Chapter 135: [Armored Bone Adept] Old Xia's Past |
"Could it be that this kind of worship by Yuandu is also a means of satisfying Class Acquisition requirements!?"
For a time, Su Chen found it difficult to untangle any clear clues, so he could only temporarily suppress his thoughts. "I'll wait until the people from Yuandu arrive, try to come into contact with them, and see if I can reap any gains."
According to what Old Sang said, Yuandu was situated very far away from Yingfeng. They even had to cross the "White Sea"—a boundless, endless ocean of white that was extremely dangerous, harboring the activities of quite a few powerful mutants.
Therefore, they wouldn't be able to arrive within a short period of time either.
"To think taking an aircraft would actually take such a long time. This planet seems to be significantly larger than Earth." Opening his wristband, Su Chen sent a message to Chong Jingtian reporting that he had already seen off Sang Hanhai.
The other party replied with a thumbs-up emoji. Su Chen's expression was strange as he headed straight back to his residence.
The storm within the Adjudication Court was gradually subsiding, yet the atmosphere throughout all of Yingfeng was growing increasingly stern and chilling. Quite a few people acutely sensed that the number of Supervisory Guards active on the streets had increased.
Furthermore, one could also see City Patrol Guards and Exploration Guards assisting in the investigations. Their degree of familiarity with Yingfeng far surpassed what the Adjudication Court could compare with. Certain places and certain people were inherently under their firm control to begin with.
Quite a few black markets were uprooted, and many people were arrested. It seemed as if they were searching for something, causing the populace to be plagued with anxiety and panic.
'I wonder what class this piece of Saint Word Stone records—' Su Chen immediately set off, inevitably pondering along the way.
Upon arriving at the Class Decoding Department, Sang Hanhai was right in the middle of executing an experiment. Seeing him arrive in such a hurry, he couldn't help but tease, "You truly are impatient, huh? Hoping to acquire a class for free again!?"
"I'm just curious, that's all," Su Chen laughed cheekily.
"There are many classes that aren't necessarily useful, or perhaps aren't of much use, to the point of being completely impossible to acquire." Putting down the work in his hands, Sang Hanhai leisurely strolled out of the laboratory, speaking as he walked:
"I remember there was once a class whose ability was to turn any water you drank into the color blue. Perhaps there might be another specific class that can grant blue water more uses or something, but unfortunately, we never managed to find it."
Following closely behind Sang Hanhai, Su Chen couldn't help but ask, "How exactly were these classes created? Moreover, many acquisition requirements are exceedingly idealistic and abstract. Exactly what kind of entity is supervising the completion of these requirements?"
Other people in this world didn't possess a system panel like he did. Yet, upon learning the requirements of a certain class and completing them, they would also intuitively sense it.
But if they didn't know the class information or the acquisition requirements, even if they unwittingly completed them, they themselves would remain completely oblivious. However, upon subsequently learning the relevant acquisition requirements, the things they had done in the past could retrospectively be counted as completed. It was quite miraculous, completely defying all logic.
"If I knew the answer, would I still be staying here!?" Sang Hanhai shot him a sideways glance. "Classes are akin to the fundamental foundation rules of the world—just like how water freezes into ice, and how humans eventually face death."
The issue regarding class acquisition was a long-standing, age-old debate. For a very long time, practically nobody discussed these matters anymore. It wasn't because it lacked value, but simply because there were no answers.
"I'm not the one responsible for that piece of Saint Word Stone. Right now, it's in Old Qin's hands." Going downstairs, Sang Hanhai led Su Chen toward another laboratory.
On their way, Su Chen raised his head, glancing at the "Spirit Ring" that was still operating optimally above the sky canopy, asking in a low voice, "I heard... Elder Pu Zhenghong is your... Senior Brother?"
"Heard!?" Sang Hanhai responded crossly. "Didn't Xia Hanshi tell you!?"
"Uh..." Su Chen hesitated, not knowing how to answer.
"Heh." Sang Hanhai sneered coldly. "Your Teacher and my Senior Brother used to be old friends."
"But now they've utterly fallen out; they practically vowed to never interact with each other until the day they die."
Never interact until the day they die? Su Chen was rendered speechless. No wonder Old Xia acted so strangely back when he learned he had mixed together with Sang Hanhai.
"Of course, that's their own business; it doesn't have much to do with us." Taking a sharp turn, Sang Hanhai added, "You also don't need to take it too much to heart."
'I originally still wanted to figure out where exactly the symbols on the Defensive Spirit Ring originated from. Now that they've vowed to never interact until death, how am I supposed to fish for information!?'
Su Chen secretly criticized internally.
"Exactly because of what matter did they fall out?" he asked tentatively.
Sang Hanhai sighed. "It's all old history from years ago now. Forty years ago, Xia Hanshi, Pu Zhenghong, Chong Jingtian... were all good friends."
"At that time, Xia Hanshi fought his way up here from the lower-tier cities. After experiencing countless hardships and tribulations, he finally managed to become an Inner Court Seed of the Adjudication Court. His personality was witty and humorous, and his reputation was excellent."
The four words 'witty and humorous' could actually be applied to Old Xia!?!?
Thinking of that sinister, gloomy old face, Su Chen found it completely unimaginable.
Pausing his footsteps, Sang Hanhai opened his wristband and brought up an image, projecting it for Su Chen to see. "You haven't seen what your Teacher looked like when he was young, right?"
It was a group photo of four people. The burly, exceptionally well-built guy standing right in the center could be recognized as Chong Jingtian at a single glance. He was much younger than he was now; his head was held high, his chest puffed out, and his haughty arrogance practically radiated through the picture.
The one on the left had a chubby, absolutely round, smiling, and amiable face. Su Chen didn't have any impression of him, but it clearly wasn't Old Xia.
The slender and thin figure specifically on the far right had his head slightly raised, his arms crossed over his chest. Beneath his somewhat messy hair, a sharp, piercing gaze shone through. He could also be described as dashingly high-spirited and vigorously energetic.
"This... this is my Teacher!?" Su Chen pointed at the slender figure.
Sang Hanhai couldn't help but laugh. "I thought you wouldn't be able to recognize him. Very different from his current self, right?"
"And who is this woman?" Su Chen pointed again at the woman standing specifically between Chong Jingtian and Xia Hanshi. Her facial features were exceptionally exquisite, and her black hair cascaded down her back, emitting the vibe of a gentle, caring older sister.
What was interesting was that both Chong Jingtian and Xia Hanshi subtly had their bodies angled slightly toward this woman. This body language alone was enough to explain quite a few things.
"Ji Rou—" Sang Hanhai reigned in his expression. "One of the Inner Court Seeds back in those years."
Su Chen wore a strange expression. Given Old Xia's usual appearance, it truly made it extremely difficult for him to overlay any plots of romantic love and affection onto him, yet clearly, this was precisely related to such matters.
"...With your bratty, cunning brain, you should be able to roughly guess some things. But these are all matters of the past; I can't be bothered to bring them up either." Sang Hanhai put away the photo. "Back then, they discovered a ruin and found the Vault Light within it."
"However, an accident occurred, and she ended up sealed alive inside the ruin."
"So my Teacher has continuously been searching for people with exceptionally high talent in order to save her!?" Thinking back to what Old Xia had mentioned previously, Su Chen instantly understood everything.
"Correct." Sang Hanhai nodded, continuing with a sigh, "My Senior Brother and the other two have always vehemently avoided talking about exactly what happened inside that ruin. However, ever since that incident... the three of them practically parted ways completely."
"Furthermore, Xia Hanshi underwent the most massive transformation. His personality practically inverted completely, becoming eccentric, unsociable, and gloomy, willing to do absolutely anything regardless of the cost."
A poor boy from the lower-tier cities—Xia Hanshi.
An intellectual, gentle, and caring older sister—Ji Rou.
A calm, steady, and reliable Core Seed—Chong Jingtian.
The romantic entanglements between these three people were something Su Chen could easily auto-complete in his head to the tune of several hundreds of thousands of words.
'Old Xia oh Old Xia... I never expected you to actually have such a side to you.' Su Chen secretly muttered, asking again:
"You have to possess high talent to enter that ruin?"
"Yeah, it's an incredibly mysterious ruin. It seems to record some sort of exceptionally powerful class—" Sang Hanhai shook his head. "The Vault Light was surprisingly merely one of the rewards specifically found inside."
'Powerful class? Could it be the Great Exalted!?' Su Chen couldn't help but think of this, continuing:
"So, as the rumors spread further and further, it eventually twisted into saying Old Xia had constantly been searching for individuals with remarkably outstanding talent to explore a legendary class, directly resulting in their tragic deaths?"
The two had already arrived below another laboratory. Hearing this, Sang Hanhai nodded. "Exactly. But the danger residing within that ruin definitively isn't randomly exaggerated nonsense either."
"Nowadays, it's jointly governed by the four major cities. People are periodically dispatched to explore it, but they've practically reaped completely zero gains."
"How did it end up being jointly governed by the four cities?" Su Chen was astonished. "Didn't they say it was Chong Jingtian and the others who discovered it?"
"That's a bit more complicated. It's not something that can be explained clearly in just a sentence or two." Sang Hanhai led him upstairs.
"Old Qin!"
The moment he entered the laboratory, Sang Hanhai practically stretched his throat and yelled.
"Why are you shouting so loudly? I'm not deaf!" An old man turned around, responding crossly.
"Haha—" Sang Hanhai laughed loudly. "Hasn't it been quite a long time since we last met?"
"Su Chen!?" Someone beside them suddenly called out to him. It was incredibly surprisingly Jin Yunxuan! Wearing a work uniform, his expression was highly complicated.
"Your Excellency is also here?" Su Chen was quite astonished. Why was this guy absolutely everywhere?
"Old Qin is his teacher. If he isn't here, where else would he be?" Sang Hanhai turned his head to the side.
"Oh, oh—" Su Chen was instantly enlightened, revealing an apologetic look. "My apologies."
"It's fine, it's fine—" Jin Yunxuan repeatedly waved his hands; his expression distinctly carried faint traces of currying favor and flattery.
Because they had interacted multiple times, his attention regarding Su Chen far surpassed everyone else in the Class Decoding Department. He knew the other party had actually defeated Chu Xuan and even held the faintly recognized title of 'Chief Seed'.
This was a high-potential individual with the prospect of becoming the future Chief Inquisitor! In the entire Class Decoding Department, only a scarce few could afford to genuinely not care.
"So he is Su Chen—" Qin Qiyuan also looked over, his gaze carrying an evaluative scrutiny. "He genuinely managed to resonate with two pieces of Saint Word Stones consecutively?"
"Why would I try to deceive you? Your own student saw it with his own eyes! Where's the newly arrived Saint Word Stone? Hurry up and bring it out to let him try!" Sang Hanhai urged repeatedly.
Sang Hanhai's status within the Class Decoding Department was also second to none. Naturally, Qin Qiyuan didn't say anything further. Opening the metallic display cabinet to the side, he took out the Saint Word Stone that had literally just been delivered and hadn't even entered the formal decoding process yet.
"Hurry, quickly try it out!" Sang Hanhai impatiently received it and handed it to Su Chen.
Receiving it, Su Chen swept a glance over it.
【Discovered Special Class - Armored Bone Adept. Can be acquired upon completing the requirements.】
【Acquisition Requirement 1: You must have successfully acquired no fewer than two top-tier physical-type classes.】
【Acquisition Requirement 2: Without applying any defensive measures whatsoever, endure being attacked a completely staggering ten thousand times by a professional of the exact same tier.】
【Acquisition Requirement 3: Fuse with a Forging-Life Mineral Vein Core.】
'Armored Bone Adept? Sounds like a class designed to strengthen defenses?'
Su Chen speculated internally. The acquisition requirements weren't low at all; it should be exceptionally impressive.
【The Armored Bone Adept aggressively arrived imposingly, but upon witnessing the sheer towering majesty of the Crimson Flame Responding Thunder Great Exalted, chose to rapidly weaken its acquisition requirements.】
【Acquisition Requirement 2 - Times subjected to attacks weakened to 1,000 times.】
'Weakening the number of strikes... this is acceptable, this works—'
Su Chen's brows knitted tightly. He gripped the Saint Word Stone tightly, completely immersed. Only after a very long time under the convergence of several gazes did he hesitantly say, "I feel something... There seems to be some sort of Forging-Life Mineral..."
"It really isn't a miraculous coincidence—" Sang Hanhai let out a long breath of relief. Even though the kid had already resonated twice, he was still slightly worried internally before this.
Qin Qiyuan stared at him suspiciously. He originally thought some sort of unusual, extraordinary phenomena would appear; who expected it to be surprisingly this plain and dull?
Receiving the Saint Word Stone, he immediately began verifying it on the spot. It wasn't until a full half an hour later that he spoke in a somewhat dazed manner, "It's real. People like this genuinely exist..."
"Haha—" Sang Hanhai revealed a highly smug look. This guy was exactly the treasure he had personally unearthed.
"Sigh—" Qin Qiyuan sighed deeply. "With someone like this around, we're all probably going to completely lose our jobs."
Su Chen hurriedly interjected, "I can only faintly sense fragments; it merely serves an auxiliary, assisting role."
"Old Qin, I've told you your mindset is lacking." Sang Hanhai said in absolute disgust, "Our primary focus hasn't been translating Saint Word Stones for ages now. We can barely even find a single piece in several months! Nowadays, our main focus lies in translating technology, spell techniques, and the like!"
"True." Naturally, Qin Qiyuan understood this. Moreover, he had actually learned of Su Chen's existence from Jin Yunxuan's mouth long ago. Yet, the impact of simply witnessing it with his own two eyes was ultimately greater nonetheless.
Sang Hanhai, on the other hand, said to Su Chen, "For now, you'll assist Old Qin in completely decoding it. Once decoded, let him grade it properly to see if you have any need to exchange for this class."
"Hmm..." Su Chen pondered for a moment. "I actually can't think of any class requirements I urgently need for the time being. Do you have any recommendations?"
"Recommendations?" Sang Hanhai frowned. "Asking me to abruptly recommend something on the spot... I genuinely have absolutely zero clue."
"Given your current situation, rather than acquiring numerous special classes, it would be much better to focus intensely on increasing your Class Development."
Having more classes wasn't necessarily always better. The optimal scenario was forming multi-class synergies and unleashing various stacked amplifications. If a class completely failed to provide long-term assistance, when one was still young, it was generally far better to invest all efforts into profoundly developing their core main classes.
"Tell me about your specific situation, let me completely think it over—" Qin Qiyuan instead spoke up. It was practically impossible for Sang Hanhai to keep the details of every single class clear in his heart; he was exclusively responsible only for the portion he personally decoded.
"You don't know his situation?" Sang Hanhai was genuinely surprised.
"I've heard his name, but I completely didn't have the time to care about the specifics." Qin Qiyuan shook his head.
"Then I'll just have to bother you—" Su Chen pondered, then subsequently explained his general overall situation, including his class types, talent grades, and the like. However, regarding his specific exact class tiers, he was slightly vague and ambiguous.
"Dual-class simultaneous development... mental is Ink Jade, and physical is also Red Gold..." Qin Qiyuan pondered deeply. "No wonder you possess such dazzling fame."
"I surprisingly truly do have a specific class here that is exceptionally suitable for you!"
"Oh?" Su Chen immediately grew interested.
"Origin Reverser," Qin Qiyuan unequivocally stated. "This class is incredibly special. Its primary core ability can convert mental energy directly into stamina, and conversely convert stamina directly into mental energy."
Su Chen was stunned. In an instant, his eyes erupted with magnificent blazing light.
'Converting HP bar to MP bar, and MP bar back to HP bar!? Such a completely heaven-defying class actually exists!?'
"This class..." Sang Hanhai frowned. "Such a powerful class with such incredibly decent universal applicability... why haven't I even heard of it?"
Although their respective focal areas of responsibility differed, he definitively would know of a genuinely powerful class.
"Don't rush; I haven't finished speaking yet." Qin Qiyuan continued: "The difficulty of acquiring this class is merely one aspect. The other aspect is that it contains a cripplingly massive flaw."
"After successfully acquiring it, your physical talent and your mental talent will forcefully be averaged out to the exact same level."
"Furthermore, its core class ability can absolutely only unleash its full effects when your dual classes are at the exact same tier and the exact same level!"
"Are you seriously treating him like a fool!??" Sang Hanhai repeatedly shook his head. "No wonder I haven't heard of it! The restrictions are way too massive!"
When he originally arrived at Yingfeng, everyone assumed Su Chen possessed double Red Gold. Yet, they still universally evaluated that he was utterly inferior to Chu Xuan, simply because talent definitively determined one's upper limit.
Drastically lowering one's talent was practically equivalent to actively severely crippling one's own upper limit! A literal heaven-sized pitfall!
(End of this chapter)