Astral Apostle
chapter-174

Looking at the attributes displayed on the interface, Zhou Jing’s emotions boiled.

“What happened to you?”

Roman held Zhou Jing’s hand and keenly sensed that Zhou Jing had stiffened for a moment just now. He could not help but feel a little strange.

“Cough, I’m fine. I’m just a little curious. Why would an important minister like you want to see me?”

Zhou Jing pretended to retract his hand naturally and suppressed his twitching lips.

“Hehe, it’s nothing special. I just want to get to know Master Bill.” Roman laughed softly.

“I can’t be called a Master yet.”

Roman said slowly, “With your skills, you’ll become a potion master sooner or later. No doubts you at this point.”

They sat down again. Roman guided the conversation, but he did not talk about anything serious. Instead, he only engaged in idle chatter with Zhou Jing.

Roman was a little fat, but he possessed an inexplicable bearing when he spoke. Apart from making people feel close to him, they could not help but value him and respect him… Compared to King Becky, he seemed a real big shot.

The king’s Privy Chancellor was an extremely high-ranking official in the palace of the Terra Empire. He was one of the people who had the privilege of sitting in the King’s Imperial Council. Not only did that position grant him great authority, but it was also an official post of great weight as well.

Roman was very knowledgeable and was quite talkative. From his casual conversation, Zhou Jing learned many interesting things about this world.

The other party seemed to purely have the goal of making friends. After chatting for about half an hour, he stood up and put down this sentence as he prepared to leave.

“In the future, if you encounter any problems in the capital, you can look for me. For example, regarding business matters. Your apothecary has quite good business prospects. If you have any thoughts of expanding your business, I’ll be happy to help.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll remember it.”

Zhou Jing hurriedly nodded and watched Roman’s back disappear from his sight. Only then did his tense nerves relax.

If he did not know Roman’s strength, he might have been deceived by Roman’s amiable appearance and thought that he was just an ordinary person.

But Roman’s Perception and Spirit had both reached 90 points, and his Energy had even exceeded 100 points… His attributes were insane. Even a Fifth Enhancement Mutant Blood Warrior couldn’t defeat him!

On the surface, Keriber and Irene were the strongest people in the empire. Few people knew that there was a hidden big shot like Roman in the shadows.

“What’s wrong with this person?”

Zhou Jing’s face twitched as he stared at the message from the system.

He had thought that the most difficult thing to do was to come into contact with the other party, who had high authority. He thought that the other party was an ordinary person who could be easily crushed once they made contact.

At this moment, he realized that he was wrong. This guy was basically a tiger pretending to be a pig!

He wondered if it was too late to change his allegiance to Roman’s side…

So far, he had only met the other party once and had yet to go against him. It was completely not too late to “abandon the darkness and join the light”!

Zhou Jing shook his head and threw away these nonsensical thoughts. Doubts and curiosity surfaced in his heart.

“Roman’s attribute distribution is completely different from that of a Mutant Blood Warrior. It’s also different from Buzz Cut. Could it be a new superpower route? If so , where did he obtain his power? He’s already so powerful, but he’s hiding in the palace and pretending to be an ordinary person. What’s his true identity?”

Zhou Jing could not help but think of the plan that Lutt had revealed. Roman had led the way in colluding with the various tribal lords to create independence, but with his strength, Zhou Jing couldn’t understand why he needed to do this or his motives?

It could have been for ambition. That seemed reasonable.

“Fortunately, I know the other party’s background. Otherwise, if I were to act rashly, I’m afraid I would end up screwing myself.”

Zhou Jing heaved a sigh of relief.

This proved that his plan to lure the snake out of its hole had worked. He used Bill’s “talent” to lure the other party over to make friends.

He had gained a lot. At least he knew the other party’s background. Meanwhile, Roman was still in the dark and did not know that he had been exposed. This was his advantage.

Zhou Jing recalled the information that Lutt had revealed, and his mind spun as he thought of the possibilities.

Roman’s power might be related to a lifeform from another dimension. In fact, he might even be a lifeform from another dimension.

It was not impossible for someone who knew the local situation to pretend to be a native of this world.

“If there are lifeforms from other dimensions in this world. It’s possible for them to bring about any sort of change.”

Zhou Jing muttered in his heart. He felt that he still had to be careful. Even when he behaved in an unrestrained manner, he also had to be wary. This was a famous example of a coward’s second nature.

But the more he thought about it, the more excited he got.

The more secrets that were hidden from him, the happier he was.

Roman’s attributes could be due to a new super system. This represented a totally new superpower route. After mixing around for so long, he finally saw a clue to a new path he could take for his apostles.

If he had dealt with Roman more, he might be able to figure out what kind of power the man possessed.

Compared to causing trouble, obtaining a new superpower route was more important to the main body.

If there was a chance, he could let one of his Astral Apostles step onto this path and turn the new superpower system into a route that he could cultivate instead of just being a musclehead.

“Roman and the imperial family are secretly on opposite sides. Sooner or later, conflict will break out. At that time, Roman will tear off all pretenses and break all ties with the Empire. I can only take one side… But I have more than one apostle. Why can’t I bet on both?”

Zhou Jing’s eyes lit up as he made a decision.

“Not to mention anything else, I, Zhou Jing, whole heartedly announce that from today onwards, Roman will be my good brother!”

If he couldn’t win, he would join!

...

Roman naturally did not know what Zhou Jing was thinking. At this moment, he was sitting in the carriage returning to the palace, his eyes closed as he recalled the meeting just now.

“Bill… I don’t think he’s that simple. Let’s interact more and see.”

Roman muttered to himself, his eyes changing.

No matter what, leaving such a talent to the Royal Family was a loss.

However, now was not the time. When they were more familiar with each other and the time was ripe, he might be able to take the other party under his wing and make him his own.

Simply roping him in was not enough to move a future potion master who was given an important position by the royal family. Perhaps he had to put on a show and involve this person in an incident to move him, poach him from the Royal Family, and make this person submit to him…

Speaking of which, during the exchange just now, he could feel that this Bill seemed to have a good impression of him… Perhaps it was not difficult to subdue this person.

Roman began to calculate.

...

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed.

After meeting the King and Roman, life seemed to have become peaceful. The higher-ups of the workshop did not disturb him anymore as well. He could take leisurely farm missions and chat with the two guards every day.

However, Zhou Jing knew that this was only on the surface. The Royal Family was still secretly observing. The moment their inspection of him ended, he would not be able to stay idle anymore. He would definitely be given a heavy responsibility.

In the past half a month, Zhou Jing had already undergone a placement and another projection. Apart from learning a few more blood potion formulas from the workshop missions, he also went to the mutant beast farm to get a low-risk mutant beast.

In principle, the Empire did not allow private beasts to be raised unless the owner was a hunter. However, they still had to report it.

However, Zhou Jing’s reason was that he needed to study the habits of mutated beasts for a long time. Because he had the special care of the King, in the end, he obtained a special permit to rear a small mutated beast that was almost tamed.

Coincidentally, he had also studied the potion of this mutant beast. The mutant beast he had obtained from the farm was precisely the Sword-Tailed Eagle.

The pet given to him by the breeding field was naturally not a second-rate product but a carefully nurtured mutant beast with excellent quality.

Zhou Jing also officially transferred the only slot for the pet function to the new Sword-tailed Eagle.

The original Little Black #1 was, however, not released back to the wild. Although it had lost his pet bonus, he still kept it… To have a dog that would take out the enemy’s vital points at critical moments was more or less a combat power.

Zhou Jing had already changed to a more luxurious room in the workshop. At this moment, he was in his room, playing with a small eagle standing on the table.

It was a small eagle with grayish-black feathers. Its yellow beak had a splotch of white at the tip, and its feathers resembled arrows. The most conspicuous thing was its tail feathers, which were shaped like a short silvery sword.

At this moment, the sword-tailed eagle was tilting its head to look at Zhou Jing, blinking occasionally.

“Bringing an eagle is so cool. Not only can it peck people, but it can also fly into the sky to scout. Where’s the swag in bringing a hyena?”

Zhou Jing looked at the handsome appearance of the Sword-tailed Eagle and couldn’t help but kick the dog lying under the table.

Little Black #1 was apparently used to it, as it yawned and turned around, facing its butt towards Zhou Jing.

Zhou Jing ignored it and turned on the pet function to look at his current pet.

[Pet: Sword-Tailed Eagle]

[Talent: Flying, Eagle Eye, Iron Tail]

[Advantages: Wings, tail feathers, beak, eagle claws, vision, speed]

[Skills: Flying Lv4, Tail Slash Lv4, Peck Lv3, Claw Lv3]

[Cultivation Potential: Medium]

[Cultivation Growth: 0]

[Rapport: 12/100]

[Training Level: 0/10]

[Total combat power: First Order]

“Its potential is not bad. The upper limit of the training level is twice as high as the hyena. Although it hasn’t been trained yet and its overall combat strength is still at First Order, there is a difference between even the First Orders.. The Sword-tailed Eagle is a mutated beast and has the advantage of flight. It won’t be a problem for him to kill dozens of black-spotted hyenas at the same tier.”

Zhou Jing was quite satisfied. He took out a medicine bottle from the box beside him and poured the milky yellow sticky liquid into a wooden bowl. Then, he brought it to the sword-tailed eagle.

The Sword-Tailed Eagle looked at it curiously for a while before it seemed to smell something and lowered its head to drink.

[Your pet is consuming some kind of potion. Cultivation +2]

[+3 Pet Growth Points]

A stream of information appeared. The Sword-tailed Eagle only had to drink the potion to increase its cultivation.

Zhou Jing’s lips curled up when he received the notification.

Over the past few days, he had not forgotten to develop his drug-based beast cultivation mode. With his greatly improved pharmacology skills and support function, he created a nutritional potion that was very beneficial to his pets. A meal could increase their nutrition by leaps and bounds.

This kind of nutritional potion could replace regular food. Unfortunately, it could not eat it all in a day. Otherwise, it would easily burst… Zhou Jing had already tested it on Little Black #1.

He also gave this nutrient potion a name. It was called the Beast Cultivating Potion. However, he did not give the workshop the formula patent.

“I have to give you a name. In the future, I’ll call you Little Sword… I won’t add a serial number. I feel that you will definitely live longer than this dead dog.” Zhou Jing stroked the head of the Sword-tailed Eagle with his thumb.

The Sword-Tailed eagle tilted its head. It was unsure if the eagle understood what he was saying.

Little Black #1 pricked up its ears at its name but did not care.

— I’m going to die of laughter. After so much cruelty, do you think I’m still as weak as before? This doggy grandpa can even send you on the road to the afterlife now!

...

A few days later, before this projection cycle ended, Zhou Jing finally received a transfer order from the Royal Family.

The transfer order required him to leave the Imperial Hunter Workshop and head to a secret location to enter a secret workshop to truly participate in the development of the new blood potion.

This time, the research progress of the Terra Empire’s secrets and the new blood potion… was finally open to him.

“I wonder if I can solve the problem of the new blood potion. If I succeed, this apostle No.3, Bill, might be recorded in history in this world, and I will also obtain a new Eternal Apostle…”

Zhou Jing calmed himself down and packed his luggage, bringing his eagle and dog with him. In the evening, he followed the two guards onto the carriage that was especially waiting at the entrance of the hunter’s encampment. They headed to an unfamiliar destination.

At the same time, in the hunter’s base.

Jason, who had just mastered the last Hunter’s Breathing Technique, seemed to sense something. He slowly raised his head and looked in the direction Zhou Jing had left.