Chapter 27: Hsinchu

After killing the renegades and their spirit breeds, Starry directly devoured all the dead spirit breeds.

There were too many spirit breeds to carry away, so she had no choice but to consume them on the spot.

Moreover, it only took Starry a moment to devour the spirit breeds—an incredibly quick process that wasted no time.

However, to Starry’s surprise, after devouring five spirit breeds, she unexpectedly obtained a densely patterned stone.

It was worth noting that she had spent over ten days previously hunting many F-level and E-level spirit breeds but hadn’t acquired a single densely patterned stone.

Yet today, one dropped so unexpectedly.

Starry bent down and picked up the stone from the ground, a joyful smile spreading across her face.

This single stone was worth at least ten thousand spirit energy gems! Fortune smiles upon me!

Of course, spirit breeds of other attributes could also be taught skills, though they wouldn’t be able to fully unleash their power.

After carefully storing the densely patterned stone, Starry stuffed the six dead renegades into two black bracelets, rolling them up.

It seemed the bracelets couldn’t contain all six, only four fit.

Since that was the case, she summoned Nightfight and pointed at two of the male bodies.

“Nightfight, dispose of their remains.”

“Meow~” Nightfight understood immediately, manipulating black mist to dissolve the two corpses.

Starry intended to take the remaining four bodies back to skin them for future use, as this form might not last much longer.

Having finished everything, Starry grabbed the apothecary mouse and vanished in a flash.

A gust of mountain wind swept through, quickly dispersing the faint scent of blood lingering in the air. No one would suspect a massacre had just taken place here.

(Note: Nightfight cleaned up all the bloodstains.)

Back in the surface world, dusk was settling.

The moment Starry returned home, she replaced Nightfight’s and Princess’s spirit energy cards, embedding spirit energy gems in them to aid their cultivation.

Now, money was no object!

Each attribute spirit energy card could hold six spirit energy gems, supporting Nightfight’s and Princess’s training for a whole month.

Of course, if Princess or Nightfight leveled up and required more spirit energy, this duration would shorten significantly.

It was unclear what kind of advanced tech the spirit energy cards used; when a gem neared the slot on the card, it would automatically transform into a wisp of light and enter the groove, eventually shrinking to half the size of a thumbnail.

Once the spirit energy gems were embedded, the cards looked far more impressive.

With a new home, Nightfight and Princess were both very happy.

Nightfight strutted proudly across the carpet, joy radiating from his every step.

Though Princess was internally overjoyed, her expression remained haughty and disdainful, casting a scornful glance at Nightfight.

“Hmph, such petty behavior. A new residence is nothing to me; as a princess, I am worthy of any place.”

“Meow~” Sensing Princess’s gaze, Nightfight shot her a sharp look.

“What are you staring at?”

Princess retorted, “What are you gonna do about it?”

For a moment, tension simmered between the two spirit breeds, sharp as drawn swords.

Starry, however, paid no mind to their petty quarrels and instead turned her attention to the apothecary mouse curled up in the corner.

Without its master, the mouse had become extremely timid.

“Come here!” Starry commanded coldly.

Although frightened, the apothecary mouse could not disobey and timidly approached, emitting fearful squeaks.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak~ Don’t eat me, I’m not tasty—tough and old meat.”

Tears welled in its eyes, making it look pitiful.

The mouse actually looked quite adorable, somewhat like a softer, cuter version of a groundhog, with fluffier, smoother fur—plump and round, clearly very pettable.

Of course, it was still no match for Nightfight.

Though Starry couldn’t understand its speech precisely, she could roughly guess its meaning.

She smiled and said, “Don’t worry. As long as you work well for me, I won’t hurt you.”

Upon hearing this, the mouse quickly wiped away its tears and bowed repeatedly to Starry.

“Thank you for sparing my life, thank you for not eating me.”

Starry then took out a gemstone spirit energy card, captured the apothecary mouse inside, and carefully embedded spirit energy gems in the card.

The gemstone spirit energy card was a tier below the attribute card, requiring eight spirit energy gems at once but still lasting a month.

Such wastefulness.

But there was no choice—who could predict what type of spirit breed one would tame?

Make do for now; she could replace it later.

Next, Starry pulled out the spirit energy card containing the Cursed Witch Child.

With a flash of light, the Cursed Witch Child appeared outside.

As soon as she emerged, the Cursed Witch Child launched an attack, swinging a dagger straight at Starry’s chest.

Although she was rated D like Starry, she was severely injured and naturally no match for her.

Starry flicked her fingernail out, effortlessly catching the dagger.

The witch child tried to pull the dagger free, but Starry’s movements were too fast; she grabbed the girl's chin and pressed a piece of flesh and blood into her mouth.

Starry’s flesh dissolved like jelly upon entering the mouth, with a hint of sweetness. Before the witch child could react, it slid down her throat.

Upon swallowing Starry’s flesh, the witch child's wounds healed instantly.

Feeling her body restored, the witch child was stunned; her previous weakness vanished completely.

Starry smiled and asked, “How do you feel?”

At that moment, the witch child harbored no hostility, her eyes now filled with attachment.

This attachment wasn’t solely because she had eaten Starry’s flesh.

In fact, Starry was unaware of the witch child’s peculiar origin.

She had been born with albinism and a frail body, causing her mother to loathe her.

The mother’s hatred stemmed not just from the albinism but also because the child was born out of wedlock, the man who impregnated her having abandoned her.

To win her mother’s favor, even since she could remember as a human, the witch child had been obedient and well-behaved.

Yet none of this earned her mother’s love.

The mother was a famous celebrity whose popularity waned with age, leading her to hatch a sinister plan—to raise a ghost child.

Not fond of her daughter to begin with, she naturally targeted her own child.

She obtained a method—though mistakenly—for creating a ghost child and began experimenting on the witch child.

She soaked her daughter in black dog’s blood and fed her various herbs.

The witch child endured everything to please her mother.

But the celebrity had been deceived: the method she acquired wasn’t for creating ghost children but rather a way to transform the deceased into spirits.

The final step required the mother to personally kill her daughter.

After 81 days of preparation, the mother stabbed the girl’s heart with a dagger—the very dagger the witch child now carried.

Because she was killed by her own mother, her resentment boiled over, transforming her into a unique spirit breed: the Cursed Witch Child.

Even so, despite her hatred, she could not bring herself to kill her mother and fled from home.

Later, while wandering, she was captured by the Black Gold Guild.

Having lived only with her mother, never encountering others, Starry was the first to treat her kindly and heal her wounds.

When her mother beat her, she never treated the injuries; she learned to tend to them herself.

This lack of care caused her uncontrollable attachment to Starry.

“Mom…” the witch child called out once but immediately realized her mistake and quickly corrected herself, “Master.”

Starry looked surprised. “You can speak?”

The witch child nodded; she could speak but was usually silent, rarely uttering words.

Starry asked, “Do you have a name?”

The witch child shook her head. In life, her mother only called her “dead girl” or “little bastard.”

Starry said, “Then I’ll give you a name.”

The witch child’s eyes lit up, clearly delighted. She had longed for a name, like the people on television.

She tried hard to smile, but her stiff facial muscles only produced a grimace—eerily unnatural and chilling enough to frighten anyone at midnight.

Even without expression, her appearance was terrifying to ordinary people.

Her skin was dark blue, lips purple-black, and nails blackish-purple—clearly not living.

But looking closely, she was actually exquisitely delicate and cute, surely once quick-witted.

What a pity…

After a moment of thought, Starry said, “What lies before the bridge is tender new bamboo—let’s call you New Bamboo. It symbolizes your rebirth.”

“New… Bamboo?” the witch child stammered, repeating her new name.

“Yes, New Bamboo. Do you like it?” Starry asked.

“I do… like it.” New Bamboo held her dagger to her chest, her small feet fidgeting. Though expressionless, Starry sensed her good mood.

Starry couldn’t help but sigh; as the guidebook said, this little one was indeed very obedient.

As for the apothecary mouse, Starry didn’t bother naming it—she’d just call it Apothecary.

After settling matters with New Bamboo, Starry released Princess again.

She placed the densely patterned stone of the Lightning Curse Halo before Princess, asking, “I just got this densely patterned stone. Do you want to learn it?”

“Goo goo goo?” Princess tilted her head in confusion.

What skill was this?

Starry briefly explained the effect and casting method of the Lightning Curse Halo.

Princess was conflicted.

She liked the skill itself; it would surely look elegant and cool.

But she already had Liuguang for ranged attacks, which suited her better.

She preferred a melee skill or an elegant buff.

After hesitating, Princess decided to forgo the skill.

She gestured with her wings toward New Bamboo, signaling she was willing to give the densely patterned stone to her.

Starry sighed, “But New Bamboo is a support-type spirit breed; attack skills won’t reach full potential.”

An attack-type spirit breed using an attack skill of matching attribute can unleash 100% power; if mismatched, only 80%.

A defense-type spirit breed using an attack skill can unleash 80% if matched, 60% if not.

Control, healing, and support spirit breeds can only unleash 60% power when matched, and 50% if not, when using attack skills.

Thus, it’s not cost-effective for control, healing, or support types to learn attack skills—unless they discover them through leveling up.

Support skills, on the other hand, are widely learnable and usable by attack, defense, control, and healing spirit breeds, especially self-buffing skills.

In short, skill learning for spirit breeds is a vast subject, and as a novice, Starry couldn’t fully grasp it yet.

“Are you sure you don’t want it?” Starry asked.

Princess shook her head vigorously: “No, no, it’s a waste of a skill slot.”

“Alright, then I’ll sell it later and exchange it for spirit energy gems for your training,” Starry said with a smile, sliding the stone back into her spirit tattoo bracelet.

At that moment, New Bamboo’s eyes widened in disbelief, stammering, “I… have one too?”

“Of course!” Starry nodded. “You’re part of this family now.”

Family… part of it…

Hearing these lavish words, New Bamboo looked at Starry in a daze, her eyes sparkling.

Do I… finally have a real home?

Starry then summoned Nightfight and re-released the apothecary mouse.

Upon arrival, Nightfight immediately fixed a dangerous gaze on the mouse.

The mouse shrank trembling into a corner of the sofa.

Starry said, “Nightfight, don’t bully Apothecary. It’s part of our family now.”

“Meow~” Nightfight disdainfully turned away, ignoring the timid creature.

Starry introduced New Bamboo to them.

“This is New Bamboo, a new companion who just joined us. She’s young, so please take care of her.”

Counting her lifetime, New Bamboo was about four years old.

Nightfight hesitated briefly, then suddenly grew larger in size and crouched before New Bamboo.

New Bamboo looked puzzled and somewhat embarrassed.

Starry chuckled, “Nightfight wants you to ride on his back.”

“Meow~” Nightfight nodded gently.

Though New Bamboo couldn’t express much, a flicker of surprise crossed her eyes.

After hesitation, she slowly climbed onto Nightfight’s back and sat firmly.

Nightfight then carried New Bamboo around the living room, occasionally teasing her, though New Bamboo never smiled.

Princess, acting aloof, turned away: “Hmph, flatterer. Don’t think I don’t know you’re just trying to win the master’s favor.”

Thinking this, she walked to the living room table, spread her legs, and sat down.

Then, from somewhere, she pulled out a makeup kit, opened it, and began to apply eyebrows and makeup.

Starry: …

Where on earth did you find my makeup kit?

Since Starry rarely wore makeup, her old kits were all gathering dust.

It was impressive Princess managed to find one.

By the way, do you know how to use it?

Seeing the spirit breeds all busy with their own affairs, Starry turned to her own tasks.

She still had a few human skins left to peel.