Chapter 195: Alliance Conscription
After Zhou Ming instructed Li Hu to relay the orders, he fished ten Sapphire Fish from the underground lake.
Among them, three were sent by the Snake Guards to Su Mei for consumption, with instructions for her to raise her Spiritual Power to the point where she could undergo class advancement in the shortest possible time.
At present, within the camp, only Su Mei had successfully advanced through class advancement, and only then could he devote his energy to research.
As for the remaining seven Sapphire Fish, Zhou Ming consumed them all himself, using them to stabilize the somewhat unstable Spiritual Power after his advancement.
Just as Zhou Ming was making preparations for the crisis brought by the Giant Race, the Alliance authorities outside did not delay even for a moment.
The Alliance’s northern region could now be said to be in a state of war, and everything had to be prepared to respond to the threat brought by the Giant Race.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye. The number of Wildfolk in the camp increased by several hundred, and various supplies were continuously delivered to the camp.
However, as supplies began to be placed under control, the Han Family conveyed a message to Zhou Ming through the Violent Bear Hunting Corps that it would be difficult to continue providing food, medicine, and energy-related supplies in the future.
Regarding this message, Zhou Ming understood that the Han Family was not deliberately making things difficult for him. After all, given the current wartime situation, the Alliance would naturally place these supplies under strict control.
However, this was not the biggest change. Just as Zhou Ming was comprehending a meditation method, three Professional Beast Tamers from the Alliance authorities came knocking.
“May I ask what business brings the three of you to my humble place? I don’t think I’ve violated any Alliance regulations.”
After receiving news of the visit by the Alliance’s Professional Beast Tamers, Zhou Ming immediately left the underground lake and came to the surface to meet them.
Seeing that the visitors were wearing Alliance military uniforms, most likely from the Qinghui Base’s City Defense Army, Zhou Ming immediately asked about their purpose.
As for how they were able to accurately locate the camp, Zhou Ming did not feel the slightest bit surprised.
If the City Defense Army could not even find the camp he had established, then it would only mean that the Alliance was not far from collapse.
“You have not violated any Alliance prohibitions. We are here this time to deliver the Alliance Conscription Notice.”
After briefly explaining their purpose, the other party directly sent a dossier into Zhou Ming’s hands through the air.
“There are three items inside: an identity card, an Alliance Conscription Notice, and a detailed introduction dossier.”
“If you refuse the Alliance conscription, the Alliance will have the right to revoke your citizen status. We hope you will carefully consider the consequences.”
After saying this, the three did not pay any attention to Zhou Ming’s reaction. They immediately mounted their respective Phantasmal Beasts and departed.
Faced with such domineering conduct, Zhou Ming felt a faint sense of displeasure.
However, with the Alliance backing them, no matter how displeased he was, he could only endure it. Moreover, facing three alone, at best he could only protect himself.
“Alliance conscription?”
Watching the figures disappear into the mountains and wilderness, Zhou Ming immediately recalled the information regarding Alliance conscription.
According to the decision of the Alliance Supreme Council, when facing invasions by foreign races or Ferocious Beasts, if a base reached a life-or-death juncture, it could forcibly conscript Professional Beast Tamers inside and outside the base to cooperate with the authorities in resisting the invasion.
Those who refused Alliance conscription would be permanently stripped of Alliance citizen status and could only wander the wilderness as Wildfolk from then on.
Of course, if one accepted Alliance conscription, there would be opportunities to obtain various rare resources from the Alliance, including Transcendent Master class advancement materials.
“My lord, are you going to accept the Alliance’s conscription?”
Su Mei arrived beside Zhou Ming together with Li Hu and the others, asking Zhou Ming about his thoughts with some hesitation.
“If I don’t accept it, I’ll end up becoming Wildfolk like you. At that time, my fate might be even worse than yours.”
When a Professional Beast Tamer became a Wildfolk, if they lacked the protection of a major force, they would become a prized target in the eyes of many factions.
Compared to ordinary people, using Professional Beast Tamers as experimental subjects naturally yielded far greater results.
However, very few forces dared to capture Professional Beast Tamers for experiments, because such actions were no different from offending the entire Professional Beast Tamer community. After all, no one wanted to end up in such a situation.
Moreover, when it came to such behavior, the Alliance did not simply “suppress” it. Instead, it directly encircled and annihilated any forces that engaged in such acts.
But once one became Wildfolk, they could no longer enjoy the protection of Alliance prohibitions, and underground forces would naturally move to capture them.
After briefly explaining the reasons, Zhou Ming continued to reassure everyone.
“As long as I accept the conscription, no force will dare to lay hands on you. This is one of the benefits provided by the Alliance when it conscripts Professional Beast Tamers.”
“Let’s head back to the camp first.”
At this moment, Zhou Ming wanted to review the materials provided by the Alliance, so he did not continue engaging with Su Mei and the others.
Inside the living room of the small courtyard in the camp, Zhou Ming opened the dossier sent by the City Defense Army.
A black card lay inside, with a string of golden numbers on it, most likely used to record merits or prove identity.
There was also an Alliance Conscription Notice, authorized by the Alliance Headquarters and issued by the Qinghui Base Council.
Under normal circumstances, unless absolutely necessary, the Alliance generally would not issue Alliance conscriptions.
Even if it did, it would coordinate in advance with the major factions.
Zhou Ming did not pay much attention to the identity card or the Alliance Conscription Notice, instead focusing his attention on the materials within the dossier.
The main contents were as follows.
First, killing one Giant, or a foreign race whose strength was comparable to a Professional Beast Tamer, would grant Alliance merit and one thousand contribution points from the Hunter Guild.
One merit could be exchanged to end Alliance conscription.
One thousand merits could be exchanged for Transcendent Master class advancement and the accompanying resources.
In addition, various transcendent equipment, high-grade potions, and other precious items could all be exchanged using merits.
“One thousand merits—this requirement really isn’t low. But there should be private transactions.”
Seeing the merits required to exchange for transcendent class advancement and the supporting resources, Zhou Ming could guess that ordinary Professional Beast Tamers simply could not obtain that many merits.
However, the materials explained that merits were redeemed using heads as proof, which was meant to guide major forces into spending resources to attract ordinary Professional Beast Tamers to fight for the Alliance.
Those major forces, in order to obtain transcendent class advancement and supporting resources, would naturally spend even more resources to trade for Giant heads, paying a price far greater than the value of the items exchanged from the Alliance.
Professional Beast Tamers who originally only intended to kill one Giant or a same-tier foreign race would, because of the extremely precious treasures offered by those major forces, most likely choose to remain on the battlefield.
After reading the explanation regarding merits, Zhou Ming then turned his attention to the intelligence the Alliance had obtained on the Giant Race.
According to the records in the materials, the number of Giants appearing in the Panlong Mountain Range had already exceeded one thousand, equivalent to over a thousand Professional Beast Tamers.
As for elite Giants possessing transcendent power, after paying a huge price, the number that had been confirmed already exceeded twenty.
And this was only the situation of the Giant Race itself. In addition, there were subordinate lower-tier foreign races attached to the Giant Race, with a predicted number exceeding one hundred thousand, among which a small portion possessed strength comparable to Professional Beast Tamers.
These lower-tier foreign races were mainly composed of Gnoll Werewolves, Centaurs, and Harpies.
This was the intelligence the Alliance had managed to investigate over the past three days.