Chapter 81: A Choice of Manuals

What sort of situation was this? It was ridiculous enough that Zhang Lie was being protected by both Yun Bing and Chu Feng, but given their conversation, it seemed as though they even believed that Zhang Lie had the strength to overthrow the entire Qin clan.

In a matter of hours, the conversation at the gates of the Blacksteel settlement had spread to all the hunters in the vicinity, and Zhang Lie's reputation as the king of the dumps seemed about to be overthrown.

Zhang Lie brought the rest of Team Zenith back to the Blacksteel Inn, but instead of renting a suite, he rented time in a specialized training room instead. It was a space specifically designed for hunters to practice and train with genetic techniques.

As an underground chamber, it was extremely spacious, with individual training rooms, environmental adaptation chambers, a dedicated research lab, and all sorts of other amenities. Compared to the training room that came with a standard suite, this specialized version was far more comprehensive.

With the extent of Zhang Lie's wealth revealed, Fang Yi, Sun Mengmeng, and the others were gradually growing used to his extravagance.

As he brought his teammates inside, Zhang Lie asked, "Well, have you all reached your new basic gene capacity?"

They nodded.

"Very good. In that case, we'll proceed to the next step of the training: acquiring new genetic techniques. I've prepared a fair selection for all of you, so take a look at the various recordings. After you're done, tell me which techniques you're going to learn, as well as the reason why."

The construction of his dojo was progressing at a rapid pace in the real world, and he didn't want his repertoire of manuals or his disciples to fall behind.

A list of over fifty recordings was displayed in front of the hunters' faces. The dazzling variety of techniques, as well as their average grade, left once again stunned the gathered hunters.

"Captain, a-are you letting us choose from any of these genetic techniques?" Fang Yi asked, stammering in his astonishment.

Soulshards were an addition to a hunter's repertoire, but a framework and its associated techniques were a hunter's foundation. The stronger the foundation, the farther the hunter would be able to go.

If they really were able to take their pick among these frameworks and techniques, they wouldn't have to worry about their foundation at all. After all, the lowest-grade manual here was high-grade, and the majority were pinnacle-, legendary-, or even mythic-grade.

Such manuals were all quite rare, and yet their captain had brought out over fifty of them like it was a trivial affair!

Even Yang Ze, who came from an affluent clan, couldn't help but be amazed at the sight. After all, he had expended almost all his resources within his clan just to obtain a pinnacle-grade framework, but the framework that he had painstakingly acquired wasn't worth a mention compared to the resources arrayed in front of him.

At this moment, Yang Ze was incomparably glad that he had chosen to follow Zhang Lie, that he had become Zhang Lie's first disciple, that he hadn't backed down at a critical juncture, and that he had chosen to purge his techniques and start over.

He and the other hunters began poring through the recordings, searching for a suitable framework and accompanying techniques.

Zhang Lie headed outside to train his [Fists of the Silent Sea]. He was quite surprised at just how long the hunters were taking to choose suitable techniques: even after practicing for an hour, none of them had come up to him with choices in mind.

Had he given them an overwhelming number of options? Just as he was about to return to the recording room to see what they were up to, Sun Mengmeng walked toward him.

Zhang Lie stopped practicing his technique and turned to her with some curiosity. When he had purchased these manuals, he had some idea as to which hunter would pick which techniques, and he was curious as to how accurate his prediction would be.

"Captain, I'm ready!" Sun Mengmeng was direct and deliberate.

"Which manuals have you chosen, and why?"

"For my framework, I've chosen [Black Sun], a legendary-grade fire-attuned framework whose strength lies in the intense dark flames it generates. As auxiliary techniques, I intend on studying [Baptism of Hellfire], a legendary-grade sword-based technique particularly compatible with my chosen framework, as well as the one fire-attuned archery technique available, [Lunarflame Shot]. If I'm not mistaken, Captain, you must have picked this technique specifically for me!"

Zhang Lie nodded. "You have a very clear sense of your strengths and the role you want to play in combat. These three manuals are all excellent fits for you, but as a long-ranged attacker, you have to be able to deal with your opponents' gap closers.

"Not only must you possess some amount of close-ranged combat ability, you must also have a dexterity-focused footwork technique, as well as explosive speed. Fire-attuned footwork techniques are relatively rare, and I also don't have a large selection on hand. For now, you had better learn [Flameburst Step] as well—it might only be a high-grade technique, but it's simple and effective, giving you a quick burst of speed when you most need it."

"Yes, Captain!" Sun Mengmeng immediately nodded.

Zhang Lie handed her four manuals.

"Here are the techniques. Start studying them immediately. If you have any questions regarding your framework or auxiliary techniques, feel free to ask me for help," Zhang Lie instructed.

Sun Mengmeng glanced at the four manuals in her hand, still somewhat disbelieving of this new reality. After all, three of the four manuals were legendary-grade—how could she not be excited? Without Zhang Lie's assistance, she certainly wouldn't have been able to obtain a legendary-grade framework or technique at this stage, so her excitement was only normal.

Only after a while did she come to her senses, stumbling in her rush toward one of the training rooms.

After Sun Mengmeng made her decision, the others quickly followed suit. Zhang Lie's next interruption was from two hunters, not just one. Yang Ze and Li Feng approached him together, which surprised Zhang Lie quite a bit.

Yang Ze belonged to an affluent clan and was from a privileged background, whereas Li Feng came from the slums, just like him. How had they gotten so close? He supposed it was just a fluke of human nature: after the two teams had merged into one, Yang Ze and Li Feng had become closer together than any other pair of hunters.

He smiled at them. "Are you both ready?"

They nodded.

"In that case, which manuals have you picked out? Yang Ze, you go first. I'm curious about the perspective of someone from an established clan."

Zhang Lie was interested in knowing which techniques he would pick, given that his framework was originally water-attuned.