Chapter 230: Life, Resident Evil?

"Is there really no way?" Brenna looked at Lienie and asked.

"There really isn't." Lienie had wanted to say she truly had no way, but under the expectant gazes of everyone, she still silently changed her words: "I will try my best, but it is obviously impossible to research anything with just this one corpse."

"I need more materials; if possible, it would be best if there were living people who have been parasitized for me to study."

Seeing the subtle expressions on everyone's faces, Lienie tactfully swallowed the second half of her sentence.

"."

After a brief silence, Brenna was the first to break the awkward situation; she looked at the Shadow Guard standing to the side: ". Ai Yi, transfer all of Lienie's requirements to that Father Chelman."

"Yes, may I ask if this includes the final requirement?" Ai Yi turned her head with a calm expression and asked Brenna.

". Yes." Brenna nodded silently, saying nothing more.

The people in the hall were all maintaining a posture of silence at this moment, clearly having tacitly approved of this request from Lienie.

Anyway, humans infected by the Scarlet Parasite were already beyond saving if left alone; it might be better to let Lienie research them—who knows, maybe they could be saved? This was fundamentally different from the matter Kamal had proposed earlier, which was to dispose of everyone infected by the Scarlet Curse.

They could not be compared together.

Moreover, whether that high-ranking Church official behind Father Yehua could even obtain infected living people was an unknown, so there was truly no need for everyone to object.

The reason their complexions had become rather strange was entirely out of an aversion to human experimentation.

"Alright, let's end today's meeting here."

Brenna clapped her hands, focusing everyone's attention on her.

"Those who have not received assignments, just rest for these two days."

"Meeting adjourned!"

"How much longer until you're done?"

"Don't ask."

"I know you're in a hurry, but don't be in a hurry yet; it will be finished very soon."

After the meeting ended, Yun Mu found President Sixin at the first opportunity to request advanced knowledge regarding the Painter profession, the Third-tier Expert level, and the Fourth Order Master level.

The latter was currently sitting behind the counter in the lobby on the first floor of the Frost Bank, holding a steel pen and writing rapidly in a notebook borrowed from Brenna that lay flat on the desk.

His handwriting was excellent, and his hand was very steady, as if the notes he was copying in front of him were the same as the paintings he was currently creating.

There was an indescribable sense of harmony.

Damn it, if only her handwriting could be this good!

Looking at the font Sixin was copying into the notebook, Yun Mu could not help but feel a bit envious.

After all, if one really counted the time, she hadn't actually transmigrated here for very long, and with so many things to be busy with daily, it was already difficult enough to squeeze out a little time to learn the Frost Kingdom language!

Let alone finding time to practice a good hand of writing.

Wait, speaking of writing... Yun Mu suddenly thought of something; she looked at President Sixin and asked, "Are there any professions or Paths related to writing?"

"Why are you suddenly asking about this?" Sixin gave her a rather strange look.

Operating on the thought that there was nothing to do anyway, he explained to Yun Mu: "As far as I know, there should only be one Supernatural profession related to writing, and that is the profession controlled by the various research institutes: the Scribe."

"They possess the ability to enhance memory and take shorthand, and they are quite sensitive to information stored in all forms of text, capable of accurately and quickly finding the content they need."

"And for documents using secret codes or those that have been encrypted, Scribes can also decipher them; furthermore, when there are enough Scribes, even for completely unfamiliar languages, they can parse out relevant content from them."

"And then?" Seeing that Sixin was explaining Supernatural knowledge to her while his hand holding the steel pen showed no signs of pausing, Yun Mu knew that this level of multitasking didn't affect him at all, so she felt reassured in following up.

"And then?" Sixin smiled with a bit of dark humor: "And then there's nothing else!"

". Do you know that you're easily beaten to death like this?" Yun Mu's mouth twitched slightly, and she resisted the urge to punch him in the face.

"Don't look at me like that, I really don't know." Sixin looked at her expression and said with a slightly helpless tone.

"I have heard a little about the names of the subsequent advanced paths for Scribes; are you interested?"

"Of course." Yun Mu nodded readily.

"I'll warn you first, just knowing the profession names is of no use; of course, if you just want to satisfy your curiosity, that's no problem." Sixin said, keeping his head down.

"Regarding the advanced paths for Scribes, I once heard from a friend that the rank name for the Second Rank Elite is Scholar, the Third Rank is called Ancient History Expert, and upon reaching the Fourth Order Master level, it is called Occultist."

"Occultist, isn't that..."

Hearing this somewhat familiar rank name, Yun Mu looked at Sixin in confusion.

"A Transcendental from the old era?" Sixin completed the second half of the sentence she wanted to say.

"Yes." Yun Mu nodded.

"Didn't I say before that the vast majority of Supernatural professions were born this way?" Meeting her gaze, Sixin smiled softly and explained: "It is a process where one individual breaks the convention, and others then imitate them in breaking the convention."

"From the initial family inheritance to the optimization of scientific systems, the modern Supernatural system was built step by step in this manner."

"So that's how it is..." Yun Mu realized.

"Here, it's finished copying, take it." At this moment, Sixin suddenly closed the notebook in his hand and handed it to Yun Mu.

"Eh, it's already done?"

Yun Mu's face lit up with joy, and she immediately took the notebook from Sixin's hand.

"Wait, don't read it here." Sixin stood up and tucked the steel pen back into the chest pocket of his coat.

"Mm-hmm, alright." Yun Mu could roughly guess Sixin's meaning; although she felt it was a bit unnecessary, since he had said so, she would just go back to her room to read it.

Waving goodbye to Sixin, she arrived on the second floor of the Frost Bank, in her room.

"Finally waited for this day!"

Rubbing her hands with some excitement, Yun Mu opened the notebook Sixin had written.

Just like when she advanced to the Elite level before, what was recorded first in the notebook was the ability of the Painter at the Third-tier Expert level.

Unlike the Painter, the Expert-level Painter would be a qualitative change in the true sense.

Not only would the number of Supernatural Paintings that could be bound increase to eight, but they would also be able to stably produce Supernatural Paintings with slightly inferior effects.

Besides this, like the vast majority of Supernatural professions, upon reaching the Expert level, the Transcendental would awaken a peculiar power distinct from Spirituality.

That is 【Qi】.

This is the translation of the Frost Kingdom language into Yun Mu's mind, making it easier for her to understand.

Simply put, 【Qi】 is a type of energy similar to Battle Qi, Magic, or Chakra found in Earth's film and television works.

This energy can both strengthen the body and amplify the power of spells.

For a Painter, mastering 【Qi】 means possessing the ability to fight at any time.

As long as Qi is injected into a Paintbrush, one can paint in the air, forming various attack methods such as Heavenly Fire, Lava, or an arrow rain. Of course, items summoned by a painting are naturally not real; their lethality still depends on the 【Qi】 consumed and one's own level of Spirituality.

Besides this, there is one more thing Yun Mu has not forgotten.

That is the matter of Sixin pulling her into the Painted World back then.

If this ability were used to ambush others, it would be quite nice.

For example, she could paint a Painted World of a street in advance and then lure an enemy inside.

Because the scenery of the Painted World is almost identical to reality, the enemy would certainly not be able to see through it in a short time.

Then, she could mix some real attacks into the fake traps, thereby causing a Disturbance in the opponent's Perception.

Upon realizing they have been ambushed, the enemy general would surely become very panicked; taking this opportunity, she, General Yun, would strike directly in front of the enemy general, wave her hand with a sword, and behead the enemy general~ *cough cough*, no more joking.

She looked around with a guilty conscience, even though there was no one else in the room besides her, and even if there were, they would never know her inner thoughts.

But she still felt ashamed of her thoughts.

After all, before she transmigrated, she was long past being a child; having these chuunibyou thoughts was likely due to the influence of her predecessor's memories.

Uh, perhaps it was also due to her body? "Let's look at the advancement requirements."

Shaking her head, Yun Mu deleted those strange thoughts from her mind and then flipped to the next page of the notebook.

【Detected Third Rank profession【Painter】!】【Recording profession information】【Advancement quest generated!】【1: Advance to【Painter】, and reach level lv25 (Incomplete)】【2: Master at least two Painting Path-related paths. (Incomplete)】【3: Raise the level of at least one Painting Path to lv3! (Incomplete)】【4: Create a work, and reach at least【Emerging】regional popularity (Incomplete)】【5: Paint a blue-quality Spiritual Painting, and use this painting to defeat an enemy whose rank is at most 5 levels lower! (Incomplete)】【6. Create a Painted World. (Completed!)】【Quest reward: Profession【Painter (Elite)】advances to【Painter (Expert)】

Unlock new attribute【Qi】

Trait【Fast Copying】

Passive skill【Painting Draft Substitute】

Active skill【Construct into Reality】】【Note: Reputation is divided into seven levels; according to the reputation points obtained by the player, the name of each stage varies.

【Unknown】(0~3)

【Little Known】(4~10)

【Emerging】(11~25)

【Rising Fame】(26~50)

【Household Name】(51~100)

【Widely Known】(101~250)

【Renowned】(251~500)】 It really appeared, the advancement quest!

Looking at the prompt on the Game Panel in her mind, Yun Mu was instantly invigorated.

The only problem is, "Damn it, there are six advancement requirements in total, and I've only completed one!"

Requirement 1 is easy to handle; just reach level lv25. If nothing goes wrong, she should have enough experience points to level up by tomorrow after Rain Curtain Magazine publishes her work.

As for requirements 2 and 3, she has no clue about the former for now; she only hopes that after the Comic is published, she can obtain a path field related to【Comic】.

And as for the latter, one can only say the road is long and arduous.

Judging by her current progress of increasing one【Oil Painting】point per day, she will be able to complete the requirement in another 15 days.

But the key issue is that by the time 15 days have passed, the Scarlet incident will likely have already ended.

Whether she can survive until then is not even certain!

Therefore, she must think of a faster way. She wonders if asking Sixin would work; as a Fourth Order Master Qi Painter, he should have methods and experience for rapidly growing one's field.

Probably. As for the final requirements 4 and 5.

She already has some ideas in mind.

The former only requires patiently waiting for "Torina's Adventure Journal" to ferment, while the latter obviously requires her to put in the effort.

It is clearly impossible to create a blue-quality Spiritual Painting by merely injecting Spirituality into a draft, so she needs to blend real-world items into the painting.

As long as the quality of the blended item is sufficient, or her painting level improves, she should be able to complete requirement 5.

"Huu."

Breathing out a long sigh, Yun Mu closed the notebook, sealed it inside the card she carried with her, and tucked it away close to her body.

Afterward, she lay down on the bed quite decisively, closed her eyes tightly, and fell into a dream shortly after.

Everything she had to do today was done; all that remained was to Wait for tomorrow morning.

However, not long after she fell asleep, a wisp of dark night curtain suddenly pierced through her room's window and shrouded the top of her head.

"."

Yun Mu, who was in the middle of a dream, could not help but frown.

"F-4 Area has been cleared."

"F-2 Area has been cleared."

Hearing the news provided by the reporter in her ear, Yun Mu slowly opened her eyes.

"Am I... *Ugh*."

Just as she opened her mouth to speak, a familiar, foul stench from the sewer surged into her nasal cavity. Caught off guard, Yun Mu was slightly disgusted.

And it was only at this moment that she remembered.

She is the captain of the Frostfall City Mecha Unit, and at this time, she is under orders from above to clear out the mutated creatures in the sewer.

"Huu, how is the progress?" Breathing out lightly, Yun Mu looked at the reporter in front of her and asked.

"Yes, the clearing work is proceeding steadily; currently, only the final G Area remains to be cleaned."

"Very well, then we shall proceed according to the plan."

"Boom!!"

Before she could finish speaking, a violent explosion sounded from the distance.

"What happened!?"

Yun Mu looked toward the direction the sound came from and immediately discovered a large group of humanoid creatures covered in Scarlet pustules, roaring as they charged toward them.

The previous explosion had been caused by those fellows.

She saw them recklessly rush into the mecha formation, then grab onto the leg of a Steam Mecha, their bodies suddenly swelling up.

"Boom!!"

Another explosion rang out, yet what filled Yun Mu with terror was that after the explosion, the mecha was also covered in Scarlet pustules, and it was aiming its artillery toward them! Even a mecha could be infected!? (End of chapter)