Chapter 510

“Status!” Barked the Bhutanese government official staring at Arthur, glowering at him as the Climber stood in the empty room. Not that Arthur had any intention of fighting the other, what with the man being at least as strong as he was from the man’s aura. A powerful, pressuring one.

Funny, that Bhutan – right across the border from Bangladesh – was so much stricter. So much that he was being forced to pop out his Status Screen to just get in. They were not entirely happy that he was coming here either, but the country had been gifted not just with one or two Beginner Towers, but four. They had no Intermediate Towers, in return, but with four Beginner Towers, it meant that a large percentage of their Climbers were quite powerful.

It put them and the entire country with a hard ceiling, especially since neighboring countries were unhappy about their lack of entrance; but their Clans and the few Guilds established were powerful enough that no one was making any specific moves.

Not yet at least.

“Coming…” Arthur sighed and gestured, making his sheet appear. There was something to be said about hiding his information and Arthur knew that for those at the higher levels, either exceptions were made or they just found ways to sneak into the Towers; but he was not at that point yet.

If he wasn’t strong enough to beat their current guard, he certainly wasn’t strong enough to dictate to another government what kind of rules they could put in place to stop new Climbers.

 

Cultivation Speed: 5.01 Yin

Energy Pool: 40 (Yin) + (7/7)

Refinement Speed: 0.2991

Refined Energy: 0.831 (56) +(3/3)

 

Attributes and Traits

Mind: 28 (Multi-Tasking, Quick Learner, Perfect Recall, Intuitive Leaps, Pattern Recognition) 

Body: 35 (Enhanced Eyesight, Yin Body, Swiftness, Fast Twitch Faster, Lightning Reflexes, Explosive Strength, Deceptive Build, Enhanced Senses)

Spirit: 25 (Sticky Energy, From the Dregs, Strengthened Aura, Resonant Energy, Drip Refinement)

 

Techniques

Night Emperor Cultivation Technique (95.5% compatibility)

Focused Strike (149.1%)

Accelerated Healing – Refined Energy (Grade IVe) (23.2%)

Heavenly Sage’s Mischief (194.1%)

Refined Exploding Energy Dart (202.1%)

Steel Skin (148.3%)

Seven Cloud Stepping Technique (379.9%)

Poket Simpanan Tua (238.2%) (Refined Exploding Energy Dart 92% Integrity)

Imbued Strike - Yin Poison (157.7%)

Yin Aura (Level 1) (174.9%)

Yin-Yang Energy Exchange (122.4%)

Simultaneous Flow (387.2%)

Book Spirit of Diligent Study (133.9%)

Shadow Sense (169.9%)

Heavenly Sage’s Heaven Beating Stick (139.2%)

Yin Poison Darts (108.2%)

Eleven Pagodas of Thought and Defense (107.9%)

Sticky Threads (101.2%)

Impartation (114.8%)

 

Partial Techniques

Water Walking (83.1%)

 

“Fighter.” Eyes narrowed, the man growled. “You have a Clan, yes?” He gestured and Arthur sighed and made the information for the Clan appear. The man looked it over dismissively, then nodded. “You making Clan here?”

“Yes,” Arthur said.

“Papers, registration and fees at Ministry.” He searched to the side, came up with some brochures and pushed it into Arthur’s hands. “Take.”

“Thanks.” Arthur was amused that the man’s hostility had disappeared the moment he had shown his Status, as though his acquiescence had set him apart. Then again, it was possible that most of the ones that received this man in particular were idiots.

Arrogant idiots, who thought they were something, and just needed a good beating.

Exiting the room, Arthur noticed that the remainder of the team – still the same, minus the Climbers from the Clan who were staying in the Dakha tower – were waiting for him. Quick questionening indicated he had taken the longest, as they went to collect their gear.

A quick verification that nothing important was missing, the simple usage of sealed plastic wraps and bags ensuring it was near impossible to open their gear without them knowing about it. That it was something the Bhutanese government had suggested made Arthur kind of happy.

Exiting was quick afterwards where a pair of additional figures waited for the group amidst a crowd of other Climbers and guides. One was a familiar face in Uswah, the other was a newcomer who had the look of the natives with their dark hair and tanned skin. Almost like Malays, except the Bhutanese were generally less tanned, taller and had more angular faces.

In other words, nothing at all like Malays or Indonesians unless you had no idea how to read faces.

“Boss,” Jan said. “Uswah got us a guide.”

“Nice.” Arthur looked at the man, who placed a hand on his chest.

“I’m Pasang. And you’re Mr. Chua?”

“Arthur.” He grinned, offered his hand to the other man and shook it. He noted that the man was a Climber from the way he impacted Arthur’s aura, but a weak one. Certainly only a single Tower or two Climber. “We should head to the Ministry first, get everything registered.”

Uswah reached into her bag by her side, handed Arthur a file. “Just your tandatangan.”

Arthur flipped the folder open, juggling his gear with his other hand as he wandered after Pasang who lead them out of the airport with confident steps. They piled into another car where another driver waited for them, causing Arthur to note their extravagance.

Then again, they had money and this was a lot faster. For once, the exchange rate was working in their favor, so he chose not to mention it as he kept flipping through the document, scanning down the helpful English notations.

As Uswah had mentioned, everything that could be filled in had been done so. Arthur noted the clean and familiar penmanship of Mel’s in all the forms and smiled a little, happy that he might actually get a chance to meet with the woman again.

All around him, Uswah was filling in the group on what was going on. Nothing too important, of course, what with non-Clan members in the vehicle. But the status of their buildings, the continued flow of goods and recruitment numbers coming in were not data points they were concerned about leaking. Anyone paying enough attention to the Clan could have picked those out.

“We need another set of classes?” Rick said, frowning. “Can we even do that in the Clan hall?”

“Tak boleh.” Uswah replied. At the American’s frown, she sighed. “Not possible.”

“So why are you adding them?”

“We had Manager Kong help us, we have some sports halls. Older places, from schools that aren’t using them anymore. We cleaned it up, have a lease and new teachers.” She nodded to Arthur. “More of your seniors.”

“They should be practicing on their own,” Arthur grumbled.

“Your old seniors. The ones who graduated and are starting to come back. Giving up their old jobs,” Uswah said in reply. “We are paying well, and we should be more stable.”

“Theoretically,” Arthur said, softly. “So long as I don’t die.”

“Then, don’t die.” Jan snorted. “Can’t wait for you to get stronger, we all got to keep living lah.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Tapping the documents, Arthur looked about. “Good job. Now, if someone wants to hand me a pen…” he trailed off as Uswah offered him one, he sighed. “I’ll get us registered. Hopefully, it doesn’t take as long as Bangladesh.”

“That really isn’t the problem here, boss.” Uswah said.

Arthur groaned, suddenly getting a terrible premonition that what was going to be said would distress him significantly. After all, it was always this way.