The Great Barbarian Mountain Area, located on the northwestern outskirts, sits between Guangchuan City and the Second Stage City of Qingye in the northeast, enveloped by the two cities.
In the dense forest of the mountains, a handsome young man dressed in a blue and black school uniform was swiftly moving through the woods, his uniform embroidered with the golden letters "Qingye High School".
Just as the young man was about to pass a large tree thick enough to be embraced by two people, suddenly, a green shadow shot down from the tree!
The young man reacted quickly, his black and red longsword suddenly turned bright red, and he sliced at the dark shadow above his head with a speed like an illusion, cutting it into two pieces that fell to the ground.
It turned out to be a chameleon python, adept at ambushes.
The chameleon python could change the color of its skin for camouflage and also hide its own scent.
The severed chameleon python hadn't died completely, as it twisted its upper half and once again leapt up to bite the young man.
"Eighth Stage chameleon python, truly seeking death."
The young man seemed to be in a bad mood, seeing the chameleon python mindlessly attack again, he swung his longsword rapidly.
In just a short moment, the three to four-meter-long Eighth Stage chameleon python was cut into more than a dozen sections scattered around.
"No Flame Crystal Stone found, but these annoying things are endless!"
"According to the information provided by that person from the Star Card Master Association, that piece of Flame Crystal Stone should be in this area near Guangchuan City, guarded by a Bronze Early Stage Fire Stepping Wolf. I've already been here for three days, and yet I still haven't seen a trace of the Fire Stepping Wolf."
The young man suppressed the impatience in his heart and let out a slight sigh.
Taking out a handkerchief to wipe the snake blood off his sword, the young man casually extracted the chameleon python's Star Core and, in a flicker, continued deeper into the forest...
Time passed, and before long, a week had elapsed since Su Yuan entered the Great Barbarian Mountain Area.
Apart from killing a large number of Star Apprentice Level Star Beasts, Su Yuan had also encountered a real Bronze-level Star Beast yesterday: a Wind Running Weasel known for its incredible speed!
The overall quality of a Bronze-level Star Beast is at least twice that of a Star Apprentice Ninth Rank, making it fearsomely strong.
Luckily, with the help of the system upgrades, Su Yuan's progress had been remarkably rapid in the past few days, and his strength was now far beyond what it was when he first entered the Great Barbarian Mountain Area.
The Steel Flame Finger strengthened 15 times had been raised to the Perfect Level, and Instant Movement had also been successfully strengthened once, costing a full 200 Star Dust!
That is to say, the enhancement cost for a Blue Card is 20 times that of a White Card!
However, the effects are visibly significant, with the casting time for Instant Movement reduced from 1 second to about 0.7 seconds, and the cooldown reduced from 7 seconds to 5 seconds.
As for the maximum distance of Instant Teleportation, this is related to the Skill Level and Star Power. Originally it was 10 meters, now it has reached 20 meters.
One can imagine, this blue skill will only become stronger and stronger in the future.
Unfortunately, the Star Dust needed for adding points is too much, and in terms of cost-effectiveness, it's still better to wait.
In addition, Su Yuan had also hunted another quite impressive Defense Enhancement Skill from an Ironback Ape—Hardened Iron Skin.
With Hardened Iron Skin quickly enhanced to the Great Success Stage, Su Yuan had a much higher margin for error in battles.
Especially when facing the Wind Running Weasel.
As a Bronze-level Star Beast known for its speed, the Wind Running Weasel was extremely fast and even had a skill that could increase its movement speed, "Wind Walking." Even Su Yuan couldn't match it.
Fortunately, the Great Success Stage's Hardened Iron Skin allowed Su Yuan to withstand most of the attacks from the Wind Running Weasel, including the Wind Blade. That's how Su Yuan managed to kill it after an intense struggle and entanglement, using the combo of Instant Movement and Steel Flame Finger!
In the end, Su Yuan used Star Dust to extract "Wind Walking" and embedded it as the third skill in his Star Power Vortex.
The value of Wind Walking was comparable to Steel Flame Finger, both being very practical skills in White Cards. The Entry-level Wind Walking increased Su Yuan's speed by another twenty percent!
"It's been over a week since I came out here. My supplies are almost gone, so it's time to head out and restock..."
Now, Su Yuan looked quite ragged. His clothes were damaged in many places, mostly torn by the Wind Running Weasel, and they were stained with the fresh blood and body fluids of numerous Star Beasts. It looked as if he had been dyed in a vat of colors, which couldn't be washed clean even in the creek water.
Additionally, there were some injuries on his body, but none were serious. With the recovery capabilities of a C-grade physique combined with some medicinal treatment, most had already scabbed over.
"It's a pity I didn't encounter any Star Beasts with healing skills," Su Yuan felt a bit of regret, "Otherwise, if I learned a Healing Skill, I could have been completely self-sufficient."
Su Yuan introspected and checked the condition inside his Star Power Vortex and, as expected, he should be able to learn two more skills.
Once he reached the Bronze Level, he would get five new skill slots, so Su Yuan didn't have to worry about wasting skill slots like other people did.
Generally, Star Card Skills are secondary; as long as they are usable, it's fine and there's no need to ponder too much. What really needs careful consideration and selective picking are the Soul Skills!
Soul Skills are Star Card Skills directly embedded into the Soul Card, usually benefiting from an extra boost from one's Talent, with one accompanying the card at the time of Awakening.
Afterward, starting from the Bronze Level, a new Soul Skill can be embedded at each level, and they must be embedded in order to cultivate to the next Realm.
So the reason why Awakening a Soul Card is a necessary condition for becoming a Star Card Master, aside from the increased speed of Star Power cultivation provided by a Soul Card, is fundamentally because only with a Soul Skill that comes with a Soul Card can one break through to the Bronze Level.
The Grade, Level, and compatibility of the Soul Skill with the Soul Card will also affect the strength of the Second Awakening of the Soul Card.
The first skill slot on the Soul Card will be available at the Bronze Level. Although there's still some time, Su Yuan can begin looking for a suitable skill.
There's no fixed standard for compatibility, but for Soul Cards with an Element, there is a basic rule: the embedded Star Card Skills must share the same Element as the Soul Card.
Therefore, Su Yuan needs a high-grade Space-related skill.
As for the Skill Level, with the System it's always possible to raise it, so that's not a problem.
The problem is that Space and Time Attribute Star Beast Skills, as well as certain special skills, are rare, and their quality tends to be higher than that of elemental skills. It likely won't be so easy to find one.
"There's no use thinking about it now, there'll be a way when I come to it. If all else fails, once I enter the Star Power Academy, I'll have a larger platform, and there will surely be clues about Space-related skills."
Su Yuan shook his head, picked up his backpack that had deflated, took out the map and compass, and began walking back in the direction he confirmed.
About half a day into his return journey, Su Yuan suddenly heard the sound of something swiftly moving through the dense forest in the distance.
Su Yuan immediately became alert and turned to look.
Before long, he saw a young man in a school uniform desperately fleeing, and behind him, seven or eight grey wolves with green flames on their feet were in hot pursuit.
Sensing the Ninth Rank Star Apprentice aura emanating from those wolves, Su Yuan couldn't help but be startled, "This guy, did he poke a nest of Stepping Flame Grey Wolves?"
And at this moment, as if misfortune could not get any worse, the young man also keenly noticed Su Yuan and his eyes lit up. He changed direction and ran towards him, shouting as he did, "Brother, help me out!"