Chapter 87: The Choice of Fate Arts

By the time the magic crystal airship reached Dominion City, it was already noon of the following day.

After disembarking, Lin Huang went straight to the Hunters Association and exchanged all the beast corpses he had collected over the past few days for credit points. More than thirteen hundred bronze-rank monsters, ranging from bronze tier one to bronze tier three, brought him a total of over five hundred million credit points.

Once the exchange was complete, Lin Huang did not linger in Dominion City. He left through the southern gate of the stronghold, summoned the Purple-Eyed White Eagle, and flew all the way to Wulin Town.

Around two-thirty in the afternoon, Lin Huang finally returned to Wulin Town.

When he arrived at 101 Avenue and saw the renovated house, he still felt somewhat unaccustomed to it.

He scanned his Imperial Heart Ring to open the door. Lin Xin’s shoes were not by the entrance, which meant she was probably still at school.

Lin Huang changed into slippers and went inside. The house was surprisingly neat and clean. It seemed that during this period, when Lin Xin had been staying home alone, she had not been lazy about housekeeping.

He took a can of green leaf juice from the kitchen refrigerator and returned to the living room. Leaning back on the sofa, he took several deep gulps before finally feeling completely relaxed.

Over the past twenty-odd days, he had been in a near-constant state of intense activity.

It had begun with the assessment for reserve hunters, during which he had hardly rested properly for more than ten days. Not long after returning home, he had set out for the Level Four wilderness, the Forest of Forgetfulness, to advance to black iron rank, spending an entire week busily on the move, even sleeping in the forest. Later, in Ghostface Canyon, he had farmed life energy for six and a half days, leaving home at set times every morning and returning late every night, operating like a machine.

Now that he had finally made it home, Lin Huang intended to give himself a proper vacation before attempting to advance to bronze rank.

Although the life energy within his black iron life wheel was already overflowing, it had not yet fully settled and stabilized. At the very least, he would need to pass through several months of consolidation before he could even think about advancing to bronze rank.

If one attempted to force a breakthrough before the life energy had sufficiently settled, it was extremely easy for the energy to run wild. Even a mild surge of uncontrolled life energy would cause the breakthrough to fail and drastically reduce the stored energy. In severe cases, the entire life wheel could be shattered by the rampaging force, and there was even a chance of death.

Of course, the consolidation period was not without ways to shorten it. Practicing a life technique could do that. The higher the grade of the life technique, the faster one’s life energy would accumulate in daily practice, and the faster it would stabilize as well.

“It looks like it’s time to choose a life technique,” Lin Huang said as he set the green leaf juice back on the coffee table and began browsing information on various life techniques.

Among the life techniques sold on the market, only inferior, intermediate, and superior grades were circulated.

Even so, inferior life techniques were not cheap. They cost at least several million credit points. Intermediate techniques started at no less than thirty million. As for superior techniques, they were even more expensive; prices of three to five hundred million were common.

If a technique carried an elemental attribute, the price could increase tenfold, even several dozen times.

The web page Lin Huang was reading happened to be an auction report on a life technique. It stated that a superior technique called Frost Soul Formula had been bought the previous day for eight billion eight hundred million.

According to the description in the article, it should be a superior life technique with an ice-element attribute. Life energy cultivated through such a technique would carry the power of frost. Once cultivated to a certain level, one should be able to transform life energy into ice and freeze enemies in place.

Reading the article’s description of Frost Soul Formula, Lin Huang thought of Snowfall. But he was certain that even if one cultivated Frost Soul Formula to its absolute peak, it would still be far from what Snowfall was capable of.

Above superior techniques came top-tier techniques. These were basically never circulated on the open market; they were coveted and secretly contested among the nobility. As for their price, Lin Huang had no way of knowing. It should be at least several dozen times the cost of a superior technique, perhaps even a hundred times more.

As for the still higher sacred grade, Lin Huang did not even bother to think about it. At his current stage, it was certainly not something he could ever hope to reach.

After searching online for more than an hour, Lin Huang still had not found a life technique that suited him.

After some hesitation, he could not help but call Yi Zheng. The reason he had sought him out was simple: among all the people Lin Huang knew, Yi Zheng was the strongest, and he should be the most authoritative on this matter.

The communication tone rang twice, and Yi Zheng’s video interface popped up.

“Did you dial the wrong number, kid? Shouldn’t you be calling my sister?” Yi Zheng was still dressed in a white robe, his demeanor languid, looking as though he had not quite woken up.

“There are some things you know better,” Lin Huang said helplessly.

“That’s a line I like to hear. I didn’t realize you were so good at flattery,” Yi Zheng said with a somewhat smug expression. “Go on, ask.”

“I want to know how to choose a life technique. Among the people I know, I think you should be the most qualified to answer that.”

“I almost forgot you advanced to black iron rank. Did you kill the Six-Armed Enchantress, or did you exchange for another monster?” Yi Zheng could not help asking.

“The Six-Armed Enchantress,” Lin Huang said, leaving out the fact that what he had actually killed was the mutated Purple-Skirt Enchantress.

“You really do have some skill,” Yi Zheng said, clearly not expecting Lin Huang to truly have slain a Six-Armed Enchantress and obtained a life seed.

“All right, let’s get to the point. Choosing a life technique is actually not difficult. First, you need to test what attribute your life energy is inclined toward, and then choose a technique of the corresponding attribute; that way, your progress will be much more efficient. However, most people are born with life energy that has no attribute. Any attribute their life energy acquires later is cultivated through life techniques. But there are also a small number of people whose life energy is innately attributed. In that case, if they choose a life technique of the same attribute, the advantage becomes obvious.

“You probably saw yesterday’s news about Frost Soul Formula. Let me give you an example. If two people both cultivate Frost Soul Formula, but one of them is born with life energy that has no attribute, then his speed of circulating Frost Soul Formula would be one, his rate of accumulating life energy would be one, and the power of Frost Soul Formula when used would also be one. But if the other person was born with life energy attuned to snow and ice, perfectly matching Frost Soul Formula, then his speed of circulating it might reach three, or even higher. Likewise, the speed at which he accumulates life energy with Frost Soul Formula, and the power when using it, would both be above three as well. So innate attribute compatibility with a life technique is very important.

“If your life energy is naturally without attribute, then in truth you can choose any life technique you like. It depends on your personal preference. In principle, of course, the higher the grade, the better.

“If your life energy is naturally without attribute, I’d still recommend cultivating Battle Conquest Formula. Although it is only a superior technique, if you cultivate it beyond the sixth level, its power is no less impressive than some top-tier techniques.”

Yi Zheng’s explanation was extremely detailed, and Lin Huang understood it perfectly.

“How many credit points does Battle Conquest Formula cost?”

“Why are you asking about the price? Wasn’t there already a cultivation crystal for Battle Conquest Formula in the reward I gave you before? Don’t tell me you still haven’t received the package,” Yi Zheng asked, frowning.

“What package?” Lin Huang was baffled.

“The reward from the last beast tide incident, jointly issued by the Hunters Association and the Alliance government. Everyone who stayed alive that time got one. Ye Yu and I specifically reported your major contribution, and after hearing that you were about to advance to black iron rank, the higher-ups even added a cultivation crystal for Battle Conquest Formula to your reward,” Yi Zheng explained patiently. “The rewards have been distributed for over a week now. Mine arrived last week. If yours hasn’t, I’ll help you chase it up.”

“No need. I just got home today. When my sister comes back, I’ll ask her. Maybe she already signed for it on my behalf. If not, I’ll check the courier system myself and see where it is.” Lin Huang felt that Lin Xin should already have received it for him. “By the way, you just mentioned innate life energy attributes. How do you test them?”

“Since you’re a reserve hunter now, you can go to any Hunters Association stronghold for a free test. You can also buy a tester online yourself. The simple ones are quite cheap, only a few tens of thousands of credit points each. But I still recommend going to a Hunters Association stronghold. The results there are more detailed, and they’ll also update your combat power information for you at the same time. Now that you’ve advanced to black iron rank, it’s a good time to update your personal records,” Yi Zheng explained in great detail.

“Mm. Then I’ll find time to test my life energy attribute first and see whether I should cultivate Battle Conquest Formula. I’ll ask you again if I run into problems.”

After ending the call with Yi Zheng, Lin Huang immediately ordered a life energy tester online. He did not want to go to the Hunters Association and update his combat power information right now. He did not even have a life technique yet, but his combat power had already advanced to black iron tier three. If people found out, it would be a huge problem.

After placing the order, Lin Huang browsed the news for a while before Lin Xin returned from school.

The moment she stepped through the door and saw Lin Huang, a smile blossomed across her face. “Brother, when did you get back?”

“Around two-thirty this afternoon,” Lin Huang said, closing the news page and standing up to walk toward the kitchen. “What do you want for dinner? I brought back quite a lot of tasty things. Come and choose for yourself.”

He set out all the delicacies he had bought earlier on the cabinet. The storage space was air-sealed, so short-term storage of food was not a problem, especially since only a day and a half had passed.

After changing into slippers, Lin Xin hurried into the kitchen. When she saw dozens of packed takeaway boxes laid out before her, she was a little dazzled.

“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to one box.

“Dry-fried delicious snake. The main ingredient is five-segment snake, chopped and stir-fried dry, with a spicy flavor.”

“What about that one?” Lin Xin asked again, pointing to another box.

“Odd-flavor octopus balls. The main ingredient is tentacles from a giant-headed sea octopus, chopped up and mixed with other seasonings, formed into balls, then baked.”

“And that one?”

“Ghost Whispering Maze. The main ingredient is the tongue of a Ghost Whisper Beast, sliced and braised.”

…

She asked about nearly every dish before finally selecting three of them.

Lin Huang cooked some rice, then reheated the dishes, and that became their dinner.

After they finished eating, Lin Huang asked, “Xin’er, how many packages have you received during this time?”

“Three. One was sent by the Hunters Association, one was the game ring for Gun Master, and I’ve already opened that one. The other arrived yesterday. The sender’s name was a girl’s name... I think it started with Leng or something like that...”

“Where are the things?” Lin Huang had not expected Leng Yuexin to send back his spoils so quickly.

“The Gun Master ring is in my room. I tried playing with it these past few days. The other two I didn’t open, and I put them in the cabinet by your bedside.”

“Oh, I’ll go take a look.” Only then did Lin Huang head upstairs toward his room.