Chapter 716: Incorporating the Bramble Pirates
The Warm Snow Cup’s second exam details were formally announced two days later.
Even though Zi Di was mentally prepared, when she genuinely saw it, her mood was inevitably weighed down.
“Refine an autonomous combat puppet. After activating it, it has to defeat an ice sculpture guardian to advance to the next round?”
“An alchemy puppet manufacturing cycle is at least one month. Even if it is a small sized puppet toy, making it functional will take at least a week.”
To build it on the spot meant she only had 12 hours, that was overwhelmingly difficult.
Perhaps a gold level master alchemist could do it, but most of the participants in this year’s Warm Snow Cup were silver levels like Yao Ma.
Relying only on herself, this was nigh impossible to do.
Luckily it was made known that there was an addendum – it would allow teams of at most three, and at minimum two.
How could there be teams of two?
A team of three could barely accomplish this immense workload!
“That isn’t even the hardest part!” Zi Di’s brows tightened.
The alchemy puppet created had to defeat an ice sculpture guardian.
“A silver level ice sculpture guardian…this requirement means the alchemy puppet refined needs to be at least silver level too.”
This was the most basic criterion.
If you can’t achieve the silver level, don’t bother comparing it to an iron level.
Because the ice sculpture guardian’s true fighting strength surpassed most silver level puppets!
The ice sculpture guardian possessed extraordinary intelligence, this was dependent on its main material, the Ten Millenia Ice Lake’s ice.
Because of the time dragon corpse, these ice chunks were irradiated with divinity and possessed ample spirituality.
A simple carving could form a living spirit and image. A constructed framework could allow an ice sculpture to freely move. The results were simply unbelievably good.
Otherwise, how could the Ten Millenia Ice Lake be a super-resource point?
It was the foundation from which the entire Ice Sculpture Kingdom developed.
“Therefore, just refining a complete silver level alchemy puppet is not enough, it also needs to possess formidable fighting strength that can defeat an ice sculpture guardian.”
Zi Di felt that breathing was hard.
She couldn’t think of a way to handle this.
Her alchemy talent wasn’t high.
Just relying on herself, she would have failed the first exam. By exploiting Jiu Jin to cheat to get the exam questions ahead of time, followed by wild preparations and a large amount of secret practice, she was able to pass.
Although she came in first place, it was all in vain.
Not to say Zi Di was utterly lacking in alchemy talent.
She had some attainment in magic medicine, but in the high standards of the Warm Snow Cup, it was insufficient to look at.
At present, faced with the second exam question, Zi Di had no idea where to start.
“But I have to pass…”
Zi Di’s eyes were filled with resolve.
The dragonman youngster wholeheartedly wanted to cut ties with the Li Jian Clan and had no intention of working with the Jing Xiang Clan. The rumors of him collaborating with the Jing Xiang Clan were just a façade used as a pretense to stall for time.
During this period, the dragonman youngster wanted the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps to truly stand up. With his current strength, why couldn’t he take all of the mount potion profits? Why would he share with anyone else?
Selling channels were not a problem, and thanks to Zi Di borrowing a chicken to lay an egg, the Li Jian Clan was exploited to make that possible.
The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps really lacked places to manufacture magic medicine.
To respond to the entire kingdom’s magic medicine demand, they needed enough production capacity. More importantly, it had to be secure!
Like before, when Mei Lin sacrificed people to breach the Snow Bird Harbor workshops.
This wouldn’t do!
The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps wanted to take everything for themselves, and they faced the Li Jian Clan, the Jing Xiang Clan, and also the Alchemy Guild.
The survivors had to take preventative measures ahead of time.
And the best way to prevent things was to build a magician tower.
A magician tower had outstanding defenses and was often treated as a defensive hub.
So long as it was built, even one floor, it was easily guarded and hard to attack.
After using spatial alchemy technology, each room in a magician tower could be a vast space and building an alchemy factory in one was no problem.
“As long as one gets to the top three in the Warm Snow Cup, they will be subsidized in the construction of a magician tower.”
The funds were actually secondary.
The survivors had prosperous mount potion sales and weren’t worried about capital.
Zi Di valued the qualifications!
The Ice Sculpture kingdom required heavy vetting to get a piece of gold level armor, let alone a magician tower.
Wanting to covertly build a magician tower was nearly impossible.
This was a large-scale engineering project.
By getting top three, the foreign Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps would be qualified to build and possess a magician tower, that was very significant!
Despite the extreme difficulty, Zi Di was still very motivated.
The Commander has invested so much, I have to redouble my efforts!”
The ghost girl always firmly believed: the harder she worked, the happier she’d be.
And she was intoxicated solely by the joint struggle with her beloved.
During the dragonman youngster’s duel with Mi Fang, he sustained heavy injuries, with his fingers all being blown off his hand when he threw the battle qi ball. Zi Di was incomparably distressed by that.
Obviously the dragonman youngster could have won at a lesser cost, but he didn’t. For the sake of the bigger picture, he strived to disguise his own combat strength while simultaneously fighting for more renown, thus, he intentionally threw the battle qi ball and bore the great suffering it inflicted.
Zi Di recalled fondly the price the dragonman youngster paid, and she needed to do her best in her objective!
This kind of energetic zeal was far greater than it was during her partnership with Zong Ge.
In the beginning Zi Di had many conflicts with Zong Ge and was very wary of him, but since then, step by step, she comprehended Zong Ge’s nature and had a lot of admiration for him. As they fought alongside each other, it increased the camaraderie between them.
Being together with the dragonman youngster was completely different. Zi Di enjoyed every moment, wanting to do her best from the bottom of her heart, so much so that she was undaunted by the dangers like a moth that flew into the flames that ignited her enthusiasm.
“The Warm Snow Cup actually only has two phases.”
“The first stage is the Alchemy Guild using some test questions to wash out some and filter out the true elites.”
“The second stage is displaying one’s alchemy achievements. It is the main feature!”
“As long as I am able to get through the first stage, I’ll be able to display my great skills in the second stage!”
Zi Di had great faith in her second stage performance.
To be more accurate, it wasn’t in herself, but in War Merchant.
War Merchant was a legend level and a great grandmaster alchemist. Others would be using all they had to display the most recent years’ alchemy achievements while Zi Di only needed to choose something from War Merchant’s database to do the same.
“Therefore, I have to get across the first stage!”
Zi Di secretly sucked in air, then gazed at Elder Jiu Jin, her eyes emitting cold light.
She calmly said, “Elder Jiu Jin, I don’t want to make things difficult for you. But why did you nevertheless make things difficult for me? I joined the Warm Snow Cup merely for the sake of our mercenary corps. Why is getting through the first round so difficult? Is it worth it to target me so heavily?”
Jiu Jin promptly explained, “This is not me making things difficult for you, Magician Yao Ma! It is Elder Hua Ni! She is very cautious and in fact very stingy. Adding on the Li Jian and Jing Xiang Clan’s urging…your corps is really powerful and that they are afraid of the consequences.”
“I don’t care!” Zi Di waved her hand, displaying a crafty and unruly side, “If I can’t get through this, then your sin will be revealed.”
“Therefore, you had best think of a good way to deal with this, otherwise, you won’t be an Alchemy Guild elder any longer.”
Unable to think of anything, Zi Di forced that task onto Elder Jiu Jin.
She held definitive proof that Elder Jiu Jin had close ties to a necromancer.
If this evidence was published, Elder Jiu Jin would no longer keep his position and might have to accept investigation. An Ice Sculpture Kingdom internal investigation was easy to deal with, Elder Ju Jin could mobilize his contacts and use bribes to perhaps get through it, the real fear is that the Blood Light Punishment Institution would get involved. Everyone knew that almost every power on the Main Plane worked together to round up necromancers, and the Sheng Ming Empire mainly relied on the Blood Light Punishment Institution.
Jiu Jin suddenly became worried; he was afraid of exactly that. Unable to secure that evidence, he was yoked and forced to put forth plans and ideas for Zi Di’s sake.
“It will be impossible for you to do this alone Magician Yao Ma.
“To pass the second exam, we need to focus on other people.”
Although Zi Di had exceptional grades in the first exam, as one of the people involved, Jiu Jin knew what Zi Di’s alchemy abilities were.
He was of the opinion that Zi Di alone was out of the question, so instead find two experts to carry Zi Di along. Even if Zi Di was deadweight, they could still drag her across the finish line.
Zi Di also had that opinion, it’s just that there was immense hidden dangers in this.
She continued to gaze at Elder Jiu Jin, “I don’t trust outsiders that much, and I am very worried that Hu Ni, the Li Jian Clan, or the Xing Jiang Clan have planted spies. When the time comes, the spies will tamper with things, and it’ll be worse than me facing the second exam alone.”
Elder Jiu Jin also considered that, and said at once, “Therefore, we must start in advance and contact some former years’ alchemists and not those in the current year. We can secretly contact them and use a large sum of money to purchase their services and use magic contracts to restrict them!:”
The Warm Snow Cup’s second round was not just available to those who passed the first round.
So long as a competitor had a relatively exceptional showing in past Warm Snow Cups, the Alchemy Guild gave them the right to skip sections in future Warm Snow Cup Grand Alchemy Contests.
Because inherently, the Warm Snow Cup’s first stage was mainly to be a filter.
The alchemists that made it through the filter in past years naturally didn’t need to be filtered again.
Of course, there were many bylaws, and based on their achievements, some magicians could skip the first exam, others could skip the second exam, and there were some that could be immediately qualified to participate in the second stage alchemy achievement exhibition. Former champions could immediately display their alchemy results and could also show them in the best spots in the exhibition hall.
This kind of competition skipping had a time limit. The longer time went on, the more these qualifications weakened. If too much time passed, the alchemists had to participate in the first exam once again.
However, there were special cases. For example, some alchemy masters won success and recognition outside of the Ice Sculpture Kingdom, and when they came back to compete, the Alchemy Guild gave special approval to automatically advance them into the alchemy showcase.
In short, the Alchemy Guild had considerable margin in this respect.
With regards to the fact that “former master alchemists that could skip exams”, Zi Di knew about it.
She questioned closely at once, “Elder Jiu Jin, who do you recommend?”
Elder Jiu Jin came prepared, and he took out a list, “This is a list of those who can participate in the follow-up grand contest, this information came from my guild’s database, copied word for word, it is definitely complete!”
“Of course, if a foreign great master alchemist suddenly appears to compete, that is something we can’t anticipate.”
Zi Di took the information, but didn’t let Elder Jiu Jin off easily, rather she kept questioning, “I asked for who you recommended?”
At first Elder Jiu Jin didn’t want to shoulder that responsibility, declining tactfully and unwilling to issue his opinion.
Zi Di coldly snorted, reiterating, “If you don’t say anything, and if I can’t pass, you’re done for.”
Jiu Jin wiped cold sweat off his forehead, and with no other choice, was forced to give a few names, evaluating them as outstanding.
Zi Di found the people in the information.
The information was detailed and accurate, not just limited to names, but also included a summary and most importantly, their performance in past competitions; all of this was recorded correctly.
After Elder Jiu Jin left, the dragonman youngster’s figure appeared in the corner of the room.
He knew that Jiu Jin was under Zi Di’s thumb and had exclaimed in admiration at Zi Di’s skill. When he was observing this play out, he felt that Elder Ju Jin was still on their side, and his words were relatively honest and trustworthy.
Seeing Zi Di’s worried face, the dragonman youngster said understandingly, “You are worried there are problems with those recommended?”
Zi Di nodded, “If we could think of this, there is no reason this hasn’t occurred to our adversaries. The people Jiu Jin recommended have high assessments, won’t they be paying attention to these people?”
“They are the local bully, maybe they’ve already contacted these people.”
“If we can’t elucidate the truth, and devote our energies to this, we’ll be stepping into a trap.”
If they used lots of money to buy them, then the others would use even more to buy them away.
Magic contracts were not omnipotent, and like the conflict between the strongest spear and shield, there would inevitably be a way to resolve them.
The dragonman youngster deeply had the same feeling.
Before, when he returned, he used Charming Blue divine spells to resolve the magic contract Zi Di and Zong Ge signed with the Li Jian Clan.
In White Hair Trench, the stronger Magician Si Ling painstakingly condensed and gathered death divinity, all for the fishman youngster’s benefit. Even though Teacher Si Ling had the divine artifact [Truth Slate], what use was it? Even with unintentional planning, it would still achieve the desired result.
The dragonman youngster thought about it, “Do you remember what I told you about Xiao Wang Zi?”
“If everything else fails, we can use a large sum to buy off a former year’s alchemy master, secretly control them, then have Xiao Wang Zi pretend to be them in the competition.”
The necromancer Xiao Wang Zi surely had the fundamentals of alchemy.
The teleportation magic item, the Eulogy Tombstone, had been created by him independently.
Zi Di shook her head and sighed, “That can only be used as an alternative plan.”
Xiao Wang Zi’s true alchemy skills were left open to questions.
He was a necromancer, and if he was spotted during the grand contest, then it would be disastrous.
There was another hidden danger, Xiao Wang Zi’s memory had been modified.
Tense battles were easy to deal with, as Xiao Wang Zi didn’t have to think foolishly, and was only able to focus his attention on dealing with the powerful enemy before him.
In alchemy, this was different.
Alchemy needed rapid thought, the constant detection and resolution of problems. Under these conditions, one’s thinking would be very active and needed to extract knowledge from their memories, increasing their success from their experiences.
This was not secure, and Xiao Wang Zi was likely to notice his forged memories were false, easily causing chaotic cognition and let him see the truth.
The dragonman youngster sighed.
He also knew this suggestion wasn’t that good.
He also wanted to intervene personally.
Regretfully, although he was a gold level magician, the divine blessings were focused on casting experience, and a pitiful few were on alchemy.
He was unable to help Zi Di.
Zi Di saw her beloved’s exasperation and depression, and she extended a hand to stroke the young man’s chest, tenderly consoling, “My Lord, you still have more important business.”
“The Warm Snow Cup is mine to handle.”
“If I fail, that is still acceptable.”
“But if I can pass, it will be even better.”
The dragonman youngster nodded, he really did have more important business to attend to.
After saying goodbye to Zi Di, he called Cong Mang over.
After transforming into a fishman form, he pulled open a heavy curtain in space through Divine Domain Descent, and with a step, teleported thousands of kilometers out to sea.
On the ocean surface, the Vegetable Pirates and the Bramble Pirates were already confronting each other.
The two flagships slowly came side by side of each other.
The fishman youngster did not appear, instead Cong Mang took the lead, jumping onto the other side’s flagship.
He looked at their leader, suddenly looking disdainful, “Are you the Bramble Pirates’ current captain?”
“Hehe, an insignificant silver level, for what reason?”
“What qualifications do you have to speak of collaboration with me?”
The Bramble Pirates’ original commander was called Jing Wen, Feng Lian had cut him down in one slice. The new commander was just a silver level human with a short and wizened stature, long curly hair, a gloomy face, and very baggy eyes. Something happened to his skin, as it was a weird dark green.
He raised his head to look up at the taller Cong Mang and laughed grimly, “I am called Ci Ji. Regarding my qualifications for working together with you, it would be better for us to just fight it out.”
Cong Mang stared for a bit; he didn’t expect Ci Ji to be so direct.
He seemed to look at him with new eyes and nodded, “Good, we’ll fight first.”
Ci Ji was prepared, and after taking a few steps, he jumped into the sea.
Both feet stepped on the water, but he didn’t sink, walking as if on level ground.
Cong Mang took out a new gold level long rod (to replace the one that had been destroyed in the battle with Snow Bird Harbor City Lord) and also landed on the ocean surface to battle with Ci Ji.
Ci Ji’s weapons were two daggers.
Cong Mang waved his long rod, dashing with a rush of wind, his offensive very impressive.
Ci Ji moved nimbly and was very good at ocean combat. He occasionally ran and shot, occasionally throwing himself into the ocean then ambushed Cong Mang from the bottom of the latter’s feet.
Cong Mang was a blunt and charging type of fighter, that was the kind of battlefield that suited him most. For a moment, he was flustered somewhat.
The fishman youngster secretly observed, amazed to notice that although Ci Ji was a genuine silver level, he displayed a gold level constitution.
Not only that, but his speed was greater than Cong Mang’s.
However, when Cong Mang used divine spells to amplify himself, he became faster than Ci Ji, causing the latter to sink into a disadvantageous position.
Don’t be fooled by Cong Mang being a valiant charger and breaker of lines, he was actually a druid that majored in divine spells, battle qi was his second cultivation.
Cong Man’s battle aura grew more flourishing.
When he followed the young commander to the Ice Sculpture Capital, he naturally didn’t dare to be neglectful and was very cautious. When he returned to the seas and fought a fierce battle, this was precisely his familiar and favorite setting, this made him exhilarated.
“Come again, come again!”
“Can you go faster? Don’t hide, do you dare to take my rod head on?”
“If this is your limit, then for this operation, you’ll listen to me!”
Cong Mang continued to shout, tentatively approving of Ci Ji’s strength.
As a silver level, being able to fight a level above him and commended by Cong Mang like this was very rare.
But the fishman youngster nevertheless saw that Ci Ji had energy left.
He used Divine Descent, controlling the latter and having him step forth.
“Cong Mang, withdraw now.” The big guy’s eyes emitted blue light, his voice wasn’t loud, but everyone could hear it.
Cong Mang didn’t dare to disobey, and he promptly put away his rod and withdrew from the fight, returning to the ship in a servile manner.
The Bramble Pirates were stunned.
Cong Mang was publicly known as the Vegetable Pirates’ commander. Yet he unexpectedly heeded the orders of a silver level small giant, what was going on?
Ci Ji looked bewildered, thinking of the information where “during the Snow Harbor Battle, Coing Mang was taken away by a fishman expert”.
As for the Vegetable Pirates, they had been incorporated in already and were well accustomed to this.
The big guy gazed at Ci Ji, the blue light in his eyes growing a bit more vigorous.
Ci Ji felt something powerful staring at him, like it was stripping him naked and tossing him into the water. He immediately snorted in cold displeasure, “Who are you?”
Da Dou appeared next, “Impudent! You’re making a big fuss, small pirate. My master’s name is taboo; do you really think you can easily learn it?”
Da Dou naturally had been blessed by deception divine spells and looked radically different. But his gold level aura hadn’t been tampered with.
Seeing a gold level giant, who also professed to be a servant, the Bramble Pirates were alarmed.
In a split second, they looked at the big guy with new eyes and formed a common understanding – the big guy had extraordinary origins and might be the core member of a large force.
The big guy under the fishman youngster’s control spoke deeply, “Do you have a totem on your body?”
Ci Ji’s expression changed, “Since you can see it, then there is no need to conceal it.
“It is indeed a totem, it is Commander Jing Wen’s Magic Spirit Totem, it is because of it that I have gold level battle power!”
The totem was one of the Shaman Church’s characteristics, and in the current age of the Main Plane, it was popular with the beastmen. But it was not limited to the beastmen, it widely existed amongst the other intelligence races.
For example, the dragonman youngster saw the Flame Totem on Da Dou’s body.
The Bayonet Gang remnants escaped Snow Bird Harbor through rocket assault boats, which had many totems in them.
The big guy’s head and chest were held out high, he stepped into the air, and looked down at Ci Ji, “What is the Magic Spirit Totem? I can see you haven’t completely displayed this totem’s power.”
“I will allow you to do that!”
“Next, so long as you can block my fist once, the Vegetable Pirates and your Bramble Pirates will work together, I swear by the Pirate Throne that all loot acquired will be divided evenly.”
But Ci Ji turned very gloomy, “If I can’t withstand it, what will happen?”
The big guy looked up, using his nostrils to glance at Ci Ji underneath him, “You will serve me, and I will still allow you to command your people.”
Ci Ji became furious, raising his head to shout, “Pirates are free!”
The big guy rubbed his fists and wiped his palms, “In that case, I will grant you a greater freedom – death.”
Ci Ji gritted his teeth tightly.
He now felt immense regret, why did he want to work with the Vegetable Pirates?
It really was wretched, the difference between the information and reality was too large!
Circumstances forced him, what could he do?
Ci Ji glared gloomily at the big guy, then at Cong Mang and Da Dou, then finally back to the big guy.
“He coldly snorted, “I accept!”
“I’ll let you see the Magic Spirit Totem’s full might!”
After saying that, he bit the tip of his tongue, and sprayed blood onto his palm.
He wiped his palm across his chest and arms.
The blood was rapidly absorbed, and his dark green skin suddenly became “alive”, changing into waving dark green vines.
In the blink of an eye, Ci Ji was wrapped by layers of vines, several hundred vines twisted with each other, wrapping him up into a giant spheroid.
A gold level aura was raised to its peak, nearly suppressing Ci Ji’s transcendent aura almost completely.
“Come!” The vine ball transmitted Ci Ji’s muffled voice.
The big guy lightly laughed, slowly stepping down from the air.
He came to the vine spheroid, slowly extended his palm, and placed it on the spheroid.
Battle skill – Giant Wave Palm.
Enhancement – Penetration Force!
The palm’s force was like an immense wave, bearing enormous gravity and thrust, evenly spreading across the vines. With the enhancement of Penetration Force, the attack penetrated into the middle of the vine sphere, into Ci Ji.
Regardless of how substantial his defenses were, Ci Ji was just a silver level.
The big guy’s battle qi was fully silver level now, his constitution was supported by silver battle qi, and with Da Dou’s meticulously cooked food, he had explosive growth in all attributes.
The big guy surpassed the human Ci Ji in all attributes. He was able to bypass the totem’s defense and hit right into the heart.
Plop.
Ci Ji seemed to feel a giant wave slap into him, and after he coughed out blood, he sank into unconsciousness.
When he lost consciousness, the Magic Spirit Totem was no longer being controlled, and it quickly vanished back into his body, turning his skin a dark green once again.
A one hit victory!
The Bramble Pirates were a deathly gray, while the Vegetable Pirates broke out into a deafening cheer.