I Can Control Resources

...

The scene grew quiet.

There were few present who didn’t know the name Ghost Eyes Li Tiannan. He was one of the twenty Strongest and the former War God of the Military Department.

So, Li Tiannan was Gao Neng’s master?!

Once this thought surfaced, no one spoke. Even Sword Elder fell silent the moment he saw the Token.

Wu Qingjing and Yutian were both incredibly shrewd men.

But at a time like this, they truly had nothing to say. After all, this was a dispute between two of the Strongest over a disciple. What right did they have to interject?

"A teacher for a day is a teacher for a lifetime. I ask for your understanding, Sword Elder!" Gao Neng also knew that his master, Li Tiannan, was a bit unreliable. But since he had already accepted him as his master, he couldn’t possibly accept another.

"Hahaha! A teacher for a day is a teacher for a lifetime! Excellent! Truly excellent, young man. Li Tiannan has found himself a fine disciple!" Sword Elder suddenly burst out laughing at his words.

"Heh, well this is..." Yutian was at a loss for words.

They had been eager to help Gao Neng find a Strongest for a master, but what was the result? The boy was already spoken for, and by none other than the Military Department’s War God, Li Tiannan.

"Ahem, Sword Elder, why don’t we look at some others? The top 300 geniuses on the Dragon List are all future elites of our Human Alliance. If possible..." Wu Qingjing was clearly thinking further ahead than Yutian. Since Sword Elder had shown an interest in taking a disciple, they had to seize this opportunity.

Gao Neng had Li Tiannan as his master; no one could poach him.

But the others didn’t!

"We’ll see," Sword Elder said with a wave of his hand. He said nothing more and turned to walk toward the city center.

Wu Qingjing and Yutian exchanged a glance.

Sword Elder hadn’t returned to the forbidden land.

This meant Sword Elder would be staying in the Underground City for some time. This was a golden opportunity, and there was no way they would fail to understand its implications.

"Hong Ying, take Gao Neng to his quarters first. I’ll come find you later about the other matters!" After speaking, Wu Qingjing immediately hurried after Sword Elder. "Sword Elder, Yutian says he has a bottle of fine wine that’s been aged for fifty years!"

"That’s my wine!" Yutian quickly followed. Then he added with a chuckle, "It’s only because it’s for you, Sword Elder. I definitely wouldn’t give it to this little Qingjing!"

"Mm, let’s have a taste then," Sword Elder nodded, not refusing.

The three of them left.

They left behind a dumbfounded Zhang Hongying, Shaximo, and the others.

Gao Neng watched the three of them leave, feeling rather speechless himself. ’Couldn’t take me as a disciple, so you’re not even going to give me a welcome gift? A few Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Ginsengs to snack on would have been nice, you know?’

’The Strongest...’

’They’re so stingy!’

[...]

Zhang Hongying was not in a good mood.

But as an instructor, she was quite professional. At the very least, she was capable of bottling up all the dissatisfaction and resentment she felt from the recent encounter.

And so, through Zhang Hongying’s detailed explanation, Gao Neng gained a general understanding of what they would be doing in the future.

To put it bluntly, their main focus would be on training and increasing their strength.

This was beyond question.

It was also the main reason the Human Alliance had placed the three hundred geniuses in the Underground City.

Of course, the content of this training was quite varied: close-quarters combat, long-range combat, wilderness combat, hand-to-hand combat, ambush tactics... Basically, anything you could think of was on the schedule.

In addition to this, they had a supplementary mission.

To gather medicinal herbs and ores in the wilderness zones.

The wilderness zones here did not refer to the area within the Underground City, but rather the areas outside the city walls, as well as some places designated as forbidden zones.

The so-called forbidden zones weren’t impossible to enter, but they had strength restrictions.

For example, Forbidden Zone 2, which Sword Elder had just mentioned, had a strength restriction of Tier 9. In other words, if you hadn’t reached Tier 9, entering without authorization was basically a suicide mission.

The forbidden zones were named with numbers.

Forbidden Zone 1, Forbidden Zone 2, Forbidden Zone 3...

A point needed clarification here: the naming of the forbidden zones was not based on their level of danger, but on the order in which they were discovered.

To put it simply, Forbidden Zone 1 was the first one discovered, Forbidden Zone 10 was the tenth, and Forbidden Zone 50 was the fiftieth.

But was Forbidden Zone 50 necessarily less dangerous than Forbidden Zone 10?

Not necessarily!

Therefore, in addition to the names, the Human Alliance also assigned ranks to the forbidden zones: S-Rank, A-Rank, B-Rank, and so on.

However, this also required a bit of explanation.

The rank designations were not absolute.

Because the Underground City was a part of the Underworld that had not been fully explored, the ranks of the forbidden zones were only based on the level of danger encountered by humans during their explorations.

For example, if a Tier 7 human powerhouse entered an area, had an accident, and died, while a Tier 8 powerhouse went in and came out safely...

...that place would be designated a B-Rank Forbidden Zone.

Meaning it was accessible to Tier 8s!

But could one person possibly uncover all the dangers in a single area?

Obviously not.

Not only that, but the history of the Underground City was far older than that of the City of Hope. With the passage of time, what new changes might have occurred in these areas was also unknown.

So, the designation was really just that—a designation.

After all, no one could guarantee that a Tier 8 entering a B-Rank Forbidden Zone wouldn’t die. Forget B-Rank; you could even die in a C-Rank zone.

This was the origin of the term "forbidden zone."

After explaining all this, Instructor Zhang gave Gao Neng a rough regional map, which marked the names and ranks of some of the forbidden zones.

When Gao Neng saw this map, he had a strange feeling.

’This map...’

’It isn’t fake, is it?’

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Instructor Zhang, but on this regional map, nearly three-fifths of the area was marked with question marks.

There was nothing inside them.

Completely black!

’Don’t tell me the Human Alliance has only explored two-fifths of the Underground City? Isn’t that a bit shocking?’

In Gao Neng’s mind, the Human Alliance had built the City of Hope above the Underground City for so many years; they should have finished exploring the area long ago!

Even if they hadn’t finished...

...they should have at least mapped out eighty or ninety percent of it.

’Two-fifths? What the hell is that?!’

"Instructor Zhang, has our Human Alliance really only explored this little area?" Gao Neng voiced the question on his mind.

"That’s right. This is the latest regional map. The Alliance isn’t hiding anything from you." Instructor Zhang nodded, her brow furrowing slightly. She then shoved an illustrated guide into Gao Neng’s hands. "Take a good look at this guide. You’ll need it for wilderness training. Don’t be the guy who doesn’t even know what’s useful out there!"

Instructor Zhang didn’t say this to look down on Gao Neng.

Rather, she knew Gao Neng came from the Forgotten Land. Such an origin meant Gao Neng likely hadn’t had much exposure to high-end medicinal herbs and ores.

With this guide, Gao Neng would be better able to gather resources during his wilderness training.

This wasn’t to say the Alliance was truly short on these resources.

It was just that the Alliance was unwilling to let these geniuses become too dependent. After all, the most brilliant flowers can never be grown in a greenhouse.

Wilderness training, wilderness resource gathering, coexisting with danger—only people forged in such an environment could truly contribute to the Alliance when they reached the battlefield.

Otherwise, if they just raised a bunch of hothouse flowers...

...who would think only of saving their own skin the moment they hit the battlefield, then there would be no need to fight the great war in a year and a half. The Human Alliance could just declare its surrender.

Gao Neng took the guide from Instructor Zhang and flipped through it.

In fact, Instructor Zhang wasn’t wrong.

When it came to pristine, wild medicinal herbs and various minerals, Gao Neng’s knowledge was actually quite limited; he didn’t know much.

The guide was very thick.

It had at least several hundred pages.

Each page had high-definition pictures of various sizes, and below the pictures were the names and uses of the herbs and ores.

Gao Neng took one look and felt like he’d leveled up his knowledge a bit.

He took another look...

...and his eyes gradually widened.

Because as he looked at the illustrations in the guide, he got a very familiar feeling, as if he had seen them somewhere before.

’No! Not "somewhere before"!’

’I saw them just a little while ago?!’

But Gao Neng clearly remembered that he hadn’t stepped foot outside the Underground City’s walls. So, where could he have seen the things in this guide?

Gao Neng continued flipping through the pages.

The further he went, the more astonished he became.

"This is your room number. Call me if you need anything!" Seeing how engrossed Gao Neng was, Instructor Zhang didn’t disturb him further. She tossed him a key and left.

"Oh, walk safe, Instructor Zhang, don’t trip," Gao Neng replied casually. He then glanced at the room number and started walking in the indicated direction.

He flipped through the guide as he walked.

’I’ve really seen them, I’m sure of it. But I shouldn’t have seen them, right? Did the Crappy System come with its own guide to medicinal herbs? No, no... The Crappy System’s guides all cost money. Without money, the Crappy System would never tell me the names and uses of herbs,’ Gao Neng thought of a possibility and quickly dismissed it.

Then, as he flipped through the guide faster and faster, a series of images suddenly and inexplicably appeared in his mind.

These images were as if they were imprinted on his brain.

Besides the images of these herbs, they also showed their locations, including the surrounding environment, mountains, and geography.

’Wait, these images are... are they the scenes I saw when I connected to the magnetic pile with my Spiritual Power?!’ Gao Neng was suddenly jolted from his thoughts. At the same moment, he felt himself bump into something.

"Oof!"

A cry of surprise rang out next to him.

But Gao Neng seemed not to have heard it at all. He had just realized he seemed to have unlocked a super cheat and was about to take off again.

’Did I just accidentally unlock a panoramic map of the Underground City’s wilderness?!’