Nine Star Burden - Chapter 30

Chapter 30: With Skill and Capabilities 1
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

What Jiang Xiao had been worried about still happened in the end.
Before this, Jiang Xiao had been troubled with the concerns about how terrible he would feel if his Star Power could not keep up with the level of his Star Technique.
Now, Jiang Xiao had clearly felt how powerful the Silver Quality Green Glow was and how much Star Power it exhausted.
That punch depleted his Star Power.
However, the problem now was that the White Ghouls were the most common creatures of other dimensions in Beijiang and upgrading his Green Glow to Gold Quality was not an impossible task for Jiang Xiao, but if the quality were to be upgraded again, would the pros outweigh the cons?
If it could only be used thrice, would Jiang Xiao’s body be depleted of Star Energy?
Would Jiang Xiao be doomed then?
To exaggerate things, what would happen if he couldn’t use the technique at all because of the lack of Star Power?
I have a heavenly trick! It exists right in my star slot, but no one has ever seen it before!
Because I’ve never used it!
It’s not that I’m afraid that you guys wouldn’t know how to tackle it, but because I can’t use it at all… 2
Xia Yan could sense that Jiang Xiao was vexed and upset. Hence, she gave him some comfort.
She said that Jiang Xiao was being a little too pessimistic. For a kid who had just Awakened less than three months ago, the total amount of Star Power in his body was normal.
As their high school life began, the group of Awakened teenagers would definitely see a rapid and steady increase in Star Power in the next few years.
After all, the 15 and 16-year-olds were all still underage and going through adolescence. They were still at the stage of growth spurts. 4
However, Jiang Xiao’s Star Technique upper limit was truly too high.
That would inevitably result in the need for Jiang Xiao’s Star Power to be increased. This would also indirectly lead to an increase in the requirements of Jiang Xiao’s physical fitness.
Jiang Xiao took a closer look at the Silver Quality Green Glow and noticed that there had been some changes in the upgrade requirements.
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Green Glow, Silver Quality Level 1 (Upgradeable)
Upgrade requirements: White Ghoul Star Beads (10) Or Skill Points (10) 3
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10 White Ghoul Star Beads were previously required for a quality upgrade. Yet, 10 White Ghoul Star Beads can only result in a small increase in level now. 2
Do the requirements increase by ten times at a time?
In that case, for Gold Quality to be upgraded to Platinum Quality, wouldn’t 100 Star Beads be required for a small upgrade in level, while 1000 Star Beads are required for an increase in Quality?
It seemed… that he could not accept it.
Jiang Xiao’s star quality had improved, and Xia Yan was equally happy for him. To her, anything that could be solved with money would not be considered a problem.
Of course, Xia Yan only dared to make such assumptions and promises because he wanted Brass Quality White Ghoul Witch Star Beads.
If Jiang Xiao wanted to upgrade to a rare Gold Quality Star Technique, Xia Yan may not be able to satisfy his needs even if she was wealthy.
There were plenty of ways to obtain Star Beads. 1
If one were to become an Awakened who had enrolled in a proper school, the nation would definitely give them some Star Beads as regular welfare benefits and rewards for various assessments to motivate the Awakened to keep striving forwards.
For the team of Awakened who were wealthy and qualified to enter the officially opened Dimensional Space, the Star Beads acquired in the other dimension could be digested, and if they were too bored out of their wits, they could sell the Star Beads to official merchants or business firms too.
Generally, firms would offer higher prices for the Star Beads, as compared to the official merchants. Of course, people like Han Jiangxue and Jiang Xiao, who could enter the snowfield free of charge because of their parents, would mostly sell their battle gains to the officials for them to be recycled.
They decided to forgo the hundreds of yuan since they would still have to enter the snowfield again in the future.
Besides, the Star Beads that Jiang Xiao and Han Jiangxue had acquired were barely enough for themselves, how could they sell it to anyone?
In the land of Beijiang, White Ghouls were the most common creatures of other dimensions while in the volcanic areas, Lava Ghouls were the most commonly seen creatures of other dimensions.
Hence, the prices of the Star Beads of these two creatures of other dimensions were relatively stable.
The market price of White Ghoul Star Beads fluctuated between 500 and 800 yuan, while that of the Lava Ghoul Star Beads was about 3000 yuan.
The price of a White Ghoul Witch Star Bead had already been hiked up to 200,000 yuan, and the final transaction amount could be even higher.
The reason for the exorbitant price of the White Ghoul Witch Star Bead was partly because of the rarity of White Ghoul Witches.
On the other hand, it was also because the White Ghoul Witch usually appeared together with a large number of White Ghouls. Hence, it would be very difficult to obtain the Star Beads of White Ghoul Witches.
Of course, the most essential reason was that it contained Medical Star Techniques.
That was the reason a Star Bead of the lowest grade and quality could be sold at such a high price.
When Jiang Xiao found out that a White Ghoul Witch Star Bead could be sold for 200,000 yuan or even higher, he felt an immense heartache.
Damn, combat really is an expensive thing.
Moreover, the real problem was that one may not be able to buy the White Ghoul Witch Star Beads even if they had the money. The White Ghoul Witch Star Beads had always been scarce and short of supply to meet the demands.
However, that was also good news for Jiang Xiao. In the future, he could just kill more White Ghouls and sell their Star Beads for money to pay for his tuition fees.
However, the price offered by the officials was indeed quite a shortchange. A White Ghoul’s corpse could be sold for 200 yuan and a White Ghoul Star Bead could only be sold for 300 yuan. Although it could fetch a higher price when sold to firms, it would only be a few tens of yuan.
Even a fool would know that once the basic Medical Star Technique was activated, a relatively lucky person would have a promising future.
Even if one were to go bankrupt because of a White Ghoul Witch Star Bead, there would be schools, societies, and non-governmental organizations looking for them and proving them with plenty of so-called opportunities and resources, as long as they made the right bet.
Just like the university entrance examination, a child from a village in the mountains could go through a drastic change and get admitted to an elite university in the city. They would also receive plenty of resources and opportunities.
Of course, passing through the barrier to a better place was just one of the hurdles, and whether or not they could achieve true success would depend on his character. 1
It was an undeniable fact that not all the students from prestigious colleges were elites.
200,000 yuan was indeed a sky-high price to Jiang Xiao.
However, it was not a problem for Xia Yan at all.
Xia Yan might have to consider if it were two million yuan for one Star Bead, but 200,000 yuan each?
She would definitely buy it!
She would first buy ten and consider the rest later.
The Xia Family was just a wealthy family that did not have major authority, power or status.
In Jiang Xiao’s eyes, Xia Yan was very affluent. After all, she had a Porsche 911 in her garage. However, she was just as poor as Jiang Xiao and Han Jiangxue in the eyes of those truly wealthy.
It was the same concept as Jiang Xiao watching NBA stars and Bill Gates. To Jiang Xiao, O’Neal and Bill Gates were both tycoons. After all, O’Neal could make tens of millions of dollars a year.
However, to Bill Gates, O’Neal was really poor.
Xia Yan’s mother, He Zeyun, was a female entrepreneur and an ordinary person. She could only be considered “well-to-do”.
Her father Xia Shanhai had also retired from the Wasteland Reclaimer team due to an injury. Hence, his status and influence were worlds apart as compared to before.
Such precious Star Beads that had higher demand than supply, it would be very difficult to obtain without connections.
Xia Yan intended to get her parents to pull some connections with their friends.
On the other hand, Xia Yan also felt that her team could obtain White Ghoul Witch Star Beads based on their own abilities.
If it weren’t for the time constraint, Xia Yan would be really reluctant to trouble her family.
She hoped to upgrade Jiang Xiao’s Blessing Star Technique to Silver Quality within 10 days, which would be extremely beneficial for Jiang Xiao when he joined her team. It would help him score more points.
Since she had made up her mind, it was now a race against time. Xia Yan urged Jiang Xiao to move alone and they immediately left the snowfield to return to Jian’nan Village.
As soon as she returned to Earth, Xia Yan called her mother before calling Han Jiangxue. They then found the main power output of the team.
The operation could only involve three people. Otherwise, there would be plenty of trouble.
Jiang Xiao looked at Xia Yan foolishly and he suddenly thought, Have I become a kept man!?! 4
Did I… get kept because of my abilities? 1