[System Message: Host has drawn a Gold-grade skill—Highlander]
Highlander, the ultimate move of the champion Master Yi in League of Legends. I never thought I'd draw this skill.
As mentioned before, Lu Chen's gaming studio had taken a lot of skills from other games and anime to put into their own mobile game.
On top of that, as the mobile game was still in development, all the skills they included from the other games and anime were identical to their originals.
Therefore, the skill Lu Chen drew was the original skill.
A smile radiated across Lu Chen's face when he thought about the power of Highlander.
Highlander. It was a skill that belonged to a champion in the game League of Legends. The champion was known as Master Yi, the Wuju Bladesman, also known as Mad Dog Yi by many players.
And the biggest reason for that nickname was his ultimate skill—Highlander.
[Highlander]
[Passive: Takedowns or assists reduce the current cooldown of Master Yi's basic abilities by 70%.]
[Active: Master Yi cleanses himself of all slows and cripples. For the next 7 seconds, he is ghosted, gains 30/55/80% bonus attack speed and 35/45/55% bonus movement speed, and becomes slow-immune.]
[While active, takedowns or assists extend the duration of Highlander by 7 seconds.]
That was the description of the skill.
With this skill alone in action, the Wuju Bladesman Master Yi was able to boost his attack and movement speed, and also be immune to all slows and cripples. This made Master Yi an unstoppable mad dog that could lunge at his enemies at will and slaughter everyone that stood before him.
And now, this skill was owned by Lu Chen.
When Lu Chen visualized himself activating the Highlander and rushing into the ranks of his enemies, slaughtering and claiming their lives like little lambs, he couldn't help but feel tingly on the inside.
This is a nice skill. It boosts both my attack and movement speed and makes me immune to all slows and cripples. Most importantly, with this skill, I can still make my run if I am losing the battle.
Lu Chen was a hundred and one percent satisfied with the Highlander.
But suddenly, while in the midst of his happiness, he noticed that the icon of Highlander didn't appear in the System Page like how the mobile game was designed. Instead, the icon shattered into a mist of golden dust and flowed into Lu Chen's body.
The sudden change of situation stunned Lu Chen for a moment. But he was quick to come back to his senses and react to it.
I keep forgetting, this is not a game. The Highlander will not work the same as in the game, it's not going to be activated by clicking on its icon.
It's just like leveling up. The golden light is modifying my body so I can use the skill in the future.
As he figured it out, Lu Chen eased his heart.
But reality proved that Lu Chen had relaxed way too early.
The golden light from the shattered icon of Highlander was harmless. Just like the golden light of leveling, it showered Lu Chen's body with a warm and comfortable sensation.
However, the modification on his body didn't come at no cost.
The golden light from the Mastery Points was miraculous and could be consumed as part of the energy. But the replacement of energy from the Mastery Points was far from enough. In order to modify his body to be adaptable to the skill, Lu Chen had to consume the energy of his own body.
It was at this moment that Lu Chen felt his stomach grumble nonstop, the meat he just ate was getting digested abnormally fast.
The meat was not enough to cover the energy expenditure of adapting to the Gold-grade skill. Lu Chen's stomach was growling nonstop and signaling him to feast like a black hole that was trying to swallow a whole galaxy.
Without hesitation, Lu Chen struggled up from his bed and finished the last bit of the meat left in his house.
The smoked meat tasted hard like a rock, but Lu Chen care that much anymore. He was gobbling the meat and rushed out of the room to the little courtyard. He dunked his head in the water tank, drinking the water in the tank hoping that this would help reduce the hunger in his stomach.
But as with the incredible power the Gold-grade skill grants, the amount of energy it needed was also incredibly huge.
Although Lu Chen had been devouring the meat and drinking tonnes of water, he still couldn't keep up with the rate of energy consumption.
But the modification process wouldn't just stop because Lu Chen didn't have enough food with him.
From the reflection on the water in the tank, Lu Chen could clearly see his slender body drying up and in just a matter of seconds, he had become skinny and boney.
The system consumed all the energy and essence in his body, using them to modify Lu Chen's body.
To make things worse, the modification process still hadn't stopped after Lu Chen finished the last bit of the meat.
Shit, am I going to die here? Damn it, I didn't know this was going to happen. I've let my guard down!
What could he say? Things were entirely different when it came to the real world than when in the game. In the game, as long as the player had enough foundation, a simple click of the mouse was all it took to level up and upgrade the character. But in the real world, it just didn't work that way.
In the real world, the law of conversation of energy always held true.
One could only say that Lu Chen's own inexperience was the reason he ended up like this.
But, even when he was in his predicament, Lu Chen didn't give up fighting for his life. Before his senses were about to fade away from him, Lu Chen saw a tree in the courtyard from the corner of his eyes.
It was a tree that was planted in the courtyard. In ordinary times, the fruits on the tree could be used to fill his stomach. Even though there weren't any fruits now on the tree, Lu Chen's eyes were still fixated on the tree.
Tree bark, that can be eaten, right?
Lu Chen was already at his limits, he turned and was about to head toward the tree for the bark.
But, just as he turned, the doors to his courtyard were slammed open.
Then, a 2-meter tall barbarian holding a saber in one hand and carrying half a bloody deer leg over his opposite shoulder walked in. He saw Lu Chen and looked incredibly concerned.
On the other hand, Lu Chen's eyes brightened up like lightbulbs when he saw the muscleman.
"Uncle Da Zhuang, save me. I'm starving to death!"
Da Zhuang, a hunter in the villager, the young barbarian Chen's neighbor, as well as Chen's late father's best friend.
After the death of his parents, Uncle Da Zhuang took good care of young Chen during his childhood.
When Lu Chen saw the deer leg on Da Zhuang's shoulder, he immediately knew he was saved.
However, Lu Chen's call for help was not answered by Da Zhuang. Instead, he raised the saber in his hand and stared vigilantly at Lu Chen. His stance lowered and he was ready to lunge forward any second.
"Who are you?"
The odd question shocked Lu Chen. For a moment there, he thought his transmigration to Chen's body was exposed. But Lu Chen was not an idiot, after all, he was quick to assess and understood the situation based on Chen's memories.
"Uncle Da Zhuang, I am Ah'Chen. I didn't die nor has any Evil possessed me. Master Wu gave me a bowl of medicine and brought me back from death." Lu Chen was sincere as he said. But sadly, his words didn't ease Da Zhuang.
"Master Wuzu did give you a bowl of medicine. He even ordered me to look after you. But you don't look like you've recovered now."
As he said, the brawny barbarian Da Zhuang clenched tight on his saber and squinted his eyes in vigilance.
To that, Lu Chen could only praise the barbarians' overly absurd vigilance over the Evils in this world despite their low education level.
However, the more vigilant they were, the more danger Lu Chen would be in. His condition didn't allow him to drag on any further.
If it was the original host Chen, he would've tried to explain the situation as best as he could.
But in this kind of situation, the more he explained, the more he would be misunderstood. After all, Lu Chen's current gaunt physique made him look just like a starving ghoul.
That being said, Lu Chen was not the young barbarian Chen but a modern youth from the 21st century. He was much more composed and collected.
"Uncle Da Zhuang, I know you won't believe what I say now as it's true that the Evils have always been unpredictable. But my condition really cannot be dragged on any longer."
"How about this, you don't have to come over. Just toss me the meat and then you can find someone to get Wu here. Master Wuzu will be able to tell if I am an Evil."