Toudou-Style Swordsmanship

With Texas's help (riding her coattails), Bai Ye successfully captured the smuggler Pet Scott, who had been moving between Columbia and Victoria.

"Why was he here?"

Texas led Bai Ye back along the same route to the pickup parked near the factory. Unlike before, though, Bai Ye had a sack slung over his back, while Texas carried a suitcase in her hand.

"Maybe he had some shady under-the-table deal with the factory, and they were protecting him."

Bai Ye casually tossed the sack into the pickup's cargo bed, then opened Pet Scott's suitcase. With divine arts and Eagle Eye, an ordinary combination lock could not stop him.

The suitcase looked much like the one belonging to the magizoologist Newt Scamander, made of metal and leather. When Bai Ye opened it, he found carefully preserved spices and perfumes inside.

"Besides spice ingredients, there are also some incense products." Bai Ye examined the incense materials, each sealed in jars or separately packaged. Then, in a hidden compartment of the suitcase, he found the formula mentioned in the files.

There were also about ten thousand Lungmen dollars. Several stacks of crisp blue banknotes had been hidden in the concealed compartment alongside the envelope containing the formula.

"This counts as quite a windfall..."

Bai Ye's mood brightened. The reward for this commission was only thirty thousand Lungmen dollars, yet Pet Scott's suitcase had yielded such an unexpected haul.

Texas said nothing about Bai Ye's actions. To her, robbing robbers had once been perfectly normal. Besides, could what bounty hunters did really be called robbing robbers?

This was justice!

As Bai Ye convinced himself with all sorts of bizarre reasons, he calmly tucked the ten thousand Lungmen dollars into... Texas's pocket.

Because, sadly, it seemed he still owed Texas quite a lot of money!

Ever since crossing over, everything Bai Ye ate and wore, even his weapons, had been provided by Texas. In a sense, Bai Ye really was being "kept" by Texas.

Ahem. Let's skip this increasingly strange topic. In short, Bai Ye handed the ten thousand Lungmen dollars over to Texas.

The handover point for a bounty hunter's commission was determined by the client. Once the completed commission was submitted, they received the corresponding reward. The Bounty Hunters' Guild earned money through the registration fee paid by clients when posting commissions.

"We're going to the police station."

Since this was a mission issued by Columbia's government, the handover location was the city's central police headquarters.

After several days of travel, this secondhand pickup from southern Columbia had become battered and worn. When Bai Ye and Texas stood at the entrance to police headquarters carrying a sack and a suitcase, they drew quite a few looks.

"I'm a bounty hunter. I'm here to turn in a commission."

Bai Ye took out his identification and handed it to the guard at the entrance.

"Please wait a moment."

The guard was a young man. After verifying Bai Ye's credentials, he contacted his superior through his terminal.

Soon, a Perro police officer emerged from the police headquarters building and hurried toward Texas and Bai Ye.

"...You two ladies, please come in."

The officer looked to be around forty. He froze slightly upon seeing Bai Ye and Texas, then gestured for them to follow him inside.

"Mmph... mmph!"

Just then, Pet Scott gradually woke up inside the sack at Bai Ye's feet. He began squirming restlessly, making strange noises.

"Looks like you really did catch him."

The officer glanced at the suitcase in Texas's hand, nodded, and led them into the reception area of the station.

"One of the main clients for this case is also an incense company from Victoria. I'll contact their representative to verify the formula's authenticity. Please wait a moment."

The Perro officer left the room as he spoke, and officers soon entered to deal with the sack and Pet Scott.

Bai Ye and Texas sat on the reception area's sofa, quietly waiting for the officer and the representative he had mentioned.

Pet Scott was quickly taken away in handcuffs, but Bai Ye could sense that the officers kept sneaking glances at him and Texas.

Bai Ye paid those stares no mind. He was already used to them. Opening his system panel, he began checking the gains from completing this mission.

First was experience. After completing the commission, he had accumulated enough experience to raise his Priest class to Level 2.

And that was exactly what Bai Ye did. Although class levels only underwent a major transformation every five levels, leveling up granted attribute points. This was also one of Bai Ye's main methods of growing stronger.

Casually distributing the ten free attribute points evenly, Bai Ye brought every one of his attributes up to 18.

A Priest's primary attribute was actually Perception, followed by Strength and Constitution. Perception allowed a Priest to communicate with gods more effectively, while with the support of divine arts, a Priest could possess greater melee combat ability than a warrior of the same level.

But Bai Ye's situation was rather special. First, his divine arts relied on the energy within him known as Holy Light. Second, if he wanted to become strong, focusing solely on raising one attribute was not a wise choice.

Put simply, Bai Ye wanted to become a powerful Priest who could heal, tank damage, and dish out spell damage on the side. After all, every healer had the heart of a damage dealer! That was not something he could achieve by raising just one attribute.

Besides, attributes also restricted one another. The upper limits of Strength, Agility, Intelligence, and Perception were influenced by Constitution. So Bai Ye also took this opportunity to answer a certain higher-dimensional observer's question—why not just max out Strength?

Well, Bai Ye could probably play at being Gandalf with a flash spell and a melee weapon now, though he was still a paper-thin holy caster.

Leveling up was merely the appetizer. What Bai Ye truly cared about was the [Toudou-Style Swordsmanship] among the rewards.

[Toudou-Style Swordsmanship]

Quality: Purple

Origin: The Asterisk War

Description: As a modern school, the Toudou style specializes in one-on-one duels. It bears the beautiful reputation of being "like folding cranes"—in other words, a precise, sequential series of sword swings like folding paper cranes. Its ultimate technique, "Linked Cranes," embodies that very essence.

Ultimate Technique: Linked Cranes

An infinite chained-slash ultimate technique composed of forty-nine linked moves, "Linked Cranes" is said to have no end and no limit. No matter how the opponent defends or evades, it can continuously unleash moves to pursue them. It does not decide victory with a single strike, but through relentless, uninterrupted pursuit until the opponent is defeated.

Ultimate Technique: Folding Feather

The Toudou style's sword-drawing technique, an iaijutsu slash that makes opponents experience illusions.

Ultimate Technique: Thousand-Mile Sight

Focus your mind, eliminate all distracting thoughts, and sense changes in the opponent's strength to predict their movements and counterattack.

Note: Wind Blade Thunder!