Volume 2, Chapter 1 - Departure“You will depart in a month, I"ve prepared some low level one-time use Fu. From this trip, you will learn to skillfully use the one-time use Fu and learn to gather materials in the wild. Most of the materials you have been using are either from me or bought from the shops. This is not a long term solution, you will have to learn to gather your own materials and make Fu in the wild. These are the skills all FuZhou Knights should master.”
Guo 12th nodded, “Yes, Teacher.” He understood that a good Teacher will have high expectations for his disciples, so he must try his best to meet those expectations. This world is really crazy, 12th truly did not expect his Teacher to send him, a 9-year-old disciple to the battlefield, even though he was not required to engage in combat, it was still horrible to send a 9-year-old out to the battlefield.
Luo Jie could see that 12th was worried, he said, “You don"t have to worry about your safety, Luo Zhan and 3 Fu Warriors will accompany you, I believe nothing will harm you.”
“You guys should only stay in Ye Guan City, don"t go towards Savage Gate. Your range of activities will be close to Ye Guan City, don"t go anywhere further.” After a moment of thought, he said, “Actually it will be better to go to the Savage Gate and observe in a safe place. It will be very beneficial to you guys. But if anyone is scared I won"t force them to go."
Luo Jie took out two Fu hidden bags and said, “12th, you have always wanted a Fu hidden bag, this one is for you. Huo Bao will keep the other one, these two Fu hidden bags can"t hold a lot, each one can only hold about 3 days worth of supplies for the 5 of you.”
Guo 12th knew that the Fu hidden bags should only be used to carry emergency supplies. The other supples they can carry themselves.
Unlike Guo 12th’s complaints, the other 4 children were very excited. They did not understand the brutality and pains of battle, they thought this was a golden opportunity to play.
Guo 12th thought for a moment and felt relieved, in this strange world, maybe engaging in combat was normal.
Luo Jie then said, “You need to make a Fu belt on your own, do you know how? Remember, a Fu belt is not for good looks, a Fu belt will be more convenient to quickly and accurately take out specific Fu when you are in combat. I already gave you the materials, have you finished the purification and production?”
Guo 12th has already designed several different Fu belts, but he was not satisfied with them, so it has been held up until now. The materials were all prepared and he only needed one last step. As soon as he have a good design, he can immediately start making it. Because there was only one month left until they depart, he had to finish it soon.
A Fu Warrior came in holding several wooden boxes with different shapes and placed them on the table before leaving.
Luo Jie said, “Ok, it"s the 4 of you guys" turn, come over and select a low level weapon…think about it before choosing, think about your own combat style, then choose the weapon that you think is most suitable to that style. Hm, Hong Shi should pick a more defensive style weapon.”
Huo Bao was the leader of the team, he stepped forward and opened the wooden boxes. There were a total of 7 boxes, it contained a Fu spear, Fu broadsword, Fu axe, Fu hammer, Fu sword, Fu shield, and Fu bow.
Huo Bao picks the Fu broadsword without hesitating, it was made of steel with a lot of FuZhou engravings on it. Even though a low level Fu weapon cannot be compared to a middle or high level Fu weapon, they were still much more powerful than those used by ordinary people.
Chen Hong picks the Fu sword and Hong Shi picks the Fu shield and Fu hammer.
Chen Bing wasn"t happy because he wanted the Fu sword but it was already chosen by his cousin. He ended up with the Fu spear, but also wanted the Fu bow. He didn"t dare look at Luo Jie, instead, he turned to Guo 12th and Guo 12th nodded, so he picked up the Fu bow too.
These Fu weapons were enough to double their power. They could now resist an unarm Fu Warrior for about 10 minutes. Normally, if there was a FuZhou disciple in the group, the 4 Fu Warrior disciples will use their strength to hold back the enemy while the FuZhou disciple attack with Attack Fu, the battle should end very quickly like that. That was the strength of the FuZhou profession.
From seeing which Fu weapons were chosen, one could tell that the 4 Fu Warrior teammates were specialized in different combat styles. The reason why Huo Bao chose the Fu broadsword was because he simply liked to attack, he also wanted to choose the Fu hammer, but he knew Hong Shi was more suitable for it. He has also used the broadsword before when he hunted. Another weapon he wanted was the Fu bow, but because there was only one and he would always charge to the front of the battle, the Fu bow was not as suitable for him as the other weapons.
Chen Bing wanted the Fu sword, but since his cousin took it first, he chose the Fu spear and Fu bow instead. He was the scout in this 5-man team.
Among the 4 Fu Warriors, only Chen Hong’s role was not clearly defined. They did not know how to let her incorporated into the small team.
Luo Jie said, “You guys have to get familiarized with your Fu weapon as soon as possible. The low level Fu weapons have great lethality even without the activation of Fu power. You should try your best to master them so they can be used at their full effect. Your actual strength and ability is the only guarantee to your safety in the wild and in battle.
The advice of a person from the older generations came from countless life and death battles. Although they were young and ignorant, they knew that they should listen to what was said. As for Guo 12th, he has already understood this principle. He has served in the army in his previous life. He has fought in many battles, even though his rank was not very high, he had a wide range of knowledge and experience. He understood that his Teacher"s saying was invaluable advice.
Guo 12th asked, “Teacher, these are the Shadow Fu that I made, can you inspect them?”
Luo Jie took them and inspected carefully, “Hmm, they can be used.” He said.
Guo 12th was relieved, he was in a hurry to use the Shadow Fu to enhance his own strength. He knew that under the enhancements, his body would be tougher, at least to the level of the adults in this world. Of course, he was incomparable to Fu Warriors. Fu Warriors were simply “killing machines” with a human appearance.
Luo Jie hesitated a little and took out two Fu, “These are two Treasure Fu, 12th, use them only in life and death situations. With your current strength, you can only use them once. Meaning you will use up all your FuZhou power with just one Treasure Fu attack. Treasure Fu are used frequently by FuZhou Knights, you can take it, it will be a good experience for you to use Treasure Fu early.”
“One is Frostbolt, the other is Chaos fireball. They can be use as a single target attack or a crowd attack.
Guo 12th took them and said his thanks. It was the first time he was in contact with Treasure Fu. He could feel the power of these two Treasure Fu with his reincarnated soul. “Teacher, how many times can they be activated?”
Luo Jie said, “Frostbolt can be activated 9 times, and Chaos Fireball 3 times. Do not exceed these limits. If you remember to replenish their Fu, they can be used repeatedly. It is difficult to make Treasure Fu, you have to use them with caution, don"t waste them.”
Guo 12th was truly happy, these Fu were obtained just in time, Treasure Fu are real weapons. Even FuZhou Knights and Zhou Knights have a hard time trying to get good Treasure Fu. If you describe one-time use Fu as a homemade gun, then Treasure Fu will be a semi-automatic rifle, it is a lot more powerful.
They left Luo Jie’s estate, Guo 12th had a lot to think about. He was not a child and knew that there was a lot of things to be prepared before they go out to Ye Guan City. He needed to plan the supplies for their small team, but his most urgent task was to quickly increased his own strength. He did not want to rely on others for his own safety.
First he needed to do the strength enhancements with the Shadow Fu, then make the Fu belt, and lastly to familiarize himself with the two Treasure Fu. But the most important task was to find more information regarding Ye Guan City and Savage Gate, 12th needed to learn about its topography, its climate, as well as the characteristics of the savages in the north.
Shadow Fu and Light Fu were complete opposites, Light Fu can only be used on Fu Warriors. If a Zhou Knight or FuZhou Knight used it, they will become crippled. Light Fu is very brutal, but it could rapidly increase the body"s strength. Shadow Fu is relatively softer, it will slowly increase the physical qualities of Zhou Knights and FuZhou Knights.
It was simple to apply Shadow Fu to strength enhancements, one just needed to attach the Shadow Fu to the area where you wanted it to be strengthen. For example, if attached to the arms, the power of the arms will be enhanced. Guo 12th had a total of 5 Shadow Fu. He had to think about where he wanted the enhancements. The chest and the back should always be enhanced, so those took up 2 Fu already.
The abdomen is soft, it is very vulnerable to attacks and injuries, so it needed to be strengthened as well. Only two left, they could either be used to enhance his arms or legs.
Guo 12th thought for a moment and decided to use the last two Shadow Fu on his legs. He would be able to at least run faster if his legs were strengthened. 12th was helpless, he could not believe his Teacher in this world would let a 9-year-old go to the battlefield. He had to say that people in his world was crazy.
12th used all 5 Shadow Fu in a day. This was his first strength enhancement, even though it was incomplete. A complete first enhancement would allow one to use up to 8 Shadow Fu on themselves. He did not use any Shadow Fu for his head and arms, and now he had to wait until he is 10 years old for his second strength enhancement. At that time he is allowed to use up to 8 Shadow Fu on his body again. FuZhou disciples are only allowed one strength enhancement per year until they become FuZhou Knights, in which they are then allowed two strength enhancements per year.
Guo 12th asked Huo Bao to prepare the supplies, the 4 of them can do it together.
Fu belts are specialized equipment for FuZhou Knights, Fu Knights and Zhou Knights. The Fu belts are very important before one has advanced into the Masters level. Fu belt, as the name imply, is a belt where Fu is stored, it"s not only worn on the waist, some people crafted smaller ones for their wrists and other areas. The name does not changed, it was still a Fu belt, but some people called it Fu wrist belt or Fu arm belt. It was an extended product of the Fu belt.
Guo 12th was really not satisfied with the current Fu belt designs, it was simply a belt with s.p.a.ce to store Fu. They were almost all the same design except for the size. In order to take out the Fu easier, there were usually 4 to 6 slots in the front, and the back was used to store spare Fu, the right and left side of the belt would also have a slot each.
Most Fu wrist belts only had two slots, one inside and one outside.
The slots that hold the Fu are specially crafted, it have a specific s.p.a.ce where it can hold a specific number of Fu as long as the Fu are all the same type.
Guo 12th collected a lot of material, it was enough for him to make a dozen slots, That"s why, he did not want to make his Fu belt like everyone elses. It was not important how it looked, as long as it was convenient for him to use. He planned on making a whole set of Fu belt, the Fu wrist belt, Fu arm belt, and Fu leg belt.
Guo 12th thought about it for two days until he realized that there was not enough time and he had to quickly craft it. Finally, he came up with a strange Fu belt design, the outline was similar to a Sam Browne belt from his previous life. There were two extra straps compared to normal Fu belts. Guo 12th added three slots to each strap, together with the slots at the waist position, there was a total of 10 slots. This design was specially made for him because he was short, skinny, had a small waist, and thought the normal Fu belt designs lacked slots. Now his belt has 10 slots and should be enough.
[t/n] course, it was not good looking, people might not like it. But Guo 12th clearly remembers Luo Jie’s words. The Fu belts are designed for battle, how it looks like means nothing.
Guo 12th had spent almost 10 days crafting the strange Fu belt. Afterwards he spent a few days to practice using it, he wanted to get accustomed to the positions of the Fu so he could quickly and accurately take them out when needed. In addition, the two Treasure Fu were hidden in the wrist belt, one in the left and the other one in the right.
Everything was ready after busily preparing for a month. The morning of that day, under the escort of Luo Zhan and the 3 Fu Warriors, Guo 12th and his 4 Fu Warrior team arrived at the meeting point in the inner court. Guo 12th noticed that there were a lot of disciples there, most of them had Fu Warrior potential, some had Zhou Knight potential, and none have Fu Knight potential. There were a few disciples with FuZhou potential, and they were protected by Fu Warriors.
The disciples with Zhou potential were also protected by Fu Warriors. The majority of disciples had Fu Warrior potential. When they saw Huo Bao and his three teammates, their eyes revealed an envious expression. In the inner court, if they could not find a commander, they will become Fu Warriors of the inner court, and they would not get another chance to become supporters. Even though it was not bad in the inner court, their futures would be much more promising if they could become supporters.
The age amongst the disciples with Fu Warriors potential were all varied, some were in their low teenage years, while others were in their upper twenties. Since most of them were not supporters, their weapons were given to them by the inner court. They were all ordinary swords, n.o.body had Fu weapons.
Huo Bao"s Fu Warrior team held their Fu weapons out, it looked magnificent within the crowd because many Fu Warriors did not even have Fu weapons. The value of Fu weapons was high in the Fu town of the inner court and Fu Warriors were normally poor, so it was not easy for them to buy a Fu weapon.
Fu Warriors who have commanders did not have to worry about weapons or strength enhancements, their commanders will provide for all their needs. As a result, their greatest wish was to have a successful FuZhou Knight or Fu Knight as their commander, but having a Zhou Knight as their commander was good too.
Different from Guo 12th’s previous life, n.o.body gave a speech to boost morale. When it was time, the group departed in packs.
Guo 12th’s team was a.s.signed to the middle. The disciples with FuZhou potential were all a.s.signed in the middle of the group because that was the safest place.
There were three packs in total. The first pack included FuZhou Knights and Zhou Knights from the inner court, the Fu Warrior disciples who were close to advancing were led by them. The second pack included the weakest disciples, or disciples who needed the most protection. The third pack was similar to the first, the whole group was weak in the middle, but strong at both ends.
Approximately 500 horses, 100 carriages, 300 dogs, and 2000 people walked out of the inner court, walking forward along the road.
On the way, convoys from the outer court that delivered goods and materials appeared frequently. A small convoy might have around 50 people and a dozen carts while a big convoy might have about 600 people and 80 carts. There were lots of combat squads and ordinary street vendors serving food. The ordinary people lived in the supply stations, they came out in the morning and went back in at dusk, just to earn a little Fu bill for their daily expenses.
Guo 12th was sitting in the carriage. From 12th"s perspective, the carriage looked like a box car, it was extremely ugly, the only luxurious things were the thick animal hide on the seat, and the two shockproof Fu Inscriptions.
12th sat inside, took out a book and started reading. The book was about savages.
There are 4 types of savages in the northern tip. The first type is the Vagrant Savage, most of them lived alone in the wild. They had a st.u.r.dy figure and their strength was comparable to Fu Warrior Masters. They have rough skin and long hair all over the body, their weapon of choice were mostly huge rocks and tree trunks. Their combat power was strong and they enjoyed eating people, especially ordinary people.
The second type is the Frenzied Savages. They lived in large groups in the wastelands within the northern tip. They enjoyed fighting with large beasts, bursting into residential areas, and eating people. They did not use weapons, but relied on their sharp claws to attack. When they become frenzied, their combat power doubles and have an increase in speed.
The third type, also known as the most horrible type is called the Bloodthirsty Savages. They enjoyed slaughter the most, they would even kill Vagrant Savages and Frenzied Savages when they encountered them. They are known as the most dangerous savages. And the number of these Bloodthirsty Savages was the largest. Although their strength was lower than Vagrant Savages and Frenzied Savages, they would win by relying on their numbers in addition to their weapons.
The fourth type was extremely rare, savages who encountered them would automatically protect them. In human society, they were known as natural Fu Masters. Their strength was weak, but as they grew older, they would naturally develop some type of magical FuZhou, which helps other savages like treating their illnesses or enhancing their strength. They are called Fu Savages.
Guo 12th scratched his head and sighed in his mind, “What kind of f**cked up world it this? I never expected such strange creatures like savages? How do they look like people?” There were a few pictures in the book that had image of savages.
The first picture described the Vagrant Savages. They looked like huge gorillas with long arms that reached their knees. They had a strong body and large muscles that seemed to burst open and two large and sharp teeth outside their lips. They had long black hair all over the bodies. They gave off an oppressive feeling, just looking at the picture it was scary.
The second picture described the Frenzied Savages. Their physical build was similar to the Vagrant Savages, but their arms were even thicker. They did not have any fingers, but instead had 6 long sharp claws. And their body hair was brownish red.
The third picture described the Bloodthirsty Savages. Their appearance looked like a person with dark brown hair. There was no hair on their face and they wore some simple leather robes.
The last picture described the Fu Savages, they were short and skinny, looked delicate without a hint of fierceness. It was hard to imagine how they survived in the northern tip.
The book clearly indicated that Fu Savages were the most dangerous threats to humanity. One had to kill them at all cost when encountered. Fu Savages were equivalent to an amplifier, if there were other savages nearby, their strength would be significantly increased. What made people even more scared was that Fu Savages had intelligence.
Guo 12th directly excluded savages from the concept of humanity. They were indeed beasts!
The existence of the North Fu Sect was to hold off the savages. If the savages invaded, the probability of ordinary people surviving was close to zero. Maybe only those at the level of Fu Master, Zhou Master, FuZhou Master and Fu Warrior Master could survive. Therefore, people here extremely hated savages and they would never let go of them when they had the opportunity to kill them.
The northern tip, also known as the northern wasteland, was a ruthless region where it was very harsh for human to live in. It was also a region which contained a large amount of treasures, numerous precious raw materials for Fu making is there. The North Fu Sect had the most abundance of raw materials among all four Sects, because it controlled this huge treasury.
The northern tip was right outside the Savage Gate. Every spring, savages from the northern tip would attack the Savage Gate. Many savages would bypa.s.s the Gate and climb over the steep mountain peaks. They would break into the residential areas and murder and steal from everyone. Bloodthirsty Savages liked human objects the most, no matter if it was weapons, equipments, bowls, or pots, they will take them all. However, the number of savages that could climb over the peak was not that high, because the North Fu Sect had specially a.s.signed a hunting squad to kill them.
It was not only the savages which threatened the northern tip, there were also beasts in the wastelands. The beasts had one thing in common, they were all born with Fu Inscriptions. Some had it on their fur, some had it on their bones, and these were all natural materials for making the Fu frames. Some Fu Inscriptions were very strange and they were irresistible to Fu Masters. It would be very valuable if they discovered a new Fu Inscription from there.
Because of this, the wastelands of the northern tip were viewed as heaven and h.e.l.l to the disciples of North Fu Sect. Relying on the northern tip, the disciples can increase their strength quickly, but it also resulted in many deaths.
Guo 12th closed the book with a sigh. He knew that he needed to experience the ruthlessness of the northern tip, he was only 9 years old and his Teacher already sent him here. When he becomes a FuZhou Knight he knows he will be sent to the Savage Gate. It will be difficult to safely pa.s.s through this life. That being the case, he had to increase his ways of survival.
Guo 12th peeked his head out of the carriage and asked, “Huo Bao, where are we now?”