Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Jiang Han stepped onto the podium.
As it happened, Zhang Feng, with his diagonal bangs, had just walked down from the stage.
"Yo, Jiang Han?"
Zhang Feng had just awakened a Peerless Spirit Tool, boasting a full seven skill slots, and was currently riding the high of his success.
He looked down from his superior position and said, "Good luck. It doesn't matter if you suck at Gods and Demons Legend, just don't be such a waste in real life too."
Gods and Demons Legend was currently the most popular national-level online game.
Jiang Han came from an ordinary family; his in-game character only had three skills and was frequently slaughtered by opponents, leaving him stuck in the Silver rank all year round.
Zhang Feng was different. His character had seven skills. Relying on the advantages bought with money, he had rushed all the way to the Platinum rank, often showing off by dominating the battlefield with girls in tow.
"Gods and Demons Legend?"
Jiang Han thought for a moment, revealing a set of pearly white teeth as he smiled, "I can still crush you with just three skills!"
What a joke!
Although the original owner of this body had average gaming skills, he, Jiang Han, was a god of MOBA games!
Back when he played that MOBA, Jiang Han was a famously notorious "King of Randoms," having barely missed stepping onto the professional stage.
Unfortunately, his professional dreams were later cut short when his parents chased him down with a feather duster.
Zhang Feng didn't get angry; he just sneered, "King of Trash Talk."
Jiang Han couldn't be bothered to deal with such a petty, smug guy and walked straight to the podium.
Looking at the milky-white Spirit Crystal on the podium, shaped like an egg, Jiang Han felt a stir in his heart.
For some reason, an indescribable sense of weirdness surged within him, as if he were looking at a pile of filth that made him nauseous.
"What's going on?"
Jiang Han was puzzled, not understanding why he felt such strong resistance toward this Spirit Crystal.
"Whatever, go for it, just do it!"
Nauseous or not, Jiang Han suppressed the strange feeling in his heart and grabbed the Spirit Crystal.
At that moment, no one noticed that the shadow beneath Jiang Han's feet suddenly rippled with a eerie disturbance...
Whoosh!
A dazzling white light suddenly lit up.
Jiang Han was excited and immediately widened his eyes.
He saw a phantom image of a pitch-black dagger slowly emerging from his body.
"A dagger!"
Jiang Han was very excited; this was far more useful than Spirit Tools like stones or scissors.
The pure streamlined construction presented perfect proportions, the blade sharp as if it could slice through the air. The hidden patterns on the blade, combined with a faint dark gleam, appeared extremely sinister.
Judging by its appearance alone, it was absolutely a peerless weapon of destruction!
However, Jiang Han's joy didn't last long. The next moment, Chen Yuan's indifferent voice rang out,
"Mortal Spirit Tool. Three skill slots."
Whoosh!
In an instant, Jiang Han froze on the spot.
Had he... heard wrong?
"Hahahaha!!! Three skill slots! The bottom-feeder of Class 3 has arrived!"
Off stage, the small group led by Zhang Feng instantly burst into ear-piercing laughter.
Fatty said with a look of shock, "Jiang Han, how did you awaken such a garbage Lifebound Spirit Tool?"
Three skill slots—this basically determined Jiang Han's future.
Others had five or six skills: one for control, one for burst damage, one for protection, plus maybe a few for healing or AOE area damage.
What could you do with three skills?
Reality wasn't a game; there was no such thing as balance.
More skills meant stronger!
Chen Yuan's gaze didn't linger on Jiang Han for long before shifting away. "Next."
Jiang Han stood blankly to the side, looking like he had lost his soul.
Moments ago, he was high-spirited, thinking he would awaken a Peerless Spirit Tool and have a brilliant future.
But in the blink of an eye, fate had played such a huge joke on him.
"Peerless Spirit Tool, six skill slots."
Chen Yuan's voice rang out again, and a girl immediately clenched her small fists in joy, her happiness forming a sharp contrast with Jiang Han.
"This idiot is just as useless as he is in the game."
Zhang Feng sneered, his attitude arrogant to the extreme.
A lackey nearby hurriedly chimed in, "Brother Zhang, why argue with a piece of trash who has a Mortal Spirit Tool?"
"Hahaha."
Zhang Feng was immensely proud. Not only was he having a smooth ride in the game, but reality was treating him just as well.
"Sigh... three skills it is, then..."
After a long while, Jiang Han sighed and walked back to his seat.
Sitting down, Fatty behind him offered a few words of comfort.
Jiang Han forced a smile. "I'm fine."
He summoned the dagger again and played with it in his hand.
As expected of a Lifebound Spirit Tool; even though it was the first time holding it, it felt as familiar as if he had been using it for decades. It felt like a part of his own body, possessing a natural sense of intimacy.
"What a pity, what a pity... It looks so cool, why does it only have three skills?"
Although wielding it felt satisfying, thinking about the road ahead, Jiang Han couldn't help but feel disappointed.
Just then, he suddenly froze as if struck by lightning.
"...You, who have just awakened your Lifebound Spirit Tool, are currently very distressed, but next, you will open a brand new door..."
In his pupils, a line of text condensed like ink appeared out of nowhere.
"What the hell?"
This line of text floated in the air. Jiang Han quickly looked at the others.
At this moment, the classmates in the classroom were all summoning their own Lifebound Spirit Tools, and no one noticed this anomaly.
"What is this? Can only I see it?"
Jiang Han rubbed his eyes.
When he opened them again, the line of text still hadn't disappeared.
Moreover, no matter where Jiang Han looked, the text followed him like a parasite on his bones, sticking to him like a shadow.
Not long after, that pitch-black text suddenly changed,
"...Facing the sudden change, you are a bit at a loss, and then you look down and see your own shadow..."
Puzzled, Jiang Han looked down.
In an instant, his expression changed drastically.
Under the desk, his shadow was incredibly eerie!
Under the sunlight streaming through the window, everyone else's shadow was a faint black.
But his shadow was a pure, absolute black—so black it was thorough, like a black hole that swallowed everything, from which even light could not escape.
What terrified Jiang Han even more was that he could clearly see something twisting and wriggling inside his shadow...
"...Your shadow is very special. You guess that it might possess the ability to devour ghosts..."
The text formed by ink changed eerily once again.
"I didn't f*cking guess anything! Explain yourself clearly! Hey!"
Jiang Han complained endlessly in his heart about the text. "What exactly is this text? Why... does it feel like it's talking to itself, or is it deliberately guiding me?"
"...You doubt whether what you are seeing is real, and later you plan to find a ghost to verify it..."
This time, the line of text was noticeably diluted, and before long, it vanished.
It was a long time before Jiang Han sensed any further abnormality.
He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Why is my shadow so strange? And what does this weird text mean? A hint?"
Looking at his shadow, which had returned to normal, Jiang Han suddenly had a bold conjecture. "If this is true... could my shadow really devour ghosts and directly obtain their abilities?"
Thinking of this, Jiang Han's heartbeat couldn't help but accelerate.
Thump~ Thump~
Like war drums, Jiang Han felt as if he saw a new world opening up to him.
Even if a Spirit Master's talent defied the heavens, even with a Heaven-tier Spirit Tool, there were only ten skill slots at most. Ultimately, there was a limit.
But if his line of thinking was correct, and his shadow could devour other ghosts without limit...
His future—
Would be unimaginable!
Searching the whole world, he probably wouldn't find a single Spirit Master who could be mentioned in the same breath as him!
Zhang Feng? Peerless Spirit Tool? Seven skill slots?
Bullsh*t!
Jiang Han's previously pent-up chest suddenly felt wide open, sweeping away the previous dejection!
"Jiang Han, it's okay. Three skills are actually enough. Later, you can exchange for an attack soul jade and a movement soul jade, isn't that enough? What do you need so many for? It's a waste, isn't it?"
Just then, Fatty thought Jiang Han hadn't gotten