Meanwhile, a few streets away from Ye Cheng and Tang Muxin's thrifty shopping time, a dragon and a rooster were taking a nice leisurely stroll.
Jia Hyson chirps happily as he lightly tugs at Da Gong's feathers, indicating him to take a turn like the bird was a horse, and he was holding the reins.
Da Gong clucks and indulgently plays along, feeling his worm is very cute when he is spoilt like this.
His worm has also gotten a little chubbier too, no longer so light that Da Gong worries about his worm rolling off his back whenever a strong wind passes by. Thinking of the human woman's cooking which is the cause of this positive change, Da Gong was no longer so unsatisfied with her presence.
Actually, the human woman turned out to be quite sensible ah. His human, Ye Cheng, brought her out to teach her human skills and the woman left his worm alone with him. Not to mention, when she makes food she always feeds Da Gong and the worm first out of all the other animals.
Clearly, Da Gong must amend his previous thinking of the homewrecker. She was a good human who understands privacy and recognises his sovereignty. Plus, she didn't like to chirp and cluck as much as Ye Cheng.
Tang Muxin: '...' Before I have even gotten a boyfriend, I seem to have gotten a rooster-in-law ah.
Jia Hyson is also very satisfied with his 'saintess'. Just a few days of having the all important three meals a day plus snacks and he had finally unlocked the important foundational skills [Year of the Dragon] and [Pure Golden Dragon Blood Lineage].
[Year of the Dragon] is a passive skill that only can be activated in healthy reptiles which will naturally boost their basic physical and not so physical traits by 50%. If the body is of an actual dragon those traits will have an extra 25% boost on top of the previous 50%. Speed, endurance, defense, magic and melee... with this skill Jia Hyson will no longer be so worried about survival.
It will also give the owner a greater affinity to similar creatures. Lizards, snakes, other dragons and related reptilian creatures will always have a good initial impression and favouribility toward a person with this skill.
[Pure Golden Dragon Blood Lineage] is even more overpowered. However as a special bloodline type skill, it cannot be activated unless the owner has at least a drop of golden dragon blood in their bodies. If a host wanted to permanently keep this skill they would have to pay an exorbitant price of 66.6666 million p. Even if Jia Hyson somehow managed to steal this skill back, he would still have to pay the 66.6666 million in order to activate it since he doesn't have any dragon blood inside him. In short, it's probably the one skill he actively hopes he doesn't steal.
However many people would still be interested in it despite the disgustingly high price. The golden dragon in Chinese culture is the most revered, representing the emperor and symbolizing prosperity, health, wisdom and compassion. Even westerners not familiar with eastern culture will hear 'Golden Dragon Blood lineage' and immediately assume it to be a very awesome thing.
In fact all bloodlines are awesome things. It's practically a package of great support skills in one and can also automatically boost any skills you already have that have a relation to the bloodline type. For example a Water Nymph bloodline can give you control of water, breathe underwater, an increased chance to find underwater treasure etc, will enhance the effects of any water related skills and is fairly compatible with most other bloodlines other than fire and undead related ones.
The only downside is that it's not like clothing where you can switch it out easily, generally one can only have three bloodlines at the same time and the price to take one away is double the cost of it's original price. Not to mention, if one of the bloodlines is incompatible to another, then the best case scenario is that half their skills are rendered useless and worst case scenario is self-detonation. It's a bit like choosing a college or university degree really.
If you want to invest in bloodlines it's better to plan long term, save, and then plan some more. There is even a bloodline consultation that will help a host determine the best bloodlines to pick according to their preferences and current job, in a given budget. They also look at your previous work results, character reviews from their system and other individuals that have previously interacted with the host, and can offer discounts if satisfied enough.
Really... really like choosing a degree in higher education ah.
Jia Hyson shudders. What a short yet anxiety fuelled period of his life.
Bebe: 'You know you'll have to do that again one day right?'
Jia Hyson: 'But decisions are so hard.'
Bebe: '....Do you hear that?'
Jia Hyson: 'No. But is what I'm hearing, you not giving a damn about my whining?'
Bebe: '....Yes.'
Bebe: 'Why must you ruin everything?'
Jia Hyson: 'Cuz you suck.' (｡•̀ᴗ-)b✧
Bebe: 눈_눈 '...'
Anyway [Pure Golden Dragon Blood Lineage] is really close to a god tier bloodline. After all it's a bloodline that has powers related to fortune as well as powers that improve attack and defense value of a host. However after some consideration it was set as a heaven tier bloodline.
The grades of bloodline from highest to lowest are- god, heaven, mythical, then either immortal, demonic, supernatural or magical which are roughly ranked the same but are grouped by different attributes.
The [Pure Golden Dragon Blood Lineage] skills that support fortune and karma is god tier but the other supporting powers which are rated mythical tier and below brought the overall bloodline rating down. Still, [Pure Golden Dragon Blood Lineage] should be considered half a step towards god tier anyway. It's a bloodline that gives the host, protagonist level luck, and not the type of luck where protagonist A finds an amazing treasure and A's whole family dies, but the sort of heaven defying luck with little karmic balance.
To make it even easier to understand... Normal people should, in general, experience 50% good luck and 50% bad luck in their lives. Protagonists may have 60% good luck, 22% great luck, 15% bad luck and 3% extremely tragic luck. But with the [Pure Golden Dragon Blood Lineage], good luck will be around 70%, great luck 25%, bad luck 3.75% and extremely tragic luck 1.25%.
Not to mention, the host will also be more sensitive to karma and fate. With the skill [Karmic Insight] the effects for both are boosted greatly and gives the individual almost prophetic abilities but unlike prophets who generally give out long term, vague predictions [Karmic Insight] is far more flexible.
For example, if A has [Karmic Insight] and is arrives at a crossroads, they can look to the path on the west and be able to sense good fortune and bad karma suggesting if they go that direction they will be able to gain some wealth but at a moral cost that will come back to bite them such as stealing a treasure from corpses.
Then they'll look at the eastern path and see a bit of bad fortune and good karma, possibly someone down this road needs something from you. Of course even if you go down the road, if you don't loot the imaginary corpses or help the imaginary person the karmic fate of course changes again.
The higher level the skill is, the further and more detailed A can see, to the point where they can determine the very actions others can make to gain the best luck, wealth and happiness. Even the simplest decision or lack of one can greatly influence things.
After all, fate is not the most straightforward thing, it is like the veins of a tree. A prophet may be able to see the most probable future at that point in time but a person with a high levelled skill like [Karmic Insight] will practically have the ability to see various futures at once.
Anyway, the point is Jia Hyson is very happy and is equally as eager to activate [Karmic Insight]. That can be his 'thing' as a mascot character. His raison d'etre. Other than being super cute and witty of course ah. (/▽＼*)｡o○♡
Bebe: 눈_눈 '...'
And somewhat just as importantly, with the lineage activated, and the inherited knowledge of his ancestors , Jia Hyson can now easily understand and speak to other animals.
Of course once the bloodline is no longer available to him he will only be able to recall the words that he had managed to proactively learn. Unfortunately with such a good golden finger it is difficult to not rely on it blindly over time.
It's like between memorizing the encyclopedia and having access to google, once you have the convenience of the latter who the fuck wants to do the former? However if there is no Internet and no google to rely on would they remember the previous knowledge they had learnt in the sites?
Jia Hyson who has a poor memory and attention span can confidently say- hell to the no.
Sure they'll always be a few things people will remember due to their own personal interests but even Jia Hyson whose brain can only easily retain good stories and ideas won't be able to remember the finer details. Overall, the advantages of this universal translator golden finger is good but unless it's permanent then it can only give short term benefits.
'Bebe, after this world...' Jia Hyson sighs, 'Sign me up for four basic animal languages courses. I want reptile, domestic fowl, feline and canine.' These were the ones he was more familiar with thanks to practical experience. It's best to consolidate it immediately once the golden finger expires.
'Host…' Bebe is a bit moved and immediately signs him up before Jia Hyson could regret it.
How can it not know that Jia Hyson is lazy and hated foreign language classes the most? Even in his original world, the grades for his foreign language classes were so bad the tutor and his parents had completely given up on him. The only reason Jia Hyson had even worked so hard on mastering the english language in the first place was only because American movies and other media tended to be consistently superior to domestic shows.
Fucking chinese censorship laws. Forcing him to learn english. And also restricting people's right to access information. But, the english thing, mostly.
Jia Hyson sighs again. He never thought that becoming a host would involve so much school.
"You okay?" Da Gong clucks, sensing his worm is a bit absentminded. Carefully he slows his pace, worried that his worm may slip and fall in it's daze.
"En," Jia Hyson smiles and pats coquettishly at the black rooster's neck. He couldn't help but feel a bit shy listening to Da Gong after the lineage kicked in. Before, Da Gong still sounded like any other rooster. But once Jia Hyson could fully understand, comprehend and distinguish between animal voices, he realised Da Gong's voice was really quite… quite handsome ah. (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)♡
Jia Hyson: 'His clucking is a bit deeper than other roosters, bit husky and his clucks are slow and clear. Even his warbles are just, ahhhh.' (/▽＼*)｡o○♡
Bebe: '......….' Ew.
Only it's host can use a super rare bloodline skill and make it fucking weird.
Jia Hyson lifts his head up, eyes glowing faintly as he looks around before tugging at Da Gong's feathers, "That way please,"
Da Gong clucks affirmatively and begins to trot along. Jia Hyson gives him a soft kiss to his cheek in encouragement. Da Gong doesn't say anything in response but his feathers were a bit fluffed up and his pace had become noticeably faster. Seeing this, Jia Hyson buries his head into the soft black feathers shyly.
Aiyah, why was this guy so cute?! (」,,,> ロ <,,)」♡
Wasn't he meant to be the cutie? Ah, ah, ah! (」⁄ ⁄>⁄ ♡ ⁄<⁄ ⁄)」♡ How come he felt his family's Da Gong is much better than him?!
Bebe: '...' (¬_¬) To be honest, Da Gong is pretty much better than it's host in every way ah.
Right now, Jia Hyson was using his newly honed intuition to find hidden treasures. Because, come on. When you get a bloodline that can literally give you the ability to see good fortune, you just have to go treasure hunting okay? That's the rule.
Of course since it's a newly awakened bloodline that requires time and spiritual energy to produce it's full potential, Jia Hyson wasn't too skilled with using his new instincts, leading Da Gong around and around so he can try catch and follow the metaphorical scent. Fortunately his family's Da Gong is obedient and is very happy to take a 'romantic stroll' through the street with his worm.
'How is the bloodline?' Bebe asks curiously. It's previous hosts were generally the type that preferred buying skills and items then bloodlines so other than bodies that already had a bloodline in them such as the common vampire bloodline, Bebe isn't too familiar with the topic personally. Not to mention, this golden dragon bloodline is really unique in terms of karmic powers, it would be good to get some information and submit it to the research department for some system points.
'It's really interesting,' Jia Hyson admits, his golden eyes glowing as he looks around again, 'but it's definitely not something I can keep using for long periods of time ah.'
It can be said that the skill [Karmic Insight] is very important to the bloodline since the combination of such compatible things being active naturally produces a big boost in effectiveness. Right now it was like Jia Hyson could suddenly see all sorts of auras, not just from people, but from animals, plants, items, even the sky and the earth had a faint aura. Can even see a faint trail from them as well, like scent that lingers in the air, making the view even more colorful.
If he had the [Karmic Insight] activated to help him, he would be able to focus better on things and ignore unwanted background noise. Unfortunately without it, he can only cope through the cacophony of auras whenever he wants to look at someone's karma or luck. To put it plainly, if you want to say it kindly, it's a very artistic sight to behold, if you want to say it harshly, it's extremely headache and nausea inducing after more than a few minutes.
Still, it was undeniably useful. He can instinctively tell between good and bad auras albeit only in a general sense and his intuition sensitivity has increased a lot. Currently there was a very strong feeling that Jia Hyson instinctively wanted to follow. While looking at the auras, it's even easier, a strong deep bronze and red aura trail, was lingering around the street. Despite the clashing of colors it cut through everything like a golden sword covered in drying blood.
"Big boss Gong, we're going to strike it rich," Jia Hyson chirps happily, excitedly curling around Da Gong's neck and nuzzling him affectionately. To any bystanders, it really looked like the rooster is wearing a very fancy golden necklace. If the rooster wasn't the tyrant Da Gong, they would have long beaten the bird and stolen it.
"Whatever you say," Da Gong clucks dotingly. He didn't really believe the other, whether it was being a dragon or finding treasure with his new 'dragon senses' but as long as his worm says it he will also play along. It is good to see the worm happy. Besides, such an imaginative worm is very good. Very cute. (,,ಠ⊝ಠ,,) ♡
Jia Hyson could now tell from the tone of the clucking that Da Gong was treating his previous explanation as the ramblings of a child. He could only shake his head helplessly and hope he can show him evidence of the truth with his new powers. Who told him to be a baby dragon in a world that is more or less a historical non-fantasy setting? He also wouldn't believe it if someone suddenly came up to him and claimed to be a dragon.
Finally they arrived at a deserted alleyway. It was only a few meters before entering it did Jia Hyson realize that it wasn't one strong aura but two similarly strong auras overlapping each other. One had the base color of gold, tinged with a vicious dark red and the other had a steady rusted orange bronze color that had a tinge of bright gold.
Jia Hyson was immediately excited. There's a good chance that one of those would be a legendary treasure or something equally as good.
However there was no great legendary treasure hidden among the rubble. Only two dirty and smelly men. One was large and full of muscles and the other was skinnier in frame. However both were clearly injured, and not lightly either.
'This is.....' Bebe takes half a minute while Da Gong and Jia Hyson circle curiously around the two men. 'Ah! These are plot characters!'
'That explains the aura,' Jia Hyson inwardly mutters, heart filled with disappointment. He had wanted to use his newfound powers to fish up a treasure to show off to Da Gong and then they could sell it or maybe it would be some sort of panacea that will help Tang Muxin's weak body.
Yet all he did was fish up some men.
He didn't exactly need superpowers for that ah. _(:3」∠)_
Bebe: '...' It's been a while since host brought up your slag past, Bebe almost forgot host was a playboy and not just a pervert into chicken beastiality. ╮(╯∀╰)╭
Jia Hyson: '....' Suddenly feeling so f*cking angry right now but unsure why.