Contract

"Five Inspectors!" An electronic voice rang out.

The five Inspectors looked upward as twenty-five documents drifted down from the ceiling of the conference hall, landing directly in front of them.

The electronic voice continued, "This is the decision made by the leader regarding the issues involving Tang Ping and the other four. If you have any objections, you may report them to the leader; if not, please execute this decision."

"Do you have any objections?" the electronic voice asked.

"None." "None." "None." "None." "None."

After quickly scanning the five documents before them, the five Inspectors responded in rapid succession.

"Then, Inspector Wang, please execute this immediately!" the electronic voice commanded.

On the last day of November, Inspector Wang personally found Tang Ping and his companions, handing each of them the five contracts personally drafted by Hong.

This was the Limit Martial Arts Hall Official Recruitment Contract. It differed from standard contracts; for instance, ordinary martial artists joining the Limit Martial Arts Hall received no salary, much like Tang Ping and his friends in the past. However, while they received no salary, the Limit Martial Arts Hall also placed few demands on these ordinary martial artists.

These new contracts were different. They came with power and benefits, but they also carried responsibilities.

Tang Ping casually flipped through the contents of the contract. The rest was unimportant; he only remembered one specific clause.

That was, as long as he could reach a Battle Power Amplitude of 20 by March 1, 2057, he could essentially obtain everything he wanted in this Elite Training Camp at once—Dragon Blood, Spirit of Vegetation, secret manuals, combat uniforms, weapons, status, power, and so on. Everything would be his.

A Battle Power Amplitude of 1-2 is elementary, 2-4 is intermediate, 4-8 is advanced, and 8-16 is superior.

It could be said that sometimes, not a single student in the entire training camp would exceed an amplitude of 16 over the course of five years.

In other words, a Battle Power Amplitude of 14-15 was usually enough to rank in the top five of the training camp.

Yet, Hong's maximum requirement for Tang Ping was 20, and he only gave him three months—two of which were during the training camp's holiday period.

In truth, if Tang Ping hadn't shocked Hong by taking the top spot on the leaderboard in his very first month at the camp, Hong would never have offered such outrageous conditions. Naturally, the corresponding rewards wouldn't have been this generous either.

However, despite the high requirements, Tang Ping was confident he could achieve them, and he didn't even need three months; one month would be enough.

His current force-exertion level was 4.2, his Trial Tower level was 4.0, and his Battle Power Amplitude was 16.8. He wasn't actually that far from 20. In this month, he only needed to break through one more layer of the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade, and his Battle Power Amplitude would easily shatter the 20 mark.

Perhaps for others, breaking through one layer of the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade—especially from the fifth to the sixth—sounded like a fantasy, but for Tang Ping, who had bound several Nine-Layered Thunder Blade practitioners as his "tool people," it was no pressure at all.

Moreover, perhaps considering that he had already reached the fifth layer, the contract stated that he could be provided with the full set of Nine-Layered Thunder Blade secret manuals immediately. Otherwise, he would have been quite troubled about where to find the money to buy them.

Tang Ping picked up the pen on the table and signed the contract decisively. His brothers, after reading the terms, did not hesitate to sign as well.

It could be said that the conditions offered by the Limit Martial Arts Hall to talented students like them were excellent, not to mention that this contract was personally drafted by Hong, who clearly intended to groom these geniuses.

Once the contracts were signed, they became core members of the Limit Martial Arts Hall. Their goal now was to strive to fulfill the clauses in the contract and then claim their rewards to further improve themselves.

Having taken the top spot on the leaderboard in November, Tang Ping enjoyed the most usage time for the Gravity Chamber and Trial Chamber in the entire camp throughout December.

However, while he could use the Trial Chamber to kill time when bored, he had no interest in the Gravity Chamber; it was exhausting and a waste of resources. Thus, he made various excuses to distribute his Gravity Chamber time among his brothers.

A month passed quickly, and Tang Ping felt nothing but monotony. However, the improvements brought to him by the diligent cultivation of his "tool people" were tangible.

The Nine-Layered Thunder Blade broke through to the sixth layer without incident, and his force-exertion reached 4.9 times.

His Trial Tower level reached 5.3, surpassing many powerful Councilor-level experts.

His Battle Power Amplitude hit 25.97, far exceeding the 20 required by the contract.

In his study at the South China Pavilion, Tang Ping opened the contract he had signed with the Limit Martial Arts Hall and found the phone number mentioned in the clause for claiming rewards once the Battle Power Amplitude requirement was met.

"Beep... beep..." Tang Ping dialed the number.

"Hello," a deep voice answered.

"Hello, I am Tang Ping from the Elite Training Camp," Tang Ping said calmly. "I signed a contract with the Martial Arts Hall previously. One of the reward clauses states that once my Battle Power Amplitude reaches 20, I can call this number to receive the rewards. Is that correct?"

"Yes, please wait a moment while I check."

After only a moment, the tone of the voice changed. "Ah, congratulations, student Tang Ping. Your Battle Power Amplitude is currently 25.97, and it is now December 30th, 21:12, which is before March 1st. You meet the reward criteria. Your rewards are..."

After verifying the various reward clauses with the person on the other end and being told that the rewards would be delivered in about an hour, the corners of Tang Ping's mouth curled up involuntarily.

After waiting at the main gate for a while and receiving the massive reward, Tang Ping excitedly carried the briefcase back to his residence.

It is worth mentioning that within this month, two of Tang Ping's brothers had also met one of the reward clauses in their contracts, and one of those rewards included Dragon Blood.

It must be said that as a mass-producible treasure whose production method was known only to Hong, he truly loved using it as a reward for geniuses. In any case, all five of their contracts included this item.

As for the Spirit of Vegetation, being a non-renewable resource, Hong was much stingier; only Tang Ping's reward included it, and the conditions to obtain it were harsh—though that didn't matter to Tang Ping, who was essentially cheating.

What excited Tang Ping the most was discovering that his Heaven Rewards Diligence System (Tool Person System) was truly powerful. His two brothers used their rewards the very night they received them, and the system actually triggered a critical hit on the improvements gained from using the treasures. (One might wonder why taking drugs counts as diligence, but since the system rewards even a slacker like Tang Ping, rewarding a "drug-taker" is understandable.) Although the critical hit multipliers weren't very high, the effect of the Dragon Blood was significant. Even with only a dozen-fold critical hit, it allowed both brothers to reach the limit of the War God-level. If not for the fact that breaking through to the Planetary Level required more than just physical fitness, Tang Ping suspected they might have broken through directly.