199: Chapter 199 Monster Essence

"[ Recovery Spell (Rank 1) ]: A skill containing magic and vitality. After a short casting time, it is cast on a selected target, restoring HP equal to Spirit Value × 1.4. Cost: 10 Mana."

Xiao Niao displayed the specific information for the Recovery Spell, which both Hu Gualing and Tang Yao could see.

"Spirit Value multiplied by 1.4, how much is that?" Hu Gualing opened his attribute interface to check. Seeing his mere 6 points of Spirit Value, he counted on his fingers, "6 × 1.4 = 8.4?"

Adhering to the principle that "even a mosquito is meat," having an extra skill that could instantly restore 8 HP was better than having no skill at all. However, one had to consider that this skill book was of blue quality, which was two grades higher than "Farmers Three Punches." Looking at it this way, Hu Gualing's total HP was currently 143 points, and a single "Recovery Spell" would restore 8 points, which was merely one-twentieth. It was indeed a bit underwhelming.

"This skill can only restore eight HP? That's too little!" Hu Gualing couldn't help but complain.

Hearing Hu Gualing's complaint, Tang Yao also opened her attribute interface to check, then couldn't help but chuckle: "Gualing, tell me, is there a possibility that your Spirit Value is just a bit low?"

"Low?" Hu Gualing looked suspicious as he made a simple comparison between his Spirit Value attribute and his other attributes, discovering that it really was a bit low. "...Well, I don't believe your Spirit Values are that much higher than mine. Xiao Niao, what's your Spirit Value?" Hu Gualing asked, still somewhat unconvinced.

"Fourteen points." Xiao Niao felt there was nothing to hide. Although it was indeed much higher than Hu Gualing's Spirit Value, and revealing it might be hard for Gualing to accept, the "Recovery Spell" skill would have to be used sooner or later. Once Hu Gualing saw the healing amount, it would be easy to deduce what his Spirit Value was, so Xiao Niao didn't hide it and answered honestly.

"That high!?" Hu Gualing suddenly questioned his life choices.

Fourteen divided by six is two, with a remainder of two... Hu Gualing counted on his fingers and was surprised to discover that Xiao Niao's Spirit Value was actually more than twice his own!?

"It's nothing really. Among all my attributes, only my Spirit Value is the highest; my other attributes are pitifully low," Xiao Niao explained.

"Oh..." Hu Gualing barely accepted this, then counted on his fingers for a long time, "Fourteen multiplied by 1.4 equals..."

"Nineteen points! That's actually quite good!" Having calculated the result, Hu Gualing suddenly became happy. 19 points of HP recovery, even on himself—who had the highest HP among the three of them—was more than ten percent of his total HP. Moreover, looking at the skill description, this "Recovery Spell" wasn't a continuous recovery but an instant one. This meant that during a fight, if Xiao Niao cast a "Recovery Spell" on him, his HP would immediately recover by over ten percent! In this way, they wouldn't have to keep dodging when facing strong monsters in the future, but could instead adopt a strategy of trading damage for damage. "It seems this skill really is most suitable for you!" Hu Gualing said, looking at Xiao Niao happily.

"Also, 'Recovery Spell' can be upgraded. Once the Rank is higher, the healing amount will definitely increase!" Seeing her teammate obtain such a powerful skill, Tang Yao was also very happy, though she had a small question. "But... what exactly is Mana? Why didn't I find it?"

Hearing her words, Hu Gualing suddenly realized that the "Recovery Spell" required Mana to be cast. But where was the Mana? He searched through the entire attribute interface and the status bar information, but only found HP and Stamina. HP went without saying, and Stamina was consumed by the body doing various activities like walking, working, or fighting. He couldn't find any trace of Mana.

Seeing Tang Yao and Hu Gualing looking at him with confusion, Xiao Niao smiled and said, "I didn't have Mana before either, but after learning this skill, a blue consumption bar suddenly appeared above the Stamina bar in the status bar. That happens to be Mana."

Tang Yao nodded as if she understood, but Hu Gualing had a sudden realization: "So it's just a blue bar!" In most games, characters have two consumption bars, red and blue. The red one is the character's HP, or health bar, and the blue one is for energy or Mana, also called a blue bar. But in this game, Fantasy Jianghu, there were only a health bar and a Stamina bar at the beginning. Was this blue bar only unlocked automatically when one encountered magic-type skills?

Hu Gualing thought, then suddenly asked, "Then how much Mana do you have now?"

"140 points," Xiao Niao replied. "Based on my guess, it's possible that one point of Spirit Value equals ten points of Mana."

Hu Gualing nodded.

"That's not bad then. You can cast 'Recovery Spell' fourteen times. You'll have your work cut out for you when we encounter strong monsters in the future." For a math problem as simple as 140 divided by 10, Hu Gualing didn't need to count on his fingers to figure it out, and he teased Xiao Niao.

"Being busy is good." A relaxed smile appeared on Xiao Niao's face. Throughout the day, whenever a battle started, he had just been slacking off. Although he wasn't physically tired at all and felt very comfortable, he hadn't felt good inside. Now that he had a healing skill, even if his damage output was still poor, he could just heal Gualing or Tang Yao whenever their HP was in the danger zone. With a total of 140 Mana, he could cast 'Recovery Spell' 14 times, healing 19 HP each time. 14 'Recovery Spells' could heal a total of 266 HP, which was approximately equal to two of Gualing's HP bars, or two lives! Now, even without output, his contribution to the team would definitely not be small."

"Then Xiao Niao, you'll have to do your best, and cast it fiercely on Gualing!" Tang Yao waved her fist to encourage Xiao Niao, then picked up the last item dropped by the BOSS with her longsword. "Let's see what this third item is."

[ monster essence (Blue Excellent) ]: The essence containing all the energy of a monster, purpose unknown.

Looking at this marble-sized blue energy ball and its short, mysterious introduction, the three of them immediately looked at each other in bewilderment.