Chapter 148 – Florida Man Encourages Martial Art Students to Bring Guns to Karate Class
Since Leo lacked proper healing medicines, he queued the available workshop to produce Hope and Dream Pills.
DING
<Remaining Time: 6 Days 23 Hours, 59 Minutes, 58 Seconds…>
The timer was quite long for a healing pill, but Leo couldn't help it. After all, all workshops had the same setting.
.
Basic Alchemy Workshop Level 9
Active Cauldrons: (1/5)
Alchemist Automatons (1/5)
Production Quality Level – (5/5)
Production Quantity Level – [2/5]
.
Leo regretted putting two points to the quantity level. Had he put those points to active cauldrons, he would have increased the production speed by 200%!
'Should I upgrade my store to level 10? But if I do that, the system protection is going to be…'
He deeply sighed. He wished that the threat was just a joke. Thus, he walked to the general store and touched the wall, prompting it to show an upgrade menu.
DING
<Would you like to upgrade Humble General Store to level 10?>
<Warning! Upgrading your Humble General Store to level 10 will unlock the PVP feature and disable your newbie protection domain. Once upgraded, you cannot decrease its level!>
<Warning! Upgrading your Humble General Store to level 10 will activate Fate Crystal's Main Quests. Please strengthen your base before you start the main quests.>
Leo closed the menu and grumbled. He thought of the conversation he had with Meowmeow and the other three guardian statues as the new feature was closely related to the entity fate crystal inside him.
'Damn it all. There's no free meal in this universe. Damn that Entity Fate Crystal! Damn this universe!'
During the past 50,000 years, Leo went through thick and thin. He died and revived several times, and he faced countless tribulations. He should not have been invincible among all his peers.
However, Leo was afraid of the terms "PVP" and "PLAYERS". He hated the idea that there might be somebody else with a similar system or strength as his.
'Should I enable it, or should I delay it for now?'
Leo slowly opened his eyes. His expression turned cold as he thought about a potential war between his people and the unknown forces of PLAYERS.
As he had a new goal in his mind, he moved according to his urgent need. Leo rushed to the warehouse and scoured for swords, blades, knives, and other weapons. After fetching a dozen long swords and scimitars, he gathered them in front of the alchemy workshop.
Leo stared at his workshop for an hour. He repeatedly sighed as he was in the middle of making a harsh decision.
After an hour of long thought, Leo rechecked his lifespan pool.
<Current Lifespan: 458,443 Years…>
Leo splurged a bit as he purchased so many modern cars to decorate his store. Still, he replenished some of them back from random caimans that fell from the flying platform.
He wanted to save up until he had a million years. However, his patience ran low as the workshops took too long to make pills.
'Screw it! I'll save up for a few more days. After that stupid tournament, I'll think about it again.'
Leo managed to suppress his intrusive thoughts. He killed time by bringing out the crashed Ferrari car to practice controlling it.
.
SCREEEEECH
The enhanced vehicle beamed like a missile, circling around the road course. The loud engine noise and the screeching tires distracted the disciples on the farm and the junkyard.
Hua Jiashan and other elders admired the vehicle from afar as they mistook it as a modified carriage for land travel. They quickly got bored and returned to their duties, cultivating and completing their daily tasks.
While the workers slowly got used to the new ambiance of their workplace, a certain alchemist disciple had bad luck.
Gao Yan, whose combat and cultivation foundation was the weakest among nascent soul cultivators, was forced to take combat lessons.
In front of him, Esen held an iron pine branch as if she was holding a sword. As for Gao Yan, he stood nearby, mimicking her posture.
"This sword technique is called Terra Swordsmanship. It originates from the Kingdom of Merroc, the home of divine knights! Its strongest point is the firm and minimal movement! Watch carefully!"
Gao Yan gulped. Although he used to practice the sword saint's weapon techniques from the stone mural, he was interested in this pretty woman's refined sword arts.
WHOOSH
Esen changed her posture. She held the branch close to her head and pointed the sword tip to the sky. Using the starting posture as a pivot, she rotated her weapon and swung it.
Her range was short, but the momentum never ceased. She swiped, thrust, and slashed like how a spear militia always practiced. However, her feet barely moved from the starting position.
Despite the simplicity of the sword art, each strike from her carried a dao and sword intent. Her movement left behind sharp cuts in the wind, creating scary sounds.
After demonstrating the first three movements, Esen stopped. She pointed at Gao Yan's wooden sword and ordered him.
"Now, your turn."
"…"
Gao Yan took a deep breath and mimicked Esen's movements. However, he was a lot slower than her, and his swing didn't carry enough power of a nascent soul cultivator.
In short, he still used the speed when he was a muscle-tempering realm cultivator.
"Faster! More momentum!"
"O-Okay!"
Gao Yan repeated the moves. Even though he pushed his body to move faster, he couldn't command his body to move as he wanted.
"AGAIN!"
"Y-YES, SENIOR!"
Once more, Gao Yan tried harder, yet his speed didn't improve.
"TOO SLOW! REPEAT IT 30,000 TIMES!"
"W-What? T-Thirty thousand?! That's impossible!"
"Shut it and do it! You're the only combatant among the representatives! The others are tamers, so they don't have to worry about the training. But you, silly boy, you don't know jack shit about a fight between nascent soul cultivators. If you go to the competition right now, you will die 100%!"
Gao Yan's face was as white as a sheet. Although he used to practice the sword saint's technique a few thousand times a day, 30,000 times was a scary number.
"Stop hesitating and do it until you drop! You have only less than two weeks to prepare! GET MOVING!"
"Y-YES, SENIOR!"
Gao Yan cried as he swung the wooden sword in his hand.
.
.
10 Days quickly passed. It was one day before the gathering appointment at the Cauliflower City.
Five representatives of Leo's domain were ready. Esen, Gao Yan, Yao Qiqi, Cat, Taxi, Ricardo, and two girls from the sanctuary brought their belongings and stood in front of Leo's store, waiting for him to take them to the Cauliflower City.
Gao Yan, Esen, Yao Qiqi, and the girls wore the signature tactical suits. Their black clothes, white shirts, neckties, black pants, and leather shoes made them look good.
Cat, Taxi, and Ricardo also got their new clothes. Cat received a green dress, which covered her humanoid torso on top of the big mouth below her. As for the nightmare and the unicorn, Leo equipped them with a saddle, a saddle blanket, stirrups, cinches, bridles, and reins.
Everybody seemed ready, but Leo was dissatisfied.
"Hmm."
Leo sized up Gao Yan and others. He wasn't worried about Yao Qiqi and the two extra tamers as Cat and the horses would do the fight for them. He was more worried about the teenager.
"How is your preparation going? I saw you trained with Esen in the past two weeks. Are you confident?"
Gao Yan slouched and let out a long sigh. He then shook his head.
"I don't know, senior. In the past 10 days, Senior Esen only taught me three basic movements. I don't think I'm ready to fight any nascent soul cultivator."
Hua Jiashan and other elders were in the area. When they noticed that Gao Yan had no self-confidence, they laughed at him.
Wu Buyi smacked the teenager's back.
"Look, my silly disciple. Nobody in the tournament will have the same cultivation base as you! At best, a few golden core cultivators from the Situ Clan, Ouyang Clan, or the Imperial family will show up. There's a huge disparity between a golden core cultivator and a nascent soul cultivator. As long as you utilize your dao avatar well, you can't lose!"
Han Hao nodded in agreement, "He's right. There's no way that you can lose. You can use your dao avatar, right?"
Gao Yan flinched. Then, he sneaked glances at Thora, who had always been following him around.
Thora stuck out her tongue and ensured him.
'Do you think I'm here for decoration? Be confident, darling.'
"…"
Gao Yan felt a bit better. He then nervously gazed at Leo and Esen.
"I-I'll try my best, senior. I won't disappoint you!"
Leo scoffed, "I know. Oh, right. Are you still using that sword?"
He referred to the lightsaber that Gao Yan had. As Gao Yan had been using it, Leo was worried about the battery.
"Yes, but I think the energy in my artifact is running out of Qi. The energy sword seems weaker than before."
"Yeah, I figure as much. Instead of using that, use this."
Leo passed the Cugatti to Gao Yan. The latter received it and sensed a tremendous aura from the sword.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Gao Yan heard a wailing screech from the sword. It sounded as if a haunted spirit inside the weapon wanted some action.
Gao Yan almost dropped Cugatti on the ground. While trembling, he shoved the sword back to Leo.
"I-I-I don't think I can use this, senior!"
Leo smirked and took it back. However, he tossed it toward Esen.
"He's not appreciating a good weapon. Well, you use it."
Esen scoffed and caught the sword with one hand. She ignored the weird noise from the sword as if she was used to it.
"Why are you scaring off some powerless banshees and spirits? They're just random noises."
Gao Yan was embarrassed. He lowered his head, afraid of looking at Esen's face.
On the other hand, the sword elders sweated profusely as they could sense the malicious aura and overwhelming yin element essence in the cursed weapon.
"…A cursed weapon. T-That's against the rules," Tiger Swordsman's legs were trembling in fear.
Hua Jiashan facepalmed, "This tournament hosts are going to puke blood after this. Disguising a senior as a teenager is too much."
Leo snorted as he didn't care about the rules. After all, the emperor plotted against him, so Leo had no reason to show respect to the event.
He didn't stop there. As Gao Yan rejected his offer, Leo came up with a different idea.
"Brat. Show me your artifact. I'll replace the battery real quick."
"…"
Gao Yan was reluctant, but he handed his lightsaber over to Leo. The latter received it and tinkered with it.
PLOP
Leo unscrewed a part and shook it a few times. Then, a dimmed essence stone came out. He caught the stone and popped it into his mouth. While chewing the depleted essence stone as a candy, Leo ejected another essence stone and replaced the old one.
The stone was also old as Leo took it from a dead cultivator. However, Leo slightly recharged it by rubbing it a few times.
After screwing the part back, Leo flipped the switch and activated the sword.
BZZZ
The lightsaber's energy sword was bright yellow. It emanated the same energy as yellow tribulation lightning.
Leo smacked his lips before he deactivated it and passed it to Gao Yan. He explained, "I limit the energy output to yellow for safety. As long as you cut somebody with that, your opponent will instantly turn into a stone or die on the spot. Make sure not to cut yourself, though."
"…"
Gao Yan gulped. He wanted to complain, but he didn't dare offend Leo.
Leo didn't stop there. He distributed a matchlock rifle to the girls. Then, he taught them how to use it while he distributed boxes, full of sacred wood bullets.
The bullets were custom-made. The bullet heads were made from sacred wood while the bottom was attached to a spirit stone, made from the recycling center.
At a glance, the ammunition looked similar to modern bullets as it had a cone shape. However, the sacred wood consisted of two parts – the bullet head and the shell. As for the spirit stone, they were the replacement for gunpowder.
With a spirit stone, Leo cut the need for matches and fuses. Cultivators could inject their Qi directly into the chamber and ignite the spirit stone inside, mimicking the chemical reaction of gunpowder.
Moreover, a spirit stone's explosion was stronger than gunpowder's force and it was reusable. After each shot, the used spirit stone would roll out from the smooth bore barrel, and cultivators could recycle them.
"This weapon is also for your self-defense. While your monster fights, you should load the gun like this."
Leo demonstrated how to insert a bullet into the chamber. Then, he pointed the muzzle toward the sky.
BANG
The bullet exited the gun barrel, leaving behind a spit of fire and a light shockwave. It shuttled to the sky at the speed of sound and disappeared.
The elders, who owned the same rifles, nodded in admiration. They had been using their toys for a while, and they had seen the new bullets before.
Leo continued explaining, "This weapon is simple. Load a bullet, take aim, pull the trigger, and repeat. As long as you're accurate enough, you can kill your opponents from afar. It's also very effective against pedophiles that you might run into in the future."
Xu Nuan, Dongfang Mei, and the male elders grinned while Yao Qiqi and the girls looked confused.
These girls would soon understand the usefulness of these firearms.
