Chapter 124 - Trade (1/2)

All of Tang Ling’s battles had been secretive except for the first exam in which he purposely exposed his abilities under the public eye.

That particular battle with the Leceister silverback bear was considered astonishing and surely left a deep impression on everyone.

In fact, with the support of his Precise Instinct, every battle that he had been through was near perfect, including that very first virgin battle against a mutated beast, the black horn purple-striped snake, that Quark witnessed.

As for the battle with the chameleon black-winged mantis, had there been viewers around, they would have surely been amazed by the dance on the blade tips. What else could be a better sight than that?

Actually, it could be better like the acknowledgment of the Level 3 mutated insect’s self-consciousness that could have been added into his Precise Instinct calculations.

Whether it was anger, sorrow, happiness, or excitement, emotions could affect a battle, especially when it might affect the opportunity between life and death that could seal the outcome.

However, it was difficult to pull off. His Precise Instinct could only simulate precise numbers and was useless against emotions.

After all, the anticipation of emotions and even the grasp of human nature could only be processed by his own thoughts and feelings. At times, that would be even more reliable than his Precise Instinct.

For example, when Tang Ling took the risk and tore towards the black-winged mantis, if the creature had stronger self-consciousness, it would surely respond and not revert back to its machine-like reflex to deal with the situation.

Thanks to the rigid thinking of the mantis, Tang Ling was able to buy himself some precious time.

However, at the same time, it clearly stated that the most efficient ones on the battlefield would always be the ice-cold machines. If the dull brutality remained and was combined with precise calculations and battle wisdom, it would be…

Tang Ling was getting lost in his maze of thoughts. The foundations of battling would still be one’s abilities, but on top of that, battle wisdom would reign as king!

******

Even though he was absorbed in his thoughts, Tang Ling’s pace was brisk.

Since his risky hunting had ended and he was exceptionally familiar with a certain area in the northern forest, Tang Ling had a relatively safe path towards his destination, hence saving him a lot of time.

In less than half an hour, he was at his secret base.

His secret base was actually an orange jasmine tree. The tree did not mutate much though. Only its leaves and trunks were unusually fragrant.

The fragrance sort of functioned as an insect repellent and it could cover scents to a certain extent, although it was not as effective as the Sournia Tartar.

Tang Ling hid all his spoils in the trunk of the tree inside a space that he had carefully carved out.

He carved along the pattern and extracted a piece of tree bark from the trunk. He dug the inside clean and formed a storage space that was a square meter wide in the center.

Since the tree was big enough, the storage space did not even take up half of its diameter. In addition to that, the location he chose was close to where the troops from Safety Sector No. 17 were stationed, so it decreased the chances of any accidents happening.

Tang Ling was confident that he would never be discovered by the others. The fragrant orange jasmine covered the scent of his spoils, and he used that extracted piece of bark as a cover. Since he carefully carved it out along the pattern of the bark, the cover seemed very natural.

Although the piece of bark would surely decay over a certain period of time and appear different from the entire tree, it was not a problem either. Tang Ling did not plan to keep his spoils in a single spot or keep them for a long time.