"Quick, you lot—go stop Brother Su! Don't let him leave!"
Chu Qingtian watched Su Wuming turn and leave swiftly without a word, and for a moment, he was completely dumbfounded. But as the long-standing leader of Heavenly Might, he quickly came to his senses and immediately had several elders go after him.
Though the elders were still somewhat stunned, they reacted swiftly as experts should, rushing toward the elevator to stop Su Wuming.
"Qing Wei! What exactly did you test him on? Why was his reaction so intense?"
Chu Qingtian looked at Zhang Qingwei in utter curiosity, his gaze brimming with confusion.
A dignified Blade Saint, a supreme expert who ranked among the best in all of Pilgrimage, had merely taken an employment test. Yet as he left, he looked as though his heart had been wounded. Who would believe that if they heard it?
"Me? I didn't test him on anything. It was just the High Martial Descent assessment." Zhang Qingwei also looked toward the departing Su Wuming in confusion. "Was it really that hard?"
To earn the title of Blade Saint in Pilgrimage, his combat talent and fighting prowess had to be no weaker than Luo Wu Shang's or Zhao Hu's. He already stood atop the ranks of experts.
Zhao Hu had previously said it was extremely difficult and that he still had no confidence in passing it, which meant he might have confidence later. Su Wuming was likely the same. It was just enough to take the wind out of his sails.
But Zhang Qingwei had never expected the test to leave even Su Wuming heartbroken.
"The High Martial Descent assessment?" Chu Qingtian was taken aback as well. "The game Wu Shang recommended?"
"Mm. That game will definitely become wildly popular in the future. Replacing Pilgrimage would be easy as pie." Zhang Qingwei nodded.
Thinking of that sense of realism and her nimble reactions, her heart burned with excitement. She wished she could fly back right now and continue digging holes. She had not felt such joy in many years.
"This game does seem impressive if it earned such praise from you." After hearing this, Chu Qingtian's opinion of High Martial Descent rose another level. He then said, "In that case, starting today, you and Wu Shang will form a department specifically for High Martial Descent. Money and manpower won't be a problem. You'll receive the same treatment as the other three new games."
"President, this game is somewhat unusual. You need a slot to enter, and there are very, very few slots, while there are many people waiting in reservation. Getting in is like drawing lots—it can't be solved just by throwing money and people at it."
Zhang Qingwei thought of High Martial Descent, which already had nearly twenty thousand reservations.
If she did not have enough people on her end, then even if High Martial Descent opened more slots, it would be difficult to guarantee that Heavenly Might members could get in.
"How many people do you need?" Hearing that it came down to a lottery, Chu Qingtian understood that this game was quite a pitfall.
"A million would be best, and each reservation needs 4,999." After some thought, Zhang Qingwei said, "That way, when more slots are added next time, quite a few of us from Heavenly Might should be able to get in."
"Er... I think we should play it safe with expanding into this game." Chu Qingtian said, his hands trembling slightly. "You know the situation in Pilgrimage is unstable right now. A great deal of manpower has to be stationed in cities in every direction, so let's start with ten thousand."
"Besides, no one can enter the game yet. Sending too many people over would be a waste of manpower. These ten thousand will serve as the vanguard. They can use that assessment to familiarize themselves with the game, and once more slots open up, they can lead the others."
"Alright. I'll make the arrangements now. I'll hand the guild's other work over to the assistants afterward." Upon hearing that, Zhang Qingwei felt as though she had been liberated. Instinctively using Leopard Shadow Steps, she dashed straight home.
High Martial World, Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
"These past three days, their excavation speed has been getting faster and faster." Lin Qi sat in the lounge, holding a small notebook as he calculated the accounts.
With the addition of seven newcomers and their steadily improving physical abilities, the underground expansion had progressed dramatically. In just three short days, they had opened up nearly two thousand square meters of energy soil underground and planted 490 stalks of Blood Essence Rice.
After waiting ten days for successive harvests, they could collect 4,900 grams of Blood Essence Rice. After deducting costs, they would earn 1,470 Bits in one go. That came to 4,410 Bits a month.
It could be said that this income already surpassed that of many official residents in the City of Light Chasing. He could be considered lower middle class.
He could even foresee that after another month of expansion at this rate, they would open nearly twenty thousand square meters of energy soil and earn 44,100 Bits per month.
In two months, he would not only be able to repay the hospital fees, but also the loan owed to the Gorilla Gang, with some left over.
But compared to the financial gains, what made Lin Qi happier was his own improvement.
After three days of harvesting, the Soul Shocking Breathing Technique had risen from 10% at the first-layer beginner stage to 21%. It was not as though the gains could be directly stacked as he had imagined. Much still depended on the players' own proficiency. If their proficiency was low, the extraction effect would keep decreasing, which was why it had only risen 11% in three days.
Even so, that 11% increase was astonishing.
His strength had risen from 109.8 kilograms to 126.7 kilograms, while his speed had increased from 10.6 meters per second to 10.8 meters per second. Among ordinary people in the High Martial World, he was no longer considered particularly weak.
What was even more astonishing about extraction privileges was that they could extract not only training techniques, but also martial skills learned by players. However, the extraction was entirely random. He could not determine whether he would get a training technique or a martial skill, and even which martial skill he got was random.
Thus, over the past three days, Lin Qi had chosen the two people whose martial skills were improving the fastest: Zhang Qingwei, whose Leopard Shadow Steps had reached 35% at the beginner stage, and Fang Zhen, whose Crushing Stone Fist had reached 37% at the beginner stage.
For some reason, these two seemed exceptionally talented in these martial skills. The others trained as though their lives depended on it, yet none had exceeded 20% at the beginner stage. Zhang Qingwei and Fang Zhen, on the other hand, had reached it with ease.
Fang Zhen in particular was incredibly slick with that Crushing Stone Fist!
When others dug holes and encountered hard clods of earth or gravel, they used shovels. Fang Zhen simply unleashed a barrage of punches. Even Luo Wu Shang, whose proficiency ranked second, clicked her tongue in amazement at his efficiency.
Martial Skill: Crushing Stone Fist, First Layer—Crushing Pile Realm (Beginner 53%)
Martial Skill: Leopard Shadow Steps, First Layer—Chasing Wind Realm (Beginner 45%)
Although these two martial skills were still only at the beginner stage and could not display their full might, while their usage consumed enormous amounts of energy and made prolonged combat impossible, they had already given Lin Qi the strength to defeat a Quasi-Apprentice.
"With this kind of strength, I can rent a Big Three-Wheeler to haul timber." Lin Qi glanced at the system bar at the bottom of his vision.
System: Congratulations! Martial Transmission System reservations have surpassed 30,000. Reward: Level 2 Merit-Based Admission Privilege. (It has been detected that the host does not possess a complete martial arts hall of his own. Reward distribution has been suspended.)
As for the merit-based admission privilege—
After enjoying Level 1, Lin Qi could no longer stop. His desire for Level 2 surpassed everything else, but unless he completed Task One, he could not obtain the Level 2 privilege at all.
Lin Qi then walked to the notice board in the training ground and directly posted new tasks on it.
Task One: Ore Transport. Follow the hall master to Grizzly Mine to transport ore. For every 100 kilograms of ore transported back to the martial arts hall, earn 3 points. Can be accepted without limit. (Restriction: Only players with strength above 95 kilograms and speed above 9.5 meters per second may accept.)
Task Two: Timber Collection. Follow the hall master to Grizzly Mine to chop timber. For every large tree transported back to the martial arts hall, earn 5 points. Can be accepted without limit. (Restriction: Only players with strength above 95 kilograms and speed above 9.5 meters per second may accept.)
After Lin Qi posted the tasks and headed alone to the outskirts to rent a Big Three-Wheeler, Fang Zhen, who had spent the entire night digging and was preparing to log off and rest, spotted the two new tasks on the training ground's notice board. His drowsiness instantly vanished.
"Brothers! Get out here, quick! Something huge happened!"
"New tasks! There are new tasks!"
"Not only are there new tasks! A new map has been unlocked too—Grizzly Mine!"
Before you continue