
Back at the villa, Ji Xinghuo found the living room and his bedroom clean and tidy. Jiangnan Caiyi had just finished cleaning, and the garden had been well-maintained, but she was nowhere to be found, having already returned to her own world.
After a good wash and a half-day's rest, Ji Xinghuo went out to leisurely browse the exotic species stores.
Few people chose exotic species the way he did, in person.
On Earth, the purchase of exotic species was typically done online, where various merchant platforms, centers, and websites offered a wealth of information on any species one might want to buy, including prices, effects, template compositions, and more, all without leaving the comfort of home.
However, due to the Myriad Images Star Pupil, Ji Xinghuo needed to physically touch the exotic species he intended to fuse with.
In Olympia, the lack of an internet connection meant that the presence of various exotic species stores was actually the most suitable way for him to shop.
In a large exotic species store, Ji Xinghuo had already viewed hundreds of exotic species. Each one he touched brought up an interface with detailed information, but none of them met his expectations.
The fusion success rate of the vast majority of exotic species was below 80%, indicating a low compatibility with himself.
"Please bring another batch," Ji Xinghuo said to the salesperson beside him.
The salesperson was extremely patient.
Seeing Ji Xinghuo's weapons and equipment, they knew he was a valuable customer with a net worth of at least tens of millions and a very potential client.
"Of course, please wait a moment."
Soon, the salesperson returned with a new batch of exotic species, about a dozen in total, each with a unique form. Some were solid, while others were liquid; some resembled plant seeds, while others looked like living organs.
Ji Xinghuo picked up an eye-shaped exotic species, and information immediately popped up in his vision.
[Exotic Species: Laser Eye]
[Grade: Excellent]
[Fusion Success Rate: 77%]
[Upgradable: Yes]
"It's actually Laser Eye…" Ji Xinghuo was quite surprised. This ability was well-known, allowing its user to shoot high-temperature lasers from their eyes with strong destructive power. With practice and upgrades, the range of the lasers could be increased, making them useful for cutting objects as well.
Laser Eye was fast and difficult to defend against in battle, and it looked extremely cool.
Fusing with Laser Eye would also enhance one's vision, although not to the extent of Hawk Eye. It also provided a small amount of "precision" effect, making the laser shots more accurate.
Laser Eye had tremendous potential.
While Laser Eye was not commonly seen in the Asia-Pacific Collective, it was highly sought-after in the American Federation. Many Exotics were willing to fuse with it because the strongest person in the American Federation, and the top-ranked global strongest person on the King of Heaven Board, the "Sun King," had Laser Eye as his signature ability.
This strongest human in history loved to use Laser Eye to sweep away his enemies.
Ji Xinghuo had watched many videos of the Sun King since he was a child.
What left the deepest impression on him was the Sun King's laser ability. With a mere glance, he could shoot red laser beams that sliced buildings, trees, and enemies alike into two halves.
"It's a pity that the fusion success rate is only 77%..."
Ji Xinghuo shook his head inwardly.
If the fusion rate for Laser Eye was above 90%, he might have considered choosing it, as shooting lasers from his eyes had been one of his childhood dreams.
He put down the Laser Eye with some regret and continued to browse the other exotic species.
Extreme Speed Running 82%, Blood Boil 75%, Fire Scale Arm 86%, Pain Whip 68%, All-Area Vision 61%, Spider Step 84%...
Most of the exotic species in this batch were of the superior or basic grade, with only a few being of the excellent grade.
Overall, they were not very rare.
Ji Xinghuo examined them all but was still unsatisfied.
Their fusion success rates were too low.
His minimum standard was a success rate of 90%, preferably above 95%. However, apart from the "Stellar Power" he had seen last year, which had a 92% success rate, the others fell short.
"Or perhaps the quality of these exotic species is just too low?" Ji Xinghuo hesitated.
The best exotic species rarely ended up on the market, and the chances of finding a precious one in a street-side store like this were slim to none.
Ji Xinghuo looked towards a display cabinet in the store, where various unidentifiable exotic species were displayed. He had looked through them long ago, and they were all trash. These unknown exotic species were basically damaged or extremely poor quality waste abilities, and some weren't even exotic species at all.
The chances of finding something valuable were lower than winning the lottery.
With that in mind, Ji Xinghuo asked the salesperson to bring another batch, and he began examining them one by one.
Suddenly, the information that popped up on the interface caught his attention, and he felt a surge of excitement.
[Exotic Species: Block and Counter]
[Grade: Basic]
[Fusion Success Rate: 93%]
[Upgradable: Yes]
Ji Xinghuo took a close look and confirmed that it was indeed 93%, the highest fusion success rate he had seen today.
However, why was it Block and Counter?
He was quite puzzled by this.
Block and Counter was a basic ability, usually only fused by strength-based or defensive-type Exotics, such as Gravitons, Iron Guards, and Giant Generals. This ability served to deflect the force of an attack back at the attacker, rebounding about half the force, and was typically used in conjunction with a weapon or shield.
When blocking an enemy's attack, the force would be bounced back at them.
This required an extremely precise grasp of timing, first 'blocking' and then 'countering', with the blocking action being extremely brief, faster than a blink of an eye, less than a quarter of a second.
Applying this in battle was incredibly challenging.
Therefore, Block and Counter was best used in conjunction with abilities like 'Intuitive Reflex' or 'High-Frequency Thought', which increased one's reaction speed.
However, these types of abilities were usually part of agile Exotic templates, and thus, they had no use for Block and Counter.
Block and Counter was suited for direct, head-on combat and raw strength clashes.
"I have Micro-Perception, which can perfectly bring out the effect of Block and Counter," Ji Xinghuo thought. "But Block and Counter is just a basic ability..."
Immediately, he thought of Flash Step.
Flash Step was also a basic ability, but after fusing with it, he found that it suited him incredibly well and had immense potential, far surpassing those of superior and excellent abilities.
"Then, what potential does Block and Counter have?"
"Could it be related to kinetic energy?"
Ji Xinghuo looked at the exotic species in his hand, Block and Counter, which took the form of a gray piece of bone that had been cut out. Its fusion method was surgical implantation, attaching this piece of bone to the spine, integrating it with his body.
He pondered for a long time, unable to make a decision.
"Do you have Star Power in your store?" Ji Xinghuo asked the salesperson. "I want to take a look."
"Please wait a moment."
Star Power was the core ability of martial artists, and while it was relatively common and classified as an excellent ability, almost every exotic species store sold it, and it was quite affordable.
Soon, Ji Xinghuo obtained the Star Power exotic species, which took the form of a resilient pink chunk of meat.
[Exotic Species: Star Power]
[Grade: Excellent]
[Fusion Success Rate: 97%]
[Upgradable: Yes]
With just a glance at the interface, Ji Xinghuo was surprised. He clearly remembered that the first time he encountered Star Power last year, its fusion success rate was only 92%, but now it had increased to 97%. This made him realize that the success rate of the same exotic species could indeed change over time.
And the reason for this change, Ji Xinghuo deduced, was that he had recovered the fragments of the Myriad Images Star Pupil.
Without much hesitation, he said, "I'll take these two exotic species."
Star Power was priced at just over one million Asian yuan, much cheaper than the core abilities of other profession templates. As for Block and Counter, being a basic ability, it would only cost a little over a hundred thousand Asian yuan.
The salesperson was delighted, their patience and service rewarded.
After paying, Ji Xinghuo returned to his villa with the two exotic species, without further hesitation. He had made up his mind to fuse with Star Power first.
The reason was simple:
Whichever exotic species had a higher success rate would be fused with first.
The fusion method for Star Power was relatively straightforward; he just had to eat the pink chunk of meat. This exotic species was sourced from various monsters, and while their forms were similar, they were either chunks of meat, fascia, or parts of an organ, all with the same effect.
Ji Xinghuo washed the pink meat, popped it into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed it.
It tasted pungent and fibrous.
Soon, Ji Xinghuo felt the meat in his stomach being digested, and a peculiar energy was absorbed by his body, slowly spreading throughout his entire being.
In the Myriad Images Star Pupil interface, on the right side, the virtual image of a human body clearly showed energy radiating from the stomach, and the starlight within his body, those glowing dots, immediately merged with this new energy and then spread to more starlight, propagating like a virus.
Ji Xinghuo felt his body heat up, and the starlight within him seemed to be boiling.
His starlight was being transformed and imbued with a new nature!
He activated his Micro-Perception, and instantly, the process of the exotic species' fusion was perfectly mapped in his mind, every change in the starlight under his control.
Wave after wave of sensations washed over him as the nature of his starlight gradually transformed.
The fusion process lasted for over ten minutes.
When the starlight within Ji Xinghuo's body calmed down, the information on the Myriad Images Star Pupil interface updated, displaying: [Ability: Star Power (Level 1/67)], indicating a successful fusion of an excellent ability, which also caused his starlight to increase, breaking through the 500-point mark!
(End of Chapter)
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