Several kilometers up in the sky, inside a cloud dozens of meters across.
Jiang Yan closed his eyes and sank into his mind.
pearl of the abyss: 49722 / 51200
Over the past few days his progress had been climbing by more than two thousand a day; tomorrow he could summon again.
"But before that I'll collect some interest. Those Level Fives came early and interrupted the skeleton tree absorption—if I don't teach them a lesson I won't be able to sleep." Jiang Yan's gaze flickered.
He turned to Blood Master and said, "Go wait outside Lovisa City airport for any Level Fives coming to help. If one's alone, find a secluded spot and kill them outright."
They stick their noses into everything; if they don't suffer a painful lesson they'll really believe they're invincible.
"Yes sir!" Blood Master nodded at once, turned, and leapt off the cloud.
Lovisa City was the metropolis next to Roset City; those Level Fives had to use its airport to come and go… The next day, Liyang Country, inside a conference room at the Monster Association research institute.
Dong Guangjie's eyes were blood-shot; in his left hand a soul crystal, in his right a white skull.
He kept turning to look at the soul crystal, then back at the white skull.
A pile of soul crystals lay on the table in front of him; the rest of the white skulls were so numerous they'd simply been thrown into the corner of the room.
His body trembled visibly, excitement all over his face. "Th-this, this—"
Across from him Jiang Yan, just back, lounged in a chair, watching him with a faint smile.
Han Qi and Wei Gaocheng stood behind Jiang Yan, eyes shining as they stared at those soul crystals.
While everyone waited for Dong Guangjie to speak—
Bang! His body suddenly slammed onto the desktop, unconscious.
The three of them froze for a second; the next moment Jiang Yan reacted, shouting, "Get him to the infirmary at once—if it's serious inject him with tyranny potion immediately!"
Wei Gaocheng behind him darted forward, hoisted Dong Guangjie onto his back, and sprinted to the infirmary.
A while later the three of them stood outside the infirmary door.
A middle-aged doctor looked at Jiang Yan respectfully. "President, Supervisor Dong is fine—he merely collapsed from exhaustion. Two days of rest and he'll be well."
"Good. Look after him properly." Jiang Yan nodded to the doctor.
Looks like I need to pick a new candidate now; the lab is growing so large one man can't manage it all, Jiang Yan thought.
He'd already wanted to find someone to share Dong Guangjie's workload, but he'd been busy at the time.
Right then Dong Guangjie's apprentice, Xiao Yang, hurried over. "President, Li Yong is about to wake up."
In a small room on the second floor Li Yong suddenly opened his eyes.
"Where am I? Wasn't I back in Roset City?" He sat up bewildered, wires still attached to his body.
This is—! After a moment of confusion he realized what was happening.
He was currently in his Monster form, and a bead had appeared in his chest.
A stream of information also surfaced in his mind.
Crack! At that moment the door opened and Jiang Yan walked in.
Li Yong quickly got off the bed and respectfully greeted Jiang Yan. "President!"
Jiang Yan nodded, eyes gleaming as he looked at Li Yong. "Awake? Do you feel any changes in your body?"
Li Yong had been the first to use a soul crystal; after all the days Jiang Yan had spent, his expectations for the crystal were enormous.
Li Yong closed his eyes. A moment later he opened them, shocked. "My physical stats have risen massively, and on top of that my innate ability has gone from lasting one second to two!"
At the doorway behind Jiang Yan, Wei Gaocheng and Han Qi, who had just arrived, were stunned.
Han Qi couldn't help blurting, "With a cheat like that how is anyone else supposed to play?"
Li Yong's burst output was already high; add the one-second precognition and he could steam-roll the two of them at will.
Ignoring their shock, Li Yong looked at Jiang Yan and continued, "Besides those improvements I've gained another ability—an extension of my Monster form."
"Show me." Jiang Yan was curious to see what it was.
The moment Jiang Yan spoke, Li Yong raised his arm toward the far side of the room several meters away.
Whoosh! A white light shot out; the bead in Li Yong's chest flashed and his body vanished.
The white light instantly reached the wall several meters away, then flashed, turning back into Li Yong's body.
The whole process took less than a second. Jiang Yan's eyes lit up. "A spatial ability? Instant movement?"
The power pushed Li Yong straight toward the top-assassin route; combined with his foresight, his combat strength would probably multiply.
"Damn, Old Li, you're about to soar. Didn't we agree to work hard together?" Wei Gaocheng stared in shock; he felt sick with jealousy.
Han Qi wore the same expression—they both wanted to grow stronger.
Li Yong glanced at Wei Gaocheng and Han Qi in the doorway, the corner of his mouth lifting, then turned to Jiang Yan. "President, this ability only works over short distances; the white light can travel at most twenty meters, so I can only move within that range."
During the instant shift he entered a special state; if used well he could dodge fatal damage.
A satisfied smile appeared on Jiang Yan's face. "All those days I spent were worth it."
Jiang Yan looked back at Wei Gaocheng and Han Qi. "Go take two soul crystals each."
"Yes, President!" The two immediately beamed, bowed to Jiang Yan, and hurried off.
Watching their departing backs, Jiang Yan smiled faintly. Li Yong, Han Qi, and Wei Gaocheng were the three core subordinates he was cultivating.
They handled matters cleanly and, apart from recruitment, had never slipped up.
Jiang Yan turned and walked toward the door; the pearl of the abyss was now full and he planned to summon before using a soul crystal himself.
At the doorway he suddenly asked the still-waiting Xiao Yang, "By the way, what's your full name?"
For unimportant characters Jiang Yan usually couldn't be bothered to remember their names.
Xiao Yang looked honest, sporting a crew-cut and standing about one-seventy-five, apparently only twenty-five or twenty-six.
Hearing the president ask, he answered excitedly, "President, I'm Yang Ruicai, twenty-six this year, currently single—"
"Stop stop stop, got it. Find me a few researchers as talented as your teacher; I'll bring them back to ease his workload." Jiang Yan quickly cut off the pointless rambling.
Yang Ruicai, thrilled to receive a personal task, straightened his back. "Understood, President! I guarantee it'll be done!"
Jiang Yan patted his shoulder and walked outside.
Outside the lab Jiang Yan now carried a black case containing a pile of soul crystals.
Behind him followed Tyrant, with Weaver of Illusions draped over Tyrant's shoulder.
A deep cry rang out overhead as Cloud Ray hovered in front of Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan stepped onto Cloud Ray's back with the two Monsters and Ghost Buddha, invisible at his side.
When Tyrant set foot on it Cloud Ray's body quivered visibly.
With another deep cry Cloud Ray carried them toward a ten-kilometre-distant karst cave base.