Chapter 23: Mountain Rain Approaches, Wind Fills the Tower

Half a month passed silently…

During these half a month, Araki, besides accumulating experience and teasing Mao Zhi Hua, also discovered something interesting.

His previous main quest…

【Main Quest: Go to the Jingling Court and take a position in the Guardian Court Thirteen Squad.】

It has been settled recently.

As Araki claimed the main quest reward, a thing called a Second‑Tier Experience Pack appeared in his mind.

Because of this, Araki felt a hint of curiosity toward the item named "Second‑Tier Experience Pack"; he mentally brushed the Second‑Tier Experience Pack in his mind and the answer was…

【Second‑Tier Experience Pack Note: An experience pack worth one billion experience points, usable for leveling and providing the host with one billion experience points, and also usable as fusion material to craft a First‑Tier Experience Pack!】

【First‑Tier Experience Pack Note: The highest‑grade pack that can provide one hundred billion experience points, craftable by combining ten Second‑Tier Experience Packs.】

"Ah, this…"

After Araki read his system's explanation of the so‑called experience pack, the corner of his eye twitched slightly.

Come to think of it, upgrading from Third‑Tier Spiritual Might to Second‑Tier Spiritual Might requires one billion experience points, and upgrading from Second‑Tier Spiritual Might to First‑Tier Spiritual Might also happens to require one hundred billion…

So the tiers of this Second‑Tier Experience Pack and First‑Tier Experience Pack come from that, huh?!

At the same time Araki felt a bit emotional; this one billion experience points is really easy compared to the accumulation he got from daily quests before…

Who the hell knows how long he spent accumulating experience back then to raise his Spiritual Pressure to Second‑Tier?!

Thinking of that, Araki gave a slight shake of his head and refocused his attention on his own quest!

Araki still remembered the note attached to his main quest.

【Note: The amount of main‑quest reward depends on the host and the rank of the position held within the Guardian Court Thirteen Squad.】

The reward for this quest depends on Araki's position within the Guardian Court Thirteen Squad!

"Since I'm ranked as Squad Leader, I got a Second‑Tier Experience Pack. If I replace Shan Laotou and become the Chief Squad Leader of the Guardian Court Thirteen Squad, wouldn't I get a First‑Tier Experience Pack directly, letting me raise my Spiritual Pressure to First‑Tier Spiritual Might?!"

Araki thought that, but he quickly shook his head…

Defeating Shan Laotou and becoming the new Chief Squad Leader of the Guardian Court Thirteen Squad is fine to just imagine; if it really happened, I'd just go wherever it's cool and take a break~

Araki wouldn't truly think that the current Shan Laotou can't even lift a sword just because his own strength has slightly improved…

"Sigh…"

Araki let out a long sigh and then opened his character template in his mind.

……

Movement

Flash Step: LV1 (+)

Ghost Path

Break Path: LV1 (+)

Bind Path: LV1 (+)

Return Path: LV1 (+)

……

Araki ignored the preceding information and looked at his Movement and the Ghost Path column.

He had never upgraded these abilities, so they are still at level 1.

Come to think of it, among all Araki's attributes, only Ghost Path and Flash Step are at level 1; all other attributes, except Spiritual Pressure, are nearly at level 10!

Of course, Araki has practiced 'Flash Step' and 'Ghost Path'; it's just that Flash Step doesn't work well without a surgical fruit's ROOM, and he truly lacks talent for Ghost Path…

High Spiritual Pressure doesn't guarantee high Ghost Path talent; characters like 'Gengmu Jianba' and 'Hei Sa Yi Gu' are examples where Spiritual Pressure is high but Ghost Path talent is fragmented!

Or once Spiritual Pressure reaches a certain level, a direct slash is enough to kill the enemy, making Ghost Path unnecessary…

Besides that, in Araki's system, only Spiritual Pressure uses the 'Third‑Tier'/'Second‑Tier' notation; all other abilities are expressed with LV, and the higher the number after LV, the stronger the ability!

LV1 merely means Araki 'knows' it, not even at the introductory level…

It's like Araki just learned the rules of multiplication but hasn't even memorized the multiplication mnemonic yet.

Nevertheless, for techniques like Flash Step, Araki forces it through his strong 'Physical Constitution' and Squad Leader‑level Spiritual Pressure.

In other words, Araki's base stats are high enough that even his poor Flash Step outpaces those with weak Spiritual Bodies, low Spiritual Pressure, but superior Flash Step skill!

That's the so‑called 'great force yields miracles, massive power propels!' Araki uses Flash Step with no technique at all, just raw power…

Only when facing monsters whose stats match or exceed Araki's does the technique advantage appear!

With that, Araki glanced at his Experience column…

After half a month, i. e., 15 days of accumulation, Araki's experience points have reached a solid 46,890; the system's daily training quests still reliably grant him two thousand experience points, while the daily task has changed to signing in at the barracks each day…

Hmm, Araki has unwittingly become an excellent wage‑earner.

Clocking in and out, and being consistently late and leaving early each day!

As long as his late‑arrival and early‑departure times are regular, others will mistakenly think he naturally works those hours.

"System, give me some points!"

Araki, without hesitation, poured all his experience into Flash Step.

As a result, with 11,110 experience disappearing, Araki's Flash Step instantly rose to LV5!

Indeed, aside from the levels of 'Spiritual Pressure' and 'Spiritual Body', the starting point for experience needed for upgrades is ten experience points…

In Araki's system, all skill‑type abilities, such as 'Flash Step', 'White Strike', 'Slash', and 'Ghost Path', start with one experience point and cap at level 10!

In other words, Araki's 'Slash Fist Ghost Walk' has its 'Slash' and 'White Strike' already at max level! This makes his panel look severely one‑sided, so Araki tweaked his panel a bit.

Although these skill abilities could be pushed to max with over 1.1 billion experience points!

But for the current Araki, the substitute abilities 'Flash Step' and 'Ghost Path' don't need to be maxed; a modest level four or five is sufficient…

Seeing he still had 35,000 experience points left, Araki's brow twitched; with his OCD, he raised his Ghost Path's 'Break Path', 'Bind Path', and 'Return Path' all the way to LV5!

Although the Level‑5 Ghost Path ability means little to Huangmu, whose Spirit Command ability is already at LV10, it does slightly improve his accuracy.

"The increase in strength is modest, but it does count as an improvement."

Huangmu mutters to himself.

From now on, the daily training missions released by the system will provide him with experience…

Huangmu will always boost the abilities where he is weakest, because accumulating daily experience to raise his spiritual pressure level is already unrealistic; at three thousand experience points per day, gathering a hundred billion would take a full ten thousand years…

After ten thousand years, even the daylilies will have wilted!

In Huangmu's view, to raise his level in the future he must still rely on his main quests, earning experience packs by completing tasks.

"Sigh…"

Huangmu sighs at this thought, then finally leaves the leader's office and walks outside.

When Huangmu passes the swordsmanship hall of the 11th Squad, he happens to see Mao Zhi Hua Ba Qianliu…

That is the present Mao Zhi Hua Lie, who holds a Soul‑Cutting Blade and commands her subordinates, constantly swinging a wooden sword for daily training.

"Lie, put the training aside for now! Hurry and come with me!"

"If we don't go soon, Shan Laotou will be rambling there again…"

Huangmu looks at the sweating Mao Zhi Hua Lie and draws the Soul‑Cutting Blade from his waist.

As green light flashes, the sweat droplets on Mao Zhi Hua Lie vanish instantly, and a faint herbal fragrance clings to her.

"Alright…"

Mao Zhi Hua Lie sheaths her blade at her waist and then walks toward Huangmu.

"Huangmu, I always feel you have something worrying you…"

"Are you worried about Chief Shan Ben's reason for summoning us?"

"If so, I think you need not worry too much…"

"Today is probably just a simple squad‑leader inauguration ceremony, letting you get acquainted with the leaders of the other squads…"

After spending half a month with Huangmu, Mao Zhi Hua Lie knows his every detail; she looks at his furrowed brows and asks aloud. At the same time, drawing on her experience as captain of the 11th Squad, she advises Huangmu.

"No, it's not because of the squad‑leader meeting…"

"Lie, don't you think the Soul Realm has been too calm lately? So calm it makes one's heart ache, giving me a strong sense of impending danger!"

Huangmu and Mao Zhi Hua Lie leave the Guardian Corps 11th Squad barracks and walk toward the 1st Squad barracks.

Indeed, a few months after Huangmu took command of the 11th Squad, Shan Laotou finally convened a squad‑leader meeting! He explicitly ordered every captain of the Guardian Corps 13th Squad to attend, regardless of circumstances—no personal leave or sick leave permitted…

This gives Huangmu a strange feeling; he constantly senses "a storm about to break, wind filling the hall."

That's also why Huangmu casually raised even the "Instant Step" and "Ghost Path" skills he doesn't value to Level 5…

If Huangmu is not mistaken, a millennial enemy who has accompanied the Death God for a thousand years is about to invade the Soul Realm.

"Sigh…"

"This Soul Realm is truly a troublesome season!"

Huangmu shakes his head as he says this and leads Mao Zhi Hua into the Guardian Corps 1st Squad barracks.

"……"

Mao Zhi Hua Lie doesn't know how to comfort Huangmu, so she remains silent, gripping her Soul‑Cutting Blade tightly and staying close behind Huangmu.

No matter what happens in the Soul Realm, she will steadfastly stand by Huangmu's side…

A slight overstep—Lu Qu is slated to make an official debut next chapter—then we'll kick off the first major arc: Youha invasion!

(End of chapter)