Chapter 609: Calm Before the Storm
[V6C139 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Qianye paid extra attention to the densely packed labels denoting the temporary sentries and supply bases from each faction. Such locations were the first to change with the flow of the battle. It almost seemed like the information from different time-frames had come together.
However, Qianye still managed to discover that the dark races setting out from the Bai clan fortress would have to pass through his designated area in order to reach the central caverns.
Going around wasn’t impossible, but there were some areas nearby where new beast tides had erupted, as well as a supply base being contested by the two warring factions. Given that Eden hadn’t foreseen that he would encounter Qianye here, it was only natural that he would choose this route.
Did this mean that Eden was headed to the central caverns?
According to the empire’s publicized intelligence, the central caverns held no valuable resources and was even more dangerous.
The empire had formed teams to explore the caverns after the disappearance of the void colossus’ will. These people discovered several new species of beasts in the depths of the cavern, none of which had been reported before by the previous batch of experts. Those of the highest level among these creatures posed a threat even to lieutenant generals.
All in all, apart from its central location on the void continent, it was an area with no special value.
Qianye didn’t doubt the accuracy of this report because the imperial court hadn’t invested a lot of forces there despite claiming it symbolically. The empire still had no idea how the beasts inside were proliferating—there seemed to be no end to them no matter how many were killed. Ordinary squads entering the caverns would soon suffer grave casualties and be wiped out by the fierce beasts.
But the battle with Eden had proven that the dark races’ understanding of the void continent was different from the empire’s—they seemed to understand more in certain mysterious fields. And from a different perspective, there might be other unknown secrets here since the Void Colossus Chaos had chosen this continent as his burial ground.
Qianye didn’t continue very far down this line of thought, though. These were all speculations without a shred of proof to them. He didn’t feel that it was appropriate for him to discuss these matters with the Li family people.
At this moment, the quartermaster had already finished the registration process. The review process wasn’t complicated—the Li family had a supervision system to evaluate the progress of these missions. Among them, some of the casualty reports and special intelligence came from the Evernight side. The accuracy of a double verification was fairly high and usually free from dispute.
The quartermaster checked the new performance evaluation handbook recently issued by the Li family. He then marked excellent under Qianye’s name and said, “The defense has been recorded. You have completed one week currently. Do you have anything else you wish to turn in?”
“Others? Hmm... no.” Qianye shook his head. He had the Carol of Shadows, but only a fool would trade such a weapon in.
“No? Heh, heh, lucky fellow!” The quartermaster’s expression was somewhat odd.
Qianye understood what he was thinking. Under the present situation, the dark races garrisoned in Crimson Fjord had been using the Misty Wood as a transport route. Normally, even people from the forest border would encounter some battles, and battles meant spoils. Most experts who had completed their defensive missions would have some proof of contributions to turn in—the more they submitted, the more intense their battles must’ve been.
Qianye, on the other hand, had been assessed as excellent for this mission but had nothing in his hands. This naturally meant that no dark race forces had passed through the area and that he had gained a bountiful reward with relative ease.
Qianye couldn’t be bothered to explain, and neither did he care about other people misunderstanding. There was no telling how many of the Li clan’s experts in the surrounding areas would’ve died if Qianye hadn’t bumped into Eden and kept him entangled there.
The Li family’s supervision staff might later obtain information from the Evernight side, but a mere logistics officer like this person probably had no access to it.
Qianye heard someone shouting in the distance just as he was about to walk out of the registration area. “What did you say? A dog-sh*t rank-ten brigadier general’s basic salary is even higher than your daddy here? Is your Li family blind?”
This man’s voice was fairly resounding, and his origin power was deep. A single roar of his not only reverberated in the hallway but also spread out pretty far. Qianye frowned because the combination of rank ten and basic salary could only be referring to him.
The terms offered to him by Li Yanshou were indeed generous. In truth, the entire first batch including Du Li and Zhu Huan enjoyed better rewards.
But the influx of experts into the Li family warzone had increased sharply following the announcement of the contribution rankings and the offer of Stillwater Rebirth and Storm Pearl. It was only natural that those arriving later wouldn’t receive the same treatment.
The Li family had played this to their advantage. Although they needed to recruit a large number of independent experts, they didn’t blindly increase individual rewards and instead relied on an incentive mechanism to achieve their objective. The Li family seemed to have invested a priceless reward on the surface, but the numbers were no longer that ridiculous after taking into account the number of new independent experts. They might not have been able to recruit so many experts if the only thing on the offer was increased gold coins.
Even so, each person’s basic terms were supposed to be highly confidential. There was indeed a guest warrior list earlier on and Qianye’s name was ranked pretty high on it. It was also very likely the source of Du Li’s incomprehensible hostility. But now, the documents related to the participating experts had formed a thick stack and could hardly fit in a single volume. How come someone was targeting him at such a time?
Qianye paused his steps. He had a sudden urge to look over but merely shook his head in the end. He had no intention of dealing with a brute who had been incited by someone else. It was better to wait for the mastermind to show himself before deciding on a course of action. Since he had accepted the Li clan’s recruitment, he had no fear of such troubles.
As such, Qianye continued toward his next destination, the workshop area. Young Dragon had been badly damaged in these two battles. Its origin arrays had been destroyed and required repairs. Additionally, the chestguard Wei Potian had gifted him had always been left inside Andruil’s realm, the silken essence gold in it was also a top-notch material.
The workshop area was vast and made up of a dozen or so large factories. All of them were connected together to share the workload. Just the energy source of this workshop zone required two large kinetic towers. One could see that the Li family was prepared to stay here for the long term and develop this place into a lasting base of operations. Their current set up made it easy to transform the base into a central provincial city in the future.
Someone approached Qianye as soon as he walked into the armor section. The young man greeted him enthusiastically after seeing the brigadier general stars on Qianye’s uniform, “How can I be of service?”
Qianye pointed at the alloy box in his hand and said, “I have a damaged combat gear that needs repairs.”
“That won’t be a problem, please follow me. Sir, you’re rather fortunate because today happens to be Master Zhu’s duty.”
The young man brought Qianye to a workshop inside the factory and knocked on the door. “Master Zhu, there’s a general who needs his armor repaired.”
An impatient sound erupted from behind the door, “Do you need to call on me for something so trivial as repairing armors? This daddy is busy! See if my disciples have time to work on it.”
The young man was momentarily embarrassed after being refused at the door. He then made another attempt. “Master, this person is a general, won’t you at least take a look?”
“Scram!” The reply was fairly clear-cut.
Qianye spoke up at this time, “My armor is a bit special, I fear your disciples won’t be able to handle it.”
“How damn special can it be?!” It would seem this master was used to hearing such descriptions and had no intention of being polite.
Qianye didn’t get the time to study Young Dragon’s craftsmanship and material back then, but he knew one of the main materials used in its production. “It’s made of blue steel.”
“Blue steel?!”
“Pssh!!!” A gush of steam emerged from below as the door slid gradually toward the side. A rush of heat emerged amidst the flickering glow of flames—this place was practically a forge.
The flames inside the workshop furnace were roaring, and a small pot of metallic liquid was boiling on top of it, spitting out prismatic colors from time to time.
That Master Zhu wasn’t exactly tall but possessed wide shoulders and a sturdy build. Presently, he seemed no longer in the mood to pay any attention to that pot of liquid metal. The man rushed over and immediately threw out a barrage of questions. “Where is that armor? Was it made by the Bai clan?”
Qianye didn’t find Mater Zhu’s reaction strange. What surprised him was how the man had mentioned the Bai clan right off the bat.
“It’s indeed a Bai clan product, but how did you know?”
Master Zhu replied impatiently, “Can it be more obvious?! Blue steel is an alloy invented by the Bai clan. Although the formula has already been publicized, the production of some of the most important elements is in the Bai clan’s hands. They are the only ones who have complete mastery over blue steel even after so many years. Blue steel produced by any other source is evidently inferior.”
Qianye passed the armor box over and said, “It’s indeed a Bai clan product.”
“Quick, let me see!” Master Zhu grabbed the box. He didn’t seem that strained by the incomparably heavy case, either. He opened up the box with one hand and retrieved the damaged armor from within. He gasped as his eyes fell upon an engraving on a certain corner of the armor, “Bai Songhe!”
Qianye had no recollection of this name, so he inquired casually about it. In the end, Master Zhu glared at him and scolded, “Do you not even know Master Bai? He’s a true master in the armor field. I, Zhu Ruhuo, am nothing compared to Master Bai.”
Zhu Ruhuo took out each piece of Young Dragon at the door, holding them as he would a precious treasure. He only looked straight at Qianye after examining the entire set of armor, but his expression at this moment seemed much kinder than before.
Qianye asked, “Can it be repaired?”
Zhu Ruhuo put the armor back into the case with due care. He continued staring at each veined pattern, line, and defect—as though this charred, mottled, dark-silver armor was the most beautiful thing on earth.
Zhu Ruhuo came to only after Qianye repeated the question. “Of course, but I’ll need time.”
“How long?”
“Ten days, no, I mean three months!”
The young man who had brought Qianye here seemed like he wanted to say something. Qianye knew what was going on even without him saying anything—clearly, this Master Zhu was looking to figure out Bai Songhe’s forging techniques instead of repairing the armor.
Qianye wasn’t angry, however. He merely said, “I only have one day.”
“How can that be enough?! I won’t even have time to take a look!”
Qianye’s expression was static. “If you can’t, I’ll just look for someone in the Bai clan.”
Zhu Ruhuo opened his mouth but no words came out. He then revealed everything after a while. “Judging from the damage it has sustained, the origin array can only be restored to 80% of its previous effectiveness even if you go back to the Bai clan. One day isn’t enough for you to get there and back.”
Qianye laughed. “Do you mean the weight-reduction array? That’s not important, just repair the defensive array well.”
Zhu Ruhuo looked over the armor in detail and muttered, “A day’s timeframe is rather tight, but I might be able to do it if I ignore the auxiliary array. Come back tomorrow at this time! Consider yourself lucky, brat. I happen to have two pieces of blue steel on my hands. For the sake of this armor, I’ll only charge you for the material and not the other supplementary components. But I have a condition, you can only send the armor to me for repairs in the future.”
This came as a delightful surprise to Qianye. He thus agreed to Master Zhu’s terms and left the workshop area.
The day that followed was a time of rare leisure for him. He slept soundly for the entire night, and the next day, there was actually no continuation to that loud voice from the exchange area.
However, storms were always preceded by such lulls.
At noon the second day, Qianye felt so bored that he went to replenish his field supplies and headed over to the exchange area to check on the status of the two Umbral Edges.
Humans rarely used black titanium weapons directly. Most of them would find a way to extract the black titanium and utilize it for other applications. The assessment and extraction would happen at the same time.
More unfamiliar faces had appeared in the area. It seemed the Li family’s recruitment momentum never lost its momentum. Moreover, the complications between personnel only increased along with the influx of new experts.
Qianye saw several small squads of three to five. These people were dressed simply, but it was difficult to hide their gear and style. It would be rather fishy if these people were experts living off of bounties.
The work efficiency here was pretty high. Qianye learned that the spoils he had obtained last time had already been registered. However, he frowned upon checking the contribution points under his name.
One of them was a third-rate merit, more or less equal to killing a first-rank viscount. The contribution points were a bit less but that was within reason. Qianye had been fighting continuously with Eden both times, so he had no time to hunt. He only managed to cut down a couple of unfortunate enemies who appeared in his path. Later on, there weren’t even any scouting parties coming his way.
However, the points awarded for the two Umbral Edges was outrageously low. Although Qianye didn’t quite know the actual black titanium content of the two daggers, he still remembered their purity. He reckoned they would net him at least a third-rate merit. Add to that the extra reward for obtaining special weapons, these two daggers should be worth a superior third-rate merit at least.
“Can I see the details? The numbers seem to be wrong.”