How Am I Still Alive?-Chapter 1307 - 1293: Climbing

"So busy, so busy, I wish I could keep vacationing for a..."

"A day? A month? A year?"

The familiar dialogue had occurred again, prompting Lu Ping’an to start his usual complaints when Captain Xia, urging him to work overtime, looked at him irritably as if he were a "child who never grew up."

"A lifetime."

Lu Ping’an sighed. He was a Contractor, unable to lie, and he truly wished to retire.

The arrival of Lulu and the others also meant the end of Lu Ping’an’s vacation, where just the team’s work seemed nearly endless.

Beyond that, he still needed to communicate with the Salvation Army, study the local Magic Plants and ritual situations, and engage in wits and bravery at the political level with the Big Shots... After he had already confirmed an alliance and deep cooperation with the Salvation Army, he also needed to ensure the voting process, to avoid ultimately casting a frivolous verdict.

"If it really comes to ’I thought you guys would vote for nation-building, so I voted to leave, but you all thought the same way’..."

Just imagining such a preposterous scenario actually happening made Lu Ping’an’s scalp tingle.

Not to mention, it’s not impossible—didn’t a certain country vote for Brexit, and didn’t many leaders of nations, after being elected, have countless voters regretting their decision intensely?

Handling these matters wasn’t tiring; they just took a great deal of heart and time, while Lu Ping’an currently had two of the most important tasks.

"We must ensure the ’ritual’s’ success rate and increase my own strength..."

Lu Ping’an had reached the Sixth-tier, and though he had stepped into the Quasi-rule level, he was still essentially a blank slate at this tier. His secondary profession was lacking, his core Professional Skills had not awakened, and he had not even completed his career planning.

Combat power was always the first priority, but some things seemed truly urgent, so Lu Ping’an could only take things one step at a time.

And now, it seemed there was a super supplement right in front of him.

"Fragments, still unable to absorb them?"

"Don’t squander invaluable resources before you supplement the piece you’re missing," it was advised.

In a corner of the yard, within a small pavilion, an Ancient Mirror Fragment was embedded.

Lu Ping’an had intended to let the yard absorb it directly, but from the feedback, if it were truly decoded and absorbed, the offer given was only a thousand... This meant the yard’s absorption rate was incredibly low, it might even regard it simply as an ordinary Rule-level item.

The loss of points was a minor issue; the waste of an irreplaceable fragment was key.

Big Cat had checked it, and indeed, the "mirror" was related to space, but the reason it could not form a high-specification rule building was, ultimately, "the foundation was not solid."

"Supplementing the corresponding profession should get it sorted, right?"

"So you say, do you have a plan in mind?"

"I do, haven’t we seen it before? Quite powerful, but I fear we might need to revisit home, to seek the... Moon God."

A mere "mirror," Lu Ping’an estimated, could not be completely fused by him, but if it were the main battle profession from the old days in the Silent World, the "Moon Goddess Knight," that would be another matter entirely.

One must realize that high-level Moon God Knights have already reflected concepts such as mirrors, satellites, and the moon itself, together constructing the vision of "Illusions and Dreams." At its core, their ability is essentially the "distance between reality and fantasy." At this tier, it has become an exceedingly superior "Space Concept," even bordering on "Virtual and Real Space Conversion."

"If there’s a treasure hanging from the ceiling that I can’t reach, then climbing up the ladder set by the Moon God is a pretty good choice. It saves time, effort, and is of high quality."

The Moon God Knight is indeed a rare profession, but since the Moon God has joined the ranks of the Earth Gods, it’s certain that native Earth already has them.

Going back to native Earth to retrieve some high-level Moon God Knights from the Silent Mountain Range World to "sell to the library," and then borrowing the power of the Moon God, should rapidly help accumulate points in this occupation level.

The courtyard and physical body of Lu Ping’an influence each other; rule buildings can enhance his abilities and talents, and each increase in his abilities, each addition to his profession, involves changes to the courtyard.

Big Cat estimates that when the courtyard fills in this rule, it should be able to absorb the "fragments" quite effectively.

"Among your four main professions, the ’Fragment of Wisdom’ corresponds to the Scholar, ’Life’s Wish (Reconstruction Evolution)’ corresponds to the life system, and ’mirror’ matches the Space Runner. With such a foundation, your gains after breakthrough will be immense, and your future advancements won’t delay you too long...."

Big Cat’s words carried an unmistaken envy. The previously mentioned "God’s Keystone" was already outrageous, but Lu Ping’an was using a "World Keystone" to establish the foundation, straight away setting a standard with three or four pieces.

"...Why do I get the feeling you’re implying something, that balance is still needed?"

"Before, no one could afford it, but if balance can still be maintained, it’s definitely beneficial."

Lu Ping’an sighed. His remaining profession was "Soldier," which in fact belonged to the Death system.

At least in Lu Ping’an’s hands, it showed more of the life system’s reverse traits, bringing forth the Black Knight of death.

"I’ll speak to Lulu and the others about it, treat it as a payment... but don’t get your hopes too high. This item is also a top-ranking rarity, and the number of absorbents is quite high; we might not have it in stock."

This world lacks many things, but there’s certainly no shortage of high-tier life systems. Contrary to what many might imagine, a considerable number actually combine the life and death systems, which also leads to "Death Fragments" always being sought on the leadership boards, yet never seeing actual trades.

Of course, Lu Ping’an is not in a rush, given that before absorbing the fragments, it’s best to advance his other professions to sixth-tier or even quasi-rule level.

"...Ah, the moment I open my eyes, there is endless work to do."

This was the root of Lu’s consistent complaints, as he was swamped with endless chaotic tasks, whether they were official duties or personal matters. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Considering the reality that strength brings influence, the "personal" task of enhancing strength is hard to clearly distinguish from official business, and when many matters need handling at the same time, Lu also felt somewhat overwhelmed.

What frustrated him the most was that some lessons must be thoroughly learned.

"Lu Ping’an, as a Gardener, your essential job..."

This was a problem obvious to everyone. As a Gardener, Lu Ping’an possessed a host of unique abilities of the life system, even having already crossed into the realms of Healer, Beast Tamer, and Craftsman. Yet, in his core field of caring for Magic Plants, his achievements were somewhat ambiguous.

It’s not that there weren’t any good things, but as a Quasi-rule level Gardener, he hadn’t established any "signature" yet.

"After all, Gardener is also a Developer’s field. Each high-level Gardener, Beast Tamer, and Healer has their own specialized areas. Even Liu Zibei was a ’Tree-man Master,’ and in this area, I..."

Lu was somewhat helpless; he had a pile of technologies to "revise" and "reconstruct" Magic Plants, but to showcase results, to share finished products with other Gardeners while still overwhelmingly outperforming them technically, Lu Ping’an needed only time and an endless number of "experiments."

And the Sun Tree, still slowly burning outside the window, might be a "Mother Tree," but to truly turn it into a stream of countless academic results, Lu Ping’an still needed to refine and experiment.