Chapter 44 - He's a Genius, Back to Appraising
"Mr. Ling Jiu, this time it's all thanks to you!"
Wang Chao held Ling Jiu's hand tightly, and his gratitude was overwhelming. "If it weren't for you, the Lantian Base City would have been in danger today!"
"Chief Wang, you're too kind. Resisting the Beast Tide is everyone's responsibility, I just did what I should have done!" Ling Jiu was not greedy for credits and appeared very humble instead.
"If everyone had the same awareness as you, Mr. Ling Jiu, things would be much simpler."
Wang Chao sighed and immediately changed the subject. "Mr. Ling Jiu, I haven't seen you before. Are you from other cities?"
"Chief Wang, unfortunately, that's a wrong guess. I'm a true blue Lantian Base City citizen. I've lived here since I was little and even my house is here!" Ling Jiu smiled and said.
Wang Chao was surprised. "You're already a Level 4 Arcanist at such a young age! Our Lantian Base City also has its own genius now. Good news indeed!"
"Chief Wang, you're too kind!"
The two chatted briefly before Ling Jiu left. Gazing at the latter's back, Wang Chao turned to look at the staff officer: "Is he really from Lantian Base City?"
"I've just checked, and he indeed is!" The staff officer had a look of surprise on his face. "But if you read his information, I'm sure you'd be surprised as well!"
"Hmmm?"
Wang Chao raised his eyebrows.
"According to the database, Ling Jiu is 16 years old, and he has just awakened his Arcana in May. As of today, his Arcana has awakened for seven months!"
"What? Only seven months?" Wang Chao shuddered. "He became a Level 4 Arcanist in just seven months? You gotta be kidding!"
"It's true, Sir!"
The staff officer stared at a microcomputer. "Back in May, he awakened an Earth-type Arcana during the Arcana Trials in school. After that, he joined the Pangu Arcana Combine. Half a year later, he passed the assessment and took first place, becoming a Level 2 Arcanist in the process!
"Later on, he signed an A+ contract with Pangu and became a Wild Hunter. In this past month, he has entered the wilderness twice and stayed for a total of 22 days!"
Wang Chao's eyes almost popped out. "That means, in just a month's time, he reached Level 3, then Level 4 to become a Level 4 Arcanist?"
"Indeed!"
"It's too fast. His progress is too fast!" Wang Chao was in disbelief. "It's too fast to be believable!"
"It truly is too fast! But considering that he signed an A+ contract, it's probably understandable since part of the contract is an Intermediate-level Gene Arcana secret technique.
"That's still too fast!"
Wang Chao sighed. "It's a damn shame that such a genius was snatched away by a commercial company like Pangu!"
"Indeed, Sir!"
The staff officer strongly agreed as well. "With the speed of his progress, his future is limitless."
"Now it's too late to say anything else!"
Wang Chao was extremely frustrated. "With his power as a Level 4 Arcanist, Pangu will definitely take good care of him. It'll be too difficult to poach him over!"
"It is just as you said, Sir!" The staff officer nodded.
"Although we cannot poach him, we can still build a good relationship with him! I see that he is a decent person, so establishing a good relationship with him will still be beneficial."
Wang Chao pondered deeply for a moment. "Didn't he kill a number of Direbeasts earlier? Later, send those Direbeast carcasses to him personally! Also, that Bloodgorger Bat, send it over as well!"
"But that's a Class 6 Direbeast... To give it to him just like that..."
"That's an order!"
"Yes, Sir!"
...
Back at the base city, Ling Jiu did not rush home, instead, he headed straight to the company. Since he had just gotten a lot of good stuff, it was time to cash them out.
"Ol' Ling, you're back."
Seeing Ling Jiu again, Li Kai looked very excited. "I have some good news to tell you. I've become a Level 2 Arcanist!"
"Congratulations, Ol' Li."
"Hahaha!! I'll buy some barbecued meat later, my treat today!" Li Kai smiled so much that his snot came out. "We should have a good drink tonight!"
"No problem!"
"Oh, right! You're here for the Direbeast carcass appraisal, right? I'll take you to my master! Let's go straight to the appraisal room. You don't need to queue!"
As Ling Jiu followed Li Kai to the appraisal room, he saw Li Kai's master, Wang Yun. The old man took the initiative to greet Ling Jiu. "Young man, just came back from the wilderness?"
"Yes, Master Wang. How have you been doing lately?" Ling Jiu smiled and greeted back.
"Haha, doing well here!"
Wang Yun laughed. "Come, let me have a look at the haul you got. I want to see if you have the same level of luck as last time!"
"Okay!"
Ling Jiu walked to the center of the appraisal room and poured out his haul.
"More than the last time?"
Looking at the Direbeast carcasses that suddenly filled the entire appraisal room, Li Kai's eyes popped out again. Even Wang Yun gasped. "Young man, how many Direbeasts did you kill? This is far too many!"
"Not much, just over a thousand or so!" Ling Jiu said softly.
He had indeed hunted lots of Direbeasts in the past half a month, especially after he reached Level 4. Since his Arcana's area of effect went up to cover a radius of a hundred meters, the speed of his hunting had greatly increased.
In order to precisely control his Arcana, almost all of the Direbeasts in Linyou County and the surrounding mountains had been completely wiped out by him. Everything below Class 4 had been slaughtered.
It was not an exaggeration to say that as many as hundreds of Direbeasts died by his hands every single day for half a month. It was a veritable genocide!
"More than a thousand? That's insane!"
Wang Yun could not help but shake his head. He immediately put on his mask and gloves before he dived straight into his appraisal work. Li Kai looked at Ling Jiu like he was a monster. Then he picked up a microcomputer and walked behind Wang Yun, recording everything obediently.
"Class 2 Direbeast, Chrysanthemum Skyboar, two fangs, 20,000!"
"Class 2 Direbeast, Rock-shattering Lizard, one spine, 18,000!"
...
After more than an hour later, all of the corpses were appraised, and both master, as well as apprentice, were exhausted. Li Kai mumbled a complaint, "Ol' Ling, can you hunt less next time? You make me break my back every time I conduct an appraisal for you. Look, my master is already old enough, he won't be able to stand it!"
"Boy, what nonsense are you talking about?"
Wang Yun rolled his eyes. "Your master makes his living by appraising Direbeast carcasses; the more, the better of course!"
After that, he looked at Ling Jiu. "Young man, you weren't as lucky as you were previously. While the number this time is several times higher than the last, the money you've made is far lesser!"
"That's true!"
Li Kai interjected. "Ol' Ling, the value of the Direbeasts you've hunted this time is worth 281.93 million. Even though it still makes me jealous, it's not at much as before!"
"What's this?" Ling Jiu smiled. "What I just took out was only the worthless stuff. I haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet!"
"What, mate?"
Li Kai and Wang Yun looked at Ling Jiu at the same time.
"Shall we switch appraisal rooms?"
Ling Jiu glanced at the Direbeast carcasses strewn all over the floor.
"All right, all right, come next door!"
When he arrived at the appraisal room next door, Ling Jiu waved his hand, and released five Void Falcon carcasses, followed by a series of Class 4 Direbeasts!