Steel Heart

Taking advantage of a lull, one of the female examinees quietly approached Bai Pu to chat.

Bai Pu exchanged identities with her.

This female examinee's code name was Inkfish, and the male examinee beside her was code-named Iron Crocodile.

Bai Pu didn't want to give his real name directly, so he temporarily gave himself a code name—Steel Heart.

Steel represents a firm and strong physique, and Heart symbolizes an evolving heart! "Steel Heart, in the Red Cliffs scenario, it's too disadvantageous to fight alone! We might as well team up," Inkfish said softly, "Did you know? The 'Overlord' of the West Capital District has already recruited more than a dozen examinees, forming an alliance of offense and defense! Their goal is to take the top ten spots in the Spirit Realm Exploration Subject."

Bai Pu had no objection to this; of course, he knew the benefits of teaming up. Although everyone was an examinee and in a competitive relationship, Bai Pu's competitors were not just the two in front of him, or even the dozens or hundreds of examinees in this plane, but tens of thousands of Awakened examinees distributed in other Mirror Image Planes!

A small-scale alliance could greatly increase the overall ranking of the three-person group, so why not? As for the internal competition among the three, whether someone would stab them in the back, Bai Pu had some confidence in his intelligence.

The male student code-named "Iron Crocodile" suddenly asked abruptly, "Steel Heart, are you above Level 3?"

Inkfish scolded him playfully, "Why are you asking that? Basically, all of us in this batch got full marks in the virtual battle; how could we not be above Level 3!"

Bai Pu knew that Iron Crocodile probably had some kind of reconnaissance skill and had seen through his level. He didn't hide it and directly revealed his profession level.

"Level 2?"

Inkfish's eyes widened, obviously not expecting Bai Pu's level to be so low.

It wasn't that she was discriminating based on level, but that was the rule of the Spirit Realm Will! When low-level Awakened face high-level opponents, the damage they deal is weakened, and the damage they receive when attacked is amplified! With such an increase and decrease, the difference is immeasurable.

Not to mention the threshold of Level 3 to Level 4, which is the crossing from low-level Awakened to mid-level Awakened, and there will be a very obvious gap in strength! Iron Crocodile, having received confirmation, immediately had a clear change in attitude, from the previous enthusiasm to a bit aloof.

He coughed lightly and said, "Steel Heart, you have a good relationship with Physician Liu, and your charm value isn't low, right? Try to see if you can get us some space for free movement; naturally, there will be benefits for you."

Inkfish hesitated for a moment, as if feeling that Iron Crocodile's tone was too arrogant, and added, "Steel Heart, as long as you can do it, we will definitely bring you along when we have opportunities to farm points."

Bai Pu didn't care about Iron Crocodile's attitude and said calmly, "Okay, but I need your cooperation. Opportunities are created, not waited for!"

"What do you mean by that?" The two immediately perked up.

The next day, early morning.

Bai Pu had been reading late into the night and only slept for two or three hours. After getting up, he stretched.

A prompt from the Spirit Realm Will came:

[Now announcing the real-time list of the top ten Spirit Realm Exploration Subject scores for all Awakened examinees in Mirror Image Plane 1 (only code names are displayed).]

[First place, Overlord, 57 points.]

[Second place, Mad Zen, 44 points.]

[Third place...]

[...]

[Tenth place, Iron Cavalry, 19 points.]

[Your current converted score is: 5 points. Please continue to work hard.]

"My 5 points should be from the transformation from a low-level soldier to a medic in the wounded soldier camp, a slight increase in status; yesterday's work earned twenty Merit Points, which can also be converted into points."

Bai Pu squinted his eyes, looking through the information.

The "code names" on this list are chosen by the Awakened themselves. If someone wants to give themselves a name like "Dragon Soaring Arrogant Overlord Annihilating World Cool Daddy," it's perfectly fine, as long as it fits within the Spirit Realm Will's character limit.

But you have to understand that those who can enter Mirror Image Plane No. 1 are basically Awakened geniuses with perfect scores in the virtual combat subject, and those who break into the top ten are geniuses among geniuses! They won't try to please the public with claptrap.

Using their usual code names to build their reputation is a more personally beneficial approach.

In just a day and a night, "Overlord," who is ranked first, has taken a terrifying 57 points.

But Bai Pu isn't in a hurry. He has vaguely guessed how Overlord is getting such high scores.

The path Bai Pu has chosen isn't the time to exert strength yet! Entering the wounded soldier camp, Bai Pu saw Physician Liu.

Physician Liu was pacing around anxiously early in the morning.

"What can be done? The camp's medicine warehouse caught fire last night, and nearly half of the stored medicinal materials were burned! The war is urgent, and there is a shortage of medicines. When the governor blames us, all of our heads won't be enough to be chopped off!"

Bai Pu was prepared and said, "Physician, the only option now is to go to Chaisang City to purchase medicinal materials."

Physician Liu shook his head and said, "Wounded soldiers are sent here every day, how can I leave?"

Bai Pu cupped his fist and said, "Lu is not talented, but I am willing to go."

Physician Liu said happily, "You are from the Wu County Lu Clan, familiar with Chaisang, and also deeply knowledgeable about medicinal properties. It would be great to go and purchase medicinal materials."

Bai Pu received a notification that Physician Liu's favorability towards him had increased, and had risen to the level of acquaintance.

Bai Pu pointed to Iron Crocodile and Inkfish, who were looking at him expectantly behind him, and said, "Purchasing is a big deal, I'm afraid I'm not enough alone, please allow me to bring these two along."

Physician Liu naturally agreed. Anyway, Iron Crocodile and Inkfish can't do much here. What they can do, any servants can do.

Physician Liu wrote a note and sent it to the camp. The deputy commander approved the order, strictly investigated the cause of the fire, and dispatched a team (fifty soldiers) to take a boat with Bai Pu and others to Chaisang City to purchase medicinal materials.

Before leaving, Physician Liu called Bai Pu over and said in a low voice, "If you are interested in the Taoist alchemy, you can go to the Returning Dragon Temple in Chaisang City to inquire, but don't delay the main business."

Spirit Realm Will prompt:

[You have learned information about Taoist alchemy from the natives.]

[Detected that you have a sub-occupation: Alchemist. The job transfer task is open.]

[Job Transfer Task: Pill Master]

[Task Objective: Visit a Pill Master at the Returning Dragon Temple in Chaisang City and learn Taoist alchemy.]

[Task Duration: None (equal to your remaining stay in this plane scene)]

[Task Difficulty: S]

[Task Reward: Sub-occupation: Pill Master.]

Bai Pu thanked him, feeling excited in his heart.

He knew why Physician Liu didn't say it yesterday but said it today, because of the increase in favorability—the medicine warehouse was burned, and Bai Pu took the initiative to request to purchase medicinal materials, which naturally turned into favorability in Physician Liu's eyes.

Speaking of which, Bai Pu felt a little guilty. It was he who suggested burning the medicine warehouse to get the opportunity to go out to purchase medicinal materials, which was then carried out by Iron Crocodile and Inkfish.

However, Awakened themselves are doing this kind of opportunistic thing to profit from it. The moral bottom line is very flexible, and Bai Pu has to adapt, otherwise he will be eliminated by the world of Awakened!

All he can do is purchase good medicinal materials, hoping that Physician Liu will not be beheaded because of this.

Standing at the bow of the boat, looking at the vast Yangtze River, the three examinees all felt a sense of excitement, like fish leaping in the wide sea.

"Steel Heart is so smart, his idea really worked," Inkfish said happily.

"This time we're going down the river to Chaisang City to purchase medicinal materials. Excluding the round trip, it will only take three days at most, and we can stay in Chaisang City."

Bai Pu glanced at the commander of the warship in the distance, the native squad leader named Zhou Yue, and said softly, "Within three days, I need to purchase medicinal materials. The two of you are free to act, but don't forget what you promised me."

"Remember, remember," Inkfish said quickly, "When you need help, we will help you and give it our all once. This has been notarized by the Spirit Realm Will, so you can rest assured."

Iron Crocodile also nodded. Now there is a team of Sun Quan Army sailors on this warship, and their commander is naturally Squad Leader Zhou Yue, but Bai Pu, as the person in charge of purchasing medicinal materials, also has the right to dispatch these sailors to do some non-combat things.

Even without the notarization of the Spirit Realm Will, the two of them would not dare to break their promise.

Because when purchasing medicinal materials and returning to the camp, they still have to rely on Bai Pu to say good things to Physician Liu.

If they annoy Bai Pu and he complains to Physician Liu when they return, they will definitely suffer. Being sent back to their original unit is the best outcome!

If Bai Pu is ruthless, he can even fabricate crimes to have them imprisoned, missing the key plot of the final Burning of Red Cliffs and the pursuit of the Cao Army, which would be a huge loss.

Iron Crocodile and Inkfish didn't realize that their attitude towards Bai Pu had quietly changed, from the original condescension to the current need to carefully please him. The small group of three was vaguely centered around Bai Pu.

Inkfish deliberately tried to curry favor, and said in a low voice, "Steel Heart, the burning of the medicine warehouse by Iron Crocodile and I last night can only be considered a small action. In addition to this small matter, a major event happened last night!"