In the past, when Ren Xiaosu was learning the duplicated skills, they would be categorized into five levels—beginner, intermediate, advanced, master, and perfect.
The Basic Skill Duplication Scroll could only learn a skill up to the advanced level. Even though Yang Xiaojin's firearms proficiency was perfect, Ren Xiaosu only managed to learn it to the advanced level. It also did not allow the user to learn any superpowers.
If he wanted to continue learning, he had to use the Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll after his firearms proficiency reached the advanced level.
Meanwhile, the Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll would allow the user to randomly copy the target's master-level skill or superpower. If he had duplicated Yang Xiaojin's Perfect Firearms Proficiency and did not have the corresponding Advanced Firearms Proficiency, then this Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll would have been useless.
Thus, the Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll was not without its risks. However, the palace had now given him an easier choice. When paired with a Basic Skill Duplication Scroll, the Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll enabled him to learn anything in one shot.
Now that Ren Xiaosu had obtained the Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll through his quest, he definitely had to learn some superpowers with it. So it was better to use it on someone who had superpowers.
But after thinking for a long time, he realized there was no one around him he could learn any powers from.
No, he could learn from Yan Liuyuan!
Although a selfish person like him had no use for a power such as making wishes, if he gained the ability to manipulate curses instead, that was something he could really play around with. Moreover, it didn't seem like Yan Liuyuan had any other master-level skills. That way, the palace would automatically decide to learn his superpower!
Thinking of this, Ren Xiaosu ran back home excitedly. He did not even go over to Lu Yuan's place.
Both An Yuqian and Zhou Yingxue were left dumbstruck.
When Ren Xiaosu returned home, he called Yan Liuyuan into the house. He immediately said to the palace, "Use the Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll."
However, something Ren Xiaosu didn't expect happened. The palace answered, "Unable to use the Skill Duplication Scroll on the target."
This time, Ren Xiaosu was stunned. He never expected this outcome.
This had never happened before when he used the Skill Duplication Scroll on anyone else. Moreover, based on the palace's answer, he couldn't even use the Basic Skill Duplication Scroll on Yan Liuyuan either.
Ren Xiaosu scrutinized Yan Liuyuan. Why was Yan Liuyuan an exception to the palace? After all, the palace was a power that could even reset nanomachines.
Yan Liuyuan was not a refugee, or rather, Ren Xiaosu was not sure if Yan Liuyuan was a refugee in the past. That was because… he picked Yan Liuyuan up in the wilderness.
That winter, he had found Yan Liuyuan unconscious out in the wilderness. Initially, Ren Xiaosu wanted to leave Yan Liuyuan there and not do anything about it. But in the end, he started feeling uneasy after leaving him there for some time before going back to bring Yan Liuyuan to the town. Back then, he asked many people while carrying Yan Liuyuan on his back if they knew whose child it was. In the end, no one was able to answer him.
After Yan Liuyuan woke up, he could not remember anything and only addressed Ren Xiaosu as his brother. But it was at that moment that Ren Xiaosu was touched, because he had never felt anything like having a family before.
However, Ren Xiaosu was a ruthless guy. If he could not even support himself at that time, how was he going to support others? He had thought of chasing Yan Liuyuan away when he regained consciousness.
But Yan Liuyuan kept staying outside his shack the entire day while in tears. At that time, Ren Xiaosu hardened his heart again and asked him, "Can't you go to someone else's house and cry? I can't support you!"
Yan Liuyuan replied in confusion, "But you're my brother."
Ren Xiaosu's heart softened for the first time ever. "If you want to survive in this wilderness, you have to at least have one skill, right? Tell me, what can you help me with?"
In truth, Ren Xiaosu was trying to find an excuse to keep him. If the child in front of him could help him out a little, even if it was just doing some simple chores for him, he would grit his teeth and keep Yan Liuyuan with him.
But Yan Liuyuan cried for a long time and was not able to say what skills he had. All he did was say he could make wishes.
At first, Ren Xiaosu did not believe it. He thought that having this ability was as good as having nothing. He could also make wishes, but they could not be fulfilled!
But after testing it out with Yan Liuyuan twice, Ren Xiaosu realized what Yan Liuyuan said was true!
All these years, Ren Xiaosu had never bothered to investigate Yan Liuyuan. After all, who had the time to delve into such matters these days?
But now that even the palace couldn't duplicate Yan Liuyuan's power, it left Ren Xiaosu deep in thought. Why had Liuyuan appeared outside in the wilderness alone? Was he abandoned by his parents?
Thinking about it carefully, Yan Liuyuan's power to make his wishes come true and manipulate curses seemed like a power only gods should possess.
All mortals wanted to be gods since only gods could get whatever they desired.
Yan Liuyuan blinked at Ren Xiaosu and thought for a long time. "Bro, what's wrong with you?"
Ren Xiaosu pinched Yan Liuyuan's cheeks like how he would knead dough and laughed. He said, "Just where did you come from, kid?"
Yan Liuyuan's voice was distorted from his face being pinched. "If you continue doing this to me, I won't go easy on you."
Ren Xiaosu chuckled. "You're all grown up now, arentcha?"
All of a sudden, a loud crash came from the yard next door. It was followed by the sound of people crying out in pain. Ren Xiaosu frowned. "What the hell was that!"
Then they heard a familiar voice shout, "Six assassins! Two have been shot down!" The voice obviously belonged to one of Luo Lan's men.
As he wondered what was going on, he went straight out the door and jumped over the yard's wall. He discovered that six assassins dressed in black had entered Luo Lan's yard and were holding guns fitted with silencers.
Two of the assassins had already been shot dead by Luo Lan's men. One of Luo Lan's men was hiding behind a tree in the courtyard, unable to come out from his cover due to the enemy's heavy firepower.
Meanwhile, Luo Lan and his other men were stuck inside the house. They had tried to rush out but were stopped by the assassins firing at them.
When Ren Xiaosu saw this, he quickly guessed these people were probably here to assassinate Luo Lan. However, they must not have expected to find Luo Lan and his men with their guards still up and that there would still be people patrolling in the courtyard during his house arrest. So the moment they entered the front yard, they were shot dead by Luo Lan's subordinate in the cover of the darkness who similarly had a silenced gun.
Ren Xiaosu sighed. For an arrogant fatso like Luo Lan to be able to live up till now, there had to have been a reason.
When he jumped in, the people who were here to assassinate Luo Lan were not expecting someone from next door to jump over. They instantly pointed their guns at Ren Xiaosu, but it was already too late.
The assassins only saw a blur as Ren Xiaosu dashed in an arc towards them.
Ren Xiaosu hacked the gun out of one of their hands while grabbing the back of the assassin's neck to use him as a human shield. With just three shots, he finished off the remaining three assassins in the yard. Meanwhile, the assassin he was holding as a human shield was like a fearful little chick as he lost all will to resist. Ren Xiaosu had wanted to leave a survivor for Luo Lan to interrogate. But before he could even call Luo Lan to come out, the person swallowed a suicide pill to kill himself.
Ren Xiaosu frowned as he threw him onto the ground. He could only watch helplessly as his opponent started foaming at the mouth. This was the first time he had seen "suicide agents" with his own eyes.
"Come on out, Fatty, they're all dead," Ren Xiaosu shouted into the house.