Storm of Gods

Chapter 80 Isolated Island
Li Xin was lying comfortably on the roof of the city hall when he felt something above his head. He opened his eyes and was about to reach out to touch it when he remembered, "Chris, hello there."

I glanced at the fish next to me... and there were still some left.

"The fish isn't fresh." Chris's voice echoed in Li Xin's mind.

……

"Ahem, sorry, I'll make it up to you next time," Li Xin said.

Chris nodded, then pointed her wing at the flute, "Is this it? Then I'll take it with me."

Li Xin nodded, looked at the flute, then at Chris's size, wondering how he could carry it.
The little golden bird swallowed the flute whole, then flapped its wings and flew away without looking back, proudly disappearing into the air.

Li Xin patted his butt. He didn't know how to communicate with birds. Looking at the remaining fish, he thought, "Damn it, did Qi Ba Dao get these fish from the underground city? The pollution level is insane! He wouldn't even eat them!"
After hopping down from the roof of the city hall, Li Xin decided to buy some snacks for Xueyin. He felt that she had been quite pitiful lately, and he couldn't very well tell Aunt Fei to just give up. Giving up in this world was indeed not a good idea.

While Li Xin was shopping, the archbishop's afternoon gathering was almost over. Normally there would be a dinner banquet, but the archbishop did not, yet everyone was still happy.

Judging from Locknan's expression, the harvest this time will be very rich. In the end, Casey was left to help Eliza clean up. In fact, she didn't have to do this kind of thing herself, but in Eliza's eyes, this was the breath of life. Even the archbishop would lend a hand.

Casey felt that the two men were harassing her, but she had no proof.

"By the way, Your Excellency, Captain Luo asked me to congratulate you on your promotion." Casey felt she should offer her congratulations, even though it was a bit inappropriate.

Matthew and Eliza both laughed. "He's one of my most outstanding students. I know him better than you do."

Casey couldn't help but say, "Then you should teach him some normal attitudes towards life. He's too tired and lonely doing nothing but work all day long, and he has no normal social life at all."

It seems that Luo Jin has only attended one family dinner at Lin Fei's house in the past few years. He hasn't attended any other social gatherings or even internal parties of the Night Patrol. Casey is genuinely worried about him.

Matthew looked at Casey, though he was the archbishop he couldn't offer any advice. Mentioning God's grace at this time was a bit inappropriate. "Or, Madam, would you like to say a few words?"

Eliza, holding Casey's hand, glanced at Matthew and said, "Luo Jin became like this partly because of his job as a night watchman, and partly because of his personality. He is a very emotional person with a strong sense of empathy. People like him often become more and more indifferent as they carry the emotions of others for a long time. Their strong sense of responsibility becomes a shackle, and they eventually become isolated. Their path is not easy to walk. Don't be fooled by Matthew's cheerful demeanor. He is essentially the same kind of person as Luo Jin."

Matthew looked at Eliza tenderly. His wife was everything to him. At this moment, Casey realized that the Archbishop had never cared about his position. With Eliza on his island, he was no longer alone.

Elizabeth's words also imply that the path she chose is one she has chosen herself, and there's nothing to complain about.

If I were a man, I would also like a woman like her.

"Casey, come over more often. It's only a matter of time before Luo Jin surrenders," Matthew teased, and Casey's face instantly turned red.

"If you can't speak properly, then don't speak." Eliza gave Matthew a look, signaling him to step aside. The most eloquent archbishop of Tianjing immediately slunk away to pack his things.

Casey felt like she'd been shown up again; she figured she should come here less often in the future...

On Monday, after the weekend's respite, the conflicts within the Black Rose seemed to have subsided in the face of the crucial Four Nations Tournament. Luo Xue and Zhao Qing were harmoniously discussing countermeasures, showing no signs of their previous fierce confrontation. Both the family level and the Black Rose had reached a tacit understanding, a common occurrence among nobles. The sycophant Hao Ye also got along well with Nan Kai and Fei Ruolin. If Lu Shuai and the others didn't know better, they would have thought these people were old friends.

"A mudslide occurred on their way to Tianjing, which will delay their arrival. This gives us time. President Luo Xue and I will assess everyone's strengths and weaknesses and prepare the best lineup to face our powerful opponent," Zhao Qing said.

Lu Shuai and Xiao Hu exchanged a glance. Why couldn't they just talk properly? Why were they being sarcastic?

Fei Ruolin and Nan Kai looked at Luo Xue, who didn't say anything, which obviously meant she agreed. "Vice President Zhao Qing studied in Longjing, so he will be in charge of this training. I will be in charge of Li Xin."

Everyone was used to Luo Xue's special treatment of Li Xin, and apart from Hao Ye, probably no one else would think anything of it, mainly because their temperaments didn't match. Zhao Qing smiled, "I know that as special recruits, everyone has their own unique skills, but this is just the beginning. We are about to face a mature delegation from the Order of the Church, whose use of psionic energy is top-notch, and they are battle-hardened. Some people may disagree with me, but combat experience is not the kind of closed-door sparring, but the experience gained in major competitions and at crucial moments. I believe that given two years, everyone can stand on their own, but we don't have that time now. The objective situation is that the Four Nations Tournament is about to begin, and it is extremely important. If we can't get off to a good start, Luo Xue and I will have a hard time, and your Order of the Church will stumble badly in your first step. Therefore, I hope that in the time to come, everyone will let their strength speak for itself."

Luo Xue nodded. "Combat experience needs to be accumulated gradually. Our Tianjing Academy is not known for its psychic abilities, and our overall approach to using psychic abilities is relatively outdated. We welcome Vice President Zhao Qing to bring us a more comprehensive understanding of psychic abilities."

Hao Ye started clapping, and led everyone to clap along, although most people still looked unconvinced.

Zhao Qing pressed his right hand down and smiled slightly. "President, you flatter me. This is not my summary, but rather from the Divine Revelation Academy in Longjing. Its predecessor was the Royal Knight Academy of Lilong, which is the highest level in Lilong. Everyone knows about Grand Governor Luther's achievements in Hextech, but he also has unique achievements in psionic energy. He was able to put these into practice after he went to Longjing. What makes Longjing different from us is that it has a broader vision. No one is more fond of organizing various international exchange activities than Longjing."

Li Xin had read many newspapers and remembered that Luther started his career in Tianjing, developed in Longjing, and used Hextech as a starting point. After arriving in Longjing, Luther shifted his focus to psionics. His insight into the situation was extraordinary. What kind of problem did such a person, who was good at planning and had no weaknesses, ultimately face?
Zhao Qing's voice came from beside him, "Based on the characteristics of psionic energy, combat styles are divided into four schools: enhancement, release, supernatural, and spellcasting. This is a general classification, and different countries may have different names, but they are essentially the same. The enhancement school uses psionic energy to enhance the strength and defense of the physical body, which is the most common. It is often manifested as crimson eyes. Saxons mainly use this type. Its characteristics are that it is easy to see results quickly in the early stage, more difficult and confusing in the middle stage, and extremely difficult to cultivate in the later stage." Zhao Qing looked at Hurta, who nodded. This was the same as what the elders of the tribe had said.

Zhao Qing smiled but didn't elaborate. "The Release type comes with a certain talent. It requires a long range of control over psionic energy. In the past, it required an extremely strong foundation in psionic energy to unleash its power. It was weak in the early stages, but thanks to Hextech, the Release type can also have considerable combat power in the early stages. It is often manifested as Crimson Eyes or Pale Eyes. For example, psionic beams and Void Slash are standard equipment for experts. They are also extremely useful for killing corrupted creatures. Of course, corrupted creatures are more adept at this type of thing. Their physical strength and abyssal power are indeed more advantageous. The weakness is that it consumes a lot of energy."

At this point, everyone perked up, and their gazes towards Zhao Qing changed somewhat. How to put it... when he wasn't trying to act cool, he was actually quite pretentious.

"The third type is the superpower type. The psychic awakeners of this type are extremely powerful. There's a saying in Longjing: there are no useless abilities. For example, transformation, manipulation, invisibility, mimicry, materialization, tracking, altering the properties of matter, etc. The transformation type allows the body to change at a certain stage. The Tibatan Empire, which worships the Beast God, is an example of this. They can unleash terrifying power in battle. Manipulation ability users can control inanimate puppets or living creatures. Assassination and sneak attacks are hard to defend against. Invisibility and mimicry are simple and practical, and are more common in abyssal creatures than in humans." As he spoke, Hao Ye had already silently brought over the coffee. Zhao Qing took a few sips, and the Black Rose conference room was very quiet.

“Concretization is the ability of some psychics to use their psychic powers to materialize what they think of into a physical form for combat. This often comes with some strange and unusual abilities, and of course, it can also be a pure weapon. Tracking goes without saying; it is the most beloved ability of night watchmen. Changing the properties of matter is often used in potion making. Even with the exact same materials, some potions can only be made by these types of people. These abilities manifest as pale eyes when psychics advance. There is a saying that the white eyes are the hardest to bear.”

"The fourth type is the sorcery school. Psionic energy is unleashed through incantations, arrays, and runes. It requires mastery of the use of necromancy and Hammurabi, which is similar to Ruolin's situation. Of course, sorcery is mostly used for support in combat, and it was only after the introduction of Hextech that it compensated for early weaknesses in combat power. The most powerful sorcerers are found within the Church. When sorcery reaches a certain level, it ascends to the realm of sacred words. They use Hera, known as the language of the gods, which consumes a great deal of psionic energy, but its power is undeniable. Words become law; it possesses immense power. You should have felt the power of sacred words in the City Hall's actions. The Archbishop can subdue addicts with a mere flick of his lips, often manifesting as pale or dark gold eyes." Zhao Qing took another sip of coffee, paused, and...
"The four methods of spiritual energy cultivation each have their own characteristics and are not completely isolated from each other. They can learn from each other. Of course, people usually choose one major direction and selectively supplement their abilities with the others based on their own combat habits and characteristics."

Putting everything else aside, just based on this insight alone, he is certainly qualified to be the vice president.

Neither Li Xin nor Luo Xue were too surprised. Such encounters were common in the secret fortress, and they were all kinds of strange. Moreover, many times they were experienced directly with their bodies. Li Xin was thinking about something else. Zhao Qing's words confirmed his previous guess. The archbishop had mentioned four paths.

Instead of instructing me on how to cultivate spiritual energy or choose how to use it, he directly outlined four paths. In that situation, in front of Luo Jin, he was unlikely to be trying to deceive me.

There are two possibilities: either it's a civil service position they recommended to him, or it's something else they're hiding. Li Xin always felt that the latter was more likely, but the other party didn't reveal any key information.

Roland seemed to be deep in thought. Montcarette is a place that highly values ​​knowledge and progress, but it doesn't systematically categorize and summarize things because it feels unnecessary and lacks the awareness of "summarizing and generalizing".

This is also the change brought about by Luther: to divide and refine existing knowledge structures.

Those present, including Li Xin, Luo Lan, Luo Xue, and Zhao Qing, all sensed this. Only those who possess this kind of thinking are truly great. This is also Luo Xue's role model and goal. Luther influenced a generation of young people in Li Long, and to some extent, he enlightened the people.

“Our Tianjing is the birthplace of Grand Governor Luther’s ideology, and its reputation resounds throughout Daoyuan. If we are defeated in the Four Nations Tournament, we will lose face abroad, and the losers will be nailed to the pillar of shame,” Luo Xue said. “If we have not yet realized the severity and pressure of this battle, we should withdraw as soon as possible. Let’s start by understanding ourselves.”

Despite the explanation, Hurta and the others remained confident. They then began more detailed training. Zhao Qing wanted to assess the new recruits' abilities. He already knew Hao Ye and the others well, and even if they improved, it would be within his control.

Li Xin didn't need to participate; he watched from the sidelines with Luo Xue.

"The training you gave Hurta wasn't followed up. Aren't you going to keep an eye on it?" Luo Xue asked. Hurta gave up after two days of training. On one hand, he didn't feel anything, and on the other hand, he felt that hitting a bed sheet was like being a fool. Pure strength was what mattered, so she didn't take it too seriously.

Li Xin smiled and said, "Perhaps it's not the right time yet."

“You’re quite calm. There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you. Simmons and Katz are also from the castle, and they both have serial numbers. Among us, Simmons should have the highest serial number. I encountered them once during a test,” Luo Xue said, the pressure creeping in without her realizing it. A high serial number means high potential. She hadn’t wasted any of her six years, and Simmons probably hadn’t either. Besides, Katz wasn’t someone to mess with either.

"Oh." Li Xin nodded. Hurta was fighting Hao Ye, and the two were evenly matched.

(End of this chapter)