Red Gold... Beside him, Bai Fengxi froze with her teacup raised halfway, her eyes filled with astonishment.
"Red Gold! Red Gold!"
"If Zhang Hongbo and the others find out, their expressions will definitely be priceless!" Yuan Chenyang abruptly rose to his feet, his face flushing as he waved his arms and paced back and forth. He looked as if he were about to lose his mind.
"Teacher..." Su Chen called.
"Oh, oh..." Only then did Yuan Chenyang realize he had lost his composure. After calming down, he said, "No, this can't be exposed for now."
"The old schemers in the city might not be willing to see someone with Scarlet-Gold Talent emerge."
Yuan Chenyang's emotions churned as he sorted through his thoughts. "Yingfeng, you must go to Yingfeng... A Red Gold mental talent—wasting even a year would be a sin..."
"No, his refugee background is still a hidden danger."
Bai Fengxi could not help asking, "Even Scarlet-Gold Talent can't cover up the issue of being a refugee?"
"You don't understand." Yuan Chenyang shook his head. "Most refugees have no attachments. Because of their upbringing, they harbor resentment that is difficult to erase. They are easily deceived by the Cult of the Strange Gods, and may even seek them out on their own."
"Like this kid..." Yuan Chenyang pointed at Su Chen. Half-joking and half-serious, he said, "I can't figure out what he's thinking either. Maybe one day, he'll want to destroy Southwind City."
"I'm not crazy." Su Chen shook his head.
"I'm just saying..." Yuan Chenyang casually skipped over the subject. "These are all lessons from history. Whether they're trained from childhood or only after adulthood, six or seven out of ten will develop problems..."
"Even if they make an exception because of his Scarlet-Gold Talent and train him, the Tribunal still won't allow him to hold certain key positions in the future."
Su Chen understood this phenomenon. Refugees had their own group characteristics. Since they had lived difficult lives from childhood, they generally lacked parental bonds, and their values had already taken shape.
Investing halfway through brought a very low return.
If he had not shown Yuan Chenyang a top-tier Tier 1 Professional, it was hard to say whether the man would even have this attitude now.
"Unfortunately, his records have already entered Southwind Academy. Changing them now requires Zhang Hongbo's approval."
Yuan Chenyang's expression shifted constantly. "To change them this year, someone capable of overpowering Zhang Hongbo would have to step in and alter the records at the source, eliminating future trouble."
"But contacting Yingfeng requires going through Zhang Hongbo. And the people coming from Yingfeng this time aren't Teacher."
Due to the fog, long-distance communication and travel came at a steep cost.
"Mm, there's still a chance..." Yuan Chenyang clapped his hands as an idea suddenly struck him. "The ruins!"
"They should have advanced communication equipment set up over there. Once we rotate over after a while, we can use it to contact Teacher and have him figure out a way to come here."
"Then we'll see if Zhang Hongbo still dares to pull any tricks."
The long delay after their return was not entirely because of Su Chen. More importantly, it was because of the ruins.
The suspicion surrounding Zhou Xian meant he could no longer be taken out. So Zhang Hongbo had him and Zhou Xian remain behind, while taking the head of the Patrol Department to inspect the ruins.
But the two of them could not remain outside forever. They would rotate shifts with him.
"Teacher, there's no rush. At worst, I'll wait a year. For the sake of stability, there's no such thing as wasting time." Su Chen instead reassured him.
He had the panel. Steady progress was the right path, and waiting a year was no problem.
Yuan Chenyang paused slightly, looked at Su Chen, then shook his head with a laugh. "I can't believe you're calmer than I am. You're right. There's no need to rush."
He grew even more satisfied inwardly.
"This must remain secret. Your Brilliant Silver physical talent can be revealed, but your Red Gold mental talent absolutely must stay hidden." He warned them again, his expression solemn. "To be honest, there may be a serious problem in the city."
"Black Pagoda Believers have actually infiltrated the City Patrol Guard. The cockroaches have already spread throughout Southwind City, and high-level mental talents are also the Strange Gods' favorites."
Su Chen and Bai Fengxi both nodded. Yuan Chenyang trusted them greatly, and had only emphasized it to prevent any unforeseen accidents.
"At present, the best mental profession I have is only Arcane Apprentice..." Yuan Chenyang muttered thoughtfully.
"Teacher, I've already taken up Arcane Apprentice." Su Chen interrupted.
Bai Fengxi pressed her lips together slightly. Su Chen, what other secrets are you hiding?
"You've taken it up?" Yuan Chenyang paused, though he was not too surprised. He merely came to a realization. "No wonder you wanted a meditation method."
"I understand. I'll find one of each for you." Yuan Chenyang calculated. "However, information on the Tier 2 profession Arcane Scholar is in the Research Department. Its director is Jiang He's father, so it won't be easy to get anytime soon."
"If you want to cultivate both, there may be an auxiliary profession that suits you very well."
Before Yuan Chenyang could finish, he hurried out in a rush.
Su Chen could not help sighing. Having connections really was nice.
"Old Bai..." Su Chen suddenly turned his head and met Bai Fengxi's gaze. "You're staring at me like that again."
Bai Fengxi rose as if nothing had happened and returned to her room.
"If the head isn't shattered... there's still hope. But shattered like this, it can't be revived."
In the secret chamber, Zhou Xian's pupils were covered in bloodshot veins. Before him floated a black vertical eye, from which an intermittent voice emerged.
"Zhou Zong had more than just that Holy Word Stone on him. He also had a Spatial Crystal. It couldn't have vanished for no reason!" Zhou Xian looked gaunt, having lost a great deal of weight. "I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have used Zhou Zong as the vessel!"
The voice in the vertical eye was calm. "If Zhou Zong had not been the vessel, your suspicion would have been even greater."
"Yuan Chenyang!" Zhou Xian growled hoarsely. "That old beast—I want him dead, along with that little beast!"
"Of course..." The voice in Black Eye remained calm. "But I suggest that you first find out every detail of what happened that day and locate the Spatial Crystal."
[Sky-Rending Warrior profession development progress has reached 50%. Profession ability awakened—Wind Armor: May the power of the gale protect my body.]
Su Chen put away his strange training stance, feeling as though his entire body were about to tear apart. A small puddle of sweat had already formed beneath him as he looked at the line of small text on the panel.
"A new profession ability..."
It had been nearly ten days since he returned from outside the city, and [Sky-Rending Warrior]'s profession development progress had also reached 50%.
After catching his breath, his mind stirred. Though there was no wind in the room, air currents gathered around him, forming a continuously flowing cyan barrier over his body.
"It can probably block some small-caliber firearms." Su Chen poked it with something. It was quite sturdy.
"This is what a top-tier profession is like. It balances speed, strength, and defense..." he could not help marveling.
Strongmen specialized in strength. Even Skystriders leaned toward speed, with a little strength added in, and did not involve defense at all. [Sky-Rending Warrior], on the other hand, was very well-rounded.
"According to the records, awakening another profession ability is a turning point. As physical strength increases, development efficiency will decrease considerably."
"Perhaps changing training methods also has benefits—continuously using new stimuli to train the body."
Su Chen opened the panel. The new training methods had arrived two days earlier, carefully selected by Yuan Chenyang.
[Body-Tempering Method—Proficiency: 2%]
[Hellfire Meditation Method—Proficiency: 6%]
Both were F-grade. The limit of what Tier 1 Professionals could train in was F-grade, and even most Tier 2 Professionals used F-grade methods. Higher-grade training methods were much rarer.
[Mystic Artificer]'s development progress had finally advanced as well, reaching 10%.
Of course, the Revitalizing Potion had helped too. Old Bai's stockpile was nearly being stripped clean by him.
As for the auxiliary profession Yuan Chenyang had mentioned, it was still under review and had to go through the proper procedures.
He gulped down a Blood-Activating Potion he had "snatched" from Old Bai. As expected, its effects felt much weaker, and its stimulation had greatly diminished.
"No wonder the latter half of the profession requires the aid of Blackflame Potion." He pondered to himself.
Beep, beep—
The Message Communicator sounded. When he opened it, it was Old Yuan—
"The procedures are complete. Your records have been sealed, and no one can access them. Go report to the Inspection Department. I've already arranged everything. Just go through the motions, and you can receive [Gale Hunter] as well."
"Got it." Su Chen replied.
Southwind Academy only held information on Tier 1 professions. Information on Tier 2 professions was almost entirely kept by Southwind City's major institutions.
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