A Blade as a Gift

Six o'clock that evening.

Just as Lister was about to gesture to Adrian, President Blai had already bent down and leaned closer.

Throughout the day, President Blai and several heads of prominent families stood behind him for the entire day.

The results were ultimately satisfactory, with approximately 2,600 warriors, 43 B-level geniuses, and 5 A-level geniuses recruited.

"Let's call it a day. How many people are still outside?"

"Sir, I'll pass on the message immediately."

"There are still a lot of people outside. Because the speed of information dissemination is limited, there are actually more people now than in the morning."

As a civilization without registered residents, the whole appears fragmented.

The high-rise buildings are magnificent and luxurious, but some means of communication, including basic technologies, remain primitive and backward due to the limitations imposed by the barriers of civilization.

This differs from the Merrick Civilization, which was broken down by Lister due to its class barriers.

Although it has only been a few months, the development speed is extremely fast.

While high-rise buildings have not yet been fully completed, some advanced infrastructure projects are being implemented rapidly.

The Merrick Civilization's chips have already been distributed uniformly throughout the civilization, and its communication and entertainment systems are fully integrated with the Galactic Federation. It won't be long before it develops in sync with the Yalan Civilization.

This is also why other less advanced civilizations came to pave the way for the Merrick Civilization in advance—they wanted to seize a share of the benefits as the Merrick Civilization rapidly developed.

"I understand. We'll continue tomorrow."

Do you have any further questions?

Seeing that President Blai was still leaning to his side, Lister spoke again.

"My lord, actually... there are quite a few geniuses from other countries today..."

"I've heard about the generous conditions you're offering on behalf of the Merrick Civilization for recruitment, and I'd also like to participate..."

"Since these people haven't been allowed to participate today, what do you think...?"

It's said that Lister's consent wasn't given, but in reality, President Blai was just using this as leverage to extract benefits from neighboring countries.

Now that all the interests have been largely agreed upon, it is natural to come and deliver a message to Lister.

"Let them come, and keep the selection criteria the same as today."

Ignoring President Blai's private thoughts, Lister immediately called Tim to his side.

"Notify those who stayed behind to all have a spot; it should be processed in the next couple of days."

"Have Quint find a way to advance the credits; if that doesn't work, borrow some money from the Yalan Civilization."

I thought there would be many people at level B or above, but in reality, there are only so many.

This is despite the fact that the Yalan Civilization has not recruited anyone for over a decade; indeed, talented individuals with potential are rare.

Lister originally intended to allocate only A-level talents and a small number of B-level talents.

With so few people now, there's no longer any screening process.

As for the large sum of credits advanced, let the new government figure that out; after all, obtaining credits in the name of the government is relatively easy.

The next day, it was thought that with talents from other countries joining the selection process, even more geniuses would emerge.

But the actual result greatly disappointed Lister. The number of talents at grade B and above was less than two-thirds of that on the first day, as if he had already gathered up most of the talent pool.

Other countries in the vicinity have very few potential Class Holder, and even those with D-level combat power are few and far between. Their ranks are also not high, and even those who meet the standards of Lister warriors are few and far between.

As for those with potential at level C or above, most of them are still citizens of Chali Nation.

No wonder the Chali Nation was famous on this planet and among the Yalan Civilization; the rumors were indeed true.

For seven consecutive days, until the recruitment ended.

A total of over 9,400 people were recruited, including 7,600 with D-level combat power, 1,600 with C-level combat power, 200 with B-level combat power, and 9 with A-level combat power.

Among them are more than 100 talents who have already exceeded level 12 and reached the Third Advancement, although their combat power is generally not high, only at the D-rank.

At a glance, it seems that even the original inhabitants of the Godrise World are the same.

There's a significant gap between D-level and C-level combat power, which is also the minimum standard for junior officers.

It is clear that the Galactic Federation's military rank system was established through statistical analysis long ago.

Above C-level combat power, the gap widens even further, with each step representing a new hurdle.

"Is this the teleportation array?"

"Corey, have you ridden this before?"

Gaddafi looked at the teleportation array with excitement, and asked Corey curiously.

"No."

"Unless you are a citizen of a legitimate civilization, you are not qualified to use the teleportation array."

Even if the Fita Family wields immense power in the Chali Nation, they are still nothing more than ants within the Galactic Federation.

In the past, Corey had only seen many important figures from other civilizations stand on this teleportation array.

Today, since Merrick Civilization, this is the first time he has truly stood on this formation, and he is equally excited.

A faint blue light rose from beneath their feet, and soon the beam of light covered the entire teleportation array.

A massive energy surge swept in, and the next moment, all that remained in sight was a Twist blue pillar of energy.

After about ten seconds, the beam of light disappeared, and the energy fluctuations subsided.

A brand new world appeared before my eyes.

"Sariel, Hunter, you two come with me."

"Adrian, take the rest of these people to Quint for arrangements."

"Yes, sir!"

Only after Lister led the two away did the group that came down from the teleportation array breathe a sigh of relief.

Even though Lister hadn't revealed anything, it was still incredibly stressful for the newcomers who had just Merrick Civilization.

Especially after Corey Fita learned a few days ago that Lister's surname was Merrick and shared it with everyone, there was even more speculation.

"Hmph! Sariel one thing, but..."

"Hunter is only a C-level... what makes him so special?"

Only after the figures of the men had completely disappeared did Gaddafi finally dare to speak.

In just a few days, his ego swelled rapidly.

From initially being cautious and timid, to Corey's clique and starting to swell up, and now even being jealous of Hunter's treatment.

With Gaddafi leading the way, voices of jealousy and discontent rose one after another.

"Yeah! A mere C-grade trash!"

"I don't know what kind of incredible luck they had!"

"Quiet!"

Only when Adrian shouted angrily did everyone fall silent again.

Merrick Castle, inside the training ground.

A small area was shrouded in shadow as Sariel, wielding his sword, launched an attack on Lister.

With the enhancement of the Blade Soul Domain, the attack speed is extremely fast, and the whole body seems to turn into a single line.

"Clang!"

The blade finally struck the hilt of Lister's Shadowless Blade.

"Snap!"

The blade in Sariel suddenly snapped, ending the combat training.

After all, it's a sixth-tier blade, and five days of training with the Shadowless Blade should have reached its limit.

Notification: The Soul Blade Domain has been taken over.

[Soul Blade Domain (S-Rank) LV1: Within a certain range, activate the Saber Soul Blade Domain. Your own sword-fighting skills will gain a Soul Strength buff. (Note: This buff increases with Soul Strength, and additionally converts 139.7% of damage into true damage, and increases attack and movement speed by 0.5%.)]

Looking at the notification on the system panel, Lister couldn't help but smile.

In less than five days, under the guise of training Sariel, he finally mastered the Soul Blade Domain.

The effect far exceeded his expectations. The extra true damage was measured based on the soul strength and was unrelated to the skill level. Therefore, the effect of level one was more than 10 times that of Sariel at level 60.

On the contrary, the extra attack speed and movement speed are actually related to level increases.

"My lord... I need to reforge the sword over the next few days before I can continue training."

Sariel silently picked up the broken knife from the ground and asked Lister for help.

"You know how to forge swords?"

"My lord! I know how to forge swords! I can help Sariel!"

Hearing the commotion, Hunter stopped his training and stepped forward to speak.

No wonder he's Powell's son; father and son are practically identical.

In terms of Class Holder talent, Hunter, like Powell, is only a C-level talent.

However, he also possesses exceptional talent in forging.

For Sariel, a mere sixth-tier C-grade blade was an easy task to repair.

"No need!"

"I have an old knife here, you can have it!"

Lister took his old companion out of his Inventory.

"This knife is called the Black Leaf Laceration Blade, and it's perfect for your current use."

"As for the training, that's all for today. Tim will assign you your duties tomorrow."

The Black Leaf Laceration Blade is a product of the Technology City and can be used by players of level six and above.

Lister hadn't originally asked Powell to help him advance his rank, but it was perfect for Sariel to use.

Having learned skills from him, and given my good mood today, I consider this knife a personal gift from him.

"Yes, sir!"

"I will certainly use this knife well! I will not tarnish your reputation!"

A long, black sword, its blade covered in fine cracks.

Sariel held the strangely shaped blade until it shattered and extended at his will, his eyes filled with undisguised delight.

After trying it out, the way he looked at Lister changed.

Unlike the tension and respect of the past, this time it was filled with excitement and deep gratitude.