Chapter 1276
Chapter 1276 - 1262: Unexpected
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Xiuyi’s arrival was a reassuring event for Lu Ping’an.
It wasn’t the approval of the "Upper Circle" that reassured him, nor was it the "fragments," which, even for a true Strongman, were still just an "item."
They were precious, yet not so valuable that a Quasi-God like Xiuyi, who surpassed normal standards, would break the rules and snatch them directly.
"The social order, the circle within Lin Nu’s Church, still exists...."
Although he came from a peaceful society, Lu Ping’an never held too high a hope for the perseverance of human nature. As long as the stakes were high enough, even the True Enforcers could fall into depravity, let alone the "scatterings" before him.
Lu Ping’an could see that Xiuyi’s indifference was not a guise for awaiting the harvest.... he might be wrong, but the trust of other Quasi-Gods and those of the eighth tier were evident here.
"Lord Xiuyi, I have some matters I wish to know about, concerning the fragments...."
However, when Lu Ping’an inquired about other matters, he got no response whatsoever.
It was as if the figure before him was merely a pure tool.
This actually reassured Lu Ping’an a bit; after all, being watched by a Big Shot was somewhat distressing for him.
"Focus on the present first...."
With the aid of this network, finding the location of the "Rebirth Chamber of Commerce’s big ship" became effortless.
Lu Ping’an merely browsed for two days and from the information "The big ship is here, those with shopping needs may visit," he gleaned their likely direction and location.
With a new objective determined, it was naturally time to meet up.
"Everyone continue to take a couple of days off...."
But Lu Ping’an’s "courtyard" once again hit a critical point in its upgrade, and most of the staff came out, so he let them rest and adjust a bit in this small city.
Hua Xueyi, on the other hand, was quite happy. She saw her relatives and friends again and had endless things to talk about.... even making Miss Lo, whom she had not seen in a long time, complain to Lu Ping’an twice.
"...Try to think about it from another perspective, you and your parents haven’t met in ten years...."
Lu Ping’an stopped halfway through his sentence, realizing that the analogy seemed a bit off, and that the other party had also been here for ten years.
"Me? Ha, they probably wish I never go back."
After complaining a couple of times, Miss Lo didn’t bother to continue speaking; it seemed her family relationships were not that good.
She sought out Lu Ping’an, still primarily for business matters.
"So, those materials are completely unusable?"
"Just some raw meat and mundane earth, totally inapplicable...."
Logistics professions like Magic Alchemist and Chef are best at living off the spoils of war — constantly turning their "spoils" into "materials."
Even if they had not developed a formula or mixture that utilized the traits, they still had many general, conventional methods to extract the power of materials, but this time, despite the considerable strength of their opponent, the "materials" were completely useless.
"Is it because the ’core’ level is too high, unable to erode those materials, or simply because they are unapplicable...."
Regardless of the reasoning, as far as results were concerned, the spoils of this battle were just those fragments.
But that did not mean there was no work left for the logistics professions.... the "springs" and "lakes" previously crafted yielded rather high-quality materials, mass producing a number of precious and useful magic potions.
Lu Ping’an continued to pay attention to news about other fragments, but this time he didn’t much confidence, and hadn’t planned to take action... According to feedback from the internal network, the casualty rate of Strongmen was at least twice what it appeared, and there were many mysterious deaths among the "helpers" from other Churches.
In these days, he had seen only one real "deal," or rather, only one transaction appeared in the trading column.
"The greatest demand is for Life system abilities...."
Within Lin Nu’s Church, high-level Gardeners, Beast Tamers, and Healers were always abundant. After reaching a certain level, as long as one had the capacity to absorb, no one would reject Life system abilities; there seemed to be no limit to how much could be gathered or sold.
He had seen ’two-for-one’ offers more than once, but Lu Ping’an himself estimated that there probably weren’t any such fragments on the market anymore.
"I’m increasingly looking forward to the results of absorption...."
If he wasn’t mistaken, the fragment Lu Ping’an himself had just obtained had traits of both "Life (a certain sub-stream)" and "Scholar". At least from the acquisition price of the courtyard and the urgency it displayed, this time the fragment was of a higher grade than the last one.
And in those two days, what surprised Lu Ping’an the most was that another professional had reached Rule-level in his team.
"...Fang Wen."
What surprised Lu Ping’an was that it was Fang Wen who made the breakthrough first, not the much-anticipated Hua Xueyi or Mei Yuge.
But upon real contact, perhaps it was to be expected.
Fang Wen was a Peak Commandant back in the day, just one step (opportunity) from entering Rule-level, but after spending so long in the courtyard, she too had been progressing.
Now, through rule building and "resetting her points," having encountered so many worlds and so much "life," she had long since had this chance.
Perhaps what she really cared about, and might even have been Lu Ping’an’s attitude.... had she entered Rule-level six months earlier, she probably would have been stuck in prison forever.
"My rule is ’Phantom Form’...."
The Decree and rules of professionals were always their wealth and trump cards, but after her breakthrough, Fang Wen sought out Lu Ping’an at the first chance to disclose all her abilities and traits.
"Not a Mechanic Spiritualist?"
This surprised Lu Ping’an a bit.
"A Beast Tamer."
If she hadn’t regained a physical body, even if she had "forgotten," she would not have been able to return to the main path.
"Your goal?"
In Lu Ping’an’s eyes, the woman was quite obsessive, even to the point of madness.
"Achieving my goal of ’mechanical new life’ doesn’t require too extreme a specialization in Mechanical Spirit Awakening."
Fang Wen revealed a bitter smile. In order to "undo her past moves," she had sacrificed a lot and forgotten much.... but now that she had advanced further, it was all worth it.
Now, looking back, she realized it was her own obsession that had trapped her.
And with her rule traits confirmed, Lu Ping’an was quite pleased; in a way, it shared some similarities with the previous "Lord of Desire" trait, both in potential and actual combat power.
Having someone in the team break through to Rule-level was a great event; if this had happened on Earth, it could have made the news and warranted a grand celebration lasting dozens of days.
But for the current Lu Ping’an, it was a somewhat bittersweet situation.
"There’s also the matter of equipping facilities... Beast Taming, machinery, craftsman, uh, it seems quite troublesome."
The resources and help that a Rule-level could offer, Lu Ping’an naturally wouldn’t refuse, even if it cost a bit more. This kind of treatment was something he would definitely raise.
And now with multiple permanent Rule-level individuals, this time, even when facing true seventh or eighth order Strongmen, Lu Ping’an felt confident.
— End of Chapter 1276 —