"This is a secondary job similar to a recorder, but it's more advanced than that..."
Chen Lun looked at the list and felt a surge of joy in his heart.
'I must get this book. Once I have this new secondary profession, I can turn the mid-sequence extraordinary knowledge in my mind into physical objects and pass them on to other people. Whether selling them to players or giving them to team members, it will be very convenient... But the prerequisite is that I need enough merits.'
He also noticed that there was a line of notes at the top of the list, which stated that in addition to completing tasks and making meritorious contributions, members of the Inquisition could also turn in unused supernatural or strange objects in exchange for merits.
Chen Lun's eyes lit up.
He usually gets a lot of extraordinary materials from "killing monsters" in the fairyland, and he also purchased a large number of materials from the Silver Dragon Chamber of Commerce and provided them to Fuluoyin to forge weird things... It seems that in addition to making those relatively useless weird things into "blind boxes" and selling them to players, now there is another "sales channel".
But soon, he frowned slightly.
Because the purchase price of the Imperial Inquisition is not high, a lowest-level D-level monster cannot be exchanged for one D-level merit. At least three items are needed to exchange for the same level of merit.
In other words, in order to exchange for the Engraver's secondary occupation knowledge, three B-level monsters are needed, which is a bit expensive for Chen Lun, and it can even be said to be quite uneconomical.
Merits of different levels cannot be combined into higher levels with lower levels. Higher levels can only be exchanged for multiple lower levels. For example, one B-level merit can be exchanged for three C-level merits, but not vice versa.
This put an end to Chen Lun's thoughts of gaining merit.
"And D-rank merits can't be exchanged for anything good, so this approach won't work... It seems like I can only complete the missions honestly."
Chen Lun was a little disappointed.
Then he turned the list to the last page, "Extraordinary Knowledge Area".
Including three hidden paths, the extraordinary knowledge of ten factions is all here, which also shows how profound the official foundation is.
Chen Lun found the Destiny Faction, but only saw the extraordinary knowledge of Sequence Nine to Sequence Five. Not only that, the same was true for the other nine paths. The low and medium sequence knowledge was very complete, but the high sequence mythological knowledge was missing.
"Mr. Jackspeight, if you need anything, I can help you find it."
The quartermaster was a gray-haired old man, wearing a uniform and a short-brimmed beret, and looked energetic. He sat behind the window bars, holding a half-burned cigarette in his mouth, and laughed.
"Why is there no high-sequence mythological knowledge on the list?"
Chen Lun glanced at the old man and asked.
"Oh, high-sequence knowledge..."
The quartermaster raised his eyebrows and chuckled twice. He then took out the cigarette from his mouth, leaned over and whispered:
"That is a necessary step to ascend to the throne of sainthood. How could the empire easily let it go? Even if all the things on the list were added together, they would probably not be as precious as that knowledge."
"So, it's not that there is no money within the Inquisition, but that exchange is not allowed?"
Chen Lun frowned.
"Of course not, sir. It's just that the method of exchange is special."
The quartermaster shrugged.
"What special way?"
"It's simple. The royal family has the final say."
The old man looked at Chen Lun, took the last puff of his cigarette, and slowly exhaled the smoke.
"It's not like there's no precedent in the past... When Chief Judge Plamon was still an ordinary member of the Judiciary, he made great contributions. The Sun King personally granted him High-Sequence Knowledge, which enabled him to be promoted to a Saint and become one of the Nine Chief Judges."
Chen Lun understood what the other party said.
If one wants to obtain advanced knowledge from within the Imperial Inquisition, break through the limits of the extraordinary in one fell swoop, ascend to the throne of sainthood and become a great man, the only way is to make outstanding contributions to the empire and gain the favor of the royal family.
This is simply impossible to achieve through ordinary channels.
"It doesn't seem easy..."
Chen Lun sighed secretly.
It is not easy to achieve the great feat of gaining the favor of the royal family. Even if one has enough ability, one must have such an opportunity.
'It won't be long before I can level up my juggler to the maximum level, but if I want to advance to the fourth level of Destiny Sequence, I must have the corresponding mythological knowledge... Although this mission to investigate the spirit world is important, the A-level merit reward is obviously not enough to obtain this knowledge.'
Chen Lun was in a bad mood.
And he thought of one thing, that is, the Sun King Andre did not like the extraordinary people from the three paths of nature, magic and fate. Even if he made great achievements, he might not be able to get what he wanted.
"I can only walk and watch... I will work in the Imperial Inquisition first, and then try to contact Philip. As a person of high destiny, she must have relevant knowledge!"
Chen Lun let out a sigh of relief.
He thanked the quartermaster, stood up and left.
Afterwards, Chen Lun gathered the members of the "Investigation Group 1" team in the rest area on the third floor and held a brief meeting with them.
After explaining some precautions, Chen Lun distributed the supplies he had received.
"Each of you will need three of these True Sight Potions. If you don't have enough, ask me for them. As for the Spirit World Anchor, Larn will take one as insurance, and I will keep the rest for you to use."
The team members took the medicine and nodded in agreement.
Among them, Ran, Wells, Sibe and Federica were relatively cooperative, while the group of three from Mathison was a bit perfunctory. However, Chen Lun did not care much about their attitudes, and then said calmly:
"We will meet here tomorrow morning at nine o'clock and officially start the investigation... That's it for now, adjourn the meeting."
*
*
*
The next morning.
Chen Lun came to the Tribunal Building again.
He went up to the second floor, where there was a large restaurant that provided free food and drinks to the members of the jury.
The members of the investigation team were having lunch here, and Chen Lun strode over.
"Captain, you came early today. Do you want something to eat? I'll get it for you."
The young man, Rahn, raised his hand and said enthusiastically.
There was another man and two women at his table, namely Wells, Sibe and Federica. The team members greeted Chen Lun one after another.
As for the Mathison trio, they have not arrived yet.
"Good morning, Captain Jack."
"Good morning."
Chen Lun nodded in response.
He sat down and smiled at Rahn.
"I already had breakfast before I left, so don't bother."
As Chen Lun was speaking, he suddenly felt a gaze coming from the next table. He followed his intuition and saw a man with long brown hair looking at him quietly.
'Shadowwalker Hamilton...'
Chen Lun said secretly.
The man was wearing a casual windbreaker, a pair of leather gloves and a cowboy hat, and was eating a plate of steak and noodles with a knife and fork. Sitting at the same table with him were members of the "Investigation Team 2", a total of nine people.
"Jack, are you interested in playing a game with me?"
Hamilton chewed his food and smiled faintly.
"Um?"
Chen Lun was a little confused.
He and his teammates also looked at Hamilton and others, wondering what this guy meant.
"We are all the same. As new members of the Imperial Inquisition, we serve as captains in our first important mission... I am very curious about you, Jack, both the rumors about you in the past and who you are now."
Hamilton put down his knife and fork and pointed at Chen Lun and himself.
"Since we are heading to the spirit world to investigate, why don't we see which group achieves results first?"
He pulled out an Imperial Bank certificate.
"Here's one thousand gold pounds. How about that as the bet for the game? Whoever wins can share it with the other members of the group as an extra celebration reward."
When the players from both sides heard this, they immediately became interested.
These gold pounds are not too much for them, they can only be regarded as a good jackpot. However, the competition between the two sides is quite interesting and can stimulate their inner desire to win.
Unexpectedly, Chen Lun shook his head slightly.
"Sorry, I'm not interested in gambling."
The second group of players around Hamilton booed and laughed, thinking that Mr. Jack was just a name and didn't even dare to accept such a challenge.
"Jack, why don't you accept Hamilton's challenge? Are you afraid?"
At this time, a man's voice was heard.
Everyone looked over and saw Mathison, Rocky and Melis walking slowly over, then sitting down at a table in a group.
"That's one thousand gold pounds. If we win, we'll have a lot of extra pocket money, right? Or are you unable to pay for this bet, Captain? That's okay. I can help you."
Mathison spoke out with a smirk on his face.
Chen Lun glanced at him and said calmly:
"If you are interested, you can make a bet with Captain Hamilton yourself. I won't accompany you..."
Then he looked at the players around him:
"Are you full? Let's get ready to go."
Mathison chuckled and said nothing more, but the disdain in his eyes grew even stronger.
As for Hamilton at the next table, he shook his head slightly disappointed, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and called on his teammates to get up and leave, preparing to enter the spirit world and begin the action.
"We're full, Captain."
Ran observed the captain's expression and said tactfully.
Chen Lun nodded, stood up, and walked towards the exit of the restaurant.
"Gather on the first floor."
Larne and other team members stood up and left. The three Mathisons who were walking at the end looked at each other, sneered and called them cowards.
*
*
*
Spirit world.
The azure blue horizon blurred the edges, and only the outline and layout of the first floor lobby could be vaguely seen. Eight figures suddenly appeared here.
Chen Lun glanced at his team members, took out a palm-sized metal mini anchor and threw it on the ground.
winter!
The anchor seemed to be of great weight, and it made a dull sound when it hit the ground.
"The first 'Spiritual Anchor' will be dropped here as our starting point."
Chen Lun said to the team members.
Laan and others nodded silently, but Mathison sneered:
"Captain Jack, we only have three 'anchors'. There's no need to waste one here... If we don't have this thing, it will seriously delay our progress."
"I'm the captain."
Chen Lun said calmly.
"I have the final say here."
"You're right, Jack, I can't argue with that... I hope it won't be like what I said."
Mathison shrugged.
Chen Lun ignored him and turned around to look around.
In his sight, there are sporadic cracks hidden in the surrounding environment, which are the passages leading to the second layer of the spiritual world... Chen Lun's current insight is as high as 71 points, which cannot be hidden from his eyes at all.
"The shallow level of the spirit world is not worth exploring. Let's go directly to the next level."
Chen Lun said to the team members.
"Yes, Captain."
Rahn and others responded.
Everyone could see the crack in the spiritual world, so they found a slightly larger opening and walked towards it. The crack seemed to sense the approach of matter and suddenly opened up, swallowing them up in an instant.
This is Chen Lun’s first time entering the second level of the spiritual world.
He felt something new. The light around him suddenly dimmed, then became clear again. A strange attraction emerged from all directions, as if constantly pulling at his body.
The wind in the air disappeared and there was silence here.
The visual field presented was somewhat different from the shallow layer of the spiritual world. The color here changed from azure to dark blue, and the outlines in the real world also faded, forming a more distorted picture.
"It is getting further away from the real world..."
Chen Lun thought.
"Captain, should we start our investigation from here?"
Rahn asked him.
Chen Lun shook his head without even thinking about it.
"This doesn't make sense. The first investigation team has already explored this place. Let's go deeper into the third floor and then directly reach the dark world from the depths."
"Yes, Captain."
Rahn nodded.
The team members did not object, and each took out the "True Vision Potion" they brought and drank it.
They were able to penetrate the cracks on the second layer, but they were powerless to penetrate the third layer, so they had to seek help from outside forces. But everyone soon discovered that Captain Jack had not taken the medicine.
"team leader?"
Rahn wondered.
Chen Lun waved his hand and said:
"I don't need it."
Immediately, he walked straight to the right behind him.
Everyone saw clearly that there was a linear dark blue crack in the air.
“?!”
The team members were very surprised.
"Captain, can you see the cracks on the third floor without taking any medicine?!"
Laan and the others secretly admired the captain more, but Mathison and the other two snorted in dissatisfaction.
The rift swallowed everyone up again.
The vision turned dark.
The third layer of the spiritual world is quite gloomy. The outline of the real world disappears completely here, leaving only a blur and distortion. Everyone finds that there is a layer of faint psychedelic mist floating around their bodies, moving without wind.
Chen Lun tried to raise his hand to touch the mist, but found that as soon as his fingers got close, the mist seemed to sense something and moved away on its own, as if it had life.
"Let's go."
Chen Lun shook his head and said to the team members.
He took the lead and walked in the dim environment while taking out playing cards for divination to confirm the direction to the dark world.
A team of investigators was traveling in this way in the third layer of the spirit world.
Two hours passed quickly.
The team members knew the importance of this operation, so they did not dare to chat casually, making the process quite boring.
"Captain, what's that in front?"
Ran suddenly pointed to the darkness ahead and spoke.
His tone was full of surprise, and everyone stopped immediately.
Chen Lun looked forward, frowning slightly.
I saw a huge whirlpool with a diameter of hundreds of meters appearing in the distance. The twisted darkness was unclear and gave people an extremely depressing feeling.
"That's the spiritual world turbulence..."
Chen Lun made a judgment and said in a deep voice.
"Turbulence in the Spirit World?!"
The team members were quite surprised.
Just as Prince Dazlet said, many spiritual turbulences appeared in the empire, throwing polluted creatures from the spiritual world into the human world, causing serious damage.
At the same time, everyone felt the ground beneath their feet begin to shake, and wild beast-like roars came from all directions.
"It's a pollutant..."
Chen Lun's eyes were deep, as if he saw clearly what was going on, and he said to the team members in a deep voice:
"Everyone cheer up and prepare to fight the enemy!"