Level 11, and almost a third of the entire experience bar. That meant two things: first, he had one more spare skill point; and second, his fight against the shadow inside the Sproutlinger Hotel was not for nothing - a little of a bummer that it did not drop any currencies. In regular gaming, he would call this an "encounter", or "event", where the player character would get an experience boost after fighting a boss, even though unsuccessfully.
But, with only one spare skill point, there was no skill in his major skill trees he could unlock.
"Sword of Scholar: Grants Sword Skills." This was the sub tree under his "Scholar" skill in the Confucianist Tree, which would require two skill points. And if he wanted to proceed with the next skill along the main tree, he would need five skill points for it: "Expert: increase the effectiveness of your aura, engraving, written word and symbol skills/items, increase experience gained, grant aura skill: Righteous Aura."
"Meditator: Enhances mind potential; Grants basic Meditation skill to heal/increase self healing and recover energy; Grants or increases spirit resource." This was the skill in his Buddhist Tree parallel to Arhat skill, which focused on bodily potential, it required two skill points.
"Warrior: Enhances bodily potential; Enhances hand to hand combat skills; Grants basic staff skills; Increases Qi resource." This was the next skill along the Arhat sub tree in the Buddhist Tree, which would require 3 skill points.
"Taiji: Enhances self recovery; Grants basic Meditation skill if not learned; Enhances meditation and incantation efficiency; Grants basic Taiji fist and Taiji sword skills." This was the skill parallel to Thunder and Fire skill in the Taoist Tree, which would require a whopping five skill points.
And if he wanted to upgrade along the Thunder and Fire sub tree, he had two separate branches to go:
"Enlightenment of Fire: Grants active skill Fire Breath (channeled); Grants basic knowledge of Array of Flames." This would require 3 skill points.
"Enlightenment of Thunder: Grants active spell skill Conjure Lightning; Grants basic knowledge of Array of Lightning." This would also require 3 skill points.
Basically, he needed at least another skill point before he could get a new skill unlocked. So he turned his eye onto the one and only minor skill tree, the Folk Ritual Tree.
"No Bad Luck: Grants basic knowledge and experience in making protective good luck charms. Including wooden beads, jade buddha plaques and coins." This one was parallel to the No Evil skill, which would cost only one skill point.
"No Obsession: Grants basic knowledge and experience in performing deliverance rituals. Including use of tofu and zongzi to send away obsessive spirits, use of rice wine to cleanse lingering obsession and Nuo Dance in Wuchang or other deity masks to guide spirits." This one was another one parallel to the No Evil Skill, costing one skill point.
"Break Evil: Grants advanced knowledge and experience of evil repellent and detection rituals. Including use of blessed rope ties and knots, exorcist ritual using Zhong Kui or other evil repelling deity masks, and use of strong curse words and handling of engraved weapons against evil spirits." This was the next skill to the No Evil skill, which required 2 skill points.
Wu Xiaoming took a look at Du Bai, who was snoring on the couch. This friend of his had indeed been somewhat terrified by what had happened. But with him, a small batch of talisman in his pocket and a small canister of black dog urine by his side, and surrounded by a salt circle, he finally gave in to his fatigue. He had been working on the case for quite a few days before he even had that ghost kill scare, and he could really use the rest.
He took a deep breath, then entered the ethereal realm, while lying on another part of the couch. He did not plan to stay for very long - if he could, he would grind through the same "dungeons" just like he did before and collect as much experience and as many currencies as possible. He would also like to try disassembling the Tempered Steel Baton and the Brick of Resolve, then applying the brick to the soapberry wood staff, and then see if he could make the baton manifestable. Essentially, everything he could do to make battling the evil inside of Sproutlinger Hotel easier.
He got right to it the moment he entered the ethereal realm, using the work bench in his father's house.
Current currencies: 22992 Spirit Fragments, 70 Vision Slivers. Disassembling the brick from the baton cost him 2000 Spirit Fragments, not cheap but not as expensive either. The more expensive thing was making the Tempered Steel Baton Manifestable, costing 60 Vision Slivers. But a price he willingly paid - the performance of this very weapon had already proven its worth.
And the reason he did not want to make the combined baton with brick manifestable, was that though the baton excelled in explosive and area damage, but the soapberry wood staff had shown way more proficiency in dealing with single targets - the spirits that he bashed into pieces like broken glasses were the proof.
"Sturdy Soapberry Staff of Heft and Resolve: short staff made from carefully chosen and pressure treated soapberry wood. Carefully polished, sanded and stained, thus the full potential of the material and the power of the ritual that enchanted it was fully realized. Infused with the undying, unyielding will of a mortal man. Grants Fortitude. Grants Fury. Grows with evil vanquished."
The staff felt slightly heavier - more to Wu Xiaoming's liking actually, as it was closer to the weight to the morningstars and baton now.
"Bang!" In the Emerson house, the tree-like creature was brought down with only two strikes from the new soapberry wood baton - one strike to force it out of the doll, and another to break its upper body into dozens of broken pieces with glowing break surfaces - just like its other victims.
He sped through the street, went into the limbo with the zombies, then finished the "final boss" within just minutes. Then, he ran the same way towards the Sproutlinger Hotel, and stopped in front of the lounge.
All that fighting and clearing, his experience bar barely progressed 10% from his previous state. It would appear that the experience gain drop off was even greater than he had previously imagined.
After several long, deep breaths, he walked into the hotel lounge. He had plenty of currencies for now, he had spent them on the things he needed, he still had quite a bit of time, and there was about 40% remaining of his experience bar before he could unlock a skill. He simply had no better choice.
"Alrighty, fuckers." Wu Xiaoming let out a long exhale as the threads in the carpet and the stains and shadows manifested around him. He had the Tempered Steel Baton in his right hand, and the soapberry wood staff coated in golden light in his left hand - the first "phase" of the fight, AOE attack would do better.
He kicked a wooden board with the fire talisman symbols engraved forward, hitting at least three shadows and creatures made of fabric and threads. Flames exploded upon contact, forcing these creatures to back off.
"Fuck you! Fuck off! " Wu Xiaoming swung his weapons around, dark red energy exploded left and right, while other creatures shattered into pieces from the soapberry wood staff strikes. He took quite a few hits, but delivered way more. He pushed his capabilities for dodges, sidesteps and dives to the fullest extent.
He could have done better, now he felt it. And he needed more than just raw fighting experience in these kinds of battles. He needed actual training - he probably should have asked his father for a few sparring sessions, and he probably should have bought a few "wild combat" classes - if there was such a thing.
"Die!" Wu Xiaoming swung both arms inward right at the last enemy's head. The long, three eye-ed face of a pale old man shattered and burnt into cinders.
"Okay. Shield." Wu Xiaoming took a long, deep breath as he watched the stream of smoke pour from the ceiling, with more threads and fabric rising up to it, wrapping around it like a suit of armor. He swapped the weapons on his hands - now holding the soapberry wood staff in his right hand and baton in his left.
"Greetings, motherfucker." He concentrated on his left hand middle and index fingers and shot out a beam of golden light right at the human-shaped shadow's face.
The shadow raised its both hands to block the beam, which only burned off a little bit of smoke around his hands. "His" - it was because Wu Xiaoming was more than certain that this shadow had the face of Nicolas Sproutlinger.
Before Wu Xiaoming could unleash another attack, the shadow shot at Wu Xiaoming from midair, a crooked sword made of smoke in hand. The sword glowed, in light, silver blue.