Chapter 486: Chapter 485: Asking Heaven Blade

Of course, becoming a lazy bum is out of the question.

This reward does seem nice.

Yep.

It’s decent for someone who doesn’t want to put in the effort, but for Shao Zifeng, it’s still lacking, because what he wants might not be in the treasury, and what is in the treasury only satisfies his daily needs.

The thing is, he is not someone who pursues a high quality of life.

Even sleeping in caves and eating unseasoned roasted fish wouldn’t bother him at all.

However, if he really had to choose between the two, this reward would suit him better.

Who knows, there might be some rare item in the treasury that he could snag.

“This one then!”

Once he made up his mind, Shao Zifeng didn’t hesitate any longer.

“Not changing your mind? I think joining the military is pretty good,” Lu Anan said in a tempting tone, “Just think about it, you could be the youngest National Guardian General in the future. Imagine how many young ladies would admire you.”

Shao Zifeng glanced at her, “How many can I marry under our country’s laws?”

“Just one,” Lu Anan replied instinctively.

“Then what do I need so many young ladies’ admiration for?” Shao Zifeng looked at Lu Anan as if she were a fool.

Feeling indignant under his gaze, Lu Anan argued, “Are you dumb? Sure, you can only marry one, but can’t you keep a mistress?”

Wow.

Shao Zifeng was stunned.

He realized that whenever they didn’t talk about serious matters, this woman, who wasn’t much older than him, could become quite unreasonable and say anything.

Seeing Shao Zifeng choke, Lu Anan perked up, “Am I wrong? Any capable man wouldn’t just stick to one. Tianwen, don’t you think so?”

“Ahem.” Seeing the conversation veering off, Li Tianwen glared at Lu Anan, “Serious matters.”

Bored, Lu Anan pouted, “Since you’ve already made up your mind, just insert the card into your phone to authenticate it. Once your personal information is verified, the contacts in your old phone card will automatically transfer to this new one.”

Shao Zifeng did as instructed, removing the black card and inserting it into the slot under his phone.

“Welcome, esteemed ‘s01’ user. Since this is your first login to the client, please follow the instructions.” The electronic mechanical voice began, and the screen text updated in real-time: “Step one, please enter your identification number.”

While entering the number, Shao Zifeng curiously asked, “By the way, what does ‘s01’ mean?”

“It’s a level of authority,” Lu Anan casually replied. “It’s based on the military’s promotion system. The greater the contribution, the earlier the number. There are also rankings like ‘a001’ ‘b0001’ and such. When merit points accumulate to a certain amount, it bumps the previous person up automatically.”

“But you don’t have to worry, your ‘s01’ is fixed. Even if someone else does a great job, they can only get as high as ‘s02′.”

“Oh,” Shao Zifeng asked without looking up, “So, is there any benefit to this?”

He wasn’t very concerned about rankings; he just wanted to know if there were any tangible benefits.

“Well, benefits…” Lu Anan’s slender fingers massaged her temple, then lit up, “Fame, social status, stuff like that. After all, anyone who becomes one of the top ten civilians nationwide is really strong. Heh, you’ll definitely get a lot of young ladies’ admiration…”

While following the guide’s instructions, Shao Zifeng’s hand twitched.

Glancing at Lu Anan, he had pretty much confirmed that this woman’s thoughts were somewhat problematic.

“Congratulations on completing the guide operation, we wish you great success in your martial endeavors.”

A line of text flashed across the screen, and the electronic mechanical voice ended, revealing a rough-looking interface.

As a prototype in trial operation, the UI was very crude.

Besides switching to phone mode, the blank page only had three options available: ‘Missions,’ ‘Merit/Points,’ and ‘Item Exchange.’

Shao Zifeng first opened the ‘Item Exchange’ option.

Please wait…

Please wait…

Shao Zifeng’s mouth twitched. Such a simple page still had a delay–was it that hard to optimize?

After waiting for over ten seconds, the page finally finished loading. The relatively small screen of the phone was instantly overloaded with hundreds of item names.

Cash ten thousand yuan.

Cash one hundred thousand yuan.

Energy Potion Type I (Wood)

The densely packed tiny characters gave Shao Zifeng a headache: “Is this system so sloppy that it doesn’t even have item images?”

Lu Anan said nonchalantly, “Well, it’s just a prototype. You can hardly expect those straight-male engineers to beautify the interface for you.”

“Besides, there’s a search feature. Just search for whatever you want.”

Shao Zifeng thought about it and typed ‘weapon’ into the search bar.

He urgently needed a Tang sword to compensate for the emptiness of the sheath. The limitations of short swords were too great, and they were often cumbersome to use.

Please wait…

This time, the loading was much faster.

A few weapon names appeared on the phone screen, and clicking on the names would show some descriptions.

“Type A Mass Production Military Dagger: Phased out standard military daggers with decent cutting ability. Each side of the bayonet is grooved to allow air to enter the body when it penetrates human flesh, enlarging the wound to an irreparable extent.”

“Type E Experimental Elemental Military Saber: A lab-produced experimental military saber with some ability for Elemental Conduction. Therefore, its chopping ability and hardness are a notch lower than traditional military sabers.”

“Type E Experimental Elemental Dagger: Same as above”

After roughly browsing the information, the so-called Type A Mass Production Military Dagger was a mature weapon in terms of craftsmanship, while the Type E Experimental Elemental Weapons, like the Tang sword he had custom-made last time, were just starting out according to the internal ratings given by the lab to different manufacturing processes.

Shao Zifeng thought for a while and decided he had to continue customizing a Type E Elemental Weapon for his Tang sword since he hadn’t found the right material for it yet.

Besides, he planned to choose another weapon with ice properties.

Thinking of this, Shao Zifeng looked at Li Tianwen.

He had noticed the sword in Li Tianwen’s hands since they had entered.

Since they were discussing matters, he hadn’t had the chance to ask.

After a slight hesitation, Shao Zifeng spoke up, “General Li, is this sword crafted from Coldstream Iron? May I take a look at it?”

Li Tianwen’s grip on the sword tightened, and his gaze sharpened significantly.

For someone as obsessed with martial arts as he was, this custom-made weapon was deeply cherished. Even Qin Zhenbei, another National Guardian General, hadn’t been allowed to examine it.

After a brief hesitation, Li Tianwen still passed the weapon to Shao Zifeng.

“Thank you.”

Taking the sheathed battle sword, Shao Zifeng felt a weight in his hand and a chill seeped into his skin.

Compared to the straight and slim Tang sword, this blade was much wider; the overall design was very simple, adorned only with the words “Asking the Heavens” engraved in ancient seal script on the black fish-skin sheath.

Shao Zifeng gripped the handle and exerted a slight force.

Clang!

A crisp sword cry sounded, and a bone-chilling coldness instantly rushed towards him.

In this chill, Shao Zifeng even felt a slight pain on his skin.

(PS: Thanks for the 500 reward from “Sipping Tea in Qin River”. Accidentally rewarded myself 500 points, and a good chunk of it was swallowed by the platform. I cried over my own foolishness.

So, dear readers who haven’t voted yet, please drop your votes! Yikes! Feeling pity for myself!)