Fang Xiu completely ignored the pointless chatter between them. His focus was entirely on the sudden appearance of Liu Shuai. If his senses were right, Liu Shuai had just teleported from a meter away.
"Liu Shuai, how far did you teleport just now?" Fang Xiu asked.
Liu Shuai was slightly startled, then said, "The same as before…"
He suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Soon, his face erupted with joy. "I just teleported one meter!"
He quickly checked his Spiritual Energy, his happiness intensifying. "Five percent! My Spiritual Energy has actually increased to five percent! I was only at two percent before! Is this the power of a Class B Specter? A three percent increase!? No wonder so many people rush to join the vice-captain on Class B missions. They're so rewarding!"
"Vice-captain? Why not Captain Yang?" Zhao Hao curiously asked.
Liu Shuai looked at him disdainfully and said, "Who would want to go on a mission with Yang? All the benefits go to him, and we're left with the bad luck."
"Huh?" Zhao Hao was a bit stunned, "Is Captain Yang really that bad? He doesn't seem like someone who would steal all the credit."
"You're naive. Who said Captain Yang is a bad person? Have you forgotten his ability? His ability is luck. If you're with him, all the good things will naturally go to him, and you'll be left with nothing but misfortune."
"Now that you mention it, Captain Yang sounds like a protagonist from a Gary Stu novel, always encountering adventures. Meanwhile, everyone around him ends up in terrible fates—brothers, relatives, families, colleagues..."
Zhao Hao suddenly shuddered. "We're his colleagues. Won't we also be unlucky? In a fantasy novel, that's like being his sect brothers, doomed to be destroyed because of him, and then he avenges us."
"Stop talking nonsense. It's not that serious. The worst that might happen is not having a seasoning packet with your instant noodles, dropping your phone in the toilet while using it, or pulling off the ring when opening a can."
Zhao Hao's face turned pale, "I think I'll keep my distance from Yang in the future."
"Hey, by the way, Xiu, Hao, how about your awakened Spiritual Energy now?" Liu Shuai asked, curious.
"Five percent," Fang Xiu calmly replied.
"Same as me? What about you, Hao?" Liu Shuai didn't doubt Fang Xiu's words. After all, they had experienced the same Specter event.
He had increased from two to five percent, and he thought Fang Xiu had gone from one to five percent, an extra one percent more than him. That seemed reasonable, given that Fang Xiu had been fighting continuously.
Everyone's spiritual strength varies, which was like the capacity of the "dantian" in Wuxia novels. If an average person's "dantian" capacity was a hundred, a genius's capacity would be a thousand. Even if both had only five percent of their internal energy, there was a tenfold difference in essence.
Also, what Liu Shuai didn't realize was that Fang Xiu's "five percent" was an increase in Spiritual Energy, not his total.
During the battle at Blackwater, Fang Xiu used the Specter power in his scalpel and even absorbed the power of the silver-haired Specter. This combination boosted his Spiritual Energy by a full five percent, reaching a total of ten percent.
It was well-known that the higher the percentage of awakened Spiritual Energy, the more difficult it is to increase.
Ten percent was the threshold that separates newbie psychics from experienced ones. This level was a small threshold; in terms of fantasy novels, it was like breaking through a minor realm. One could distinctly feel their body's potential being further unlocked, their senses becoming sharper, and their overall strength significantly improved.
Thus, it was only natural that Shen Lingxue was always so proud of herself as an experienced psychic. After all, there was a clear gap between new and experienced psychics, not only in physical fitness and senses but also in the endurance of using abilities.
New psychics, with their limited Spiritual Energy, often found themselves exhausted after using their abilities a few times. Fang Xiu had experienced this limitation many times.
His "Pain Power" was hardly sufficient initially. During his first encounter with the "doctor," just one punch would use up his Spiritual Energy.
Now, with ten percent Spiritual Energy, Fang Xiu finds it much easier to wield his power, avoiding the awkward situation where a single basic attack drains all his energy.
In fact, if someone else had undergone the same battle, their improvement would likely exceed five percent, too.
First, they would be corroded by the countless Specter powers in the scalpel, followed by possession by a Class B Specter. Moreover, it was possession, not just combat.
Typically, psychics passively absorb Specter power through life-and-death battles, thereby activating their psychic powers. However, possession offers a more direct and sustained contact, resulting in a greater absorption of Specter power.
Under these circumstances, a fifteen percent increase in the existing Spiritual Energy base wouldn't be surprising.
Yet, Fang Xiu only experienced a five percent increase. This was because his spirit was different from ordinary people—repeated brushes with death have transformed his spirit, elevating it beyond the ordinary human realm.
Based on the analogy of the "dantian" in Wuxia novels, if an ordinary person's "dantian" capacity was one hundred and a genius's was one thousand, then Fang Xiu's "dantian" capacity would be at least ten thousand.
Therefore, when the same amount of internal energy entered the "dantian," his percentage increase was the smallest. This explained why, after he absorbed Lin Ziyang's Spiritual Energy, it only reached five percent.
Lin Ziyang was a psychic with twenty percent of his Spiritual Energy illuminated, one of the strongest in the first tier, so even considering some loss during the distortion process, the remaining energy shouldn't have been so little.
"I'm also at five percent!" Zhao Hao said excitedly. Liu Shuai was slightly surprised but soon understood, given that Zhao Hao had also fought in his transformed state for a long time. Increasing from one to five percent was reasonable.
Although everyone's spirit is different, among ordinary people, the differences are generally minor. Therefore, Liu Shuai assumed that his five percent increase was roughly equivalent to Fang Xiu and Zhao Hao. However, the exact details of this were unknown to anyone.
Zhao Hao and Liu Shuai excitedly chatted away, each boasting about their strengths—one claiming to be invincible at midnight, the other bragging about limitless teleportation.
Their excitement grew as they spoke, eventually not even considering Captain Yang a challenge. Zhao Hao even boldly claimed that at midnight, he would be unbeatable to those below the captain's level and could match the captain one for one.
Fang Xiu didn't join their bragging. Instead, he was quietly communicating with his hair. Previously, when he controlled the hair Specter, he had vaguely sensed some fragmented memories from within the Specter but hadn't had time to explore them. Now, while waiting for rescue and having nothing better to do, he decided to investigate.
As he absorbed these memory fragments into his spirit, disjointed images appeared in his mind. He saw Wang Erni when she had black hair, playing with a beautiful girl of the same age. Then, he witnessed this girl being driven to suicide by the villagers. Afterward, he saw Wang Erni crying by the Blackwater River, her intense negative emotions attracting the Hair Specter.
From these images, it wasn't hard to guess Wang Erni's story. Her close friend was driven to suicide by the villagers for some reason. Then, Wang Erni, with the help of the Hair Specter, avenged her by killing all the villagers in Blackwater, forming a clear and simple revenge story.
However, when Fang Xiu fully absorbed and understood all the memories, he smiled.