ctnovel Chapter 35 The Dilemma of Advancement
Chapter 35 The Dilemma of Advancement
……
Twenty minutes later, Jiang Yong, carrying a box, swaggered out of the military camp through the main gate amidst the guards' questioning gazes.
"With this intelligence, Cloud City should be able to hold out longer..."
Recalling the information he had obtained from his previous conversation with the commander and his various experiences in his past life, Jiang Yong walked and calculated his next course of action step by step.
This is still in the early stages of the conflict, and both sides are acting with restraint. According to the commander, there have not even been any casualties since the fighting began.
This isn't surprising. Currently, armies composed of ordinary civilians haven't been deployed on a large scale; it's all expert-level elites fighting each other, mostly around non-lethal facilities like relay radios and support vehicles. Furthermore, battles between expert-level fighters are relatively easier to hold back—simply destroy the opponent's Pokémon without finishing them off.
At this stage, the significance of the intelligence provided by Jiang Yong was not to turn Yunqi City from a passive to an active position, but to understand the opponent's strategy, making defense more flexible, reducing internal pressure, and at the same time, to delay the people of Tiandu City as much as possible, buying time for the negotiation table.
This even aligns with the interests of the City Lord of Tiandu. He wouldn't risk offending the entire Confederation by launching a large-scale war directly. Instead, he would proceed gradually, first clearing out his eastern rear territory, and taking advantage of the turmoil to capture more people for sacrifice. Once the eastern territory was stabilized, he would then launch a full-scale war, significantly accelerating the production of the artificial spirit.
For Jiang Yong, this means more time to develop, enough for him to acquire most of the resources he needs for growth before the war begins—like now.
After weighing the box in his hands, Jiang Yong revealed a smile like that of a bountiful old farmer.
Just like his previous transactions with the black market, he didn't ask for an exorbitant price this time. Both parties ended up having a pleasant exchange, and even the goodwill he lost for trespassing on the military camp was recovered. However, what he asked for this time were things extremely important to him, including over a hundred gold coins; some military-grade spirit supplements that would save him experience points for leveling up his spirits; a considerable amount of high-end mechanical materials that were difficult to obtain through normal channels; and…
You have received the "Research on Composite Materials" award!
[Note: This item can be used as a job title to unlock the "Craftsman" job, or to provide 3000 experience points to an already unlocked job.]
You have received the "Lecture Notes on Signal Processing Principles"
[Note: This item can be used as a job title to unlock the "Craftsman" job, or to provide 5000 experience points to an already unlocked job.]
You have received the "Standardized Design Guidelines"!
【Note:……】
This is enough skill book for him to level up the "Craftsman" profession to the maximum level and unlock the next stage of advancement!
These were all internal military reference materials, which included many effective skills. Jiang Yong also seized the opportunity, requesting several other professional skill books besides the craftsman series, intending to use them as needed after completing his advancement.
……
A moment later, Jiang Yong returned to his residence, re-bound his homestead, and then eagerly opened his briefcase, dumping out all the craftsmanship manuals inside.
"Learn everything!"
Your "Craftsman" profession has been upgraded to level 6!
Your "Craftsman" profession has been upgraded to level 7!
……
Your "Craftsman" profession has been upgraded to level 10 (max)!
[Your Health +50, Stamina +2, Constitution +2, Spirit +3, Coordination +3!]
You have acquired the trait "Machine Manipulator"!
You have learned the skill "Layout Optimization"!
You've acquired so many skills you're "overloaded"!
Consuming over 30,000 experience points, the "Craftsman" profession directly reaches the maximum level, with a total level of 20, the maximum F-rank, and gains a new trait and two new skills.
"Machine Manipulator" is a trait that comes with the "Craftsman" skill at max level. Its effect is to increase the damage of the mechanical attribute spirits controlled by the craftsman by 10% and the production efficiency of the home by 5%. It is useful in both combat and production and has good versatility. "Layout Optimization" is a skill that comes with the "Standardized Design Guide". Its effect is to increase the production efficiency of the spirits in the home by 10% and increase the efficiency of gaining experience by an additional 5%. It is considered a great skill for AFK farming in the early stages.
"Overload" is another combat skill that allows one's vacuum energy to simulate the effect of mechanical energy overload, increasing the damage of the next attack by a full 30%, but it will consume 20 stamina points at once and has a three-minute cooldown. It is a burst method used to catch the enemy off guard, and when combined with "Prediction", it can reliably deal high output.
Your level has reached the rank cap. You need to complete the job change quest before you can continue leveling up.
"Finally, I'm about to advance to the next level."
Seeing the pop-up notification on the panel, Jiang Yong took a deep breath, rubbed his hands together, and then opened the panel details.
The advancement tasks for each rank are not fixed, but randomly selected from a limited range. The difficulty varies, but since level 20 is the initial advancement, the task difficulty will not be too high. He estimates that he will complete the task in about a few days, at which time he will leap to become an E-rank contractor known as a "master," which is considered high-end combat power on the entire planet Carlo!
"Let me see what kind of random task I got this time..."
[You have triggered the level 20 job advancement quest
[Mission Objective: Collect all elemental attributes (including dual attributes) from either the "Nature" or "Transcendent" factions.]
"Damn it, why is it this?!"
Jiang Yong's vision went black, and he couldn't help but question the meaning of life.
To be fair, this advancement quest isn't particularly difficult. Generally, it can be easily completed by catching or buying Pokémon in two or three days. Furthermore, this quest has an added benefit: after advancement, you gain an extra trait depending on the chosen faction. For the Nature faction, it's called "Nature Affinity," and for the Extraordinary faction, it's called "Path to the Extraordinary," both of which are growth-oriented traits that provide significant bonuses. Getting this quest should theoretically be considered quite lucky… but that's only true for the player.
But when it comes to Jiang Yong, it brings a terrible problem—
Carlo Star is just an ordinary planet, and the types of spirit elements on it are incomplete!
There is no shadow element among natural elements, and no mystery element among extraordinary elements!
Neither of these two approaches will work!
It's almost fair to say that before encountering interstellar travel, he had no hope of advancing on Carlo Star. But by the time interstellar civilizations reached Carlo Star, it was too late; there was no chance for him to advance at all.
"Is this forcing me to become a master of technique, clearing the main storyline of Carlo Star with only level 20 stats?"
Jiang Yong gritted his teeth—what a joke! Even if those level 50 or 60 elites and lord-level elves just stood still and let him hit them, it would take him ten days or half a month to grind them down!