Chapter 192: Strange Monster
“What does that mean? Why do you look so happy?” An old barbarian Freeman who couldn’t understand the Common Language very well asked the young man beside him.
“Father, it means that as long as we change our names, change our clothes, and learn to speak the Common Language, we will be eligible to become Reserve Citizens in three years. We can become people of status, just like the former leaders!” The young barbarian, who was the old man’s son, said with burning eyes, full of hope for the future.
“Brother, it’s more than that! If we become Reserve Citizens, we will have the chance to become Formal Citizens, and even exchange for that blessing to become Shamans!” Another teenage boy said excitedly to the young man.
“It’s Wizards, don’t say it wrong!”
“These southerners, you can’t take their words seriously. Maybe it’s just talk.”
“Talk is cheap. Let’s wait until someone actually becomes a person of status before we talk about this.”
Some other barbarians joined the discussion, their eyes filled with skepticism, speaking discouraging words.
Ace watched their eager discussion and skepticism with a smile. It was impossible for everyone to believe a policy as soon as it was announced. Public credibility needed time to be established slowly, and he could afford to wait.
According to this promotion channel rule, an ordinary Freeman could theoretically become a Formal Citizen after eight years of struggle. Then, after accumulating more Work Points, living in the territory for about ten years, they would have the opportunity to obtain a stepping stone to the supernatural.
This was the promotion channel prepared for ordinary adult residents, ensuring that everyone had hope for striving and advancement.
If they were children of appropriate age, they could study seriously in the future general education school for five years, then take the Wizard Apprentice Qualification Exam. As long as they passed the exam, they could obtain a one-time Lesser Permanent Mental Blessing.
And all Mental Overdrive Specialists were eligible to enroll in the future High Tower Elementary Magic School. Through the education of the Magic School, various types of magical talents would be produced continuously.
On the other side, Bayen, transformed into “Ace,” had led the group through one-third of the journey. They divided into seven groups, with two Mid-level Apprentices plus several Lesser Apprentices in each group, conducting a dragnet search.
Sound waves inaudible to the naked ear emitted from Donna’s mouth. A small Spell Model could barely be seen inside her mouth. In her black-and-white perception field, Donna discovered a strange Monster lurking in the nearby soil through Ultrasound Perception.
This Monster’s body color changed with the surrounding environment, making it extremely difficult to detect with the naked eye. In mental perception, however, it appeared colorful and dazzling.
“Mr. Ancestar, I found a strange Monster,” Donna opened her eyes and whispered into Ancestar’s ear.
This was a little trick Betty taught her. Seeing Ancestar’s unmoved reaction, Donna couldn’t help but feel a little dejected.
Ancestar slowly drew his knight’s longsword. Heart Force covered it, rippling with faint blue waves.
He approached cautiously. The strange Monster remained motionless. Ancestar did not get any closer. He drew a graceful arc with his longsword. An azure Heart Force slash, like a water ripple, detached from the sword.
This azure semi-circular slash was extremely thin and carried extraordinary sharpness, slicing the strange Monster opposite directly in half.
Ancestar approached slowly and poked the two halves of the Monster’s corpse with his longsword. Suddenly, the Monster corpse, which had been cut in two, turned into a viscous liquid, rapidly climbing up the longsword toward Ancestar.
This liquid was very strange. After attaching to Ancestar, it tried hard to burrow into his body, as if searching for something. Ancestar dared not let it be. He mobilized his Heart Force. Azure power flashed, expelling the liquid from his body, and then he quickly jumped away, dodging its attack range.
“There is something strange about this thing. Let’s move away and ask Lord Torch-Bearer to take a look.” Ancestar said to Donna with lingering fear.
A while later, Bayen and the mirror image clone arrived upon receiving the news. Bayen thought for a moment and had someone throw a dead Monster corpse over.
The liquid quickly devoured the Monster corpse. In a short while, it actually transformed into the appearance of the devoured Monster—a large rabbit with red eyes.
The large rabbit looked blankly at the crowd, then hopped away attempting to escape, but was trapped by a cage created by Daina using the Mana Crystal Shaping spell.
The apprentices experimented for a while and found that this rabbit possessed almost all the characteristics of the original dead Monster. They finally tried to kill the rabbit and found that it was indeed easily killed.
After the rabbit died, it slowly turned into a puddle of turbid liquid. In perception, it had lost its life force.
adhering to the principle of caution, Bayen had several apprentices proficient in Fire Element spells burn it to ashes, and then continued forward with questions.
Late at night, the exhausted crowd set up camp to rest. The mirror image entered Bayen’s room to convey Ace’s thoughts.
“I contacted Lord Torch-Bearer through the Grimoire. The characteristics of this Monster are very interesting. Lord Torch-Bearer ordered us that if we find a similar Monster again, we can try to capture it with a pure Mana Crystal cage.”
Bayen, transformed into Ace’s appearance, bowed slightly to the mirror image and said:
“Mr. Sharp, since it is the will of Lord Torch-Bearer, I shall obey.
From my observation, this Monster seems to have an ability similar to transformation, but it is not quite the same. Perhaps calling it a devouring ability is more appropriate. In short, it is extremely tricky.”
The mirror image smiled and said to Bayen: “Precisely because it is tricky, you need to capture it. All tricky Monsters will make us stronger.”
In the few days since Bayen and the others left, the customs of the settlement residents began to change significantly. Following Ace’s suggestion, unique clothing distinct from civilized nations became popular among the territory’s residents.
Ace designed several different types of clothing as the mainstream clothing types for the territory.
Manual laborers wore gray work clothes similar to those in his past life. Administrators wore simple shirts and trousers, with traditional city-state white robes without the red ribbons over them. Wizard Apprentices also wore shirts and trousers as inner linings, to be changed when they returned.
Clothing is the face of a territory. Ace hoped that through this change in appearance, everyone in the territory would realize they were a new, independent force.
The learning of the Common Language was also proceeding in full swing. Every Reserve Citizen who successfully taught a Freeman the Common Language could obtain an extra half-year of accumulated Work Points. Since accumulated Work Points directly affected their future opportunity to exchange for the Lesser Permanent Mental Blessing, every Reserve Citizen was very diligent.
The same was true for the Freemen. These Freemen were indoctrinated daily by Reserve Citizens and fellow tribesmen who knew the Common Language. They fully understood the territory’s promotion channel. Although a few didn’t want to believe it at all, thinking it was all a lie, the majority were half-doubting and half-believing.
Seeing others learning the Common Language, wearing new clothes, and using new names, they followed suit, changing their clothes, adopting new names, and learning the Common Language.
Deep down, they still hoped for a chance to move up a step.
Ace was not in a hurry. For a ruler to establish authority and win trust was not something that happened overnight. So-called public credibility is word of mouth among the masses. As long as promises were turned into reality bit by bit, they would gradually be convinced.
When a Freeman truly became a Reserve Citizen, and a Reserve Citizen truly became a Formal Citizen and achieved Mental Overdrive, their enthusiasm would be greatly ignited.
Advance chapters at Nightjar Reads · nightjarreads.com