The system added a new note:
[The number of star orifices has reached the maximum limit, please find an opportunity to break through.]
Last time, Li Yang broke through by killing an invader.
This time, there were no invaders, so she would have to spend money to buy a Boundary Breaking Pill.
“No rush…” Li Yang thought, “First, let me improve my mental power.”
Mental power was always harder to improve than physical strength.
This time, Li Yang consumed a full 30 years to increase her mental power to 300 points.
“Scammers!” Li Yang sighed, but then thought again and relaxed, “Oh well, it’s just an hour of wheat harvesting.”
With both her physical and mental power at their limits, Li Yang turned her attention to the star skill—Shadow Concealment.
“You’re up.”
Now that she had plenty of life, she would first raise the proficiency of this skill!
Li Yang tried investing one year of life into it.
The system’s attitude toward this skill was different from “Fist Fury,” as it didn’t call it a low-quality star skill.
[You have continuously trained in star skill—Shadow Concealment for one year. Due to your low realm, poor understanding, and low compatibility, the proficiency of star skill—Shadow Concealment has increased to 1st tier 3%.]
As expected from a skill learned after four years, the proficiency increase was quite difficult.
To put it in perspective, when she trained “Fist Fury,” Li Yang reached full proficiency in just two years.
Li Yang invested even more life.
In the fifth year, the system triggered a “bad event”—slowed training speed, damage to her Dao heart, and a year of inactivity.
In the tenth year, the system triggered a “good event”—those with determination will succeed, and proficiency surged by 5%.
Even though Li Yang had plenty of life, she still felt some pain.
Finally, after investing 20 years of life, she successfully raised the proficiency of the star skill—Shadow Concealment to 1st tier 100%.
Li Yang released the skill and felt the star power within her body drain instantly.
Her body gradually became ethereal—not fully invisible, but more like a chameleon blending into the surroundings.
“Woosh!”
Li Yang quickly cancelled the effect of Shadow Concealment, “The consumption of star power is quite large.”
However, Shadow Concealment was definitely a good skill for survival.
The invader, despite being a low-level 1st tier, had been able to avoid detection by Lin Yuezu, a 3rd tier star executor.
This meant that after activating Shadow Concealment, Li Yang could easily avoid detection by 3rd tier star executors or mutated creatures.
Li Yang then thought, “…What would happen if I upgraded it to the second tier?”
She still had 40 years of life left, her physical and mental power were at their limits, and refining the Star Attraction and Solidify Orifice Pills didn’t require this much life…
So, she decided to push the skill further!
Li Yang: “Invest one year of life to upgrade the star skill—Shadow Concealment.”
[You attempt to break through the tier of the star skill—Shadow Concealment, but due to the lack of a corresponding star core, the difficulty of the breakthrough is extreme, and progress is at 5%.]
Li Yang was stunned and read the message carefully, trying to understand its meaning:
“What is a corresponding star core? If there’s no corresponding star core, can I still force a breakthrough? But it will consume more life.”
She had plenty of life now!
Li Yang logged into the campus app and searched for “star core.”
Soon, several paid posts popped up.
Li Yang’s mouth twitched. It wasn’t that she couldn’t afford the 0.01 merit points, but she just felt it wasn’t worth it.
Such information should be easy to find once the semester starts.
However, Li Yang decided to spend the 0.01 merit points after all.
She couldn’t wait to know the details and felt like it was worth paying for the information now.
“Star cores come from star realm creatures… Different star cores allow for the extraction of different star skills… By refining the star core, one can learn the related star skill…”
Li Yang quickly understood what star cores were.
A star core was like a “skill book,” except that it existed within the bodies of star realm creatures. Only by killing them could one obtain a chance to extract it.
And once extracted, the specific star skill needed to be identified and refined further.
Not all star skills could be upgraded, so the Shadow Concealment skill was already quite high quality.
But the conditions for upgrading were really harsh—it required a matching star core.
Li Yang remembered what Fang Chuyun had said: “My sister bought a rare star skill with 500 merit points.”
Well, even if the trading center had the Shadow Concealment star core for sale, she couldn’t afford it.
Li Yang thought for a moment:
“No corresponding star core, but I can still force the upgrade with life, right? Even if the progress is only 5% per year, it’s still better than spending 5 million!”
With that in mind, Li Yang decided to go ahead and upgrade the second tier of the star skill.
She was willing to spend since she would earn a large amount of life tomorrow, and if she didn’t spend it now, there’d be no place to store the life she earned after harvesting the wheat.
“Consume five years of life to upgrade the star skill—Shadow Concealment!”
The system used the same phrasing as before, but thankfully, the progress of the upgrade didn’t stop, slowly accumulating.
5% progress in one year, 50% in ten years, and in twenty years, it would be at 100%!
As the process continued, Li Yang grew more nervous, fearing that some “bad event” might affect her progress.
After reaching 90%, there was a slight fluctuation in the progress.
Li Yang kept a close eye on her lifespan, continuously investing life into the skill.
Finally, after consuming 22 years of life, the star skill—Shadow Concealment reached the second tier!
Li Yang focused on the system panel and couldn’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu.
The hundred years she earned had come quickly, but she spent it just as fast.
Looking at the remaining 18 years, she felt the pressure.
Li Yang released the star skill—Shadow Concealment again to see the changes in the second-tier skill.
The most noticeable difference was the reduced star power consumption compared to the first tier.
Before, she could maintain the Shadow Concealment state for only about five to six minutes; now, she could maintain it for at least half an hour.
Ding! A line of text appeared on the system panel:
[Detected second-tier star skill, new functionality is about to unlock.]
A new feature!
Li Yang felt that the life she had spent over the years wasn’t wasted after all.
Soon, the system lit up again, and the system panel showed a new option—
Star Skill Identification.
This option was special, different from the personal information section. It appeared in a separate section.
Li Yang read aloud: “Star Skill Identification.”
The page switched, and a new page appeared.
The title was—Star Skill Identification.
There were two small icons beneath it, each labeled with the name of a star skill.
The first was Fist Fury, and the second was Shadow Concealment.
“Then what?” Li Yang tried saying, “Identify star skill—Fist Fury.”
System:
[Would you like to consume one year of life to identify star skill—Fist Fury?]
Li Yang: “You’re really good at making me waste life in creative ways!”
She wasn’t about to waste a year of life on Fist Fury. Li Yang quickly said, “Identify star skill—Shadow Concealment.”
The system asked again: [Would you like to consume one year of life to identify star skill—Shadow Concealment?]
Li Yang gritted her teeth and said, “Yes.”
Not long after, the system displayed a line of information—
Star Skill Name: Shadow Concealment.
Star Skill Tier: Second tier.
First Tier Effect: After activation, you can enter “Stealth” mode.
This mode requires star power to maintain, and once the star power runs out, the “Stealth” mode will be lost.
Can effectively avoid detection by consciousness sea searches from star executors with mental power three times higher than yours.
Second Tier Effect: After activation, you can enter the “Harmless” mode.
This mode can hide the number of star orifices.
Even after hiding, you can still use the star power in the star orifices.
Can effectively avoid detection by consciousness sea searches from star executors with mental power ten times higher than yours.
Li Yang’s eyes lit up.
This year was well worth the investment.
She finally understood how the star skill worked.
So this is how it works…
The “Stealth” state was linked to mental power, meaning she could now avoid detection from star executors with approximately 900 mental power.
The most surprising thing for Li Yang was the second-tier effect. She thought: “How much does hiding star orifices cost?”
Li Yang tried it, and she saw her third star orifice transform into a mass of mist and disappear near her heart.
Not only could others not see it, even she couldn’t see it anymore.
How amazing!
Li Yang checked and found that she only needed a small amount of star power to maintain the
“Harmless” state.
The star orifices themselves were slowly absorbing the surrounding star power, and this absorption could cover the loss caused by the “Harmless” state.
This meant… Li Yang could maintain this state indefinitely.