Chapter 233

The whole room carried the stale, aged air peculiar to old people.

Zhao Shizhang sat in a wooden chair, watching Zhao Chi quietly.

He forced a smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Zhao Chi, your Instructor Li at the academy has already told me about your exam results. You performed well today, surpassing quite a few well-connected juniors."

Zhao Chi said modestly, "I was just rather lucky."

Zhao Shizhang narrowed his aged eyes, shook his head, and smiled:

"Haha, who could be lucky enough to land first place? Anyone who can take first place has real strength.

"Our clan has never done much for you. We had always thought we could at least let you live peacefully until graduation.

"But reality is what it is—natural disasters and human calamities never know when they'll come crashing down.

"We don't know how many demonic beast quotas there'll be this time, but there definitely won't be few.

"As elders, we'll try to shoulder what we can. But if we truly can't bear it all, the time will really come for you youngsters to shoulder some of it too.

"When your chief instructor contacted me, she said that, given her special circumstances, she couldn't give you any substantial help, but she hoped our clan could provide as many resources as possible.

"Actually, she didn't even need to say it. The fact that you took first in your year already proves your potential.

"According to custom, after the opening-of-term test the Zuye Society will also offer a reward. This is the list—pick what you want.

"Usually you can only pick one, but you may pick two."

After Zhao Shizhang finished speaking, he simply smiled as he watched Zhao Chi.

Zhao Chi said respectfully, "Thank you, Clan Head."

"Heh heh, hurry and pick."

【Item List】

【1】 Golden Cicada Shell-Shedding Talisman

【2】 Blazing Flame Technique Study Book

【3】 Thunder Shock Spell Study Book

【4】 White Tiger Fang (pair)

【5】 Lingwind Sword

【6】 Wingcloud Armor

【7】 Pangu Axe Fragment

【8】 Three-Life Stone

【9】 Various others…

【37】 Skeleton Race Bloodline

【38】 Various others…

The list was plain and simple.

But these items were anything but simple.

Especially the first eight—each one was very useful and well worth choosing.

It seemed Zhao Shizhang had really brought out quite a few good things.

Zhao Chi examined them carefully, deciding with caution.

"Golden Cicada Shell-Shedding Talisman"

When struck by a fatal attack, it lets the user leave the territory and return to the Greater World.

A life-saving item.

Extremely effective.

But if it really came to needing a life-saver, the territory would probably be done for anyway, and Gu Qing and Tang Ruan and the others wouldn't survive either.

Although this item was good, it wouldn't increase one's strength.

Better to pick something that could boost strength.

"Blazing Flame Technique Study Book"

"Thunder Shock Spell Study Book"

These two were both spiritual technique study books, with decent power.

They were indeed worth trading for and could be kept as backup options for now.

"White Tiger Fang"

An excellent material for reinforcing weapons, able to greatly boost a weapon's power. Exchanged together with the "Lingwind Sword," it would be a fine choice.

But that would only raise the strength of one person, and Zhao Chi still wanted something that could raise everyone's strength overall.

Besides, equipment all had durability.

Once the durability ran out, it was useless—unless one had the matching materials for a craftsman to repair it.

In the end, Zhao Chi gave up on these, including the "Wingcloud Armor," which he also set aside for now.

"Pangu Axe Fragment"

It can expand the territory.

A very nice item.

But the logic was the same—merely expanding the territory wouldn't actually raise one's strength.

The territory could be expanded through other means.

Although the expansion would be slower, Zhao Chi wasn't afraid of taking it slow.

Steady, step-by-step growth in strength was the top priority.

"Three-Life Stone"

Resettable Talent.

These five words are enough.

This one's a must-pick!

Zhao Chi had always wanted to reset Gu Qing's talent.

Although Gu Qing's current talent adds 1 point to Constitution and is very practical, Zhao Chi still wanted her to have greater functionality, just like Tang Ruan.

Selected!

Continuing onward, the items were relatively ordinary.

Their functions were all decent, but they fell quite short compared to the previous eight.

Still, Zhao Chi locked his gaze on the 37th item.

"Skeleton Race Bloodline"

This was the only race bloodline on the list.

But unfortunately, it was a Skeleton's bloodline.

The Skeleton race was the default race and wasn't particularly strong.

Especially compared to the Taoyuan Human race, it was completely crushed across the board.

However, a race bloodline could be broken down into various genes — although there was a probability involved, and the Skeleton's genes weren't as numerous as those of the original Shi Laimu.

It was estimated that the "Fearless" gene could be extracted.

The Taoyuan Human race already had Fearless; if it really could be extracted, the Pipeidu Society might be very high, and it could serve as source data for information.

But it would be even better if there were other new genes.

Currently, only 1 gene of the Taoyuan race had been improved, with 2 more still able to be improved.

Regardless of how much the improvement boosted, the entire populace would benefit.

Zhao Chi gritted his teeth and selected it too!

Final selection:

【8】 Three-Life Stone

【37】 Skeleton Race Bloodline

Zhao Shizhang was somewhat surprised.

"Zhao Chi, why did you choose the Skeleton Race Bloodline? Are you trying to extract genes? What race are you?"

Zhao Chi hesitated slightly, but still told him.

"I am Human."

Zhao Shizhang was the clan head; hiding race information from him was pointless.

After all, in future battles, they would inevitably have to fight alongside the clan.