Chapter 47 Completion Strategies and Broken Promises

Zhou Jing could feel the powerful strength generated by the movement of his muscles, as if he had been reborn.

He had transformed from a weak ordinary person to someone with superhuman physical qualities, feeling as if he possessed inexhaustible energy.

"My physical fitness has also reached 40 points, the limit of Tier 1. My physical abilities are no weaker than Jason Wood's. This kind of power definitely meets the standards of a Tier 1 Esper."

Zhou Jing excitedly got up and took off his shirt to look in the mirror.

His previously ordinary physique now had sculpted muscles with defined lines, both strong and well-proportioned, full of aesthetic appeal. One look was enough to tell that it contained powerful explosive force.

Even his slight nearsightedness had disappeared, and he could now see things with exceptional clarity.

Muscle and bone density, blood oxygen levels, organ functions, cell activity, and hormone levels had all been greatly enhanced, reaching superhuman levels.

Zhou Jing couldn't help striking a boxing pose, facing the mirror sideways and throwing out a series of jabs, the speed so fast that it left afterimages.

After excitedly testing for a while, he quickly became familiar with his current extraordinary physical fitness... after all, he had used it for a long time in the Alien Beast World, so getting used to it now was easy.

"Now I'm not an ordinary person anymore..."

Zhou Jing sighed inwardly, feeling incredibly pleased.

He had longed to become an Esper, and now he had finally reached this step.

His original plan was to achieve this goal within two months, but unexpectedly, he had successfully cleared an Apostle in just seven or eight days. It had gone quite smoothly, so it seemed that the plan he had made was a bit conservative.

But back then, he had no experience in clearing, so it was understandable.

"This is only my second Apostle. Perhaps the difficulty of clearing isn't that high. Maybe it will increase as more Apostles are added... However, as long as I find the right direction, clearing doesn't seem that difficult. As long as I don't encounter any accidents and steadily develop, the clearing rate shouldn't be bad."

Zhou Jing sat back on the bed and pondered.

He suddenly thought of a problem. Clearing rewards seemed to only appear when an Eternal Apostle was born, and subsequent re-deployments of the Eternal Apostle shouldn't trigger it again.

If an Apostle only had one chance for a clearing reward… then he had to consider increasing the evaluation to obtain better clearing rewards.

After all, re-deployment times, free conversion slots, and main body attribute rewards were all very useful.

He had already seen it on the clearing reward page: the more information state particles collected during clearing exceeded the constant standard, the higher the clearing evaluation.

His clearing evaluation this time was "Good," which seemed pretty good. However, he hadn't forgotten that when he avenged Will, there was a reward for "increased evaluation of this Apostle's life," which should have already been added.

Zhou Jing was thoughtful:

"So, after reaching the clearing standard, if I hold back from triggering the clearing and farm more information state particles to improve the evaluation, I can get better clearing rewards?"

It wasn't that he could only trigger a clearing upon death, but rather that after reaching the constant standard, he could choose whether to proceed with the clearing reward each time he normally returned, and he could hold back from triggering it indefinitely.

The clearing standard was just the passing grade. If he wanted better clearing rewards, he couldn't clear as soon as he met the standard, but had to continue traversing, accumulate more achievements, and improve the evaluation.

"Hmm, this involves a balancing problem. I can't be too greedy or too cautious. I need to choose to clear at the right time, based on the specific situation..."

Zhou Jing kept it in mind.

Speaking of which, when the synchronization rate of the Eternal Apostle reached the fourth stage, the upper limit of placement income would be lifted, and it could serve as a source of continuous resource income.

"It's still uncertain how many Star Realm Apostles can exist at the same time. Originally, a new Apostle could only be generated after one died. But with the Eternal Apostle, I should be able to create new Apostles as well... It's just that I don't know if the Apostle slots will automatically increase, or if they'll be increased in some other way."

If each additional Eternal Apostle automatically expanded the Star Realm Apostle slots, then rapid clearing would be a very high-priority strategy.

If he had a large number of Eternal Apostles, all thrown out to place and AFK, wouldn't he be lying down and counting money every day, with no shortage of Star Realm Points?

Could this be the employees working hard while the boss earns like crazy?

"The more Eternal Apostles, the better. The task is heavy and the road is long..."

Zhou Jing couldn't help but look forward to it.

He opened the panel and glanced at it. It didn't show any prompts related to Apostle slots, only the cooldown time for the next traversal.

[Next Traversal Cooldown Time: 710 days]

This time, the cooldown time was longer than his previous returns.

"It should be that there will be a longer cooldown after the birth of an Eternal Apostle."

Zhou Jing scratched his head and guessed inwardly.

Clearing an Apostle shouldn't affect the cooldown for subsequent normal Apostle returns.

So, this longer cooldown was probably a special case that only occurred during each clearing.

"I can't traverse during this time... then I may have to wait until the next traversal to know what the situation is with the Star Realm Apostle slots."

Zhou Jing shook his head, put the matter aside, and couldn't help but think about his future plans.

Now that he had obtained extraordinary power, registering his identity with the Superpower Bureau shouldn't be a problem.

And with the official identity of an Esper, he would have a say in the matter of forced immigration.

This problem was no longer an issue. Once he registered, whether or not to immigrate would be up to him.

And he had to think carefully about what he should do in the future.

He had always fantasized about becoming an Esper, but now that he had really become one, endless choices were thrown in his face. His life suddenly had countless bright forks in the road, making him somewhat lost as to which one to choose.

It was most disgusting to have power and then be unable to control one's desires and commit evil deeds. He had a stable mentality and still wanted to abide by the law as much as possible and do something positive.

"Forget it, I haven't registered yet. After I register, the Superpower Bureau will definitely provide guidance. Only then will I truly enter the Esper's social circle, and I'll carefully consider it then."

Zhou Jing didn't dwell on it. He would go to accept the superpower test during this time and didn't need to overthink it.

But no matter what he did, the Star Realm Traversal Panel was definitely a key area for development.

"Now that I finally have extraordinary power, I should try to become stronger. It won't be a loss anyway," Zhou Jing thought to himself.

Currently, his main body only had the [Alien Blood Warrior] system, which could only be improved by taking Alien Blood Potions, so the main body couldn't level up on its own. Currently, he could only rely on Apostles.

Of course, even if the main body could level up, the risks would have to be weighed.

Instead, letting the Star Realm Apostles bear the risks of Alien Blood enhancement and then converting the power to the main body was safer and the best approach.

Currently, if he wanted to strengthen the main body's [Alien Blood Warrior] extraordinary system, he still had to rely on Jason, letting him drink more Alien Blood Potions, so that the conversion limit could be continuously broadened.

In this way, he wouldn't have to worry about upgrading the [Alien Blood Warrior] system on the main body's end.

"This is pretty good too."

Zhou Jing nodded inwardly. Although it would take more resources to convert power, the benefits were more obvious.

And some technical and knowledge-based things, such as swordsmanship and Hunter's Breathing Technique, were not restricted from being practiced by the main body.

But in terms of cultivation efficiency, it was still better to have the Apostle with the time difference to practice, and with the help of the cultivation acceleration function, the advantage was huge.

"But the main body still has to practice usually, to familiarize myself with the feeling. And with the memory of having learned it once, even without cultivation acceleration, it shouldn't be slow to practice. If the skills level up, I can save some conversion fees."

Zhou Jing pondered for a while, took out his phone, and looked at the time.

Today was July 27th, and the next traversal would be at least in August.

"Right, I booked a visit from the Immigration Bureau for tomorrow. I have to go back."

Zhou Jing remembered this.

He didn't care about this visit in the first place and decided to just go through the motions and register with the Superpower Bureau in a couple of days.

This traversal cooldown time was not short. What he was more concerned about was the change in the Alien Beast World.

"I know nothing about that crew-cut-haired man. Lute is in the know. Anyway, I didn't kill him. The next time I go back, there will be a living person to interrogate."

Zhou Jing rubbed his chin. He still wanted to investigate the situation of the other-dimensional life forms. Lute seemed to be the only clue at the moment.

He could basically determine that the Lord attacked him because he was also involved in the potion corruption... maybe the so-called "potion corruption" was just a cover-up, half-true and half-false, with other things going on inside.

It was good that he had no strength to kill the Lord before he died.

The next time he redeployed Jason, he would catch Lute and ask him clearly...it was actually a good thing that he didn't have the strength to kill the Lord before he died.

——Provided that Lute wasn't torn to pieces by other hunters the next time he went back.

But other than himself, other hunters shouldn't point their blades at humans to chop down the Lord, right?

"Jason is dead, and other hunters will most likely pass the news to Frostwood Village to let Baron know. With the information Baron has, he will definitely suspect that my death is related to the discovery of potion corruption, so he will definitely be wary of the Lord.

On the other hand, I killed all the Lord's guards, and Lute has less power to use. He probably wouldn't dare to act rashly under the attention of so many hunters, so he probably wouldn't dare to do anything drastic... Then it's okay that I can't traverse back for the time being."

Zhou Jing pondered for a while and found that his death was quite useful.

Making things bigger would make Lute wary.

What impact it would have later mainly depended on the reaction of the hunters... It was a pity that it was inconvenient to meet them again.

Zhou Jing rubbed his temples, feeling a little helpless.

"Jason" was already dead in their eyes. Even if he redeployed, it was unlikely that he would return to them because it would be difficult to explain why he came back to life after dying in full view of everyone.

This probably wouldn't be a surprise, but a scare.

It was better to let "Jason" maintain the state of a dead man in their hearts.

Lest the group of hunters think he was a zombie, stuff him back into the grave, and step on it twice to compact the mound.

At this time, Zhou Jing couldn't help but think of Baron.

He was more concerned about this guide and was a little worried.

"I don't know how Baron will react when he hears the news of my death... It's a pity that I can't keep my promise."

Zhou Jing sighed.

…

Alien Beast World, Frostwood Village.

A glimmer of dawn appeared on the horizon, another clear morning.

Baron stretched and walked out of the house.

The grain collection team had returned yesterday. Although a few people "got lost," the grain still had to be transported, so they did not wait and returned on their own, without suspecting anything.

Without the temporary grain collection team, the village had returned to its former tranquility.

Baron strolled through the village, greeting the passing villagers from time to time, like a street loafer.

After walking for a while, he ran into the village chief on the road, looking anxious.

As soon as the village chief saw Baron, he went up to him and asked anxiously:

"Captain Baron, have you seen Gama the witch doctor these past two days?"

"No, what's wrong?" Baron didn't change his expression.

"Yesterday, some villagers went to him for treatment and found his house empty. No one knew where he went. Today, the villagers went again and found that Gama was still not there..."

"He might have gone to the forest to collect medicine."

Baron laughed.

He didn't tell the villagers about the smuggled potions for the time being and planned to announce it to the villagers after Jason brought back the Lord's punishment, so that it would be a sure thing.

"Okay... If you see him, remember to notify me."

The village chief was helpless.

At this time, Griff passed by, saw Baron, and came over.

"Captain Baron, I was just about to look for you."

"What's wrong?" Baron looked at Griff curiously.

Griff looked puzzled: "By the way, I haven't seen Jason these past two days. There's no one at his house either. Do you know where he went?"

Hearing this, the village chief also remembered.

"That's right, isn't he usually at the training ground? I haven't seen him these past two days either..."

Speaking of this, the village chief's expression hesitated, and his tone was anxious:

"That... Jason has taken revenge. Could it be that he has already left the village..."

He was the one who wanted Zhou Jing to stay in the village the most and didn't want to let go of an Alien Beast Hunter.

Baron couldn't help scratching his bald head and coughed:

"Don't think too much. I just asked him to go to the city to do something."

Griff was curious: "When will he be back? I was planning to invite him to my house for dinner."

"He should be back today. He's very fast on his feet."

Baron laughed.

Just then, there was a commotion at the entrance of the village.

The few people were curious and followed the road to the entrance of the village, looked at the source of the commotion, and were all stunned.

A group of hunters in various costumes came running along the dirt road.

The first ones were Weber and Weiss, both of whom were old acquaintances of Baron.

"What are you doing?"

Baron was a little confused.

Why did this group of hunters come to his place in droves?

What happened? Could it be that Weiss, the cunning guy, used his own method to find them to gamble and brought everyone over to see Jason?

Soon, the group stopped at the entrance of the village, dusty and tired, as if they hadn't rested along the way.

Weiss walked up to Baron, grabbed Baron's shoulder, looked pained, and said in a trembling voice:

"Jason... is dead."

Baron blinked, his eyes slowly widened.

He stiffly turned his head to look at the others.

The crowd dispersed, revealing Weber in the middle.

Weber put the corpse in his hand on the ground, his face heavy, and took two steps back.

Baron looked carefully and recognized that this tragic corpse was Jason.

He suddenly closed his eyes, and the muscles on his face twitched.

The crowd stood silently, without making a sound.

This group of hunters all knew that Baron was Jason's guide and that the two had an extraordinary relationship, so they brought Jason's body to Frostwood Village.

After all, Baron was the only "relative" of Jason they could find.

After a long time, Baron reopened his eyes, his face full of indescribable grief.

Jason was the most outstanding hunter he had ever taught. He spared no effort in imparting his skills and always felt that with Jason's talent, he should have a greater future, and he had always hoped so.

Two days ago, he was still chatting with Jason about the future, giving him guidance on life experience.

But at this moment, Jason was lying quietly in front of him, almost unrecognizable, and died so tragically...

A genius he had discovered, who was supposed to have a bright future, had died like this?

He didn't expect that the farewell under the night two days ago would become a final farewell!

Baron's face twitched, and his eyes suddenly turned red.

"Tell me... how did he die!"