As I woke up in the morning, I called upon Leafy to bring a good heavy breakfast, as I love to start my day with greasy burst of nutrition, and these few days, it seems, I can eat a lot and still metabolise it all. I told Leafy to tell me what he senses, as I switched to the different animagus forms and he was amazed at me having so many forms. He told me even though I changed my form, he could still feel the wizard magic form from my core. So changed to goblin forms, both warrior one and the normal mage one. He told me he could not tell the difference, between my magic and the greedy 'bankies'. I asked him if the quantity of magic flowing through me reduced when I changed my forms, and he replied that instead from yesterday, my magic was significantly denser and nearly one and a half times what it was yesterday. So my hypothesis was proven true. Adding physique and magic of other sentient magical creatures imrpoves my form as well. From my elf form, I allowed the muscles to condense and become more rigid, which means strong, dense muscles but no need to appear like a WWE wrestler. I got leaner, but felt more healthier, my skin became more smooth and soft and it looked like I had no pores on my skin at all. My hair became smooth and straight and my eyes lightened to amethyst now. From the goblin form, I allowed the warriors physique to be applied first, before I applied the elf ones, which by the way, changed from \House Elf Physique/ to \Lower Wood Elf Physique/. From the goblin forms, I allowed their senses to be applied to me, which meant I was now almost like a predator after gaining the Siberian Tiger as the animagus forms. I realized it is true that some qualities, be it physical, psychological or instinctive, they bleed in to your normal forms. My eyes were sharp, and could focus over a long distance now. I now grew an aversion to quail eggs, which I did not have previously. I have started including more meat in my diet, and though I do not have any craving for raw meat now, I like my meat seared and juicy rather than the crisp I loved previously. When I had to add the abilities from my Werewolf card, I chose their endurance, senses, and slight resistance to poison. 
From what I saw of Physique cards, it was mentioned on werewolf card, that it was imperfect physique which means either the first moron to turn into a werewolf was a case of animagus ritual gone wrong, as it so often does, with devastating results if you are not careful; or he performed a faulty ritual or suffered some untoward accident during the ritual. I realized upon my arrival at Hogwarts, that the Ritual classes were left untaught for about 158 years now, due to an accident due to miscalculation of an heir of a Noble House whose uncle was one of the Governors on Hogwarts board, and no alchemy classes for about 269 years since there is no one willing to teach Alchemy at school. Those who wish to pursue the subject, can seek Apprenticeship from the numerous Alchemists around the world, the chief of whom is Nicholas Flamel and Perenelle Flamel, the immortal alchemist and sole owner of Philosopher's Stone who have not taken an apprentice for 460 years now due to their high requirements and expectations, but they have taught a few Potions and Transfiguration classes throughout their lives at Beauxbaton School in France which have yielded a number of famous Wizards due to the duo's lessons. No wonder, Dumbledore was so renowned throughout the world, if he could live up to the alchemist couple's expectations.
Well, I know that Dumbledore was famous by the time of Second World War which lasted from 1939-1945,when he dueled with Grindelwald so it was either by then or just before that when he gained the apprenticeship at the Flamels. So by then I could make a visit, and see if they have accepted him or not. During my visit to the Godric's Hollow, I met a lot of families, and the Arianna incident had already happened, and Albus was on a trip to Italy, while his brother was not heard from again at the Hollow, where Albus lived alone now.
Now knowing what lies ahead, and what I must do after this, I roamed around the castle disillusioned to free my mind, the castle was empty, save for a few cleaning staff who were chanting scourgify on all the potraits, no doubt, cleaning the castle for the students who would all arrive for the term two days later. 
As I reached the second floor classroom, I saw a ghost who was passing by. Memory told me he was the Bloody Baron, and the way he was cursing, looks like Peeves, the Poltergeist was 'up to no good'. As he reached within an armlength of distance from me, I saw his cards, \Advanced Swordfighting/, \Basic Combat/, ... I quickly extracted the cards, went into an empty classroom, put up Silencio and squealed loudly and danced about. Now you might wonder, what is so great about ghosts giving me cards, and I would tell you:
It's elementary, my Dear Watson! If an undead ghost who possesses no body gives me cards, then think of all the knowledge, I can gather, better yet, remember ghosts are not of the body, or of mind, but of spirit. What else is of spirit, if not soul? And who do we know who likes to split souls like it is Playdough. I am ashamed to admit, I danced for a good while, till Leafy came to ask about my meal requirements, only to find me doing a handstand, as we both stared at each other for a while uncomfortably, at least for me.

Zhang San returned home with great excitement. As he burst through the door, the smell of beef stew filtered into his nostrils, causing him to salivate almost instantly.
"You're home? Go wash your hands, it's almost time for dinner. I've prepared ox tail soup for you. I went to the market early in the morning to fetch freshest ingredients, I'm sure you'll love it," a middle-aged woman's voice drifted from the kitchen.
Zhang San rushed into the kitchen immediately and saw the woman ladling the soup into a bowl. He went to grab the bowl and said, "Mom, I'll do it, you go sit there and rest, I have a good news to tell you."
The middle-aged woman smiled and moved to oblige. She cleared up the mess in the kitchen and was about to leave when the door was pushed open and in walked a middle-aged man. The man's face was carved with tiredness and he grumbled as he walked in, "I'm home. What are you cooking? It smells so good in here."
The middle-aged woman who was walking out of the kitchen smiled and answered, "Ox tail soup. Just look at you two, always hungry no matter what. Go wash up, dinner will be served soon."
This was a normal family of three. After the three of them were seated at the dining table, the middle-aged woman served her husband and son each a bowl of soup before getting one for herself. All three of them took a sip at the same time and sighed with great satisfaction. The flavorful ox tail combined with the freshness of tomatoes created a soup dish that was not worse than the soup served at the best restaurant on the Hope.
The middle-aged man suddenly said solemnly, "The taste is indeed not bad. Honey, your cooking skill has improved again… but this appears to be ox tail from free-range cattle, so it must've been expensive, right?"
The middle-aged woman defused her husband's question with a bright smile. "That's where you're wrong. Recently, the price for food items has been dropping. This ox tail was about the same price as reared pork and the tomatoes were cheaper by half compared to before, so they were not expensive."
The middle-aged man nodded and didn't reply. He sipped the soup and grabbed a few of the other dishes when Zhang San announced suddenly, "Dad, the school has assigned me my job posting."
Both of his parents were shocked, but happiness gradually appeared on their faces. His father asked immediately, "So soon? You've been asked to stay behind at school for only a year, how can they give you a job posting so soon? What about your seniors?"
Zhang San answered with his mouth full, "Most of them got their job postings too. Some seniors have already started work, but I heard that many other students who were asked to stay back have received their job postings today too…"
Before the middle-aged man could ask for more details, the middle-aged woman chimed in excitedly and worriedly, "What kind of job it is? Don't tell me it's general maintenance, like the cleaning crew. I hear from others that those job postings have the least benefits and pay…"
"No, no," Zhang San corrected immediately, "it's an apprenticeship at the engineering unit. The monthly H-coin is slightly better than dad's, but by how much. I still have no clue. I'll know the details when I go for the interview tomorrow. However, I hear that the benefits offered are very nice. After one year of apprenticeship, there will be government housing and other benefits."
Smiles broke out on both the middle-aged man's and woman's faces, but the middle-aged woman still asked with suspicion, "I remember that the daughter of our neighbor has stayed behind at school for two years already, but she still hasn't received any job posting last I heard. So are you sure this isn't some group scam?"
Her husband berated her with a laugh, "This is not Earth, where would you find a scammer group? If there is really one, you think the Chancellor and his team are all blind? I know a thing or two about this sudden development. They're trying to build a moon base on the Light Moon, so they are in serious need of workers, especially those in the fields of engineering, mechanics, super electromagnetism, and energy. Thankfully, I was bright enough to tell our son to enroll in the study of super electromagnetism. Granted, he's still only an apprentice and it is not a given that he'll become an actual engineer, but if he does, you know the benefits provided to the engineers, right?"
His wife laughed and said a few words of praise before turning to her son. "San Er, you've worked so hard to get this job posting, so you have to focus hard at work, okay? We are so proud of you. This is wonderful news, come have some more soup."
Zhang San suddenly felt his eyes red with tears. He was reminded of the years he spent at school and that extra year he was forced to stay back. His family wasn't that wealthy; his father was a simple electrician and his mother was sick. Even though the Hope provided healthcare for all its citizens, it was only for serious treatments; everyday supplements still needed money. However, he knew that his mother never once spent money on those. At the time, he was still a student, and his student stipend was barely enough to buy her any nutritious food. Thinking about it made his heart twitch with sadness, but now that he had a job, one with good benefits, he swore to throw himself into work so that his parents could finally enjoy a comfortable life…
This scene was happening all over the Hope. This was because the Hope's government had been forced to ration all provided resources fairly and not based on needs. They were travelling in space, so their supplies were limited. The fact that they could find a system to abide by for everyone was already fair enough, and allocating supplies according to needs was simply impossible. This was especially true when the Hope was travelling long distances, when there might even be limited supplies. Under such conditions, most citizens on the Hope couldn't be considered rich, they were barely surviving.
Furthermore, the Hope was only so big and there were only so many available job opportunities. No matter how hard the Hall of Communications tried to specialize and delineate the job scope, it was impossible to give jobs to several ten thousand people. Lastly, matching job scopes was also an issue. They couldn't have a great physicist go clean up the streets, right? This was not only a waste, but also an insult on the faculty of knowledge!
Because of this, most graduate students from high-tech courses had to stay at school for years after their graduation and relied on government stipend. Even though they understood the government's difficulties, saying that they didn't feel any resentment was untrue. It was simply that the resentment still hadn't reached a scale where it would explode.
Lastly, there was another reason… the population number increase. To be frank, the Hope had reached its maximum number of upgrades. After all, this ship was only meant to fit ten thousand people in space. Through multiple upgrades, the capacity had improved, but it was still not enough to fit the human population that had almost reach 400,000 people. The Hope was too small. They had been gone from Earth for almost 21 years, and as the ship that held humanity's life, future, hope… it was really too old and too small.
In fact, there was no longer any empty space left on the Hope, but even so, there were still many families who hadn't been given their own housing. Having three generations in one house was a common occurrence. Many newlyweds were forced to stay with their parents. Just think about it, the first batch of space babies was now 21 years old, some of them even already had their own children. Therefore, the Hope had become the biggest problem that limited humanity's growth.
The human government's officials of course knew about the importance of population numbers in space. As long as the population number didn't reach a hundred million, then humanity was at risk of extinction. Therefore, planned parenthood was technically a taboo on the Hope. In fact, it was a sin by law to promote planned parenthood. In fact, if any government worker or representative mentioned planned parenthood at any public place, then they would need to find a new job as long as they survived the law.
Therefore… it was not that humanity had the luxury of choice. They had to stay at this solar system because they desperately needed to expand.
That was the current situation the Hope was facing. It had 400,000 people. Minus the newborns and children, the rest were all adults. In other words, there were about 300,000 adults, and that meant that there needed to be at least 150,000 job vacancies. The Hope could provide about 50,000 job postings, the Barracks could cover yet another 30,000 job postings. This meant that around 70,000 jobs vacancies were still needed, and the base on the Light Moon was perfect to fill that need. There were many open job vacancies in the fields of harvesting, smelting, manufacturing, and human resource management. As the moon base started to get constructed, a new breath of life was inserted into the Hope.
The first to notice this was not Yao Yuan and the government but the representatives. Their constituents decided their direction, and in the latest House of Representatives hearing, there was a new vote that requested the human government to expand the moon base before the 21 New Year. Other than manufacturing and smelting bases, they requested a residential area to be built on the Light Moon. They wanted the base to fit at least 500,000 people. The supplies and manpower exhausted for this plan would be enough to build several Hopes, but at the same time, this project was going to provide many job vacancies.
When Yao Yuan was reading this proposal, Guang Zhen came with a new proposal for the expansion of humanity's military system. His heart was even darker and bigger than the representatives…
"What? The first human fleet contains 50 battleships the size of the Hope, 450 guardian ships that are one-fourth the size of the Hope, as well as 1,200 combat spaceships armed with space cannons…"
"Why don't you just kill me now and become the Chancellor? That way, they'll get built even faster!"
Yao Yuan roared in the captain's room, and it was transferred through a message channel through the Hope and into everyone's ears. Everyone smiled helplessly and kindly…
Hope, future, they were up for grasp!


Endless sky and infinite space, the cosmos isn’t some paradise waiting to be found, it is full of darkness and danger, death and terror of the great unknown. However, for that glittering swath of blue, we have no fear! For the longevity of men, we have no regrets! Nothing shall stand in our way because it is finally our time, our age! The age of cosmos exploration! 


The relationship between the master and the apprentice had long roots tracing back to ancient times.
This relationship existed not only in martial arts but also in other industries. No one knew how long it had been passed down through human history. Gradually, it had formed into a unique culture of its own.
This was a special and close relationship that could closely connect two people unrelated by blood; forming a special relationship that was not inferior to blood relationships.
This kind of relationship remained strong and firm even in a Holy Land of martial arts such as the Sacred Martial Hall.
In any industry, the requirements for accepting new apprentices were relative to the skill level of the master.
The Sacred Martial Hall was a place filled with martial arts talents, which prevented the problem of talent shortages as seen in the outside world. However, no martial arts master in the Sacred Martial Hall simply accepted many apprentices.
The stronger a martial artist was, the less likely they were to recruit new apprentices. Even if one showed promising talents, being accepted into an apprenticeship under these masters would require a huge sum of money.
In the Sacred Martial Hall, money was not as important as it was in the outside world. Medicinal pills held greater value than money in the Sacred Martial Hall and therefore became the main currency for martial artists to gift to their prospective masters.
After a long period of apprenticeships, some ill-intentioned people even created a so-called gifting grade to benchmark the number of gifts according to different masters.
In the Sacred Martial Hall, most of the fourteen-star martial artists had reached the level of a quasi-martial-arts master and were therefore barely eligible to accept apprentices. The gifting benchmarks for these martial artists were listed in detail based on the difference in strength among the martial artists.
If one exceeded the rank of fifteen-stars, it meant that they had succeeded in the Nirvana Marrow Transformation. Although a fourteen-star and a fifteen-star martial artist both belonged to the Stellar rank of martial artists, there was a huge difference in standard between both ranks, as the fifteen-star martial artist would be recognized as a martial art master.
To be accepted for apprenticeship by these martial artists would require way larger amounts of gifts as compared to fourteen-star martial artists. It was perfectly normal for the price difference to be multiplied by tens or hundreds.
As for the martial artists of the sixteen star-class, only a few of them would accept apprentices. Firstly, they preferred to concentrate on breaking their limits and entering the ranks of the seventeen-stars to become a martial artist of the eternal-star level. Furthermore, the price required for them to accept one as an apprentice was way too high to the point where only a lucky few could afford it.
As for the martial artists of an eternal-star level... the apprentices under their mentorship were either related by blood, had paid a huge sum in return, or bore an extraordinary talent among all the martial artists in the Sacred Martial Hall. In short, only a few people were privileged enough to have their apprenticeship under a master of an eternal-star level.
Cases of Heads of Department accepting apprentices? Such cases could be counted easily in the history of Sacred Martial Hall.
Qin Fen, a rookie in the Sacred Martial Hall understood these things clearly. Bai Sheng had thoroughly explained most matters regarding the Sacred Martial Hall to the point that it was almost impossible for Qin Fen to remain in the dark.
When he heard that there were Heads of Departments wishing to accept apprentices, Qin Fen was slightly shocked. Such events were really out of the ordinary.
"Eh?" Ferrero expressed more surprise than Qin Fen as he locked his sapphire-like eyes on to Qin Fen, "Hey kid, aren't you a little way too calm? Although I can sense your surprise, it's just way too calm! I wouldn't be surprised at all if other junior martial artists cheered like a madman the moment I accepted their apprenticeship request."
Qin Fen grinned and smiled with slight bitterness as he talked to himself, "Old man, if you were to wake up every day and meet a group of experts with monstrous abilities, with each of them boasting their status as an expert of black-hole rank; and receiving the news that a martial artist of an eternal-Star rank accepting you as a disciple, I am sure that you wouldn't be as surprised as you thought you might be."
"Disciple!"
Sakra's reaction was much more intense than that of Qin Fen. His purple eyes suddenly shot out two beams of lights that were not inferior to a lightning strike and shrouded Ferrero instantly.
With gazes strong as lightning that provided a near-substantial aura pressure, it would be no surprise if ordinary martial artists were to die with blood on their mouths under such a glare.
Ferrero smiled at the Sakra. They were both martial artists of eternal-star rank and also part of the Heads of Department. With their almost similar strength, such attacks had no effect on Ferrero.
"What now, kid?" Ferrero turned to Qin Fen. "You haven't been at the Sacred Martial Hall for a very long time. You probably don't know much about apprenticeships in the Sacred Martial Hall."
"Senior, I am aware of apprenticeships in the Sacred Martial Hall."
Qin Fen once again raised his hand and scratched the back of his head. The Sacred Martial Hall had clearly recorded the price of apprenticeship for each martial artist in different disciplines. Within the list, the price of apprenticeship under a member of the first-row was listed as "unaffordable"!
Unaffordable price! This could no longer be measured by material value, but at the same time, it also illustrated the difficulty in becoming a disciple of a Head of Department.
"You wanted to accept him as a disciple?" Sakra's cold and gloomy face could almost condense the surrounding air into ice, as his two purple eyeballs shone a tone of understanding.
Ferrero smiled and put his legs on the coffee table and gently swayed his toes, purposely staring at the Sakra with a sly look, "What now? Do I need to seek your permission to accept disciples?"
Sakra suddenly sat back to the sofa and slapped Qin Fen's shoulder with his palm, "Qin Fen, be my disciple!"
What? Qin Fen quietly twitched his mouth uncontrollably. This Sakra did not have a sense of control when he is excited. That slap just now consisted of powerful levels of Sky Thunder Art! If it weren't for my adequate true energy levels, I should be fainting in shock from his slap by now!
Even with his true energy resisting the thunderous slap, Qin Fen still felt feelings of pain emanating from the sofa under his butt.
The sofa was not a human being, let alone a martial arts practitioner. The moment it shared the pressure of Qin Fen, it collapsed almost immediately.
Qin Fen didn't care too much about the pain in his shoulders but rather, he was focused on the Sakra and Ferrero. If memory serves him right, apart from the Madman, there were no other cases in the Sacred Martial Hall where two Heads of Department wanted to recruit the same person at the same time.
"I said." Ferrero also placed his palm on Qin Fen's shoulder as he smiled slyly at the Sakra, "Remember that you are the Head of Criminal Law Department. Although no rules will be violated from such actions, suspicions of loophole abuse still remain. Thankfully, a principle-abiding person like you does not have the need to do such a thing."
The Sakra slightly twitched his brows without changing his gloomy expression, "I would not violate any principles, and in this case, there is evidently no violation of principles."
"I said Sakra, why do you want to fight with me? It is obvious that I am the first to talk to Qin Fen about the apprenticeship…"
"I found Qin Fen first."
Sakra countered the words of Ferrero with a gloomy face.
Both of the Heads of Department understood that Qin Fen was not interested in joining the Inner Sacred Martial Hall. For the sake of his martial dao improvement, forcibly placing him in the Inner Sacred Martial Hall would indeed impede his progress in martial dao. However, if they gave up right now, causing Qin Fen to miss out on various opportunities such as entering the Secret Art Pavilion, further learning of martial arts, and the help of the medicinal pills; it would be a very regretful event for all.
Since the rules could not be challenged, the only way was to go around the rules.
Sakra had always been thinking about ways to maintain the rules but never about ways to get around it. It had gotten to the point where he had even forgotten about the rules of apprenticeship in the Sacred Martial Hall.
According to some special rules of apprenticeship in the Sacred Martial Hall, the master could freely teach their disciples any form of martial arts. Under normal circumstances, the Sacred Martial Hall would not question the apprenticeship, on the premise that the disciple was also part of the Sacred Martial Hall.
During the inception of this rule, everyone had formulated the rules by taking account of only normal circumstances. For instance, no martial artists would choose the Outer Sacred Martial Hall given the opportunity to enter the Inner Sacred Martial Hall.
After all, there were great disparities in the quality of the facilities in both Inner and Outer Halls. Even if there were rare cases of people refusing to join the Inner Sacred Martial Hall, they would've joined the beneficiary division of the Outer Sacred Martial Hall, where they were able to receive some extra benefits. As for the basic division of martial artists in the Outer Sacred Martial Hall that was devoid of many benefits, any martial artist with an ounce of martial dao ambition within them would not even opt for it.
As a result, when the powerful martial artists intend to accept disciples, they would firstly choose from the Inner Sacred Martial Hall. Only after that would they choose from the beneficiary division of the Outer Sacred Martial Hall. As for the basic martial artists in the Outer Sacred Martial Hall...
These were the kind of martial artists that couldn't even afford to pay for initiation gifts and were also rejected from the Sacred Martial Hall. How would any master choose their disciples from this rabble? They would only humiliate themselves with such sub-par disciples.
The system in practice did not have any loopholes or defects. However, no one ever thought that a freak like Qin Fen would appear in the Sacred Martial Hall - easily qualified to enter the Inner Sacred Martial Hall yet stubbornly chose to remain at the Outer Martial Hall as a basic martial artist.
In doing so, Qin Fen had cut off his path to the Secret Art Pavilion and put himself in a bottleneck. As a result, entering the Sacred Martial Hall for Qin Fen would only mean a platform for him to accumulate battle experience, and also teaching himself of some martial dao knowledge he witnessed to complement his existing skills.
Sakra had to admire his nemesis, Ferrero, for his ability to bring out such an obscure rule, all the while going through loopholes in the Sacred Martial Hall.
Although Qin Fen was merely a basic martial artist of the Sacred Martial Hall, he remained a martial artist of the Sacred Martial Hall. Going by the rules, if one of them became a mentor to Qin Fen, he would then have the right to study and copy the tomes in the Secret Art Pavilion, or even bring them out from the Secret Art Pavilion for his future disciples.
Of course, very few masters treat their own disciples so kindly unless the disciples were the personal favorites of the masters.
For other martial artists, entering the Secret Art Pavilion was not something that they can do anytime. When they wished to enter, they would need to meet certain conditions before being permitted entry.
However, for Heads of Department, this was not a problem at all. Heads of Department in the Sacred Martial Hall bore the absolute right to enter and exit the Secret Art Pavilion at any time however they wished.
At the same time, if the Heads of Department became mentors to other martial artists, the apprentice would also enjoy the same benefits as the Heads of Department. For instance, the Sacred Martial Hall would deliver an additional set of medicinal pills every month as a means of support.


"Qin Fen had once been abandoned and broken until, one day, he picked up a liquid metal ball that turned his life upside down.
This is the interplanetary era where Classical and Modern Wushu are competing. Classical Wushu enables followers to grow as powerful as dragons and elephants, whereas Modern Wushu enables followers to freeze monsters or even extinguish erupting volcanoes.
Qin Fen steps onto the stage of both Classical and Modern Wushu while belonging to neither. With the exquisite combination of both Classical Wushu and modern technology, he will pave a way to become a legend.
He is one of a kind, a favored son of heaven." -KyleChow_
"He is a youth, a gentleman, and a scholar cultivating in the Dragon Elephant Prajna Art. He has the strength of ten dragons and ten elephants, producing clouds with a turn of a hand and rain with the other. This is a story about the clash of passions between neo martial arts and paleo martial arts. This is a story about transcending the apex, about forcefully slaughtering one's way into the legends. This is a story about fading into nirvana, about the prideful of heaven!
In this world, cultivating the paleo martial art known as the Dragon Elephant Prajna Art to the pinnacle allows one to possess the enormous strength of ten dragons and ten elephants! In this world, the Nitrogen Freezing Magic can freeze even a volcano on the verge of eruption! In this world, the Magma Art can instantly melt and vaporize a glacier!
This is a heavy undertaking by Skyscrapper back in 2009! This is a story of affection, of love. This is a story never lacking in friendship. This story, overflowing with heated blood, is certain to cause your own passion to surge!
This is a radiant era where hot-blood, friendship, love, and heroes converge, shine, and interweave upon each other.
Click and fall in love with this legend." -Strivon (Translation of original synopsis)



 
Thirty years later.
Already about one-half of the Destructive Force carrier experiment's basic energy part, that was dull but required perseverance, had been carried out. During this period, except for both Lou Linman and Leafie's brief visit under Little Myna's guidance, Grimm spent most of his time in such a mundane life.
Both the dullness of each day and his habitual failure every time were the content of Grimm's Book of Truth.
In his Destructive Force Experiment Notes, those hundreds of thousands of red crosses and failures, the forgotten yet accustomed failures, were the steps of searching for the truth!
Little Myna went to see his Bright Sorcerer friend, and on this day, an unexpected Sorcerer and Nina York came to the Holy Tower of Seven Rings to visit Grimm.
That person turned out to be Yates!
In the midst of the academy territorial battle during the Sorcerer-Apprenticeship, Yates, the elemental creature of the Ivory Castle Sorcerer-Apprentice, was the one who enlightened Grimm's Elemental Creature Sorcery summoning.
Also, at the Holy Tower Qualification Battle, Yates voluntarily gave all his points to Grimm and then withdrew from the realm. After that, more than two centuries ago, he teamed up with Grimm to defeat the Level-2 Sorcerer, Dira. 
In general, Grimm and this Sorcerer had quite the relationship.
In the crystal ball, both Yates and Nina York were old, while Grimm was not much better than them. After telling the duo the coordinates of his Demon-Hunter Castle, Grimm shut off the crystal ball's communications.
"Rabu! Hurry and help me clean up the room!"
Squeak, squeak, squeak.
After Rabu came over, he asked in a stiff mechanical tone, "Will do, sir. Do you still want me to prepare lunch according to your daily requirements?"
"Let it be as hearty as possible!"
Grimm walked into the bathroom after responding. He looked at both his messy beard and frizzy hair, and hurriedly straightened himself.
Although personal image was not important, especially for a Sorcerer who had studied sorcerer knowledge for many years, he should still respect the etiquettes if his Sorcerer friends from far away came to visit.
According to Master Peranos, Sorcerers had lives to live too.
After a while.
With a knock on the fence outside the Demon-Hunter Castle, the well-dressed Grimm opened the gate, and saw the two people, Nina York and Yates, who were stunned by the huge Thousand-Eyed Carcinus on the lawn.
"Grimm, is this your soul slave? You are only a Level-1 Sorcerer. How is that possible!?"
Yates pointed his skinny finger at the huge body of Thousand-Eyed Carcinus, with the elemental light in his eye sockets beating, showing the uneasiness in his heart.
Nina York had her shock hidden within her heart and saluted with a smile, "Grimm."
Grimm took off the Mask of Truth. Unable to hide his pale old visage, Grimm calmly smiled at the two, "It's just a friend staying with me."
"Friend? Isn't your soulmate Mavrica Nevichy?"
Nina York asked, puzzled.
Grimm was unwilling to explain more. On one hand, it was his own personal matter. On the other hand, Grimm had been too far away from the real Dark Sorcerers. Both Nina York and Yates were just traditional Dark Sorcerers in the Sorcerers World.
After welcoming the two into the Demon-Hunter Castle, the two behemoths of the Destructive Energy Observation Loggers in the lobby naturally attracted the eyes of the duo.
"This is the Destructive Energy Observation Logger  mentioned by the Death Sail League? Grimm, I don't know to what extent your sorcerer knowledge has reached, but it is incredible that such an instrument is needed for auxiliary experiments."
Nina York murmured.
In the eyes of a Level-1 Arcane Sorceress like her, she could not understand Grimm's sorcerer knowledge at this time. After all, this was an advanced instrument for experimenting with advanced energy knowledge.
Yates did not speak.
Yates instinctively realized that the gap between the two of them had continued to widen for no reason. Last time, the Level-2 Sorcerer was defeated by Grimm right in front of him!
The three of them sat down on the comfortable sofa, and Grimm took a sip of hot tea poured by Rabu and smiled as he said, "So to what do I owe this pleasure?"
Nina York sighed, "The Master of the Black Isotta Tower has fallen, and the Sorcerer Academy has been temporarily taken over by another Stigmata Sorcerer, but his power is not as strong. Half of the Death Sail League have gone to Isa's clan, Amurand. When I was travelling, I met Yates. He was planning to come to the Holy Tower of Seven Rings, and I thought of you. "
Nina York's hazy eyes under the sunken eye sockets said with some frustration.
For Nina York, the death of Black Isotta Stigmata Sorcerer was indeed too sudden.
Ever since she became an Academy Sorcerer, Nina York, despite her low position, could not specifically understand the status of Black Isotta Stigmata Sorcerer in the Sorcerers World, but she also knew that this was a powerful Stigmata Sorcerer. The Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy was headed by the six great academies of the twelve regions.
Grimm nodded and looked at Yates without saying a word.
Yates's elemental energy was rather unique. It belonged to a mixture of an earth element and a Dark Sorcerer, and his body was cold and heavy.
"Grimm, I believe you deserve to be addressed as Master Grimm."
Yates unexpectedly said something that surprised both Grimm and Nina York. For ordinary Sorcerers of the same level, it was quite normal for an Arcane Sorcerer to call a Demon-Hunter Sorcerer a master.
"These things…"
Grimm shook his head. After returning to the Sorcerers World, he was all kinds of busy. In preparation for the next Demon-Hunting expedition, he really did not have the leisure of an Arcane Sorcerer.
"By coming here to the Holy Tower of Seven Rings this time, what help do you require of me?"
After taking a deep breath, Yates nodded and said in a deep voice, "After so many years of hard work, I have accumulated a huge sum of fifty Sorcerer Essences. After thinking about it, I planned to teleport to the Foreign World Sorcerer Will through the Holy Tower of Seven Rings and start my journey. So I was hoping that I could get some advice from Master Grimm."
Grimm put down the tea cup in his hand slowly and said deeply, "What are your special requirements?"
"There are no special requirements, because it is the first time I'm going to the Foreign World, I just hope that this world doesn't have too many hostile powerful creatures. It is best for me to be under the jurisdiction of the Sorcerer Coalition."
Grimm, without thinking, immediately advised, "Once upon a time in the Shadow World, the World Teleportation Array marked it as the Pyrodust World. The teleportation cost was forty Sorcerer Essences, the ruler was a Lava Giant, and was under the direct jurisdiction of the Sorcerer Coalition. The World's laws and the biological systems are fairly simple."
For an Arcane Sorcerer who only travels briefly, the World's law was indeed very simple as it would not come into contact with the mysterious lava alternative law of the Shadow World.
"Pyrodust World? Okay, I'll take note of that."
Yates nodded joyfully.
The reason why Yates had asked Grimm was because he wanted to experience the Demon-Hunting expeditions Grimm had gone for after passing through this world!
Grimm was one of the most respectable Sorcerers in Yates's mind.
"Master Grimm, I have another purpose here. Do you still remember the six great Sorcerer Academies of the twelve regions during our Sorcerer-Apprenticeship? In addition to Millie, the legendary Sorcerer-Apprentice of the Ice Age, there was another legendary Sorcerer-Apprentice?"
Grimm thought about it for a moment.
"The Primal Curse, Althio?"
"Yes, that's him!"
With a mocking face, Yates said, "It's ridiculous that he once pursued the trail of a Dark Sorcerer, intending to accumulate enough Sorcerer Essences to become a Demon-Hunter Sorcerer and fulfill his former wish. But now, he has gone to the Black Domain and has become a Dark Sorcerer. "
Grimm was a little stunned, but that was all.
Slightly dejected, Grimm shook his head silently, lamenting the elusiveness of fate.
***
With the trickle of time, going through the mundane day-by-day Destructive Force experiments, seventy years came to pass.
Grimm had already tested the basic energy parts that could be the Destructive Force carrier thirty years ago. Sure enough, there was no basic energy that could bear the Destructive Force.
With the profits from the Infernal Spirit World Demon Hunting expedition, some of his past accumulation, and the reward from the First Ring Celestial, he had a huge sum of more than four thousand Sorcerer Essences, but not even a half of Grimm's compound Sorcerer materials could be made with that amount.
As a means of comparison, what could he gain from the fifty Sorcerer Essences that Yates spoke of?
As for these materials, they were enough for Grimm's two Destructive Force Observation Loggers to experiment on for hundreds of years!
Knock, knock, knock.
"Caw? I'll open the door! I'll open the door!"
Little Myna, bored senseless with the time spent on the mundane Destructive Force experiments day after day, shouted and flew out. For this fellow who was bored to the point he had almost gone nuts, someone knocking on the door was something new.
Grimm shook his head.
After a short while, Little Myna's helpless shout came from the door, "Master, you should come out at once."
Outside the door was a Level-3 Sorcerer, with his left eye looking like a dark green light ball, looking at the tired and weary Grimm walking out from the Demon-Hunter Castle.
"Demon-Hunter Sorcerer Grimm, after the Demon-Hunter Consociation's review once more, I have decided to give you another chance for a review at the Demon-Hunter Consociation. This is a favor handed down by the Demon-Hunter Consociation senior personally. I hope you cherish it and not disappoint the Demon-Hunter Consociation! "
The Great Sorcerer solemnly handed Grimm a mission scroll.
"Hmm? Okay."
After Grimm nodded, the Sorcerer left.
Grimm did not even spare it a glance, and immediately burned the scroll in his hands to ashes, he then continued on with his Destructive Force experiment.



"Grant me infinite knowledge, and I shall be as a fulcrum, to move the endless world!"
...
Sorcerer Continent—a world where sorcerers exist. Wielders of arcane knowledge. Masters of all elements. Sovereigns of space and time. These sorcerers governed the world with their unrivaled prowess. One day, a young man awakened into this world with his past forgotten and no place to call home. Follow along as Grimm, by relying on his luck and wit, tries to survive and advance in this unforgiving world. Entangled within the machinations of fate, political schemes, power struggles, and wars, he forges his own path and creates a place for himself.

Kenneth was observing from the side and could not help but be secretly impressed by Steve's intelligence. After 18 consecutive days of online auctioning, Masa Group's reputation was bound to reverberate across the entire Blue Star realm. However, the benefits to the Masa Group were nothing compared to those that Steve received.
By then, the entire planet would be aware that Steve was the creator of the new era's product, the enhanced Subatomic Serum. At that time, Steve would be highly sought-after by countless big companies and big consortiums, all wanting to work with him.
They would be presenting Steve with countless money and treasures, begging him to choose them. The Masa Group paled in comparison to the big conglomerates, which could greatly affect the entire Blue Star. Whether he decided to work with the Masa Group or not, would depend on Steve's mood. During this time, the Masa Group would worship Steve and do everything possible to please him.
"Mr. Steve, do you wish to be a certified pharmacist?" Kenneth suddenly asked.
"What do you mean by that?" Steve asked.
"There is an upcoming certification examination being conducted by the Pharmacists Guild. Becoming a certified pharmacist brings with it numerous benefits and a superior status," Kenneth explained.
By observing Steve's experiments, Kenneth felt that Steve must have studied pharmaceutics for years, but was yet to become officially certified. Kenneth speculated that Steve just wanted to concentrate on refining serum as an anonymous pharmacist, and thus had not applied for certification. This was why Kenneth had asked the probing question.
"What are the other benefits of becoming a certified pharmacist?" Steve asked.
"Once you are certified by the Pharmacists Guild, in addition to being able to apply for funding, you can obtain the formulas of publicly available serums. Once the pharmacist makes a significant amount of contributions or achieves a significant grade, he would then have access to the formulas of serums which are inaccessible to the public. Pharmacists conduct knowledge sharing sessions among them on a regular basis," Kenneth said in a serious manner. "There are also experienced pharmacists, who teach in public. All these benefits are only for pharmacists who are serious..."
"Master, promise him!" the Heart of the universe suddenly prompted.
Steve was startled, but he calmly asked, "Why?" 
"By joining the Pharmacist Guild, I can access a lot of information on pharmaceutics. I could build a larger pharmaceutics database and create more serums. At the same time, I could improve and perfect my database, or even upgrade it," the Heart of the universe replied.
Upgrade!
Steve was thrilled to hear this word, more so than any information about the pharmaceutics formula, funding, and so on. The power displayed by the Heart of the universe had been astonishing so far.
There would surely be more surprises, should it be upgraded with more features. There was also no doubt that the Pharmacists Guild had the most complete database in pharmaceutics. This information and knowledge would be of a great help to Steve and the Heart of the universe. Moreover, pharmacists were respected by all, even the nobles had respect for them!
"I have decided to take the F grade pharmacist certification," said Steve.
"Really? That's great!" said Kenneth, pleasantly surprised. "I will write you a letter of recommendation now. You can take my letter and go straight to sit for the certification examination."
To qualify for the pharmacist certification examination, one would need to pass tests, such as the Junior Apprenticeship Certificate, the Intermediate Apprenticeship Certificate, and the Advanced Apprenticeship Certificate, as well as other professional tests. However, with Kenneth's letter of recommendation, Steve was able to skip all those steps and take the certification examination directly.
Though the letter of recommendation would guarantee him a place in the certification examination, he still had to have the capability to be recognized by the pharmacists. Kenneth saw how capable Steve was and believed that Steve was a rare talent, thus strongly recommending him.
"To be certified as an F grade pharmacist, you need to be able to refine at least three types of F grade serums, with a success rate of more than 1%....." Kenneth explained the important points to note about the certification examination.
Steve listened intently, as these details would be a great help. After explaining all of the important facts of the F grade pharmacist certification examination, Kenneth anxiously held on to the finished product of the enhanced Subatomic Serum and left. He even put the discussion with Duncan and their collaboration on hold.
The enhanced Subatomic Serum, an epoch-making product, would contribute a great deal to human evolution. The sooner a patent application was filed, the sooner the research funds would be obtained, which would result in earlier mass production. This would be very beneficial to humankind.
At this moment, Duncan also had no time to talk to Kenneth about their collaboration, as  working with Steve was more important than anything else.
"Mr. Duncan, I wish to buy the F grade armory and weapons. I wonder if Masa Mall has what I need?" asked Steve.
"Masa Mall has everything that you need, even the Beast Soul Armory. Mr. Steve, may I know what kind of armory you need?" Duncan said with pride.
Steve thought for a moment and said, "I need armory that can improve speed and is related to swordsmanship, as I am good with swords. I also need shooting armory, a long sword, and firearms."
As human beings embarked on the path of evolution, the special metals used to make cold weapons were added with cosmic force, causing them to possess tremendous lethality. Every practitioner had to learn how to use cold weapons, which were, at times, more lethal than thermal weapons. Of course, the lethality of thermal weapons became stronger as technology continued to advance.
The Robot Thunderbolt Gorilla, which Steve had encountered previously, was a good representation of such scientific and technological advances. Its lethality was even stronger than one with a level of 100% cell activation! Therefore, neither thermal nor cold weapons could be neglected.
Among the cold weapons, Steve excelled in the use of slender wide-edged swords, which were similar to the combination of wide-edged swords and thrust swords. Not only could they be used as thrust swords, they could also chop like English broad-edged swords. This kind of sword was made with extreme importance placed on the weight and the body of the sword.
As for thermal weapons, Steve had not decided which of them to use. The most important aspect of thermal weapons were their levels of accuracy.
Thermal weapons fell into two main categories: metal bullet and laser. In different situations, they could play different roles, thus making it difficult to distinguish which was stronger.
Very soon, the army would be conducting courses on their usage. In the meantime, Steve's job was to lay the groundwork for this in advance.
When Duncan heard Steve's requirements for armory and weapons, he ordered his staff to prepare the items immediately. Soon, an electronic itemized list of all the items appeared before Steve's eyes!
"High speed F grade armory fitting Mr Steve's, a total of 388 kinds… Beast Soul Armory 12, 2 kinds… Swordsmanship related armory, 3689 kinds… Beast Soul Armory, 107 kinds... Weapons, 103 pieces, Beast Soul Weapon, 2 pieces..."
Steve was dazzled as he looked at the itemized list.

Blue Star Year 2019, the alien invasion of the Blue Star. The planet has been transformed, air, gravity, magnetic field all sent changes. Air and water are highly toxic and polluted. In order to adapt to the environment, human beings and organisms have embarked on the path of gene evolution.

"I, soldier Steve Washington, hereby vows to protect mankind, bring hope and light to mankind, fight for the future of mankind, and lead mankind against aliens..."

An unconspicuous recruit read his oath during the enlistment of the recruits.
---------------

Hello everyone, this is my first attempt at writing a novel. If you enjoy it, please vote for me with your power stones~
I'll typically update my novel at around 18:00 (GMT+8).

14 chpts/week

*** Warning***
Please be aware that this novel will be rated M for Mature, with some violent and sexual content that aren't appropriate for all audiences.

Flora opened the door and found a girl in a yellow robe standing before her.
The girl had copper red hair and black skin. Not black like Africans, but black like a cast iron pot.
Name: Deriga Ticet  
Class: Novice
Title: Novice
Level: 4
Rating: C
"Hello, my name ..." The girl trailed off and stared with wide eyes at Flora.
"Hello, dear. How can I help you?"
"My Goddess!" Deriga wanted to kneel, but Flora caught her.
"Oh, my! That's a misunderstanding! I'm not Evailyn! My name is Flora. You may call me Auntie Flow!"
The girl was still gaping at her, but at least she stood straight.
"Oh, wow. Nice to meet you, Auntie Flow! I'm aspiring to be a priestess of Evailyn. I got a vision earlier while praying. The vision said to help you build a cathedral and give you that."
Deriga handed Flora a package. It was wrapped in colorful paper with little toasters printed on it. Flora cooed in delight. 
Carefully, she unwrapped it and found a box with a few booklets in it.
'Class Priestess of Evailyn'
'How to Consecrate a Place of Worship'
'Bible and Rites of Evailyn'
"Ah, our Goddess ist the best!" Flora exclaimed.
After opening the first booklet, a stream of messages appeared.
-----------
You gained the class 'Priest.'
-----------
Class: Priest
Branch: Divine
Passive:
+1 Training efficiency modifier for Affinity / Resistance Faith
Active:
Bonus for Faith Skills
-----------
You gained the skill: Smite.
You gained the skill: Bless and Condemn.
You gained the skill: Fortification of Faith.
You gained the skill: Levitate.
You gained the skill: Thaumaturgy.
-----------
Flora to Aitoshuri: "Good call!"
Then, she opened the next book, 'How to consecrate a Place of Worship'.
After browsing through it, only one message appeared.
-----------
You gained the skill: Consecrate.
-----------
The last booklet, 'Bible and Rites of Evailyn', was unexpectedly thin, mainly if you were used to the Christian bible. Flora scanned the book and got another skill.
-----------
You gained the skill: Pray.
-----------
"Do you want some refreshments before we crank up the holyness of this place, sweety?"
"No, thank you, Auntie Flow."
"Alright, but let me at least show you around that you know with what we are working."
Flora gave Deriga a short tour and explained the function of each room.
"Everything is empty at the moment. I just build this place today. So we have our work cut out."
Deriga nodded, but she was smiling and marveling at the windows.
"It's gorgeous! I love it!"
After browsing the booklet, Flora got a better understanding of what to do. They left the building and walked to the first corner.
"This place is dedicated to the Goddess Evailyn." Flora chanted, and Deriga repeated it, then Flora cast the spell.
<Consecrate>!
They repeated the process for the other corners and then went to the Roof.
The roof garden was a field of bare ground with a small wall surrounding it. Flora wanted to take her time planning the outline. Maybe a few crops and some flowers, definitely some herbs, a nice stone path, a bench, and a bit of water?
They marched from corner to corner, chanting and then went down to the first floor, where the teleportation circle was located to include this part in the consecration, too.
Evailyn had been right. Flora wouldn't even have known how to exclude her living quarters if she wanted to!
After they finished their rounds, a glow washed over the whole building.
----------------
Rejoice! The church of the Goddess Evailyn gained a new place of worship: The Cathedral of Home Appliances!"
You consecrated a place of worship: + 5 levels to faith.
You own a place of worship: + 5 levels to faith.
You created the first place of worship of Evailyn in the Metaworld: + 1 OV to faith.
----------------
A new buff appeared on Flora's Hud:
Consecrated Ground: + 3 OV to all attributes.
Flora had the urge to throw a party. Only two followers celebrating seemed underwhelming for the glory of the occasion. Unfortunately, Robby, Eddie, Svetlana all had prior appointments or were offline. 
So Flora made do with just the two of them. She toasted some bread and spread Nutella over them and offered Tea, Coffee, and fruit juice.
"Is this a toaster?" Deriga stared at the device, fascinated.
"Yes, sweety. I really don't know if I should be appalled by your question or flattered. Toasters are the most wonderful devices!  I got a note that I built the first in the Cetviwos, so how do you know of toasters?"
"They were mentioned in the early scriptures of the Goddess Evailyn. Unfortunately, they never took hold in our world, because everybody knows a bit of fire magic. At least enough to roast something."
"Magic is incredible! It's a wonder that household appliances even found their way into the Cetviwos."
"Yes, they are not very popular. Because in most cases, magic is more accessible."
"In my world, earth, home appliances played a huge role in the emancipation of women. The work was divided between man and woman, with homemaker activities predominantly assigned to women. Cooking, cleaning, and especially washing took the whole day. There was simply no time for women to do anything different. That changed when home appliances became cheap enough for the average household. Women could now spend their time on different endeavors."
"Oh, wow. I can't imagine needing a whole day for this boring stuff! I bet the church of Evailyn would be super popular in your world."
"Are man and woman equal in your culture?"
"I don't know what you mean. Men are men, and women are women. There aren't many jobs that have gender requirements. Some jobs don't take women when they are on their period and don't have spells to cover it, like some hunting parties. I read statistics that women have a better growth on magical attributes and men on the physical ones, but there are some great female warriors and male priests."
"So what kind of appliances are there in the Cetviwos?"
"All the ones depicted on the windows for areas where magic doesn't work well, like space stations, starships, and heavy metal areas. Then magical appliances like freezing cabinets, cooking pots, hot stones, cleaning cabinets..."
"Do you mean that the pot get's hot and cooks its contents? And what are cleaning cabinets for?"
"Yes, the pot is used for cooking. A cleaning cabinet is a normal cupboard which contains runes for cleaning. When you change into your PJ, you put your worn clothing in it. Or dishes after eating. Every shelf has those runes. They are great against dust and dirt."
"Amazing!"
"Why do you like Toasters so much? They didn't contribute to freeing up the women, right?"
"Yes. Because toasters are the most luxurious of all home devices: You could eat bread without toasting it. But it's so much more delicious toasted! Nobody needs a toaster to survive. It just increases your quality of life. Toasters are a symbol of the abundance we live in. And that's great!"
Deriga nodded earnestly. 
"The three main statutes of the church of Evailyn are:
Respect the tools that improve your life
Live in harmony with magic, technology, and magetech
Strive to better your home and yourself."
This time Flora nodded. The points were very Evai. They might not only relate to household devices but the coexistence with AIs as well.
"This Nutella toast stuff is so delicious! I totally understand your fascination!"
Flora grinned, satisfied. Another one converted to the awesomeness of toasters! But then she paused because she was unsure if she could count someone who was already a member of the church towards her conversion rate. "Why did you join the church of Evailyn?" 
Deriga's face fell. 
"My family has the tradition that the first child serves the family, the second the country, the third the Divine. I'm the third child."
"I'm sorry, dear. What would you rather do?"
"Don't misunderstand me! I love my Goddess and her cause! My passion is pottery, so the Goddess Evailyn is a good fit. I just don't like the priest stuff, like preaching and all the politics."
"Maybe that's why Evailyn sent you to me! Here you'll have time to invent some devices using pottery and probably enchanting! Please ask if you haven't got any ideas. I've already got three just speaking to you about it."
"I would love that! My rune and enchantment skills are low, though."  
Flora remembered that she had bought a book about enchanting and fetched the Library-Container.
Not only did she find this book, but two books about runes and one about smithing as well! 
'I really should read more.'
Of course, Flora lent the three tomes to a beaming Deriga.

After the meal, Flora printed a bed for Deriga. They put the interior furnishing off to the next day because it was already past Flora's bedtime.
Flora moved the training coffin to her new living quarters. With Aitoshuri's connection in mind, she changed the auto-mode to Energy-Storm and added the auto-mode for Plasma-Sword-Dance for her body in the workshop. 
She rested in the meadow again, with Aitoshuri reading and Aidan playing with the Blade-Roller-Extreme. Because she had mana to spare in the simulation grounds, she activated agility boost. Just to test out if it would have any effect.

The next morning, Flora gave Deriga a budget of 50 000 VirDias to make a list of items they needed to equip the cathedral. 
Flora knew nothing about the rites of Evai, so she was looking forward to what Deriga would come up with. 
Of course, Flora would design the central statue herself. She already had a good idea about it.
"But, please, dear, wait with the purchases until I upgrade the printer. I want to have the best quality for our cathedral. Additionally, I want to make as much as we can ourselves because I'm a cheapskate and want to save money! But one could also argue that we should be able to furnish a house as priests of the Goddess of household appliances!" Happily, Flora rambled, while toasting breakfast. "Alright, Evailyn is not the Goddess of Do It Yourself. But the core of home appliances is that they enable you to handle minor work by yourself!"
Deriga nodded yawning while hanging on her cup of tea for life. Flora realized that the Novice wasn't a morning person, and much of Flora's monologing went over her head. Therefore she cut the conversation short and ported to the Garage.

Flora's teacher turned out to be a grim woman with the same matte black skin color as Deriga, but only 1.30m tall and twice as thick. Flora was too much a millennial to ask if they knew each other or if Ruth Schlosser was a dwarf, but the questions burned in her thoughts.
They started with smelting, then casting and hammering and at last grinding.
"Ma? Are you free to speak?" Robby's long-missed voice sounded in Flora's mind.
"Huhu, Sweety! Yes, I'm just grinding!"
Robby laughed. "Look at you! Already using gaming terms!"
"What gaming terms? I'm taking smithing lessons, and at the moment, I'm grinding down a metal stick."
Robby coughed. "Never mind, my bad. I thought you were slaying mobs."
Flora shrugged and smiled. Then she realized that Robby couldn't see her.
"So everything is set for tomorrow? Do I have to bring special equipment for our trip to the caverns?"
"Can you breathe underwater?"
"No!"
"I'll send you the skill. You could buy some oxygen potions as well, just in case your mana runs out. Swimming gear, of course, is a must. The water is quite cold. Therefore a wetsuit will serve you well."
"Concentrate! You have to feel the metal and not peel it like a banana!" Ruth Schlosser bellowed.
"Alright. Do you have some furniture in the guild store? I need tables, chairs, a sofa, maybe a bed, some rugs and a kitchen for my new lair."
"We do. The tour starts at 10 o'clock and ends at noon. Afterward, I want to collect some things in the caverns, but then I'm free. I'll show you the selection, and I'll help you to transport the stuff to your lair."
They said goodbye, and Flora focussed on her lesson again.

Afterward, she went to the manufacturing line.
Daily Quest: Stand in line (The Garage)
Description: Join the manufacturing line for the hoover quad. Report to Hangar 34 to get your place.
Rewards: Reputation with the Garage
Difficulty: B-E 
In the hall, she swiped her badge to check-in. A menu appeared, and she selected that she wanted a smithing job of any difficulty.
There she found metal sheets and a manual that told her in which shape the should be.
Flora shrugged and got to work. Cutting the sheets one by one, polishing the edges, and cheating with the spell Transform when errors occurred, she finished the quest.

"Milady, here you can acquire the classes Mechanic, Electrician, and Technician. And most importantly, if you impress the examiner, you get the questline for Technomancer."
"Let's dazzle them!"
Flora found the room for the examination behind a shimmering portal door. Before entering, she put away the mech-suit. The metal handicap in the Garage was high, which was proper training, but some spells turned out wonky. For the examination, she wanted to perform at peak.
The tester was a middle-aged man with dark blue skin and black hair named Foreman Snoralga. After shaking hands, he pointed to a workbench with some parts and a blueprint.
"Assemble that in 10 minutes, and you are good to go." 
He looked around to locate his chair and sat down. 
Meanwhile, Flora had finished the job. 
When he looked at the workbench, he sprang up.
"Did you cheat?"
"No, sir."
"Deep-sea monster dung! Here are some new parts, lady!"
This time, Snoralga remained standing with his eyes glued to Flora's hands. Five seconds later, the next machine was done.
Carefully, he tested the propeller.
"Perfect! Impressive. You are here for electrician and technician, too, right? Let's see how you do in these departments!"
Flora aced the following tests, as well.
"Give me your badge. I'll unlock the libraries for you. There you can find some handy mana skills and blueprints." He swiped the badge over a device. "Listen, Lady. You did some good work with the test and the dailies, but to know for sure if you are the right one for the job, you have to complete a weekly quest. Those damn MI guys are breathing down my neck and giving me lip about the quality of the people I have sent them! I see you registered a bot for the Robo-Melee. If you do well, come back, and I have an opportunity for you."
"Sure, boss. I'm looking forward to Saturday's fights!" Flora grinned.
-----------
You gained a new class: Mechanic.
Class: Mechanic
Branch: Technology/Crafting
Passive:
+1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Mechanics
Active:
Bonus for Technology Skills related to mechanics
Bonus for Crafting Skills related to mechanics
-----------
You gained a new class: Electrician.
Class: Electrician
Branch: Technology/Crafting
Passive:
+1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Electronics
Active:
Bonus for Technology Skills related to electronics
Bonus for Crafting Skills related to electronics
-----------
You gained a new class: Technician.
Class: Technician
Branch: Technology/Crafting
Passive:
+1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Mechanics
+1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Electronics
+1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Smithing
Active:
Bonus for Technology Skills
Bonus for Crafting Skills
-----------
Flora looked over the passive bonuses for Technician and discovered that you could connect the class to Smith.
"Can I do the smithing examination, as well? I just started to learn it today, but these tests seemed to be simple enough."
The guy shrugged. Although Flora needed nearly the full 10 minutes, she managed to finish hammering out a dagger, and the next class notifications appeared.
-----------
You gained a new class: Smith.
Class: Smith
Branch: Crafting
Passive:
+1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Smithing
Active:
Bonus for Crafting Skills related to smithing
-----------

After Flora Fluss burns down the kitchen, her son insists she is too old to live alone. She's got two choices. Either move into a retirement home or spend the rest of her life within a virtual reality game governed by society's most advanced artificial intelligence. When you've worked a lifetime as an engineer for home appliances, naturally, you go with the option that has more toasters. 
Soon, Flora finds out that the virtual world is more familiar than she thought. Though, it takes her a while to get used to the idea that tanks don't hold water or oil but the aggro of mobs.  

Auntie toasts the VRMMORPG contains cute crafting, complicated game-mechanics plus how to exploit them, unconventional training methods, and a lot of toasters.

Release: Mondays and Thursdays

You can find the tables (stat-tables, this is LitRPG) and additional pictures, videos and information at my Patreon.
https://www.patreon.com/Joanninjahen
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/joanninjahen
Discord: https://discord.gg/hX8gWPE
My HP (a few pics for ATTV are there too): https://joanninjahen.com/
Glossary: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G328koRfV-lxk-uSx1BYY9DMrvh349l3h8bqjA5xb1k/edit?usp=sharing

Zhang Zian felt very awkward after he was seen by Sheng Ke. He seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Wasn't coming here at that time causing trouble to the police uncles?
He wanted to comfort Electrician Wu and take his leave, but right at that moment, he heard a crying voice, "Grandpa! We're here!"
Electrician Wu's grandson and other family members pushed the crowd aside and rushed over, crying as they hugged Electrician Wu.
He was relieved after he saw that his family members were all safe; he was almost scared to death.
From his family members, Electrician Wu learned that, just a few hours ago, the police suddenly knocked on their door and ordered the whole family to leave the house and go downstairs. They didn't even have the time to take their valuables, such as bank books and jewelry.
It was not only their home, but the neighbors next door and the neighbors of the upper and lower floors were also all squeezed into the corridor and forcefully sent downstairs. Everyone did not understand what was happening; they all thought that it was an earthquake.
Once they made it downstairs, they were dumbfounded when they saw the rows of police cars and ambulances. It was something only seen in Hollywood blockbusters.
Immediately afterward, someone was carried downstairs on a stretcher, and the medical staffs who was carrying the stretcher all wore gas masks. Even the person on the stretcher wore an oxygen mask; his face was blue and he kept trying to rip the shirt off his chest. He seemed to have difficulty breathing.
One of those that was carried downstairs was Welder Zhao.
Welder Zhao's family was all right; nothing had happened even after a series of inspection––only Welder Zhao himself was sent on the ambulance.
The ambulance rushed to the emergency center at its fastest speed.
Later, more and more police officers came to the scene, and even the scary looking Biochemical Specialist Police Unit arrived at the scene and swarmed into the block beside.
Electrician Wu felt fortunate that his family members were all safe. At the same time, he was very worried about the safety of Welder Zhao. He traced the fingers of his little grandson, and the unit beside them was the unit where Carpenter Wang lived. Of course, there are many other households in this block, not just Carpenter Wang.
Electrician Wu frowned.
The night before, Carpenter Wang had plans to restart the ecosystem in his aquarium tank and to remove the fish that he was not fond of. Being cheap, Welder Zhao had wanted to get several fish from Carpenter Wang––those that Carpenter Wang had eliminated out from his tank––so he had run over to watch Carpenter Wang restart his tank and invited Electrician Wu to come along.
Electrician Wu was not so thick skinned. He had his own retirement money. So if he wanted any fish, he would buy them himself. He didn't want to do anything like picking up rubbish, and it was better to sit on the sofa and watch some anti-Japanese drama. So, he turned down Welder Zhao's invitation.
Welder Zhao went there himself and spent an hour or two at Carpenter Wang's home before returning. He got a few good fish, just as he had hoped for, then he took some pictures and sent them to Electrician Wu to flaunt his harvest.
Electrician Wu ignored him and went to bed.
At that time, everything was still all right; there were no abnormalities and no signs of anything.
Early the next morning, Electrician Wu got up and went for his early morning exercise.
Welder Zhao did not have the habit of going for morning exercises, so Electrician Wu took it that he was still asleep.
After Electrician Wu's morning exercise, he returned with some groceries, only to see that the housing facility had been turned upside down.
Looking at the Biochemical Specialist Police Unit going in and out of the block, Electrician Wu started wondering: Could it be that the matter is related to Carpenter Wang? Otherwise, it's too much of a coincidence, right?
Impossible!
Definitely impossible!
Electrician Wu shook his head and denied his own thoughts.
Although he was not familiar with Carpenter Wang, Carpenter Wang was just a common person that one could find anywhere, and he had lived most of his life ordinarily. How could he be involved in such a big thing…? Electrician Wu refused to believe so!
"Master Wu, are you okay?"
Electrician Wu was lost in his own thoughts when he heard someone calling out to him from behind.
"Aiya, Xiao Zhang? Why are you here?"
Electrician Wu was really surprised to see Zhang Zian. After a momentary blank, he introduced Zian to his family members before pulling him to the side.
Zhang Zian could only explain, "Didn't Master Zhao reserve a few fishes in my store and have yet to pay for it? There are other customers who want to buy those fish, but I can't seem to contact him. Since I had business around the neighborhood, I decided to visit him on the way and ask about the fish… Who knew I would run into such a big thing."
"Cough!" Electrician Wu sighed. "Zhao… I think you can just forget about it and sell those fish to someone else. Even if Zhao is able to survive this incident, I don't think he'll have time to care about those few fish anymore…"
"What? Something really happened to Master Zhao?"
Zhang Zian's speculation was affirmed––he had guessed so when he saw Welder Zhao's grandson crying.
"Yes!"
Electrician Wu told Zhang Zian everything that he had heard from his family members. He told Zian that Welder Zhao was sent to the hospital by an ambulance, and his current situation was unknown.
Zhang Zian was deeply affected by the news. The cheap Welder Zhao, who had a loud and clear voice… It seemed like it was only yesterday that he was bargaining loudly in his shop, and now, in the blink of an eye, he was lying in the hospital. How things change!
"Xiao Zhang, that… I have an immature thought, can you listen to it?" Electrician Wu asked nervously.
"What is it? Please go ahead."
Electrician Wu had pulled Zhang Zian aside just to tell him about his own guess. The guess was really unbelievable, so he was afraid that he'd be laughed at by the others when they heard about it.
Although Electrician Wu had been denying the possibility in his heart. He constantly felt flustered and wanted to find someone to share it with––compared to his family members, Zhang Zian was obviously more suitable.
Electrician Wu let out a few coughs. "Xiao Zhang, I'm just guessing and you can treat it as an old man's nonsense… Don't laugh at me… So it's like this…"
Electrician Wu talked about Welder Zhao going to Carpenter Wang's house to watch him restart his tank, and then added in his own doubts—was there a possible connection between the two matters?
After he listened to what Electrician Wu said, Zhang Zian was quiet for a moment.
"What about it? I might've thought too much, right?" Electrician Wu carefully observed Zian's facial expressions.
Zhang Zian slowly shook his head. "I'm not too sure at the moment, but we can't eliminate it as a possibility…"
Zian also thought of something, but currently, the information was too little and the matter was very serious. Any misjudgment on his part would easily cause irreversible damage to the life and property of others, so he could only be extra cautious.
Aside from that, even if he had some suspicions, his words had no weight to them, so there was nothing he could do.
"Is that so? Do you think so, too?"
No matter what, Electrician Wu was already very happy that Zhang Zian had listened to him and was thinking seriously about what he had said.
"Shop Manager Zhang, what a coincidence! It's really a small world!" Zhang Zian's thoughts were interrupted. He raised his head and saw Sheng Ke standing right in front of him.


1. Download a suspicious game
2. Catch a few magical pets as partners
3. Go through interesting daily routines and lead the pet shop to a whole new level

"Afraid? What should I be afraid of?" The middle-aged man's expression became unnatural. He had no idea where Chen Ge's confidence to accuse him came from.
"I am trying to help everyone find and investigate the killer, but you have been trying time and time again to change the subject. Could it be that you know something but have decided not to share it with the rest of us?" Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. "At the time, the murderer escaped from the sixth-floor window. He would not have gone far. He should have been hiding on the fifth, sixth, or seventh floors. Those are the three floors that were most probably his hiding place. If we'd started our search on those three levels, there was a very high chance we would have been able to block and apprehend the killer, but you insisted on us coming to find the landlord first."
Chen Ge used a manipulative way of phrasing it. At the time, the middle-aged man only suggested they find the landlord, but Chen Ge made it sound like the middle-aged man had given that as an order. It was the middle-aged man who had allowed the killer to escape.
"The landlord lives on the ninth floor, and this place is very far from the crime scene. I suspect you were purposely trying to lead us away so that you could buy some time for the killer to escape."
"That is ludicrous! Everyone, do not listen to him. He is lying! I've done no such thing!"
"You led us all to the ninth floor, and somehow, you appeared to know that the landlord has been harmed, and thus, no one would come to open the door for us. To get the front door open, we have wasted yet another half an hour here. The time wasted was more than enough for the killer to remove the blood evidence from his body." Chen Ge's words stuck into the middle-aged man's body like sharp knives. "It is not my wish to suspect you, but there are just too many coincidences that do not line up. I for one do not believe in so many coincidences. It feels more like you are purposely trying to buy time for the real killer to escape."
The way the neighbors looked at the middle-aged man slowly turned unfriendly and hostile.
"Listen to me! I really had no idea that the landlord has been harmed! If I knew that, I would not have said the things that I did! Trust me, I am completely innocent!" The middle-aged man tried his best to argue his case. Chen Ge stood to the side and watched. He did not care for the middle-aged man's defense. He merely wanted to find an excuse, an excuse that could allow him access into the middle-aged man's house. None of the tenants were 'clean'. As long as Chen Ge was given a chance to enter their room, even if there was no evidence, Chen Ge would try his best to 'find' the evidence.
"I have known Brother Man for many years already. I know his personality very well. I believe that he would not have done something like that. I believe he is really innocent." Auntie Ding suddenly jumped out to the middle-aged man's rescue. Just as the latter was about to sigh in relief, Auntie Ding suddenly added the following to push him further into the abyss. "But like the young man said, everything feels to coincidental. To prove Brother Man's innocence, how about we start the search at Brother Man's place? I believe firmly that he is innocent, and I am sure that a search of his place will clear his name right up. That way, we can move on to the capture of the real killer after dealing with this misunderstanding."
Auntie Ding sounded like she was defending the middle-aged man. In fact, she had stated explicitly that she believed in the middle-aged man's innocence, but in reality, she was damning the middle-aged man. As an old tenant of the building, she should know the middle-aged man's secret quite well. She knew that there were things inside brother Man's home that could not be exposed to the public.
After hearing what Auntie Ding had to say, the middle-aged man's expression turned ugly. He did not expect that the final knife that determined his fate at this crucial moment would come from his own neighbor, Auntie Ding.
With dark and consuming eyes, the middle-aged man stared at Auntie Ding, his hands clenching into fists. Chen Ge did not step in and say anything; his gaze merely wandered between the middle-aged man and Auntie Ding. Auntie Ding was the first to discover that the spare keys inside the closet had been stolen. Her reaction was extremely unnatural. For Chen Ge, Auntie Ding was likely related to the landlord's death. She was probably one of the killers that took the landlord's life. This would explain why she had chosen to speak up at this moment. She wanted to push the blame for the landlord's death onto the middle-aged man.
Of course, this would only work if the middle-aged man had something to hide. And honestly, he deserved it for his big mouth. If he did not bring up anything about the landlord, no one would have come up to the ninth floor and found out about the landlord's disappearance and possible death. Now, those people who had harmed the landlord naturally would not let him go. Since he had volunteered as a scapegoat, the best possible way was to push the blame onto him.
Chen Ge understood that psychology very well, and that was what he had been doing when he accosted the middle-aged man. He was not looking for an argument for no reason; he was trying to push the middle-aged man into the position of the suspect who might have killed the landlord. He understood that once he had done that, there would be someone would jump out to support him. They would pin the middle-aged man down and deliver his death sentence. The tenants who were cleared of their suspicion started to gang up against those who had not had their suspicion cleared, and now even the tenants who were not suspected started to have cracks in their camaraderie. If this continued, without doing anything, Chen Ge would be able to get closer to his goal.
"This is not the time for infighting. The most important thing that we need to do now is find the killer who murdered Qu Gui!" Seeing the altercation between the tenants, Chen Ge could not have been more overjoyed in his heart, but the words that came out from his lips hoped that they would put aside their differences and work together. "We should all calm down! Let's return to the initial hypothesis. Xiao Sun told us that the electrician on the eighth floor got into an argument with Qu Gui and threatened his life. The electrician has motive, so we should start our investigation with him."
Chen Ge did not let Auntie Ding gather the crowd against the middle-aged man. He wanted to retain the middle-aged to create more cracks in the future. After leaving Room 901, Chen Ge walked at the front with a smile on his face. Behind him trailed the tenants from the building; this was truly an astounding sight.
"Is anyone home?" With Xiao Sun's direction, the crowd reached the house of the electrician. The knocking echoed down the corridor, shattering the silence of the eighth floor. Everyone had their eyes on the door before them. The tenants were curious about the electrician's secret as well. They were eager to expose his secret; this kind of rush was something that was hard to describe. After several knocks, footsteps finally came from inside the room, and the front door was pulled open slightly.
"How can I help you?" A man with long beard appeared at the door. He appeared to be quite reticent. His eyes were bloodshot like he had not had a good night's sleep in a long time.
"There's been a murder. We just came to warn you about it. We wish for you to be careful."
"Noted," the electrician said and was about to close the door, but Chen Ge reached out to grab the door and stop him.
"What are you doing?"
"This is not what I wish to do but a consensus that has been reached by everyone in the building." Chen Ge pointed to the tenants behind him. "This is for everyone's personal safety. I hope you will understand and cooperate."
"We now suspect that you are somehow involved in the murder. If you are innocent, then please step out of the way. We will not mess up your house. We just wish to confirm some things." Xiao Sun was not a cunning person. He shared their purpose for being there directly.
"I am suspected to be involved in the murder?" The electrician lifted his head. His bloodshot eyes swept to the left and right of Chen Ge as if using his eyes to communicate with someone. Chen Ge knew that Auntie Ding was standing on his left side behind him. Things were getting more and more interesting. When the electrician knew that he was in trouble, he turned to Auntie Ding immediately. This proved that they were both in on something. Combined with the earlier speculation that Auntie Ding was related to the landlord's death, did this not prove that the electrician was also related to the landlord's death?
When Chen Ge discovered the complicated wiring in Room 901, Chen Ge had already suspected that the killer was the electrician. This was because the electrician was probably the first person to discover the landlord's secret. Chen Ge was facing away from Auntie Ding, so he had no idea what kind of hint Auntie Ding had provided to the electrician, but he saw that after the brief eye contact, the electrician's expression turned uglier.
"I've been inside my room alone throughout the night. I have not left my house at all. You've got the wrong person." The electrician refused to step aside and got into a stalemate with the people at the corridor. Chen Ge felt like they had wasted too much time there. If the electrician refused to budge, then the rest of the plan would halt there. The tenants there were all incredibly cunning. Other than Xiao Sun, no one was willing to stick their neck out. Chen Ge had no choice but to do this on his own.
"The killer has threatened everyone's safety. Your refusal to let us go in proves that you surely have something to hide." Chen Ge's attitude turned firmer. "We are not asking for your opinion; we are merely here to inform you of that."
"Inform me? We are all tenants here. Who gave any of you the right to enter my private home? Preposterous!"
"We have already patiently explained the situation to you, but you still refused to let us through. Looks like you are really related to Qu Gui's death. You have something to hide!" Chen Ge's patience was wearing thin. His hand that gripped the door pulled with strength. "Let us in. There must be some clues inside his room!"
With Chen Ge leading the way, the other tenants that did not have much interaction with the electrician normally started to help. Against the strength of so many people, the electrician was unable to keep his door shut.
"What the hell! Stop this nonsense!"
The front door was yanked open. Chen Ge was the first to charge in. His nostrils flared. Chen Ge sniffed a burnt smell in the air. "What is being burnt?"
The room was very messy, and trash littered every corner. There was barely a space for people to stand. The neighbors squeezed into the room and trampled over the stuff on the ground. The electrician appeared to have given up. He turned to face the door and kept his head lowered. He kept his expression from the sight of everyone else.
"Qu Gui was stabbed to death, so the killer would have been covered in a copious amount of blood. There is another thing that we need to pay attention to. The killer planned everything out before they committed the crime, so that means that they probably have been planning this for a long time. Therefore, there might be something related to the murder inside his notebooks."
The tenants that followed behind Chen Ge started to ransack the room. Throughout the whole process, the electrician stood at the door with his head lowered, and not a peep came out of the man. "His whole body is incredibly tense. He is afraid."
The tenants searched for a long time, but they could find any evidence that tied the electrician to the murder. Auntie Ding walked toward Chen Ge. "Perhaps we have misjudged him. As messy as this place is, there is no sign of blood. He does not have the habit of reading or taking notes. There are no reading or writing materials anywhere in this place."
"Looks like he is really not the killer." Xiao Sun walked out from the bedroom with a frown. He was still an innocent child. He had not gone through the harsh reality of the society yet. After knowing that he was wrong, he ran to the electrician's side. "I am so sorry. We only hoped to capture the killer as soon as possible. I will treat you a dinner in the future and consider that an apology for this transgression."
"Now, can you please leave me alone?" the electrician growled. It was clear that he was very angry.
"Of course," Auntie Ding said on everyone's behalf. The rest also slowly shuffled to the front door.
"Wait a minute." Chen Ge stood inside the room and suddenly said, "Do you guys smell something burning?"
"The place is so messy. It is probably something that has gone moldy." Auntie Ding was obviously trying to defend the electrician. "Let's not waste time here anymore. We should go and check the other suspects."
"A moldy food wouldn't give off a burnt smell." Chen Ge followed the trail of stench and came to the bedroom on the right. "Do you live alone?"
The electrician lifted his head to look at Chen Ge. His voice was hoarse. "Yes, I do live alone."
"You live alone, but both of the bedrooms have king sized beds. You sure live in the lap of luxury."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"I am just curious." Chen Ge looked at the beds that had recently been changed. The covers looked washed and clean. It was a bright contrast to the mess that was the rest of the house. "Which bedroom do you normally sleep in?"
"This is my house. I can sleep in whichever room that I want. Why should I answer that? Does that have to do with the murder that you are talking about?" The electrician glared with his bloodshot eyes. He had been suppressing anger. The man probably had anger management issues, and he had been trying to reign it in before the public.
"My guess is that you normally sleep in the bedroom on the left because of the array of everyday objects that are placed there. In contrast, the bedroom on the right is much simpler in nature. In fact, it does not look occupied. It feels more like this is your workshop." Chen Ge kicked away some of the wiring on the ground. A few of them, he noticed, were connected to the space under the bed. "But why would a workshop need such a big bed?"
Chen Ge grabbed the newly changed covers and pulled them off without warning and tossed them to the ground. The electrician's face blanched immediately, and he took a subconscious step back. Underneath the cover was a thick mattress. There were many burnt spots on the mattress, and that was where the smell came from.
After taking a glance at the mattress, Auntie Ding quickly moved her gaze away. "We should go to the other rooms. There is nothing to see hear. Everything looks normal to me."
"The bed is of good quality, and it is incredibly soundproof and can resist shaking," Chen Ge said as he yanked off the mattress. He pulled the whole mattress away. A stingy burnt smell rushed out and assaulted the nose of everyone present. Underneath the mattress was a wooden bed frame. Chen Ge did not hesitate and pushed the bed frame to the side. The scene that was exposed was revolting. Underneath the bedframe was the body of a boy. Many electrical clamps were connected to his body. His skin was seriously charred, but the real fatal wound could be found around his neck. He had been strangled to his death; the signs of strangling were quite obvious.
"Jia Qi!" Auntie Ding dropped to the ground once the boy was exposed. She crawled to the bedside and wanted to hug the boy's dead body. Auntie Ding wailed like a traumatized mother, but Chen Ge saw very clearly that the woman could not even fake a single crocodile tear.
"Capture that electrician!" Xiao Sun shouted loudly. When Chen Ge pulled back the mattress, the electrician had already sneaked out from the room.
"He killed Jia Qi! How could he torture such a sweet boy! I will kill him! I will kill him!" Auntie Ding seemed to have gone berserk from the trauma. She grabbed the fruit knife on the nearby coffee table and charged out. She was quite largely built and was as large as a man. She ran quite fast as well.
"Quick! The murderer has been found! We should follow and captured him!" Xiao Sun ran out with passion. The other neighbors also mobilized. Only Chen Ge and Wen Qing stayed in the bedroom.
"Aren't we going to follow them?" Wen Qing asked softly.
"The electrician is not going to survive. Auntie Ding will do everything within her power to kill him."
"You're right. Auntie Ding has been defending the man. To find out that her trust has been betrayed, she must be in great pain."
"The reason she needs to kill the electrician is not out of pain but fear. This boy should be Auntie Ding's 'present' to the electrician. They are both responsible for the landlord's death. The electrician knows Auntie Ding's many secrets. Auntie Ding is afraid that once the electrician is captured, he will sell her out as well so she will definitely kill him before he is given a chance to speak." Chen Ge looked at the young boy that was propped up like a grotesque exhibit, and the smile slowly disappeared from his face. He hissed through gritted teeth. "This bunch of animals."
Wen Qing churned Chen Ge's words in her mind. She had been following Chen Ge and experienced the same thing, but she had no idea how Chen Ge managed to come up with the hypotheses for so many things.


The hearse with the weird odor slowed to a stop before the entrance. The sound of pebbles could be heard bouncing on the ceiling. There were footsteps coming from the corridor, and there seemed to be someone sawing next door. The door knob to the room rattled slightly, and the faucet in the bathroom kept dripping even though it had been screwed shut. There was a rubber ball that rolled on its own underneath the bed. Wet footsteps started to surface one after another on the floor. 
At 3 am, Chen Ge held a cleaver in his hand as he hid beside the room heater. The call he was trying to make was finally answered. "Landlord, is this what you meant by 'the house can be a little crowded at night'‽"

Qin Zhi Xue was nothing good and this Director Liu was cut from the same mould.

"Director Liu, do you think everything's set and done just because you say so?" Jing Yun Zhao's icy and stilted tone gave the listeners goosebumps.

Director Liu also felt a headache coming. Honestly, by right, he should've defended Doctor Gan, but he simply didn't like Gan Song Bai, this old fogey, because every time he went home, his grandfather would nag him. He would say things like 'your medical skills are still not good', 'you need to seriously improve yourself with diligence and discipline' and 'learn more from Doctor Gan'.

And the Doctor Gan he mentioned was precisely this obstinate old man. He was both ugly and stubborn, thinking he was all that, relying on his seniority to act profound and mysterious all day, who was he trying to fool?!

Thus, he was trying to take this opportunity to teach this old man a lesson. Of course, if he could really chase him out, then that would be for the best.

"What else could you possibly want? Hasn't the misunderstanding been resolved?" Director Liu hardened himself.

Director Liu has not yet hit 30 years of age and wore a pair of sunglasses, but he looked kind of fickle. His gaze hovered, his speech was too easygoing, and the white gown he had on him wasn't worn properly so he looked somewhat unreliable.

"Director Liu is young and promising, but I clearly remember that to become the Head Doctor, one must meet certain requirements, no?" she casually asked such a brainless question.

There were numerous large and small hospital clinics in the county. This hospital was actually a private hospital no matter how much the public called it the county hospital. It was kind of a marvel that it developed faster and better than a public hospital.

Although the scale of the hospital was big, it still couldn't be compared to the ones in the large cities. However, one should respect certain rules no matter what. This role of Head Doctor wasn't something anybody could take on. Firstly, they needed to be the vice-head for at least five years and to be vice-head, there was similarly a requirement of two years of doctorate studies and four years of masters studies. Furthermore, this fixed number of years are only the basic requirements to be the doctor-in-charge.

(T/N: to clarify, the rankings of doctors are like this; Doctor → Doctor IC → Vice-head Doctor → Head Doctor)

So to put it simply, one would not be able to reach this position without having worked for more than 10 years.

Meanwhile, this one in front of her took the seat just because he was the Executive Director's grandson, so all the complicated things were foregone.

However, people normally wouldn't know of all these, especially within a small county like this. As long as their medical skills passed the mark, occasionally turning a blind eye to these kinds of things was very common. What's more, this hospital's Executive Director and CEO were the same person, bystanders have little to no say in the hospital's matters. It was practically guaranteed that Director Liu was to inherit the hospital in the future.

The moment Director Liu understood that Jing Yun Zhao was going to bring this matter up, his attitude became even more stubborn than before, "And what are you trying to say this time? Brat, there's always an exemption to everything. I've been learning medicine from my grandfather since I was young, so you don't have the privilege to question my ability!"

"Is that so? Then would Director Liu compare his notes with mine?" Jing Yun Zhao suggested plainly.

Director Liu was dumbfounded by her gall.

"Repeat that?" he sneered.

"Seems like Director Liu's ears aren't too great," Jing Yun Zhao loftily stood up for herself. "You've learned medicine since you were young and coincidentally, I did too. It's just too bad that I haven't gotten my license to practice medicine, but I think even like this  I'm still better than you."

Jing Yun Zhao's figure when she saved Gan Song Bai was seen by everyone around her, so they knew that she did have some ability.

However, she was still young and didn't even have a license. This lessened his credibility.

"You yourself said that you don't even have a practitioner license, what are you going to compare with me? What a laughing stock. Little brat, I advise you to focus on your studies. If you returned to Hua Ning County in a few years time, who knows if you might even need to beg me for a rice bowl…" Director Liu spoke in disdain.

"Then it can only be because you don't dare. If you're even scared of someone like me who had not yet gone under an apprenticeship, it seems like you don't have much of a standard yourself. Next time, those who want to consult you for treatment need to be more careful not to bet their lives on you. What's more, you're still the majestic eldest grandson of the Executive Director; I believe that even if you wanted someone's life, similarly, there would be someone who'd clean up the mess for you. The dead patient would have died meaninglessly," she peculiarly tried to spur the Director into action using slanderous words.   

Director Liu could choose not to respond to that, but his image and reputation had already taken a nosedive because of what just happened earlier. As long as he took a step out of the hospital, it would be for certain that he would not be able to receive the respect and trust of the hospital's patients for a long time. Plus, with his sensitive identity, it would directly influence the hospital as well.

NOT MINE- FOR READING PURPOSES ONLY
In her past life, she had no one to rely on and died alone in jail.

But now, she has been reborn, given a second chance.

Got an heirloom.
Activated a mystical Space Dimension.
Studied medicine and became a genius doctor.
Opened a clinic.
Founded a company.
Bought a house and land.
Found her blood relatives.
Her worth became higher and higher.
Her fan club became bigger and bigger.

“Young master, the Zhao family’s young master faked an illness and went to future young miss’s place for treatment. . .” said a servant.

“Break his legs! Fail his organs! A fake illness? I’ll make him sick completely!” A man said.

“Yes! But young master. . . what are you doing?” The servant said, confused.

The man finished swallowing a bunch of expired pills and said, “I’m sick, gotta go find my wife for some treatment!”
1428 chapters (completed)
+ 8 extras
Credits to Translator: 
https://mehtranslations.wordpress.com/portfolio/the-favoured-genius/

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