Chapter 6: Enhance! Enhance!
Xiao Yang followed all the way into the woods, watching from a distance.
A cackling cry broke the silence.
The great rooster, swift as lightning, darted to a centipede. The poor creature hadn’t even realized what was happening before it was swallowed in a single gulp.
After that, the rooster prowled through other patches of grass, launching into a massacre.
By the time it had wandered a full round, at least dozens of venomous insects had been devoured.
Not only was the rooster unharmed, but its energy and spirit seemed even stronger.
Before long, the great rooster returned, apparently full.
Yet Xiao Yang could not find it in himself to be happy.
The rooster’s appetite was simply too small. There were countless poisonous insects in the Cave of Ten Thousand Bugs. With only a few dozen eaten, who would deal with the rest?
“I must make it eat more,” he muttered under his breath, beginning to ponder a solution.
He could still buy more roosters, but when the time came to enter the Cave of Ten Thousand Bugs, bringing a whole flock along would be far too awkward.
After some thought, no clever solution came to mind—only a foolish one.
If he couldn’t form a team, he’d have to find a way to strengthen the individual.
With that, Xiao Yang had a direction.
He searched through the system shop. There were indeed many methods to strengthen a chicken, but the results were less than ideal.
For example, one could let the chicken inherit the bloodline of other powerful species. But that would make its bloodline impure and reduce its suppression over poisonous insects.
There were also pure bloodlines, but those were far too expensive—well beyond Xiao Yang’s means.
After much deliberation, only one path remained.
“Enhance!”
Though it was marked as the second-best choice for the lucky, he still wanted to try.
He beckoned the great rooster over, letting it squat at his feet. Then he opened the system’s enhancement page.
A virtual pill furnace appeared.
Above it was a line of tiny text, easy to overlook: “Success or failure depends entirely on fate!”
“I only wanted to give it a try, but that one line makes me uneasy,” Xiao Yang muttered.
He truly did not trust his own luck. He even suspected that he had used up all his fortune when he transmigrated, which explained his recent misfortunes.
Beside the pill furnace was a list of items available for enhancement.
At the moment, only a solitary great rooster occupied the list.
“Should I try?”
“I have to try!”
With a thought, he dragged the great rooster into the pill furnace.
Xiao Yang felt a little anxious, worried that what would come out would be a roast chicken.
That furnace was just too suggestive.
He glanced down to check the price at the bottom: ten premium points per attempt.
“Not bad, still within my means.”
He found the price acceptable—even if he failed, he would only lose eleven premium points. Well within his tolerance.
“Do your best,” he murmured to the rooster.
The great rooster looked up at Xiao Yang in confusion, clearly not understanding.
“Enhance!”
At once, a radiant, multicolored light burst forth!
Xiao Yang felt certain of success. Such dazzling brilliance could only mean a favorable outcome.
“Ding! Enhancement failed. Luck +3!”
“Damn!”
Though he had failed, Xiao Yang breathed a sigh of relief. The great rooster was still there, which meant failure didn’t destroy the item.
“With three more luck points, it should work this time!”
He tried again.
The rainbow light reappeared, and in reality, the great rooster stood bathed in its glow.
“Ding! Enhancement successful! Speckled Rooster cultivation +1.”
“It worked!” he shouted with excitement.
He hurried to open the attribute panel to check the rooster’s stats.
Name: Speckled Rooster [+1]
Cultivation: First level Minor Demon
Potential: Ordinary
Description: A great rooster stepping into the realm of spiritual birds.
This world was full of beasts, generally divided into three categories: demon beasts, ferocious beasts, and spiritual beasts.
Their cultivation realms matched those of humans: Minor Demon, Demon Master, Great Demon Master, Demon Marquis—each realm divided into ten levels.
“It’s cultivated now, but I wonder about its combat power.”
He glanced down at the rooster.
After a moment’s thought, he decided that +1 wasn’t enough. Why not enhance it to +7?
He acted on impulse.
He checked the cost for the next enhancement—twenty premium points.
Still manageable.
Without hesitation, he initiated the enhancement.
“Great rooster, onward!” he called, raising his voice to build excitement.
Fortunately, Xiao Yang lived in a remote place, almost wilderness by night, so no one would hear him.
“Ding! Enhancement failed!”
“Ding! Enhancement failed!”
“Ding! Enhancement successful! Speckled Rooster cultivation +1!”
“Go for it!”
Xiao Yang was getting the same thrill as when he used to enhance gear in games.
He was determined to push the rooster’s level up.
“Ding! Enhancement successful! Speckled Rooster cultivation +1!”
Finally, after hearing “enhancement successful” for the seventh time, he stopped.
He had lost track of how many attempts he had made.
He only remembered failing many times.
Name: Speckled Rooster [+7]
Cultivation: Seventh level Minor Demon
Potential: Ordinary
Description: Dominant among Speckled Roosters!
“That’s enough for now,” he said, glancing at his remaining premium points—just over three thousand. He shook his head.
He still needed those points.
His current aptitude was too poor—he had to use the remaining three thousand to improve it.
Possessing an aptitude worse than a mutt’s was just too disheartening.
He browsed the system shop.
Soon enough, Xiao Yang found an item to boost his aptitude—and one he could afford.
Name: Hundred-Thousand-Fold Talent Amplification Card
Quality: Unique
Description: Increases talent a hundred thousandfold
Points: Three thousand (down payment)
Xiao Yang took a deep breath.
He had no idea what a hundred thousandfold talent meant. He only knew that ten-star talent was just a hundred times stronger than one-star, and that was already enough.
Without hesitation, he bought it.
Even if he had to sell everything he owned, he would buy it.
With this card, even if his talent didn’t reach the maximum, it would be close enough.
“Ding! Congratulations, host, you have obtained a Hundred-Thousand-Fold Talent Amplification Card. Three thousand points down payment, thirty thousand due next month.”
He ignored the system’s chatter.
He took out the talent card, gripping it tightly.
It was an ancient, black card covered in intricate designs—ancient divine dragons soaring through the heavens, immortal giants plucking stars from the sky…
With every passing second, the images shifted, impossible to predict what would appear next.
At the same time, the method of use surfaced in his mind.
“Just crush it?” he murmured.
He clenched his right hand.
With a crisp snap, the black card melted into his body.
“Ah!” A sharp pain shot through his brain, but it vanished quickly.
When he opened his eyes again, the world had subtly changed.
Problems he couldn’t solve before became instantly clear.
He could even sense, with perfect clarity, that the great rooster was at that very moment absorbing the essence of sun and moon, diligently cultivating.
“What a marvelous feeling!”
He took a moment to adjust.
A faint smile spread across Xiao Yang’s face.
“Hehe, tomorrow I’ll turn the world upside down for him.”