Chapter 45: [Listening]
Returning to her main body, Xu Zhi first checked the categorization of the cores in her storage. She soon discovered that among these cores, the most common were of the [Cup] attribute, while there were none of the [Lamp] type at all!
Out of the 600 cores she had acquired, over 100—nearly 200—were [Cup] type. The remaining cores were scattered across other attributes. The rarest was [Heart], with fewer than 20. She needed about 60 of the [Moth] type, had over 120 [Blade] cores, close to 70 [Winter] ones, and the rest were [Inspiration] and [Forge].
Just from the distribution of these cores, it was clear how the outside world perceived different types of ability-user beings.
[Cup] was the least needed, [Lamp] was the rarest, and [Heart] was also uncommon.
While it sounded like a lot to get 600 cores all at once, Xu Zhi now saw herself as a “gold-devouring beast.” Even with over 120 [Blade] cores split between Yi and Gouzi, it wouldn’t last them long.
[Moth] and [Winter] were useful to her. As for the rest, she planned to use the [Winter] cores to boost Zhen to level 20. After selecting her fourth companion creature, the rest of the temporarily useless cores would go to Spirit Body to be used in randomized travel—hopefully teleporting her near the Nanshan Villa District.
After all, the Special Affairs Division had thrown her quite the “challenge.”
Moreover, the intel she traded was a one-time resource—she couldn’t sell everything blindly. She had to filter and choose carefully. This also meant the frequency of trades couldn’t be too high.
When she thought about the core requirements once all her familiars surpassed level 20, Xu Zhi deeply felt that even this sudden “wealth” wasn’t enough to resolve her resource problem.
So she needed to secure a more stable source of attribute cores before she squeezed all possible profits from her information. Perhaps the Nanshan Villa District could be part of that solution.
In her trade with the Special Affairs Division, neither side mentioned that all these cores were just “low-level cores.” That meant neither could be sure if the other party was aware of it. But in the next trade, Xu Zhi planned to only exchange for fixed-attribute or higher-grade cores.
She refused to believe that in such a vast federation, no one had noticed the differences in core levels—or perhaps “purity.”
“Don’t these different-level cores have names or something?” Xu Zhi picked up her game console and asked.
[No.]
The narrator replied coldly.
“Not professional enough!” Xu Zhi complained. “Whatever, I’ll just ask the Special Division next time if they’ve named them.”
She didn’t bother coming up with names herself—she was terrible at that.
“I need the Eye of Secrets. Can I bring it into my Spirit Body?”
She asked again, as she had a bold idea that required the Eye of Secrets for confirmation.
After three or four seconds, the narrator lazily responded with just three words:
[Suggestion Box.]
“Hmph. So cold.”
While opening the suggestion box to write down her question, Xu Zhi added another note:
[The narrator is too cold—lacks human touch!]
A reply appeared quickly on the screen.
[Function added to Spirit Body. You can now pay a certain number of cores to bring a special ability-user ability into the Spirit Body.]
Her complaint about the narrator was ignored.
“A certain number of cores? Got it.”
Which meant a lot of cores. She was used to that now.
Recalling Zhen, Xu Zhi grabbed a handful of [Winter] cores from the warehouse and tossed them over.
After consuming over 70, only 32 remained. When the evolution bar finally maxed out, Xu Zhi sighed—realizing just how much faster the companion upgrade process went when she had resources to burn.
The time it took to raise Yi to level 20 couldn’t even compare.
But reaching level 20 was clearly a milestone. Dumping a bunch of cores into Zhen post-level-20 wouldn’t be as effective—it was better to use them while evolving. After 20, cores no longer boosted the evolution bar as much; they increased ability-user affinity instead, accelerating the [Evolution] level.
To max out [Evolution] using only low-grade cores would probably take an astronomical number.
She needed to get her hands on higher-level cores.
While Xu Zhi was busy planning for the future, Zhen awakened from its upgrade slumber.
[Companion: Saker Falcon Lv19 → Lv20]
Spirit: 730 → 960
Physical: 2400 → 2800
Traits: Sharp Lv6, Agile Lv9, Endurance Lv6, Strength Lv6, Listening Lv5, Evolution Lv1
Special Ability: Instant Death Lv3]
[Evolution Points: 0/7000]
[Congratulations, your companion’s special ability has leveled up.]
[Instant Death Lv3: When this ability is active, the companion’s attack has a chance to instantly kill the target. This effect cannot be blocked, reversed, or altered. Current trigger rate: 0.5%.]
“As expected, every companion unlocks the Evolution trait at level 20.”
But this time, Zhen also gained a previously unseen ability: [Listening], and its Instant Death leveled up.
The system announcement wasn’t finished yet:
[Congratulations. Your second companion has reached level 20, unlocking the fourth familiar slot. You may now draw your fourth companion from the selection interface.]
[Since you’ve raised two companions to level 20 and entered the metamorphosis stage, the initial life level of available companions has increased.]
[Your companion Saker Falcon has entered metamorphosis. All of its attributes will grow rapidly. Once its Evolution reaches level 10, it will fully transform, break its limit, and become a higher-tier lifeform.]
[During metamorphosis, the companion requires significantly more attribute-appropriate cores.]
Unlike when her first companion reached level 20, no new features were unlocked this time.
But just getting another companion was already a great bonus.
“Go ahead and eat.”
Xu Zhi kept five [Winter] attribute cores and gave the rest to Zhen.
Companions could consume these low-grade cores freely without side effects. She, on the other hand, had to be extremely cautious—not daring to absorb too many at once, for fear of getting lost in hallucinations.
Zhen’s appearance hadn’t changed much despite reaching level 20—aside from becoming more beautiful. Its eyes were now sapphire blue, clear and bright like precious gems. Its white feathers glowed faintly in the dim room, making it look like a divine bird perched on a god’s shoulder in myth.
Xu Zhi looked it over and concluded: “You’re really getting more and more flamboyant.”
Now, just a glance was enough to tell this Saker Falcon was no ordinary creature.
Which was fine. She already had the stealthy Yi—having a flashy, attention-grabbing Zhen made for a good balance. As for Gouzi, Xu Zhi was still curious to see what changes it would go through at level 20. She was quite looking forward to that.
“Let’s see what kind of choices I have for the new companion.”
