284: Chapter 284 Recruitment

After comforting Saya for a moment, the two entered the 'Transcendent World'.

Although Saya had never been here before, having been influenced by what she had seen and heard, she understood it better than Nie Ning.

Nie Ning's goal was very clear; he had no time to waste on brawling, as those things held little meaning for him now.

Perhaps he could hone his combat power in there later, but certainly not now.

After about ten minutes, the two arrived in front of a massive seven-story building.

Entering the building, it appeared much livelier compared to the desolate city.

"This should be the Trading Hall."

Saya said softly as she watched the passersby.

Nie Ning nodded.

The Trading Hall was considered an independent institution of the Transcendent World, and it was linked to reality.

Transactions of Transcendent items were prone to double-crossing situations.

In the collaborative project between Liuguang City and the Yishi Mansion, the Trading Hall also had a similar location in reality.

As long as terms were agreed upon in the Transcendent World, the transaction could be carried out directly offline; it was a place established to ensure transaction security.

Then, the Trading Hall would charge a certain fixed fee for institutional operating expenses.

If a problem occurred within the Trading Hall, the Trading Hall would naturally be responsible for the matter.

But if someone secretly tried to save a bit of money by avoiding the transaction fee and trading privately, they would have to resolve any issues themselves.

Although the transaction fees weren't cheap, most people still went to the Trading Hall to ensure their own safety.

Furthermore, in academic transactions, a deposit could be given to the Trading Hall, which would then transfer it to the other party on their behalf.

One could say the entire institution was very user-friendly, effectively reducing the occurrence of various unforeseen incidents.

After all, those who could become Transcendents were no pushovers; while you were wary of others, others were also wary of you.

If one's own strength wasn't great, god knows if the other party would do something out of line.

...

The two went to the front desk and posted their requirements in the Trading Hall.

The efficiency of the Trading Hall was very high; just as Nie Ning was about to leave Saya behind to wait, someone accepted his task.

The video chat system was also one of the designs of the Transcendent World.

Immediately after, Nie Ning felt a mental surge; following the instructions, a virtual projection appeared before his eyes.

The other party was a rather young-looking man, appearing fair-skinned and tender with a hint of youthful inexperience.

Nie Ning was slightly disappointed.

Not everyone was a genius like Heloise; being too young meant one surely wouldn't have high achievements in runes and alchemy.

The young man also seemed to notice Nie Ning's reaction, and a look of embarrassment and awkwardness appeared on his face.

Seeing this, Nie Ning didn't reject him immediately.

After all, since he was already here, he should at least evaluate him; what if he really was a genius?

Regrettably, while the ideal was plump, reality was skeletal; it turned out Nie Ning had overthought it.

Nie Ning asked a series of questions he had once posed to Heloise; except for two items he could barely answer, the other party only had a superficial understanding of the rest.

Although he sympathized with the other party, reality was reality; Nie Ning couldn't hire someone who was of no help to him at all.

Because having one Saya was enough, and his money didn't just blow in with the wind.

Uh...

Others had proactively given it to him...

After rejecting the young man, Nie Ning let Saya stay behind to continue waiting.

...

In the following time, while recovering from his injuries, Nie Ning also worked on increasing the energy storage limit of the god-forbidden ring.

Occasionally, he would experiment with fusing Runic Formulas to prepare for his promotion to the fourth rank.

But things weren't optimistic in this regard.

Previously, Nie Ning had used the encyclopedia of elemental spheres as a foundation, then relied on his own unrestrained imagination to modify sorcery.

Rather than research and development, it was actually just trying his luck.

But as his strength grew, relying solely on this for complex Runic Formulas certainly wouldn't work; luck couldn't always be on his side.

With Heloise around before, she had indeed provided him with many ideas and completed the basic modification work.

But after the experiments, problems gradually surfaced.

Previously, he had always taken a conservative approach, focusing on stabilizing the Runic Formulas to prevent the fused formulas from spiraling out of control.

But in doing so, while the Runic Formulas were indeed stable, their power clearly fell short of his requirements.

What he needed was sorcery capable of a one-hit kill.

Moreover, sorcery had strict requirements; one couldn't just add as many runes as they wanted.

It needed to be rational while suppressing the level of the sorcery within the range he required.

Otherwise, even if he created a ninth-rank sorcery, so what?

To Nie Ning, things that couldn't be used were all shit!

Therefore, on the path of searching for a rune teacher, Nie Ning added another condition: they must possess a certain sorcery design philosophy.

...

Half a month later.

Transcendent World.

Nie Ning and Saya sat dejectedly on a bench in the Trading Hall.

Clearly, finding a wizard proficient in Runic Formulas was not going smoothly.

During this time, they had interviewed nearly twenty wizards.

Among them, three were indeed quite good, with deep research into Runology.

But the problem was a lack of innovation; being in their forties or fifties, they didn't have much insight into sorcery research and development, belonging to the type of people who just follow the book.

"My Lord, I think that Rune Master was quite good. Why don't we just hire him for now?"

Saya sat up straight and spoke to Nie Ning, who was lying flat beside her, a hint of helplessness appearing in her eyes.

Nie Ning's recruitment requirements were too high, and combined with the frequent interviews of those wizards, his reputation in this circle had gone down the drain.

Recently, she would occasionally hear people speaking ill of Nie Ning.

Especially a week ago, when Nie Ning had given an elderly Rune Master a tongue-lashing.

He was a dignified Fourth-Ring Wizard, a person of renown throughout Blood Rainbow City.

After being scolded by Nie Ning, he was so infuriated that he spat blood at home, vowing to find Nie Ning and teach him a lesson.

"Forget it, he's just an old fogey."

Nie Ning shook his head, not wanting to consider that person at all.

That person was the epitome of following the book; he did have deep insights into Runology.

But the problem was that the old fellow liked to pull rank based on his age and didn't allow anyone to question him—a typical supporter of the old era.

As someone who could kill a Tier 4 Transcendent and as the boss paying the salary, why should he take your attitude?

The two had argued back then because of their differing opinions.

Besides, having not found a suitable Rune Master for so long, if it were before, he might have indeed considered inviting the man back to teach him.

But the awkward part was also right here.

After the argument, he couldn't let it go, and later heard people at the exchange talking about the other's identity.

That very night, he had quietly slipped into the Rune Master's home and directly given him a beating.

The old fellow was afraid of losing face, so he insisted he had coughed up blood from anger...

...