May 13.
Lu Hao didn't rush to the Detective Bureau to take a mission. Instead, he familiarized himself with his Vital Blood. When he'd been at the peak of the First Rank, his control over his Vital Blood had been close to reaching the point of a finishing move. Now, however, he was back to only being able to control his Vital Blood itself.
Every one of Lu Hao's attacks could now reach 34 cal, exactly one-tenth of his total Vital Blood. He'd reached the level of controlling his Vital Blood itself, which was about the same as Lu Aoyun had been before.
If his Vital Blood increased again in a short time, his control would deteriorate. So Lu Hao didn't rush to take on a mission. He practiced at home, hoping to regain the level of control he'd had at the peak of the First Rank.
On May 18, after spending four days practicing his blade every day, Lu Hao finally brought his Vital Blood control back to nearly the level of a finishing move. Each attack could reach about 50 cal of Vital Blood, not much less than the power of the second strike of Blood Battle Mad Blade.
Over those same four days, Lu Hao tempered two bones. His tempering speed was about the same as when he'd been at the First Rank, since he was still tempering ordinary bones.
That afternoon, Lu Hao returned to the Detective Bureau to take a mission. Only three Second-Rank missions remained: two against mid-stage Second-Rank criminals and one against a late-stage Second-Rank criminal. None had a specific location listed.
One of the mid-stage Second-Rank missions had been posted for nearly half a year. No one had managed to find the criminal's exact location in all that time, and there was no way to confirm whether he was still in Magic City.
The other mid-stage Second-Rank mission dated back a month. It still had three recorded attempts, but all had failed.
After looking over the options, Lu Hao took the remaining late-stage Second-Rank mission. It had only been posted in the past week, and no one had taken it yet. The target should still be in Beiding District and hadn't escaped.
After accepting the mission, Lu Hao contacted the local police station and began making inquiries and searching for the target.
On May 22, after searching for five whole days, Lu Hao finally found his target. The man had been exceptionally good at hiding. After committing his crime, he'd gone straight into the underground drainage system.
Once Lu Hao found him, killing him was a foregone conclusion. It was a simple fight. Lu Hao could now be considered invincible among Second-Rank fighters, and his opponent had no special tricks. This time, Lu Hao didn't even get hurt, and he didn't need to use the second strike of Blood Battle Mad Blade.
He simply wore the man down with ordinary attacks until he died, earning 340 Slaughter Points.
At last, Lu Hao had some Slaughter Points again. The shortage that had made him feel so uneasy no longer seemed as pressing.
Tempering bones cost about the same as before: roughly 50 Slaughter Points per bone.
Lu Hao spent 300 points to temper six bones. Including the bones he'd tempered while working on his previous missions, he'd now tempered ten in total.
On May 23, Lu Hao went to take another mission, only to find that the same two Second-Rank missions were still all that remained. He wasn't so conceited as to think that just because no one else could solve them, he'd suddenly be able to.
After thinking it over, Lu Hao told his mother he planned to take missions in other districts of Magic City. But she told him that, in principle, his current status didn't allow him to accept missions.
He'd only been able to take missions in Beiding District because of his mother's help. However, she offered him a solution: she could register him under a martial arts university so that he could take missions as a student.
Lu Hao contacted Zhang Yu. After talking with him, Zhang Yu registered Lu Hao with Magic Martial University and updated his Martial Arts Certificate.
On May 24, Lu Hao received the Martial Arts Certificate Zhang Yu had mailed him. His cultivation level had been changed to Second Rank, and a new line had been added for his school: Magic City Martial Arts University.
So, officially, Lu Hao was now a student at Magic Martial University—though he hadn't even finished the college entrance exams yet.
With his new Martial Arts Certificate, Lu Hao and Viper began visiting other districts to take Second-Rank missions.
Their first stop was Wanhui District, which Lu Hao had visited before. It was prosperous, so it was bound to have more martial artists committing crimes.
Sure enough, when Lu Hao arrived at the Detective Bureau there, he found six Second-Rank missions: three early-stage, two mid-stage, and one peak-stage.
One of the early-stage Second-Rank targets had already been located. It was practically Slaughter Points delivered to his doorstep, so Lu Hao took the mission and hurried over.
The criminal was in a busy commercial area. Lu Hao and the police had to go to some trouble to lure him out of the crowds before Lu Hao killed him outright, earning 299 Slaughter Points.
Lu Hao had no idea how poor the man's foundation must have been. Had he built his cultivation entirely on pills? His Second-Rank Vital Blood hadn't even reached 300.
Still, it was enough for Lu Hao to temper six bones.
After turning in the mission, Lu Hao looked over the remaining ones and accepted a mid-stage Second-Rank mission. The target had committed his crime recently, so he should still be findable.
And so began another dull search. Lu Hao spent the whole day looking for him.
That evening, he went home and tempered six bones. He'd now tempered sixteen in total.
On May 29, after searching for four whole days without finding the target, Lu Hao finally gave up on the mission. It was as if the man had vanished into thin air. He decided to see what the other districts had to offer.
After spending the entire day making the rounds, he found two Second-Rank missions in Dongpu District, but both had been posted a long time ago. Xijiang District didn't even have any Second-Rank missions.
Fortunately, in Nanfeng District, Lu Hao found a mission that suited him: a peak-stage Second-Rank martial artist had committed a crime just the day before, and the search had already narrowed down his location.
Lu Hao accepted the mission and began searching for the peak-stage Second-Rank martial artist that same night. If the man got away, Lu Hao probably wouldn't have any more luck for a long time.
After all, even in the Magic City area, crimes committed by Second-Rank martial artists were rare. There were even fewer such martial artists elsewhere, let alone ones who would commit crimes.
On May 31, Lu Hao finally found this walking pile of Slaughter Points. After fighting with the martial artist for a while, Lu Hao's attacks grew more and more fierce, while his opponent's momentum kept fading. At last, Lu Hao slashed him across the chest.
The man died with his internal organs shattered, and Lu Hao gained 379 Slaughter Points.
In just over half a month, Lu Hao had completed all the Second-Rank missions around Magic City. It would be much harder to earn Slaughter Points from now on. He could only wait and see if any new missions came up.
Sigh. Earth really did place huge limits on how quickly he could grow stronger. If he were in the Earth Cave, he could probably advance a stage every day.
Lu Hao looked forward even more to reaching the Third Rank and entering the Earth Cave. By then, he'd have more Slaughter Points than he could ever use.
It seemed that from now on, he'd have to cultivate on his own while working to bring his Vital Blood control all the way to the true level of a finishing move.
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