The goldfish's ability was rather innovative. It wasn't related to combat, but digestion. Its burst element ability was internally actuated.
In essence, it was a bit similar to the three-horned man's ability in that it was particle-related. But, the size of the burst element particles here reached the cellular level and even below.
And, they were produced within its stomach, allowing it to break down anything it consumed, literally, and break them into molecules. The burst element would then act as a catalyst to make the molecules react in desired ways to give rise to suitable products.
At first glance, this wouldn't seem to be a spectacular ability. But, here was the catch. The burst element was capable of breaking down any construct, whether living or non-living. Secondly, catalysing to create the desired product, that was the catch.
So, if someone well-versed in chemistry were to obtain this…they would be able to catalyse any variety of chemicals in their bodies. It would turn frightening instantly. This was practically an ability that made the following statement a reality…
Knowledge is Power!
[Host, summon the goldfish and place your hand over its head]
The System told Shika as she summoned it. Interestingly, the goldfish's item was still the same—a goldfish. And when it was summoned as is, it was pretty much the same.
The only difference was the fact that when summoned as an item, its body size could be varied while it created a small suction force to pull in things to devour. It was practically a whale at this point.
Shika then placed her hand on its forehead, noticing her palms shining with a resplendent hue as she asked in surprise, 'System, what is happening? Why is my palm shining with so many different lights?'
[I'm channelling numerous abilities into it to modify its powers]
'So, it is buying one-off Skills related to modification and directly implanting them into the goldfish.' Compass Carburettor nodded, understanding just what it was up to.
If it just used a Skill, then the effect would only last until the Skill was supplied with enough Mental Energy. But, to make it permanent, the process involved using the Skill like a System Fragment.
So, the Night Ranger System bought a Skill from the Astral Network and directly dumped it into the goldfish's body, making the Skill fuse into it. It didn't retain that Skill after that.
In this way, it added in a bunch of Skills, judging by the flickering lights, 'Holy heck! Just how much modification is it doing to it?'
Compass Carburettor was shocked, seeing the modification process for the first time. Until now, he didn't understand just how many Skills were needed to be used to make such a modification. It was not to mention the amounts of funds—Mental Energy—required to do so.
The Money-Making System had made it look so simple that he was caught off guard for a moment. A minute later, the Night Ranger System spoke calmly, as if it was just doing her a favour like usual.
[Done]
Compass Carburettor felt that it was barely able to rein in its excitement, understanding it pretty well. He then smiled, watching the excuse it came up with.
[Host, now, you're able to recover your Vital Energy when the goldfish eats anything edible]
'So, this means it is also able to generate Mental Energy.' Compass Carburettor picked up the truth of the situation, 'So, the moment it discovered such a possibility, it took action immediately. As expected of a System. It knows where to seek treasures that break the game balance of the world.'
"I can recover my vital energy through it?" Shika was excited, "That's great! That'll make things a lot easier for me."
She then smiled, feeling tired, retracting the goldfish, yawning in response, "I'm feeling sleepy."
She looked around, noticing that there was no activity on the terrace. Throughout the night, none of the horned men arrived here. And judging by how calm it was below, she frowned, 'Did they just give up on their search?'
Even though she was curious, she was tremendously tired, having not slept much for days, having been pressured by Dwun all along.
So, after some thought, she entered the building, infiltrated one of the rooms on the topmost floor, killing the inhabitants within as she stored their corpses, for the time being, unwilling to leave any traces of blood that others might detect.
She then happily slumped on their bed, falling asleep.
In the meantime, the goldfish was afraid within her space. For, a cobra had turned gigantic before swallowing it alive.
Plunder!
Moreover, to make this a success, Compass Carburettor had already killed the mongoose. For, the value of the goldfish's ability surpassed it.
The mongoose's ability was on the level of the vulture-like bird's, and of course, incomparable to Dita's.
So, this was the least valuable among all three and was killed, creating enough space to bring in the goldfish. It was a contest of will and power. And, when Compass Carburettor poured in his Darlac, it was an easy victory, thanks to the surplus power he possessed.
And of course, the goldfish wasn't able to compete against him in terms of Will, its resistance falling short as it was plundered by him.
"Dita, this might injure you a little bit." He conveyed to the cobra through telepathy.
"Uncle, it's fine! I'll heal after some rest in your space." Dita replied in excitement, "Stop wasting time. Just do it!"
"Haha, alright!" He laughed, closing his eyes as he concentrated on replicating the same actions Shika performed, having felt everything many times.
Fusion!
He fused the abilities of both Dita and the goldfish, preparing his attack when he condensed Anthozoa, aiming it at a random direction before shooting out all six bullets.
The bullets crashed into the space as the laws of the Earth spilled out and coursed throughout Shika's body. She was unaffected, only feeling mild abominable pain. But, it was an entirely different scenario for the Night Ranger System.
Just when it was about to rest contently, the laws of the Earth constricted, damaging its body. It screamed in alarm, "What the fuck!"
After all, raising his hands, Compass Carburettor activated the fused ability.
Plunder!
He began to swallow its Mental Energy.
