Star Gate

Chapter 472: The Merit Exchange Manual (I)

The Gold Armor wanted Li Hao’s trio to visit the city lord manor. The three were in no hurry since the Gold Armor was busy on top of the city walls. They strolled toward the barracks.

The northern quadrant.

There were guards at the gate when the trio arrived. The barracks had been a bit quiet on their last visit—it seemed more alive now. Not only were there guards, but so were there Red Armors in the distance carrying out duties. The guardrail lifted automatically when the trio approached the guard post.

Thump!

The soldier on duty thumped his chest with his right hand, slightly agitated, like he was welcoming the triumphant return of victorious soldiers. Li Hao and the other two were used to the reaction—they saluted in return.

The trio entered the northern quadrant.

“Let’s go to the armory,” Li Hao proposed. “Perhaps we’ll find something there. There’s a Silver Armor there that seems stronger than the rest. He had a bit of an attitude last time I met him, I wonder if he’ll be better today.”

The northern quadrant was enormous and populated with numerous buildings. As new recruits, they didn’t dare wander around. However, the trio knew where the armory was.

Other soldiers they met along the way quickly saluted the three. Apart from the Red Armors, there seemed to be more Black Armors this time around. That quite startled Li Hao and the two men. There’d been no Black Armors walking around the barracks before, so why... were they here now?

Had they already been present before, or had more of the city unsealed with the battle and provided enough energy to awaken more soldiers?

Li Hao leaned towards the latter as there hadn’t even been guards here before. It might be that all of the Black Armors apart from the four defending armies had fallen silent.

Battle Heaven’s barracks were enormous. There might have been a million people living in the area when the army was encamped here. And perhaps the city was just one of the posts in which the defending army cycled through.

The three reached the armory after ten minutes. Li Hao had come here before, but the other two men hadn’t. They’d been outright presented with their bronze and black armor in the recruitment hall. They weren’t as important as a Silver Armor.

Additional Black Armors could be seen here as well; they saluted upon seeing the trio. Li Hao assessed them with an increasingly odd look. This meant that there were numerous Black Armors that’d awakened in the barracks. Was this good or bad?

Li Hao saw the Silver Armor in the distance after they entered the armory. He saw Li Hao too—a familiar ripple sounded by his ears before the trio reached him.

“Well done, kid who came in through connections!” The Silver Armor seemed to know what had taken place outside. “The eight families are the eight families alright. The guardian clans are quite powerful. As weak as you are, you’ll do!”

Li Hao suppressed an eye roll! This guy must’ve been a chatterbox when he was alive and someone just begging to be beaten up. But there was a certain point of interest to his words. His intelligence seemed high. In fact, he seemed sharper than the three Silver Armors outside.

“What does the senior go by?” Li Hao offered a pleasantry as he stepped forward, despite feeling like this guy was asking for a fist to the face.

“I am Zhang Liang, deputy commissioner of Military Supplies in the Ninth Division of the Reserve Defenders!” the Silver Armor reported proudly.

Did a deputy commissioner of Military Supplies outrank a troop leader? Both of them were in silver armor. Li Hao felt that this soldier’s sentience seemed to be in good shape—at least he spoke smoothly and seemed more enthusiastic than before. He dropped the pleasantries and asked, “Commissioner Zhang...”

“Deputy Commissioner!”

“......” Do you really have to be so serious? “Deputy Commissioner Zhang, we’ve earned some merits and don’t know how to use them. Will you give us a few pointers?”

“Merits... they are such good things!” Zhang Liang beamed. “Battle Heaven values merits and all of the human race values merits! The merit system is exceedingly important and was even a mainstream system for the race during war.

“There are many uses to military merits. You’re new, but you would know their importance if you had participated in the rookie training! I’ll go over a few simple uses. First, you can exchange them for cultivation treasures. Second, you can exchange them for currency. Third, you can accumulate them for promotions. Fourth, you can exchange them for chances to comprehend dao—powerhouses will teach you martial dao. Fifth... I forgot!”

Zhang Liang was an interesting fellow who saw nothing wrong with admitting that he’d forgotten something. “My memory is damaged and I only recall certain inherent knowledge. But I remember that merits can be used elsewhere. Perhaps I’ll remember in the future.”

Li Hao and the other two nodded as they listened to the explanation. This was similar to their previous speculation.

“Can we exchange them here?” Li Hao quickly asked.

“You can!” Zhang Liang proclaimed. “They’re not usually exchanged here, but at the Hall of Merit Exchange further in. That part’s been cordoned off for now. According to the rules of wartime, Military Supplies takes over some responsibilities when systems begin faltering. Therefore, you can temporarily exchange your merits here with me.”

A Hall of Merit Exchange? The trio looked at each other with surprise. There were even agencies specifically related to military merits. It would seem that Battle Heaven Army’s system was quite complete, and that there were many wartime provisions to ensure that operations would not be paralyzed.

“But I must remind you that many things are out of stock!” Zhang Liang commented. “They are unavailable for exchange since they have not been replenished. Also, I am only a deputy commissioner. Certain things require the commissioner’s signature for approval.”

“Where is the commissioner?”

“He is... dead,” Zhang Liang responded calmly. “He and I held down the fort together here, but he grew antsy and weary of loneliness in his old age. He desired to leave the city, so he did, and... died. Although I can fill in for part of his duties, I was not promoted, after all. The city is asleep, or I would've been promoted a long time ago!”

Alright then! Li Hao could say nothing to that. “What can I trade for?”

“How many merits do you have?” Zhang Liang swept him a glance.

“One hundred some...”

“Not bad!” boomed the Silver Armor. “Even if your merits were counted at double the rate, it’s a job well done to accumulate so many from your first battle!” He tossed out a booklet. “Take a look yourself! These are all the items that can be traded for below one thousand points. There are several exchange manuals, but there’s no point to you reading the higher leveled ones. You can come to me for exchange when you’re done! But remember, not all of them are in stock.”

“I understand, my thanks!”

Zhang Liang sat down instead of responding, finally appearing like one of the quiet soldiers. It was in his unmoving moments that Li Hao could sense that these people were truly dead. This was a city of the dead with no one alive.

......

The trio found a seat nearby. They were all curious, but He Yong found his hands tied. He scratched his head with regret, “I should’ve learned some ancient languages. I can’t read a thing!”

It was a damned shame! Both Li Hao and Hong Yitang wanted to laugh, but Hong Yitang was barely better off. He knew some ancient characters, but couldn’t read a book when it was written entirely in the ancient language.

It was a heartbreaking prospect!

Meanwhile, Li Hao could read almost the entire manual because he’d learned at Yuan Shuo’s side for two years. His only task during those two years was to learn this type of knowledge; it was an adequate span of time for him to grasp a language. There were also some links between the ancient language and modern text.

“It’s not that hard, both of you can learn it with some time.”

He Yong ignored the young man. Stop showing off!

Li Hao opened the booklet—the Merit Exchange Manual. This version went up to one thousand points and perhaps started with the highest value item, so the first to greet the reader was a treasure valued at one thousand points.

“One thousand merits for a company leader to advance to troop leader!” Li Hao recited for the other two since they couldn’t read the text.

“......” Hong Yitang blinked with astonishment. “One thousand points? A Nova gives you ten points, so you need to kill one hundred to be promoted? You’re joking!”

“One Nova is worth ten points, a Solar worth one point,” Li Hao said after some thought. “Existences above Nova might be one hundred, so you only need to kill ten of those. I think that when the troop leaders were alive, they were possibly all stronger than Nova! Therefore, for those who want to be promoted, killing ten peers seems reasonable. We have to keep in mind that the Ninth Division only has twelve troops even now. This... seems normal.”

That did indeed appear to be the case after some thought. True enough! So this meant that Li Hao had benefited from one thousand points for no reason at all! Hong Yitang had wanted to obtain a set of silver armor himself before—it looked like that was out of the question.

“The Goldensky Lotus is valued at one thousand merits per flower,” Li Hao continued. “Each flower has eight petals with the extraordinary ability of nurturing mental strength.”

“The Goldensky Lotus?” Hong Yitang repeated.

“Yes!”

“I’ve seen what we obtained from Ash Mountain recorded in ancient tomes. That’s the Goldensky Lotus!”

“......” Li Hao blinked. He still had one petal and seed in his storage ring. That’s the Goldensky Lotus?

The item that the four great monster spirits were guarding was listed in the Merit Exchange at a high price! But one thousand points for eight petals... meant each petal was worth 125 points. So his furious slaughter of so many resulted in only one petal?

“The blade system of Blood Eruption, Emperor Slayer, and Divine Annihilator are three methods of the system. They are worth one thousand merits total.” Li Hao didn’t think anything of what he read, but Hong Yitang registered the names with surprise.

“If... I recall correctly... Berserk Blade practices the Blood Eruption method, doesn’t he?” There was a blade method system to be had here!

A system meant that one could start with the first book, graduate to the second book, and then move on to the third book. Each book represented a different stage.

“Berserk Blade only knows the first method, but he’s a peak Solar that’s close to Nova.” A light danced in Hong Yitang’s eyes. “I can tell, however, that he doesn’t have much strength to carry on. If he could lay hands on this blade system... things will be very interesting then. He might swiftly complete the second method and attempt the third...”