Star Gate

Chapter 349: Joining the Silver Moon Guards (IV)

“Golden Spear is, without a doubt, very strong,” Mu Lin said with a smile. “Even I would only last a few seconds if I fought him. He’d probably stab me to death!”

“It’s more fun if he’s strong!” Li Hao said excitedly. “There wouldn’t be much of a point in coming here otherwise.”

“That’s good, then!” Mu Lin laughed. “The Guards will be stronger with you among our number, but it’s hard to decide what your arrangements should be.”

Centurion?

There was a full complement of nine already and there weren’t enough Guards to give Li Hao a company of one hundred.

If not centurion, then another deputy? But there was already Mu Lin, were the two of them supposed to slack off together if Li Hao became one as well?

As for being the ranking officer... they didn’t even need to consider it. Golden Spear was part of Hou Xiaochen’s faction and very strong. Li Hao was no match for him.

“Just the same as big brother Mu will do!” a merry Li Hao said unceremoniously. “Just make me a deputy without any real authority. Of course, big brother Mu seems to be a high level chief commissioner...”

He glanced at Manager Yu, his meaning clear. I want that too!

The secretary’s expression shifted wordlessly. This guy wants to be high up in the bureaucracy so bad that he’s going crazy, isn’t he??

Li Hao was just a low level commissioner inspector for the time being. There was still low level chief commissioner and high level chief commissioner to go above him. He hadn’t even been made a low level chief commissioner yet, but was already thinking of another promotion!

There weren’t many high level chief commissioners in the whole of Silver Moon. Only the deputies of the Night Watchers and the two higher level officers of the Guards were this rank; the rest were low level chief commissioners. As for the even higher peacemaker commissioners, there were only two in the entire province!

Kong Jie and Hou Xiaochen!

Mu Lin didn’t mind the outrageous request, he was more distracted by the thought of gaining a peer. “If you’re a deputy as well... are we going to play chess and chat with each other everyday? I think Director Hou sent you to us because he wants you to do something.”

In other words, he spent his days playing chess and looking for people to talk to.

“I’m too young and don’t know any military affairs,” Li Hao chuckled. “An empty title is enough, I shouldn’t be entrusted with actual responsibilities!”

These words rang a bit false. The young man didn’t understand military affairs, but he knew certain army formations—very special ones at that. They were recorded in ancient records; he just wasn’t interested in helping train martial masters. Otherwise, he could turn out a troop of one hundred stronger than the ones now if he was instated as a centurion. There were plenty of diagrams and descriptions he could follow from the ancient tomes, even if he didn’t have firsthand knowledge of what he would be recreating.

What Li Hao knew, Yuan Shuo naturally did as well, and more. It was just that master and disciple weren't very interested in formations that gathered the strength of many to enhance one person. They preferred to enhance themselves!

Hou Xiaochen had been trying to recruit Yuan Shuo simply because the director wanted Yuan Shuo to replace Golden Spear after the professor broke through. Although Golden Spear was very strong, Hou Xiaochen believed that he wouldn’t refuse being displaced for no reason other than Yuan Shuo truly possessing an immense reputation and had once defeated Golden Spear!

Hou Xiaochen also believed that if Yuan Shuo was willing, the Silver Moon Guards could absolutely be raised to another level. It was a pity that the fellow was too flighty to be reliable. He stirred up a great deal of trouble as soon as he broke through and also created the Summoner of Spirit level, forcing Hou Xiaochen to abandon the idea.

“Then let’s wait for Boss Golden Spear to come back and for Director Hou to decide!” Mu Lin concluded. “I don’t have the authority to make the call.”

Li Hao wanted too much!

Manager Yu’s brows were tightly furrowed and she said after a long pause, “I’ll send in a report. I don’t know if this will be approved. Director Hou wished more for you to lead a team—something he’s always wanted to do with the Guards. There are only nine teams at the moment, he wanted to round it out.

“We can recruit people for your team. The Guards will be taking their place in front of the public eye soon. Our original plan was that Liu Long could take your place first if you hadn’t advanced to Dominator, then give Liu Long another post once you did...”

She had no choice but to speak some of her true thoughts—which happened to be Hou Xiaochen’s thoughts. They wanted Li Hao to lead a one hundred person troop!

The young man sank into deep thought. “Director Hou knows that I’m very young... which means I know very little. Is he at ease giving me real power over one hundred people?”

One hundred wasn’t a large number, but one had to take into account that they were all martial masters and nearly all Sunderers. There were very few Slayers among the Guard.

“Director Hou never doubts the people he uses!” Manager Yu declared. “You are Yuan Shuo’s disciple, that is enough.”

Not to mention, Li Hao was very strong and not the weakling that they previously thought. That was more than enough!

“The director is thinking of you with these arrangements,” Manager Yu continued upon seeing the young man remain silent. “Martial masters are used to fighting alone, but problems cannot always be resolved by one person. You can try cooperation—you joined the Demon Hunters when you were in Silver City, so you should know that a partnership between martial masters is stronger than one person alone.”

“I’ll think about it,” Li Hao finally offered. “I’m not ready to do something like this yet. Also, I’m not sure what the Silver Moon Guards do and the kind of enemy they face...”

“I give you two points,” Manager Yu explained brusquely. “Number one, ruins. Number two, pirates!”

Li Hao blinked. Pirates? He ignored that point and honed in on the first one. “Ruins?”

“Correct, you’ve seen the Battle Heaven Army, right?”

“Do you mean...” Li Hao sucked in a sharp breath. “That more than one ruin possesses that kind of army?”

“Correct!”

Awareness dawned on the young man! No wonder the Silver Moon Guards didn’t operate in the public eye! The enemy they faced was beyond the imagination of regular people! They targeted the remnants in the ruins and pirates on the open seas. How would ordinary people be familiar with them?

So this was why the Guards were so strong. They’d benefited heavily from the ancient ruins. This was also why they wanted his teacher. His teacher was an expert tomb raider—er, archaeologist! Did they want him for the army formations, or to make tomb raiding more convenient?

A variety of speculations ran through Li Hao’s mind. Did Hou Xiaochen actually have his eye on their ability to excavate ruins, as opposed to army formations? Excavations didn’t take much work, to be honest. It was just a matter of knowing some feng shui and being skilled in translating ancient languages.

There were many who possessed those skills, but those who did and could fight, run, survive, and remain alive to this day were few and far in between!

It was too time consuming for a martial master to pick up these random bits of knowledge as they cultivated. Only the elderly Yuan Shuo had that much time on his hands and several decades to spare for specializing in this material, given his prolonged stay in Silver City.

Li Hao sank into contemplation.

“There are very few supernaturals among the Guards because some ruins are safe only for martial masters,” Manager Yu continued. “It’s very dangerous for supernaturals to enter, so the Guards have never considered crossing over to the supernatural as a possibility.

“Everyone knows this, so if you agree to these arrangements, you can only recruit martial masters to your banner. Supernaturals will sometimes bring incredible trouble with them!”

Li Hao’s eyes danced around. Was this so? It made sense! The Silver Armor had voiced similar sentiments when it came back to life, but ended with the statement that they were all humans, so it wouldn’t do anything.

The city of Battle Heaven, however, was plainly targeting supernaturals. Martial masters could fly with impunity—Li Hao had tested that out. They didn’t need to take the second passageway! Martial masters could fly, but supernaturals could not. Martial masters could avoid the Black Armors, but supernaturals were attacked the second their energy leaked out. These differences hadn’t been apparent during the trip because there hadn’t been that many martial masters on that expedition.

After Manager Yu mentioned that there was more than one ruin like Battle Heaven, it was no wonder that his teacher had managed to survive so many excavations, but the supernaturals around him hadn’t!

“It’s nice being a centurion,” Mu Lin chuckled off to the side. “There are benefits to leading a team. You have real power and you’ll be able to explore ruins by yourself after the Silver Moon Guards are known to the public. You can even bring your people on some personal missions... Assuming they agree to it, of course.”

Astonished, Li Hao looked at Manager Yu.

“It’s inappropriate to constrain martial masters with too many fetters,” she said calmly. “So the director has bestowed the centurions with a great deal of authority and doesn’t treat the Guards like a true army. That would incite a lot of resentment if he did so.”

Li Hao’s eyes lit up slightly, this was nice!

“Then...”

“You can do anything you want so long as Golden Spear agrees!” Manager Yu flung down.

Li Hao was immediately tempted. I’ll recruit one hundred martial masters with Hou Xiaochen’s money and bring them on exterminations of Red Moon’s people...

The impulse quickly faded away. Red Moon didn’t seem to have that many members in the province.

“Let me think about it. If I can be a high level chief commissioner as a centurion, then I... have no further opinions!”

“......” Manager Yu was at a complete loss for words. Just what was this fellow thinking??

Li Hao hadn’t been interested in joining the Silver Moon Guards before, but now he was. Golden Spear and Mu Lin had proceeded far down their paths. Although he was yet to meet Golden Spear, just Mu Lin alone was enough to entice the young man to stay.

As for requesting a promotion, that was all a matter of convenience.

Exploring ruins, fighting ancient civilizations, battling pirates... The Guards had an interesting mission statement. As vast as Silver Moon was, there weren’t that many opportunities for battle. Joining them might render more chances, and it was closer to the sea here. Observing the sea was also a joy.

......

Within the hall.

Manager Yu ignored Li Hao’s request for a promotion. It was best that he’d decided to stay. As for high level chief commissioner... she could try. It wasn’t a loss, in any regard, so if the Inspectorate and provincial government really were willing to approve it, who cared?

“Are you staying to converse with them, or going back with me?” Manager Yu dropped the topic.

“I’ll come back tomorrow!” Li Hao smiled. “My arrival today was too abrupt and I injured a few friends. I should give people some time to accept me.”

“It’s alright,” Mu Lin chuckled. “Injuries are normal over the course of sparring. We had innumerable battles in the plaza when the Guards were first established. There’s specialized healers here, people will recover quickly.”

There were supernaturals with healing abilities on site. Back in the olden days of the martial world, severe injuries meant a difficult recovery. Many martial masters ultimately succumbed to their wounds. The rise of the supernatural domain represented new opportunities for martial dao. One no longer needed to worry as much about striking too hard or being wary of bringing full strength to bear.

Li Hao and Manager Yu said nothing else. Mu Lin sent them off; numerous martial masters watched them walk out of the hall, past the plaza, and slowly drive off in the car.