Chapter Seventy-Three: Sacred Flame

The skill slot, like the gene slot, only had eight spaces.

The Heartless Puppet could extract skills, but Yan Luo didn’t plan to learn everything indiscriminately. For example, skills like “Arcane Missile”—if he possessed magic power, he could practice them on his own. But he hadn’t given up on the Power of Words because of its unique nature.

However, when he saw the world-class reward and the name of the skill seed, he chose to absorb it without hesitation.

Olympic Sacred Flame!

In ancient Greece, at Olympia—the birthplace of the Olympic Games—the chief priestess would recite a hymn to the sun god before the Temple of Hera, then collect sunlight to kindle a flame belonging to the sky, which was said to originate from the sanctuary of the Olympian gods.

It was infused with the ancient Greeks’ yearning for light and a beautiful life.

A flame of faith, imbued with the power of belief!

Attribute: Fire/Holy

This was an energy-type skill, and the Olympic Sacred Flame held dual attributes: fire and holy! The world he had entered previously should have been a magicless one, but this flame, born of the world’s theme and containing faith, was clearly a kind of super flame!

Absorbing a skill seed required a period of transformation.

Yan Luo excused himself to bathe alone in the bathroom, and after absorbing it, he felt as though he were being scorched within a blazing inferno. The pain was enough to drive anyone mad! Yet he endured it silently, and after about half an hour, the transformation was complete.

He raised his right hand, curling his fingers into a claw, and instantly a flame rose from his palm. The flame was yellow, and above it appeared five faintly interlocking rings, colored blue, black, red, yellow, and green—the shadow of the Olympic Rings!

Yan Luo brought his fingers together, and the Olympic Sacred Flame extinguished.

“It seems I need to find a way to enhance my spiritual reserves.”

Both the Power of Words and now this Sacred Flame consumed spiritual energy. With the Word Bullet, he could only fire ten shots! The essence of the Word Bullet was the materialization of information, which greatly drained his spirit. As for the Sacred Flame, as a super fire, its consumption was similarly considerable!

Yan Luo checked his personal panel within the program and saw that his skill slots had changed.

Surface Skills—

Red:
Blue:
Yellow: Olympic Sacred Flame (cannot be upgraded)
Awakened:

Hidden Skills—

Black:
White:
Gray: Power of Words (LV1: Word Bullet)
Secret Art:

The Word Bullet was essentially a physical skill, turning language into bullets for gun-type attacks. Now, at last, Yan Luo possessed a pure energy-based attack skill! The Olympic Sacred Flame occupied the yellow surface skill slot.

He still had eight gene points left.

Yan Luo didn’t use them immediately, and after bathing, he returned to the living room. Wang Dongwei and Zhu Xiaoyong were both there, discussing their future paths.

“I plan to go check out the Dreamspace,” he said.

The other two naturally agreed. One function of the Dreamspace was as a kind of transit station, allowing one to teleport home by coordinate from within. Each of them paid 10 units of bio-energy, and a portal entwined with angelic and demonic light opened before them.

Stepping through, they arrived in the newcomers’ plaza for Modulators from LV1 to LV3.

Their arrival immediately attracted some attention—because the titles above their heads were no longer the unimpressive “Zombie Hunter.”

Wang Dongwei and Zhu Xiaoyong’s titles were both Olympic Champion.

And Yan Luo’s…

I Am Legend.

“What an arrogant title!”

Many Modulators couldn’t help but think this. Noticing the attention, Yan Luo hesitated, then removed the “I Am Legend” title and replaced it with “Zombie Hunter.” Since he couldn’t absorb emotions now, he preferred not to stand out.

After all, the Dreamspace was full of capable people. If, because of a title, he caught the eye of someone like “Dragon Proudly Breaks Human Limit” and provoked trouble…

He headed to the commercial district.

Currently, he had over twenty thousand bio-energy points.

It was a decent sum, but honestly, not all that much—buying a handgun with a few dozen bullets would nearly wipe it out. As Modulators grew more familiar with the inner worlds, especially by choosing worlds they excelled at, it was possible to “farm points” and accumulate more.

Yan Luo wanted to buy a martial arts skill.

Strictly speaking, a “Legacy” martial arts manual.

A Legacy—

This was a special manual akin to a skill seed. For example, if you obtained a classic martial arts manual—like the “Nine Yin Manual” or “Huntian Treasure Canon”—how many years would it take to master it by traditional training? And even then, could you guarantee success?

Many arts required energy to pair with technique.

After using a Legacy manual, it was like the transmission of knowledge in cultivation tales: the techniques, stances, movements, the circulation of force, and energy routes would be etched directly into your consciousness—like a spiritual imprint.

Creating such manuals required the cooperation of Dreamspace and a payment of bio-energy. Moreover, only one Legacy manual could be made per technique. The advantage was that, as long as the buyer was diligent and met the requirements, after a period of practice, mastery was generally assured.

Of course, if one’s aptitude was abysmal, nothing could be done…

This also meant the Dreamspace had officially verified the manual’s accuracy. Otherwise, what if someone sold a manual that led to madness or self-injury?

Yan Luo began his search.

His goal was a style that synergized with energy.

In martial arts, the most common energy type was “Qi.”

There were also inner force, battle energy, and the like.

These could all be acquired by unlocking the corresponding gene.

He wandered the street stalls of the commercial district. As before, many stalls were unattended, with items price-tagged for self-service—pay and take. This time, he didn’t see Old Master Yu, the “Sword Saint.”

Soon, Yan Luo found a manual at one stall:

“Mad Eight-Style Ancient Martial Arts”

The Eight Gods’ Style is the fighting system of Iori Yagami from King of Fighters. In this world, there are no anime or game worlds. The stall owner, an LV6 World Modulator and master of martial arts, had derived and modified this “Mad Eight-Style” based on the game!

Unlike the original Eight Gods’ Style, Mad Eight-Style could be fueled by any flame energy—not just the Yagami clan’s Flame of Destruction.

Moreover, this style could be infused with emotion—driven by madness to boost destructive power, incorporating features from Hong Kong comics, such as the “Wolfslayer Dominator Fist” requiring violent emotion, and “Fire Qilin Burst Fist” requiring insanity.

Technique + Energy + Emotion—

A powerful martial arts school!

The manual recorded eight skills in total. With his profession as a martial artist, possessing this Legacy manual would allow Yan Luo to master them quickly. The Olympic Sacred Flame was more than enough as an energy source, and as for emotion—the Heartless Puppet could store and release emotions when needed.

However…

The price of the “Mad Eight-Style Ancient Martial Arts” Legacy manual: 99,999 bio-energy points—specifically noted as non-negotiable.

Completely unaffordable.