Beast Tide (1)
「Fail, You are out of time and I am no longer giving you the chance to buy more chances or time.」
「Wait! there is clearly more time left, you said that I had two hours left just a few minutes ago!」
「I changed my mind. You fail, Stop bothering me I have to go and improve my array for the beast tide.」
「But-」
「Okay! I have determined you to know absolutely nothing about arrays and have come here just to make trouble. I have just submitted a report to the clerk. I won't see you out, I still have to meet up with the manager.」
After Xiao Cao left, Chen Hua took out the books from his inventory and began to read.
The Next Day:
「The beast tide is not far off, the earliest it will arrive is at noon. Your cultivation is still low you can not go beyond the walls after 10:00.」
「Ok father, I will be sure not to go beyond the city walls before 10:00, I will go see if there are any weaker beasts coming out of the forest now.」
「Just be careful, In the early hours the beasts are of your least concern. You should beware of the people around you as well, many will not have good intentions, especially since you are only seven.
And remember, as soon as you see signs of beasts of the spirit realm run. If you can go to the inscription branch of the mechanic's hall nad get a few speed-boosting talismans.」
「Okay father, do not worry so much I will be fine. I have this after all.」
「Is that?... Is that a two-star array master badge?」
「Yes, I have secretly been learning arrays. Now I am a 2-star array master, you do not have to worry about your son. I have also set up some basic protections around the room as well. Here, take this formation plate, it is already linked to the formations in the room. Use this to deactivate and activate the different defences. There are alarm arrays on the windows and doors as well as basic soundproofing and there are basic bronze grade strengthening arrays around the door and windows. I will be going now, remember, to stay safe.」
Leaving he rushed out of the inn and down the street towards the gate. Stopping at a street stall he bought a few steam buns and ate them along the way to the gate.
「Hey, Kid, it is dangerous out beyond the gate, I recommend that you do not exit the safety of the walls.」
「Thank you for your kind intentions, but I can protect my self just fine. 」
「Really? alone? If you really want to go I personally would not recommend trying to hire any mercenaries to protect you as if you do have enough to hire them than you would probably have money to spare and they will try to rob you. Of course, this usually only applies to the individual groups and not any of the larger associations. If you are looking for a more trustable course you can always look to hire an off-duty soldier looking to get some action or make some extra money.」
「I will be fine alone thank you, I will be back before 10 so I probably will not encounter any of the spirit realm beasts since the only ones that are coming out of the forest at this time are the weaker ones only at the body strengthening level.」
「Okay... Just be careful, even though you are a kid I cannot stop you from exiting the gates, but just remember that We will be forced to shut the gates once the best tide begins to pick up and the weak unmanned turrets begin to fall.」
Waking out of the main gate Chen Hua became alert and began to walk down the main road. At this time there were no longer any people coming into the city as they have either already made it into the city or have been cut off by the beast tide. as he continued to wald along parallel to the forest he could hear some clashing from the other cultivators fighting a few beasts within the forest. Every now and again there would be one that would escape but it would be shot down by the unmanned turrets. Readying himself he prepared to face off against the next beast to come running out from the forest.
Roar! A medium-sized beast came running out of the forest. It was the Fang toothed wolf typically at the 4-5th stage of the body refinement realm. The leaders of the pack would typically be at the seventh stage of the body refinement realm. An average-sized pack of fangtooth wolves would range from 15 to 30. After quickly dispatching the wolf he prepared for the next beast to come running out from the forest.
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Name: ≪Chen Hua≫≪Feng Shan (Current)≫
Titles: ≪N/A≫
Profession (s): Apprentice Inscription Master (Unofficial) --- Array Master 2:2 --- Apprentice
Blacksmith (Unofficial)
HP: 750/750 MP: 250/250
Level: 8 EXP: 158/450)
Age: 7 Race: Human
Strength: 8.2 Dexterity: 8.2
Agility: 8.3 Intelligence: 8.3
Status Points: 10 Mastery points: 10 Lottery draws: 0
Shop transactions remaining: 0 Free conversions remaining: 1
Currency: You won't be needing this stat in the future
Equipment: Icy wind dagger --- Model 4G-D1 Energy Shield --- Amplification series Shortsword
Current Missions: Help in the defence of the city
Skills: ...
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At 9:30 he started to head back with some of the more valuable materials to be sold at the Hall. Walking through the gate he saw the guard from earlier, who smiled at him then continued to observe the situation at the borders of the forest.
Walking down the main road he eventually made to the appraisal counter in the mechanic's hall. The appraisal counter is for the appraisers but also functions as where different materials and treasures are to be sold, unless, one were to deal directly with a specific branch of the Hall rather than just selling a few things.
Completing the transaction he sold a total of 8 fang-toothed wolves fangs, pelts, and claws, as well as 3 Iron Boar tusks. With it reaching 10:00 he headed off to the arrays counter to go and check on the sales and production of his array plates.
Ding! New sub-mission! Help with the manufacturing of the array plates you created
Details: Help with the manufacturing of the array plates you created, the success rate of the 2 and 3-star array masters is pitifully low at around forty-five to fifty percent.
Conditions for success: Raise overall success rate to eighty percent or higher
Success: Increased score for the main mission
Failure: Decreased score for the main mission
Time Limit: 6 hours
Quest rejection: No affect.
Accept Quest? [Y/N]
「Yes」
「New mission accepted, 」
Arriving at the location where the different array masters were making the arrays from the copied instruction sheets that Chen Hua had made earlier, he noticed that there were small piles of crates sitting around with the different materials in them. Looking over at the piles of materials and noticing nothing wrong he went over to the vice manager who was staring at a pile of failed array plates sitting atop his desk.
「Vice manager, how is your success rate?」
「Not too good, I have only completed around 13 out of the 24 I tried to make. The others are doing a little worse. You can make these, right?」
「Yes, I have just come here to check on the production of the array plates and see if there is anything that I could help with. It appears that you all need help with raising the success rate, right?」
「Ha, Yes, although this success rate is a bit low it should be better. getting it to the sixty-five percent mark should be good.」
「If I may ask, what are the usual success rates for making formation plates?」
「Typically only grade two array masters would make array plates. A good success rate would be 65 percent or above while a high success rate would be considered seventy-five percent. Most of the time array masters can only have a hundred percent success rate at formation plates one level below theirs.」
「Okay, can I see you try to make one of these, I will try and help out where I can after the process.」
...
「You could work on improving the timings at when to place the different nodes and supporting arrays. If you pull out the diagram in the instructions I left on how to make this array you will notice that there are four different sets of numbers at each node. The first number on top is the order in which you should place the nodes, I believe that you have already understood that. The second number is the timing for when you should place the next node from when you placed the previous one. The third number is the order of which the different sub-arrays should be connected and the fourth number is for the timings of the connections of the sub-arrays. Try making one again but follow these guidelines again; I also saw some other small errors while you were creating the first one but some of those would be fixed with by following the different timings.」
...
「There are a few other smaller errors you are making. Although I did not put this into the directions, your spiritual energy is more attuned towards certain elements and the different timings have to be slightly adjusted because your spiritual energy can pull in a little more of one element and a little less of another due to the innate attunement and cause some slight instabilities. these can be revealed when the step fr making the supporting arrays comes around.」
「Kid, who exactly is your teacher? You even know about this theory, if it were not for me reading a couple of ancient texts I found hidden in the restricted area of the branch library I would not have known of this theory.」
「Now make twenty more array plates and check your success rate. When you are done I have to ask you to edit the instruction sheets according to your experiences. I will be back in a little while so if anyone needs further instruction on raising the success rate then you can me then.」
「Okay, I will see where I can improve their success rates, but do you know the different timings for the different elemental affinities are for? No, I also read the theory from an old book and only developed the instructions according to neutrality compared to how I typically make them. Although I cannot help in this aspect much, I can say that the overall timings do not change more than two seconds.」
Leaving the room he went down the hall and found a private room. Pulling out one o the array manuals he continued to study for a few hours. Upon closing the book he saw a translucent screen floating within his vision.
Congratulations! You have raised the success rate of the array masters to eighty-seven percent. Your overall score in the main mission has been increased by 34.8 percent.
Upon seeing this message he decided to not go back to where the array masters were and just decided to leave a message with the receptionist on his way out. Looking up at the sky and realizing that it was a little past 1:00 he made his way towards the city walls. On his way, there were few people in the streets and those who were out were rushing about. As he made his way towards the city gates the trembles being sent through the ground became greater and greater with faint roars of different beasts in the background. Just as the gates came into sight he saw the closed gates with the different turrets atop the walls occasionally firing off. Just behind the walls, there were tents set up one of which had a large noise-cancelling array around it. There was occasionally an attendant or two running out with bottles or an attendant running in with crates. This was the apothecary association's tent for refining pills to treat the injured while the tents were a temporary field hospital.