My Professions Have Too Much Personality

’Time to try enhancing to Tier Eight.’ Su Chen took a deep breath and released his Four Seasons Chakra. The familiar Chaos-Colored Runes spread beneath his skin, enveloping every cell.

Instantly, it felt as if his body had been thrown into a juicer. A ceaseless torrent of Physical Strength was wrung from him, pouring into the various Secret Artifacts he controlled, which existed within him in some unknown form.

Su Chen took a deep breath. The power surging through his body grew terrifyingly strong, and his face gradually flushed crimson.

At a certain point, as if he’d reached some kind of limit, Su Chen’s pupils abruptly constricted. He felt as if his body was about to burst.

A corporeal, crimson mist seeped from his every pore. Only upon closer inspection could one see that it was highly condensed Elemental Power, squeezed out of a body that had been strengthened by an untold amount.

’This feeling... It’s too intense...’ Even Su Chen, who had been prepared for it, was taken aback.

It wasn’t just because of the addition of the Rushing Thunder Great-hammer; as the Tiers advanced, the gap between them also widened.

The leap from enhancing a Tier Six Secret Artifact to Tier Seven was far greater than from Tier Five to Tier Six. The resulting boost was also much more powerful, a fact made clear by the immense consumption of Physical Strength.

’Even with the Four Seasons Chakra active, I probably can’t maintain this for very long.’

The consumption rate was terrifying. Su Chen was inwardly stunned. With just a slight shift of his feet, he shot forward like a cannonball and slammed violently into the metal wall of the training room.

A muffled THUD resounded, like a hammer striking an anvil, sending a shower of fierce sparks into the air.

’I actually left a dent.’

Su Chen was completely unharmed, though his clothes were once again in tatters. He stared at the depression in the metal, golden arcs of electricity still crackling along its edges, and his eyes grew brighter.

This training room came with the Floating Island. It was built to a standard specification, with a durability limit rated for Tier Seven. In the past, no matter how wild he got, he had never managed to leave so much as a scratch on it.

’This is insane... Utterly insane. And I just advanced...’ Su Chen couldn’t help but mutter. He deactivated the enhanced state, and a wave of emptiness immediately washed over him, a sensation he found somewhat jarring.

’With this level of strength, I’m almost certain I can handle that mid-level Fog Ashes... I hope it’s not just an illusion brought on by this power surge.’

Su Chen mulled it over. He had never personally experienced its strength, so it was difficult to judge. With his Secret Artifacts upgraded, it would be hard to make any more significant gains in the near future. He decided to go to the Ancient King and give it a try.

’But getting to see the Ancient King is a bit of a hassle.’

Su Chen took a fresh set of clothes from his Storage Space and changed. Within the Sect, under normal circumstances, there were almost no channels through which one could see the Ancient King.

’I’ll have to go through Old Qing.’

After a moment’s thought, he chugged a few mouthfuls of a Nutritional Potion. While waiting for his body to recover, he activated his Wristband, found Qing Cang, and sent him a message: "Senior Brother, you there?"

He waited for a moment, but there was no reply.

"Tsk..." Su Chen walked out of the training room and stepped outside the main building, glancing up at the satellite city currently under construction.

’I can’t just go looking for him, can I? Where would I even start?’

He glanced at the dialogue box, thought for another moment, and typed out a new message: "Urgent matter concerning the Ancient King!"

The message went through. For one second, nothing happened.

The next second, Su Chen’s head snapped up. A pillar of cyan wind tore across the sky, connecting heaven and earth and letting out a sharp shriek like ripping silk.

His eyelid twitched. A second later, a figure drifted down, bypassing the Floating Island’s defense systems as if they weren’t even there.

It was Qing Cang, his expression as dark as a stormy sea. He was clearly in a foul mood.

’No way... Is he still holding a grudge about last time?’ Su Chen wondered.

"You’ve advanced to Tier Six?"

After landing, Qing Cang’s harsh expression softened somewhat. His gaze swept over Su Chen, and he couldn’t hide his astonishment.

Qing Cang had a nagging feeling that there was something different about Su Chen—something more than just his advancement to Tier Six—but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

"Your rate of advancement..." He trailed off, genuinely curious. But then he remembered Su Chen’s teasing the last time they’d met and decided against asking.

’Old Qing’s bad mood doesn’t seem to be because of me,’ Su Chen surmised, then explained, "I just advanced two days ago. I was hoping to see Master and test the strength of those Fog Ashes, but I couldn’t get in touch with you, Senior Brother, so I had to resort to this."

"It’s fine..." Sure enough, Qing Cang didn’t seem to mind.

He had seen Su Chen’s first message but figured that if the boy had time for idle chatter, it couldn’t be an emergency. He had too much on his plate at the moment to bother with it.

But anything involving the Ancient King, no matter how trivial, was a major affair.

"However..." Qing Cang hesitated. "You just reached Tier Six. Isn’t it a bit too soon for you to be going?"

Su Chen wasn’t sure if his confidence was just an illusion born from reaching Tier Six and the power surge he felt under the Soldier Master’s enhancement, so his response was conservative.

"I just want to test the strength of the Fog Ashes, to get a better feel for what I’m up against."

Qing Cang shot him a look, not believing the excuse for a second. He guessed that since Su Chen had purified Fog Ashes before, he was now, having reached Tier Six, naturally eager to resolve the Ancient King’s troubles.

As for whether he could actually succeed, Master himself had said it would only be possible for someone who was at least Tier Seven and had completed the Melting Holy Profession.

But he didn’t try to dissuade him. Young people were all like that—reckless and unafraid, like a newborn calf that doesn’t fear a tiger. It was only the outermost layer of Fog Ashes, and with Master keeping an eye on things, there shouldn’t be any issues.

"Fine, it’s good to test your limits. I’ll take you there now." Qing Cang walked to Su Chen’s side and placed a hand on his shoulder. A current of cyan wind enveloped them, and the two shot away from the Floating Island.

’When will I ever be this fast?’ Su Chen couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy.