Talking about the problem that the alien hunters are not as pure as in the past, Baron sighed, and obviously hated this situation.
Zhou Jing suddenly rolled his eyes, "Speaking of which, is it necessary for the lord to recruit alien blood warriors? If you want them to be your guard, who are you guarding against?"
"Who knows." Balon scratched his head, and then his face turned pale: "Don't think about accepting the lord's solicitation. If you are bought for a little money, I will look down on you as well."
"That won't happen."
Zhou Jing waved his hand and secretly analyzed it in his heart.
When the lord recruits extraordinary people as guards, it will definitely not be to spend money to collect stamps.
It seems that there are only a few reasons, such as fearing alien hunters, fearing other lords, preventing someone from taking risks to assassinate, strengthening their own armed forces, etc...
He was quite suspicious. It was a lord who recruited the alien blood warrior first, and the other lords took a look - oh, it's a good way to recruit an extraordinary person, what do you mean, do you want to mess with us?
So various lords followed suit, recruiting alien blood warriors, starting an "arms race", and it was rolled up like this!
'Well, although the world environment is united, the signs of infighting should also appear in the 40 years since the founding of Terra. '
Zhou Jing secretly speculated.
He has inquired about it, the lords of the Terra Empire generally only govern one town and surrounding villages, but the sources of lords are divided into two types... If the town was rebuilt from a tribal settlement, then the lord is mostly a branch of this tribe. blood relatives; if the town was built after the establishment of the empire, then the lord is likely to be an appointed imperial official.
There is both the shadow of the division and the shadow of the county. When he first learned about it, he thought it was a bit strange, but now that he thinks about it, it seems that there is some game involved.
When the Terra Empire was first established, it was a form of alliance of various tribes, not a unified one. Therefore, the power of the tribe still remained in the empire, and it became an area with a certain degree of autonomy, just obeying the orders of the "royal family".
The lord of White Plains City, Root Claw, was a blood relative of a tribe, and the predecessor of White Plains City was also a tribal settlement—to a certain extent, this city and surrounding villages first belonged to the tribe where Root belonged. , and then the cities of the Empire.
As for the meaning of blood relatives in the tribe, Zhou Jing has also figured out these days.
In the past, human beings reproduced in the form of tribes. During the long period of development, some tribesmen opened up branches and scattered leaves, forming huge families within the tribe, so they took surnames and passed them down to facilitate mutual identification—this is the origin of the blood relatives of the tribe.
Each surname represents a big family in a certain tribe, with a large number of people, and generally has a higher status in the tribe, which is equivalent to the faction branch in the tribe. But in the barbaric era, because of the difficulty of survival, everyone focused on holding together to keep warm, and there was little difference between tribal blood relatives and other tribal members.
But after the founding of Terra, the major tribes allied and merged into the country, and the living environment gradually stabilized. Some tribe blood relatives began to be active in politics, commerce, military and other fields.
With the advantages of a large number of family members, network support, and access to tribal resources, he gradually accumulated power and wealth, and gradually differentiated himself from ordinary people... In Zhou Jing's view, this is the early stage of origin of this world aristocracy.
Balon didn't care much about politics, and only knew a few things, but Zhou Jing, based on the known situation analysis, felt that these clan blood relatives who gradually formed aristocratic interest groups would most likely be one of the ruling problems faced by the Terra Empire.
'So this kind of mixed lord system, which has both divisions and counties, is probably a deliberate attempt by the rulers of the Terra Empire to make some kind of confrontation...' Zhou Jing pondered in his heart.
Although alien beasts are the main threat to humans in this world, and the general environment is consistent with the outside world... But he does not believe that after multiple tribes establish a country, there will be no infighting, which is not in line with historical laws.
'Don't think about it for now...' Zhou Jing shook his head, he was just habitually analyzing it, and he felt that these were a little far away from him, and now he just wanted to gain extraordinary power.
…
The town was quite lively. The three of them turned a few streets and soon came to a building with a wooden sign with a beast's head hanging on the gate and two guards beside the gate.
This is the Hunter Workshop of White Plains City.
Compared with other lively streets, it is much deserted here, and ordinary residents in the city generally do not come here.
At this moment, a cart is parked in front of the hunter workshop. The body of a silver-gray giant wolf is tied to the cart. A monster hunter with a spear is negotiating with a workshop staff.
Seeing that Zhou Jing and the others were coming, the alien hunter subconsciously turned his head to take a look, suddenly smiled, and raised his hand to say hello.
"Hey, Baron, we meet again."
"Haha, it's you, Weiss."
Baron laughed. The two were clearly acquainted.
Walking to the side of the scooter, Baron glanced at the body of the giant wolf and said:
"Have another harvest? Crescent wolf... a good prey."
The alien hunter, known as Wes, laughed when he heard the words: "I'm lucky, this monster wanted to kill me, but I ducked over and shot back and stabbed its eggs, and it was easy to take it down."
Saying that, Weiss glanced at Zhou Jing again and asked curiously, "Who is this? Is this the new alien hunter from Baiyuan City?"
Baron shook his head: "His name is Jason Wood. He is a genius I met. He has been exercising with me for the past few months. When I entered the city this time, I was going to bring him to strengthen the alien blood."
"genius?"
Weiss was very interested and looked at Zhou Jing.
"I..." Zhou Jing opened his mouth to say hello.
However, suddenly, Whis in front of him became short and disappeared from sight.
In the next instant, Zhou Jing realized that a pair of muscular and knotted arms were wrapping around his waist and abdomen from behind, and a burst of force wanted to uproot him and throw him out.
Want to give me a back throw? Is this how hunters greet each other?
Zhou Jing almost subconsciously, immediately pressed his arms around his waist with both hands, then his legs were split, and he made a stance.
The two suddenly fell into a wrestling position.
Weiss couldn't help laughing: "Oh boy, do you have the guts to compare your strength with a serious alien hunter like me, you..."
Halfway through his words, his expression suddenly changed.
He suddenly discovered that with his strength, Zhou Jing could not be moved.
Although he is not a strength-type strengthening direction, his strength is also an extraordinary level. How could even an ordinary person be unable to suppress it? !
Zhou Jing held Wes's arm tightly and slowly but steadily pulled it away from his waist.
As soon as the entanglement broke free, he suddenly let go, his body exploded backwards, and his shoulders slammed into Wes's chest.
Bang!
Thick muscles collided, making a muffled sound.
Weiss stepped back for several steps before standing up, grinning, and looking at Zhou Jing in surprise.
Baron has been on the sidelines without stopping, until now, only to laugh at the schadenfreude:
"How about Weiss, let's be shriveled. Don't look at Jason's lack of alien blood enhancement, your strength may not be as strong as his."
"...What's up with this guy?"
Weiss rubbed his chest in surprise.
He originally wanted to try the physical fitness of "genius" in Balon's mouth. It's better to throw someone on a horse, and then shake his head to teach him some encouragement such as "the future is yours", but he didn't expect it to be like this result.
An ordinary person is almost stronger than him, which is outrageous!
This kind of talent, if he is strengthened by different blood, isn't that the combat power that is directly chasing the second strengthening?
Weiss' scalp was a little numb, and only then did he understand what Balon meant by "genius".
At this time, Zhou Jing shook his hand and stared at Weiss: "The way you greet is very unique."
He didn't mind much, most of the alien hunters were martial, although he tried it as soon as they met, which seemed a bit strange to him as an interstellar citizen, but in the relatively primitive hunter culture of this world, it may be a common situation.
In the past few months, Zhou Jing has learned to do as the locals do, and try not to use the concept of the interstellar era to evaluate their behavior.
Weiss rubbed his chest muscles and grinned: "Haha, don't mind, I just want to see how strong you are and whether you can withstand the alien blood enhancement... It seems that you are definitely fine, almost flattened my chest muscles. ."
After speaking, he paused, pressed his thumb to his chest, and said cheerfully:
"I'm Weiss, an old friend of Baron, and I've been active around White Plains for a long time. Maybe we'll hunt side by side in the future."
"Maybe."
Zhou Jing nodded.
Balong raised his chin: "We will stay in the city these days, see you at the Hunter Tavern."
"Okay, then you can do your business, I will continue to sell my prey."
Weiss nodded and turned back to continue bargaining with the workshop staff.
"Come on, let's go in."
Baron patted Zhou Jing and walked towards the hunter workshop.
…
The two entered the workshop, and the entrance was a hall with specimens of exotic beasts hanging on the wall, and pieces of equipment made of different exotic beast materials were placed on the shelves.
The job of the hunter workshop is to process the prey submitted by alien hunters, manufacture alien blood potions, make various equipment, and then provide them to alien hunters.
According to the laws of the Terra Empire, each town must have a hunter workshop, which will be funded by the central empire, but the lord is also responsible for maintaining it and needs to be responsible for part of the funding.
The most important support of the Empire to the workshop is actually to provide technicians.
Because not every town can recruit qualified alien-blood pharmacists and craftsmen, the important technicians of each workshop are trained by the empire or recruited by large clan craftsmen and assigned by airborne... In other words, the level is guaranteed to a certain extent.
Seeing someone come to the door, the workshop staff behind the counter immediately walked up and greeted them with a smile:
"Two hunters, do you need anything?"
Baron nodded: "I am Baron from Frostwood Village. I have submitted my prey here many times. Here is my record. I plan to change the blood potion."
Hearing that, the workshop staff asked the two of them to wait for a while, and went to the back room to report.
After a while, a thin man walked out, wearing a fine robe, and seemed to be of extraordinary status.
"Balong, I saw you again. I almost can't remember when you visited last time." As soon as the thin man saw Baron, he opened his arms and made a welcoming gesture with a smile.
"I was injured some time ago and I'm recuperating."
Baron explained, and then introduced to Zhou Jing in a low voice, saying that the person in front of him was the person in charge of the Baiyuan City workshop.
"So it is." The person in charge of the workshop nodded, and then changed the conversation: "You said that you want a new alien blood potion, are you finally ready to try the second enhancement?"
"It's not me, it's strengthening him." Baron pointed to Zhou Jing.
The person in charge of the workshop looked at Zhou Jing and said curiously:
"Who is this?"
"Jason Wood..." Zhou Jing had to introduce himself again.
The person in charge of the workshop looked at Zhou Jing with a little curiosity, but said nothing. After a brief self-introduction, he agreed to Baron's request.
"Baron, you have recorded seven times in the workshop. You can get a potion whenever you want. Come with me. I will show you the inventory and see which potion you want to choose."
After finishing speaking, the person in charge of the workshop made a gesture of invitation and led the group to the warehouse of the workshop.
All the way through the winding corridor, a few people came to a warehouse full of boxes.
The person in charge of the workshop picked up a thick notepad from the shelf at the entrance, turned to one of the pages, and handed it to Baron and Zhou Jing.
"Now we have eleven different blood potions in our inventory. The materials used and the possible strengthening directions are all written on it. You can see which one you want."
The exchanged alien blood potion mainly depends on what inventory the hunter workshop has. Of course, if you don't like it, you can make an appointment and come to pick it up when the workshop is in stock.
Or more directly, go hunt and kill your favorite exotic beasts and bring them over to be processed in the workshop.
Zhou Jing glanced at the list.
Iron Armored Beast Potion, Tumbleback Dragon Potion, Kiwi Potion…
In addition to physical exercise these days, he also learned some knowledge of exotic animals from Baron, and at this time most of the exotic animals can be recognized by their names.
"How is the quality of this batch?" Baron asked casually while flipping through it.
The person in charge of the workshop: "Three are novice works, seven are works by skilled pharmacists, and one is a pharmacist who has performed exceptionally well and is of good quality."
"Then we are lucky." Balon laughed and turned to look at Zhou Jing: "Look, that high-quality alien blood potion is the direction you want to strengthen, if there is no problem, just choose it. ."
These days, Zhou Jing had already heard Baron talk about the mechanism of strengthening the abnormal blood. It is very important to choose the first medicine of abnormal blood, which almost determines the strengthening route in the future.
The first potion used by Baron, the main strengthening direction is power and defense.
In addition, the better the quality of the potion, the less likely it is to inherit the weaknesses of alien beasts.
Zhou Jing glanced at the ingredients of this high-quality potion.
- Lightning Leopard Potion.
This is an alien beast known for its speed and explosiveness, as well as the special ability to discharge. It belongs to the ranks of high-risk alien beasts. The strengthening direction is agility, reaction, explosive power, and certain electric shock resistance.
"The Age of Rebirth"
'The route of Gao Min Gao's outbreak... It seems good. '
Zhou Jing was a little moved.
Compared with pure strength, it may be more useful to be agile and fast in battle.
but…
Zhou Jing pondered for a few seconds, then suddenly said:
"Balon, this request may be a bit sudden, but... can I get two potions? Just think I borrowed it from you."
Baron froze for a moment.
"You want two different blood potions? What are you using them for?"
It's useless to take too much of this thing, you can only use one... Is it possible that you want to strengthen it twice in a row? Isn't that killing it?
Even if you are talented, you can't do it!
Seeing Balon's expression of "I'm afraid you're not kidding me", Zhou Jing knew that the other party would be wrong, and immediately waved his hand to explain:
"I don't plan to continuously strengthen it, I just want one more option... You are willing to help me exchange a potion, I already owe you a favor, and this second one, I definitely can't use yours in vain. I borrowed it."
He really took a fancy to the Lightning Leopard Potion, but he didn't plan to use it directly.
The danger of the alien blood potion is not yet clear, he still decided to take another alien blood potion to satisfy Rose's wishes, so that this loyal follower can get the coveted opportunity to test the drug and contribute to the organization.
I will be by the side to see how the effect is, and what the performance will be after taking the medicine, so that I can know in my heart.
Although "Jason Wood" dies, his abilities can still be inherited, but it takes a lot of energy to use the new vest to reconnect with Baron and mix up to the point where the other party is willing to exchange potions for him, so Zhou Jing felt that it was better to be careful when facing the alien blood enhancement for the first time.
Baron touched his bald head, but still didn't quite understand Zhou Jing's reason.
What's the point of having one more choice, anyway, it's not the best medicine in the end?
But he didn't delve into it - since the worldview was subverted by Zhou Jing, this has been his habit of Zhou Jing.
"Okay, just treat it as borrowed... Although I still don't quite understand what you mean, as long as you don't use potions continuously, it's fine." Baron agreed.
He doesn't really care, but he has accumulated a lot of records, and he doesn't plan to strengthen it twice, so it's no problem to replace Zhou Jing with another.
Besides, they said that it was borrowed and would be repaid later, so Nabalon had no objection.
Zhou Jing was also unsure whether Baron would agree, but he was relieved when he saw that they did not refuse.
He glanced at the list again, and then said: "Then give me this Lightning Leopard Potion, and... Black Hand Fox Potion."
The strengthening direction of most alien blood potions is strength, endurance, agility and other qualities, and the black hand fox is an alien beast that is good at hiding and sneaking, and the strengthening direction is special.
The workshop leader quickly pulled out two wooden boxes from the warehouse and opened them for display.
There is a bottle of bright red medicine in each box, and the name of the medicine is marked on the bottle.
"These are the two bottles of different blood potions you asked for." The person in charge of the workshop handed the box to Zhou Jing and asked, "Are you going to strengthen it now? We can provide a room."
"No, I'll go back and prepare."
Zhou Jing shook his head.
To use the different blood medicine, you just need to drink it, there are no other procedures, so there is not much difference between using it privately and using it here... Both belong to no problem and do not need to be rescued, and there is no cure for problems.
Go back to find Ross's test medicine, so you don't need to let Baron know for the time being.
The person in charge of the workshop smiled and said: "Okay, then I look forward to seeing you again... Of course, you have become a hunter of alien beasts."
"Thank you." Zhou Jing nodded.
He looked down at the alien blood medicine in the box, his heart pounding.
The "key" is already in his hands.
Next, is to try to use this "key" to open the door to the extraordinary world.
…
After changing the potion, it was already afternoon. The two left the workshop and found a hotel in the city.
Baron paid the rent for three days and looked back at Zhou Jing:
"You should rest first. I'm going out to meet some friends. You'd better wait until I come back before using the potion, so that I can help you watch it, so that no one will disturb you."
"Okay, I also need some time to think about it and adjust my state."
Zhou Jing nodded and said something serious.
Watching Baron leave, Zhou Jing took Rose back to his room, refused the special service suggested by the hotel maid, and closed the door.
For a while, there were only two people left in the room.
Zhou Jing confirmed that the doors and windows were closed, and then he took out the black hand fox medicine and handed it to Ross. He spoke earnestly:
"Brother, now is your time to contribute to the organization."
Ross glanced at Zhou Jing, then looked down at the potion in his hand, but did not move.
There is no objection, it is agreed!
Zhou Jing firmly pressed Ross' shoulders and said solemnly:
"Good, it's boring."
Ross nodded silently, removed the cork, raised his head, and drank the black hand fox potion in one gulp.
Zhou Jing kept his eyes on the side, waiting for the next reaction.
However, after waiting for more than ten minutes, Ross was still standing upright, and nothing happened.
Zhou Jing: (?_?)
Ross: (o_O)
The two stared wide-eyed, and Rose's eyes were quite innocent.
no response? Is the medicine expired, or is the follower's physique special?
Zhou Jing scratched his head.
Just as he was about to check to see if something was wrong
clack clack-
A dense skeletal sound came from Ross.
Black blood vessels bulged rapidly on his face, twisting like a small snake, and his body twitched from time to time, like an unconscious nerve reflex.
However, Ross was expressionless, and his eyes were always on Zhou Jing.
If he didn't know the details, Zhou Jing almost thought that this was a cold-blooded killer without pain or emotion.
"It seems that it takes a certain amount of metabolism time for the medicine to take effect! The big one is coming!"
Zhou Jing suddenly came to the spirit.
He quickly took the mentality of doing research and carefully observed Ross's physical changes.
In the past three months, he has grown rapidly, but Rose's attributes have not increased at all, just like the beginning, he is completely at the level of ordinary people.
The stronger the body, the higher the success rate of using alien blood medicine. For ordinary people to strengthen the alien blood, although it is not completely impossible, the success rate is very slim.
However, with such aptitude as Ross, when he grows up naturally, it will go to the year of the monkey and the month of the horse?
Therefore, the extraordinary items such as different blood medicines are not used for nothing!
Zhou Jing asked Ross to be the first to strengthen the alien blood. In addition to the purpose of testing drugs, he also asked Ross to gamble.
Anyway, every Astral Apostle has a chance to revive a follower for free, and if Ross burps because of this, he can also pull it back once.
And if it did, wouldn't it be a bloody profit?
If you win, you will get a powerful follower. If you fail, you will still have the original stupid ratio.
With such an opportunity for trial and error, don't bet on it now!
…
Time passed minute by minute, and the dim sky outside the window was gradually replaced by night.
The bulging blood vessels on Ross's face gradually calmed down, and his body stopped twitching.
During this process, the muscles on his body were slightly larger, but they were not too swollen. If you don't look carefully, it is not easy to detect.
Zhou Jing poked Ross's chest muscles, which were different from the shriveled hands before, but now they are full of elasticity.
"Is this a success?"
Ross still followed Zhou Jing's gaze, and nodded with an imperceptible range.
Zhou Jing was pleasantly surprised, opened the attribute panel of the follower and took a look.
[[Ross (Elementary)] Obtained the extraordinary power system [Different Blood Warrior]! ]
[[Different Blood Warrior]: One-time enhancement (Black Hand Fox)]
[Effect: Physical +9, Resistance +7, Perception +5]
[Current attributes: Physical 14, Resistance 12, Perception 10, Spirit 5, Energy 0]
[Incidental features: [Night Vision], [Light Action], [Night Camouflage]]