Chapter 193: Rewards
Translator: TYZ Editor: X
Six people made breakthroughs in their base levels.
Shi Xueman, who had just completed her Circulatory Cycle Revolution, was observing the rest of the students closely. Upon seeing the six break through to the next stage, she was rather happy. The battlefield was the best classroom. Nothing could stimulate one’s potential better than the pressure of death.
Her joy did not last long because she had too many things to do.
Her lousy performance during the battle had not caused her to lose confidence and give up. The sense of failure was a rather unfamiliar feeling for her. Even so, she did not think of giving up. After calming down, she recalled certain details from the battle and developed a new understanding of the things she had learned in the past
The evidence had proven that she was not a genius in terms of combat techniques.
She reached out to Jiang Wei, Sang Zhijun, and some of the students to summarize the losses they had suffered during the battle. Since she could not be a hero that saved everyone, she could only discuss the issue with the others. By helping everyone, everyone simultaneously helped her.
When everyone saw their eminent goddess reaching out to them for a discussion, they became abnormally enthusiastic and active, as if they were pumped with caffeine.
When Ai Hui, who had just completed his Circulatory Cycle Revolution, saw the bustle, he sneered in his heart. The more beautiful a woman was, the more dangerous she was. Someday, all of you will understand this!
He sat down and started to recall his merits and demerits during the battle.
He had too few moves. Having just the [Oblique Slash] and [Misty Strike] were not enough and limited his offense in many ways. As for escaping techniques, he would have to wait until he attained the Initial Completion before he could obtain a pair of azure wings. No matter how fast one ran on the ground, he or she would still be slower than someone who was flying through the air.
When Ai Hui thought of escaping techniques, he thought of the [Golden Wind Cape] and then he felt a pain on his back. When the training hall was attacked by the blood ants, he used the [Arching Fish Back] against the ants and completely destroyed the [Golden Wind Cape] in the process. After all, the cape was not as sturdy as the [Blood Bandage].
If not for the [Blood Bandage], Ai Hui would be severely injured.
At this moment, Ai Hui sensed something and raised his head involuntarily. A few elementalists had arrived in the sky above the training hall. Ai Hui found some of them to be rather familiar. One of them was the guard of the mayor. Another one, whom Ai Hui was the most familiar with, was the officer in charge of the warehouse.
When all of them landed on the ground, Ai Hui quickly went forward to greet them. The rest of the students gathered as well.
The moment the warehouse officer saw Ai Hui, he smiled. "I knew all along that your group was different from the rest. I was correct indeed."
"Thank you Sir for taking care of us," Ai Hui replied with sincerity. The warehouse officer had been taking good care of them, giving them all the good stuff. Ai Hui, who had experienced both the warmth and chill of mankind, did not take this for granted. For whatever reason, this person had been kind to them. Ai Hui felt that he still had to thank the officer.
The warehouse officer was very happy as they now had a much closer relationship than before. He winked at Ai Hui, but did not say anything else.
A stern-looking officer then began to talk, "Due to the outstanding performance from the A-1 unit, the mayor has decided to give everyone a letter of commendation and unique rewards. Every student will get 100 Heaven Merit Points. Ai Hui, Shi Xueman, Duanmu Huanghun, Sang Zhijun, Qian Dai, Jiang Wei, and Wang Xiaoshan will be rewarded with 200 Heaven Merit Points each. This reward had been submitted to the Elders through the message tree and has already been approved.
Other than Ai Hui and Fatty, everyone was overjoyed.
Heaven Merit Points?
Both of them looked at each other and saw disapproval in the other’s eyes. At this critical stage, why would they even bother to use such imaginary and useless merit points to reward everyone? Reward them with something more practical!
"Other than that, each person will be given two portions of revitalizing powder and one piece of Central Pine Armor."
Ai Hui knew that revitalizing powder was a more practical item. It allowed an elemental energy-depleted elementalist to recover a portion of his or her elemental energy within a short period of time. However, one could not take it too often as it would cause side effects to the body.
What the hell was a piece Central Pine Armor?
It was as if the warehouse officer had expected everyone’s misgivings, so he started to explain, "The Central Pine Armor is a new armor that we have recently developed. Its most unique characteristic is that it can prevent blood poison from accidentally splashing onto you and protect you from its harmful effects. This armor has not been forged in large quantities yet. The mayor eventually decided to provide you all with this armor. Right now, all of you are the pioneer users of this armor."
When everyone heard that the armor could protect them from the blood poison, they became high-spirited. Right now, this armor was undoubtedly the most important tool that they needed.
The battlefield was extremely chaotic and a moment of carelessness would result in them being infected with the blood poison. Furthermore, the blood poison was extremely corrosive toward their gear and equipment. The blood poison was the main factor that everyone feared when they faced a blood fiend. Even though the Central Pine Armor could not completely resolve this problem, it still provided everyone with a sense of security.
The greenish-grey, tree bark-like Central Pine Armor emitted a faint pine fragrance. The armor was not good-looking and one could clearly see that it was made in a rush from its roughness. However, at this point of time, even Duanmu Huanghun, who was a picky individual, equipped the armor on his body immediately.
The most bizarre looking part of the armor was its helmet, or rather, a conical hat that was made up of tree bark. The edge of the conical hat continuously emitted a faint light smoke, forming a smokescreen that completely covered the head of its wearer. When Ai Hui put on the helmet, he was surprised to discover that his vision was not affected by the smokescreen at all. He could still see as clearly as usual.
"This smokescreen can block low-impact objects, like sprayed blood. The best benefit is that it will not affect your vision at all," the warehouse officer explained. "Other than this armor, the mayor also asked me to pass on a batch of elemental food ingredients to all of you. Even though these ingredients are not dire beast-based, they are considered the best ingredients in the warehouse."
He laughed bitterly. Meanwhile, Central Pine City’s warehouse was not affluent. Currently, just rewarding the students with these items almost emptied the entire warehouse. Even though the officer thought highly of Ai Hui and his comrades, he was surprised that the mayor would spend so many resources on these youths.
"Help us relay our heartfelt thanks to the mayor," Shi Xueman interjected and gave a slight polite bow.
"Rather than thanking him verbally, I think the mayor wants all of you to be role models that encourage everyone else and help them regain the courage that they have lost," the officer replied sternly.
"We will try our best," Shi Xueman answered solemnly.
"We will definitely try our best." Ai Hui nodded his head.
A look of satisfaction appeared on the faces of the elementalists. One of them started to talk again, "Thanks to your demolish-and-advance tactic as well as the discovery of the efficacy of the chillies against the blood ants, our advancing speed has increased greatly. Given the current speed, we hope to clear up all the blood ants by sunset tomorrow. This is also why the mayor decided to reward all of you so handsomely.
The sudden good news resulted in thunderous cheers of joy from everyone. The dark clouds that engulfed their minds had been significantly cleared. It was as if everyone had seen the dawn of victory.
Smiles appeared on the elementalists’ faces as well. Then, they reminded once more, "Have a good rest. All of you have to launch another wave of attacks tomorrow."
After completing their task, the elementalists flew up into the sky and returned to the mayor’s residence.
"The rewards this time around are really bountiful." A smile appeared on Sang Zhijun’s face. "200 Heaven Merit Points. I never expect to earn 200 hundred Heaven Merit Points in such a short period of time."
"What are these Heaven Merit Points?" Ai Hui could not help but ask. "Can they be exchanged for money?"
Ai Hui’s words made immediately everyone roll their eyes.
"Oh my god, this is the first time I have heard of someone that wants to exchange Heaven Merit Points for money! If they could be bought with money, I would definitely buy all of your Heaven Merit Points at any cost" Sang Zhijun’s face was filled with incredulity.
"Country bumpkin!" Duanmu Huanghun sneered as he cast a disdainful glance at Ai Hui.
Even Shi Xueman almost could not stand the phrase "exchange for money."
Ai Hui did not care about how Duanmu Huanghun looked at him. When he saw everyone’s reaction, he quickly realized that the Heaven Merit Points were much more valuable than money.
Much more valuable than money!
Ai Hui’s eyes immediately lit up and he asked, "Come, let’s talk about the Heaven Merit Points? What uses does it have? How do I use it?"
Sang Zhijun quickly replied, "The Heaven Merit Points are the highest ranking merit points in the Avalon of Five Elements. The entire Avalon of Five Elements, including the small towns and villages, follow the merit point system. The merit points represent your contributions. The amount of merit points you have will determine your status in society. For example, Central Pine City has its own type of merit points, the Central Pine Merit Points. The Fire Prairie uses Fire Merit Points, the Palette Cloud Village uses Water Merit Points, the Yellow Sand Corner uses Earth Merit Points, the Jadeite Forest uses Wood Merit Points, and the Silver Mist Sea uses Metal Merit Points. Of course, the most valuable type is the Heaven Merit Point as it represents the contribution you made to the entire Avalon of Five Elements."
"They seem like different flavors of smoked meat. So how do I use them?"
"Smoked meat… Whether you are finding jobs or pursuing promotion, these merit points play an important role. Without enough merit points, you can’t get certain positions that you’re looking for. The most important use for merit points is to purchase resources. You can use them to buy various artifacts, materials, inheritances, and even absolute arts."
"You can buy absolute arts with them?" Ai Hui was shocked.
"Of course! As long as you have enough merit points, you can buy many absolute skills."
"Aren’t the various absolute arts heavily protected by their respective clans and families?" Ai Hui did not seem to understand.
"That’s right. However, there will be times when these clans will request the Elders for extraordinary artifacts, medicines, etc. If they have enough Heaven Merit Points, they can buy them directly. But what if they don’t? You can't obtain Heaven Merit Points through monetary means. The only way is through trade, but what do you use to trade for them?"
"You can convert artifacts and absolute arts into Heaven Merit Points, then buy whatever you need," Sang Zhijun explained.
"That’s good! This can be a lucrative business!" Fatty yelled in excitement. "We decide the price of the resources, and we are the only ones with Heaven Merit Points. There are really a lot of business opportunities in this place. This is absolutely a profitable business!"
Ai Hui cared more about the other problem. "Don’t the clans worry about their absolute arts being leaked to outsiders?"
"Usually, it’s only during critical moments that these clans would trade their absolute arts away. Otherwise, why would they do it?" Shi Xueman interjected. She knew a lot more about these prestigious families. "Furthermore, absolute arts are first-rate inheritances. What is an inheritance? An inheritance is an art that’s passed down through the generations. Every clan in their right mind would keep on improving their absolute arts. This is done to ensure that their future generations would surpass the older generations. If they can’t achieve this, they will decline as time passes. If they can achieve this, why would they be worried about their absolute arts being leaked to outsiders? Most of the time, the absolute arts that are traded for Heaven Merit Points are outdated versions. Some are even as old as the establishment of the Avalon of Five Elements. Their powers are much weaker than the current versions."
It was at this moment that Ai Hui realized what was going on. "I see. If what you said is true, why would people buy outdated absolute arts?"
"Even if the absolute arts are outdated, they are still absolute arts. Furthermore, developing a new absolute art depends on one’s innate capability and enlightenment," Shi Xueman replied coldly. "Of course, if you’re gifted enough, you might even come up with your own absolute art while you’re sleeping."
What a joke!
When Ai Hui realized he only had 200 Heaven Merit Points, but was already thinking of buying absolute skills and looking down on outdated absolute skills, he could not help but laugh.