The First Job of a Seventh-Grade Martial Master

The student ID card fell to the ground.

When Li Zhengyang walked out of the Testing Ground, the hundreds of people behind him were utterly silent.

At the school gate, students were packed along both sides, but not one dared step forward.

Some were filming with their phones.

Li Zhengyang had no time to bother with them. He took out his phone, opened the office app, and scrolled through the mission list as he walked.

He had taken only a second to decide to drop out. There was nothing worth missing.

A diploma from a Martial Arts Junior College was, frankly, just a piece of paper.

Besides, why would he still go to school when he had the system? That would be a complete waste.

Making money was what mattered.

A whole screen of D-Rank Missions appeared. He went through them one by one, picking out the ones with higher rewards.

He did not touch the C-rank ones. C-rank corresponded to Third-Rank Demonic Beasts, creatures at the Great Martial Master level. A Seventh-Grade Martial Master fighting a Third-Rank Demonic Beast was not entirely safe, so there was no need to take that risk.

Better to play it safe and clear out the D-rank missions first.

After scrolling through a few, one mission caught his eye.

[Mission Number: D041]

[Objective: Eliminate a nest of Second Rank Demonic Beasts, Red-armored Spiders. Quantity unknown.]

[Location: Northern Suburban Abandoned Tunnel Complex]

[Reward: 150,000]

[Risk Level: D]

[Notes: Two teams have already suffered losses over the past three months. Teams of Fifth-Rank Martial Artists or above are recommended.]

One hundred and fifty thousand.

One thousand five hundred points of Blood Qi.

Two teams had suffered losses. That meant there were likely more Red-armored Spiders than estimated, or the terrain was problematic.

But one hundred and fifty thousand was too tempting.

He kept scrolling and found a special mission.

[Bounty Mission (Long-Term)]

[Objective: Hunt Third-Rank Demonic Beasts, Rockspine Beasts. No limit on quantity. Reward: 30,000 per beast.]

[Location: Northern Mountain Ore Vein Belt]

Third-Rank Demonic Beasts, thirty thousand each, with no limit.

Kill ten and he would earn three hundred thousand. Kill a hundred and he would earn three million.

This was good stuff.

Li Zhengyang memorized the mission but did not accept it right away.

He would wait until he had topped up a few more times and made himself more secure.

He picked two more D-Rank Missions from the list. Both were in the northern suburbs, not far from the Red-armored Spider mission. He could handle all three in one trip.

He opened the office app and tapped accept.

A prompt appeared: [Your current certification level is Rank-Two Martial Master. You cannot accept multiple missions simultaneously. To upgrade your certification, please visit the nearest branch Testing Center.]

Li Zhengyang stared at the line for two seconds.

He had to make another trip.

East City Office.

Liu Ting was organizing documents at the front desk. When she saw Li Zhengyang walk in, her hands paused.

"You're back again?"

"I'm changing my certification."

"Changing what?"

"My rank went up."

Liu Ting pulled up his file. The screen displayed the information that had just been entered yesterday: Li Zhengyang, Rank-Two Martial Master, certification date, yesterday.

"You were just tested as a Rank-Two Martial Master yesterday."

"Right. I ranked up today."

"What rank?"

"Seventh-Grade Martial Master."

Liu Ting's fingers hovered over the keyboard for three seconds without coming down.

She looked at Li Zhengyang, then at the words "Rank-Two Martial Master" on the screen.

Rank two yesterday, rank seven today.

Five ranks in a single day.

"You should go upstairs." Liu Ting swallowed the questions on her tongue. She knew what she should and should not ask.

Upstairs, Test Officer Zhou Cheng was brewing fresh tea.

When he saw Li Zhengyang, his hands stopped.

"You again."

"Me again."

"Upgrading?"

"Upgrading."

Zhou Cheng put the lid back on the tea canister. This time, he did not pick up his teacup. Last time, he had spilled tea all over his pants. He had learned his lesson.

"Come test."

Li Zhengyang pressed his palm against the Blood Qi Meter.

The number on the screen jumped.

7328.

Zhou Cheng stared at the screen for a long time.

He opened his mouth twice and closed it twice. Only on the third attempt did he finally speak.

"What did you grow up eating?"

"Money."

Zhou Cheng did not laugh, because he thought the kid might actually be telling the truth.

Five ranks in two days. Could that be normal?

He was probably the child of some wealthy family, built up with piles of pills. Zhou Cheng could not afford to offend someone like that.

Zhou Cheng did not even make him fight a Mechanical Puppet.

Last time, one puppet worth one hundred and eighty thousand had been scrapped with three punches. There were only two Martial Master-level puppets left as backups. If another broke, he would have to write a report.

"Seventh-Grade Martial Master. Certification approved."

Zhou Cheng handed over the new certification card. After hesitating, he added one more thing.

"Young man, have you considered joining the military?"

Li Zhengyang took the card and glanced at him.

"With your age and strength, the military's Martial Warrior Special Recruitment Camp would fight to have you. Once you're in, all training resources are covered."

"Does it pay?"

"It does... but not much."

"Then forget it."

Zhou Cheng did not try to persuade him further.

After going downstairs, Li Zhengyang accepted the three D-Rank Missions again.

He turned right after leaving the office and went to the commercial street to stock up on equipment.

One large tactical backpack, two boxes of compressed rations, and one military canteen. Two hundred in total.

When he passed Old Zhou Breakfast Shop, he turned inside.

Old Zhou was wiping tables. When he saw him, he frowned deeply.

"Young man, don't..."

"Boss, I'm eating normally this time. I'll pay."

Old Zhou froze for a moment.

Li Zhengyang sat down and ordered six baskets of soup dumplings, two bowls of wontons, and a bowl of porridge.

After eating, he scanned the code and paid fifty-two.

Old Zhou stood nearby holding a rag, watching him complete the payment with a suspicious look on his face.

"Young man, you scared me half to death with how much you ate last time."

"Last time was last time. This time is this time." Li Zhengyang stood and patted his stomach. "Boss, may your business prosper."

He took a taxi to the northern suburbs.

The abandoned tunnel complex lay at the foot of North Mountain, ten times more desolate than the wetlands he had visited last time.

The mountain was covered in loose stones and exposed rock. The vegetation had withered down to its roots, and tunnel entrances dotted the mountainside.

The driver dropped him off at the intersection and immediately turned around. Before leaving, he rolled down the window and shouted, "Brother, are you really okay going in alone? Demonic Beasts come down from the mountain here at night!"

"I'm fine. They're afraid of me."

The driver took it as bragging and sped away.

Li Zhengyang carried his spear toward the tunnel complex.

Red-armored Spiders.

The office records described them as Second Rank Demonic Beasts. They were small, skilled at weaving webs and setting ambushes, and their silk was extremely tough, nearly as hard as steel wire. They lived in groups. Individually, they were not strong, but once their numbers rose and they exploited their webs and terrain, even Martial Masters could be trapped.

The two teams that had fallen here had most likely been entangled in webs and then swarmed to death.

But that only applied to Martial Masters below the fourth rank.

A Seventh-Grade Martial Master's Astral Qi could form a complete layer of armor over the body. Spider silk would be repelled the moment it touched the Astral Qi.

If they could not hit him, they could not bind him. And if they could not bind him, it would be a one-sided slaughter.

The tunnel entrance was three meters wide and two meters high, pitch-black inside.

Li Zhengyang turned on his phone's flashlight and shone it in.

Spider webs.

Dense webs hung from three meters inside the entrance onward, growing thicker the farther in they went. At the densest point, dozens of layers overlapped, sealing off the entire tunnel cross-section.

He took the Mountain-Piercing Spear off his back and poured Blood Qi into it.

He thrust it inside and twisted.

The webs were shredded by Astral Qi like cotton fluff, falling away in strips.

Something began moving inside.

A rustling sound—something crawling across the rock walls.

The first Red-armored Spider darted out of the darkness.

It had a palm-sized body, eight legs, a layer of crimson armor covering its back, and saliva dripping from its mouth.

It was a size larger than an Earth-Toothed Rat.

Li Zhengyang stabbed with his spear and pierced it through.

The second and third crawled down from the side walls right after it.

Two thrusts.

Then it was no longer a matter of one or two spiders.

A red tide surged from the depths of the tunnel. More than a dozen Red-armored Spiders charged at him from every direction, covering the walls, ceiling, and floor.

Li Zhengyang did not retreat. Instead, he rushed two steps deeper inside.

His spear swept sideways, Astral Qi spreading out. Each sweep cut down a whole group.

Wherever the spear passed, spider limbs flew everywhere, and bodily fluids splattered across the walls.

He killed for more than ten minutes.

The tunnel fell silent.

Li Zhengyang stood amid the scattered limbs and counted.

Thirty-seven.

Twice as many as estimated.

He shook the spider-leg fragments off his spear and began collecting proof.

The recognized proof for a Red-armored Spider was its head shell. He had to break them off one by one.

When he reached the twentieth, he noticed a cocoon in the corner that was thicker than all the other webs.

He prodded it open with the spear tip.

Inside was the corpse of a Red-armored Spider, larger than the others, its abdomen swollen high.

Li Zhengyang crouched down and slit open its belly with his Short Blade.

It was not food scraps.

It was a stone.

It was the size of a fist, dark red, covered in fine patterns, and hot to the touch.

He did not recognize the thing.

As he was pondering it, the system automatically displayed a notification.

[Special item detected: Third-Rank Beast Core]

[Beast Cores may be sold. Market reference price: 40,000–60,000.]

Li Zhengyang turned the stone over.

How had a Third-Rank Beast Core ended up inside the belly of a Second Rank Demonic Beast?