Chapter 766
Chapter 766 - 752: Lawyer
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9 min read
What is a Decree?
Why is it that even though they are all professionals, there is a huge gap between each tier, but the gap between third-tier and fourth-tier is seen as insurmountable.
To advance and become a true fourth-tier professional, these questions must be answered.
"... Decree, and the previous Curses are not the same at all. The biggest difference is in fact ’subjectivity,’ as well as custom personalization..."
Curse words (Black Iron) are personal malice and vile language, and their effects are often quite formulaic.
That is, "I first fulfill certain conditions (Curse Ritual)," pay a specific price (sacrifice) to achieve specific results (Curse effect)."
It is hard to say whether you accomplished this, or if there is something mysterious responding to your needs.
Perhaps it is in line with the "source" of the lingering effects, borrowing the power of higher-level beings and higher-dimensional beings to simulate and imitate the lower-level formulas of those "truths."
Regarding this aspect, low-level curse words (Tier 1-2) are the most obvious, as they are quite rigid and direct, often requiring fixed actions and "language (spell)," and the outcome is rather difficult to control.
Moving further, the Brass Curse (third-tier) has begun to become subjective and personalized, often requiring a certain permanent price to gain stronger autonomy and permanent changes....
"So, at this time, you are already a part of the curse."
In Ping’an’s view, professionals have begun to embrace "Pollution" at this time and introduce it into their own bodies.
Previously, it was remote control of the "Pollution Formula," which was naturally rigid and had poor effects, but when you have become a part of the "Pollution Curse," you can naturally control it more easily.
In a sense, becoming a professional at one tier after another is the stage of ordinary people moving towards the origin of pollution... If he progresses normally, he follows the "steps" paved by the previous generations, and if he chooses to jump out of the safe zone, he will lose control quickly.
Having clarified the concept of "Curse," the nature of "Decrees" becomes clear as well.
"Law is the ’law,’ the rules created by ’me (country)’ in the ’territory’ ..."
What seems like a convoluted concept is actually a kind of privilege and qualitative change.
Treating a professional with Decree as an independent sovereign nation makes it much easier to understand.
Compared to curses, Decrees have much higher priority, and they can exist independently of personal "malice."
In the face of the "nation’s" Decree, individual will is insignificant, and one can only comply or be ignored.
Order? That’s an even deeper step. A Law is still conditional and has prerequisites, that is, "If you violate something, I can punish you according to the Law." Whereas "Order" is the essence of the nation’s will, that is...
"When I speak, the law follows, and my will can correct this world..."
Early-stage Decree-level professionals have independent nations and rules in this world; if you dare to touch them, you will end up with a bloody outcome.
Later-stage Order-level professionals are even more powerful, where one word can create entire laws, "I want you to be like this, and you will be like this," "I command you to die, and you will die."
Therefore, a Decree-level strongman is a qualitative change... In Ping’an’s theory, a "Pollution Reflection Point," which passively accepts radiation, becomes a "low-level radiation source" that carries its own radiation field.
He controls his world; he is the king of that realm.
Clearly, the steps from Curse to Decree are gradual.
It’s not that Decrees are necessarily superior to Curses, but a single Decree tends to be a convergence and refinement of countless Curses to form one "Decree."
During this process, not only does the "Decree" itself require purification, but the supernatural driving force behind the Decree also needs to evolve.
The degradation of life-points seen previously reveals the ratings of various "energies."
Curses use curse-power, Tiers 1 to 3 don’t have any essential difference, but although Decrees also employ curse-power, it is specific curse-power. For example, if you use a Life system Decree, you would need Life Curse Power.
That is a result of compression, purification, and specialization; it’s only capable of driving higher consumption and more potent Decrees.
Just as you need advanced "Legal Documents," not only do you need higher-level knowledge and abilities, but you also need a superior "Ink Pen."
One side is hardware, the other is software; the former is a prerequisite, while the latter is the core.
"... Thirteen Decrees, you might as well just kill me."
To become Decree-level is to accumulate and refine your own "Decree" from the countless "Curses" within you.
It was a process of quantitative change to qualitative change, a choice from many to few, and a laying-out from hardware to software.
In most cases, a fourth-tier professional is constructed with a single "Decree" at its core, while the remaining Decree-level capabilities are mostly just derivatives and modifications of it.
Just like writing on a blank sheet, some "Decrees" have potential and may even be further upgraded into rules.
While others, even if successfully written, are inherently limited, with no hope for advancement.
Thus, "understanding and learning to use" a Decree usually doesn’t just mean possessing it, but rather obtaining everything related to it beforehand. It could very well entail reliving a professional’s entire past.
The "Lawyer" profession is rare and still lacks direct combat capabilities, but no one dares to underestimate it.
Its normal path of advancement involves high-level part-time scholars turning back and, bit by bit, filling in the core Decrees they need through other paths before advancing.
This is the path of growth for Scholars, from being knowledgeable to mastering a specialty. The only difference is that the specialties they need are the unique Decrees limited to one person per nation that others use to make a living.
In the process of learning, Lawyers would continuously accumulate and familiarize themselves with the operational methods of "Decrees"... High-level Lawyers can be outrageously powerful.
"Lawyers can directly poke at an opponent’s weak points in their Decrees, rendering them ineffective or even taking control of them?! Nonsensically, high-level Lawyers can even compile Decrees on the spot, creating customized Decrees to counter opponents?"
"At that time, those would be even higher-level Judges and Legislators, improvising law enforcement and legislation on the spot with a ridiculous intensity limit... Just consider pure Scholars above fourth-tier to be at least sixth-tier, and they might even be more dangerous. There’s no telling which Decrees they’ve accumulated. In actual combat, revealing too much information or casually demonstrating your core abilities in front of high-level Scholars equals courting death."
Why are Lawyers "pure Scholars"? It’s because they do not rely on other rules; their profession is all about manipulating rules themselves.
It is the most unique profession, able to write, compile other Abnormal Abilities, and even create other professions.
Third-tier Lawyers are still support characters in the accumulation phase, but once they become fourth-tier Judges, who can "enforce law" and "restrict interpretations (revise) of the law," they become famous for their fighting prowess.
Having known everything about Lawyers and Decrees, Lu Ping’an is certain that, by following normal paths, it would be impossible for him to advance even in ten years, let alone a few months.
It’s not a matter of talent or effort. Just the prerequisite accumulation needed for advancement is not something that can be done within a few short years.
"How did that guy, Sophist, advance?"
That guy is Sister Xia Qin’s contemporary and was no more than thirty years old before his death.
No matter how you look at it, he didn’t seem like someone who had accumulated over ten or several decades and successfully advanced to become a ruthless fourth-tier pure Scholar.
"Furthermore, he doesn’t possess the standard ’Judge’ strength that Big Cat mentioned..."
The answer is actually quite obvious.
The core capability of the Sophist might be related to the "Decree" part of his Abnormal Ability, which is devouring other people’s "Lives."
After consuming the experience, knowledge, and accumulation of others, he naturally gains the ability to understand the "Decrees" of others and even "borrow" their Decrees while impersonating them.
It follows that his lack of normal Lawyer-like freely wielded power and striking at weak points is completely understandable.
He merely "ate" other people’s lives but didn’t understand or digest them, nor did he transform them into abilities and wealth that he could use at will.
He only had the shell of a normal Lawyer but not the core. He merely possessed wealth without the key to freely distribute or allocate it. Meanwhile, every time he restored someone else, it harmed his own self... On some level, this is one of the reasons he was destined to lose control.
He could never digest the wealth he amassed, and eventually, the accumulation of "totals" would surpass his true self, making it only a matter of time before he would lose control or be usurped.
The only solution might be to let go of everything and start anew, or in other words, to undergo a rebirth.
Unfortunately for him, he encountered Lu Ping’an at that stage.
Although he fell, his experience of taking shortcuts to becoming a third-tier pure Scholar gave Lu Ping’an an idea.
"Taking shortcuts? I think I can also consume other people’s experiences, Abnormal Abilities, and their professions."
"It’s just an imitation Scholar without the strength of a normal Lawyer, though..." As a part-time Scholar, Big Cat respected and longed for the path of pure Scholars even though she couldn’t tread it herself.
"All I need now is the ’Rules’ of this profession itself to create my own Decree." Lu Ping’an is already satisfied with just obtaining the Lawyer "components," let alone...
"I’m different from the Sophist. I can digest other people’s ’Existences.’ I’ll just take the certificate first and make up for the classes later. Moreover..."
At this moment, Lu Ping’an smiles quite happily.
"... I learn very quickly."
— End of Chapter 766 —