Master of the Stars

"Sister Yueyin?" Luo Nan felt even more diffident now. He felt like he was biting off more than he could chew. He Yueyin probably wouldn’t support this.

Papercut added, "However, if it involves an individual’s understanding, then it is best to find someone who attended the class at the time. Those who have been taught face-to-face are better. There are very few B-rank ability users from the branch, and even fewer of them are mentally slanted. Old You, Horned Demon, Old Gao, Mr. Bai...."

He stated a list of names. They sounded quite familiar to Luo Nan. Weren’t these the few psychics of Xia City?

Old Man You was one of the members of Xia City’s Iron Triangle. The other two members were Ouyang Chen and Her Majesty Empress Wu.

Horned Demon was said to be an adventurous madman. He had self-destructive tendencies. He spent day after day sloshing about in the Wilderness looking for stimulation.

Old Gao was the manufacturer of the paper talismans Luo Nan possessed. He was the successor of a line of Daoist priests. He was a half-disciple of Old Man You.

As for Mr. Bai, Luo Nan was quite familiar with this man. He once fought side by side with Mr. Bai, and Mr. Bai had even examined and treated Luo Nan. Mr. Bai’s daughter was Bai Xinyan, a mysterious doctor of medicine who held a strange position.

Luo Nan suddenly realized that the psychics of Xia City were quite odd. There were four in total, not including Luo Nan, who could be considered half a fake copy of one. They might not rank high among the thousands of ability users, but they were all of the Architect stage, powerful B-rank ability users.

Were there only a few ability users above B-rank in the entirety of Xia City?

Fourteen of these people were recorded within the eighty-eight branches in the entire world. These fourteen people were at the top of the list. Within this list, psychics occupied nearly a third. This was quite amazing.

Luo Nan got a little lost in thought, but Papercut pulled him back to reality. "I can help you ask Old Gao. It’s just that this fellow’s a bit of a profiteer. It is very likely that he’ll try to make a killing off you."

Oh god, how much did you have to pay for that huge wad of paper talismans? Luo Nan suddenly felt that he should really find the chance to express his thanks to all his teachers who taught him his skills. Perhaps some alcohol would be good.

Back to the topic. Luo Nan really didn’t want to owe Papercut more favors. Luo Nan thought for a moment, before saying, "Maybe I can seek out Mr. Bai."

This old mister seemed to have a good temperament. He should be better to talk to than Profiteer Mr. Gao, at least by a little.

"Right, you let yourself be treated by White Salt for so long. It can be considered fate. He certainly cares for you. Just don’t mention...."

"I know." Luo Nan understood tacitly. This family of father and daughter didn’t get along well. This was not new.

Wait, why does it sound like I’m the one who has to go asking around?

Luo Nan gaped with his mouth, but he was speechless. This was his matter, so naturally he had to do it himself. But with his homebody personality, the pressure was enormous in actively contacting someone, let alone asking someone for help.

Mr. Bai was his senior, after all, and he was one that he wasn’t particularly familiar with.

In any case, Luo Nan couldn’t have Papercut act as his substitute for this matter. He had to grit his teeth and do it himself.

At the same time, he suddenly thought of something. He only gained progress when he underwent his closed-door cultivation. His soul strength always went out of control every time he made progess, and each time he had to spend a lot of mental energy to wipe his own butt. Was this worth it in the end?

***

The next morning, at breakfast, Mrs. Luo Shuqing acted a bit odd. She felt that there was something a little off with Luo Nan. She couldn’t but ask, "What are you tangled up in?"

"Oh?" Luo Nan stuffed a large piece of meat into his mouth before raising his head. He donned an expression of innocence.

"Your eyebrows are knotted up, and you’re saying you’re not in a tangle?"

Luo Nan just barely swallowed the piece of meat before continuing to play the fool. "Tangle? Oh, my frontal lobe and limbic lobe are really battling it out."

At the end of the day, Mrs. Luo Shuqing had quite the academic achievements in psychology. She circled around mentally and understood. In psychology, the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex represented rationality and self-control. The limbic lobe represented impulsive emotions. Together, the two lobes could represent the struggle between long-term benefits and short-term benefits.

Luo Nan spoke these words smoothly, using his quick wit. However, there were some real emotions contained within them.

He didn’t seek out Mr. Bai last night because he wasn’t too familiar with him. It was too late at night. Luo Nan was scared that he would bother Mr. Bai’s rest. Frankly speaking, his introverted homebody self had flared with anxiety, appearing as fear of interpersonal relationships and dragging him down.

Instead, Luo Nan asked for a big favor from Secretary He. He learned that there was a recording of the high-level discussion course in the branch’s database. However, he was unable to obtain it.

He Yueyin told him quite honestly that he shouldn’t bite off more than he could chew. The Heart Searing Blade was a B-rank technique, involving far too many elements. Many of these elements were unique to an Architect’s knowledge. It was bad to forcefully train without a firm foundation.

In essence, Luo Nan couldn’t even reach the criteria of an Awakened due to the imbalance between his body and soul. This was a matter regarding criteria; it didn’t change even though he possessed a superb combat ability.

A missile that could explode at any moment was indeed more intimidating and deadlier than a refined rifle. But their degrees of control where one could just aim and hit lay completely opposite.

Luo Nan even asked He Yueyin last night about disposal of milk. Oh, he didn’t ask directly. He asked how to obtain a large move. However, the worsened state of the imbalance between his body and soul was seen through by He Yueyin in an instant. They went back and forth for a long while, and Luo Nan just barely avoided getting examined. That night, he wasn’t able to cultivate and obtain any more progress.

With things going this roughly, Luo Nan couldn’t help being emotional. However, he had forgotten that his aunt was quite suspicious of everyone these days. She was worried that Luo Nan had gotten involved in some certain things.

The vague words full of underlying meanings left Luo Nan’s mouth, and Luo Shuqing suddenly grew tense. "That firm. Did they come and try to recruit you again?"

Luo Nan mentally slapped himself in the face, cursing, "Me and my big fat mouth!" to himself. He rushed to assure Luo Shuqing, "They haven’t. They haven’t contacted me at all these past two days. They were just making small talk back then."

Luo Nan didn’t explain it well. The more he explained, the more suspicious Luo Shuqing became. Luo Shuqing put down her bowl and chopsticks, seeking to gain a deeper understanding of the situation.

Mo Haihang had been swiping through the display on the table at this time, reading the news. He suddenly spoke up, "Actually, you can give it a try if there aren’t any dangers to it. Youngsters should try and make mistakes. Only when one makes mistakes can they gather good information...."

He brought out his theory on trial and error once more, and this time he went a step further, "You can totally go to someone’s firm and give it a try. See if it suits your heart. Draft a contract if you want to do it, and bring it back to have your aunt help examine it. You’re in high school right now. We can put financial affairs and independence on the agenda."

Luo Shuqing turned to glower at her husband, but she suddenly understood something and frowned. She didn’t say anything. The number of people in a tangle had increased by one.

Clearly his aunt wanted to get to the bottom of this!

Luo Nan long knew what his aunt and uncle were worried about. He saw through the so-called trial and error with a single glance, and he couldn’t avoid becoming depressed. He began to ponder as he mentally groaned about how this was all a misunderstanding. To put these two guardians’ minds at ease, should he go seek Zhang Yingying for help? Have her arrange a setting and perform a double act?

Breakfast abruptly ended amidst this tangle and probing.

Today was November 4 of the year 2096. It was a Sunday. The mistake of this early morning seemed to cause the schedule of the entire day to open up with a bad start.

After breakfast, his uncle, aunt, and even his cousin all went out the door to do their own things. Luo Nan continued to park himself at home. He quickly observed the star atlas-transformed Format Pyramid, and was terrified by the continuous growth of the vast ocean iceberg’s water level. Luo Nan gloomily left his meditative state, hugging his head in distress.

All work pertaining to Formatting Theory could not be delved deeper into until he found a suitable channel for disposing milk. The subdivision technique of the root receptacle, root nature, and root trigger could not be considered as well, since they were too closely linked together.

As for the internal refinement technique of the nine orifices and six roots, Luo Nan had already reached maturity during his morning session. There was no need to overdo it like drawing legs on a snake.

He was going to spend an entire day at home. He had to do a bit of something, right?

Luo Nan rolled on his bed for two circles. In the end, he had no other choice. He could only follow Papercut’s suggestion. He opened up the mission announcement page for "Soul Strength Information Gathering," and he flipped to the teaching materials of the Dripping Sword that Papercut had sent. He wanted to see if he could discover any pleasant surprises within.