"Such a loss, no one said anything about taking a group photo."

Lin Guang shook his head, dispelling the vague feeling of being watched that he sensed earlier. With a somewhat exaggerated sigh, he said, "When I achieve fame and success, and others look back at my history, they'll discover that the first public record of the number one Spirit Master of Great Xia was at the opening of the 'Friendship Turtle Soup · Light Branch'. How embarrassing is that?"

"Ha." Vishdair rolled his eyes, ignoring him.

When the matter was settled, the two of them found a Spirit Beast Battle Hall and began some friendly Spirit Beast exchanges with the "little friends" they met there, as their Star Shard progress bar slowly increased.

When it was about time for a meal, the two left the battle hall, returned to Friendship Turtle Soup for a quick lunch, and then headed toward the city Spirit Beast Mall. They could see the massive building from a distance.

"It's really huge, must be several times the size of the previous one. I wonder how much explosives it would take to blow it up," Vishdair clicked his tongue.

"I think you're a bit extreme."

After crossing several crosswalks and traffic lights, the two finally arrived at the mall entrance.

Even though it was just lunchtime, it was clear that quite a few people had the same idea as Lin Guang, as several long lines had formed at the entrance.

Similar to train stations from the past, entering the mall required swiping an ID card on a machine and having the staff verify it, which was done to prevent resources from flowing into the hands of "wild people" in the wilderness, and to arrange special guides for Spirit Masters with unique Spirit Beasts and talents to prevent possible product loss. After all, with such a large mall and so many people, it's impossible to set up a Spirit Pattern Barrier everywhere.

In this world, the strong are revered. Although Great Xia protects the rights of ordinary people, it also gives green lights to Spirit Masters in some areas. Spirit Masters above three stars, soldiers (and veterans), and students from key high schools have special fast tracks.

The mall has everything one could need, and most Spirit Beast-related categories can be found here. It consists of six floors, with the first three open to everyone. The fourth floor requires being a three-star Spirit Master or having an identity like a researcher or Miracle Master.

The city mall is quite large. Although there's a map, most people still prefer to spend a little money to hire a guide, which can save time and prevent unnecessary expenses due to unfamiliarity with products. The government is strict about this, responding to complaints promptly.

Aside from the fast track, the mall also offers preferential treatment in terms of guiding services. In less than five minutes, a young lady dressed in a blue mall uniform came to Lin Guang.

"Hello, I'm looking to see if there are suitable skill crystals for Evil Attribute and Fire Attribute. The hard requirement is that humanoid Spirit Beasts must be able to cast them. Preferences are 'Explosion' and 'Melee'. "

"Understood."

The sales assistant smiled, brought Lin Guang to pick up two hoverboards at the side—given the immense size of the Spirit Beast Mall, moving on foot was too time-consuming.

Seven or eight minutes later, they moved to the skill crystal area. Various semi-transparent crystals of different colors were placed in special alloy glass display cases, shining with enchanting colors under the overhead lights, though Lin Guang preferred to call them the color of money.

The sales assistant first recommended him the fire attribute melee skill [Flame Fist], which, along with [Frozen Fist] and [Thunder Fist], is known as "Farmer's Three Punches", with a comprehensive grade of Green Excellent.

The grade of skill crystals is mainly influenced by the following factors: the skill imprinted by the caster, the method and speed of channeling Ether when the skill is cast, and the "Ether—Damage Conversion Rate"—the higher the grade, the stronger it is, but the harder it is to learn.

Lin Guang pondered for a while.

Honestly, this skill isn't bad. Although it's mockingly called "Farmer's Three Punches", it's still one of the most practical attribute-infused melee moves for low-tier humanoid Spirit Beasts.

But the main issue is that it can't immediately highlight Vishdair's strengths.

Firstly, it doesn't initially meet Vishdair's trait, which lacks an "explosion" effect—although, from the mainstream academic perspective, developing Flame Fist into an explosive nature isn't impossible, but that's from a research and new skill development angle.

To actually do that would require waiting for skill proficiency to increase and putting in effort, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive, better to spend money on getting something decent directly.

Secondly, this skill crystal is only of Green Grade.

This classification corresponds to the Spirit Beast's grade, unlike the one to nine tier Spirit Pattern system of Spirit Masters; learning it doesn't have a significant threshold, so it only divides by color, representing the difficulty and usability.

As a Blue Elite Level Spirit Beast, Vishdair might not be large, but possesses human-like intelligence (arguably), and the wealth of combat experience makes Vishdair absolutely superior to most Spirit Beasts in learning and executing skills, so preparing a Blue Grade skill crystal is likely no problem.

If one has to choose this skill, directly learning a Blue Grade Flame Fist would certainly be much better than a Green Grade one—after all, reaching a higher tier requires passing the standard examination set by Great Xia, indicating that the skill has undergone qualitative change from its basic form, even lateral development can save a lot of time.

However, Lin Guang inquired and found out that the Blue Grade Flame Fist skill crystals were temporarily out of stock.

"How about this Blue Grade [Eye for an Eye]?" the sales assistant recommended, "If you attack within a certain time after taking damage from an opponent, the power will significantly increase, and its form on the Ether skill map leans more towards explosive types, satisfying your needs."

After thinking for a moment, Lin Guang shook his head again. Although it's Blue Grade and appears easier to develop into an "explosion" effect, it must be used in retaliation after being hit, otherwise, its power is quite average.

Moreover, frankly speaking, humanoid Spirit Beasts are relatively fragile in durability. Vishdair's small frame doesn't have defensive attributes or traits, so forget about taking hits to counter-attack; it's usually the slow-moving, tough-skinned, large defensive Spirit Beasts that consider learning this.

Afterwards, the sales assistant recommended a few other skills, none of which suited Lin Guang's tastes.

It's not that the city's Spirit Beast Mall's offerings are lacking; it's just that melee skills with "explosion" effects at low tiers are indeed rare skills, so it's normal not to find them in the first three floors—most likely, they'd be on the fourth floor or higher.

Perhaps relying on Wang Dawei's connections could help.

Just as Lin Guang thought this, a somewhat familiar male voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Are you... Lin Guang?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.