Ling Jiu

RD: Just an interesting fact.

In < Chapter 21: The Wind Hunters, Windfall Business> of the novel, it's revealed China alone has a hundred base cities with a total population of 7–8 billion people. However, in < Chapter 1: Rampaging Direbeasts, the Age of Arcanas > it's said that the world's human population had plummeted from six billion to three billion. This could've made sense if the story is set 200 years after the Age of Arcanas started, but it's not even close to 200 years. According to < Chapter 324: Keep the Direbeasts, Devouring Satellites > (7+ years after the MC's reincarnation), it has only been 50 years since the Age of Arcanas. So the fact that China alone repopulated 7–8 billion people in a world where the direbeasts runs rampant in a span of about 43 years is unrealistic.

-

Several hours later.

Aldrich returned from his mindscape after what felt like centuries of constant research and experimentation. The information he garnered earlier made him aware that the laws and fundamental forces governing this universe are vastly different from his original universe. Therefore, he had to use various methods to peer into the esoterics of creation; a task that would normally be impossible for his level, but is doable due to his soul and the Dream Manipulation Arcana he replicated.

By splitting off a fraction of his soul, he can send it to explore the Dream Realm with his Spatial-Temporal Lock Arcana activated.

However, that is easier said than done considering how enormous and chaotic the Dream Realm is.

The Dream Realm is sort of a parallel universe, where the thoughts and imaginations of living things gather and converge, creating a place that is unimaginable to the normal mind and a place that's difficult and unsettling to traverse.

At some point, Aldrich had to start absorbing the dream essence of Lantian Base City's residents to distract the Dream Realm natives he encountered.

While Aldrich failed to find what he was searching for, he encountered and eliminated a fellow Dream Real traverser. This Dream Realm traverser was akin to an automaton, but what separates her from a normal automaton was that its so-called body was nothing but a shell for her true form; a soul. In an unfortunate series of events, Aldrich had to eliminate her, and the instance he devoured her, he acquired her memories and a far greater knowledge about the universe than what Earth's top echelon could offer.

Aldrich learned that she was from a race of creatures called evogods, an apex race in the universe that were indomitable masters of soul cultivation. However, because of their powers, the evogods met annihilation from the coalition of numerous ancient powers of the universe.

The evogods reminded Aldrich of the eldritchkins, except that the eldritchkins fended off their enemies and were the cause of their own doom.

Still, the information that Aldrich got from the evogod was enough to make his failed expedition worth it.

Glancing at his parents and grandfather, Aldrich said, "How's the research going?"

He seemed to have startled them as he saw them flinch a little before turning towards him.

"Nothing exciting. What were you doing earlier though?" Dante inquired.

"I was comprehending the esoterics of the universe," Aldrich said.

"What?"

Dante was confused; Adamas and Ramona were no different.

"You wouldn't understand even I told you, but," Aldrich pointed a finger at them, furthering their confusion, "I know you'll understand this."

Before either of them could question him, their minds blanked out for the second time that day.

"Let's go, Ishtar." Aldrich carried the half-awake Ishtar on his shoulder.

-

The Woe of Beasts brought death and destruction never-before-seen in the modern age. The landscape of the planet transformed from the clash of arcanists, direbeast, and other lifeforms that threatened humanity's existence.

In order to protect human life and bring forth a brighter tomorrow, fortified cities that became known as base cities were created. Because of numerous technological advancements and discoveries over the decades, base cities evolved from being unable to have several millions without feeling cramped, to being capable of having at least tens of millions people with enough capacity to have thrice more the amount.

Aldrich whistled as he stared at the architectural marvel upon him.

Blue Heaven Towers is a group of one hundred eight towers of at least 200 meters in height and are interconnected by bridges that double as streets and marketplaces. Such a titanic structure was built to test the concept of a layered metropolis and to see if it was viable for the foreseeable future.

Despite the challenges and criticisms faced in its construction, Blue Heaven Towers became an integral part of Lantian Base City.

At the moment, Blue Heaven Towers is a mix of residential, commercial, and industrial spaces.

It's also where Aldrich's target is located.

Yog-Sothoth had informed Aldrich that an invader's Champion was reborn in a universe that was a near identical version to this universe; in fact, that Champion's golden fingers are the arcanas that his eldritch benefactor had given him.

That Champion's name was Ling Jiu and Yog-Sothoth claimed that a version of Ling Jiu exists in this universe. This universe's Ling Jiu might not be a threat to Aldrich at the present, but he might be a threat to him in the future.

So, after Aldrich returned from his mindscape and the Dream Realm, he used Technopathy to find Ling Jiu and learn of Ling Jiu's personal information.

Ling Jiu is a student of Lantian No. 1 High School. He was born on January 29, 2049, and is the son of Ling Tiancia and the older brother of Ling Xiaotong. Ling Jiu's mother is unknown, and although it's said that his father and mother are divorced, there were no official records of their union nor a record of his and sister's mother's name in their birth certificate.

Out of curiosity, Aldrich developed a facial recognition software to match Ling Jiu and Ling Xiaoting with their mother. There were a lot of plausible people shown in the results, but after going through the public surveillance footages of Lantian Base City, Aldrich discovered who the Ling Sibling's mother was.

Their mother was Yang Su, a member of the Chang'an Base City's Yang Family and the president of the Yang Group.

This surprised Aldrich. He knew who Yang Su was and he had even met her in a private event in Chang'an Base City.

However, the reason for her abandoning Ling Tianci and her children to fend for themselves is not Aldrich's concern. Just knowing she's Ling Jiu's mother is enough for him.

The arcana trials of Lantian No. 1 High School had ended hours ago. The students who awakened their arcanas would graduate tomorrow after deciding which arcana organization to join.

Of the 1,680 sophomore students of Lantian No. 1 High School, 145 awakened their arcanas; close to quadruple of the previous year's results.

The world was sent to an uproar after the astonishing results were released.

Ling Jiu is one of the students of Lantian No. 1 High School who awakened their arcanas. His arcana is the Mountain Form, a rare arcana that transform an arcanist into a living mountain.

Aldrich's objective was not to steal or replicate the arcana, but to turn Ling Jiu into his eldritch slave. It would be a waste to take Ling Jiu's life if he could be used as a catalyst to locate the Champion Ling Jiu; turning him into a slave is an excellent choice.

Yog-Sothoth's Champion entered Blue Heaven Tower No. 9, one of the residential-centric buildings, and headed to the Ling Family's residence.

Phasing through a door, Aldrich found the famiglia of three chatting and eating in the dining room.

"Brother, what arcana company are you going to join?" Ling Xiaotong asked.

"I haven't made a final decision yet, but I'm interested in joining the arcana organizations that are giving out the most benefits," Ling Jiu said.

Covering his mouth before speaking, Ling Tianci questioned, "Didn't you want to join Pangu or any of the top arcana organizations?"

"I wanted to, but the top twenty-one arcana organizations are the stingiest when it comes to benefits. They're offering a monthly salary of 10,000 credits and a monthly allowance of 5,000 credits, while the arcana organizations that came after them are offering at double. Heck, the arcana organizations ranked 150th and below are offering a minimum of ten times the amount and special benefits," Ling Jiu sighed, frustrated at the top arcana organizations.

Aldrich snorted, amused. He couldn't help but hope that Champion Ling Jiu was as idiotic as this Ling Jiu so that he could complete his task without sweat.

"You imbecile son," Ling Tianci remarked.

"Ah," Ling Jiu uttered, shocked by his father's reaction.

Shaking his head at his son's idiocy, Ling Tianci elaborated, "You awakened an arcana, sure, but that isn't an excuse for you to stop using your brain. The top twenty-one arcana organizations hold their position not merely by being the largest or most esteemed, but because they are helmed by transcendent arcanists, the paramount experts among humans. These transcendent arcanists possess more than personal might; they possess resources. One of the primary privileges of affiliating with a top-tier arcanist organization is the access to resources that lower-ranked counterparts lack. Through these invaluable resources, these leading organizations are able to cultivate and nurture prodigious talents.

"Of course, they won't give just anyone these resources. Why would they? Those resources are too precious to just give away to anybody. Thus, to acquire people worthy of their nurturing, they weed out the newcomers by giving out modest offers. The ones who take their modest offers over the lucrative offers are the ones seen as deserving of their time and efforts. It could be said that this is the first hurdle of aspiring arcanists. Choosing an arcana organization that could facilitate their future growth."

Ling Jiu was stunned silent, as he had only seemed to realize the reason now.

"Of course, you can still choose whatever arcana organization you want to join. Your life is up to you. I only cleared things up so you won't humiliate yourself," Ling Tianci added and continued eating.

After a moment of silence, Ling Jiu said, "The amount of awakeners this year is at least triple of the previous years. The competition in the previous years should've already been rather tough and this year's influx of awakeners will surely make it even tougher. Ordinary awakeners like me will definitely have a difficult time competing compared to those from well-established arcanist families…"

Ling Tianci's hand below the table balled up into a fist, something that neither Ling Jiu nor Ling Xiaotong took notice of.

With a curious expression, Ling Xiaotong interjected, "Brother, I heard that someone broke the world record of most arcanas awakened in the arcana trials*. Apparently, he's also from our Lantian Base City. Do you know who that is?"

"Oh. That's Aldrich Adam. He's from Lantian Polytechnic Academy," Ling Jiu answered.

Practically everyone in Lantian Base City knows who Aldrich Adam is. Not only is he the heir of a wealthy company, he's also an infamous playboy and the fiance of one of the most beautiful young women in this region of China.

"You don't know?" Ling Tianci questioned.

Ling Jiu and Ling Xiaotong were confused by Ling Tianci's question.

"I can't blame you if you didn't know Aldrich Adam's real identity, even I only found out recently," Ling Tianci sighed.

"Aldrich Adam's real identity?" Ling Jiu repeated.

"Is he the descendant of a big shot?" Ling Xiaotong asked.

"Multiple big shots, to be exact." Ling Tianci turned on the television with his phone and looked for news channels. While doing so, he explained, "Aldrich Adam is the first grandson of a transcendent arcanist. Particularly, the 5th ranked transcendent arcanist and one of the most renowned scientists and engineers in history, Dante Adam. Aldrich is the son of a Level 10 Arcanist, and an unnamed deceased Level 7 arcanist. Not only that, Aldrich's fiancee, Ishtar K. Wong, is the daughter of a pair of deceased Level 9 Arcanists."

"Wait, seriously? High-profile people like that have been living in our little base city for years now?" Ling Jiu exclaimed, shocked at the revelation.

"Wow! No wonder Lady Ishtar is so beautiful, she descended from demigods!" Ling Xiaotong's eyes sparkled.

After changing the channels a few more times, Ling Tianci eventually found a news channel, and luckily, it featured news about Aldrich Adam and Ishtar K. Wong. It was in a panel discussion as well.

"This ought to be interesting," Aldrich chuckled.

An old Chinese newscaster's voice filled the room, "I still can't believe that the first grandson of the revered Dante Adam is living in Lantian Base City. You'd wreckon his grandson to live in one of the mega base cities and study in a prestigious institution similar to his younger cousin."

"It is rather strange, yeah," another Chinese newscaster concurred.

Most of the newscasters and guests agreed, but an old British guest shook his head. This guest's action quickly caught everyone's attention because he's a very well-respected expert in the industry.

He is Winston Sterling, a veteran from the Woe of Beasts and a world renowned journalist.

"I'm sick and tired of hearing this garbage about Aldrich Adam being detached from his family and whatnot. The majority of the people that have been spreading such information know nothing about how transcendent arcanists run their family," Winston remarked.

"Sterling, weren't you hired as a private tutor for a transcendent arcanist's son?" a Japanese newscaster inquired.

"I was, and I'm here to tell you right now why Aldrich Adam is at Lantian Base City," Winston stated. "You see, Dr. Dante Adam raises his descendants in a manner different from the fourteen transcendent arcanists who also have descendants. Dr. Adam is rather cruel to his descendants. How? Level 7 and higher arcanists would hand their descendants an ultimate gene arcana absorption technique right off of the bat, but Dr. Adama wouldn't. Other strong arcanists would provide a lot of resources to their descendants, but Dr. Dante wouldn't. If his sons and daughters want something from him, then they'll have to work for it.

"Now this is good parenting, but Dr. Adam went extreme. Too extreme even. Dr. Adam's first born quit the arcanist life after reaching Level 7 and opened a coffee shop in a random base city. Dr. Adam's strict nature removed his first born's interest in being an arcanist, which is… insane, to be honest. I can't even fathom what sort of parenting would result from that."

The newscaster and guest took pity on Dante's first born while the Ling Family were in disbelief.

Is that how transcendent arcanists ran their families?

Wouldn't being the descendant of an inferior elite arcanist family be better instead?

Aldrich remained indifferent. While his grandfather's methods were rather cruel, it wasn't that bad overall.

"So Aldrich Adam is in Lantian Base City because of Dr. Adam's… attitude?" the old Chinese newscaster questioned.

"No. In fact, it's the complete opposite,"

Winston stifled a chuckle. "Aldrich Adam is too talented. He was born with a strong body, said to be as strong as an average Level 3 arcanist. While no one believed it at that time, the fact that one of his arcanas is a Super Physique with an index of 100,000 in all attributes is a good enough proof. Adding Aldrich's genius intellect, it was obvious that letting Aldrich develop on his own was a better choice and therefore Dr. Adam decided to give Aldrich the freedom that his children yearned for. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Aldrich Adam is in Lantian Base City."

While the Ling Family continued their chatter, an imperceptible ominous silhouette hovered behind Ling Jiu and began integrating with his body and soul without his knowledge.

With his objective completed, Aldrich returned home via a multi-winged monster.

-

*1 - I increased the number of arcanas Aldrich awakened.