Lin Xiwu stood there in a daze.
The afterimage of the blood-red river called Elation kept pouring into his body.
Seeing this, the many threads in the sky faded away like a brush running out of ink. A few Path threads circled a couple more times as if wanting to come down, but in the end, they flickered a few times and dissipated into the air.
"Crap, our school has an Elation deadweight."
"With such a big scene, probably the whole city knows."
"The school will definitely block the news, to protect that classmate's privacy."
"But who here doesn't know he stepped onto the Path of Elation?"
Countless students whispered, endlessly discussing what had just happened.
Everyone knew!
[Elation]!
The most useless Path in history, bar none. No help to combat whatsoever!
Throughout history, there had been many Fate Souls that were renowned on other Paths — for example, the most common [Destruction Warrior], [The Hunt Warrior], and the rare [Erudition Warrior].
But once your Path was Elation, you were screwed. A purely negative Path.
Because this Path was too strange! When other Paths leveled up, most of what you got were skills related to your Fate Soul — things like Berserker Physique, Star-Chasing Sword, Crescent Slash.
Only the Path of Elation stuffed its skill library with countless useless skills.
Conjure a tiny flower,
Double the spit output,
Blink and you'll tinkle — can't control it at all, and what's worse, it's a passive skill (mainly controlling yourself)!
The worst part was!
The initial skills of Elation were almost all Sounds of Lament — in other words, fake crying.
Oh, right. There was a big shot who, relying on his hidden Fate Soul's high initial combat power and clinging desperately to his teammates' legs, painfully endured to Bronze 3rd Rank, and then Sound of Lament upgraded.
(Fate Soul Ranks: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Stellar. Each rank has 9 sub-ranks.)
Sound of Lament → Sound of Wailing.
Commonly known as: real crying.
He still didn't give up. Fought all the way to Bronze 6th Rank, and the Path library gave him an Elation Aura. Within a hundred meters, other Pathwalkers had a chance to miss their attacks!
Many forms of manifestation — slipping, getting winded, or an extremely small chance of triggering even worse luck.
And this was a 24/7 passive aura skill!
For the sake of his teammates, this big shot resolutely retired... before his teammates beat him to death.
And at this moment.
In another space, upside down and filled with mirrors.
Lin Xiwu's consciousness found itself there, and in his ears came the laughter of countless beings.
Seductive women, tender maidens, aged elders, young boys — shrill laughter, unrestrained laughter, suppressed laughter — endless, layered upon layers.
The terrifying laughter made Lin Xiwu's head throb with pain. The little figure manifested by his consciousness flickered like a TV screen with a bad signal.
This was the Aeon of Elation, Aha, wasn't it?
Even without appearing, it already made one's head split — an existence beyond ordinary people's reach.
"How interesting. Really, really interesting."
All things returned to one. The world fell silent.
Before Lin Xiwu appeared a beautiful young girl with twin ponytails, a delicate figure, dressed in an intricate Lolita short skirt, with several black-white-red masks hanging from the skirt.
"Little blue hair~ What's your name?"
"Uh... Lin Xiwu."
Lin Xiwu stared hesitantly at the twin-tailed girl in front of him.
So similar, so incredibly similar — apart from a different outfit, wasn't this just Sparkle from Star Rail in his previous life?
"Oh~ I read your memories. What explosive news, isn't it~" 'Sparkle' stepped forward, extending a jade-white arm, and placed a slender finger under Lin Xiwu's chin. "You blue-haired one, you really please me~"
"Ah, no."
Lin Xiwu's spine went cold. His identity as a transmigrator — he had only just arrived, and it was already discovered???
"Relax, take it easy. That's not important. What's important is what I'm going to do next." 'Sparkle' leaned back, crossing her legs beneath her short skirt, sitting in the void, looking at Lin Xiwu. "Or maybe~"
"Would this make you more comfortable?"
The next instant,
'Sparkle's' face flickered, and she became a bit taller.
It was a delicate, lovable face. Tiny fluorescent patterns on her cheeks slowly crept upward, giving a kind of fragile beauty. Her voice, though soft, was full of determination: "Firefly flings herself into the flame, lives unto death, until everything burns to ash."
"..."
Lin Xiwu was speechless.
Now she'd changed to Firefly!
Truly the Aeon of Elation — what a card!
"Listen to Mom, be good."
An urban beauty with purple long hair, holding a long sword in her right hand and a submachine gun in her left, her beautiful face full of gentle affection.
"Mom... no, bro... uh, big shot. Just tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it. Stop messing around. I can't take it."
Lin Xiwu lowered his head, avoiding 'Xinglan's' gaze.
"No fun. What I want you to do is very simple." Xinglan's figure dissolved, turning into a palm-sized clown box floating in the air.
A square base. A red-and-white roly-poly clown wobbled on top, its voice sounding like many overlapping voices — both male and female.
"Take a look at your Fate Soul."
Following Aha's words, Lin Xiwu subconsciously recalled the information about his Fate Soul.
A panel appeared before him.
[Fate Soul · Star Source]
Initial Fate Soul Weapon (Awakened): Harmonic Top Hat. (1/1)
(Promoting Fate Soul rank unlocks the next Fate Soul weapon at random. Each unlock grants brand new weapon skills.)
Harmonic Top Hat Talent Skill:
['Noisy Lantern Parade']: Perform a dance, granting the entire team a Toughness Reduction effect. When Toughness Reduction is fully stacked, the next attack's damage is massively increased, dealing Super Break Damage.]
He was stunned at first, then a wave of joy surged into his heart.
"So, every time I advance my Fate Soul rank, I'll get a new weapon? That means each promotion is like having one more Fate Soul than everyone else?"
"Correct. Each time you unlock a new weapon, you also draw skills corresponding to that rank. For example, you're now at Bronze 9th Rank. You get one skill draw every 3 ranks, so you have a total of 3 skills. When you advance to Silver and get the next weapon, you'll gain 3 more skill draws. If you unlock a weapon at Gold, that's 6 draws."
"But here's the problem. The Elation skill library is full of garbage that griefs teammates. Even if I get more draws, what can I do if I can't draw anything useful?"
Lin Xiwu's soul-searching question plunged Aha into a long silence.
Then the clown roly-poly wobbled. "Actually, I just wanted to prove that with enough luck, the Path of Elation would eventually produce the strongest Pathwalker of all! And then I added the Path skills of all the other Fate Souls. Aha ha — for some reason, Erudition found out, and later, under each other's interference, we signed some clause! Since then, a flood of useless skills poured in."
"Oh, right. I've given you a special privilege. Every time you draw a skill, you can choose three Fate Souls + Paths as your selection pool! For example — Destruction · Warrior, The Hunt · Hunter, Harmony · Priest. If you target those three, you'll only draw from their skill libraries."
"Huh?!"
Lin Xiwu's eyes lit up. "Such a good deal!"
"I've placed a restriction on you. You can't talk about this. So on the surface, the skills you get will just look like regular draws."
"Um, I'd like to ask — does the designated Fate Soul include hidden Fate Souls?"
"What do you think?"
"In... includes?"
"Solid guarantee, little bro. The Elation skill library contains everything."
"Aha be praised! From now on, I am a faithful practitioner of the Path of Elation! I'm your biggest fan!"
"Hee hee hee."
"Hee hee hee."
The clown box wobbled, emitting a mischievous laugh — then suddenly noticed Lin Xiwu was laughing the same way.
The clown box stopped abruptly.
"Oh, right. Your initial skill after stepping onto the Path is Sound of Wailing — the upgraded version of Sound of Lament."
Lin Xiwu stopped laughing.
He kind of wanted to cry.