Chaisang City, ferry.

The Four Rivers Gang had already purchased the medicinal herbs for Bai Pu.

After Bai Pu checked and confirmed there was no mistake, he settled the payment. Squad Leader Zhou Yue ordered the soldiers to load the herbs onto the ship.

Bai Pu chatted casually with Zhou Yue, mainly inquiring if there were any recent rumors in the military.

Given Bai Pu's status as a member of a Famous Family and his high Charm Value, Zhou Yue, the Squad Leader, quickly became friendly with him.

Speaking in a low voice, Zhou Yue said, "I heard that recently there have been assassins from the Cao Army, secretly killing several promising centurions and squad leaders in our forces! I need to be more careful. Sometimes, I really envy you, being a low-ranking soldier, without the trouble of being targeted by the enemy."

Bai Pu glanced at Zhou Yue, who was feeling too self-satisfied, and sighed. You've been carousing at Spring Breeze Tower for the past three days, rolling in the piles of makeup; even the blindest assassin wouldn't choose you.

With the herbs loaded, the warship was ready to set sail.

"Are you leaving or not?"

Bai Pu looked at Iron Crocodile and Cuttlefish, "If you wish to stay in Chaisang City and continue getting involved in gang affairs, I can help you get a leave of absence."

With the relationship between Bai Pu and Doctor Liu, he could indeed make that happen.

"No, no, we are sticking with you."

Both Iron Crocodile and Cuttlefish, in an upward gaze, reevaluated Bai Pu.

They knew Bai Pu was very strong, but it wasn't until this morning's rankings came out that they realized how much Bai Pu had accomplished!

272 points! First on the leaderboard!

Iron Crocodile looked at his own and Cuttlefish's scores, both of which were not even 100, and felt the vast chasm between a poor student and a top student, as if separated by a lamentably thick barrier.

At a young age, he became an Enhanced Elite Profession; thus, Iron Crocodile and Cuttlefish were not naive and childish. Witnessing this great thigh of Bai Pu, they quickly let go of their pride and agreed on the consensus to stick closely to him.

"Gangxin, do you know the background of that Blood Spider who ranked second?" Iron Crocodile asked.

Bai Pu shook his head and looked at Iron Crocodile: "Do you know?"

"Actually, the background of the top performers in our virtual combat batch is not a secret."

Iron Crocodile said, "Most of our batch are Level 4, having just undergone the Second Transformation trial. A few are exceptions, like you, who were only Level 2 when you came in, two levels lower than the general level."

Bai Pu nodded slightly; he was now Level 3 and had not yet caught up with others; only the Level Suppression was not that severe.

Iron Crocodile continued, "Blood Spider is another exception—she is already Level 6! Two levels higher than most of us!"

"Is she a Hero Profession?" Bai Pu asked.

"If she were a Hero Profession, there would be no point for us in trying." Iron Crocodile shook his head, "She is an Enhanced Elite Profession—Blood Curse Hunter. It's said to be a specialty of some Source Plane, and triggering a Second Transformation is very difficult. In terms of practicality, the Blood Curse Hunter is not much inferior to a Hero Profession!"

Bai Pu had a very good memory and quickly recalled that Blood Curse Hunter was one of the four Profession options he faced back then.

It seems Blood Spider also completed the trial task in the Flesh and Blood Plague: Origin Plane.

"Is it really hard to trigger the Second Transformation? What is the reason?" Bai Pu was more concerned about this. In his view, the difficulties Blood Spider faced might also be encountered by himself.

"Not quite sure, but some say it has something to do with Blood Spider herself."

Iron Crocodile said, "However, that's not the point. The point is, a Level 6 Enhanced Elite is actually scarier than a Level 4 Hero Profession! Consider that she constantly carries a 20% damage enhancement status against us, and all our attacks on her have their damage reduced by 20%! That's stronger than a Hero Profession's Big Move!"

"How did she level up so quickly? Did she awaken particularly early?" Bai Pu knew very well that under the current Spirit Realm's rules, level represents strength; even if it's an Elite Template, a three-level Level Suppression is still quite formidable, let alone an Enhanced Elite.

Iron Crocodile shook his head and said, "That's not it; it's just that she is reportedly very relentless, almost never stopping her explorations in the Spirit Realm. After just two years of awakening, she has more than fifty Spirit Realm exploration records..."

Bai Pu was somewhat surprised. Over fifty explorations in two years? That averages to more than twice a month!

Based on an average of 10 days per Spirit Realm exploration, Blood Spider's time in reality is extremely short, hardly spending a few days in a month!

"This actually may not be a good thing; the Spirit Realm exploration is too risky. Even if there's a City Return Item for immediate escape, it's not a foolproof strategy. If you provoke some exceptionally powerful Native, even a City Return Item is useless."

Cuttlefish chimed in, "During Spirit Realm exploration, one must always keep the Spirit high... It might be bearable for half a month or a month, but to endure for two years without rest? Unimaginable. Our family elders have warned us not to follow Blood Spider's example."

Bai Pu largely agreed with this. A balance of activity and rest is the way of both civil and martial arts, and humans are not machines—how can one perpetually run at full capacity?

No matter how frequently Blood Spider visits the Spirit Realm, the rewards from several explorations may not surpass others' gains from one. It's simply that she's completed enough mainline tasks to accumulate substantial Professional Experience points.

Maybe Blood Spider's continued delay in triggering the second class change task is due to her shallow exploratory style in the Spirit Realm.

"We don't know how Blood Spider got such a high score; her original score seemed quite low and wasn't on the list." Cuttlefish said.

Bai Pu glanced at the leaderboard and suddenly said, "Did you notice that a few names that have consistently been in the top ten have disappeared in the past couple of days?"

"It does seem that way."

"Why?"

Bai Pu slightly shook his head without further explanation.

In his heart, he had a fairly certain assumption. It's just that Bai Pu was rather cautious, and for temporary companions like Iron Crocodile and Cuttlefish, trust was out of the question.

"Let's board the ship!" Bai Pu concluded the exchange.

Iron Crocodile and Cuttlefish, not understanding what he meant, dared not press further and followed Bai Pu onto the warship.

…

Three Rivers Water Village, Wounded Soldier Camp.

Bai Pu returned, handed over the purchased medicinal herbs, making Doctor Liu naturally delighted and relieved from a burden.

Bai Pu seized the chance to ask for leave, saying, "Upon returning to Chaisang this time, I met some juniors from my family who mentioned that there are Lu Clan people at the Three Rivers Water Village, who are my elders. I should pay a visit."

Doctor Liu smiled and said, "These days, the situation's calm, with no battles and few affairs in the Wounded Soldier Camp. Bo Yue, feel free to go."

Bai Pu also proposed to bring Iron Crocodile and Cuttlefish along, to which Doctor Liu agreed, considering they were only filling numbers in the Wounded Soldier Camp.

The three requested documentation and headed towards the West Camp.

On the way, Iron Crocodile softly said, "It's been calm these days; could it be that the Battle of Chibi won't happen? If the Overlord messes up and ruins the key storyline, everyone's out of luck."

"It won't happen." Bai Pu said, "The storyline of the Battle of Chibi, allowing examinees to gain massive points, is a top priority. The Overlord is also an examinee and wouldn't do something so detrimental and unbeneficial. Don't forget, he isn't the first on the leaderboard right now!"

Bai Pu didn't finish speaking. Given the high difficulty of the Three Kingdoms: Chibi Plane, even if the Overlord wanted to disrupt the Chibi battle storyline, he might not be able to.

Zhou Yu, Zhuge Liang—what a pair of outstanding individuals, surrounded by a dazzling array of stars. Initially, they were unguarded, giving the Overlord an opportunity, but with defenses prepared afterward, disrupting the storyline would be extremely difficult for the Overlord.

Before a great battle, calm is normal. The fist must be drawn back to accumulate strength before being thrown; the current calm is merely the eerie silence before the storm!

Lu Clan's direct descendant, Lu Jun, currently serves as the Military Marquis of the West Camp at Three Rivers, making him Bai Pu (Lu Pu)'s clan uncle by rank.

Bai Pu handed a letter to the guard, asking him to present it to Lu Sima—a letter of introduction written by Lu Chuan at Bai Pu's request.

Before long, the guard returned respectfully to escort Bai Pu and his party inside.

In the tent, Bai Pu met Lu Jun.

Lu Jun, about forty years old, dressed as a scholar, had a lean face and three strands of long, graceful beard.

Upon meeting Bai Pu, he showed no airs, nor did he belittle Bai Pu's current Medical Officer status, laughing heartily, "Bo Yue is indeed a prodigy of the Lu Clan, an outstanding individual with extraordinary talents."

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