But although these skills are useful, they donât offer much improvement in the current situation.
According to Zhang Xiaomanâs plan, if he could release the Ship-Slicing Blade in advance and store it in the Time Imprint, it would become a powerful trump card in future battles.
Unfortunately, things donât always go as planned, and he hasnât found a way to effectively increase his spiritual power limit yet.
"Huh? Whatâs that?"
While wandering around, a shopâs sign caught his eye and successfully drew his attention.
It was a shop that didnât look very large, and its overall exterior design blended well with the surrounding environment, with a strong heavy metal style. Graffiti covered the less than 10 square meter facade, making it look hardly like a reliable place.
However, this seemingly unreliable shop managed to catch Zhang Xiaomanâs eye at that moment.
"Pique Star Pattern Hall?"
He slowly read the name on the sign, feeling a sudden shock in his heart.
"Star Pattern!?"
Zhang Xiaomanâs eyes widened.
If this were in the past, upon seeing a shop with this kind of décor, he would definitely classify it as similar to a tattoo parlor on Water Blue Star.
After witnessing on Erin Star the mysterious patterns used by Ziwei and the Joy Reaper Team during battles, he understood that these Star Patterns werenât just simple tattoos.
They were Runes capable of greatly enhancing the combat power of Dark Spirits, Runes that nearly all Dark Spirits within the Dark Star Alliance would imprint.
Having previously arrived here and attended auctions as well as cultivated the Ship-Slicing Blade, he had forgotten about this matter.
According to Ziwei, after imprinting Star Patterns, even when not in an activated state, they could bring substantial enhancements.
These enhancements were comprehensive, affecting attributes such as constitution, spiritual power, and reaction speed.
Upon thinking of this, Zhang Xiaoman couldnât help but show excitement on his face.
Regardless of his urgent need to increase his ability limits, he couldnât pass up the opportunity to imprint Star Patterns on himself.
In this Star Domain, there are three major professions he was keen to explore.
One was the Star Pattern Master before him, and the other two were the Spell Painter and Dream Master.
The Star Pattern Master, needless to say, could directly enhance the combat power of Imprinters, an effect evident from the battle scenes Zhang Xiaoman witnessed on Erin Star.
The Spell Painter is a profession capable of creating various Dark Spirit Circuits, which can be embedded in equipment slots to enhance the equipment or oneâs abilities.
Zhang Xiaoman himself had started researching this profession and successfully created "Stability" and "Acceleration" circuits.
The Dream Master was a profession he yearned for but hadnât yet encountered.
Dream Masters could not only create exquisite movies and games through dream generators but also use Lemon Dream Powder, also known as Star Dust, to extract objects from dreams and manifest them in reality.
Zhang Xiaoman felt that he had plenty of ways to acquire Star Dust, and there might be opportunities for him to develop in that direction.
Now, before him was this Star Pattern Hall, prompting him to immediately decide to enhance his power and increase his spiritual power limit by imprinting Star Patterns, achieving two goals at once.
"There should be more than one Star Pattern Hall on this planet..."
He didnât enter immediately but instead opened his personal terminal.
After all, imprinting Star Patterns didnât seem like a trivial matter, and this shop in front of him looked too shabby. Given the choice, Zhang Xiaoman naturally preferred a better option.
"Star Pattern Hall... There are... three in total on Skull Star? Including the official hall of the Dark Spirit Association, thatâs four... so few!?"
Surprised by the search results, Zhang Xiaoman was taken aback.
He even saw images of the other two Star Pattern Halls on his personal terminal, which didnât look much different than before.
All appeared as shabby little shops on the outside, leading him to wonder if this was a peculiar hobby of new Star Pattern Masters or just unique to this planet.
Immediately, Zhang Xiaoman focused his attention on the official Star Pattern Master of the Dark Spirit Association. Having the chance to take the official route for imprinting, he would naturally choose it over something akin to a roadside stall.
To his utter surprise, the official hallâs Star Pattern Masterâs status indicated being busy, and upon checking the reservations, Zhang Xiaoman found out that the wait was seven years ahead.
Moreover, considering the current busy state of that Star Pattern Master, the estimated remaining time needed was at least a month or so, which made him click his tongue in awe.
"Does it really take that long to craft a Star Pattern?"
After pondering for a moment, Zhang Xiaoman felt relieved.
Indeed, if Star Patterns, as a means to greatly enhance combat power, could be done with ease, it would be strange.
Since the official Star Pattern Master was busy, Zhang Xiaoman didnât hesitate and stepped directly into the Star Pattern Hall before him.
"As expected, this place doesnât look reliable at all..."
He glanced around, examining the surroundings and finding them as anticipatedâvery rudimentary.
The entire room was only about 50 square meters in size, dimly lit, with a few worn-out tables and chairs crowded in a corner, on which sat a bunch of test tubes filled with unknown liquids making "bubbling" sounds.
A blond man wearing brown pants and shirtless was sitting among those test tubes.
He leaned on a chair with his feet higher than his head, his whole body covered in tattoos, making it hard to determine how many Star Patterns he had.
The blond man squinted his eyes, holding a straw from the container of unknown liquid, enjoying the gas inside.
"Yo, a customer, here for a tattoo?"
Without lifting his butt, the man greeted Zhang Xiaoman with a wave of his hand, pulling a semi-transparent screen in front of him.
"Is this... ordinary tattoos?"
Upon seeing the price list on the screen, Zhang Xiaoman was stunned for a moment.
"Oh? Here to imprint Star Patterns."
The man swiftly stood up from the chair, first extinguishing the flame under the test tubes, then paced over to Zhang Xiaoman, sizing him up.
"Bro, first time here for Star Pattern imprinting? The first Star Pattern can be done quickly, within two hours, and itâll cost you a million. How about it, interested?"
Zhang Xiaoman was slightly startled, curious about how the man immediately knew he had never imprinted a Star Pattern before.
Through the information revealed in the otherâs words, he also learned that imprinting the first Star Pattern didnât take that long.
"Oh, donât be surprised, bro. Iâve been in this line for hundreds of years, and your expression might as well have âfirst imprintâ written on it."
"Donât worry, weâre an officially registered formal Star Pattern Hall, so the craftsmanship is something you absolutely neednât worry about. The Star Pattern Master from the official association was trained by me, and I can surely imprint better than him!"
"Besides, I need to tell you the rule first. Our prices are 20,000 Star Coins higher than the official rate, but Piqueâs craftsmanship is undoubtedly the best across this whole Star System!"
"..."
"Oh well, I donât want to deceive you. To be honest, the first Star Pattern will be the same wherever you do it. The difference is, at the Dark Spirit Association, youâll have to slowly wait in line, but here, you get direct hands-on scheduling. Interested?"