Private Job

"Night General?" Li Yèlái looked at his codename, feeling a little disappointed.

He had actually asked the higher-ups for a "Spearman" codename.

After all, he would be using spear techniques like the Single-Handed Eighteen Thrusts in the future.

Calling himself a Spearman would not have been excessive.

Cheese had suggested the codename "Snow Leopard" instead, saying it could make them the Cheese Snow Leopard duo. Li Yèlái did not understand the mystery behind that, nor did he know what kind of combination Cheese and Snow Leopard could possibly make.

In any case, it seemed the leaders had rejected both options.

What's wrong with Spearman? Don't they know that the fierce generals of history were all masters of the spear? Xiang Yu, Ma Chao, Zhao Zilong, Yue Fei, Gao Chong.

The young Li Yèlái grumbled inwardly, feeling that the higher-ups were being far too stingy.

He then accepted Cheese's group invitation.

Cheese had mentioned this to him yesterday. From now on, they could contact the various handlers through their communicators. Forming a small group would make it easier to keep in touch.

After entering the small group Cheese had created, Li Yèlái realized that everyone in it was an acquaintance.

Starfire, Detective, Shadowflow, Cheese, Heavy Cavalry—apart from Cheese, all of them were newcomers from this batch at the East City Branch.

At that moment, Cheese noticed Li Yèlái joining the group and spoke up.

"Welcome, Night General. What a pity, though. You still didn't choose Snow Leopard." Cheese sent a laughing-crying emoji.

Li Yèlái typed back, "They didn't pick Spearman either. I don't know why."

"Oh, I know about that. Apparently, with your luck, you still dared to take the codename Spearman? You'd get struck by lightning in minutes! The higher-ups are supposedly protecting you or something." Cheese sent an emoji before replying, "I don't know the specifics either. Maybe it's some secret only high-awakening handlers know."

A spearman would get struck by lightning? Li Yèlái frowned, thinking that perhaps the higher-ups knew some mysterious information.

But he did not care too much. It was only a codename, and Night General was not bad either.

"Alright, now that you have a codename, you're officially a handler. When you have time, browse the forum and improve your understanding. If there's anything you don't understand, ask in the group." Cheese added, "Also, find some time to familiarize yourself with your Psychic Weapon at the branch, and have some equipment made."

"Sure!" Li Yèlái replied, then left the group and opened the forum.

This forum was a shared communication platform for all official psychic users across the nearby Mega Cities.

Many veteran handlers shared their experiences or discussed problems there.

It was also a channel for communicating with handlers from other Mega Cities. Of course, the higher-ups would not reveal certain classified information.

In short, it contained all sorts of posts.

[Lava Mine City Processing Department has obtained the formula for a specific third-awakening ability potion of the Whisper Path. One bottle costs 300 Merit Points. Purchases from other Mega Cities require a 10% handling fee and 10 Merit Points for shipping.]

[Border City No. 2 has discovered the Class B Forbidden Item—Unsheared Sheep. Two fully staffed squads were deployed and successfully suppressed it! Suppression guide.]

[Border City No. 3: The Ashes Church summoned a Void Realm Creature through an evil ritual, only for it to be stabbed to death by a newcomer!]

[Border City No. 1: A handler has successfully completed the fifth awakening. Congratulations!]

There were countless posts, and surprisingly, one of them was about him.

Li Yèlái smiled inwardly and clicked into it. There was a video attached, showing the moment he had descended from the sky and stabbed the monster to death. The resolution was low, so it had not captured his face clearly, nor had it shown his mask.

Most of the replies below were things like, "That's a newcomer? Damn, damn, damn!"

"Come to our Lava Mine City instead!"

"What a move—spear technique from the heavens!"

"Whose general is this?"

They were all meaningless jokes.

Li Yèlái continued browsing and finally found what he was looking for.

[Psychic Weapon List of Every Mega City]

It recorded a large number of officially catalogued Psychic Weapons, along with their effects and prices.

This was Li Yèlái's true goal. It could even be said that it was one of his main reasons for becoming a handler.

He wanted to find an item that could suppress his younger sister's curse.

Very quickly, he found several items capable of suppressing curses.

[Anti-spiritual power helmet] While suppressing the spiritual power of the target or even the wearer, it could also suppress some curses. Distortion risk: zero. Price: 80 Merit Points. Located in Border City No. 1, so an additional 10 Merit Points were required for shipping. Total: 90 points.

[Isolation Scarf] Could greatly isolate all-weather curses, though it was less effective against powerful curses from high-level psychic users. Distortion risk: low. Price: 200 Merit Points. Located in Lava Mine City. Total with shipping: 210 points.

[Spirit Breaking Twig] Originated from the Calamity Forbidden Zone, Mist Dragon Forest. Could greatly disperse spiritual power and temporarily suppress curses. Distortion risk: medium. Price: 800 Merit Points. Only handlers above the third awakening could purchase it.

There were quite a few things that could suppress curses, but none of them came cheap.

Li Yèlái currently had 30 Merit Points, which made him rich among newcomers. Yet he could not afford a single one.

Still, there was no need to look at the more expensive ones. Their effects were stronger, but their distortion risks were far too high. They were unsafe.

Li Yèlái did not dare use such dangerous things on his younger sister.

The risk-free Anti-spiritual power helmet was still the most suitable option.

Ninety Merit Points was not impossibly far away.

If he took on more missions over the next six months, he might be able to gather enough.

With that, even if things would be troublesome in daily life, his younger sister would at least be able to leave the house.

Li Yèlái considered it and set his next goal. Save Merit Points and buy the Anti-spiritual power helmet!

Now that he finally had something to hope for, Li Yèlái relaxed considerably. A huge weight had finally lifted from his heart.

He then began reading other posts.

His understanding of psychic users was still insufficient, so he needed to learn more from the forum's official educational materials.

The authorities had confirmed seven Paths: Zeroing, Whisper, Divine Control, Myriad Paths, Nether, Spiritual Eye, and True Martial.

This order was based on the ratio between spiritual power and physical enhancement gained with each awakening.

For the Zeroing Path, the spiritual power-to-physique enhancement ratio was 8:2.

Thus, at the same awakening level, Zeroing Path psychic users had the greatest total spiritual power, and their abilities were often high-damage ones such as elemental manipulation. But their physiques were the weakest. That was why Starfire had not even had time to resist before the Void Realm Creature severed his hand.

Following that pattern, the final True Martial Path had a spiritual power-to-physique enhancement ratio of 2:8.

It had the least total spiritual power, but the strongest physique.

That was also why Heavy Cavalry possessed such tremendous power.

Just in terms of strength, she could probably hammer Li Yèlái into two pieces.

As for Li Yèlái, he was on the Myriad Paths. His spiritual power-to-physique enhancement ratio was 5:5, making it a steadily developing Path.

He could compete with those above him in physique and with those below him in spiritual power.

Those were the characteristics of the seven Paths. Next came the advancement, or awakening, of psychic users.

Every psychic user gained different spiritual abilities with each awakening. Li Yèlái himself was an exception, since he had traded for his mask with Black Shadow.

For most Myriad Paths psychic users, however, the first awakening usually granted auxiliary abilities.

For example, Supernatural Beast Language or some form of imitation ability based on ordinary animals.

It was said that one Myriad Paths comrade had awakened an ability similar to an octopus's or chameleon's, allowing him to change color according to his surroundings.

In theory, he was a stealth expert no worse than those of the Nether Path. But his clothes could not change color.

As a result, he had to strip naked to hide. It was absolutely miserable!

Only during the second or third awakening did they have a chance to obtain offensive methods.

Of course, if they did not want to leave it to luck, they could drink specific potions.

The kind mentioned in the earlier post.

Drinking one during awakening gave a high chance of obtaining its specified skill.

As Cheese put it, every awakening was like a guaranteed pull in a mobile game.

Without a potion, they pulled from the standard banner. Everything depended on luck.

With a potion, it was equivalent to pulling from the rate-up banner. Whether they still got off-banner results was another matter.

The potion formulas and ingredients were the costly part.

That was why many handlers saved up points to buy potions. And those were the lucky ones.

After all, the specific potions controlled by the authorities were not comprehensive. Some handlers could not buy one even if they wanted to.

For example, Li Yèlái was on the Myriad Paths, but the authorities only had specific potions for the third and fifth awakenings of the Myriad Paths. For his second and fourth awakenings, Li Yèlái could only rely on luck.

Li Yèlái organized his thoughts.

For now, if he wanted to accumulate Merit Points faster, he had to take on missions more diligently.

Then his strength had to improve as well. After all, sharpening the axe would not delay the chopping of wood.

Li Yèlái thought that he would probably have to spend some of his 30 Merit Points. It would be terrible if he saved enough points only to die before using them.

"Looks like I still need to find time to have some equipment made." Li Yèlái thought as he closed his communicator.

After work that day, Li Yèlái hurried back to the branch.

He found the Equipment Department and stated his requirements.

A cold weapon, suitable for concealment. As for what attachments to add, the Equipment Department could decide for themselves.

The Equipment Department staff nodded repeatedly. They loved clients who did not babble nonsense like this!

Then they ruthlessly took five Merit Points from Li Yèlái! Li Yèlái's heart bled. He only paid after repeatedly asking Cheese whether the price was reasonable.

Come to think of it, Li Yèlái's life was not much different from before he became a psychic user.

The only difference was that he had to write a report every day and submit it to the branch.

He had to report whether he had used his abilities, employed spiritual power, been discovered by outsiders, and so on. Normally, he just stayed in the Antique Shop, nothing like the disaster handler he had imagined. Perhaps this was better? Still, although he could receive a salary, there were no bonuses or Merit Points.

The next day, while Li Yèlái was still watching the shop, he saw a black sedan stop outside the Antique Shop.

A man in a black suit entered the Antique Shop carrying a briefcase.

After looking around the Antique Shop for a while, he walked straight toward Li Yèlái.

While Li Yèlái was still bewildered, the man handed him the briefcase and said mysteriously, "Mr. Night General, your goods have arrived. You may inspect them."

"Y-you just came here like this?" Li Yèlái's eyes widened. Fortunately, the boss was not here, or he would think Li Yèlái was conducting some illegal transaction!

"It's cooler this way!" the Equipment Department staff member said with a smile. "Don't worry, no one will notice me. We had your boss leave in advance."

You sent my boss away just to look cool? Couldn't you have waited until I got off work and let me go to the branch myself?

Li Yèlái grumbled inwardly, but he opened the briefcase.

Inside lay a black metal axe about the length of a fire axe.

Strangely, there were actually two jet nozzles on the back of the axe.

Li Yèlái was utterly confused. Did this count as a cold weapon?

"You said we could decide for ourselves, which showed your trust in us. Naturally, we used every means at our disposal to forge your weapon. Although it isn't a Psychic Weapon, it represents our finest craftsmanship." The Equipment Department member introduced it with animated excitement.

"The entire weapon has been specially treated. Ordinary security scanners won't detect it. We originally wanted to install a grenade launcher or shotgun barrel, but considering that you're a psychic user, those things would not be very useful against your own kind. So we installed an internal engine and thrusters instead. They can instantly accelerate your weapon in a straight line! Of course, only psychic users can use a weapon like this. An ordinary person would probably dislocate their shoulder."

Li Yèlái thought it over and reluctantly accepted the explanation.

If the weapon could accelerate instantly, it could indeed produce unexpected results.

Seeing that Li Yèlái agreed, the Equipment Department member smiled happily. "If you have any problems, come find me. We can refill the thruster fuel for free. Do you need any more equipment made? We've recently been planning to build a compact Chainsaw Heat-Melting Axe—"

Li Yèlái immediately shook his head. One weapon had already cost him five Merit Points.

He did not have the spare money for that.

After seeing off the Equipment Department member, Li Yèlái returned to the counter. After examining the metal axe for a while, he gave it a test swing. It was quite heavy. He probably could only wield it easily because he had become a psychic user. As for its power, Li Yèlái planned to find an opportunity to test it after returning to the branch.

He then stuffed it into his backpack.

But when he thought of the Merit Points he had already spent—

The more Li Yèlái thought about it, the more his heart hurt. So he sent a message in the small group. "Everyone, are there any other ways to earn Merit Points?"

"If you're in a hurry, spend money. Some handlers sell their unused Merit Points. It's around ten to twenty thousand for one point." Detective replied.

Ten to twenty thousand for one point? Li Yèlái froze, instantly feeling a sharp pain in his heart! What a mistake! He should have asked about the price of Merit Points beforehand. He had spent five points. Didn't that mean he had spent fifty to a hundred thousand Mega City Coins?

"Other than that? Are there any other opportunities to obtain Merit Points?" Li Yèlái continued asking.

Instead, he received a private message from Detective.

"Night General, if you urgently need Merit Points, do you want to take on a private job with me?" Detective asked, sending an expectant emoji. "The pay is very high."

Li Yèlái paused. After considering it, he replied, "Then I'll ask about it first."

He then privately messaged Cheese. "Do we handlers have private jobs too? Can we take them?"

Cheese only replied after a while. "Sure. Detective told you, right? The Processing Department doesn't interfere with that."

"Then what exactly is a private job?" Li Yèlái asked.

"It's nothing more than people who somewhat know that psychic users exist and want to hire one at a high price to help them with something. Detective's real identity is a private detective. He should have some connections." Cheese replied, "But it can't be ruled out that it's some kind of anomaly, so taking jobs can also be a safeguard. Still, if you take a job, you need to inform the branch so that if something suddenly happens nearby, you won't be absent. Oh, and come by the branch after work. The captain wants you to familiarize yourself with your Psychic Weapon."

"Sure!"