"No matter," said Xue Ren as he redirected his attention to the last of his latest unlocked Skills. "|Fireball Sniper|."
Right after reciting the name of the Skill, a concentration of fire energy formed at his fingertips. It condensed at an extremely rapid rate, achieving levels of heat intensity exceeding five hundred degrees Fahrenheit.
"So it's not a literal sniper, instead some kind of finger skill," Xue Ren noted. "The power emanating from it is definitely something else, and that's with it only being at 0% proficiency."
Aiming his finger at an oak tree, he beckoned for the fire energy to shoot.
BANG!
In the blink of an eye, the highly condensed fire energy mass hit the tree, leaving a small drilled hole in its place.
[Skill 'Fireball Sniper' proficiency increased by 0.00000001%]
[Skill 'Fireball Shield' proficiency increased by 0.00000002%]
[Skill 'Fireball Shield' proficiency increased by 0.00000002%]
[Skill 'Fireball Shield' proficiency increased by 0.00000003%]
[Skill….]
"That could certainly pierce through a human skull," Xue Ren guessed while observing the damage created by the |Fireball Sniper|. "On a side note, it would appear that the proficiency required to master the new Skills has taken another leap upward. At the current speed they're going at, I believe it'll take a couple years before I master all the Skills and evolve my |Fireball| to the next Tier."
With that in mind, Xue Ren decided to call it quits for now.
Even though he had informed his parents that he'd be out training for long periods of time this time as well, they were surely still worried about him. It was better to let |Fireball Shield| run in the background while he went back and reassured them that he was okay.
On his return trip home, Xue Ren opened up his System Interface and Fireball Evolution Tree to view all that had changed.
BLING!
{[Fireball Evolution System]}
[Host: Xue Ren]
[Lifespan: 13/165]
[Cultivation: Qi Condensation Realm (1st Layer)]
[Spiritual Root(s): Empty Spirit Roots (??? Rank)]
[Element(s): Fire (Highest Affinity), Blank (Highest Affinity)]
Nothing changed there.
As for his Fireball Evolution Tree…
{[Fireball Evolution Tree]}
:[Fireball]: – (Insert image of a light orange-colored Fireball)
[Tier: Orange (Light)] – [Evolution Gauge: 0%] – [0/2000 EP]
[Skills: Fireball (100%), Fireball Arrow (100%), Large Fireball (100%), Fireball Burst (0.00000001%), Fireball Shield (0.00000380%), Fireball Sniper (0.00000001%)]
With his current skills, his already tempered physical body, and his 1st Layer Qi Condensation Realm cultivation base, Xue Ren doubted any Qi Condensation Realm Cultivator was his match. He might even be capable of taking down Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivators, but that was yet to be seen.
"Oh, my baby boy, you're back~!"
The joyous shouting of his mother took Xue Ren out of his thoughts. He looked over, but not nearly fast enough, for her large breasts were already squishing him to death.
"Mother, I've only been gone for half a year," Xue Ren said apathetically. "I've gone out for longer periods before."
"Little Xue, even a single day of you away is one day too long!" Lan Yue snuggled her face against his, her expression absolute bliss. "If Momma could have it her way, she'd never allow you to leave the house. But my baby boy is stubborn, isn't he?"
Xue Ren gave no response, merely averting his vacant gaze.
"Ptui," Lan Yue huffed. "You're always doing that!"
Even as he was being shaken by his mother, Xue Ren remained as listless as ever. His mind constantly traced back to Fireball and all the powerful skills that came about because of her existence.
'If only I could find a way to improve my cultivation speed as well…' he thought. 'Even if I can spam skills all day long, in the end, it won't matter if my reaction speed is substantially slower than, say, a Golden Core Realm Grandmaster. I'd likely die before being able to cast even a single skill.'
*Ding!*
[You know, Destined Host, there is a way to rapidly improve your base cultivation speed. But I don't know if you're willing.]
'???'
'You can talk to me without my mother noticing?? And what's this about improving cultivation speed?? How???'
[You know your |Blank Spirit Roots| with the mysterious '?????' Rank? Well, you see, you weren't actually born with the lowest-ranked |Empty Spirit Roots|, but instead the ????? Ranked |Empty Spirit Roots|. They just weren't discovered before now because they exceed the limits of the Mortal World.]
'So I'm not underdog trash…?'
[No, you definitely are,] Fireball giggled. [After all, without the presence of the Fireball Evolution System, your Spiritual Roots really are the epitome of uselessness.]
'What do you mean?' asked Xue Ren.
[You know that weird sensation you feel every time you cast one of the Primary Fireball Skills? Well, that's actually your released energy trying to re-enter your body. You see, your Spiritual Roots make you into a type of perpetual energy machine.]
[Every energy that comes out of your body instinctively feels the urge to want to go back in and nourish your existence, thus improving your Cultivation. It's because of this quality that external Spiritual Energy is mostly rejected, resulting in extremely slow cultivation efficiency.]
[However, even though your Spiritual Roots may sound overpowered, they're actually far from it.]
[Under normal circumstances, a possessor of the ???? |Empty Spirit Roots| will not release nearly enough Spiritual Energy to even exceed the cultivation talent of other lowest-ranked Spiritual Roots. This results in them dying very early on, with not a single case of one achieving Immortality.]
[But things are different for you.]
'My Inexhaustible Spiritual Energy…'
— Next time on Spamming Fireball: Perpetual Self-Absorption, Evolvable Talent —