Chapter 733: Hua Ni – They Came Prepared
Soldier City.
Bao Li Gen was training, pumping iron dumbbells and huffing loudly.
“Damn you, damn you Long Fu!”
“You think that by returning their bodies you can settle the grievances between us?”
“Wishful thinking!”
“Even if the authorities make allowances for you, I will never forgive you, I will never let go of any enemy that massacred my comrades!!”
As a soldier, one with a fiery temper that flagrantly violated military discipline every day, he was unable to stand this outcome.
He expended divine favor to contact Mei Lin.
Me Lin was equally dissatisfied.
Bao Li Gen roared, “Are we letting the enemy get away with everything and even letting them leap and frisk about before our very eyes?! I will kill him; I will tear him to pieces!!”
Mei Lin sighed, she too was as resentful and restless as him. From the latest intelligence reports, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps had made a string of moves. Using the starting point of the dragonman youngster becoming a duelist, they applied leverage to surrounding relationships and were in the process of vigorously roping in other duelists.
If their growth continued like this, it would be very detrimental to Mei Lin and the others.
Mei Lin replied, “Long Fu has displayed saint level qualifications, he did so deliberately at his own volition.”
“If I am not mistaken, next they will display their strength amply. This kind of strength, is not battle strength, its is more concentrated on alchemy capabilities.”
“The Alchemy Guild and the royal family will begin to work more with them because of their alchemy products.”
“When that moment comes, vengeance for our comrades will be even more hopeless.”
“But now, we still have a chance.”
“So long as Long Fu continues to participate in this year’s grand duel, we have a chance.”
“I am currently up to my ears in work, and as a matter of fact, even if I could personally duel Long Fu, I am unlikely to be his match.”
“This guy has hidden himself very deeply and has only exposed a portion of his combat strength.”
“Therefore, we can only rely on you.”
“What is the progress of your magic construct armament?”
Bao Li Gen gritted his teeth tightly, “Too slow, way too slow! The armaments department is still assembling it; they haven’t even adorned it yet!”
Mei Lin shook her head, “It should be fast. The National Ceremony Grand Duel is already beginning, you are the military’s representative, they won’t leave you out to dry.”
“You have been training for this for two years, and your day to compete is fast approaching.”
After breaking the connection, Mei Lin sank into contemplation.
According to currently available information, Bai Li Gen was far from Long Fu in battle strength.
On the face of it, Bao Li Gen was stronger than Long Fu. But secretly, both were hiding many skills.
Like Mi Fang, Mei Lin firmly believed that Long Fu advancing leaps and bounds by Long Meng’s tutelage was just a façade. The truth was that Long Fu was simply unveiling his original strength step by step. Long Meng helping Long Fu with this show proved that they had reached a cooperation and a tacit understanding.
“Although Long Fu has that mysterious 3 v 1 method, with the magic construct armament, Bao Li Gen will have peak gold level strength!”
As a member of the duelists, and also a high ranking admiral, Mei Lin knew a lot of high level information.
What was referred to as magic construct armament was an entire set of matching and closely connected equipment. It could immensely enhance the user, not just unilaterally, rather it covered attack, defense, recovery, movement, and all other aspects.
Feng Lian had a bronze mask; it was a part of his magic construct armament that reached the saint level. It could transform his body to increase in size and elevate his offenses enormously.
But because it was saint level, its energy depletion rate was terrifying.
Even Feng Lian was unable to independently support it. Therefore, when it was active, Feng Lian would frequently use wind chains to link himself to his magic ship and borrow its magic power reservoir.
On the kingdom’s army side, Bao Li Gen was outfitted with a complete set of magic construct armament.
It was gold level, yet its expenditure rate was gigantic.
Thus, it had its own energy core, Bai Li Gen would find it very difficult to satisfy the overall energy expenditure rate himself when it was activated.
This was one of the features of magic construct armament, all magic construct armament had their own independent energy supply. This kind of exogenous energy far exceeded the energy reserves of a regular gold level transcendent.
It was also because of this that the magic construct armament could amplify all aspects so powerfully.
Mei Lin was a magician, she understood thoroughly how strong magic construct armament was.
“From another point of view, magic construct gear can turn an individual soldier into a magic ship, one wearing a magician tower.”
“For the National Ceremony Grand Duel and to sell its munitions, the army has poured all of its forces into this project. Three years ago, the army selected its best, and Bao Li Gen came out on top.”
“He painstakingly trained for almost two years, and him with the magic construct gear will be worth putting hope into!”
“The better he does in duels, the better the finished product does in the Warm Snow Cup, the greater the volume of the kingdom’s munitions trade.”
The Ice Sculpture Kingdom’s alchemy product experts was a significant mainstay industry, and through its flourishing alchemy industries, had turned them into an international arms dealer.
Bao Li Gen’s battle strength concerned the army’s reputation and fight for benefits. Mei Lin believed that this time, the kingdom’s army would be going all out.
Alchemy Guild.
This year’s Warm Snow Cup Grand Contest was beginning its second segment – the alchemy product exhibition.
Each one person exhibition hall was next to each other, and people surged like the tide, it was a lively spectacle.
The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ exhibition hall was presided over by Yao Ma (Zi Di).
Zi Di showcased three products.
The first was the undead aura sensor she used to threaten Elder Jiu Jin.
A hired apprentice alchemist was in the process of using an undead material to publicly display the operation of this alchemy instrument.
The second was something Zi Di had planned to sell in the Ice Sculpture Kingdom market, the Fire and Ice Song.
It was not magic medicine, but a loudspeaker.
After it was activated, the horn would broadcast a singing voice. Within the range of the singing voice, ice elements would turn from their normal rigid state into a drifting and free flame like state.
From the outside, it looked like white flames were quickly melting the ignited ice.
The third was the Ice Crystal Protection Talisman.
The main material was ice crystals, refined into defensive equipment. It was only the size of a palm, and after being aroused, it could release a hexagon shaped defensive barrier. The barrier was not large; it was smaller than a one hand circular shield.
The wonderful thing rested with the fact that many Ice Crystal Protection Talismans could be activated at the same time, joining together the same translucent hexagon barriers.
“It’s with that instrument that the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps gained blackmail over that rubbish Jiu Jin!” Hua Ni’s face was steady, pondering and polishing the information she had on hand.
She now hated the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps bitterly, and really wanted revenge, thus, she paid close attention to information on them.
Since Cai Jing and the others formed a new faction, the Guild President not only didn’t suppress them, but he helped them instead. Thus, Hua Ni’s influence and prestige in the Alchemy Guild took a huge blow.
Since then, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps started to sell large amounts of honey snow on behalf of Shuang Lian, driving another knife heavily into Hua Ni.
Perspicacious people could see that Hua Ni was routed by the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps in a disastrous manner.
Hua Ni was slapped publicly by the masses, but she could do nothing about it.
Therefore, she wildly researched into the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, thought she found an area to attack, then set up doing so. Of course, her movements were restricted to a degree, as she couldn’t make things difficult for the royal family.
“This is outstandingly clever..” Looking at the undead detector in the magic image, Hua Ni’s expression changed.
Then, she cursed again, “Jiu Jin, you wastrel.”
Information that Jiu Jin was being blackmailed by the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps was given to Hua Ni by the Li Jian Clan.
Hua Ni didn’t have much of a reaction to this.
Who cared if Jiu Jin was polluted by a necromancer’s aura? Couldn’t anyone trade with a necromancer? Actually, the strange thing was that this business couldn’t be brought up in public.
Magicians had flexible convictions, and all of these people were inclined towards research, so this group had a more forgiving opinion of necromancers.
Their benefits were not much in agreement with the gods’ benefits.
“This Ice Crystal Protection Talisman is also pretty good, but its design concept is ingenious. Its defensive performance and energy consumption rate is just average however.”
“The most valuable one is the second item – the Fire and Ice Song!”
At a glance, Hua Ni could see from the point of view of a professional the immense worth of the second alchemy product.
It could turn rigid ice elements into a more gaseous form, the practical applications of this was immense.
For example, it could be used to exploit iceberg and glacier resources, automatically turning ice cubes into depleted flames.
Another example, on the battlefield, many spells and magic items that used rigid ice elements could easily be disturbed by the Fire and Ice Song and even be destroyed by it.
Hua Ni most valued the paired usage of the Fire and Ice Song with honey snow.
“With the help of the Fire and Ice Song, more of honey snow can be converted into an energy source. The level of this conversion rate improvement, even with a cursory assessment, can be calculated as very considerable!”
When Hua Ni’s analysis reached this point, her brows deeply creased. She noticed that the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps was not just limited to mount potions, they had their own original advantages to compete.
“Who is their arms merchant backer? Such strength!”
Even enemies like Hua Ni had to admit the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ three products were very enticing.
“They came prepared.”
“The Fire and Ice Song especially suits our kingdom, and the Ice Crystal Talisman will be versatile equipment for the army.”
Hua Ni suddenly realized why Long Fu revealed his “saint level qualifications”.
“The strength of this collaboration, the scare of this business, I fear it really does need a saint level overseeing it.”
The truth was after Zi Di and Cang Xu investigated, they decided to withhold two of the original five products.
They didn’t want to provoke the Alchemy Guild too much.
Currently, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps needed an exceptional display; to show it was worth it to work with them, but not too exceptional.
Like the dragonman youngster becoming a duelist and deciding not to acquire the God’s favor.