Chương 129: War God — Chapter 129 - I, on the Other Hand, Feel That I've Returned with a Full Load

"You've never set foot in Azure Falls Water City, so there's no way you could know what's inside."

"Even if you learned about it through other channels."

"You couldn't have predicted our military training would be at Azure Falls Water City. This location was only decided by me and your principal recently. Before you all arrived, barely anyone knew."

"But, honestly..." Captain Zheng looked at the Crimson Dragon War Token in his hand.

"Without this, I'd truly suspect you're Bloody Smoke..." He didn't speak. Wang Xian understood what he meant. Indeed. From the military's perspective. He had every reason to be suspicious. Before Bloody Smoke even appeared, you seemed to know the situation in advance. You even had countermeasures ready. The instructors wouldn't think that deeply. The principal and others, not learning of the situation immediately, wouldn't overthink it either.

But as Captain-General of the Tenth Unit, leader of an elite force, overall commander of Tian Du University's military training, he would absolutely consider it thoroughly.

"Is there a possibility," Wang Xian said, "that someone's manipulating the blood pith roots?" Captain Zheng's tone was flat.

"That's the conclusion we reached with the Martial Research Institute. Someone secretly used special methods to make the blood pith roots grow rampant and contact the poison smoke vines."

"Then produced massive amounts of Bloody Smoke to disrupt military training."

"Motive?"

"Many motives." Captain Zheng said.

"Disrupt training, create a crisis, then step forward at the critical moment to turn the tide and claim Battle Merit and war tokens. Or foreign organizations secretly interfering... researchers from other nations conducting covert studies in Azure Falls Water City. All possible, but the first is most likely."

"Who do you think it is?" Wang Xian asked. Captain Zheng shook his head. The tampering was too clean. Not even a suspect. The only one... was you. But. You provided intelligence so early it had zero impact on training. Not a single casualty. The critical moment never came. This wasn't turning the tide... Captain Zheng thought, if he were designing this, he'd definitely wait for Bloody Smoke to spread, wait for most squads to be trapped in the blood mist. He wouldn't even need such detailed intelligence.

Just knowing the blood mist would appear in advance, design a route, calmly lead squad after squad out of Azure Falls Water City. Ideally, a few people should die. Otherwise the danger wouldn't seem real enough. Then he wouldn't even need to contribute intelligence. It would be absolute major merit! Wang Xian smiled. He knew who it was, of course. Just no evidence. Saying it would only make them think he was speculating, even suspect his motives.

In his past life, the first time he encountered this was on the alien battlefield. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Chi Jiuyou, whom Dragon Nation called 'the treacherous hero of the age.' He just didn't expect it would appear now. Moreover. On the return trip, chatting with Instructor Lu, Wang Xian learned that after he left, Chi Jiuyou had come to find Lu Tiesheng once. That made him even more certain it was Chi Jiuyou's doing. As for the reason. Just as Captain Zheng said.

But because nothing happened, there was no evidence whatsoever.

"Honestly, your intelligence was critical..." Captain Zheng let out a long sigh.

"Otherwise this training would've seen casualties. I won't pry into how you got it, but this merit still needs to be given."

"What do you want?"

"What merit is needed for contributing intelligence?" Wang Xian shook his head.

"Isn't this what we martial practitioners should do?" That one sentence stunned Captain Zheng. Wang Xian was telling the truth. The intelligence he obtained in his past life was all freely acquired. Like how blood pith roots and poison smoke vines combine to form Bloody Smoke. Past-life researchers painstakingly discovered that and made it public. The most critical intelligence, that darkwater tree sap resists Bloody Smoke, was accidentally discovered by a martial practitioner who immediately made it public.

Otherwise, back then on the alien battlefield, countless martial practitioners would have suffered. In his past life, all this intelligence was freely released by those martial practitioners and researchers. What merit could he claim?

"You..." Captain Zheng looked at Wang Xian, expression complex. He suddenly felt his earlier suspicions were beneath human decency. After a long silence. Captain Zheng spoke again:"Right, you killed over 1, 000 beasts in the tunnel earlier... the corpses were processed by the train's armed escort team..." Captain Zheng calculated.

"About 40, 000 Battle Merit."

"Find time to claim it from Tian Du military department." Beast Battle Merit is generally calculated by life force. Double-digit life force yields 1 to 10 points. Triple-digit life force yields 10 to 100 points. Special cases like elite beasts or BOSS-level specialized beasts are calculated separately. The bone-corroding leopards Wang Xian killed were mostly E-rank, only a few hundred life force. Occasionally a few leopard kings were D-rank, only a few thousand life force.

Plus they were all locally mutated, not worth much Battle Merit. But because it was a beast horde, the quantity was enormous. So the Battle Merit was still fairly substantial. If Captain Zheng hadn't mentioned it, Wang Xian would've forgotten. He didn't have much need for Battle Merit right now.

"Forget it." Wang Xian thought for a moment. In his mind, he recalled the maimed members of that train armed escort team...

"What do you mean?"

"That Battle Merit..." Wang Xian shook his head.

"Since the corpses were processed by the armed escort team, give it to them..."

"You killed those..." Captain Zheng was taken aback.

"Military regulations exchange materials for Battle Merit. They processed the corpses, so distributing the Battle Merit to them is reasonable and follows regulations."

"They also escorted the train the whole way..." Wang Xian said thoughtfully, "Besides, compared to me..." He paused.

"They need that Battle Merit more." Hearing this. Captain Zheng looked at the youth before him, heart deeply shaken.

"Then this time and last time... you've practically returned empty-handed... just killed one croc-turtle..." Captain Zheng murmured. Killing a croc-turtle was heaven-defying. But one croc-turtle, even as a BOSS beast in a D-rank unmanaged zone. Was far less than so much Battle Merit! And he didn't even want the intelligence merit...

"Is that so?" Wang Xian smiled instead, holding the Crimson Dragon War Token, and turned to leave.

"I feel like I've returned with a full load." The youth's back slowly lengthened in Captain Zheng's eyes. Past middle age, he felt his eye sockets grow warm... After military training ended. What awaited new students next was naturally intense university curriculum and various cultivation. Most importantly. The selection of minor professional courses. Every new student could choose one minor profession to study. Of course, you could also choose not to and focus solely on the martial path.

But most new students picked a minor profession. Because some minor professions could help you after graduation, even if you could no longer advance on the martial path. You could still remain active on the front lines through your minor profession. For example. One of modern society's most renowned professions: Spirit Pivot Physician. Corresponding to clinical martial studies within the medical field. As long as talent was remotely related, many new students chose it.

After all, on the battlefield, martial practitioner casualties were routine. Knowing a bit yourself increased survival chances. If you didn't want the battlefield, you could treat martial practitioners at hospitals and still live well. Like his good brother from his past life, Zhou Xukun. His main field was this profession. Next, Forgemaster. A transcendent profession that smelts various materials to enhance combat protective gear.

Core talents who could transform any material into strategic-level martial equipment resources! Corresponding to Yuan Force Forging within modern materials engineering. Among Dragon Nation's top five, this was the most elite profession. Even without martial path skill, mastering this specialty meant shining in various industries in the future. Other minor professions like relic archaeology, spiritual research studies... Each minor profession corresponded to a modern, highly popular martial secondary career.

All very important. Choosing a good minor career let martial science students walk longer and farther. Wang Xian had long decided which minor profession to choose. But on the first day of school. His first class. He still had to meet the sole teacher of his Old Martial Arts department. After all, he was the only student in this department. ➤ Next: I Can Help With This!