Chapter 437 – [Extraordinary Contact], [Rhythm of the Wind]

Lu Yuan currently has 1 attribute point and 2 skill points left.

These were the ones he had left unused from before.

Given the present circumstances, they suddenly became especially precious.

Lu Yuan lay on the hospital bed, pondering how to use these few skill points and attribute points.

He now only has two professional panels that he can use normally.

One is the main panel of [Spirit Devouring, God and Demon Species (Transcendent Mythical)], with one skill currently lit up on it – [Devour lv1].

The other is [Scholar of the Mysterious Department (Extraordinary)].

The [Scholar of the Mysterious Department (Extraordinary)] panel had been open for a while, but its level wasn’t high, with only two skills lit up on the panel – [Chaos Divination lv4], and [Mysterious Perception lv2].

All three usable skills are more of an auxiliary type, without a single combat skill.

Lu Yuan’s major powers from the systems of the evil deity were all mastered through the professional panel.

This significantly reduces the risk of his mind and body gradually being eroded by the will of the evil deity as his strength increases.

However, the downside of this form of power control also becomes apparent at this moment.

Without the professional panel, Lu Yuan is unable to mobilize any corresponding power of the evil deity.

It is as if he can neither control death energy nor transform into the form of Eight-Armed Asura.

What he can rely on, besides the few auxiliary skills he has at hand, is the combat consciousness from his past as a [Martial Arts Grandmaster], along with the corresponding techniques and instincts.

“The abilities that can still be used without the panel are the ones that truly belong to me…”

Lu Yuan had realized this a long time ago, but it is now, in his time of “trouble,” that it has been well confirmed.

The remaining professional panels are unusable, while many of the capabilities from the collapsed and vanished [Martial Arts Grandmaster] can still be utilized.

That’s because much of the latter has been perfectly integrated into his soul and bones; even without the panel, they are still his.

This is also the biggest reason Lu Yuan has been so intent on retrieving the [Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary)] panel.

“The first basic skill upgrade requires at least three skill points. As expected of a Transcendent Mythical level professional panel…”

Lu Yuan stared at the only lit-up [Devour] skill on the [Spirit Devouring, God and Demon Species (Transcendent Mythical)] panel, sighing lightly. He wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or troubled.

The more skill points required for an upgrade, the stronger its power or effect is proven to be.

Needing three skill points just to upgrade a basic skill suggests how exciting those higher-level skills will be in the future. Equally, it foresees how much of a “skill point consumer” this Transcendent Mythical panel is going to turn into!

With three skill points standing in the way, Lu Yuan temporarily gave up his idea of upgrading [Devour lv1].

Unable to count on that, Lu Yuan turned his attention to [Scholar of the Mysterious Department (Extraordinary)].

The [Scholar of the Mysterious Department (Extraordinary)] still held a rather significant place in Lu Yuan’s heart, with its currently unlocked two basic skills being quite practical.

Especially the [Chaos Divination] skill, which had provided decisive guidance at many critical moments.

After a moment of thought, Lu Yuan decided to spend a skill point to unlock the last basic skill of the [Scholar of the Mysterious Department (Extraordinary)].

With the investment of one skill point, a point of brightness lit up on the panel.

The newly unlocked skill was called-[Extraordinary Contact lv1].

“Extraordinary Contact…”

Lu Yuan gazed at this newly unlocked skill and decided to try activating it.

With a light touch of his finger, a peculiar ripple began to emanate from his fingertips.

Invisible winds rose quietly, stirring the hair on Lu Yuan’s forehead and the white sheer curtain by the window…

Eventually, a fist-sized gray vortex appeared before Lu Yuan’s eyes.

Lu Yuan slowly reached his hand toward the gray vortex, and as his fingertip touched it, his body shivered slightly.

“What is this…?”

A strange and indescribable light flashed through Lu Yuan’s eyes, with an unexpected emotion flickering at their depths.

Upon touching the gray vortex, he received a mysterious hint telling him to “offer” a sacrificial offering.

The object of sacrifice was, of course, the omniscient and omnipotent chaos deity.

As for what he would receive after the sacrifice…

It remained unknown.

“So that’s what [Extraordinary Contact] means.”

Lu Yuan thought for a moment, glanced around the room, and finally grabbed an apple-like fruit from the fruit platter on the bedside table and tossed it into the gray vortex.

The gray vortex was just about the size of a fist, just right to fit an apple.

The plump and enticing-looking fruit vanished as soon as it was thrown into the vortex. Was that the completion of the sacrifice?

Lu Yuan waited for a bit, and finally, there was a response from the vortex.

“What’s this?!”

Lu Yuan noticed something flying out of the gray vortex, his eyes brightened, and almost instinctively, he reached out to catch it.

“Slap-“

The slippery, moist, and slightly cool texture made Lu Yuan pause in surprise, and upon closer inspection, he found it was a leftover fruit core!

“Huh?!”

Lu Yuan was a bit bewildered.

Is this the result of the so-called sacrifice?

Offering a piece of fruit to get a leftover core in return…

What was the purpose of his sacrifice, then?

Increase the favorability with some unknown presence on the other end of the vortex by +1??

The gray vortex in front of him slowly dissipated.

Lu Yuan examined the fruit core carefully, confirming it was just an ordinary leftover fruit core, and then tossed it into the trash bin beside him in mild frustration.

On second thought, the unknown entity on the other side of the vortex was probably even more baffled by the whole thing.

It was probably rare for someone to offer just a piece of fruit as a sacrifice; the fact that it was even nibbled on and tossed back could be seen as a token of acknowledgment.

In any case, the first “extraordinary contact” left both parties somewhat unsatisfied.

“Forget it; I’ll look into it more when I have time…”

Given that he was currently in the ward and his condition hadn’t stabilized, Lu Yuan didn’t want to create unnecessary trouble.

He decided to save the remaining skill points and attribute points for later.

“If I want to quickly regain my strength, aside from finding ways to acquire more attribute and skill points, the most crucial thing would be to rely on the [Devour] skill that stems from the Talent ability of the Spirit Devourer Clan…”

Lu Yuan stood up from the window and started moving around the room, tapping and touching various pieces of furniture and objects. It might have looked odd, but in reality, he was “examining” the effect of the [Devour] skill on different items.

A few minutes later, Lu Yuan returned to his original position and sat down, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Everything can be a target for devouring, but there’s almost nothing beneficial for me…”

He had just “devoured” a fruit, a pen, a crystal plate, and a palm-sized unknown electronic device…

The beneficial feedback he received was negligible, and the experience points for the [Devour] skill on his professional panel didn’t increase at all.

“It seems the idea of mindlessly devouring anything and expecting to grow stronger is impossible.

Spirit Devourers need to devour the ‘spirit bodies’, which means high-energy, high-value items…”

“No, wait.”

Lu Yuan quickly shook his head, “It doesn’t necessarily have to be high value.”

The criteria for valuing items is relative, not fixed.

Lu Yuan was almost completely sure that there must be things on Duoling that aren’t valuable to the average person but are useful for restoring his strength.

He just needed the patience to find them.

So far, Lu Yuan had only determined one thing to be useful for him.

And that was… people!

“Devouring Lu Qiyuan gained me 1 experience point, so if I devour a hundred people like him, my [Devour] skill could reach level 2, and my professional level might also increase…”

The energy, life potential, and various trace substances contained within intelligent life forms are quite beneficial to the Spirit Devourer Clan.

Back when “Anders” and his two companions arrived on the Home Planet, their condition wasn’t great due to the change in environmental rules.

But the three were able to rise rapidly and restore their strength mainly by constantly devouring those powerful supernova martial artists.

After “Anders” became Lu Yuan’s material for profession upgrade, Lu Yuan also acquired some fragmented memories about “Anders.”

These memories were not numerous, but they provided Lu Yuan with a rough understanding of the past of Anders and his two companions.

“Anders” had quite a complex real name, and his status within the Spirit Devourer Clan seemed to be quite distinguished.

He traveled to the Home Planet area by spaceship due to an uprising within the Spirit Devourer Clan, where the faction Anders belonged to was completely uprooted by another faction, leading to a shift in power.

As one of the heirs, Anders bore the responsibility of continuing his bloodline and seeking revenge, leading to his “escape” to this place.

He also appeared to be searching for an ancient Treasure passed down through generations of the Spirit Devourer Clan, placing much of his hope for revenge on finding this Treasure.

However, before he could even begin his search, he met his end at the hands of Lu Yuan, marking an untimely defeat.

Key clues regarding this mysterious Treasure still remained within Lu Yuan.

Of course, now wasn’t the time to delve into that.

“Devouring people is certainly the simplest and fastest way to level up. But with my current strength, the risk of devouring people is too high, plus…”

Lu Yuan himself didn’t want to use “devouring people” as his primary means of leveling up.

He wasn’t naturally a member of the Spirit Devourer Clan and couldn’t naturally view all other life forms as food, like Anders and his kind.

While he could occasionally devour a few enemies for “maximum benefit,” specifically hunting intelligent life forms was unrealistic.

“So the focus is solely on energy substances and rare materials…”

To quickly identify what might be suitable for restoring his strength, extensive contact with various items is necessary.

This is where the advantages of Lu Qiyuan’s identity emerged.

That guy, after all, was the son of a baron, with far-reaching connections and economic power beyond that of the average person.

“I’ll take a stroll somewhere after getting out of the hospital…”

Lu Yuan outlined his plan for the next step and suddenly found himself with nothing to do.

Being stuck in the hospital with nowhere to go, he couldn’t do much beyond surfing the internet using Lu Qiyuan’s Smart Light Brain.

Oh, wait…

He could also “study” his lessons.

Thinking of his development plan as a pilot, Lu Yuan decided to dig through Lu Qiyuan’s memories related to that area.

Before being devoured by Lu Yuan, Lu Qiyuan was a Level 1 pilot.

At the age of sixteen, achieving the status of a Level 1 pilot might have marked him as a prodigy among ordinary people.

However, at the Duoling Shield-one of the top pilot academies on No. 2045 Planet Dadu-this achievement was merely average.

There were many more talented individuals than Lu Qiyuan.

The competition within the nobility was fierce, with the true elite nobility displaying levels of genius that far exceeded the imagination of common people.

“Zero-Style Mental Power cultivation method… Rhythm of the Wind mental power cultivation method…”

Lu Yuan found two mental power cultivation techniques in Lu Qiyuan’s memory.

The former was taught at the Duoling Shield Academy, fairly standard and accessible to anyone admitted there.

The latter, however, was a treasured secret of the Lu family, far more precious.

Lu Qiyuan primarily practiced the latter.

After reviewing this part of the memory, Lu Yuan’s thoughts flickered.

In that instant, a remarkable transformation occurred in the core of his mental power.

Lu Yuan’s original mental power core was a tiny golden grain, smaller than a grain of rice.

Now, this small grain subtly disintegrated and transformed into a small golden whirlwind.

With the whirlwind’s formation, Lu Yuan suddenly felt a noticeable lightness in his being.

“Wow…”

He examined himself, sensing faint, invisible airflow surrounding his body, with air resistance reducing significantly.

Extending his hand out the window, even the wind passing through his fingers felt more welcoming.

“My agility attribute hasn’t changed, but my speed has definitely increased.

Including body speed, neural reaction speed, and there’s even an effect akin to ‘wind affinity’…”

Lu Yuan marveled, finding it hard to believe that a change in mental power form could lead to such an amplification of abilities.

The total amount of mental power hadn’t changed at all.

More importantly, he knew that the true strength of these mental power cultivation techniques only fully manifested when combined with corresponding Mecha.

At that time, the amplification effect could be dozens to hundreds of times greater.

“Just in this regard, pilots from Duoling can easily outclass those from the Home Planet…

Their utilization of mental power isn’t even on the same level!”

Compared to the mental power cultivation methods used on Duoling, the ways he was familiar with on the Home Planet-relying on drugs and biochemical modification to enhance mental power-seemed almost primitive.