Under the emperor’s imperial decree, Zhou Jing became the registrar of the Imperial Astronomer Bureau, but he had yet to take office. He would only officially take office when he returned to the capital, so he was still quite free at the moment.
The Emperor went south for an autumn tour and only brought some close officials with him. This was unlike the capital, the center of power where the court officials gathered and the undercurrents surged, so Zhou Jing had yet to be involved in the true dispute in the royal court.
In the next few days, Zhou Jing frequently went to the palace and presented more Longevity Pills to the Emperor.
The Emperor praised the effect of the Longevity Pill and was not stingy with his rewards. He even brought him along to inspect the Son of Heaven’s Temple that was being built. Everyone in Ning Tian Prefecture now knew that Perfected Master Windwalker was extremely favored.
Yin Nan, who was accompanying him, seemed to have become a tour guide. He had no choice but to introduce Zhou Jing to the various methods of the Son of Heaven Temple. This made him quite depressed.
However, he was not in the capital at the moment, so it was difficult for him to target Zhou Jing alone. Therefore, Yin Nan gave up and chose to temporarily avoid him.
In addition to building a good relationship with the Emperor, Zhou Jing also got to know many of the Emperor’s close ministers.
However, many of the ministers who truly controlled the court were still in the capital to manage the government and assist the Crown Prince in supervising the country. They did not go south.
The only person Zhou Jing saw was Minister Lu Wenzong, who accompanied the Emperor and took care of the patrol matters.
He had heard from the people in the Green Forest that there were seven treacherous officials in the current dynasty. They formed alliances for personal gain, corrupted the law, and wreaked havoc in the court, causing the world to be in chaos. They were known as the “Seven Thieves”, and Lu Wenzong was one of them.
Lu Wenzong also had a residence in Ning Tian Prefecture. It was also a bustling place, and there were more nobles who went to curry favor with him than those who visited Zhou Jing.
Although Zhou Jing’s status was high, in the eyes of high-ranking officials, his weight in the officialdom was naturally incomparable to such a powerful minister.
Many nobles were currying favor with Zhou Jing for the sake of a promising future. They were just trying to build a relationship in advance. At the moment, they had no intention of seeking refuge because they felt that Zhou Jing did not have any background and could not bring much help to their careers.
As for the leader of a faction like Lu Wenzong, his nature was completely different. Countless people wanted to be inside his faction.
However, Zhou Jing did not visit Lu Wenzong. Instead, it was Lu Wenzong who took the initiative to get someone to send him an invitation to attend the banquet.
There was no interlude during the meal. Lu Wenzong only got to know Zhou Jing briefly. Although this person was widely known to be a treacherous official among the people, he did not show it on the surface. His attitude towards Zhou Jing was amiable.
Zhou Jing could not figure out the other party’s true intentions, so he did not do anything else and only responded politely.
He had just climbed up the ranks of the royal family and did not want to come into contact with a troublesome minister like Lu Wenzong for the time being. He had the intention to mind his own business.
After doing all this, he stepped into the power vortex. There were not many days left for this projection, and most of them were spent waiting on the Emperor.
In the Ye residence, Zhou Jing returned to the courtyard after seeing the nobles he had visited today. He opened the interface and sorted out his current abilities.
“Bill’s Magecraft aptitude is dark green, and his Natural Amicability is light blue. The current upper limit of his cultivation should be at Tier 7 or 8 of the sorcery system…”
Zhou Jing touched his chin and pondered.
The last time his Apostle Bill’s aptitude increased, it was because of the clearance settlement. This thing was unique. In the future, if he wanted to continue increasing his aptitude, he had to either increase his Astral Projector Rank to widen the upper limit or obtain the achievement reward for increasing his aptitudes.
In his inventory, the rewards for increasing his Physical Fitness and Resistance aptitude were the most accumulated. Most of them had yet to be used.
As for magic and Natural Amicability, there was only one “increase in aptitude (small)” for each. It was not enough to increase one’s aptitude by a rank.
“Bill is the only Astral Apostle with a magic system in my hands at the moment. It’s just that the rarity of his astral template is not high, and it’s innately insufficient. It’s troublesome to increase my aptitude in the future… Well, if I encounter a new spell system with potential in the future, I can try getting a magical apostle with a higher initial potential.”
Zhou Jing composed himself and browsed through Bill’s current ability file.
[Apostle #003 — Bill]
[Attributes: Physical Fitness 27, Resistance 25, Perception 40 (+2) (First Order Max), Spirit 55, Energy 58]
[Aptitude: Knowledge [Dark Blue], Pharmacology [Dark Blue], Natural Amicability [Light Blue], Magecraft [Dark Green], Eloquence [Dark Green], Craftsmanship [Green]…]
[Talent: [Knowledge Seeker] (Increase the efficiency of learning), [Apothecary] (Success rate and increase in quality of potions)]
[Skills: [Pharmacology] Lv9 – Master, [Herbal Knowledge] Lv9 – Master, [Mutant Blood Potion Technique] Lv7 – Expert, [Beast Taming] Lv3 – Outstanding, [Basic Meditation] Lv5 – Instinct, [Ancient Medicine] Lv4 – Proficient]
5[Supernatural System: [Elemental Sorcerer] · Gale Spirit – Tier 3]
[Tier 1, 2 and 3 skill tree completely unlocked]
[Level 4 Ability Development (All Unlocked): [Wind Enhancement III] Lv3, [Spirit Enhancement II] Lv3, [Perception Enhancement II] Lv3]
[Level 5 Ability Development: [Merging Thoughts III] Lv3, [Cutting Enhancement II] Lv1, [Wind Manipulation II] Lv1]
[Elemental Sorcerer cumulative bonuses: +5 Physical Fitness, +11 Resistance, +32 Perception, +52 Spirit, +58 Energy]
“After cultivating for a few months, I’ve grown quite quickly.”
Zhou Jing was quite satisfied.
Among the skills, [Pharmacology] had increased by one level, and [Basic Meditation] had increased by two levels.
Among them was also the [Ancient Medicine]. This was the medical knowledge of this world that he had learned from Zhang Jingduan. Bill was very good at learning this kind of thing… However, medical skills could not only be read, but also required a lot of clinical experience. As he rarely treated illnesses, his cultivation speed was average.
Unlike Chen Feng, Bill was an Eternal Apostle. Thus, Zhou Jing could spend Astral Points to convert the results of his cultivation to his main body.