Chapter 22: The Crimson Blood Nest

“Legendary level!?” Wang Zihao was startled.

“So it’s a legendary skill, no wonder,” he murmured. “After all, for a skill of that quality, just turning it into a skill book would cost hundreds of millions of credits.” He nodded thoughtfully.

Skills could be duplicated. Once a professional learned a skill, they could pay someone at the Professionals’ Guild to create a skill book from the skill on their panel—a copy, essentially. But the higher the quality, the more expensive the required materials. Most of the time, those materials were priceless, impossible to buy even with money.

“Wait!” Realization struck him. “Does that mean Brother Song’s very first skill was a legendary one?!”

“If my guess is right, that’s exactly the case,” Gongsun Wuyue replied with a nod.

“But where did he get the money? A legendary skill book would cost at least fifty million credits, right? Unless this is another privilege of being an Ultra S-rank talent—being allowed to pick a legendary skill book at will?” Wang Zihao couldn’t help but speculate. He remembered Song Qi’s family wasn’t well-off. Even ten thousand credits would be a stretch for them, let alone millions.

“No, it’s highly likely someone gave him the skill book as a gift,” Gongsun Wuyue shook her head.

“A gift? A legendary skill book, worth tens of millions, given away just like that?” Wang Zihao was skeptical.

But Gongsun Wuyue’s explanation made his jaw drop.

“If I remember correctly, the only one who’s learned that skill was a former member of our Seventh District’s Purge Squad. According to the biographies, that summoner eventually went to work for the Professionals’ Association. That person must have heard about Song Qi, appreciated him for being the only Ultra S-rank summoner, and so gifted him the skill book.”

“That’s just not fair!” Wang Zihao wailed in anguish. “Yesterday I spent over a hundred thousand credits just to buy a rare Fireball, and his very first skill is a legendary one? And it was a gift? He didn’t even spend a cent? This is too much!” He groaned, remembering how he’d just been boasting in front of Song Qi. “Damn it! He must have been laughing at me in his heart!”

After a moment of dejection, Wang Zihao stood up, resignation coloring his tone. “I thought as a mage, even if my combat power lagged a bit in the early stages, with the right skills, maybe I could close the gap with Brother Song. But now it feels like the distance between us is only growing wider.”

Gongsun Wuyue stepped forward and patted his shoulder. “That’s what being a genius is like… I’ve read records of nearly a thousand Ultra S-rank talents. Whether they succeeded in the end or fell on the way, almost without exception, they all pulled ahead of their peers early on. You’ll get used to it.”

Wang Zihao nodded. “Yeah, I guess there’s no choice but to get used to it. After all, I can’t exactly drag him down, can I? Even when we first enrolled, I could tell he was exceptional and destined for greatness. I just didn’t expect his achievements to come so soon.”

The two of them looked with mixed feelings at both sides of the street, where Song Qi and his summoned spirit were still efficiently mowing down enemies at a high rate.

Just then—

Ding!

A golden light descended, and Gongsun Wuyue’s level rose to four.

Immediately after...

[BOSS has been defeated, experience +2400.]
[Congratulations on clearing the instance!]
[This run’s rating: S. Calculating instance rewards…]

Whoosh!

Before they could react, the three of them found themselves standing in the instance plaza. Song Qi had already returned to their side.

“So fast?” Wang Zihao was surprised. This run had taken barely fifteen minutes. He checked his panel—his experience bar had jumped, with over thirty thousand experience gained, meaning they hadn’t skipped many mobs. Gongsun Wuyue glanced at her panel and nodded in satisfaction, clearly pleased with the dungeon run.

“Ahem… That Lu Bu is a humanoid summoned spirit. With more mobs and familiarity with the terrain, the speed naturally increases. Besides, this time two of us were running together, so it’s normal for things to go faster,” Song Qi explained awkwardly.

He didn’t have the heart to admit he’d gotten carried away, and by the time the skill was about to end, he’d already charged right up to the Zombie Mother. With only a few seconds left, he had to finish the boss off with a lamp post.

The explanation sounded reasonable, and Wang Zihao didn’t suspect anything. “But I have a question, Brother Song—your skill, is it called Soul Link?”

“Yeah, you know it? It’s a legendary skill,” Song Qi answered without thinking.

“So… was it a gift from someone?” Wang Zihao asked cautiously.

“Hm? You know about that too? Did you overhear my conversation with the headmaster?” Song Qi was baffled; he was sure he’d avoided the two while talking.

“No, Gongsun guessed it,” Wang Zihao sighed again, feeling defeated.

Hearing this, Song Qi looked at Gongsun Wuyue in surprise. She shrugged and repeated her deduction process. After listening, Song Qi couldn’t help but marvel at her impressive knowledge—she even remembered details from those edited biographies. No wonder she always topped the written exams.

“Reading biographies broadens your horizons. A lot of exam questions are directly inspired by those stories, so it’s helpful for tests. But most importantly, I’m genuinely interested in those tales—it’s like reading stories for me,” Gongsun Wuyue explained.

Song Qi couldn’t help but be impressed. Clearly, anyone who excelled in a particular field was not to be underestimated.

After a brief chat, Song Qi didn’t waste any time—he opened the instance panel again. “Ready? Let’s start the second run.” Without waiting for a reply, he pressed the button.

In the next instant—

Whoosh!

The three of them vanished.

Half an hour later...

They reappeared.

Because Soul Link was still only at level zero and had a one-day cooldown, this run was once again dominated by Lu Bu.

“Again!” Song Qi didn’t hesitate. As soon as they appeared, he immediately clicked the instance panel. The three of them disappeared just as quickly.

With the triple experience card’s limited duration, Song Qi wasn’t willing to waste a single minute.

Another half hour passed...

Whoosh!

They reappeared again.

“Woohoo! Level seven!” Wang Zihao had completely shaken off his earlier gloom and was now thrilled by his rapid leveling. “Two levels in a single day—this is awesome!”

Gongsun Wuyue had reached level six and was very pleased with Song Qi’s power-leveling service. Not only was the speed impeccable, but thanks to him, she also got to run two extra special instances. If not for the three-run-per-day limit for Ultra S-rank talents, she would have loved to keep going all day. The sight of her experience bar filling up so quickly was addictive.

The two of them looked to Song Qi, waiting for his next move.

...

[Ding! You’ve reached level ten. Optional Task 2 complete!]
[Congratulations! You’ve earned three lottery draws!]

Three “Corpse Tide” runs had netted Song Qi about three hundred thousand experience. Together with yesterday’s three runs, that made six hundred thousand total. Reaching level ten required five hundred fifty thousand experience, so after today’s three runs, Song Qi was already at level eleven.

Beyond level eleven, the experience requirement skyrocketed to two hundred thousand per level! It was a lot, but still within his tolerance for now. He didn’t rush to use his lottery draws but checked his panel:

[Triple Experience Card: 00:51:46]

“Hm… Fifty minutes left. If we hurry, we can squeeze in one more run. Although we’re out of Corpse Tide entries, we can still run normal instances. No point wasting the time that’s left.”

He looked up at the others. “The next instance I plan to run is ‘Crimson Blood Nest.’ Are you two coming?”