Acquiring Appraisal

Monday. He didn't want to go to school. Yu Xian reclined in the sprawling garden of his Chinese-style villa, his entire being exuding the aura of a salted fish. Yesterday, he and Nora had gone house hunting together, selecting this three-mu Chinese-style villa out of all the properties currently listed for sale in Silver City. The main draw was that the villa was close to school and very close to the east of the city. Furthermore, it was fully furnished and renovated, ready for immediate move-in. If there was any downside, it was probably the steep price tag—a whopping two "small goals." Before Yu Xian became a vampire, he couldn't have afforded such a luxurious mansion even if he sold himself. Fortunately, having sold Scott's hoarded loot, he could now be considered a petty tycoon. Even after purchasing this villa, he still had two small goals left over. Two hundred million was more than enough for him to live in luxury all on his own. The fortunes of life were sometimes truly wondrous. A misfortune could turn into a blessing, just as good fortune could bring disaster; no one could predict the fickle whims of fate. Ever since his father fell ill, bad luck had struck in an unending stream. Now that fortune had turned and things had hit rock bottom only to rebound, it was Yu Xian's turn to sit back and enjoy life. At present, he was storing energy to unlock "Super Stomach." Once Super Stomach activated in a few days, he would move on to unlocking "Super Taste," and he also planned to unlock "Super Smell." Super Smell was an absurdly powerful tracking ability. The perfect creature had detected Hu Weijie from several kilometers away precisely because its Super Smell was unreasonably potent; scent from Hu Weijie's side couldn't possibly carry over kilometers under normal circumstances, yet the perfect creature had caught the scent nonetheless. Once those three skills were activated, Yu Xian would continue grinding toward the Pangu Immortality Divine Ability. Although Vice Minister Xiao Cheng's words had cast a slight shadow over the concept of eternal life, it was for that very reason that he wanted the Pangu Immortality Divine Ability even more. After all, theoretically, the harder one was to kill, the longer one's lifespan would be. It wasn't as if the entire world would conspire against a single person, hellbent on seeing them dead. Just then, a golden streak flew in from the sky. It circled above Yu Xian's villa before drifting leisurely downward. When the golden light dissipated, it revealed Ether, whom Yu Xian had met once before. Standing in the garden, Ether took in the surrounding scenery with a carefree, cynical gaze, marveling aloud before sighing in envy, "Salty Fish, your life is amazing! Unlike me... toiling and rushing around every day, and whenever I return to Yanjing, all I have is a two-meter capsule dorm to cram myself into." "Why not stay here with me? I've got plenty of space and loads of rooms," Yu Xian offered with a smile. Ether hastily backed away in fright, crying in exaggerated horror, "I never knew you were that kind of Salty Fish—coveting my handsome looks! Guess I'll have to keep my distance from you from now on." "You? Handsome looks? You can't even match a goose!" Yu Xian scrutinized Ether from head to toe, then scoffed. A goose? What kind of measurement was that? Ether didn't understand, but that didn't stop him from knowing Yu Xian was looking down on him. After bickering for a bit, Ether retrieved a packaged box from one of his storage pouches and said, "All right, I have other assignments. Here's your express delivery from headquarters. Please confirm receipt—and you'd better open and inspect it." "All right, thanks." Yu Xian stood up and took the box. With a gentle flick of a silver thread, the box neatly slit open. Inside lay an utterly plain book. He took out the book. An instinct welled up within him, and he spoke, "Learn!" Instantly, the book dissolved into rays of light that merged into his body. He naturally grasped a new skill: Appraisal. He immediately cast a glance at Ether, silently activating Appraisal at the same time. Promptly, Ether's various attributes appeared in his consciousness: —————— Name: Cheng Pi Codename: Ether Race: Human Gender: Male Age: 22 Lifespan: 269 Rank: Mid Eagle Faction: Huaxia Dragon Dynasty - Qilin Department - Support Division Abilities: [Light Chaser: Can mobilize ether energy within the body to coat oneself and move at near-sublight speed. This ability cannot generate kinetic energy, resulting in extremely low destructive power.] [Ether Light Arrow: Mobilizes ether energy within the body into arrows to strike targets. Due to low destructive power, it can only inflict damage on enemies below Insect rank.] [Summary: A weakling who runs very fast!] —————— Yu Xian raised an eyebrow, looking at Ether with a grin. "So your name is Cheng Pi. Quite an interesting name." "Hiss—did you apply for that Appraisal skill book?" Ether drew in a sharp breath, catching on at once. Seeing Yu Xian nod, Ether immediately clutched his chest with both hands and cried agitatedly, "I definitely have to steer clear of you from now on! I'm rejecting every mission related to you! Goodbye... No, good riddance!" With that, he channeled ether energy over his body and, without giving Yu Xian a chance to speak, shot straight into the sky and fled. Yu Xian had originally wanted to ask if he'd like to know his lifespan, but seeing how fast Ether ran off, he gave up on the idea. He settled back into his lounge chair and raised a hand, casting Appraisal on himself. Promptly, his own attributes surfaced in his mind: —————— Name: Yu Xian Codename: Salty Fish Race: Shiny Vampire Gender: Male Age: 17 Lifespan: 5,322 Rank: High Sparrow Faction: Huaxia Dragon Dynasty - Qilin Department - Combat Division - Evil-Slaying Squad Abilities: [Light Eater: Can absorb light energy shining upon oneself to replenish bodily needs of all kinds.] [Silver Blood: Can consume silver, combining it with one's own blood to form Silver Blood, enhancing all bodily attributes across the board while allowing control over Silver Blood to form silver blood threads for offense and defense.] [Spatial Blood Energy: Secondary mutated Blood Energy. A hyper-mutation ability formed by combining the Pangu Spirit Orb Divine Ability with primary mutated Blood Energy, capable of creating spatially interconnected spatial bubbles.] [Appraisal: Can expend mental power to appraise a target, generating an attribute panel to easily understand them.] [Summary: Among Pokémon, a special specimen is called a Shiny Pokémon, and you are... a Shiny Vampire!] —————— Having reviewed his attributes, Yu Xian's gaze finally settled on the lifespan column. Even though over five thousand years was already extraordinarily long, he couldn't help wanting to humblebrag, "I only have five thousand-plus years to live? So short!" Which meant that over five thousand years from now, he would die in some sort of accident? At the thought of being killed in the distant future, his mood soured a bit, and a bad mood made him not want to go to school even more. Just as he was contemplating slacking off for the day, the bubble at the main gate was patted twice. He let out a helpless sigh—Nora had arrived. Because Nora had accompanied him house hunting yesterday, she knew he had purchased this villa and moved in overnight with just his bags. That silly goose had long wanted to try walking to school with a classmate, so they had agreed yesterday to walk to class together today. Yu Xian let a bubble teleport him back to the master bedroom. After changing into his school uniform, he appeared at the front gate the next moment. Because the villa covered a vast area, he had deliberately placed bubbles in various locations; whenever he didn't feel like wasting steps, he could teleport directly wherever he needed. He opened the door. Sure enough, Nora stood prettily outside, her radiant golden hair exceptionally dazzling in the sunlight. Seeing him, Nora immediately beamed. "Good morning!" "Good morning!" Yu Xian replied with an instinctive smile. A moment ago, he hadn't wanted to go to school. Yet at this moment, going to school didn't seem so bad after all. Men really could be fickle sometimes.