229: Chapter 229 Mental Protection, Deep Blue Skill Book

Skill books were quite rare in this game, far more precious than equipment of the same quality. Equipment worn on the body might not always be perfectly suitable, and even if one were lucky enough to use all its attributes, equipment would sooner or later need to be replaced. Unlike skill books, which could be learned upon use, the acquired skills would remain with the user, usable at any time, and their power would increase as the skill Rank improved.

Furthermore, considering the unique nature of this game, the skills characters learned in-game could be used in reality! Although it was a peaceful society and combat skills from the game might not be necessary in daily life, having an extra skill up one's sleeve was always good. Even if it were just used as a magic trick to show off in front of others, it would be quite nice.

Besides, who didn't have a dream of becoming a superhero? Thinking about being able to perform the skills learned in the game upon returning to reality, just like Hu Gualing, made Xiao Niao feel a bit itchy with anticipation. His Flat Shot and Lob Shot archery skills were not convenient to perform in reality, but perhaps he could try the 'Recovery Spell' he learned today. If he could cast it, he wondered if it would have the exaggerated effect of instantly healing wounds as it did in the game? Based on his previous experience where his eyesight had inadvertently become better than an average person's, he speculated that it should be possible to achieve such an incredible effect, right?

"Hey, hey! What do you say? Do you want this skill book?" Hu Gualing tapped Xiao Niao's chest with the fresh blue-covered skill book, snapping him out of his daydream.

"Oh, oh, this... let me think about it." Xiao Niao didn't give an answer immediately.

"Think about it? What's there to think about?"

Hu Gualing frowned and said with a look of disapproval, "The description of this 'Spirit Shield' skill says that the higher the Mental Energy, the better the effect. Among the three of us, it seems your Mental Energy is the highest, and it just so happens that you are the frailest and lack defensive skills. It is most suitable for you to take this 'Spirit Shield' and learn it now."

"But if that's the case, most of the good stuff that dropped today has been taken by you. You really have had some damn good luck, kid..."

As Hu Gualing spoke, his tone revealed that he already considered this 'Spirit Shield' skill book to be rightfully Xiao Niao's. However, thinking about the three items dropped by the Millennium Tree Demon BOSS, with the first two already taken by Xiao Niao, and the rare skill book dropped by the previous Mutated White Wild Boar also being pocketed by him, he couldn't help but speak with a slightly sour tone.

However, Hu Gualing wasn't overly jealous, because the method of item distribution had been decided long ago; dropped items would go to whoever they were meant for. For instance, this 'Spirit Shield' skill book, while looking very cool, didn't seem to have much use for him. He relied primarily on dodging in combat, and when he couldn't dodge, he had the 'Bronze Skin' skill to mitigate some damage. But if he activated 'Spirit Shield', he would be like the Millennium Tree Demon, bearing a pale white protective shield around his body and taking all the damage head-on. Given his pitifully low Mental Energy, the defense of a Spirit Shield he activated wouldn't be great, and it likely wouldn't block much damage. It was better to give it to Xiao Niao, who had the highest Mental Energy among the three. After all, Xiao Niao was their team's only healer, and when fighting, he was often alone in the back without protection, leaving his safety unassured. Now, with this 'Spirit Shield', even if he encountered danger, he could activate the spirit protective shield to hold out for a while, buying enough time to either run or wait for them to come and support him.

Xiao Niao thoughtfully took the Spirit Shield skill book from Hu Gualing's hand, but did not immediately use it to learn the skill.

Actually, what Hu Gualing said made sense. He really did lack a skill for self-protection at the moment, and 'Spirit Shield' was just the right fit.

Moreover, he was indeed quite covetous of this skill book.

After nearly a full day of adventuring outside the village, Xiao Niao had seen quite a few monster drops and had gained a new understanding of the quality of items dropped by monsters. Item quality, from low to high, was represented by gray, white, green, blue, and purple. However, there were differences in quality even among items of the same color. For example, even among items of the same blue, refined quality, there were differences in their intrinsic value or quality level, which was manifested externally by the shade of the color. For instance, the blue of the monster essence dropped by the previous Mutated White Wild Boar boss was significantly lighter, which indicated that while both were blue, refined quality, the monster essence was not as high in quality as the 'Recovery Spell' skill book and the leather pants dropped by the same Mutated White Wild Boar.

The three items dropped by this Millennium Tree Demon boss, at least the first two blue-quality items, were deeper in color than the three items dropped by the Mutated White Wild Boar. For example, the cyan jade staff that had already been allocated to him and was in his hand, while seemingly flowing with a watery, jade-like cyan-green light, was just the staff's own color. If one sensed it carefully, one would find that the staff was also shrouded in a mysterious blue light, which was the deep blue color representing the item's quality. This indicated that this staff belonged to a relatively refined category even among blue equipment.

As for the blue on the 'Spirit Shield' skill book, it was even deeper than the blue on the cyan jade staff. The blue hexagram on the cover was so rich it looked as if it were about to overflow, showing that this skill book was even more precious than the cyan jade staff. It was a quite rare existence even among blue, refined quality items, likely only one step away from becoming a purple-quality item.

Furthermore, when the Millennium Tree Demon previously released this 'Spirit Shield' skill, neither the arrows he fired, nor Hu Gualing's fists, nor the steel longsword in Tang Yao's hand could break through the protective shield around the Millennium Tree Demon's body. In fact, this protective shield, summoned by the Millennium Tree Demon, remained unbroken until the very moment it died. Although such a long duration and fierce defensive capability were undoubtedly related to the Millennium Tree Demon boss's own powerful strength, the 360-degree defense with no blind spots was enough to make Xiao Niao covet it immensely.

Xiao Niao looked at the clearly precious 'Spirit Shield' skill book in his hand for a long while, and finally spoke: "I think it is more suitable to give this skill book to Tang Yao."

"Huh?" Hu Gualing was a bit confused. He had seen Xiao Niao looking at the skill book with great interest for a long time and thought he had become inseparable from this 'Spirit Shield' skill book, but he hadn't expected Xiao Niao to voluntarily give it to Tang Yao.

"But Tang Yao's swordsmanship is good, and she has a certain amount of self-protection capability. Besides, she is usually at the front during combat, and with me sharing the damage, as long as I don't die, she generally won't end up in too dangerous a situation. Her need for this 'Spirit Shield' skill book shouldn't be as great as yours, right?" Hu Gualing spoke his thoughts frankly in front of Tang Yao and Xiao Niao.

In his mind, Tang Yao's swordsmanship was already quite good, and with the 'Sword Heart' skill augmenting her, the level of her sword skills would surely improve rapidly. Once the level was high, while he didn't expect a huge boost to her basic physical attributes, at least simple counterattacks and resistance shouldn't be a problem by then.

On the other hand, Xiao Niao currently had to monitor the Boss's remaining health at all times during combat, and also had to be prepared to cast the Recovery Spell to heal Hu Gualing and Tang Yao. He didn't even have much time to take out the bow and arrows from his backpack—though even if he did, they might not be of much use. But because of this, Xiao Niao was developing entirely as a team support, and his own strength was hard to improve; he was a bit like a fragile healer who would fall at the slightest touch. This skill book, which allowed one to use Mental Energy to cast a protective shield once learned, was indeed more suitable for him than for Tang Yao.

Tang Yao: "Right, I also think this skill book should be given to Xiao Niao. Otherwise, when we are fighting in the front, if a few monsters suddenly sneak up and attack Xiao Niao, he will die quickly without defensive means, and then there will be no one to heal us."

As she spoke, Tang Yao moved her gaze away from the skill book with the flowing blue light on its cover in Xiao Niao's hand. She had personally witnessed and experienced the effect of the Millennium Tree Demon using this defensive skill during the fight. If not for the fact that she had luckily triggered the Burning property of her longsword twice, she really would have had no way to deal with this protective shield. They might even be looking at the Millennium Tree Demon, now restored to full health, wondering whether to leave or stay.

A skill with such a powerful effect and quite good-looking special effects was something she naturally wanted to learn too, but for the sake of the team's overall strength, this defensive skill was indeed more suitable for Xiao Niao.

'I'll just concede to this weakling Xiao Niao; there will surely be better skill books in the future.' Thinking this, Tang Yao finally felt a bit better and moved her gaze away, intending not to look at the skill book anymore. However, she saw that Xiao Niao hadn't put the skill book away, but was instead holding it out to her.

"What are you doing?" Tang Yao had a look of confusion.

Hu Gualing also looked over with an uncomprehending expression, hoping to find the reason in Xiao Niao's expression.

Xiao Niao coughed twice, cleared his throat, and explained slowly and methodically: "It is true that I currently have no self-protection capability, but this Spirit Shield skill book is of deep blue quality, and I fear it is not far from purple quality. Moreover, everyone has experienced the effect of the Millennium Tree Demon casting this skill earlier. Such a powerful and precious skill, if I were to learn it just to protect myself, it would feel a bit wasteful. It would be better to give it to Tang Yao; after she learns it, she can also improve her output capability significantly."

"Deep blue quality?"

"Output capability?"

Hu Gualing and Tang Yao had seen so much loot that they had also noticed that even items of the same quality had differences in the shade of their color. Now, hearing this "deep blue quality" classification from Xiao Niao, they were only slightly stunned before they understood what he meant. But... where did this "output capability" come from?

"Doesn't the description of this skill book say that it is a defensive skill, and the defense capability is related to Stamina and Mental Energy? It doesn't say it can increase output capability, right?" Hu Gualing asked, completely baffled.

Xiao Niao explained: "This Spirit Shield skill itself is indeed just a defensive skill and has zero output capability. However, the generated protective shield can protect the user inside it. As long as the protective shield is not broken, the user can safely attack from within the shield without being affected."

Hearing him say this, Tang Yao nodded in realization.

"You mean... Tang Yao's Sword Heart Enlightenment state?" Hu Gualing, who had high combat sensitivity, blurted out.

Xiao Niao nodded: "That's right. I observed in the previous battle that after Tang Yao activated the 'Sword Heart' skill and entered the 'Sword Heart Enlightenment' state, she became very focused and had a feeling of total control over the longsword in her hand, which could increase her damage significantly. But one drawback is that this extremely focused state cannot tolerate interference. Once she receives too much damage, she will be forcibly kicked out of the focused state. Without a safe output environment, the utility of this 'Sword Heart' skill in battle is quite limited.

"However, if she learns this 'Spirit Shield' skill and activates a spirit protective shield before entering the Sword Heart Enlightenment state, I think it can largely avoid the situation of being forcibly exited from the focused state. This would indirectly strengthen our team's output capability."

After listening to Xiao Niao's analysis, Hu Gualing and Tang Yao nodded repeatedly in agreement. They hadn't expected that the 'Spirit Shield' skill combined with Tang Yao's 'Sword Heart Enlightenment' state could produce such a synergy. Looking at it this way, this skill was undoubtedly meant for Tang Yao.

Tang Yao took the 'Spirit Shield' skill book from Xiao Niao's hand and examined it. She felt that the blue hexagram magic circle flowing with blue light, drawn on the deep blue thread-bound cover, exuded a mysterious aura and was incredibly beautiful.

Tang Yao opened the title page, wanting to read the content inside, but as she flipped through the pages, she found that there wasn't a single character inside; every page was blank.