Abandoning Return and Racial Foundation Grade

Xia Lin had no time to listen to the details of the clearance mission.

The moment a voice sounded behind him, Xia Lin stood up and looked back.

A burly man came into Xia Lin's view.

He had a head of brilliant blond hair. It looked somewhat tousled, yet had a peculiar beauty to it.

Like a lion's mane.

He stood just over two meters tall, with a powerful, imposing build. He wore a black martial arts uniform, and his reasonably well-proportioned features gave him an air of authority.

Xia Lin recognized him.

He had often seen pictures of the man on television and on his phone.

Lion King Luo Qi, the fourth-generation Fierce Martial King!

He belonged to Aoluosi Pharmaceuticals!

But the voice had not come from Luo Qi.

It had come from the phone in Luo Qi's hand.

The voice from the phone sounded again.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Aoluosi, the man at the helm of Aoluosi Pharmaceuticals."

Xia Lin silently murmured return, and a light of return descended as a ten-second countdown began.

"Please don't rush to return..."

Aoluosi spoke from the other end of the phone, his tone solemn. "I assure you, I mean you no harm."

Xia Lin said nothing.

Luo Qi stood motionless where he was, seemingly with no intention of interrupting Xia Lin's return.

Aoluosi spoke faster. "Help me destroy the Suzuki Consortium, and I can give you many things you need... or rather, rewards."

Xia Lin still did not move.

He simply watched Luo Qi, on guard against a sudden attack.

Aoluosi fell silent as well, seemingly prepared to watch Xia Lin leave the Ash Zone and return to reality.

The ten-second countdown reached its final second.

Still, nothing happened.

Xia Lin suddenly spoke.

"Interrupt return."

The light of return vanished.

In the last fraction of a second, he had chosen to interrupt the return process himself.

He looked at Luo Qi and grinned.

"That's a good show of sincerity," Xia Lin said. "In that case, we have reason to talk."

Luo Qi turned and walked calmly out of the room. At the same time, Aoluosi's voice sounded from the phone again.

"Let's not discuss this in public."

The wall of the president's office had been smashed, leaving Xia Lin exposed to the helicopters and cameras.

Xia Lin followed Luo Qi out of the shattered office and stopped around the corner.

Aoluosi spoke again.

"As the man at the helm of Aoluosi Pharmaceuticals, I know about Ash Zone Walkers."

"In fact, a group of Ash Zone Walkers comes to Fierce Martial City every few years. Your arrival is nothing unusual. Normally, apart from participating in the Savage Martial Arena, you don't have much interaction with us natives."

"But you're an exception..."

Xia Lin fell into thought.

According to Aoluosi, a group of Ash Zone Walkers came to Fierce Martial City every few years.

But the first group of Ash Zone Walkers had appeared in reality a little over four hundred days ago.

The timing didn't match up...

Was Aoluosi lying?

No, Xia Lin didn't think Aoluosi was lying. By choosing not to interrupt his return just now, he had already shown his sincerity.

He truly meant Xia Lin no harm.

That left only two possibilities.

First, time flowed at different rates.

That was the most likely possibility.

Second, Ash Zone Walkers did not appear solely on the planet Xia Lin had transmigrated to.

That was less likely, but still possible.

As he thought, Xia Lin nodded toward the phone. "Thanks for the compliment."

Aoluosi: "..."

That wasn't a compliment. He was saying that Xia Lin's methods were too explosive and his approach too extreme.

It had only been a few days, and he had already destroyed a consortium... even if it was the weakest of all the consortiums, it was still a consortium.

"In any case, I greatly admire the way you do things."

Xia Lin nodded. "Yeah. Used properly, someone like me really is a good blade."

Aoluosi: ...

Why are you blurting out the truth like that?

After a brief pause, he continued.

"I admire your combination of skills even more."

Everyone had seen Xia Lin's performance earlier.

Anyone paying attention could deduce Xia Lin's combination of skills from the fighting style he had displayed.

"First, your offense and defense."

"This isn't some kind of subspace technology. In fact, Huaxin Technology's development of subspace technology has reached an impasse. There's no chance of a finished product for decades."

"These are two conceptual skills."

"One can make you immune to attacks from firearms and other modern weapons..."

Luo Qi suddenly interrupted Aoluosi. "Not immune. It only weakens them significantly. He's wounded, superficially, from the Radiant Knight's heat rays."

Luo Qi's voice was deep and hoarse. As soon as he finished, Aoluosi corrected himself. "It's a skill that greatly reduces damage from modern weapons."

"The second is your means of attack, a skill that lets you summon missile bombardments by throwing punches."

"From what I've observed, the power of this skill increases with the force of your punches."

Xia Lin nodded lightly.

"That's right."

Aoluosi knew about Ash Zone Walkers and understood the concept of skills.

With that understanding, it was easy enough to deduce the effects of Xia Lin's skills from the way he fought.

Hearing Xia Lin's response, Aoluosi sighed softly.

"At least two SS-rank skills... after all, only skills of SS rank or higher involve concepts and rules."

Xia Lin's mutated skills had no ratings.

But if mutated skills did have ratings, none of his five skills would be low-ranked. A Thousand Li Apart at Parting might have been the lowest.

But...

"How do you know so much?"

Xia Lin asked in puzzlement, and Aoluosi answered.

"Ash Zone Walkers aren't the only ones with skills. Some natives have them too."

"Yes, by your terminology, people like us should be called native class holders. We can see our own attribute panels and skill information as well."

"As for the rest, that's a long story."

Aoluosi didn't want to elaborate, and Xia Lin didn't press him.

He merely nodded in understanding.

He had heard about native class holders from Li Peipei in his first Ash Zone.

Aoluosi continued.

"Besides those two skills, you have two others."

"One makes people fat... I investigated you after you appeared. You may have been able to hide what happened to Li Wenzhang from others, but not from me."

Everything one did left traces.

"The other is a limit-breaking skill. Your attributes have been growing from the beginning until now, and at a truly astonishing rate."

"It isn't a breathing technique from Traditional Martial Arts, but a rule-based limit-breaking skill. Let me guess... an ability that increases your attributes when you defeat an opponent, or perhaps merely fight, or as long as you kill someone?"

A limit-breaking skill that increased attributes by backstabbing factions... most people would never guess that.

Xia Lin smiled without speaking. Aoluosi said reflectively, "Of course, it might not be a limit-breaking skill at all, but a passive skill that provides a temporary boost."

"If it's the latter, it would be fairly ordinary. But if it's the former, that limit-breaking skill might even approach Racial Foundation Grade."

A... new term.

"Racial Foundation Grade?" Xia Lin asked, puzzled, and Aoluosi answered.

"The highest skill rating, above SSS rank."

"A powerful skill whose might alone can change the ecology of a race and become that race's trump card!"

"Though your limit-breaking skill may still fall a little short of Racial Foundation Grade."

"You don't need to tell me the answer, and you won't. I'm afraid you're the only one who knows your skills' ratings."

In fact, Xia Lin didn't know either.

His skills were all mutated skills, and none had a rating...

"Anyway, that's enough of an introduction. Now let's get down to business."

As Aoluosi finished speaking, Luo Qi held the phone out to Xia Lin.

He spoke in a deep voice. "Take the phone and keep talking to Dad. I'll go deal with the Suzuki Consortium's Steel Gale."

Steel Gale.

An SSS-rank combat robot.

The Suzuki Consortium's ultimate trump card.