Chapter 435 A Deal's A Deal
"Princess!!! You cannot just run away like that!!" Ku Wai became a large softie in front of Yang Ling. The chief bodyguard would have also given Jin a death threat for potentially bringing her into harm's way, but he knew that the dungeon supplier was way stronger than him. Whatever Ku Wai had to say to him would be invalid unless he proved himself to be more powerful than Jin.
"Breathe Ku Wai! Relax! Like I said, Jin's with me. Besides, that was the most fun time I had in a very long time." Yang Ling said as she smiled sweetly towards the dungeon supplier. Like Xiong Da had initially planned to, she forfeited her King's status after the match and the rest in queue continued on with their Spinning Top games.
"Of course, Princess' match was no doubt fascinating to watch," Ku Wai could feel the passion in her last attack through the large screens in the indoor stadium. It seemed that the spinning top was able to portray her long lost cultivation skills, and he assumed that to be the reason why Yang Ling felt so happy.
Because of their long history, the Royal Zodiac Styles had become the basis of every other cultivation that followed their style. Hence, every modern tiger cultivation out there had its roots from the Royal Zodiac Style. If Yang Ling ever wanted to be the most powerful tiger cultivator, she would have to master the Royal Zodiac Style.
It was no surprise that the Royal Zodiac Styles did not have any prefix on their style. It mainly focused on a lot of foundation skills, making it easy to quickly learn skills from other tiger cultivations. While every cultivation style does have its own foundation, the Royal Zodiac Styles were so rigorous that its foundation learning stages even continued into the high grade stages contain Epic and also Legendary techniques for a simple, straightforward move.
The other Royal Zodiac Styles were no different in this aspect and the families took pride in their children for mastering the foundation stages. Some of the descendants had to take up to 20 years to master the foundational knowledge before they were allowed to call themselves an official part of a Royal Zodiac family.
It was remarkably stringent that mastering it practically guaranteed most of the Zodiac clan members to turn into arrogant pricks thinking themselves as superior beings. Jin was lucky enough to meet Yang Ling and Hou Fei that were more civil minded in their manners and probably because of their history.
"It just so happened I am able to mimic them with my magic powers, Ku Wai. Don't be so excited that I can ever achieve my old cultivation back." Yang Ling said but to Jin, he furrowed his eyebrows at her.
"Didn't she produce chi throughout the whole match?" Jin thought to himself, and the System affirmed his suspicion.
"For User to be able to sense her chi under the guise of magical powers, it seems that your chi interpretation is up to expectations. System is pleasantly surprised." System stated and Jin scratched his head a little. He had no idea how he was able to sniff out her chi powers from her magical power.
"I don't remember learning any skills that would allow me to do so. Also, the Nineteen Lazy Astral Pandas manual shouldn't have anything that would allow me to sense chi that well. " Jin replied to which the System's only possible explanation was that it could have been one of the effects of the Spiritual Union and the creation of the Astral Form which were not detailed in the cultivation manual.
"Ehhhh, then what's the use of a cultivation manual when it doesn't tell you what to do?" Jin complained to himself.
"Then perhaps you should ask the one to have designed the manual. System shall help as long as it will result in the User prospering." The System nonchalantly stated, letting the cat out of the bag and surprising Jin.
He nodded in agreement as he thought it's about time for the System and Ming to reconcile. It didn't come as too much of a shock that it managed to figured that Jin's tremendous improvement and Kraft's reemergence was all because of Ming.
Fortunately, the System was previously more concerned about getting money from customers than vastly improving Jin, allowing Ming to do what he wants increase Jin's combat efficiency.
"Jin, Jin! Why are you spacing out?" Yang Ling called his name a few times and he only responded when she snapped her fingers in front of him.
"Uh, no. Sorry I was just thinking about something important." Jin apologised, and Yang Ling folded her arms in front of him.
"Well, I can forgive you for bringing me to this place. That military exercise thing is a deal. I will coordinate with Hou Fei since you and him seem to contact each other more often than the two of us. In the meantime, I'll see if I can influence my father to include some important police members into the exercise as well." Yang Ling said to him as they walked away from her bodyguards.
She told them that she needed a bit more time to discuss a few things. Although Ku Wai and the rest of the bodyguards didn't fully trust Yang Ling after that incident, they were willing to allow some distance as long as she remained in their eyesight
"Oh? How come?" Jin was curious about the sudden change of decision.
"That monster horde you talked about…I remembered reading it in the papers recently. For some reason, monster activity has peaked up in recent months. The border guards also mentioned about it in some sections of the weekly internal security debrief report to my father. I consider it can't hurt to prepare the police and military troops for such an event. That way, the response should be faster." Yang Ling answered in a serious tone.
"And If it were up to me, I'd suggest using monsters. Maybe something that numbered in the thousands instead of a single large giant monster to mimic like those monster hordes. Some that could invade underground, above ground and fast enough to overwhelm the response team. That way, it will show those arrogant generals that they need to revise their tactics… Oh I'm not referring to Hou Fei, but the bulk of our Tiger Generals." Yang Ling continued and had a terrifying look at her face as if she wanted revenge against someone in particular.
"Sure… Well, that is if I manage to produce a large enough playing field to mimic a real life monster… horde…." Suddenly a bout of inspiration appeared in his head, a very mind blowing inspiration which made him tremble with trepidation.
"What's wrong?" Yang Ling could see that Jin suddenly turned fidgety and felt very distant, she became anxious when Jin grabbed her by the shoulders, hugged and later shook her violently. Even the bodyguards became wary of Jin's unspeakable actions when they saw Jin shaking Yang Ling like a toy doll.
"You are brilliant. You are so brilliant! Thank you!" Jin said while rubbing her head gently as thanks for the inspiration. "You just helped me solve a conundrum that I had for weeks! Sorry, I got to go first. If anything message me!" Jin said as he hastily took out his phone and opened his Mechat QR code for her.
Yang Ling was in state of hysteria, her heart nearly stopped beating after Jin hugged her and complimented her. All she could do was nod her head until Jin took his phone out for her. She quickly broke out of her trance and eagerly searched for her phone.
"Woah woah, take your time! Hahha!" Jin said to Yang Ling as she almost dropped her phone because of her sudden frantic behaviour. However, deep inside him, he was dying to go into the Dungeon Maker. She eventually managed to exchange numbers with him and he opened a portal to leave the area.
"One more thing- Ahh, he went off already." Yang Ling decided she would ask him in chat later now that she had his number in her phone.
"Looks like Princess has a thing for that Dungeon Supplier." One of the bodyguards said to Ku Wai, and he nodded his head with pride.
"That Dungeon Supplier should be proud that our princess chose him." Ku Wai acknowledged his fellow bodyguard's guess as they gave her a bit of space before returning tor her side.
Meanwhile. Kraft being on the sidelines could only giggle at the development of the entire situation. Even if Jin did not have a strong feeling for her, the Bellator had gained some brownie points from the System by 'aiding' a girl in being more honest about her own feelings. (Poor Jin, even in love, the System would like to interfere for him.)
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"System!" Jin entered the Dungeon Maker and started to call out for it. "Why do you still say it's impossible to create a playing field as large as what Yang Ling had proposed?"
"It is possible but not at User's current Dungeon Supplier Rank. User is only allowed to do so after he reaches Dungeon Supplier Rank 5. Additionally, to maintain such a large scale dungeon will require something similar to a Dungeon Core." The System replied, which did not deter Jin at all.
"How come you need a Dungeon Core? Can't we just add more computers and servers to do it like every other dungeon suppliers do? I kinda thought you were omnipotent enough to accomplish such a feat." Jin asked.
"System is able to do it. However, given the specifications that User desires, it is not possible to maintain other Instances. Just the power usage and processing required, as User would put it, is higher than the entirety of the currently in use Store. Unfortunately, the Supercomputers of this World would crack under this kind of pressure." The System stated in its explanation.
"Instead of additional computers and servers, System needs higher-tier materials for an upgrade. Dungeon Cores can serve such a purpose. However, given User's nature, extracting a Dungeon Core from the Dungeon World will not sit well with User." The System assumed based on past actions of Jin and concluded.
"… Is it because we are essentially cutting the lifeforce of the dungeon out by forcibly removing the Dungeon Core away?" Jin deduced based on the System's words.
"Precisely. Should User accomplish such a feat, it will have dire consequences for the inhabitants in that area even though User will get what he wants. According to predictive analysis, the resurrected monsters will have no place to go. Hence, they will 1) Rampage against surface cities in the Dungeon World 2) Disrupt the ecosystem of another Dungeon or 3) Transform into a Harbinger."
"Harbinger?" Jin quickly questioned as it sounded extremely ominous while he checked the condition to remind himself how to receive the prior Dungeon Supplier Rank 4. It was still to aid the Farming World and annihilate the Farm Rats. However, he noticed that the Mission Reward changed a little. Since they had already completed the Portal prototype in advance, it now listed a 'mystery reward'.
"A Harbinger is similar to a monster leader of hordes from your world. They are extremely mighty in nature and require thousands of trained veteran adventurers to take it down. In the history of Dungeon World, such an incident happened twice according to the records System has access to." The System brought it out on the Dungeon Maker screen for Jin to preview.
"The first time a group of high level adventurers supposedly set out to rid the world of evil by trying to destroy the dungeons. The second time, by having a precedent a group of fanatics harbouring ill will to the human population forcibly destroyed a Dungeon Core. Both Harbingers that appeared plagued the Dungeon World for years to come before eventually getting suppressed and sealed." More pictures of the destruction were detailed in the Dungeon Maker console.
"The historical records agree that it should be because of the hatred from the loss of habitat that caused the monsters to go into a frenzy, transforming them into Harbingers. Millions of countless lives were lost. Astonishingly, none could resurrect after being killed. Some theorised that it was because the loss of the Dungeon Core caused the law of natures to change. Meanwhile, several other opinions argued that the Harbingers act as the balance the Dungeon World needs with its overcrowding population." The System stated.
"Wow, let's hope it does not happen again. If those from the Dungeon World were unable to resurrect, I do not wish to experiment if our monsters could survive such an event." Jin said, and suddenly Pei appeared out of the bracelet and used her large paper fan to hit Jin on his head.
"Can you NOT create death flags for us unnecessarily!" Pei screamed in a fit of anger in her Red Indian traditional outfit before returning back into her bracelet.
However, she was also angry with the System for not being entirely honest with Jin. It knew a lot about the harbingers because of someone. Someone who was desperate to resurrect the Panda Clan again.
"…Ouch. Anyways, if Dungeon Cores are not an option, what do we need to find?" Jin asked as he leaned back on his chair and twirled his Creator Pen around.
"User has to obtain a brain of a living mechanical titan." System answered.