Chapter 263: New Skill

Joo Joowon’s eyes instinctively searched for Byeol. For some reason, he was not lying beside the bed, but was instead lying on the chair, his tail trembling rapidly like that of a rattlesnake.

This was what he looked like when he was angry.

He could not help feeling somewhat surprised. What had happened? Had he gotten into a conflict with Hwi and lost the fight?

Joo Joowon got out of bed and walked over to him. He reached out to touch him, but Byeol quickly dodged away, causing him to freeze for a moment.

Had he somehow offended him?

Joo Joowon could not help scratching his head. "What’s wrong? Byeol?"

Byeol turned his head away, looking as though he had heard nothing and had suddenly become deaf.

Joo Joowon thought about it, but still could not figure out what he had done to offend him. Even when he tried to communicate with him through his mind, heignored him, leaving him completely confused for a while. He simply stopped thinking about it and directly slipped back onto the bed right then and there. After seriously brewing his emotions for a moment, a sorrowful and solemn feeling began spreading outward around him.

Hwi’s nose twitched. He was confused and helpless. Was he still not fully awake?

Byeol pressed his ears down and suddenly turned his head around, looking over while sharpening his claws against the leg of the table.

He was already a mature old cat. Did he really think that after using the same trick for several years, he would still fall for it?

...

"Meow?"

Joo Joowon swiftly reached out and pinned Byeol underneath him, grabbed his front legs, and buried his face into his fur for a whole violent round of deep inhaling.

Byeol: "..."

Among those who raised two legged humans, how many could actually avoid being defiled?

This time, he did not struggle free and run away. He was afraid that he might accidentally hurt him if he brought out his claws. A very human-like expression appeared on his face, as countless words gathered into a single sentence: I really don’t know what to do with you...

Joo Joowon rubbed his face against his moist nose and gave him several hard kisses before hugging him and sitting back up. Byeol turned his head away with an expression of complete refusal.

I hate two legged humans who have no sense of boundaries!

"Hehe." Joo Joowon put him down, and only then took out the skill book.

Byeol tucked his paws beneath himself and lay down to the side. He had already forgotten what vow he had made at the beginning. The tip of his tail curled slightly upward as he narrowed his eyes, pretending nothing had happened.

Joo Joowon, meanwhile, quickly read through the skill book again.

The difference between supernatural beings and ordinary people was enormous. Simply by stepping into the supernatural realm, his mental strength had already increased by more than double, while attributes such as strength and agility had also increased to varying degrees. This improvement had not yet ended. This was only the beginning.

The soul and body influenced each other. After the soul broke through its restraints, it would also continuously nourish the physical body in return. This nourishment would slowly and imperceptibly change the body’s characteristics until his cultivation became stable.

After reviewing the skill book again, perhaps because his mental strength had already reached the threshold required for reading it, this time he did not feel his mental strength being rapidly consumed as he flipped through the book.

He quickly finished reading the skill book and gained some insight.

The world was both flat and three-dimensional, and the lives living within the world likewise had many different ’facets’, the ’facet’ connected to fate, the ’facet’ connected to the supernatural, the ’facet’ of lifespan...

These overlapping ’facets’ continuously deepened a lifeform’s connections with all kinds of aspects. Matter and illusion intertwined, and Vitality Harvest was actually the use of mental energy and Quanta Energy to delve into that ’facet’ of the enemy that they had little contact with and did not understand, stealing something from the enemy.

The thing being stolen did not necessarily have to be health points. It was simply that health points were the easiest thing to steal among them.

Joo Joowon could not help deducing this, and faint starlight appeared in his eyes. His vision seemed to transform into a sea of stars, while the stellar energy was faintly stirred, outlining a profound and complicated astrological chart that flickered between bright and dim, making it difficult to detect.

[ System Prompt: Through contemplation, under the influence of your talent, based on ’Mental Power’, ’Quanta Energy’, ’Astrology’, ’Astral Combat’, and ’Rapid Healing’, you have gained some insight. The proficiency of the skill [Vitality Harvest] has increased. ]

[ System Prompt: Your skill [Vitality Harvest] has undergone an unknown change. Your skill has now been renamed [Vitality Theft]. ]

...

[ Skill: Vitality Theft (Rare) ]

Basic Healing: 1~40

Proficiency: Beginner (3~14)

Description: "The Owl Deity steals fate, while dust covers the Palace of Destiny." A healing/pollution-type skill. Each time it is used, it steals the enemy’s Star Fortune, reduces the user’s spell consumption by 10%, and restores the user’s Strength/Constitution/Agility/Mental Power. If detected and counterattacked by the enemy, it will affect and shake the user’s Astral Fate.

...

Joo Joowon froze for a moment. Did this count as skill fusion or skill enhancement?

After stepping into the supernatural realm, when he looked back at the skill book again, he had indeed gained another layer of understanding. He could now analyze skills from an entirely new perspective.

Just like how he had explored all kinds of ways to use mental strength in the past, Joo Joowon did not believe that the skills displayed on the status panel represented everything this class was capable of. He had never been the kind of person who simply accepted whatever others told him without question.

One had to know that all these skills had been obtained because of the Celestial Fiend and Forsaken Star destiny, but the main ability of the Celestial Fiend Forsaken Star was not divination at all. It was the ability to silently cause others to become tainted by calamity, making them unknowingly fall into endless misfortune.