"Isn’t this method even more trouble than the Creation Copper Heart?" Su Chen shot him a look.
"Sigh..." Luo Shuhang said helplessly. "Time-based requirements are the most troublesome. If you don’t meet the deadline, you just don’t. To perfectly assume a profession, you can’t be off by even a little."
"Besides time acceleration, are there any other ways?" Su Chen asked, his brow furrowed.
Luo Shuhang hesitated. Seeing Su Chen’s deep frown, he gritted his teeth and said, "Well, there is one other method."
"Oh?" Su Chen raised an eyebrow. "And what’s that?"
"Deceitful God’s Power," Luo Shuhang said gravely. "Through a special method, you can use Deceitful God’s Power to distort your own Pseudo-Spirituality. There’s a chance it might shorten the time requirement for assuming the profession."
Su Chen had heard Wan Chen mention this method before, and he grew pensive.
But Luo Shuhang spoke cautiously, "Sir, you’re still young. There’s no need to resort to such heretical methods. Besides, you’ll fight your way into the Holy List’s top one hundred sooner or later. Then you’ll be qualified to use the Creation Copper Heart, which comes with no negative consequences."
A glint appeared in Su Chen’s eyes. He wasn’t asking about this method for his own use, but rather for an external explanation.
Thanks to the Great Venerable’s reward, he could merge two professions and assume them directly.
He had considered it carefully. To maximize the benefits, both professions should ideally be from a Holy Profession Sequence.
However, he wasn’t planning on leaning toward the Blood Burner for now. The main reason was that after assuming the Soldier Master profession, the strain on his body was simply too immense.
Just maintaining the Enhancing Secret Artifact at Tier Six, even with the help of Gourmet and his other abilities, he couldn’t last more than five minutes. If you added intense combat and the cost of other abilities on top of that, he probably wouldn’t even last three.
Naturally, he set his sights on the Permanent Body Holy Profession Sequence, which focused on Physical Strength.
And from the time he’d acquired Hundred Refinement Forger until now, it had been four months at the most.
Yet its assumption requirement had a clear six-month time limit.
That was why Su Chen wanted to ask Luo Shuhang if there were any conventional means to shorten the time requirements for such professions.
But the methods Luo Shuhang mentioned were all troublesome. Only the Deceitful God’s Power was vague enough to serve as a plausible excuse.
’This could work,’ Su Chen thought, then asked, "Are there any hidden dangers to using Deceitful God’s Power to influence profession requirements?"
Seeing Su Chen’s genuine interest, Luo Shuhang’s heart pounded with fear. ’If this Star Seed gets involved with Deceitful God’s Power because of what I said and something goes wrong, I’ll never be able to escape the consequences.’
Luo Shuhang had no choice but to try and scare him off. "Deceitful God’s Power is extremely corrosive. Even after being weakened by special methods, there’s only a 10% chance it will affect the profession’s Pseudo-Spirituality."
"And that 10% chance is completely random. Sometimes it even increases the difficulty of the profession’s requirements. It’s totally uncontrollable."
"So it’s purely a matter of luck, then?" Su Chen said, understanding now.
Luo Shuhang nodded vigorously. "Exactly. It’s all about luck."
’In that case, if anyone investigates, I’ll use this as my explanation,’ Su Chen thought. ’Is it a crime to be lucky?’
Besides, he’d already had someone secretly purchase Deceitful God’s Power. That hadn’t been exposed yet, but if it ever was, this would perfectly explain what it was used for.
Luo Shuhang felt deeply uneasy, unsure if the Star Seed had taken his warnings to heart.
A moment later, Su Chen spoke again. "One more thing. Accessing Holy Professions—can it only be done sequentially?"
"Holy Professions?" Luo Shuhang paused, surprised Su Chen would bring this up. After a moment of thought, he asked, "Are you referring to the three publicly available Holy Professions in the Sect?
"Accessing their sequences does indeed have to go through the Copper Spirit, and it can only be done sequentially. This is for both protection and confidentiality."
"I see." Su Chen frowned. He had wanted to directly access the next two professions in the Permanent Body sequence and merge them into one.
Doing so would advance his progress in the Permanent Body sequence by a huge leap and would also perfectly satisfy his need for more Physical Strength.
If he could only access one at a time, he’d have to find another special profession focused on Physical Strength. But it was hard to say whether that would create unforeseen problems when it came to forging the Permanent Body.
"Are you hoping to access more of the Holy Profession Sequence to prepare in advance?" Luo Shuhang surmised.
"Yes," Su Chen nodded. "That’s the idea. Do you know a way to get the Copper Spirit to allow it?"
Luo Shuhang hesitated before speaking carefully. "The Copper Spirit isn’t a conventional AI. You can treat it like a person."
"Oh?" A flicker of interest in Su Chen’s eyes. "You mean it doesn’t always follow the rules to the letter?"
"It’s hard to say for sure, but you could try negotiating with it." Luo Shuhang wasn’t certain either; after all, his status wasn’t particularly high, and he’d only heard it mentioned in passing.
"I see. Understood. Thank you," Su Chen said, rising to his feet.
Luo Shuhang took the hint and stood up as well, preparing to leave.
Su Chen walked him out of the main building. As he was leaving, Luo Shuhang urged him one last time, "Deceitful God’s Power brings endless trouble. You have a vast future ahead of you; there’s no need to be so hasty."
"Don’t worry, Captain Luo. I was just asking," Su Chen replied gently, watching Luo Shuhang’s Flying Device depart until it vanished over the horizon.
Only then did he board another Flying Device and head for Copper Heart.
「...」
"Su Xingzhong..."
"Your Excellency..."
"Grand Martial Uncle..."
On the main road of Copper Heart, far more people were greeting him now. Su Chen estimated that out of every ten people, six or seven would stop to pay their respects with considerable enthusiasm.
The remaining three or four would at least give a nod.
It seemed as if, in the entire, massive Bronze Sect, there was no one left who bore him any ill will.
’Old Qing’s move was quite vicious,’ Su Chen thought. ’As long as Fan Zhao’s situation remains unresolved, it’s difficult for Qin Yun’s people to cause any trouble.’
Su Chen responded to each of them in turn, his neck starting to ache from all the nodding.
Arriving at the plaza before the Bronze Tower, he subconsciously glanced in the direction where the Ancient King Stele used to be. The spot was empty; even the chains had been removed. He wondered who had given that order.
’The stele still isn’t back,’ Su Chen muttered to himself. ’I wonder if the Ancient King has noticed anything suspicious. Probably not. It’s not like the stele can talk.’
There were quite a few people in the plaza. Seeing him enter the Bronze Tower sparked a round of discussion, with many guessing he was there to access a Holy Profession.
"I heard that this Star Seed was just here three or four months ago. He’s back to access another one so soon?"
"Is he necessarily here to access a Holy Profession?"
"He’s just a Star Seed. He couldn’t possibly be here to adjust the operational intervals of the three great satellite cities, could he?"
"..."
As the tower doors slowly closed, Su Chen thought to himself:
’Outsiders have no way of knowing which profession I chose. Within the Sect, only a handful of people are aware, but even they wouldn’t notice how quickly I’ve advanced unless they carefully checked the access times.’
Just as he was pondering this, lights intertwined before him, and the Copper Spirit’s voice slowly rang out. "Star Seed Su Chen, welcome. How may I assist you?"
"I want to access the next Professional Sequence in the Permanent Body Holy Profession."
"Please wait," the Copper Spirit responded. A moment later, its voice sounded again. "Regarding the second sequence of the Permanent Body Holy Profession, Hundred Refinement Forger, have you completed it?"
"That’s right. I’ve already assumed the profession," Su Chen confirmed with a nod.
He could clearly sense a brief pause. The Copper Spirit seemed to go silent for a moment before it spoke again. "Apologies for the trouble. Please proceed to the second floor for verification."
’It didn’t ask why I assumed the profession so quickly?’ Su Chen was somewhat surprised as he walked up to the second floor.
Just like last time, he gave a brief demonstration of his abilities. The Hundred Refinement Forger’s ability reduced all Physical Strength consumption by 30%, and with his additional bonus, this reduction reached 50%.
This reduction applied to everything from everyday activities like walking and sitting to extracting Elemental Energy. The outward manifestation was simply that he could endure for much longer.
As expected, he passed the Copper Spirit’s verification.
"Your speed in assuming this profession is truly astonishing," the Copper Spirit remarked, a hint of wonder in its voice. "Now accessing the next profession for you."
"Wait," Su Chen called out.
"Do you have another request?" the Copper Spirit inquired.
"I was wondering, is it possible to access the next two special professions required for the Permanent Body sequence at once?"
"Oh? Why do you wish to access them consecutively?" the Copper Spirit asked, seemingly puzzled. "You are currently a Tier Five Profession, and the next special profession is a perfect match for your Professional Tier. However, the requirement for the fourth profession in the Permanent Body Holy Profession Sequence is Tier Six, which you do not meet."