Chapter 658
Chapter 658 - 638: Turning Left......
1,500 words
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8 min read
A profession is an individual’s occupation or work that serves society and serves as their main source of livelihood.
It is a way for an individual to connect with society and a role that a single person plays within the societal system. It is a way for individuals to coexist with others and the whole society.
Extraordinary professionals are never isolated; every profession needs the help of others.
Even pure battle professions need weapons and armor forged by artisans, magic potions as daily consumables, and when forming a team, scouts, element controllers, merchants, and logistics are all required... An independent warrior thrown into a high-risk environment, even without encountering any battles, wouldn’t last for more than a few days.
Various professions and paths constitute the extraordinary world on Earth, providing professionals with steps to climb, but at the same time, giving them reasons to need each other... It could be said that the whole society and group also need the power of these individual roles.
After all, a profession implies division of labor, specialization, and a combination of professional functions and industry mastery. Every profession, at a certain level, requires mastery.
"...The Ninth Vocational High School is relatively good at element manipulation, but their approach is quite unconventional..."
The ancient city is not very large, with five or six well-known specialized training institutions, which can be considered quite outrageous.
But, to begin with, professionals are meant to band together... Researchers need knowledge sharing and exchanges, producers need supply chains and support, and even seemingly self-sufficient warriors need opportunities to practice combat and outstanding artisans to provide them with equipment.
Most "universities" were actually formed by groups of professionals banding together, so it is natural for chefs to be with chefs and warriors to be with warriors. Even though the Ancient City University has tried to be as inclusive as possible, on a practical level, it still has its strengths and weaknesses.
However, as an official comprehensive university bearing the name "Ancient City," even in fields that it is not skilled at, it must at least find ways to make up for its deficiencies... or at least maintain appearances.
"Generally, we don’t recommend element manipulation type professions to our undergraduate students at Ancient City. It’s actually quite ambitious..."
The threshold for element manipulators is quite high, often only taking shape at the third-tier. Well-known strongmen in this system are usually fourth-tier Decree professionals...and there are very few unremarkable fourth-tier professionals in the small circle of the ancient city.
With a total of four years in college, minus the basic and internship periods, the golden learning period is only about two and a half years. It would be hard to just build a foundation and get started in one or two professions. As for pursuing an element-focused profession, one would probably not even reach the threshold.
Ancient City University is truly famous for its two specialties, logistics and battle professions. Professor Wen, a researcher like this, is quite famous in the academic world, and even previously received an invitation from the state government for exotic realm exploration.
But their Element-focused major could probably be considered just a decoration. In most cases, it was used to dissuade students who were overly ambitious from embarking on this difficult path.
If there really was a need for guidance, naturally they could only consult other schools... Lu Ping’an had encountered similar situations before, but he had resolved it himself.
After all, a school is an institution that serves both educational and research purposes. When Lu Ping’an’s skills began to improve, he relied less on the educational resources of Ancient City but more on its networking resources.
Lu Ping’an carries many imprints of the ancient city and Ancient City University on him.
His core team members, Meow, Xue En, Guan Xinxian, Hua Xueyi, Miss Lo, and Miss Rou are all students of Ancient City, while Xia Qin is its former graduate. After recruiting a logistics department research professor from Ancient City University, his ties with the school have become even stronger.
The position of an organization is ultimately determined by people. Unknowingly, Lu Ping’an has become involved with this city on too many levels.
He has become involved to the extent that he can be considered part of the official organization and the school, to the point where he can hardly refuse their kindness and friendliness, and to the extent that he has already implicitly confirmed...
"...Can I really turn a blind eye if something happens to the Ancient City University and the Ancient City..."
Sometimes, position is binding. When Lu Ping’an received the protection of the authorities, his emotional position was also implicitly confirmed.
When he first crossed over, he might have been able to ignore this city, which was both similar and dissimilar to his hometown. But now, as he grows with the city’s nourishment and makes friends here, he has confirmed that he cannot ignore any disasters that might befall it.
Perhaps this was why, not long ago, when faced with the arrogance of the Six-fingered Prince of Nan Liuzhi and his disdain for this city, Lu Ping’an would subconsciously "slap his face" to quell his arrogance.
"...I’ve accepted your request, but honestly, it’s a bit difficult..."
Lu Ping’an arrived at the Ninth Vocational High School and was received.
The more he interacted with the extraordinary society, the clearer it became to Lu Ping’an that there was no fundamental difference between it and the ordinary society.
Under the social order, interdependence was the main theme; the various universities of Ancient City were faintly allied and even had the possibility of merging under the new policy.
However, when he asked Professor Liu about the situation, he received a depressing answer, and the problem was in a place he had never thought of before...
"Many Element Manipulators start on the Awakener path, while many high-level Elementals are advancements of the Awakener Path. Many Elemental paths that can be independently skipped also contain the rules of Awakeners..."
Uh, is this the root cause why Element Manipulators generally don’t have Shrink Land Teleport?
Lu Ping’an had known about the conflict between Runners and Awakeners for a long time, but he never expected it to directly involve Element Tamers.
"Well, usually, if someone is inclined to be an Element Tamer, they generally won’t consider the Runner Path, as it would be troublesome when conflicts arise."
Lu Ping’an opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, and the seemingly forgotten initial choice backstabbed him at this moment.
𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
"Humph, runners, even dogs won’t train." At this moment, Meow jumped out to add fuel to the fire.
Many choices are like this. When you make them, you don’t feel anything, often just "following the crowd" or "doing what everyone else does," but with the passage of time, it can cause fundamental impacts.
After inquiring, Lu Ping’an learned that at least 70% of the Element Manipulator professions provided by the Ninth Vocational High School have more or less to do with Awakeners... This is like a pre-programmed basic module. Higher-level programs and modules will naturally call it and build a new platform upon it.
Lu Ping’an’s experience wasn’t unique. Many battle-professionals who were also Runners found that when it came to changing careers, they had lost nearly half of their options.
But upon hearing this, Lu Ping’an chuckled. Didn’t this mean that he still had other options...
"Then, are other types of Element Manipulators mainly based on the Tamer Path?"
"Yes, most of them are tamers, a few are runners, but the problem lies here..."
Speaking, Professor Liu was somewhat troubled, but in the end, he sighed and told the truth.
"Actually, within our school, there are several factions. Fire Elementals are the hardest to control. They need Awakeners’ support. Among them, there are fewer people in the Tamer and Runner series. When the runner team got together, they were invited by the Ancient City officials to explore the Exotic Realm directly. Originally, there were only a few people in the Fire Elemental area. You probably won’t find a suitable tutor now..."
Alright, was this trip a waste? However, at this moment, Lu Ping’an’s keen senses picked up on something.
"Which world did they go to? It’s not the Green Planet, is it?"
"Huh? You knew? Ah, yes, your resume does mention your Explorer qualification. You’re really young and promising. Yes, it’s the Green Planet. There are too many giant plants there, and they were invited to help."
While surprised, Lu Ping’an was also aware that this was probably inevitable. Now that the Ancient City was investing all its resources into developing that planet, the elite soldiers and strongmen would naturally be drawn from their own ranks. Most of the exploration resources must have been devoted to it.
— End of Chapter 658 —