The Third Path

Did Lu PingAn have shortcomings? Of course.

After all, he had only been a Polluted for ten days, a Tier 0 transcendent for one week, and a true Tier 1 transcendent for just one day.

Even with cheat-like growth, he still lacked many things.

Perhaps it was not accurate to say he had shortcomings. Other than a few passable strengths, everything else was a weakness.

But everyone present knew that the "shortcoming" in question referred to only one ability.

"Is there a way to make up for my lack of close-combat ability in the short term?"

Low-tier Professionals did not have many supernatural abilities and still relied mainly on conventional methods of fighting.

At this stage, both Runners and Gardeners were support-oriented professions. They did not have combat techniques such as "gunsmanship" or "fist techniques."

Once a Professional got close to Lu PingAn, he would probably have nothing left but Wild Fists.

In truth, Lu PingAn knew the orthodox way to solve this problem.

"Develop new Profession Skills. Go further down the Gardener and Runner paths. That should solve the problem, but none of that can be done overnight. There isn't enough time."

Becoming a Professional was not the end of one's advancement. On the contrary, it was only the beginning.

A Job Change was merely a key and a door, granting one access to more permissions.

Or rather, it gave one a box that could hold more treasures.

A motherboard needed a CPU, hard drive, graphics card, and other components before it could do more than idle uselessly.

Take Lei Huo Ren, that pure Runner—according to Cat Cat. His speed in battle was not absurdly fast, nor was he constantly using Ground Shrinking.

He was simply always one step ahead of, or one step behind, the focus of your gaze. His rhythm and speed constantly changed. In a moment of distraction, you would lose him.

The tentacles were constantly tracking him, yet they could never touch him.

When he attacked, it was often just a punch or a finger strike.

A light touch from that golden finger directly paralyzed the corresponding limb of a Tier 2 tentacle demonic plant.

Lu PingAn had also seen him use "Golden Finger" to block a venomous lash head-on as if nothing had happened.

When he erupted with power, even his entire fist turned golden.

This was probably some kind of Runner Profession Skill, but Lu PingAn had no idea what it was.

The publicly available Forbidden Knowledge ended at becoming a formal Professional through a Tier 1 Job Change.

What Lu PingAn had now was only a foundation. He still needed to obtain the truly valuable treasures.

And none of them could be acquired in just two days.

It was troublesome enough just to obtain intelligence controlled by the authorities, major corporations, and organizations.

He needed "permissions" and "trust" to gain access to more "secrets."

Getting into Gu City University was an opportunity. Otherwise, he could only consider getting a job.

In Lu PingAn's eyes, the performance of a pure warrior type like Xia Qin was even more exaggerated and incomprehensible.

At first, she had still been putting on an act, dodging the tentacles' lashes. Later, she simply took them head-on.

She did not even use a weapon, directly snapping off the two thickest tentacles, which pained Lu PingAn greatly.

But this time, from close enough, Lu PingAn noticed her supernatural traits.

Her fair skin possessed such resilience and strength that it did not even retain lash marks. That was clearly not something a normal human should possess.

If that could still be explained through training, then the faint white scales beneath her skin when she exerted force gave Lu PingAn much to think about.

Perhaps the improvements he needed next were no longer as simple as sharing experience.

Her ability to directly ignore Ivy Poison made Lu PingAn wonder whether he had invested in a fake poison vine.

"Our Bureau of Anomalous Affairs Keepers of Secrets all have a certain degree of passive poison resistance. It counts as a benefit. You'll find out later."

"I don't have it. I haven't accumulated enough contributions yet, and I can't bear to exchange for it. Captain Xia is always charging the front lines, so she needs that ability more."

Lei Huo Ren was quite straightforward. He used another ability to resist poison.

The two Keepers of Secrets took time out of their busy schedules to train Lu PingAn and point out several obvious flaws.

"You need to keep your eyes on the target at all times and constantly judge their movements. Don't just watch their head. Watch key points like their hands, eyes, and feet. Without training, those are difficult to fake."

"Don't think of relying on demonic plants the moment someone closes in. There won't be time. Besides, your demonic plants seem less nimble and intelligent than those of other Gardeners. You may still be missing something."

"As a Gardener lucky enough to possess demonic plants above your tier, your idea of fighting a positional battle is not wrong. But you do not have enough scattered assets, and you yourself lack survival abilities. In actual combat, your opponents will definitely focus on killing you."

"Although your responses are quite rational and imaginative, you still lack actual combat experience, especially experience in direct fights. I looked into your past battles. A good assassin is not necessarily a good warrior. The entrance exam tests a warrior's frontal combat ability."

Lu PingAn did not deny the existence of those problems.

He even brought out his own "solution" and directly asked for their opinions.

"Actually, you both know about my experience-sharing ability. I've shared quite a lot of Combat Fighting experience. If I took on a combat profession as a secondary class, even just at Tier 0, it should greatly improve my close-combat ability, right?"

This was the plan Lu PingAn had reserved. His universal skill, Combat Fighting, had actually reached an astonishing LV5 long ago!

Why? The continuous shared experience from Xia Qin, Lei Huo Ren, and Cat Cat, along with Xue En's massive experience package.

Keepers of Secrets on duty within the city inevitably had to use hand-to-hand combat techniques.

The Lei Family Siblings, both Runners, also fought through unarmed close combat.

With everyone providing Lu PingAn with hand-to-hand combat experience, this "universal skill" naturally piled up to the highest level.

Their complex fighting memories and combat styles instead allowed Lu PingAn to cross-reference them, improving even faster.

However, without professional transformation, it was still merely mortal fighting technique.

An ordinary boxer who had trained for two years would be meaningless against a humanoid beast at close range.

"Among the close-combat profession paths I know of, there seem to be boxers, swordsmen, and fighters. Sister Xia Qin is both a swordsman and a fighter, right? Can you give me some advice?"

At that moment, Xia Qin, who was usually so direct, hesitated before shaking her head.

"We only started down the road a few years before you. We are still far from being qualified to guide you. Choosing a path is a major life decision. I don't recommend making such a hasty choice."

"The captain is right. It would be better to fail this time than to choose the wrong path for the sake of it. You're still young, so don't rush. We're not trying to brush you off. We truly don't have the ability to guide you. At the very least, none of us expected that a logistics profession like Gardener would suit you so well. If no one guided you toward it, then it was truly a stroke of divine inspiration."

Lei Huo Ren, however, was not so honest. Even now, he was still probing Lu PingAn's secrets through his words.

Lu PingAn smiled and nodded without responding, though inwardly he felt somewhat helpless.

I still don't know whether this Big Cat is genuinely clueless or just pretending. She seems to only do good things now, but relying too heavily on a single source of information is always a problem. I need to break away from that as soon as possible. Hopefully, things will improve once I enter university.

After seeing the two Keepers of Secrets off to return to overtime work, Lu PingAn left the police station. This time, he obediently went home.

While downloading shows to catch up on, and while Chris was in a good mood, Lu PingAn asked her the same question.

Having been prepared, she immediately gave an answer Lu PingAn could not understand.

"Soldier? Xue En's secondary profession? Isn't that the weakest and most hopeless secondary profession among close-combat classes?"

This answer exceeded Lu PingAn's expectations. It was an option he had eliminated from the very beginning.

Because of Xue En, he had also learned about Soldier, the path of the God of War. By every account, it was weak in every respect.

When close-combat professions first underwent a Job Change, they often received two Profession Skills.

One was a combat technique, while the other enhanced one's basic abilities.

One external and one internal, complementing and reinforcing each other, much like running techniques and Breathing Methods.

Soldier was disadvantaged because, in many people's eyes, both of these Profession Skills had problems.

For paths like swordsmen and boxers, their specialized combat techniques were swordsmanship and fist techniques, with immediate improvements. But Soldiers received "All Weapon Proficiency."

It sounded pretty good, didn't it? The problem was the word "all."

Both Cold Weapons and Firearms received bonuses, and all of them had to be trained. How many types of Cold Weapons alone were there? Yet the improvement was said to be less than half that of other professions. It was exhausting work with little visible reward.

Even if that problem could be overcome, the second issue was the reason why the wild Soldier Path was so sparsely populated.

"Soldiers' 'War Memory' doesn't provide any basic attribute improvements. It can only increase battlefield perception and intuition. What use is that?"

"Heh, it's not very useful at low tiers. At high tiers, though..."

So that was it. It was a passive ability that came into its own later?

"Even at high tiers, it won't improve your physical abilities. It was never a direct combat ability to begin with. Aren't you misunderstanding something if you expect the Soldier Path to improve your individual combat ability?"

Lu PingAn was a little dumbfounded. The core skill of the God of War's Soldier Path was not a direct combat ability?

But in the next moment, he understood.

"Individual combat ability? Oh, Soldiers improve group combat ability?"

"It's not that simple. All I can say is that it's extremely useful, especially for you. Besides, All Weapon Proficiency is not without benefits. Other people have already settled on the weapons they use and are committed to a single path.

"Lu PingAn, your fighting style has not yet taken shape, but you will definitely use demonic plants. If you hold roots or something in your hands, they can only count as Exotic Weapons. What combat technique do you intend to train? Whips? Sabers? Swords? Only All Weapon Proficiency can steadily improve all of that. Several High-Tier Gardeners I know also took Soldier as a secondary profession."

In truth, that final sentence alone was enough for Lu PingAn to make up his mind.

But this kind of "common knowledge," which was hardly a secret at higher levels, was likely precious intelligence that Xia Qin and the others could not obtain even by paying for it.

"What is the Soldier Job Change Ceremony? Can it be completed within two days?"

"Two days? For you, it can be done in half an hour. But some people can never accomplish it in their entire lives."

"What is it? That easy?"

"Kill someone while they are not hostile toward you. Very simple, right?"

"...Are you sure this is the path of the God of War, and not some Blood God?"