Chapter 4350: Skills

Rean, Roan, Celis, and Kentucky gathered once again inside the Wangamiglia Sect. More specifically, they were sitting in Kentucky’s enormous nest, which had gradually become one of their preferred meeting places whenever they needed to discuss important matters regarding the Orb System.

The recent war had finally come to an end, yet there were still many things left to review. They had acquired a new upgrade to the Yin Yang Sanctuary, completed several quests, and earned new Orb Points. Most importantly, however, the completion of the Three-Eyed Raven quest had unlocked entirely new system abilities.

Naturally, that was what interested them the most.

Rean immediately got to the point.

"Sister Orb, show us the new upgrades that came with the completion of the quest."

The familiar voice answered right away.

[You could look at them yourselves, you know?]

Despite the complaint, Sister Orb still displayed the information.

A new skill immediately appeared in all four minds.

[Combat Replay: 100 Orb Points]

The group exchanged looks.

"Combat Replay?" Rean muttered. "What’s that supposed to do?"

Before anyone else could speculate, Sister Orb answered.

[Exactly what the name suggests. It allows you to replay a combat inside your minds.]

The explanation continued.

[There is an important advantage, however. You are not limited to your own perspective. If multiple individuals participated in the battle, you may view the replay from any participant’s point of view.]

The four immediately became more interested.

Sister Orb gave an example.

[For instance, you could watch the battle against the Three-Eyed Raven through Tobao’s perspective. You could also switch to Arcis’ perspective and observe the exact same battle from his point of view.]

Kentucky’s eyes widened.

"That’s actually pretty amazing."

[There are restrictions.] Sister Orb quickly added. [The battle must be one that you personally witnessed. You cannot ask the system to replay a fight occurring somewhere else in the Celestial Plane. Likewise, recordings and secondhand information are useless. At least one of you must have been physically present during the battle.]

That condition seemed perfectly reasonable.

After all, if the system could replay any battle in existence, the ability would become absurdly overpowered.

Sister Orb wasn’t finished yet.

[Furthermore, once you purchase a replay, it becomes permanently stored. You may revisit it as many times as you wish without paying additional Orb Points.]

That was when Roan’s eyes lit up.

At least in his opinion, this was one of the most valuable abilities the system had ever introduced.

His mind immediately began calculating possibilities.

"How detailed is it?" he asked.

The others already knew where his thoughts were heading.

Roan leaned forward. "Will we experience everything they experienced? Their energy circulation? The techniques they used? Their mistakes? Their pain? Their usage of Laws? The exact way they manipulated energy during battle?"

[Yes.]

Sister Orb’s answer came instantly.

[The replay is perfect.]

That single sentence immediately raised the value of the ability in Roan’s eyes.

[The only thing you won’t receive is their memories. Everything else will be reproduced exactly as it occurred. Of course, that doesn’t mean you will comprehend their laws.]

Then Sister Orb added one final detail.

[Just don’t forget that each replay you save costs one hundred Orb Points.]

Roan didn’t seem bothered by the price, much the opposite. "That’s incredibly cheap."

The others stared at him. Cheap? Their entire group only possessed 63 Orb Points at the moment. Yet Roan genuinely thought the price was low.

The reason was simple: No amount of training could perfectly replicate real combat. No cultivation technique could fully teach experience. Yet Combat Replay could potentially allow them to study a battle hundreds or even thousands of times.

A battle between Law Gods. A battle involving powerful bloodlines. A battle involving rare Laws. A battle involving enemies far stronger than themselves. The value of that knowledge was almost impossible to calculate.

The more Roan thought about it, the more terrifying the ability became. Suppose they encountered a powerful enemy today, and then that enemy escaped.

Normally, all they would have would be vague memories of the battle.

With Combat Replay, however, Roan could spend months analyzing every movement, every decision, every technique, and every weakness. Eventually, he might discover flaws that nobody else could see.

If used properly, such information could easily become the deciding factor in a future confrontation.

Rean shrugged. "That’s great and all, but we don’t have enough points to buy a single replay, let alone more than one."

That immediately brought everyone back to reality.

"We still need Orb Points for future upgrades," Rean continued. "The cultivation technique should remain our priority."

Roan naturally understood that. "I’m not saying we should buy it now." His eyes remained fixed on the system window. "I’m saying it’s worth buying when the opportunity presents itself."

That distinction mattered.

A lot.

For now, simply knowing the ability existed was enough. Roan then turned his attention back toward Sister Orb. "So, is that everything other than this?"

[There is one more skill.]

Another system window appeared.

[History Echo - 50 Orb Points]

The group became curious.

"What does it do?" Rean asked. "Can it show us the past?"

Celis narrowed his eyes. "Is it related to our Echo Power somehow?"

[Both assumptions are correct.] Sister Orb sounded rather pleased with herself. [History Echo allows the system to reconstruct fragments of past events associated with a location, an object, or an individual.]

The four immediately focused on her explanation.

[In a sense, it is connected to the destiny-related functions of the Orb System. The reconstruction itself becomes possible through the power of Echo. You may think of it as observing the echoes left behind by previous events.]

That sounded extremely interesting.

Unfortunately, Sister Orb quickly revealed the limitation.

[The reconstruction will never be perfect. You will not receive complete scenes. Instead, History Echo provides fragments of past events. Some fragments may be useful. Others may not.]

Now things made more sense. The skill wasn’t a perfect window into history. It was more like gathering broken pieces of a puzzle. Even so, the ability possessed tremendous potential.

The four immediately began imagining possible uses. Ancient ruins, lost inheritances, murder investigations, forgotten treasures, suspicious individuals, etc. The possibilities were endless.

At the same time, the limitations made it difficult to predict exactly when the skill would be useful. A fragment could reveal the answer they needed, or it could reveal something completely unrelated.

"It definitely sounds interesting," Kentucky commented.

Rean nodded.

Thinking about it further, he suddenly recalled the Third Eye of the Three-Eyed Raven.

The timing was too coincidental.

Both Combat Replay and History Echo seemed heavily related to observation, perception, and gathering information.

It was hard not to connect the two.

That thought led him toward another possibility.

Perhaps the Three-Eyed Raven’s abilities weren’t as simple as they originally believed.

The creature mainly used its third eye to interfere with perception and senses. However, could that really be the true extent of the bloodline’s potential?

What if the ravens of this region were merely weak descendants? What if stronger members of the species could use their third eyes to perceive history itself?

Unfortunately, there was no way to verify such theories.

At least not right now.

Eventually, Rean put those thoughts aside. "Alright," he said. "So those are the two new skills." Then he looked around the nest. "What do we do now? Save our points, or buy something?"

Kentucky immediately raised one wing. "I recommend the Soul Connection Range upgrade."

The suggestion wasn’t entirely unexpected. The others fell into thought. Soul Connection Range Level One only cost ten Orb Points. More importantly, it would increase their operational range to one thousand kilometers.

For cultivators at their level, that was actually quite significant. The problem was that its benefits weren’t immediately obvious. The Yin Yang Sanctuary still required Rean and Roan to remain relatively close to each other, so it wouldn’t make any difference for them with that ability.

Most of their current activities also took place in the same general area. Because of that, the upgrade didn’t appear particularly urgent. Still, there was another side to the argument.

The Soul Connection wasn’t merely a communication tool. It was the foundation supporting the Orb System itself. If the distance between members became too great, many system functions would become unavailable. The only thing that would work was their soul connection, which allowed them to talk, but that was all.

At the moment, the newly unlocked Combat Replay and History Echo were among the functions that could use this range upgrade.

The question was simple.

Would it be worth spending ten Orb Points now to avoid future problems?

At first glance, the answer wasn’t obvious.

Then Celis spoke. "We should buy it."

The others looked at him in surprise. Out of everyone present, Celis was usually the most reluctant to spend Orb Points. After all, the cultivation technique remained his highest priority.

Yet this time, he supported the purchase. "As much as it hurts to spend any Orb Points," he explained, "it would be far worse if we suddenly needed Combat Replay or History Echo and couldn’t use them."

That argument was difficult to refute. Sometimes preparation mattered more than efficiency.

Rean and Roan exchanged glances.

Then they nodded.

"Fair enough."

"Let’s do it."

The system immediately displayed the purchase screen.

[Soul Connection Range - Level One - 10 Orb Points]

[Increases connection range to 1000 kilometers.]

[Orb Points: 63]

[Confirm Purchase?]

"Yes."

The four answered simultaneously.

*Zuowmmm...*

A strange fluctuation immediately passed through their souls. The sensation only lasted a brief moment, yet all four clearly felt it. It was as if an invisible connection had suddenly expanded outward.

The bond linking them together remained exactly the same. Yet at the same time, it somehow felt larger, more stable, more complete.

The feeling disappeared almost instantly.

Then the system delivered its final notification.

[Soul Connection Range successfully upgraded to Level One.]

The group smiled.

It wasn’t the most exciting purchase they had ever made.

However, sometimes the most useful investments were the ones that prevented future problems before they ever appeared.

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