After the fusion segment was over, the classes began to disperse and regroup.
At the gathering point of class 5, Yang Minghui's eyes shimmered as he looked at the 16 familiar faces he had been with for years. His throat filled with a myriad of words that he wanted to say, but in the end, it all condensed into two stern admonishments.
"Tomorrow morning at eight o'clock, everyone gather at the academy square. Go home today and make sure you're well prepared," he said.
"Even if it's a welfare exploration, there are casualties every year, so don't take it lightly."
"Understood!"
…
After parting with Sun Hao, Song Chi hailed an energy vehicle by the roadside. His home was in the city center, not far from the academy. It took less than twenty minutes for the energy vehicle to stop at the entrance of Dongjiang Community, where he lived.
"Universal Credit Points deducted: 10 points. Account balance: 2,413,543 points."
Having just got off the vehicle, his smart wristband sent him a payment notification. As he looked at the balance on his account, Song Chi's expression was calm, but if an outsider were to see it, they certainly would not remain as composed.
As the universal currency of the Chenxing Principality, Credit Points had a very solid purchasing power.
The average salary of a common person was around three thousand Credit Points a month. Deducting daily expenses, one could save at most two thousand points a month. By that calculation, it would take an ordinary person at least a hundred years to accumulate 2.4 million Credit Points.
Being a student who hadn't graduated yet, one can only imagine how astonishing the amount of savings Song Chi had in his hands was—it certainly wasn't given by his parents but was earned by him over the past thirty years.
As for the source, in his previous life, being a seasoned web novel writer, he did have a certain amount of "innate talent" in creative writing. Over the past two decades, he had produced quite a few works.
The most famous of his works were "Torch Breaks Through the Skies" and "Fighting Spirits of the Floating Land". It's a pity that after tens of thousands of years of Torch Human Civilization's development, the field of online literature wasn't blank, and his two works only managed to gain a moderate amount of popularity. The royalties he had accumulated up until now amounted to just over two million, which he preferred not to mention.
Dongjiang Community, Building 5, Apartment 403.
No sooner had he entered the door than the gazes of his father, Song Chao, and his mother, Chen Lixia, converged on him almost at the same time.
"My boy's back! Come here quick; mom made your favorite braised deep-sea turbot," Chen Lixia called out.
Song Chi's eyes brightened, and he hastily put down his backpack and hurried to the dining table. After consuming a full bowl of fish soup, he felt a warm current spreading from his stomach to the rest of his body, and his face showed a genuine sense of satisfaction.
Actually, deep-sea turbot didn't taste that good; in fact, one could say it was unpleasant. Placed in the eyes of other children, it would be at the top of the picky eater's menu. However, Song Chi had been consistent for over twenty years.
What attracted him was the rich Blood Qi Energy contained in the fish meat which could greatly promote the practice of the Guidance Technique. It was one of the reasons why he had managed to cultivate his Guidance Technique to Level 4 in just over twenty years.
Classmates of his age were mostly stuck at Level 2 with their Guidance Technique, and only those with decent talent could reach Level 3.
The higher the level of the Guidance Technique, the harder it is to practice, the slower the progress—it's common knowledge across the domains of Torch Human Civilization.
Spreading his hands, the Guidance Technique within his body slowly activated, starting to rapidly absorb the Blood Qi Energy from the fish soup to accelerate his cultivation.
Of course, now it should be called the Spectral Energy Guidance Technique. After completing the Spectral Energy transformation and his body becoming a Spectral Energy Body, his Guidance Technique automatically advanced to the Spectral Energy Guidance Technique, which cultivated at a faster rate compared to the regular Guidance Technique.
Seeing the threads of black Spectral Energy emerging around Song Chi, the anxious looks on the faces of Song Chao and Chen Lixia quickly faded. Both had also awakened the Seed of Torch and were more than familiar with Spectral Energy.
Seeing their son already able to wield Spectral Energy, they instantly understood that Song Chi had successfully awakened.
"Having awakened the Colorless Seed of Torch, the Spectral Shuttle has already merged. Tomorrow at eight in the morning, the first exploration of a foreign River Domain will take place," he reported while continuing to absorb and convert the Blood Qi Energy within his body.
Hearing this, his parents, Song Chao and Chen Lixia, nodded slightly, showing no sign of disappointment in their eyes.
When Song Chi was born, both of them possessed Colorless Seeds of Torch. Given the limitations of their bloodline, they were more than satisfied as long as their son could successfully awaken the Seed of Torch.
They had never really hoped for the awakening of a Seed of Torch with White Quality or higher—the chances were simply too low.
...
"Little Chi, come here."
After lunch, Song Dad called Song Chi into the study immediately.
In the study, Song Chao had an earnest expression. After giving some instructions for a good while, a ghostly light flashed between his eyebrows, and two balls of light flew out from his Ancestral Torch, hovering in front of Song Chi.
"These are the starter resources your mother and I are giving you, 1000 strands of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin and a white-quality special component, 'Fire Peony Soldier Effigy Tree,' for your Torch Warship."
Song Chi was overjoyed. The resources weren't much, but for someone just starting out like him, they were more than enough to carry out an initial enhancement and upgrade of his Torch Spectral Shuttle, improving the shuttle's various performances and strengthening its combat and survival capabilities.
With this, his starting point was fundamentally ahead of most of his peers. Never underestimate this small step, as the saying goes, "one step ahead means a lead in every step." This slight lead could very well be the key to soaring to great heights in the future.
...
Compared to the 1000 strands of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin, Song Chi was even more covetous of the white-quality 'Fire Peony Soldier Effigy Tree' special component.
As everyone knows, any colored component of a Torch Warship must be derived from a Starry Sea Oddity. Once connected with the four words "Starry Sea Oddity," the value of the item is bound to skyrocket—even if it's just the lowest white-colored oddity.
Not to mention components as popular as "Soldier Figurine Components" for warships.
After all, the readily available soldier figurine automatons, whether used as guards, for combat assistance, or even cannon fodder, can significantly increase a captain's chance of survival, and they are often fiercely competed over as soon as they appear.
Therefore, one can see the value of the 'Fire Peony Soldier Effigy Tree' component before him.
"Thank you, Dad and Mom."
Song Chi activated the Spectral Energy within him, absorbing the two balls of light into his own Ancestral Torch. After receiving another round of admonitions from his parents, he finally got permission to go upstairs.
Back in his bedroom, instead of immediately blending his spiritual consciousness into the Ancestral Torch to check the details of the Spectral Shuttle he hadn't finished reviewing before, he took out the copper badge hanging in front of his chest right away.
He had always carried the item that had caused his transmigration with him.
The badge wasn't big, only about half the size of a lighter, with "Starry Sea Ruins Market" engraved on its front, which was why he had always referred to it as the Star Sea Ruin Market Rank.
Examining the Star Sea Ruin Market Rank intently, it didn't take long for him to notice a change in it.
For the past thirty years, it had been like an ordinary copper badge; no matter how he fiddled with it, there was never a response, but now a faint ghostly black luster appeared on the badge. This luster was extremely faint—if he hadn't examined it closely, he might not have noticed it at all.
"Is this... Spectral Energy?"
Song Chi's eyes suddenly brightened, just as the badge underwent another transformation.
Perhaps due to his prolonged gaze, an attribute panel automatically popped out beside the badge.
[Name: Spectral Energy--Starry Sea Ruin Market Rank]
[Category: Growth-type Strange Object]
[Quality: ??]
[Level: lv0]
[Feature: Control and connect to a specific Starry Sea Ruins Market.]
[Feature 2: The Star Sea Ruin Market Rank can autonomously advance once specific conditions are met.]
[Remark: A rare gem among strange objects, possessing infinite growth potential.]