Yang Xi tried disassembling the Dark Energy Cubes again, but after several attempts, he still couldn't succeed.
"Perhaps my current ability is insufficient, or maybe these Dark Energy Cubes cannot be broken down further."
"Since this Dark Energy is a special energy that Esper Abilities are made of, can it be used to upgrade the low-level Esper Abilities that I'd obtained from the Mystic Beasts?"
Yang Xi wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked at the small black cube in his palm.
The cube had a perfect square shape and it felt indestructible.
"Is it directly condensing energy into matter? This doesn't make sense at all. Although it's so small, it must contain an exaggerated amount of dark energy, right? But this is only one-tenth of a Grade-F Esper Ability."
Yang Xi had no way of measuring how much energy this Dark Energy Cube contained. But in any case, if he was only using it as a measuring unit, he didn't need to know how much energy it had.
"Hu…"
Yang Xi let out a long breath. His stamina was actually quite good. The reason why it was so difficult and tiring the first time was probably because he was unfamiliar with the process. After practicing a few more times, the effort used to disintegrate Esper Abilities became similar to the consumption of robbing Esper Abilities from people's bodies.
"I still need to eat."
He ordered a bowl of spicy hotpot and directly went back to his research.
"I'll choose Puppet Control as the target Esper Ability. Although Electric Plasma is strong, Puppet Control sounds like an ability that can be used to control people's hearts, so it has more utility."
But before trying to upgrade Puppet Control, Yang Xi felt that he should try fusing Esper Abilities first.
Yang Xi had only experienced fusion once. His sister's Grade-D Spirit Shock and Lin Naixue's Grade-F Brain Overload had fused and become the Grade-D+ Esper Ability Super Brain because they were the same type of ability.
Previously, he had obtained a total of 27 Grade-F Esper Ability Beads from disassembling the Grade-C Flaming Fists. They were roughly divided into three categories: ignition, fire-control, and boxing.
"The first two types of Esper Abilities should belong to the same type, but the last one should be a combat or learning type Esper Ability, right?"
Filled with doubts, Yang Xi tried to fuse the Grade-F Boxer and Grade-F Fire Control Esper Abilities. However, due to their different elements, the fusion failed!
"Strange, they are clearly abilities that were disassembled from the same Esper Ability, but they can't be fused together anymore."
Following this, Yang Xi tried to fuse the Grade-F Ignition with the Grade-F Fire Control and successfully formed a Grade-F+ Esper Ability, Spark!
[Esper Ability: Spark
Introduction: A snap of the finger can produce sparks, and it can be freely controlled within five meters.
Evaluation: Grade-F+. Can light a cigarette for others from five meters away!]
"It seems that Esper Abilities that combine different elements can only be found in people who were born with them. Strip can only fuse abilities of the same type."
After giving up on the path of fusing, Yang Xi placed his hopes on the upgrading of his Esper Abilities. Crossing his fingers, he muttered, "The Dark Energy experiment cannot fail!"
Yang Xi pulled a unit of Dark Energy Cube towards the red Puppet Control Esper Ability Bead. Shockingly, the seemingly indestructible Dark Energy Cube directly fused into the Esper Ability Bead with incredible smoothness.
Like throwing a pebble into a lake, a ripple spread out on the surface of the Esper Ability Bead and the Dark Energy Cube was completely absorbed.
"It looks more like the Esper Ability Bead ate up the Dark Energy Cube."
Invigorated, Yang Xi let Puppet Control absorb 10 more Dark Energy Cubes, and the red color of the Esper Ability Bead became slightly richer.
He continued to disassemble the other Grade-F Esper Ability Bead into Dark Energy Cubes for the Puppet Control Esper Ability Bead to absorb. Finally, after absorbing 20 Dark Energy Cubes, the Puppet Control Esper Ability Bead turned from red to orange.
[Esper Ability: Puppet Control
Introduction: Can direct hints to a target's subconscious.
Evaluation: Grade-E. A deception skill. You can go buy crutches now.]
After absorbing 80 Dark Energy Cubes, Puppet Control became a Grade-D Esper Ability.
[Esper Ability: Puppet Control
Introduction: You can control other people's thoughts for a short period of time.
Evaluation: Grade-D. Things done forcibly can be good too, although it is only temporary.]
Yang Xi kept the Grade-F+ Spark and the Grade-F Boxer Esper Ability Beads, and broke down the rest of the Esper Ability Beads into Dark Energy Cubes and fed them to Puppet Control.
In total, Puppet Control absorbed a total of 240 Dark Energy Cubes, but it still remained a Grade-D+Esper Ability. However, the period where he could maintain control over his target's thoughts had become three hours.
Electric Plasma, Clone, Super Brain, and Morph were all pretty good abilities. However, their levels were relatively low. Yang Xi gritted his teeth and directly disassembled the Grade-B Fire-resistant Shell into a Grade-C Esper Ability Bead and 540 Dark Energy Cubes.
The Grade-C Fire-resistant Shell now only granted immunity to Grade-C fire elemental attacks and doubled his physical defense.
Then, Yang Xi used up some Dark Energy Cubes and finally upgraded Puppet Control to Grade-C.
[Esper Ability: Puppet Control
Introduction: Brainwash a target and obtain absolute loyalty for a month. During this period, the target's vision can be shared. (Puppet Number: 0/1)
Evaluation: Grade-C, just a so-so ability. You can only brainwash a lifeform one level weaker than yourself.]
Yang Xi was shocked. This Esper Ability was really too terrifying. As expected of the Esper Ability obtained from the Grade-S Mystic Beast, Deep Sea Banshee. Just a Grade-C ability could completely brainwash people.
If Yang Xi wanted to date someone, he could just brainwash them with his Puppet Control. However, Yang Xi disdained to do such a despicable thing. If nothing went wrong, he would probably be using his puppet control ability on Young Master Liu.
At this moment, Liu Yuan, who was speeding on the mountain, suddenly sneezed and his car nearly drifted out of the bend. Half of his wheels were already outside the cliff!
The girl beside him was so scared that she peed her pants.
"F*ck!"
He was also scared half to death. Liu Yuan hurriedly got out of the car and called for help. There were only five days left until the fateful deal. He did not want any accidents to happen at this time.
"We should speed less in the future! Why don't we go home and watch TV?"
Ever since he felt that he had the possibility of obtaining an Esper Ability, Young Master Liu's interest in racing and playing with women had decreased significantly. Instead, the Hero television series that he especially hated previously had become his favorite things to watch. Every day, he fantasized about what kind of Esper Ability he could exchange from the black-robed masked man.
...
After eating the spicy hotpot, Yang Xi upgraded both Super Brain and Electric Plasma to Grade-C. He spent 100 and 240 Dark Energy Cubes respectively for the two abilities, leaving him with 110 Dark Energy Cubes.
[Esper Ability: Super Brain
Introduction: Can launch a spiritual shockwave to attack enemies. Greatly increases the potential of the brain. Vision, hearing, smell, touch, and body coordination are all enhanced. Also grants photographic memory.
Evaluation: Grade-C. It's time to be a genius!
Esper Ability: Electric Plasma
Introduction: Create and control electric plasma to attack enemies
Evaluation: Grade-C. You can charge an electric car now…]
Now, Yang Xi basically understood that Strip was an Esper ability that could also increase the potential of other Esper Abilities. There was no need to talk about the potential of Super Brain. It granted an increase in all aspects. With the power of the current Spirit Shock, even Grade-B Espers with weak spirit defenses would suffer heavy damage. Electric Plasma was even more impressive. A single electric plasma blast could level an entire street in mere minutes.
With the remaining 110 Dark Energy Cubes, Yang Xi chose to upgrade the Grade-F ability, Clone, to Grade-D. Clone could now create a doppelganger that had one-tenth of the original's strength for five minutes. He spent 80 Dark Energy Cubes on it.
As for the remaining 30 Dark Energy Cubes he allocated 10 to Spark, upgrading it to Grade-E, Raging Flames. 20 Dark Energy Cubes were used to upgrade Boxer to Superior Boxer.
Yang Xi felt like he'd been opening loot boxes all night, successfully upgrading all his equipment.
Now, he had more confidence in going to the Mystic Beasts Corpse Disposal Center tomorrow to collect Esper Abilities. Although his strongest Esper Ability had now dropped from Grade-B to Grade-C, his overall strength had increased by more than one level.
Just as he was about to go to sleep, he heard Lin Naixue's hysterical screams from outside.