Star Gate

Chapter 489: Departure (IV)

“I’m just worried that there will be no one to defend the city after we leave.” Li Hao naturally wouldn’t express his real thoughts. “Those bandits might find an opening...”

“There is nothing to be worried about!” Director General Wang responded calmly. “They’ll just be coming to their deaths! If the bandits you speak of are on the same level as the trespassers that have come this time, then this city is not a place where they can come and go at will!”

That’s good then!

“General, the new recruit camp has not reawakened. I’d like to recruit some people in the outside world to join the Battle Heaven aAmy, but I have no keys…”

“That is not under my jurisdiction.”

Li Hao was at a thorough loss for words, he didn’t want to talk to that commander. However, he also had a batch of black armor outside that he’d like to activate and equip the Silver Moon Guards with.

“There have been instances of troop leaders recruiting their own people when their troop wasn’t full,” the director general still gave him some advice. “Everyone must undergo new recruit training, but since that part of the barracks has yet to reawaken… You can go to your commander and ask for special privileges. You will see the same results after he bestows upon you temporary authority to activate some suits of armor.”

Li Hao greeted his suggestion wordlessly. The key thing here is that the guy’s not easy to talk to, or I would’ve gone to him already. Fine then, there was no other choice available.

“General, are there any special treasures on Skystar Island?” he asked before leaving.

“Skystar Island? Do the energy mines count?”

“Anything else apart from that?”

“Of course, and many. The pity is, who knows what’s left after so much time has passed?” The director general took a brief walk down memory lane and shook his head moments later. “I don’t remember the specifics, but do recall that there was a residence of the Sea Pacification Envoy somewhere on the island. I’m not sure of the specifics and if it exists anymore.”

“The Sea Pacification Envoy?” Li Hao blinked—what was that?

“When the human race triumphed and the Human King conquered the world, he named two monster spirit heavyweights as their race’s envoys. Their presence would promote harmony between the two races. The two were respectively known as the Sea Pacification Envoy and Monster Spirit Envoy!

“The Monster Spirit Envoy oversees all monster spirits, but the sea is so vast that another envoy was named specifically for it!”

“Were they strong?” Li Hao was curious.

“Very strong,” pondered the director general. “Of course, they don’t compare to His Imperial Majesty and the rest, but they’re much more powerful than regular heavyweights.

“Then… how about compared to my ancestor?”

“……” Director General Wang struggled with his answer. “They’re a little weaker.”

Li Hao understood. So they’re not even as strong as my ancestor! I thought they were formidable based on their titles. The manor of the Sea Pacification Envoy…

He committed the place to memory. Perhaps there would be something there, or perhaps nothing existed anymore. It also remained to be seen if the central region was the Skystar Island of legend. So much time had passed since the ancient civilization that modern society wasn’t aware of how much time had gone by. Who knew how the topography of the land had changed?

“Then I take my leave, general. I might not return for a very long time after this departure.”

“Mmhmm.” Director General Wang was as calm as ever.

Li Hao could only leave after this response. It looked like the guy really had nothing for him, more was the pity.

“That little guy’s interesting,” the director general said after the young man departed. “He kept staring at me like he really hoped I’d give him something.”

“He can fight for it himself,” responded a faint wisp at his ear. “I wonder if he’ll complete the three missions he accepted? I can vaguely sense that the other seven cities haven’t entirely fallen. They may still exist! If the other seven can be contacted… then we might stand a chance!”

“Mmhmm, I’ll keep trying my best,” Director General Wang murmured.

The inner city fell silent once more.

……

Li Hao carefully paid a visit to the barracks to meet the commander again and briefly detail his request. He received a curt, “Approved!” for his efforts.

“……” The young man skedaddled!Nôv(el)B\\jnn

He was ever on his guard against the Gold Armor that always seemed ready to hit him again.

The commander raised his head for a look at the young man’s back and shook his head slightly. What a pity that the new recruit training system wasn’t active, or they’d have to keep him here for a while.

The kid was not worthy of the heritage from the Eternal Sword Sovereign… The more the Gold Armor looked at it, the more uncomfortable he felt.

……

Li Hao went to Military Supplies next, exchanging his two hundred and ten points for cultivation supplies. He was leaving the ruins and didn’t know when he’d be back. There wasn’t much of a point to letting them accumulate. As for the Voidbreak Incantation… that could wait.

When everything was in order, the young man was ready to depart Battle Heaven. This would be their last night here. Although he could leave at any time, it would raise less attention if he left with Hou Xiaochen. It would result in the biggest uproar if he left alone.

When he walked out of the ancient city, Li Hao looked back up at the two characters hovering over the gates. Next time… he’d come back next time. He wanted to study those two characters in greater detail, but there was nothing more he could glean in his current state. Perhaps there would be greater opportunity waiting in the future. Words from the imperial majesty could not be meant to just offer a peek at the scenes of yesteryear.

……

Li Hao did nothing else in the remaining time but cultivate. There was still a bit of time left that he wanted to put to good use. The easiest parts of himself to improve were his organs and physical body. These were hard for other people to develop, but entirely too easy for Li Hao. Nothing was a problem with sword energy available.

He exchanged two hundred and ten merits for one hundred and ten energy stones—the equivalent of eleven hundred mysterious power stones. When his own were added to the count, he had more than twenty-six hundred stones. The remaining one hundred points were traded for ten Mind Fruits. He had twenty now.

Each energy stone could convert to sword energy worth approximately two hundred and eighty cubes of mysterious power, or just shy of three hundred. In other words, if Li Hao used his energy stones sparingly, he could utilize the equivalent of nearly seven hundred thousand cubes of mysterious power.

He also had five origin weapons that could be convert to one hundred mysterious power stones. Of course, an origin weapon shouldn’t be wasted in this manner. Their energy was best used to nurture itself for better effect.

His five organs and physical body had previously absorbed roughly five thousand cubes of power. He now embarked on the path to ten thousand cubes. It sounded like a lot, but that was just mysterious power, not mysterious power stones. One stone was worth one thousand cubes, but it contained only three to five hundred cubes worth.

If converted to mysterious power stones, that meant Li Hao had absorbed a dozen pieces per organ. The grand total of his entire body added up to more than one hundred pieces. But total absorption alone didn’t directly map to how much the body would improve. He Yong and the others had absorbed a great deal of mysterious power stones as well, but their bodies did not fully reflect their intake.

……

After the melding of four auras, Li Hao’s requirements of his organs grew higher. Although his body and organs needed to endure the fusion of four auras, he wanted to prepare them for five. Melding five auras might be an explosive accomplishment—if he didn’t handle it properly with the strongest body possible, he might become the next Sickly.

He swiftly pulled on cube after cube; the young man possessed an abundance of energy rings and mysterious power. He focused on the dark attribute when he could. Of the five elements, wind, and thunder, the light attribute remained the only one he’d yet to encounter. There wasn’t much of it to be found. Dark energy improved his concealment ability, wind and thunder enhanced his body and skeleton, the five elements improved the organs. Li Hao was very curious about light energy—what did that improve?

He collected many types of mysterious power and even owned numerous cubes of mutated forms such as ice and stone. But light… he didn’t find a single cube after prolonged rifling through his stores. The young man had to give up the idea.

Did light energy have something to do with life energy? Wood energy could heal, but it wasn’t as suited as light energy in this regard. Perhaps absorbing light mysterious power would make one younger?

Who knew.

He had wealth to spare and should use it on himself—such was Li Hao’s principle. He didn’t normally hoard treasure unless he had no use for it at the moment.

In an ancient house in the outer city.

Li Hao spent almost a dozen hours absorbing energy until someone called outside the door, “Li Hao!”

It was He Yong. They knew that the young man was in here and were summoning him to tell him time was up. The ruins were about to open again.

Li Hao assessed his organs and body to find that they were roughly at six thousand cubes each. He’d absorbed almost eight thousand cubes during this period of time—a much faster absorption rate than before. Otherwise, it should’ve taken at least a day.

This consumption equated to thirty pieces of mysterious power stones—a drop in the bucket compared to his current wealth. He would have to wait before trying the Mind Fruits. There was also the Building Five Bridges method that would deliver the enormous benefit of not needing to pay attention to specific energy attributes. Any energy could be directly absorbed without having to cater to each organ. It would save him a lot of time and automatically balance his organs for him.

There were some specific details that he’d yet to make sense of, however, so he wasn’t in a rush to experiment.