Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 256: Chapter 256. Rebel Connection

Several months passed. During this first year of the junior class, every student was adjusting. Two new specialization jobs were introduced in this junior class; Plants Keeper and Formation Sage.

Plants Keeper taught the students how to grow spirit plants. Students were provided a small plot of land to practice growing the plants. Academic points were awarded based on how well and fast the plants grew. Students with available academic points for exchange could rent extra plots of land to grow more spirit plants.

Amon already knew the basics of growing spirit plants due to trial and error in building the plantation inside his black space ring. The Pyramid Library also possessed many books teaching him how to grow spirit plants, so he didn’t spend time on this specialization.

However, he occasionally went to the Plants Keeper building to ask the teachers for guidance. The teachers were impressed by his knowledge of growing spirit plants since he never practiced the trade there. Amon explained that growing spirit plants has been his hobby since he was little, and he was growing spirit plants at his residence.

Formation Sage was a study of using words of power in objects arranged in certain formations to produce certain effects. The maze that trapped Amon and prevented him from reaching the Pyramid Legacy was one such example. But the formation used for that maze was very advanced. The one taught to them in the junior class was more of an introductory phase. The focus of the study was more for them to identify a formation and to break the simplest of formations. To create their own formations, that would take a much longer study.

Amon only visited the Formation Sage building to learn about the basics before deciding not to focus on this field. It took too long to master this field. He didn’t have all the time in the world. He preferred to focus on cultivating and training his combat arts.

Maybe once he graduated as a senior student, he would spend more time in Specialization jobs. Because in senior class, two new jobs would become available; Puppet Maker and Beast Tamer. He had more interest in learning those two jobs.

As for these Plants Keeper and Formation Sage, he told Xin Wuming to pay attention to students in their faction who excelled in these jobs. He would spend resources to develop these members as he did with Ah Bin and the others.

A new batch of freshman students entered a few weeks after they were promoted to the junior class. Once those freshman students settled in, all factions started their recruiting process. The old factions had an advantage over certain clans since these clans joined based on tradition. The Vicious faction had an advantage in reputation and size. This caused most independent students and small clan members to join Vicious over the five old factions.

Sometimes, two or more recruiting factions happened to chance upon one another during the recruiting process. This turned into a brawl. The one who won would impress the freshman students and sway those students to join. The brawl was, of course, not like the one that caused Amon to be penalized by the academy. The recruiting students, now junior students, were wiser after that incident. The brawl was constrained to representatives, and it was kept short.

In this brawl, the Vicious mostly came on top. This was because most of its members had help from cultivation pills. Amon also gave them a basic training regimen and sparring schedule against each other to hone them. Compared to the academy, which let students decide by themselves when to train, Amon’s schedule instilled better discipline. This gave his members better improvement compared to the general students.

Amon applied a working system and let the system control his faction’s growth. The same was true for his underworld organization. After the fall of the Street Aristocrats, both the Demon Gang and the Sewer Snakes were consolidating their power, so there was not much development in the underworld.

The Alley Advocates started turning their eyes on these two organizations after their biggest rival was gone, but they stayed mostly passive. To them, these two organizations were just upstarts who didn’t know their places. So long as the two didn’t touch their territory, they didn’t deem it worth doing anything.

*

One day, after returning from a mission, Amon received a report from Xin Wuming.

”Brother, we have confirmed the info you requested. That person does have a link with those people.”

”Very good,” Amon praised. ”When will our transaction with him happen again?”

”Three days from now,” Xin Wuming answered.

”All right. Give me the details. I will go meet him personally,” Amon said.

On the day of the transaction, Amon went to the place of meeting, which was a small teahouse inside Demon Gang’s territory. Amon entered wearing the Demon Gang attire, with his face covered by a demon mask. He was wearing the common member’s demon mask, though, not his usual leader mask with golden streaks.

The tea house was empty except for one table occupied by one person. Amon approached the table and sat opposite the person.

”Strange, it is usually crowded here. Is something going on?” That person asked.

”The demon gang booked this entire teahouse,” Amon answered. ”There will only be us here, so you no need to worry about getting overheard.”

The person frowned. ”... Why would I worry about being overheard? We are just exchanging things like usual, aren’t we? Here is this month’s batch.”

He slid a small bag across the table. Amon took the bag and measured its weight. What was contained inside was Flame Powder, a material regulated by the kingdom. Amon still bought this material from Dao Se, but considering their members had grown and he also needed the material for other applications, the small amount provided by Dao Se was insufficient. That’s why he procured the material from another source once the Demon Gang built a wide enough connection in the underworld.

”Thank you, Sui Kui,” Amon said and stored the bag in his space ring.

”Hey! I thought we do not use real names in public?” Sui Kui protested.

”Like I said, no one is overhearing us. There is no need to worry. Here is your payment.”

Amon placed a different bag. Sui Kui raised his eyebrows after seeing the bag. He took the bag and looked inside. The inside was full of aer stones.

”These are much more than it should be,” Sui Kui said.

”Consider it extra payment for a different matter,” Amon said.

”What matter?” Sui Kui asked.

”I want to deliver a message to the rebels,” Amon answered.

Sui Kui’s expression didn’t change, but Amon perceived a glint in Sui Kui’s eyes.

”Mister demon... Well, I don’t know your name, so it is a disadvantage for me,” Sui Kui said. ”I have absolutely no idea what you expected from me. A message to the rebels? I don’t deal with those scums.”

”No need to deny, Sui Kui. I know you contacted them regularly, giving them information about this city or getting them materials. It is a risky but profitable endeavor. Well, all profitable endeavors are risky by nature, but this is more so than others. I wonder what will happen to you if the kingdom somehow gets their hands on this information.”

”Mister demon, you truly know how to joke, but this is getting out of hand. If you don’t stop this, I will get angry. We will not do business again.”

Sui Kui stood from his chair to show that he intended to leave. He was maintaining his composure, but Amon noticed a drop of sweat trickling down his forehead. The man was getting restless.

”Sui Kui, you do not need to worry about me. I’m not here to rat you out. Not if you follow my request. I only want you to be the intermediary between me and the rebels. I don’t need to entrap you. If I want, I already have enough evidence to hand you to the authorities. One of my followers followed you during your last meeting with a rebel member. The meeting was six days ago in a resting station North of Qishurg City. The rebel disguised as a common traveler who befriended you. My people captured this rebel contact on his way back and were now holding him somewhere. If I hand this rebel contact to the kingdom, he will identify you as an intermediary to the rebels.”

Sui Kui tried to maintain a calm expression, but it was getting harder.

”I’m not trying to give you difficulties,” Amon added. ”I simply ask you to continue doing what you are doing but add me into the equation. I will give you handsome rewards for each message you send and bring.”

Amon could see Sui Kui’s internal struggle. The guy was having an internal debate about whether to trust Amon or not.

”You said before that you are at a disadvantage for not knowing who I am,” Amon said. He took off his mask.

”My name is Lin Mo. I’m the leader of the demon gang, and I wish to contact the rebel. Now, we are in the same boat. You know about me. I know about you. Shall we get this deal going?”