Star Martial Era: The Way of Star Light Cultivation

50: Chapter 46 Changes After Upgrade

50 -46 Changes After Upgrade

[Second Tier Candou Platform]

[Fighting Master: Xu Jin]

[Rewarded with Star Favor, daily worship yields two strands of Starlight]

[Star Lamp One: Solidify the foundation of Star Skill Star Radiance, can be changed after one day]

[Star Lamp Two: Can be solidified]

[Nourishable Items: Star Refilling Pill, Rejuvenation Pill, Dawn Emblem, Concealing Emblem, Vortex Blade Emblem]

[Star Skills: Basic Star Shield, Basic Star Radiance, Basic Star Ring, Basic Star Arrow, Basic Starlight Shield]

[Can Upgrade]

The first surprise appeared after the Candou Platform was upgraded to the Second Tier.

Emblems.

The received emblems could now be nourished.

The effect of nourishing emblems was very likely to enhance their corresponding power.

Regretfully, one Star Lamp could only nourish one item.

Looking at the two Star Lamps on the Candou Platform, Xu Jin felt there were too few of them at this moment and wished he could immediately upgrade to the Third Tier or even the Fourth Tier.

The moment the ability to nourish emblems was revealed, Xu Jin had already thought of several tricky tactics.

Without any hesitation, Xu Jin placed a Dawn Emblem and a Vortex Blade Emblem beneath the two Star Lamps, and in an instant, a faint glow of Starlight enveloped them, shimmering like spilt colors.

As Xu Jin had expected, after upgrading to the Second Tier, the number of Star Lamps indeed increased by one, and the Starlight received from daily worship went from one strand to two, which left Xu Jin slightly disappointed.

Although it had doubled, the improvement didn’t feel significant.

Initially equivalent to two Star Refilling Pills, it was now equivalent to four.

Just a slight disappointment.

At the same time, the interval for changing solidified Star Patterns decreased by one day.

It should be a one-day reduction overall.

So, if it originally took eight days to change a Star Pattern, it now took seven days.

With a single thought, Xu Jin solidified the Basic Star Arrow onto Star Lamp Two, and in an instant, intricate Star Patterns emerged on the second Star Lamp, completely different from the first.

This Star Pattern?

Xu Jin had some ideas, but they were somewhat vague, so he decided to leave them for slow research in the future.

Previously, he had wanted to nourish pills and thought about making both the Star Refilling Pill and Rejuvenation Pill each exude an aura, but now that he could nourish emblems, he must prioritize nourishing the emblems.

Offensive emblems, even if their power increased by ten to twenty percent, could be crucial at pivotal moments.

Lifesaving tools.

Emblems must be prioritized.

If there were nourishing slots available in the Star Lamp in the future, the Rejuvenation Pill should be given priority.

Because if the effects of the pills were doubled, then theoretically, the benefits of the Rejuvenation Pill would be greater.

Currently, a Rejuvenation Pill could allow Xu Jin to harness two additional rounds of Starlight, and if doubled, four rounds.

Much more potent than the effect of the Star Refilling Pill.

Of course, if there’s time in the future, he still needs to test the effects of continuously nourishing the same item for two, three, or even five days, or to examine the upper limit of the nourishment effect.

Finally, Xu Jin’s thoughts went to the Candou Platform’s upgrade option, and instantly, a string of information appeared.

Xu Jin wanted to see what was needed to upgrade to the Third Tier Candou Platform, especially with the nourishing of emblems feature, it was essential to figure out a way to upgrade to the Third Tier as soon as possible.

[Can Upgrade: Requires a hundred strands of Starlight, nine Human Tier Star Jade pieces, a thousand catty of Refined Iron, a hundred catty of Purple Copper, ten catty of silver, ten taels of Gold, and one tael of Star Fallen Iron.]

After a careful look, Xu Jin gasped in shock.

The requirements for upgrading the Second Tier Candou Platform to the Third Tier were more than ten times that of upgrading from the First to the Second Tier.

From previous inquiries with Ning Yuchan regarding the Star Emblem, Xu Jin knew that Star Jade was needed to craft Star Emblems, a naturally occurring jade that contained and could accommodate Star Power.

He didn’t ask for the price at that time, but it was certainly not cheap.

Xu Jin had also heard about Star Fallen Iron, an essential material needed for making Star Weapons.

A common weapon, only by incorporating a certain amount of Star Fallen Iron, could it channel Star Power and become a Star Weapon.

Xu Jin didn’t know the price of Star Fallen Iron, but a single Star Weapon was said to cost at least upwards of a thousand taels of silver.

He estimated that upgrading to the Third Tier might require spending two or three thousand taels of silver, but that wasn’t an insurmountable amount.

After giving the Candou Platform another look, Xu Jin decided that once midnight passed, he would change the solidified Star Skill from Star Lamp One to the Basic Star Ring.

This Star Skill was very handy for close-range surprise attacks or assaults.

If launched instantaneously in close combat, it could have unexpectedly effective results.

If Xu Jin now were to attack the five-layer Dining Dawn bandit he faced in today’s first battle, he estimated that, with the element of surprise, he could slay with a single strike.

Before exiting the Candou Platform, Xu Jin sent out a thought and tried worshipping again.

Xu Jin felt that he had only received one strand of Starlight from today’s worship, but since the platform had been upgraded, another worship should yield at least another strand of Starlight, right?

One strand of Starlight was equivalent to the effects of two Star Refilling Pills, roughly worth forty taels of silver.

It would be wasteful not to take advantage of it.

However, surprisingly, as the little figure on the Candou Platform performed the worship, two more strands of Starlight appeared.

This was an unexpected delight.

It must have been after the Candou Platform upgraded that the chance to receive Starlight through Star Worship at the Candou Platform was refreshed.

It could be understood that way.

However, this Starlight prompted Xu Jin to take a few extra glances, surprised.

No matter how he looked at it, the Starlight obtained from worshipping at the Second-tier Candou Platform seemed a little thicker than what was obtained from the First-tier Candou Platform.

It wasn’t an illusion.

With a thought, Xu Jin decided to test it.

After all, it was past midnight and he could still worship for two more strands of Starlight; his Starlight reserves were plentiful.

Testing with one strand wouldn’t be a waste.

He got up, executed the Five Battles Killing Fist twice, depleting all the Star Power in his body, then with a thought, he drew a strand of Starlight from the Candou Platform into his Star Pattern.

A pleasant surprise ensued.

A feeling of fullness came from the Star Pattern in his chest; his Star Power was replenished, but there was still half of the strand of Starlight from the Candou Platform remaining.

Previously, a strand of Starlight was just enough to fill Xu Jin’s Star Power, who was at the Third Layer of Dining Dawn.

Now, half a strand was sufficient.

This meant that after upgrading to the Second-tier, the Starlight obtained from Star Worship not only increased in quantity but also doubled in the Star Power contained within.

The actual increase was fourfold.

This change brought great surprise to Xu Jin.

Theoretically speaking, after upgrading to the Second-tier, the two strands of strengthened Starlight he could worship each day were equivalent to obtaining eight Star Refilling Pills, worth one hundred and sixty taels of silver.

Not to mention anything else, just this fact alone made Xu Jin feel that he could have quite a fortune in the future.

He could save on using Pills.

The Star Power contained in a strand of Starlight doubling directly meant Xu Jin’s Star Power suddenly became much more abundant.

With nothing else pressing, Xu Jin began to cultivate the Five Battles Killing Fist right there on the spot.

He executed the Five Battles Killing Fist thirty-two times in a row, completely consuming the two strands of Starlight.

The Starlight used for Body Refining had also surged more than an inch down from the root of his thighs.

And in the blink of an eye, another two hours had passed.

With a thought, Xu Jin once again performed Star Worship, and two more robust strands of Second-tier Starlight appeared on the Candou Platform, at the same time, Xu Jin switched the solidified Star Skill of the Star Lamp One with a basic Star Ring.

After setting his intention on the Upper Star Palace’s Clearing Soul Star Pattern for fifteen minutes, Xu Jin fell into a deep sleep.

This night, in the outlying room of the courtyard that had been made into a temporary criminal room, there were cries and howls like ghosts and wolves.

In between, three dead bodies were dragged out.

They couldn’t withstand the punishment and died.

A group of Disciples patrolling the night looked at the disfigured corpses and felt a chill in their hearts, but none of them felt any sympathy for these bandits.

Given the heinous acts committed by these bandits, even a thousand cuts wouldn’t be too much.

The interrogation continued until the sun was high in the sky when Xu Jin finally saw Niu Gui, whose eyes were red from lack of sleep, and Hong Li and Liu San who were at death’s door.

After a night of interrogation, only these two survived.

There was also a stack of confessions pressed with blood fingerprints, four copies of each.

Niu Gui handed three copies of the confessions directly to Xu Jin, “You take one, find reliable people for the other two, just in case.

I’ll rest for two hours, then depart; you deal with the rest before I wake up.”

With that, Niu Gui found a room and fell asleep instantly.

Xu Jin took care of the four Civil clerks and two criminal room clerks with silver, and at the same time, he gave some orders.

Before long, a clerk from the Almshouse arrived with a carriage and an old physician to take the people away.

The Almshouse clerk seemed accustomed to such scenes, his face expressionless, while the old physician only glanced a few times before tears streamed down his face.

“This is a sin…” the old physician’s hands trembled as he succinctly treated the children; follow-up treatments would require bone-setting, and many of the children’s affected limbs would need to be re-broken and set to have a chance of proper recovery.

But to what extent they could recover was uncertain.

Xu Jin didn’t waste words and directly gave the old physician one hundred taels of silver, “These children’s medical expenses for the current period; if it’s not enough, ask for more from the Almshouse, I’ll leave silver behind.”

Upon seeing the two hundred taels of silver given by Xu Jin, the expression of the clerk from the Almshouse immediately turned to delight, he reached out to take the silver but found that it didn’t budge, and looked at Xu Jin.

“I am Xu Jin, squad leader of the Star Patrol Guard in Jinshan county city; may I ask how to address my brother?” Xu Jin stated his identity and asked directly.

The clerk paused, then seemed to understand Xu Jin’s intention, “I am Su Mingbai, the manager of the Almshouse.”

“These children have encountered such calamity before reaching adulthood; they need extra meals and medical attention.

This two hundred taels of silver is donated to the Almshouse, please take extra care, Lord Su,” Xu Jin said.

Su Mingbai took the silver, eagerly saying, “Of course, of course, the Almshouse can only provide these children a meal to eat, but with your two hundred taels, Lord, it’s guaranteed that these eight children can recover quickly and won’t lack clothing or medicine.”

“Good, then I, Xu Jin, will make a special visit to thank you in half a year.”

Su Mingbai was slightly surprised, hastily bowed, “Then I’ll be looking forward to your visit in half a year.”

Watching the Almshouse’s carriage take away the eight children who had been skinned alive, Xu Jin also breathed a sigh of relief.

With his meddling and the silver, Su Mingbai would surely not dare to mistreat these children.

Still, he would need to visit in half a year.

Half an hour later, the Accounting Officer from the Heshui County Government finished inventorying and transferring the loot, and provided Xu Jin with an inventory list; it would also be documented and sent to the county government, marking the completion of the handover.

Just after the handover was finished, Niu Gui, who had rested for two hours, woke up right on schedule.

Xu Jin’s expression became solemn; it was time to return!