Clamping his teeth, Zhang Xiaoman reached out with his left hand to grab his right wrist, as a bead of sweat the size of a soybean rolled down his face.
Finally, when he was less than two meters away from the light spot, the Array in his hand, which had become as bright as the blazing sun, suddenly changed!
On his right hand, the Seven-pointed Star pattern burst forth with a blinding brilliance, instantly covering the purple light spot that was suspended in the air.
The spot, enveloped by the white light, began to fluctuate violently.
He only felt a surge of purple light around him as countless small, lightning-like lines danced nearby, seemingly causing the space itself to warp at that moment.
"Do the special effects really need to be this exaggerated?"
Zhang Xiaoman was shocked deep inside, feeling as though he had been thrust into a fantasy blockbuster with unlimited budget and special effects galore.
However, the only downside was that, in such a scene full of perfect special effects, there was no other sound besides his own suppressed cries of pain.
The white brilliance emitted by the Seven-pointed Star had now covered the entire purple area.
Zhang Xiaoman saw energy threads, purple in color, continuously being drawn by the Array in his hand, tracing various paths in the air as they flew towards his palm.
"Ugh! Ah!"
The pain in his right hand continued, and he bore it with gritted teeth.
Clearly, this absorption was taking much longer than when he absorbed the Shadow Demon.
Zhang Xiaoman eventually stopped admiring the special effects, closed his eyes tightly, and resisted the burning pain with all his might.
After an indeterminate amount of time, the long torment finally ended. He suddenly felt a release in the palm of his right hand—the terrifying heat abruptly dissipated.
"Thunk."
He sat down on the ground with a thud, his back already soaked with sweat.
"Ding, absorbed a small Space Node, points increased by 50."
Hearing the system notification once more at his ear, he then slowly opened his eyes.
In front of him, the purple light was gone, and the island's center, which had just been like the scene of a 3D blockbuster, now returned to its previous state.
Rubbing his still slightly painful palm, Zhang Xiaoman slowly got to his feet.
Not far away, Jin Bao looked on, tongue lolling out and eyes filled with confusion at its master.
Seeing Zhang Xiaoman's gaze turn towards it, it immediately wagged its tail and ran over.
After casually petting its head, Zhang Xiaoman picked up his cellphone from the ground.
"It seems to have returned to normal here."
He looked around, seeing no other anomalies, and finally heaved a sigh of relief before turning to leave.
Home.
His mother had already gone to sleep.
After settling down Jin Bao, Zhang Xiaoman comfortably took a bath and then returned to his bedroom to tally his gains from the excursion.
He opened the System panel and first went into the marketplace interface to check his points.
When he saw the number at the bottom right corner representing his points balance, he couldn't help feeling a small surge of excitement.
"62 points!"
Zhang Xiaoman cheered inwardly, amazed that just an hour ago he was a pauper with only 2 points, and now he had suddenly become a big spender.
"It's just a pity that there's nothing to sell in the marketplace."
Shaking his head with a wry smile, he returned to the main page, where his eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the Upgrade button as his heartbeat started to quicken.
"With so many points now, this feature should be available for use, right?"
He mused, his finger unconsciously tapping the system interface.
A slight ripple emerged, and Zhang Xiaoman's finger was now pressing on the Upgrade feature.
The next moment, the system's prompt appeared in front of him, and this time, it indeed didn't disappoint him.
"Random Upgrade in progress, please wait..."
"Upgrade completed! White Prop—Holy Water, has been successfully upgraded to Green Prop—Divine Grace."
Staring at this result, he was momentarily stunned.
He had never imagined that this so-called upgrade function was actually for upgrading the Extraordinary Items he carried on him.
"Is this... isn't this supposed to be a feature for upgrading the System?"
Zhang Xiaoman stared blankly at the system panel, muttering to himself:
"If the system can't be upgraded, then how are items in the shop supposed to increase? Isn't this feature useless?"
With that thought, he didn't bother to check the Green Prop he had just upgraded and went straight to open the shop interface.
"Huh? How did an extra item appear?"
The moment the interface opened, Zhang Xiaoman was surprised to notice that a new item had unexpectedly appeared in the previously solitary showcase window!
He reached out and clicked on it.
[Holy Water]
——Liquid Gold.
Price: 10 points.
Zhang Xiaoman's eyes widened, wasn't this the Holy Water he had gotten before?
"Could this be because... of the upgrade?"
He immediately came back to his senses, and after a bit of thought, he had an initial judgment.
"The items I use the upgrade feature on appear in the shop!"
Zhang Xiaoman's face gradually showed an excited expression:
"If that's the case, then it doesn't really matter whether the system upgrades or not. As long as I get items from the lottery and then use the upgrade function, I can purchase them again from the shop!"
He felt he had grasped the truth.
"In that case, how much does a single upgrade cost?"
With that thought, he turned his gaze toward the remaining points.
"52 points."
Zhang Xiaoman looked at the number, feeling neither highs nor lows in his heart.
Ten points for a single upgrade, not too many, but not too few either.
"So, if I draw a prize every day, I can gain points to increase my strength?"
He thought this and then immediately shook his head.
"No, that's too slow. If I rely solely on drawing the lottery for points, it would take ten days to upgrade once. But like fighting monsters today, in less than an hour, I've earned 60 points..."
Zhang Xiaoman's mind couldn't help but feel torn.
On one hand, fighting monsters could quickly earn a large number of points; on the other hand, there were unknown dangers that came with the generous rewards.
The terrifying appearance of the Shadow Demon and its inscrutable control techniques were still fresh in his memory.
He didn't know if he could be so lucky to win if he encountered a similar monster again.
"But now, it seems there are more and more monsters appearing..."
Zhang Xiaoman's face showed confusion, and his eyes were somewhat unfocused:
"If it's true that the world has changed... then how am I to avoid it..."
His eyes became focused, slowly revealing a sense of determination.
"It seems I must make some changes."
PS: In this book, there are only monsters, no ghosts! No ghosts! No ghosts! There are no ghosts in this world!