Volume One: Rising Ambitions Chapter Fifty-Five: Power Does Not Permit [Please recommend and add to your collection]

“Only a fool would use their real name,” Wang Jue muttered, casting a brief complaint as he pondered his own identity. Since he practiced the sword, he simply chose the codename “Sword Saint” for himself.

He had to admit, “Sword Saint” was an excessively dramatic name.

Now came the part he was most interested in. He was genuinely curious about what the Task Area and Resource Area were actually like…

After registering his name, Wang Jue immediately chose the Resource Area. Compared to the Task Area, he was more intrigued by what items might be available inside.

As soon as he entered, various categories appeared before his eyes: Techniques, Martial Skills, Potions, Miscellaneous, and so on.

Techniques and Martial Skills weren’t particularly surprising, though Wang Jue hadn’t expected the Martial Artists’ Association to allow people to sell these things so freely here.

He was more curious about Martial Skills than Techniques. With a light tap of his finger, Wang Jue entered to browse the Martial Skills section.

As expected, the Martial Artists’ Association was a renowned organization on Azure Star! There were indeed a staggering number of martial skills.

Most of them were Iron-tier, and their prices were not any cheaper than those sold elsewhere—each one costing at least hundreds of thousands. As for the rarer Bronze-tier skills, their prices were even higher.

Wang Jue noticed that almost all the martial skills listed came with specific attributes. Only a dozen or so basic skills lacked any attribute.

With a quick count, Wang Jue realized there were at least tens of thousands of martial skills visible to him at his current level.

Such a quantity was truly awe-inspiring. No wonder this was an officially backed organization!

The important thing was that these were only the martial skills accessible to him at his current rank. If he advanced further, including those rare and restricted skills not for public sale, the association must possess at least hundreds of thousands of martial skills!

This was the kind of overwhelming power that no one dared provoke.

Faced with such a dazzling array of martial skills, Wang Jue couldn’t help but daydream.

“If I could steal all these skills and sell them, how much money could I make…”

Such thoughts were harmless as long as they stayed in his mind—certainly not illegal. But if he ever acted on them, it would be a disaster far beyond the word “serious”!

The terrifying consequences sobered Wang Jue instantly. What was meant for him would find its way to him; pointless fantasies about what wasn’t his served no purpose.

There were certainly a lot of martial skills here.

Unfortunately, on one hand, he couldn’t afford them, and on the other, he had no real need to buy them.

If he had money, he’d definitely buy Star Energy Stones rather than martial skills that were currently useless to him.

After all, his cultivation level was still a limiting factor.

To learn even an Iron-tier martial skill, he’d need to break through to the Spirit Condensation stage at the very least.

As to when he would actually reach that stage, he honestly had no answer.

...

Next up was the Potions section.

Compared to the “hundred flowers in bloom” of the Martial Skills area, the Potions section was much more modest, though it still offered over a hundred varieties.

The most prominent ones displayed at the top were several categories: recovery potions, healing potions, berserker potions, nutritional potions, and all sorts of supplementary formulas.

Each was priced steeply.

Even the cheapest nutritional potion came close to a thousand credit points.

It sounded affordable, but upon reading the description, it was clear this wasn’t the case.

Nutritional potions, at their core, were little more than meal replacements to supplement the body’s needs.

Healing potions were a bit better, but far more expensive—ten thousand credit points. More importantly, these were all marked with three glaring red characters: “Sold Out.”

Apparently, these items were always in demand yet rarely available on the market.

Most of the other potions were similarly designed to aid cultivation.

What truly astonished Wang Jue was that among the many potions, two stood out for their exorbitant prices.

One was the Antidote Potion, priced at a staggering five hundred thousand credit points per bottle.

The other was the Skin Beautification Potion, an eye-watering one million credit points!

And both bore the same “Sold Out” label in bold red, making it clear just how high their market demand was.

After glancing over the more common dozen or so potions, Wang Jue lost interest.

He barely skimmed over those with detailed names, effects, and ingredients since, as someone who wasn’t an apothecary, these things had nothing to do with him.

Finally, he moved to the Miscellaneous section.

Nothing particularly special awaited him there either.

Most of the items were armor and weapons, with some odds and ends—there were even Star Energy Stones, which Wang Jue had been yearning for.

But when he saw the exchange price, he was stunned.

Was this a joke?

A defective stone at one hundred and twenty thousand?

That was twenty thousand higher than the price Lan Yiyi had told him.

In other words, if he had a million credits and bought them through other channels, he could get one or two more stones.

But if he exchanged here at the same price, he’d need to spend two hundred thousand more to get ten stones.

For most ordinary people, that was a considerable sum.

However, in the martial world, two hundred thousand didn’t seem to be a lot.

After scanning the Miscellaneous section, only the weapons and Star Energy Stones really piqued Wang Jue’s interest.

Everything else was rather mediocre, failing to arouse any excitement.

...

Wang Jue then exited the Exchange section and immediately opened the Task Area.

To be honest, this was his true objective.

He hoped to find some tasks suitable for himself.

Upon entering the Task Area, the most prominent feature was the leaderboard at the top.

The Bounty List!

It was filled with rows of names and photographs, with amounts displayed next to each photo.

Wang Jue focused on the information for the top ten individuals.

He discovered that each of these top ten had a black stone icon next to their names, and none of the numbers beneath was less than one hundred thousand.

Seeing that black stone symbol, Wang Jue immediately guessed it stood for Star Energy Stones.

The hundred thousand wasn’t credit points—it was one hundred thousand Star Energy Stones, equivalent to a full ten billion credits!

Wang Jue was left dumbfounded.

A hundred thousand Star Energy Stones meant a hundred thousand points of star power!

That amount could raise his talent by three or four whole tiers, and the rest might even allow him to advance his cultivation technique by another two or three levels.

In that moment, Wang Jue’s eyes gleamed green, staring covetously at the list of names and photos, wishing he could capture them all himself.

Dreams are always beautiful.

Reality is always cruel.

Regretfully, Wang Jue realized that not a single one of the top ten was someone he could afford to provoke.

At his current strength, he simply didn’t have the ability or means.

If he rashly sought them out, it would be no different from marching to his death.

Moreover, the fact that these individuals remained at large despite such high bounties proved that every one of them was incredibly formidable.

Helplessly, Wang Jue suppressed his urge and turned to examine the rest of the list.

It had to be said, the Martial Artists’ Association’s Bounty List was quite exclusive—fewer than three thousand people were on it.

Yet each and every one was far from ordinary.

Amazingly, he even spotted the two members of the Nightfall Organization whom he’d previously encountered at home; here, they were ranked right at the bottom.

From this, Wang Jue deduced that no one on the list was below the third tier of Spirit Condensation.

The Nightfall Organization, which Lan Yiyi had described as terrifying, was, in his mind, an untouchable force.

Though he didn’t know where third-tier Spirit Condensation ranked within Nightfall, it was certainly not the lowest.

Yet those two, who could be considered experts in their own organization, were only bottom-rung on the Martial Association’s Bounty List.

Had he not seen their photos here, he would have doubted his eyes.

“Huh, maybe I could take on the guy at the very bottom?”

He noted that the last person was worth a hundred Star Energy Stones, and a bold idea flashed through his mind—but he quickly dismissed it: “Forget it. Anyone who makes the list isn’t simple. I’ll wait until I’m stronger.”

He had no intelligence, no clues, and no ability—a trifecta of deficiencies. Charging in blindly would be suicide.

After abandoning his reckless notion, Wang Jue moved his gaze away from the Bounty List.

He navigated to the main Task Area.

Glancing at the bewildering array of tasks, he compared them to the Bounty List and reached a conclusion.

The Bounty List, in a sense, consisted of official tasks. Most of those wanted were from the Jiangnan Security Zone, now being openly hunted.

In other words, anyone who could kill or capture them could claim a reward from the Martial Association.

The regular Task List, by contrast, was a true platform—anyone could post or accept tasks.

Curious, Wang Jue tried it out.

To his surprise, even as a newcomer, he could post tasks—provided he passed a verification process. The Martial Association would ensure he was qualified to issue the task.

For example, if he offered a million credit points as a reward, he’d have to put up the money and pay a deposit. Only when the task was completed and the association took its fee would the reward be distributed.

“Time to see if there are any tasks that pay with Star Energy Stones.”

Wang Jue ignored most of the bizarre tasks and soon noticed a pattern.

Generally, the ones offering low amounts of money were strange or clearly pranks, likely posted by some wealthy troublemaker’s child.

There were plenty of such tasks—tens of thousands, at a glance.

After some investigation, Wang Jue finally figured things out.

He set the region to his current location, Peaceful Town, and filtered for tasks rewarding Star Energy Stones.

“As expected, that’s much better.”

Just as he thought, filtering out most tasks greatly clarified the list.

The tasks dropped from over a hundred thousand to just a little over a thousand.

The top hundred or so offered high rewards, but Wang Jue merely glanced at them and moved on.

These were mostly bounty-hunting tasks for wanted criminals—almost all the same names he’d just seen on the Bounty List.

He was truly interested in such tasks.

Unfortunately, he simply wasn’t strong enough.