Chapter 493

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Cheng let out a sigh of relief.

That way, even if someone really wanted to harm him from behind and launch another attack, with the leader present behind him, it would be futile.

Although it could only last one or two months.

"Two months is enough for my strength to rise several levels," Jiang Cheng thought to himself.

Moreover, if someone really was scheming, I believe he could endure a week, two weeks, but definitely not one or two months!

If it's just him overthinking and it was merely an accident, that would be best; when the time comes to go out and participate in the attack on the Wu Family Fortress, he wouldn't have to worry about danger from behind.

But there is also a problem right in front of him.

That is, as his spiritual power breaks through, this fourth-grade elementary psychic weapon in his hand will surely be useless; at the very least he needs a fourth-grade advanced or fifth-grade psychic weapon.

But where would he get so many contribution points?

His current contribution points mainly come from two sources.

One is refining pills, which yields five hundred points per day, about fifteen thousand points per month; as for the few hundred contribution points subsidy each month, it can be ignored.

The other is the base's reward; as a first-level Force Master and first-level Spirit Master, he can obtain ten thousand points each month, i. e., twenty thousand points.

As compensation, he needs to complete the most basic patrol missions; this is also one reason why he refused Qin Lao's suggestion, after all, one can't just take money without doing work.

Calculating this way, he can gain about 35,000 contribution points per month, which seems a lot, but a fourth-grade elementary psychic weapon costs between ten million and one hundred million on the market; converted to contribution points, that's between one thousand and ten thousand points, roughly a third of his monthly 'salary'.

As for a fourth-grade intermediate psychic weapon, needless to say, he just exchanged for one, costing twenty to thirty thousand.

Before passing the assessment, he needed to refine pills for about two months to afford one; now that he has passed the assessment, it's exactly one month's wages.

As for a fourth-grade advanced psychic weapon, the required contribution points range from thirty thousand to one hundred thousand, needing two to three months' wages to exchange.

Currently, the operation is about two months away; even if he can exchange for one by then, it will likely be a mediocre fourth-grade advanced psychic weapon.

By then, his spiritual power certainly won't be just third-level Spirit Master; at least he'll be fourth-level Spirit Master, possibly even fifth-level.

For a fourth- or fifth-level Spirit Master to still use a fourth-grade advanced psychic weapon—is that appropriate? Obviously not.

However, the price of fifth-grade psychic weapons has stepped up another level.

Like fourth-grade psychic weapons, fifth-grade psychic weapons are also divided into elementary, intermediate, and advanced, corresponding respectively to fourth through sixth-level Grandmasters.

The market price of a fifth-grade elementary psychic weapon is between one billion and three billion, which converts to 100,000 to 300,000 contribution points; a fifth-grade intermediate psychic weapon requires 300,000 to 600,000 points to exchange; a fifth-grade advanced psychic weapon requires 600,000 to 1,000,000 points.

Even the lowest-tier fifth-grade intermediate psychic weapon would take Jiang Cheng ten months of his current wages to earn.

Thus, the conclusion here is quite obvious.

He must find a way to earn more contribution points.

Even if he only has the strength of a fifth-level Spirit Master, it's fine to first purchase a fifth-grade advanced psychic weapon meant for a sixth-level Spirit Master, because he can raise its proficiency to perfection in the Virtual Combat System.

After all, even using an advanced psychic weapon can be done at will; why worry about a lower-grade one?

"So, should we first take on one or two missions?"

This idea popped into Jiang Cheng's mind, but he quickly rejected it.

Have you forgotten what happened yesterday in the tunnel?

If that incident was indeed Sun Bo's doing, the other party would certainly wish for him to leave the base now and go outside.

"Then why not refine more pills?"

Each furnace of top-grade Awakening Pill yields him 250 contribution points; if he doubles the number of furnaces per day from the current baseline, that's four furnaces a day, i. e., one thousand points; over two months that would roughly add up to 100,000 points, enough to buy a most ordinary fifth-grade elementary psychic weapon.

If he wants to buy something a bit better, refining four furnaces of pills a day is definitely insufficient; he must do more.

But merely refining four furnaces of pills would take him eight hours; adding the time spent teaching students, those two days might leave him barely able to cultivate, let alone go to the base to improve his psychic weapon proficiency.

Jiang Cheng sighed, glanced at the time, and it was time to go to the academy.

Never mind; anyway, there are still two months until the operation. As the saying goes, 'When the cart reaches the mountain, there will be a way; when the bridge is reached, the boat will go straight.' Perhaps a solution will appear later.

After a simple breakfast, Jiang Cheng walked toward the academy.

At the academy gate, students and teachers arrived one after another.

Jiang Cheng followed the crowd into the school gate when suddenly an somewhat excited voice sounded from behind.

That voice immediately drew the attention of those around.

Some looked toward Jiang Cheng, some toward the rear, at the man who spoke.

Even without turning around, Jiang Cheng could tell from the voice who was calling him.

It was Xie Jianfeng from the squad, who besides him was both a Rebel Soldier and held a position at the academy.

Xie Jianfeng smiled broadly, hurried over in a few steps, and said, "What a coincidence, Director Jiang; I didn't expect to meet you at the academy gate."

"Indeed quite a coincidence," Jiang Cheng replied, smiling and nodding.

"By the way, thank you, Director Jiang, for yesterday's incident; otherwise, I might not even be able to stand here this morning."

"Director Xie, let's not bring up past matters."

Seeing Jiang Cheng's expression not joking, or perhaps deliberately saying that, Xie Jianfeng hurriedly stopped, and just as he was trying to find a topic, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck his mind.

"By the way, Director Jiang, are you planning to sign up for the Academy Grand Competition?"

"Academy Grand Competition?" Jiang Cheng looked at him dubiously.

Xie Jianfeng thought to himself, indeed so, and hurriedly explained: "Isn't it almost New Year? At the end of a semester, it's time to test the students' coursework; holding a competition is one way of testing, and besides that there are exams and such. Of course, for most people, performance in battle better shows their grades." (End of chapter)