Chapter 716: VIP Customer (I)

“Yes, sir!” Li Hao quickly responded. “Sir, my silver armor places restrictions on me because I am a supernatural now. I am no longer a martial master!”

That made sense.

The Gold Armor thought for a bit before responding, “Battle Heaven armor does not differentiate between energy or blood qi at the gold armor level. It is personal armor, but your rank is not high enough for a set.”

Li Hao drooped.

“But since you are one of the eight families... How about this, we can temporarily lend you a set of gold armor. However, it will come with a condition.”

“Please go ahead, sir!”

“Since the armor of the Skystar Army can be activated, that means that their military system still exists. Investigate why they cut off the energy supply to the eight main cities back in the day,” the commander said coldly. “If they hadn’t done so, the eight cities would not have stilled so quickly. One hundred thousand defending troops vanished without a trace or word. These matters may have fully disappeared, or there might still be hints to discover!”

“Understood!” Li Hao assented loudly.

“That is all, go to Military Supplies for what you need!”

Li Hao rushed off without hesitation. It was always a nerve-wracking experience to talk with this guy.

The commander was equally resigned to see the young man speed away so quickly. He’d wanted to say a few more words, but Li Hao had run away so swiftly.

It’s not like I’ll hit you!

At the very least, the young man was much more pleasing to the eyes this time. He pulled out Li Hao’s file after some thought. It was covered with assessments, to which the commander added, “Average growth capacity. To be placed under further observation for evaluation of future effect.”

......

Li Hao heaved a sigh of relief when he escaped the commander’s office. That had been such a high pressure situation! Even though he was an Arcanus, the stress had been unbearable. Thus, he’d immediately acted on impulse when he was dismissed.

Director General Wang was so much better! He answered whatever he was asked, albeit sometimes reluctantly.

......

Military Supplies.

The Silver Armor was once more playing dead. He showed signs of life only after Li Hao came through the door. This was an old acquaintance—Deputy Commissioner Zhang Liang of Military Supplies. Apparently the old commissioner had perished, but the deputy commissioner hadn’t had time to be promoted before the entire city fell silent.

“Troop Leader Li!”

“Commissioner Zhang!”

“Deputy Commissioner!”

“Deputy Commissioner Zhang!” Li Hao swiftly amended with a brilliant smile. Zhang Jiang wanted a promotion, but insisted on being addressed by his proper title. What a shame for him that the city was inert. There was no hope for him to be promoted.

“The commanders just sent word that you obtained some treasure outside?”

Li Hao nodded and took out his armor.

“Voidbreaker and Skystar standard issue.” Zhang Liang glanced casually at it. “They’re just basic armor. And here I thought it was something good!”

These were mass produced equipment, they were indeed no treasures.

“Can they be traded for Battle Heaven armor?” Li Hao remained in merry spirits.

“Of course.” Zhang Liang put everything away with a wave of his hand. “They were uniformly designed, so their structure is similar. They differ only with different branches of troops, color, and system loaded. If there really is a need, they can be reset and programmed with the same configuration to facilitate coordinated action between various armies! So you want to trade them for Battle Heaven armor?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll receive armor of the same level.”

Seeing that Zhang Liang was about to head inside, Li Hao quickly added, “Commissioner Zhang...”

“Deputy Commissioner!”

“Alright, alright, Deputy Commissioner Zhang, I’d like to ask something. I’m a Battle Heaven troop leader, so can I activate this equipment?”

“No.” Zhang Liang shook his head. “You’re a different branch of troop and do not belong to the same army. You cannot exert your authority over other troops! Of course, this also depends on your rank. As a troop leader, you cannot command other soldiers. But if you are a commander, such as the Battle Heaven commander, you will be able to do so.

“You would be able to make adjustments and order deployments. Whether it is the Skystar Army or Voidbreak Army, those are minor armies. Battle Heaven is a major army. Their commanders must listen to our commanders.”

Hot damn!

Li Hao ran some quick calculations. His next title was division leader, then commander of the reserve defenders, then commander of the army proper. That didn’t sound like a big gap! It was just three levels!

But... what about the deputy positions? If he counted the deputy positions as well, that would be six levels. Would it be that easy?

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Of course not.

He needed ten thousand merits for promotion to division leader and at least one hundred thousand for reserve commander. Army commander would require at least one million... and merits wouldn’t be the only requirement at that rank.

He’d obtained ten merits for killing one Nova—would one Arcanus bring in one hundred points? Li Hao estimated that he might be able to secure a promotion by killing ten thousand Arcanus!

Once he was an army commander, he might be able to insert himself into the Skystar Army system and successfully seize command of the royal family’s Black Armaturas!

“Deputy Commissioner Zhang, lately there’s a bunch of guys wearing Skystar armor who want to attack me.” Li Hao had to be more direct since his previous line of questioning wasn’t working. “Can I do anything about them? They’re just soldiers even if they have activated armor. Isn’t there anything that can be done about them attacking a major army troop leader?”

“Out with it, what do you want to do to them?” Zhang Liang saw right through him. “I already said that you’re of different armies. There’s naturally countermeasures built into place for those of the same army, but different armies will have different management styles. Are you looking to restrain someone else instead?”

“So... there’s nothing that can be done?”

“There is!” Zhang Liang’s mental ripples rang clearly. “I already said that you can utilize the armor system to confine them if you’re an army commander. Apart from that...”

“Yeah?” Li Hao perked up. He wanted to lock down the Black Armaturas through his identity as a troop leader, but the royal family may have one too. However, surely they didn’t have the same advantages as he did with the living antiques that he could converse with.

At the same time, it wasn’t impossible either.

“Our army is ranked higher than theirs, so your words will have an effect if you can get an order from the army commander or a deployment order!”

“......”

Pretend I didn’t say anything.

“What, do you think that’s hard?” Zhang Liang snorted. “It’s not hard at all! All you need to do is to produce evidence that there are rebels in the Skystar Army, that they’ve attacked humans, or violated military discipline. You’ll absolutely be able to obtain a military order from the division leader after that!

“Our army commander may be gone, but that doesn’t mean the army’s orders grind to a halt. Anything that triggers emergency actions can still lead to military orders being issued.”

Li Hao blinked. So this was a possibility as well?

“The evidence that you speak of...”

“You can turn on the recording function of your armor when you see someone randomly killing people or violating military discipline. Record it and hand it in next time you return to Battle Heaven. So long as it is confirmed, it will be turned over to the Supervisory Office and ultimately trigger the application of an emergency pact once they are deemed rebels. You will be able to sanction them in a fair and legitimate way then!”

“Wait, I can do that?”

“Why can’t you do that?” Zhang Liang almost rolled his eyes. Wasn’t this very reasonable? Were they supposed to be nice and polite to rebels? Granted, no one had ever dared mutiny before. That was why it was an emergency, temporary pact and not part of the regular military discipline. No one thought it would ever be put into use.

“What if the other side has existences such as troop leaders or even division leaders?” Li Hao asked. “Can he sanction me as well?”

“No!” Zhang Liang replied faintly. “Skystar is a minor army and their highest ranking officer is a commander on par with our reserve commander. They have no right or authority to sanction us. they can only make reports to a major army to take any action against you...”

Alright!

Li Hao beamed. He’d had no idea of this possibility before!

“Don’t think of passing judgment on anyone, there’s not much meaning to it. Tell me more about the kind of general’s armor you want. They were individually forged before—made to order given the specifications that you would furnish. We no longer have the ability to do so, so I can only give you a standard issue reserve set. It’s our daily use general’s armor.”

“Is there a difference?” Li Hao was very curious. “Aren’t they all just golden in color?”

“......” Zhang Liang responded after a while, “Of course there is a difference. As one’s personal armor, only powerhouses are equipped with the general’s armor. Everyone’s fighting style is different. Granted, there is no ability for such customization now, so I’m just talking about the differences in the armor that we already have in stock.

“We have three kinds of regular issue in storage. The first is suited for regular martial cultivators. It is equipped with both mental and physical defensive systems, but they’re all middle-of-the-road. It’s suited for regular martial dao practitioners.

“The second is suited for powerhouses of the mental discipline. Their mental strength is strong and they don't need mental defenses, so their armor focuses on physical defense. There are almost no mental defense systems in their equipment.

“The third is suited for physical body cultivators. This type of armor has almost no physical defenses. Most of its defensive systems are centered in the head to prevent most mental attacks.

“These are the three that we keep in regular stock and represent the three mainstream cultivation philosophies of my time. Their focus is in different areas, so unless one has special requests, most choose from one of the three.”