101: brilliant idea

Lin Yu's fingertips glided across the virtual light screen, leaving trails of afterimages.

The black market's skill library was vast, yet there wasn't a single one that met his stringent conditions.

Either the cast time was ridiculously long.

Or it required the consumption of a specific casting medium.

Or it was simply a channeling spell, completely incompatible with his Ghost Card Amplification Cycle.

What he needed was a "trigger."

A simple, pure trigger that could be pulled instantly, unleashing all his accumulated power in a single moment.

Not an antique flintlock that required complex maintenance and warm-up.

Time passed, minute by minute.

Lin Yu closed the interface of the last private skill library.

None.

Still none.

Could his approach have been wrong from the start?

Was the path of wielding the authority of "life" a dead end?

No.

Lin Yu immediately dismissed that thought.

The direction was absolutely not wrong.

Even if it was, he had no other choice right now.

Perhaps... he was looking in the wrong place?

The black market, after all, was a place driven by profit.

What circulated here were skills that had been market-tested, could be quickly monetized, or possessed powerful immediate combat capabilities.

Those truly basic skills, considered "trash" by everyone, were actually extinct here.

Because they couldn't sell for any price.

Like a snap of the fingers.

A thought flashed through his mind.

He reached out and swiped across the virtual interface, directly pulling up a long-dormant document online.

"Linzhou Tianxing Vocational Technical College · Standard Skill Textbook · Third-Year Support Department (Revised Edition)"

Of course, this was a pirated copy.

The official version was not allowed to be leaked.

The light screen lit up, and electronic pages rapidly turned.

Lin Yu was also making his own judgments.

"Skill model solidified, cannot perform low-level modifications."

"Cast time too long, conflicts with Amplification Cycle."

"Energy conversion rate too low, not worth investing in."

...All junk.

Just as he was about to close the document and prepare to search in older, even unreleased, databases...

His finger stopped.

The light screen froze on an inconspicuous corner of the textbook.

It was an elective skill categorized under the interdisciplinary fields of "Life Skills" and "Recovery," not even covered in final exams.

Vitality Nourishment.

"Skill Description: Condenses a trace of life energy, injecting a hint of vitality into the target. Instant cast. No cost."

Yes, no cost.

This was an anomaly among all professional skills that required energy expenditure.

And precisely because of this, it was discarded into an unheeded corner.

Because its effect was also basically negligible.

Below the textbook, its specific effect was noted in a smaller font.

"Restores 1-3 health points to the target once, and then, for the next minute, restores 0.1 health points per second."

Ridiculously low.

Any professional, even a newly awakened Level 1 rookie, had health points in the triple digits or more.

This amount of recovery couldn't even make up for a mosquito bite.

It was simply a joke.

But Lin Yu didn't laugh.

His full attention was focused on the supplementary notes about "High Proficiency Conjecture" that the textbook compiler had attached.

This part of the content was usually dismissed by students as filler.

It wasn't that its effect was false, but rather that no one would spend time verifying such a skill.

And it was meaningless anyway.

"Proficiency Conjecture (This entry is not officially confirmed, theoretical deduction only):"

"Golden Proficiency (One million casts): According to ancient records, when the number of times this skill is cast reaches a threshold, the life energy it contains will undergo a subtle qualitative change. In addition to the basic recovery effect, it can, to a certain extent, remove negative energy erosion within the target, passively strengthen the target's basic physical functions, and slightly increase all attributes."

"Red Proficiency (One hundred million casts): Based on the Golden Proficiency conjecture, as the qualitative change deepens further, this skill may affect the target's mental level. The textbook editorial board speculates that its effect may manifest as 'Deep Rest,' meaning it greatly enhances the target's sleep and rest efficiency, restoring energy in a short period. The specific effect varies from person to person."

Lin Yu read it word by word.

All-attribute increase.

Fast rest.

These effects, to ordinary professionals, were still like chicken ribs—not very useful.

Golden Proficiency, a million casts, in exchange for a negligible attribute increase? With that effort, grinding two dungeons would yield equipment with higher attributes.

Red Proficiency, a hundred million casts? Even more fantastic. Who would repeat a trash skill a hundred million times just to "sleep a little better"?

Logically, Lin Yu wouldn't either.

But he didn't have many options now.

Instant cast skills were few, and recovery skills were even fewer.

Vitality Nourishment, instant cast, no cost.

These two conditions perfectly matched his Ghost Card Amplification Cycle.

It was a match made in heaven!

As for the effect?

The Golden and Red effects were indeed very basic.

But so what?

This at least proved that the growth path of this skill was genuinely effective.

It wasn't a pure dead end.

That was enough.

The risk was instantly reduced to an acceptable range.

Lin Yu's thoughts completed all the pros and cons analysis in a flash of lightning.

The investment was huge.

To grind a skill from zero to "Archaic" tier, the time and effort required, even for him, was no small burden.

The outcome was unknown.

What would the "Archaic" tier Vitality Nourishment become?

Would it be a miracle that could regrow severed limbs, or a super sleeping spell that could only make people fall asleep quickly?

No one knew.

But... instead of worrying about an unknown outcome and wasting time here...

It was better to just do it.

Regardless of whether the final result was good or bad, it was a hundred times better than staying put and fantasizing.

In this world, the cheapest thing was an idea.

Lin Yu closed the textbook document.

His thinking had shifted from the "selection" stage to the "execution" stage.

Lin Yu didn't hesitate, directly finding the electronic document of "Linzhou Tianxing Vocational Technical College · Standard Skill Textbook · Third-Year Support Department (Revised Edition)" online.

Pirated, but free.

He didn't even bother to download it, opening it directly online.

The light screen unfolded, and he precisely turned to the Vitality Nourishment page.

"Do you want to learn the skill: Vitality Nourishment?"

"Yes."

A subtle warm current flowed into his body, then disappeared without a trace.

He had learned it.

The entire process felt less real than him taking a sip of water.

Lin Yu raised his hand, and with a thought, directed it at the air in front of him.

A green speck of light, barely larger than a dust particle, appeared at his fingertip, then merged into the air and vanished.

This was Vitality Nourishment.

A skill whose very existence was so faint it was laughable.

Lin Yu's face was devoid of any expression.

But a brilliant idea suddenly appeared in his mind.