Chapter 114: Death Of The Judge—enlightenment Of The Soldier Breeder
“We’re all on the same side, so feel free to disturb if needed.” Seeing the other party being very polite, Su Chen stepped aside to invite him in.
“I won’t go in, it’s not a big deal.” He Kang waved his hand, pulling an invitation from his pocket: “Elder Wei is holding a banquet tonight and specifically asked me to deliver the invitation.”
Su Chen reached out to take it, glancing down. It was an invitation with a red background and gold edges. The Elder Wei that He Kang mentioned referred to Wei Yufan.
This person was the first to become a core seed. It was said he was about to promote to fifth order, and the forces gathered around him were the most complex and powerful.
Many inner court seeds served him loyally. Su Chen had watched a few of his combats, and his strength performance was almost on par with Ming Lin.
His first, second, and third order professions were all top tier, with an extremely solid foundation.
“A celebration banquet? Has Senior Brother Wei become a chief seed?” Su Chen asked in surprise.
“Uh…” He Kang chuckled awkwardly and shook his head, his black thick eyebrows drooping even more. “Not yet, it’s just a regular banquet.”
“Oh, oh…” Su Chen nodded in realization, expressing apology. “Sorry about that.”
Ming Lin and the other core seeds had been competing for nearly a month. Before, they had their subordinates challenge each other to gauge each other’s strength.
The titles of those “old guys” were indeed well-deserved. They had wins and losses among themselves. Half a month had passed, and not a single core seed had been dethroned.
No “chief seed” had been decided either.
He Kang waved it off nonchalantly: “Elder Wei only invited you now, so it’s normal to have that thought.”
During this time, Wei Yufan wasn’t the first to invite him. Besides Ming Lin, the other two had also extended olive branches, either inviting him to banquets or to talks.
Su Chen attended one and declined the other.
These people’s intentions were similar; they all wanted him to join their camp. More accurately, the forces around the core seeds wanted to pull him in as a backup.
But the core seeds themselves were naturally unhappy about it. Su Chen was too lazy to engage in their scheming, so he just ate the food without promising anything.
Wei Yufan was the only one who hadn’t invited him yet. Now suddenly inviting him, Su Chen thought this guy had made his move after becoming a chief seed. He had just been wondering why Zero hadn’t told him about it.
“Alright, I’ll go if I have time.” Su Chen held the invitation without refusing or agreeing.
He Kang seemed to have anticipated his attitude and said in a low voice: “Elder Wei also invited another person, Chu Xuan. He knows there’s conflict between you two and wants to mediate.”
“This Senior Brother Wei really has a strong sense of responsibility,” Su Chen said with a half-smile.
“Better to resolve grudges than hold them.” He Kang couldn’t help saying, then added, “Additionally… someone under Elder Wei runs a profession analysis office outside, which can help cover up your promotion to third order.”
If he didn’t say anything, the court of justice would have a hard time confirming if they had promoted to third order, but third order promotion requirements weren’t simple.
They would usually go through the profession analysis office of the court of justice for support to save resources and energy, which wasted time and effort otherwise.
That way, the promotion naturally couldn’t be hidden.
“Many people are watching you and Chu Xuan. To be honest, a few truly strong inner court seeds haven’t made their move yet. Even those guys wouldn’t underestimate the core seeds.”
“If not covered up, being challenged right after promoting to third order—even for you, probably…” He Kang trailed off, then added: “We are very sincere.”
“And the cost?” Su Chen toyed with the invitation.
“What cost?” He Kang shook his head repeatedly. Seeing Su Chen silent, his face became even more embarrassed. Helplessly, he said: “I’ve delivered the message. I’m off.”
“Mediation… cover-up…” Su Chen shook his head and casually put away the invitation.
On the way to the parking lot, Su Chen casually checked the challenge information from this period.
“Good… beat him, beat him!”
“…”
From far away, Su Chen heard shouting from the arena. He took a detour and glanced over.
There was combat on the arena, but it wasn’t any of the core seeds.
During this time, many people had gone up to the arena for duels. Some had long-standing grudges. Previously, due to strength differences, the weaker side could only endure.
Now with the opportunity, they naturally wanted to settle scores.
The chief judge hadn’t stipulated that only core seeds could use it. After someone probed with a duel, it sparked a trend.
Su Chen saw people secretly running bets below, with endless discussion.
“I bet on Shi Yang. Wu Hong stole his love before, and Shi Yang cursed him countless times in secret. His moves carry blood feud.” Someone below commented.
“Blood feud alone isn’t enough. Shi Yang lacks combat experience, and his profession intensity is a notch lower. I bet on Wu Hong.” The person next to him tossed out a handful of gold coins.
“Unfortunately, combats between core seeds have slowed down. We can only watch these duels; it’s still not quite the same.”
“No way around it. Those guys have basically fought each other once around. They have a rough idea of each other’s strength. No one can steadily beat the other three unless a core seed is dethroned or the remaining two step into third order for some real excitement.”
“It’s said quite a few inner court seeds have their eyes on those two. Wonder if they can hold their positions.”
“That Su Chen’s strength performance is a bit scary. No one can figure out exactly what his profession is now. He should hold on. As for Chu Xuan… hard to say.”
“Su Chen might not hold either. Second order is second order, third order is third order. But they at least have ink jade talent. Even if they lose it, they should get it back.”
“Ink jade talent has nothing to do with combat. Your point doesn’t make sense…”
Su Chen watched for a bit. Seeing someone notice him, he turned and left.
“No news on Chu Xuan lately. Heard his subordinates have mostly scattered.” Su Chen thought to himself, not paying it much mind.
In the parking lot, his luxury car was ready. As he was about to get in, he heard a somewhat familiar voice from nearby.
“The inspector guards are going too far; they won’t even let us see the corpse!”
Su Chen looked up. It was Yang Yan with a face ashen, accompanied by several judges, all looking displeased and clamoring to find the chief.
“Su Chen?” Yang Yan noticed him too, paused, then softened his expression and greeted: “Heading out?”
“Yeah.” Su Chen nodded. Someone next to Yang Yan spoke up—a burly man with resentment: “Then be careful. Drive slowly, don’t park randomly. The inspector guards have been acting crazy lately, desperately picking fights with us.”
“In the past ten days, I’ve been fined two thousand gold coins. This time is worse—a judge died, and they won’t even let us see the corpse.”
Someone tugged at him, but he didn’t care. “This is a core seed, one of us. What’s wrong with saying it?”
“A judge died?” Su Chen asked in surprise.
“Yeah.” Yang Yan lowered his voice, leading the group aside a bit, and explained:
“Discovered last night. By the time we got there, the inspector guards had taken the corpse, only giving us a detection report saying it was profession distortion.”
“What bullshit!” The judge who spoke earlier raged: “Old Xiao’s every order profession was very stable. How could it distort?”
Profession distortion only happens to those who force job appointment or barely qualify, due to unstable foundations causing loss of control during development.
But it only becomes life-threatening at a certain degree. During the process, the professional usually notices something wrong and stops development.
“I think it’s those inspector guards who killed him!”
“Enough!” Yang Yan turned and scolded sharply. “The inspection department wouldn’t do something that stupid.”
He seemed to have considerable prestige. The emotional judge panted heavily but eventually calmed down.
“We’re going to negotiate with the director. We have to get the corpse back.” He said to Su Chen.
“Alright, go ahead.” Su Chen nodded, watching the group leave.
“The inspection department’s anger hasn’t subsided yet.” He shook his head inwardly and boarded the hover car.
After the court of justice thunderously wiped out the Pang Family, friction with the inspection department hadn’t stopped. Su Chen had experienced it once—on the way to the translation department, he was inexplicably stopped, suspected of carrying contraband.
It was because an inspector guard recognized him, quickly cleared it as a misunderstanding, and sincerely apologized. Otherwise, the conflict would have escalated.
“Drive slower.” Su Chen reminded again. The inspection department targeted small fries. Last time they stopped him probably because the hover car’s information hadn’t been updated.
No one had stopped him since, but better safe than sorry. Su Chen didn’t want to invite trouble.
He headed straight to the translation department.
…………
“You’re really punctual. Every three days at this time, you always show up.”
In the laboratory, Sang Hanhai saw him arrive and wasn’t surprised at all.
After greeting a few familiar staff, Su Chen noticed the Holy Word Stone on the table was gone.
Before he could ask, Sang Hanhai spoke: “Not long after you left last time, I deciphered it. The profession is already entered. It’s called 【Potion Tester】. Your names are always quite fitting.”
“The last missing information point was the consumption of potions, which cannot be below the current rank.”
“With that point added, the overall requirements are clear. This profession probably directly affects potion efficacy absorption, and the difficulty isn’t high. It should be sent to the court of justice soon.”
“If you have time, hurry and complete the requirements.”
“Got it.” Su Chen nodded. He directly obtained the profession information as a benefit for assisting in deciphering. He probed: “And the rating?”
“D-grade…” Sang Hanhai said. “Because it only affects potion efficacy absorption, and the boost isn’t high, while potions are just one auxiliary factor in profession development, the rating isn’t high.”
“I see…” Su Chen was inevitably disappointed. He remembered Soldier Breeder was C-grade and couldn’t be exchanged.
“Follow me.” Sang Hanhai seemed to read his thoughts, showing a faint smile, and headed to the lounge.
Su Chen raised an eyebrow, having a hunch, and quickly followed.
Closing the door, Sang Hanhai sat down leisurely. Watching Su Chen deftly pour him tea, he smiled: “You’re a smart kid. No need for other nonsense. Listen to the job appointment requirements for Soldier Breeder…”
He had originally wanted to say something like “Normally can’t exchange, but I’ll make an exception…” to do a favor, but swallowed it and got straight to the point.
Su Chen’s expression turned serious as the panel popped up–
【Discovered special profession Soldier Breeder. Complete requirements to job appoint.】
【Job appointment requirement one: Personally refine over a hundred tons of metal raw material.】
【Job appointment requirement two: Master basic metallurgy, basic materials science, basic casting.】
Su Chen’s eyelid twitched. Worthy of being weapon-related; still needed to refine metal materials—a hundred tons. How long would that take?
After speaking, Sang Hanhai took a sip of tea and continued: “Go to the profession analysis office of the court of justice. They’ll tell you how to complete it fastest.”
“Normally, go to the crafting department, use machines to refine raw materials to the final step, then you take over. Materials science and such, deep learning for a few months will do. This profession doesn’t need overly profound knowledge after all.”
Su Chen frowned slightly. The job appointment requirements Sang Hanhai just stated didn’t include “personally,” clearly auto-corrected by the panel.
Since it was personal forging, it should include the full process.
Deviations in job appointment requirements lead to deviations in professional ability. Could this be why Soldier Breeder consumes excessive materials?
Seeing him frown, Sang Hanhai said: “Actually, I still don’t recommend job appointing it. Based on our data analysis, the materials consumed to upgrade weapons with Soldier Breeder are three to four times that of conventional casting.”
Su Chen was about to speak when his eyes glazed over. The panel popped up again—
【Soldier Breeder witnesses the majestic figure of Crimson Flame Thunder Great Venerable, discovering it conforms to the perfect cutting law of all things, the perfect creation he has always pursued. He weeps bitterly, deeply enlightened.】
【Job appointment requirement one weakened: Refine raw materials reduced to ten tons.】
【Job appointment requirement two automatically completed!】
【Successful job appointment of Soldier Breeder grants extra reward!】
Majestic figure? Perfect creation? Su Chen smacked his lips. Could only say one word: awesome.
Didn’t know what Soldier Breeder comprehended, but there’s even an extra reward.
Praising the Great Venerable again, Su Chen snapped back.
“Didn’t remember?” Sang Hanhai thought he zoned out memorizing the requirements. “Need me to repeat?”
“No need, got it all.” Su Chen shook his head and asked: “Elder Sang, any more Holy Word Stones coming here lately?”
“You think it’s a few hundred years ago when Holy Word Stones piled like mountains?” Sang Hanhai chuckled, glancing at Su Chen, but saw the kid gulp.
He shook his head: “The explored places are mostly done. Except for suddenly appearing ruins, it’s hard to find Holy Word Stones anywhere.”
“Alright…” Su Chen was disappointed. “I wanted to test if I can resonate with all Holy Word Stones.”
“Not no opportunity. News just came a couple days ago—a Holy Word Stone was dug up in Panku City. Should arrive in a while.” Sang Hanhai suddenly added.
Su Chen’s eyes lit up. This old man always said half and hid half.
The kid’s interest in Holy Word Stones wasn’t fake. Sang Hanhai saw the gleam in his eyes, and with this period’s interactions, could confirm it.
