CH 22

Chapter 22: Using Skills

[System, what’s up with Zero’s unknown additional skill?]

Qiao Xingnan had been busy all day, and only when he was lying down on his bed to rest did he drift off and remember to ask the system about Zero’s additional skill.

According to Zero, he didn’t know what his additional skill was either.

[Inquiry in progress, please wait.]

After 035 said this, Qiao Xingnan waited for almost a minute before hearing its voice:

[Ding, the activation direction of the additional skill is uncontrollable and cannot be determined by the system, please explore it by yourself.]

Surprisingly, even 035 did not know.

Qiao Xingnan frowned slightly and then relaxed his frown. Since it is an additional skill that came with him, he will know sooner or later.

Thinking of this, Qiao Xingnan yawned and rolled over. His voice was a little lazy as he casually asked, “System, after Zero upgraded, an additional skill was added. Is it that all card upgrades will have additional skills?”

035 took a longer time to answer Qiao Xingnan this time.

“Yes, host. For you, additional skills will appear after all card upgrades.”

Qiao Xingnan was really a bit tired and didn’t even hear the oddity in the system’s words. After knowing that additional skills would appear after the cards were upgraded, he didn’t think much about it and fell asleep.

In the sea of consciousness, 035 looked at Qiao Xingnan. Knowing that the other party did not think deeply, it sighed in heartfelt relief.

035 was not wrong.

For Qiao Xingnan, every card he upgrades will have additional skills.

This is because all the cards in Qiao Xingnan’s card pool are degenerated cards.

Only the degenerated cards would have an additional skill after they were upgraded.

From the beginning to the end, the system did not deceive the host. It just concealed something.

As for Zero’s additional skill that the host asked about, the system really doesn’t know. Because none of the hosts would choose to upgrade a corrupted card, no one knows what the unknown additional skills would be.

According to the system’s analysis of the data of the corrupted cards, those additional skills should be quite trivial.

035’s whole system was a little uneasy.

As the system responsible for the Chaos card pool, it should have informed Qiao Xingnan about the basic situation of the Chaos card pool. However, it was too afraid that Qiao Xingnan, after knowing the truth, would communicate with the top to offer gold and choose to change the card pool, just like the previous hosts.

The Chaos card pool was already on edge, suffering discrimination. If the entire pool is abandoned again, the only thing waiting for the cards is a broken card ending.

035 was clear that a proud Chaos card will never actively mention that they are corrupted. As long as it does not say so, then the matter that the Chaos card pool are all waste cards can be concealed.

035 planned well, yet who would have thought the host would take the initiative to upgrade Zero? And he even dropped all 20,000 gold coins for Zero?!

After knowing this, 035 was almost out of breath. Fortunately, the host only thought he was unlucky and didn’t think it was the cards.

The system was again thankful and fearful.

At the same time, there was also some heartache for those gold coins.

The host lost a lot of money.

035 looked at Qiao Xingnan’s sleeping face and then at Zero sitting on the cushion basking in the moon. There were some regrets, and it must take time to hint to the host not to upgrade, it’s too worthless.

At the same time, it quietly decided in its heart that the next time the host draws a card, it must operate secretly so that the host draws a high-level corrupted card!

Qiao Xingnan, who did not know what 035 was thinking, slept very peacefully all night, and when he woke up the next day, it was rare that he was still lazy in bed.

However, it was only possible for a few minutes.

After all, Qiao Xingnan still had to fight for his life.

When he got up with a deep breath and cleaned himself up, Ster was already standing outside the door waiting for a long time.

As a gentleman among the cards, Ster was extremely disciplined. Every day, before the sun shone on the earth, he would tidy his appearance after taking care of his chores and stand outside the door to wait for Qiao Xingnan’s summons.

It was at this time that Howard came, followed by his brother, Ilir.

Standing outside the door, Howard looked at the butler in front of him, dressed in a tuxedo with elegance written all over his body, and his serious expression eased slightly: “Your Excellency, I wonder if your chief knight is here.”

Ster certainly remembered this chief knight who forced his master to upgrade Zero. His azure eyes held a deep trace of coolness, and then he smiled gently, “Of course, I wonder what your Excellency wants with Zero.”

The reason why Howard came this time was to test the white-robed man. Of course, it was not only because of the emperor’s order, but he himself was very interested in the white-robed man.

On the surface, Howard naturally could not bluntly state his purpose, so he composed his voice: “There are some things I don’t quite understand, and I hope to discuss them with your chief knight.”

Ster nodded with reserve and was about to ask them to wait for a moment when the wooden door next to him opened.

The first to come out was the white-robed man.

Obviously, he dressed the same as before, but his aura seemed more mysterious and powerful than before, and the Howard brothers subconsciously felt a bit alarmed. The white-robed man turned a blind eye to the two of them and stood aside in silence, perfectly interpreting the word knight.

It was also in such a quiet and eerie atmosphere that Qiao Xingnan slowly walked out. He used his spiritual power to control Zero while sweeping his golden eyes coldly over the people outside the door, his sight falling on Ster.

“What is it?”

Ster slightly saluted, then came up to Qiao Xingnan’s ear and whispered a few words.

Howard could feel the dark-haired man’s eyes turn to himself as the butler finished.

“Zero.” The black-haired man’s voice was flat, and he raised his finger to point at Howard as if this was a trivial matter worth nothing to him: “Go talk to the chief knight of Arilance.”

The white-robed man’s hood made a slight movement. Then, there was a flash, and he stood by Howard’s side.

The black-haired man turned around and was ready to leave. As he walked away, he suddenly remembered something. He looked sideways at Zero and said slowly: “Don’t hurt anyone.”

The casual tone and attitude seemed to be certain that the white-robed man would not lose.

Howard’s face was slightly uncomfortable, but the black-haired man did not even bother to glance at him and directly entered the room, followed by Ster elegantly.

Only after the door closed did the white-robed man make a move, his hood moving slightly as he turned to Howard.

“What is it?”

His voice was hoarse and cold.

Howard tried to make a soft expression but was unsuccessful, so he simply gave up and said seriously, “I would like to have a match with Your Excellency.”

It was simple and clear and immediately made Qiao Xingnan, who was watching from the room with the help of Zero’s eyes, give a dark tsk.

What should come will always come.

The white-robed man did not refuse. He nodded his hood up and down and said directly, “Where to?”

Howard and Ilir smiled joyfully, but immediately afterward, Howard pointed to the sword he was carrying behind him, “Won’t your Excellency use a weapon?”

No money, can’t afford that thing.

Qiao Xingnan sighed and told Zero not to answer.

The mysterious and silent knight always made people subconsciously a little in awe, and the three of them arrived at the lake.

“Your Excellency, be careful.”

Howard was not very polite. He drew his sword and spoke to the white-robed man before directly attacking.

As the head of the six chief knights of Arilance, Howard was the most likely to become a paladin of Arilance. Similar to their family’s usual style, even if Howard uses a heavy sword, he starts with a big and imposing manner of a swordsman.

The sword was heavy and large, but Howard made it look as light as a feather. The broad sword cut through the wind and broke the air heavily, carrying an unstoppable edge.

Qiao Xingnan didn’t even think about it. He directly opened 150x speed and concentrated his mind to control Zero to dodge the opponent’s attack.

Zero was fragile but faster than Howard.

This was also the reason why after the upgrade, Qiao Xingnan dared to let him fight.

The white-robed man’s footsteps flicked, and the corner of his coat grazed the edge of the heavy sword and flashed away, followed by the opponent’s successive attacks like a thunderstorm.

Ilir stood watching his brother fight with the other side, his eyes full of amazement. The white-robed man seems to be faster!

Before, the white-robed man was fast, and there were times when he could not even detect where the other party ran, but he was nowhere near as fast as now.

No, the other party was likely to be suppressing strength before.

Ilir frowned. The white-robed man was strong, and he could see the growing excitement on his brother’s face.

As the party in the battle, Howard had a deeper understanding. The other party seemed to anticipate his movements and would always dodge away in the next moment. The more critical thing was that he could not reach the other party. His stance was really like what Ilir said, like teleportation.

The heavy sword emitted a thunderous sound, and the surrounding air seemed to vibrate. The white-robed man shuttled under the shadow of countless swords with a light posture and unhurried footsteps that appeared at ease.

No one knows that Qiao Xingnan’s spirit was tense at this time. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead, and his golden eyes were full of concentration, not daring to shift his attention at all.

Fortunately, Zero’s speed had increased so that while Qiao Xingnan’s brain reacted, Zero was able to avoid the sword that was about to fall on him.

Time passed by, unknowingly for two hours, Howard’s breathing became rough, and sweat seeped out of his forehead.

But for such a long time, the white-robed man’s stance remained calm, seemingly just teasing the opposite side, lightly side-stepping the sword cutting across.

Just when Howard seized the opportunity to slash again, the white-robed man raised his hand in the next second, and a green shadow cut across Howard’s neck and embedded like a blade in the tree next to Ilir.

Howard’s body paused, only to feel a chill on his neck, and bright red blood flowed out along the cut of the green shadow.

The white-robed man also stopped at this time.

At this point, Ilir realized that the one deeply embedded in the tree was a jagged green leaf stained with red blood.

Pulling the leaf out, Ilir realized that it was the most common leaf by the lake.

How strong was the control to be able to do this?!

Howard also realized this and stared intently at the white-robed man.

The winner had already been decided. The white-robed man nodded slightly, ignoring his stare, and turned to leave.

When a gust of wind blew by, the green leaf in Ilir’s hand was blown off, and Howard, who had been watching the white-robed man, vaguely saw the mysterious and bewitching red pattern under the hood that was slightly raised by the wind.

Seeing this, Qiao Xingnan was slightly relieved. He raised his hand to wipe off the sweat on his forehead, and a message automatically sent by the system reached his ears.

[Marionette – Active time is up. Please use after forty-eight hours of cooldown].