Chapter 14 Talent Upgrade, New Effects

After waking up in the morning and washing up, Gu Ye went to school, while the [Furnace] continued to idle; as for why he could be so far away from the [Furnace]...

It was also in the morning while he was debating whether or not to go to school that the [Furnace], seemingly possessing intelligence, transmitted a message to him; after Gu Ye understood the information...

It turned out that after the [Furnace] was summoned, unless Gu Ye willed it, no one else could see its existence; moreover, there was no distance restriction between the [Furnace] and Gu Ye, so he could summon the [Furnace] to his side anytime, anywhere.

In the morning there were theoretical knowledge classes, in the afternoon sparring, and in the evening self-study; however, usually no one went in the evening, as they were all seniors, everyone was very busy, and who had the heart for self-study?

This afternoon, Gu Ye's sparring partner was an opponent he hadn't expected: Yan Shuangling, dressed in white casual clothes, standing at the front of the group, looking like a crane in a flock of chickens.

"Today I will finally be able to see your card," Yan Shuangling said in a calm tone.

The perimeter of their sparring arena was crowded with people; some had come for Yan Shuangling, and others for Gu Ye; after all, one was one of the three great school beauties, and the other was a handsome top student, so just them standing there would attract attention, and now that they were about to spar, it was hard not to attract a crowd.

"As you wish!" Gu Ye shrugged and said indifferently:

This was just an ordinary sparring match; no one would be stupid enough to truly expose their trump cards.

"Zhang Fei!"

"Elegant Blade!"

As soon as the two appeared, the crowd outside felt a wave of suffocation wash over them; the aura of the two was too strong.

The teacher acting as the temporary referee, seeing that both had summoned their cards and were ready, immediately shouted:

"Begin!"

Multiple traits of Zhang Fei immediately took effect, his aura surged, and the blood energy unique to a [General] wrapped around the eighteen-foot serpent spear.

Meanwhile, Elegant Blade also drew his Tang dao, the blade igniting with black flames, and both charged at each other simultaneously; the moment they collided, it was like molten iron splashing, sparks scattered everywhere, and the battlefield kicked up clouds of dust.

The attack speed of the two was extremely fast; the crowd outside couldn't see clearly with their naked eyes, only able to see two streaks of light, one red and one black, colliding incessantly.

"I am Zhang Yide, Man of Yan! Who dares to fight me to the death?" Zhang Fei roared at the sky, his face ferocious, several wounds on his upper body deep into his flesh, the upturned flesh of the wounds showing distinct charred blackness, as if they had been roasted.

His armor was also slashed to tatters, and Elegant Blade was no better off; his black samurai outfit was also nearly reduced to rags, and his right hand had been pierced by the eighteen-foot serpent spear, leaving him with no choice but to switch to his left hand to wield his blade.

His wounds were being continuously corroded by the blood energy; although he also possessed blood energy, his primary focus was on fire and ice powers, with blood energy only serving as an auxiliary.

When facing Zhang Fei, his blood energy was suppressed, and he couldn't even purge the blood energy from his wounds.

The two were only now preparing to get serious; earlier they had just been competing in martial arts, and looking at their injuries, Zhang Fei still had the slight upper hand.

Zhang Fei activated the skill [Roar I]!

Elegant Blade was not to be outdone and immediately followed up with the skill [Ice Breath Cold Edge], quickly slashing a massive, brilliant, and fierce cold blade light towards Zhang Fei.

Just then, a strange ripple appeared around Elegant Blade; he knew he couldn't dodge this skill from Zhang Fei.

The students outside, having gained a preliminary understanding of the two's strength, were all very surprised.

"So Gu Ye being able to get first in the trial really means he has some genuine skills," a student with dyed yellow hair stared blankly at the fighting scene in front of him.

"School Beauty Yan is the daughter of the Yanshi Group, so it's normal for her card to have this strength, but I didn't expect Gu Ye, who has no background and no strength, to be this awesome," some boys exclaimed:

"They are both so handsome; if only they were a couple, I'd really ship them!" Some girls' eyes were shining.

"No, shipping everyone will only bring you harm."

...

Yan Shuangling watched the massive blade light hit Zhang Fei, a hint of joy showing in her eyes, but after the smoke cleared, Zhang Fei's figure was not inside at all.

"Oh no!"

The binding around Elegant Blade had long since formed; he was directly immobilized on the spot, and the disappeared Zhang Fei appeared beside him, the eighteen-foot serpent spear resting on Elegant Blade's neck.

Yan Shuangling had no choice but to surrender; the teacher acting as referee ran out to announce Gu Ye as the winner, and the two retrieved their cards and returned to their respective teams; what followed were some other students' matches, which Gu Ye watched a few times before losing interest, feeling like it was just a bunch of newbies pecking at each other.

The afternoon passed quickly; upon returning home, Gu Ye immediately ran into his room, moved his mind, and the refined [refined materials] immediately gushed out from the [Furnace].

Soon, a pile of buzzing sounds rang out:

[Obtained Experience + 5!]

[Obtained Experience + 5!]

...

"Ding! Talent [Refinement] upgraded successfully!!"

Gu Ye retracted the [Furnace], not even counting the [refined materials], and hurriedly checked the effects of the talent upgrade:

[Refinement] (Tier 2 140/1000)

Effect:

[Decompose all cards and card-making materials into random refined materials; decomposition time varies with card level]

[When decomposing, purify all harmful substances within the card]

[Decomposing cards of different levels yields different levels of experience points, used to upgrade the furnace]

[refined materials can be used as card-making materials; whether successful or not, a certain amount of experience points can be obtained]

There wasn't much change in the front; the entire talent only added one effect.

[The host can control the range of refined materials; different levels of refined materials require different experience points to consume.]

...

Upon perceiving this effect, Gu Ye's scalp tingled a bit.

This is not even pretending anymore; whatever material I want, you just give it to me, right!

"Slap~" Gu Ye suddenly slapped himself; he had refined too early; he hadn't expected that the [Refinement] talent would have such a powerful effect after upgrading.

If he had controlled the number of cards before refining, he could have obtained many of the card-making materials he needed by now.

"Sigh~"

"It is time! It is fate!"

"Forget it, I'd better organize the [refined materials]!"

Gu Ye turned his head to look at the pile of [refined materials], his mood only slightly calming down, checking to see if there were any high-level materials inside to soothe his injured heart.

He counted them carefully; there were actually eighty cards, including the [Breath of Spiritual Energy] that Gu Ye had used last time.

There were a full forty of them; it seemed Gu Ye's guess was correct: every card would refine into one [Breath of Spiritual Energy] heavenly treasure, and other cards also corresponded to one card refining into one [refined material].

There were 28 white [refined materials], 10 green [refined materials], and 2 blue [refined materials].

There was also a purple [refined material] that Gu Ye hadn't expected; sure enough, the greater the quantity, the easier it was to produce high-quality goods.

He hurriedly checked what type of [refined material] it was, and after seeing the contents, Gu Ye couldn't suppress the smile on his face, muttering:

"I have something for self-preservation now."

Then, looking at the pile of [refined materials] in front of him, the two blue [refined materials] alone were enough to quickly recoup his costs, and the white and green [refined materials] were a huge profit.

He took a deep breath: "Calm down, calm down."

Without a background, wanting to sell these [refined materials] felt a bit like courting death.