Chapter 21: Chapter Nineteen; Must Make Thorough Preparations

It has been more than ten days since the martial artist's practical combat assessment.

To as closely as possible reproduce Luofeng's experience on Earth, Chén Chén had already secretly delayed the assessment schedule of the already magically altered 'War God Training Camp' by two months.

That is to say, whether it's Jiang Jiang or Luofeng, their assessment opportunities must be postponed until three months later.

And over the past several months, naturally one should go to the wilderness area to train thoroughly, after all a true martial artist does not grow up in a greenhouse but must truly undergo the tempering of life and death.

As early as a few days ago, Jiang Jiang and Chén Chén moved into the Spirit Dragon District of the Thunderbolt Martial Hall.

Just like the Bright Moon District of the Extreme Martial Hall, the Spirit Dragon District is a place where the warriors and their families of the Thunderbolt Martial Hall reside.

According to the affiliation contract signed by Jiang Jiang and the Thunderbolt Martial Hall, besides this villa, Jiang Jiang also has an additional three hundred million in activity funds and fifty million in actual funds.

In Jiang Jiang's words, this is roughly money she couldn't have dreamed of even if she added up twenty-two dreams she had before.

Then how should such a large sum of money be allocated?

Jiang Jiang's plan is to use it all up before entering the wilderness area.

Exactly, spend it all, leaving not a single cent.

First is the sword technique secret manual; although Jiang Jiang chose the dagger as her future habitual weapon and also has 'Bloodstrike' as the core of her cultivation, the cultivation of the surface-level short sword must not be neglected.

Of course, grasping the timing therein is also crucial; practicing the sword is to conceal one's strength while gaining another means, but if it delays the progress of true strength, that would be putting the cart before the horse.

'Damn Chén Chén, a random secret manual on the Thunderbolt Martial Hall costs tens to hundreds of billions! Isn't it supposed to be more powerful than the secret manuals on the World Tree?'

Comrade Jiang Jiang originally thought that a purchasing quota of three hundred million was already the limit, but she never expected that this little bit of money is actually less than one-tenth of the top-tier secret manuals in the store.

In the Thunderbolt Martial Hall's channel mall, the secret manuals 'World Extinction' and 'Ninefold Thunder Blade' cultivated by the world's strongest 'Hong' and second strongest 'Leishen' both cost up to 100 billion……

Compared to the secret manuals in Chén Chén's exchange list, such a striking price is obviously much more high-end.

'Isn't your World Tree too stingy… it only gives a quota of ten thousand; want to use my quota to exchange you for a better secret manual?' Jiang Jiang proposed.

'Weal and woe shared,' although compared to the heavenly-priced items in the mall, the self-examined three hundred fifty million is just a joke, but if sharing with Chén Chén, Jiang Jiang would have no complaints.

Even if all this money were spent by Chén Chén, it wouldn't matter; anyway, once Chén Chén becomes stronger, he will surely have powerful secret manuals and resources.

However, Chén Chén shook his head and explained:

'The markup on many items in the martial artist mall is very severe, and the secret manuals provided by the World Tree are actually not bad either; if your chosen 'Bloodstrike' were placed in this store, it would also be a top-tier item.'

'Markup?'

Regarding Chén Chén's explanation, Jiang Jiang could roughly understand but not fully comprehend, after all she had studied fewer years; although her insight is not bad, her cultural level regarding many concepts is indeed not high.

'Think about it, a martial artist's consumption is on the order of tens of millions, even hundreds of billions, but can the productive capacity of the human world really bear such numbers?'

'Our usual bowl of rice, the clothes we wear, the value of each item can be measured in money; think about it, if you used the purchasing quota given by the Thunderbolt Martial Hall to buy grain and clothes, how much could you buy?'

Even if the average price per catty of grain is calculated as ten yuan, that would be over thirty million catties of grain, enough for half a year's worth of living expenses for all ordinary people in Yangzhou City……

'But for an individual martial artist, can the corresponding productive value really reach that high?'

Obviously not; of course this is naturally insufficient, because the wealth circulating in the martial artist world cannot be ignored either.

But a martial artist, put bluntly, is a soldier, the human force unit against monsters.

Apart from the materials obtained from hunting monsters, they actually do not generate productive value within the population.

On the contrary, a soldier's consumption comes from society's interior, just like ancient soldiers consuming grain, money, armor, and weapons.

Military strength is not population, but a non-productive unit that a production system can supply.

Conversely, if a martial artist spends hundreds of millions of wealth, the society behind them that they protect must create corresponding value.

Does this society have such productivity?

Obviously not, or if it is, it is achieved by raising the consumption in the martial artist world to attain balance. By doing so, one achieves the threefold effect of elevating martial artist status, controlling economic flow, and consolidating the martial artist world's dominance over the ordinary world.

'But treatment like mine should be extremely rare, right?' Jiang Jiang's mind works quickly; she instantly grasped the key point Chén Chén wanted to express, but didn't fully grasp it; regarding the domination relations in society, for Jiang Jiang it's still somewhat ahead of her.

'Of course it's extremely rare, but the wealth acquired by the martial artist group compared to ordinary people has long surpassed this limit.'

'That's why there are all kinds of martial artist markets, all kinds of malls for martial artists to consume, large amounts of money fall into martial artists' hands, and the upper-level rulers need to figure out how to recover this money.'

The currency circulating in the martial artist world cannot possibly flow in large quantities into the ordinary world's market, because the ordinary world's productivity and wealth simply cannot bear it.

Jiang Jiang repeatedly pondered Chén Chén's words, then looked at the goods in the mall; many secret manuals adopt split-volume sales, and she suddenly understood everything Chén Chén had said.

Along with the increase in martial artist strength, to advance further one must invest more wealth, thereby ensuring the direction of martial artist wealth circulation.

Of course, this money will not lose its value; the inflated amounts will circulate among martial artists, and forces holding large wealth will also convert wealth into discourse power over the ordinary world, the HR Alliance being the best example.

By analogy, this is also why the Thunderbolt Martial Hall gave itself a purchasing quota of three hundred million, while the cash remittance is only fifty million.

Thinking this through, Jiang Jiang feels even less regret about her three hundred million purchasing quota in the 'Thunderbolt Home'.

'Since cultivation secret manuals don't need to be repurchased, let's focus the money on investing in equipment and weapons.'

Regarding weapons and equipment, Chén Chén originally also wanted to arrange a package for Jiang Jiang, but comrade Jiang Jiang, after taking the World Tree as a hypothetical enemy, firmly rejected Chén Chén's proposal.

Secret manuals of this kind are hardly tamperable, whereas weapons and equipment are different.

'What if someone leaves some tricks on weapons and equipment, like surveillance or self-destruct mechanisms, or even bombs……'

Chén Chén already doesn't know how to complain about Jiang Jiang's hypersensitive nerves; after all, the idea of installing explosives in weapons is something one could think up, possibly already not a normal person's brain.

However, the World Tree has only recently been established; although it has acquired much technology from extraterrestrial and ancient civilizations, having technology and being able to produce are two different matters, and the current production level it can achieve is roughly on par with other organizations worldwide.

Thus buying at the Thunderbolt Home is about the same, so Chén Chén didn't bother to persuade further.

First is the combat uniform.

In the 'Thunderbolt Home' shopping mall, according to the combat uniform's ranking from A to S, prices gradually increase, and the price of an S‑rank combat uniform has already reached hundreds of billions.

Items of S‑rank and even SSS‑rank can sell for tens of billions; aside from the purpose of recycling currency, the fundamental reason is that their manufacturing craft is overly intricate for humans, and the difficulty of producing a high‑rank combat uniform for humans is no less than that of a battleship or several battleship‑class aircraft.

Given Jiang Jiang's purchasing quota, a D6‑rank combat uniform is already the limit, after all besides the combat uniform, weapons, backpacks, shields and a series of other equipment are also quite valuable.

The three‑hundred‑million purchasing quota was instantly squandered; aside from buying a somewhat second‑rate short‑word secret manual just to keep up appearances, the rest was all invested in equipment.

Besides that, there are still many things to prepare.

For example, getting along well with the surrounding martial artist neighbors to inquire about what needs special attention in the wilderness area.

For example, figuring out which wilderness area has what kind of monsters, each monster's advantages and weaknesses, and how to deal with them safely and conveniently.

For example, when encountering an unexpected situation in the wilderness, how should one plan a reasonable escape route?

For example…

Thus, the famous Jiāng Jiāng's One Hundred Survival Strategies was born in later generations.

If a person is bitten by a shark, they will die.

Jiāng Jiāng does not want to die.

Therefore, one must make thorough preparations.