Bai Ze's heart stirred, and he immediately summoned his status panel.
An aquamarine ripple formed words in his mind:
[Name: Bai Ze]
[Level: lv1]
[Class: Divine Artisan of Tian-Gong]
[Comprehensive Combat Power: 5–999]
[Class Skill: Soul-Engraving Life-Summoning]
[Skills: None]
[Equipment & Items: None]
[Special: One free high-level life-carving opportunity without cost]
Beneath this panel, there was also a line of small print:
[Skill "Soul-Engraving Life-Summoning" consumes a massive amount of mental energy. Please use with caution.]
"Below that are the perks granted by the system."
[For every 5 levels gained, obtain one free low-level life-carving opportunity.]
[For every 10 levels gained, obtain one free mid-level life-carving opportunity.]
[For every 20 levels gained, obtain one free high-level life-carving opportunity.]
After reading through all of this, Bai Ze let out a long breath of relief!
"I'm set!"
A combat power of 5 represented his own strength, while 999 included the cost-free carving opportunity currently residing on his panel!
One had to know that the maximum initial combat power for a rare Professional was 500, and it would never go any higher.
Yet he seemed to be on the verge of becoming an exception!
The system had already granted a cost-free high-level life-carving opportunity, which served as his initial capital!
Right now, what he needed to do was carve the Great Sage as quickly as possible, rapidly enter the Abyss to level up, and then cure his eyes!
As Bai Ze thought about this with a smug sense of delight, he leaned on his cane and walked down the awakening platform.
As he stepped down, quite a few people began to voice their indignation!
"What on earth is he doing? It's one thing not to choose the Giant Spirit God, but now he just casually picks a Carver and steps down?"
"The Giant Spirit God and Archangel classes have already appeared. Isn't this handing us an opportunity?"
"Are you kidding me, bro? The problem is he's blind! How is he supposed to enter the Abyss Battlefield later?!"
"Who cares? Let him go die if he wants, better if he's dead!"
Almost everyone was filled with questioning and incomprehension.
Yet only Bai Ze's former head teacher, Yáo Qīng, wore a calm expression...
He walked to the bottom of the platform, helped Bai Ze make his way through the crowd, and led him to a taxi parked by the roadside.
"Pretty disappointed, aren't you, Teacher?" Bai Ze said softly.
"What's there to be disappointed about? You're a carpenter, so choosing the Carver class makes sense. You're very dedicated, kid, so in tune with life..."
"Whatever. I'm heading back first. Call me on QQ if anything comes up."
"Alright. Oh, right! The Great Xia Country provides a subsidy for rare classes. Come over to the Professionals Center tomorrow to claim it—it's a full 300,000!"
"OK!"
Right now, Bai Ze only wanted to fly back home, quickly carve the Great Sage, and as for everything else, it didn't matter!
After about ten minutes or so, Bai Ze successfully returned to his shabby rented apartment.
His home was an absolute mess, filled with all sorts of discarded timber and chair legs, along with sawdust in the corners that was impossible to clean up.
"Phew..." Bai Ze expelled a turbid breath smelling of wood, and located the thickest wooden stump in the corner.
Standing over three meters tall and more than two meters thick, it was more than enough to carve a Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
Without wasting any more thought, Bai Ze immediately went to work.
Just as he gripped the carving knife in his hand, an inexplicable force suddenly surged into his heart, connecting with the knife in his grip as his body began to react involuntarily...
The carving began.
Bai Ze could feel an incomparably majestic surge of energy flowing out from within his body, rushing madly through the carving knife in his hand and into the wooden sculpture!
If his own native energy was 1, then the energy flowing out was roughly one hundred thousand times that!
He could see milky-white energy flowing frantically from within his body to engulf the entire statue—this was unmistakably a massive amount of mental energy!
Even without being able to see it right now, Bai Ze could feel it!
"Holy crap! Does carving a high-level lifeform consume this much mental energy? Good thing I didn't act recklessly!"
He was somewhat terrified; thank goodness he had a cost-free carving opportunity, otherwise he probably would have struggled to carve even a low-level lifeform!
Daring not to harbor any distracting thoughts now, he concentrated entirely on conjuring the image of the Great Sage in his mind, and the sculpture slowly began to reveal its embryonic form...
One hour, two hours, three hours...
Until after nine hours, the carving knife finally delivered its final stroke, and a lifelike sculpture of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven emerged into view!
Bai Ze's throat was parched and his hand felt exhausting just to lift; his body was utterly exhausted, yet his heart was incomparably thrilled!
He awakened his inner strength and began to chant the incantation:
An extraordinary spiritual stone gave birth to a spiritual root, a single golden-hooped rod shattered the primordial chaos!
A somersault carried him beyond the three realms, the Great Sage manifests to protect all living beings!
Now with sincere devotion I trade for a true name, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven descends upon this body!!!
As the final character of the incantation was uttered, the entire sculpture began to emit an incomparable golden radiance,
which even pierced straight through the concrete walls, and the blinding golden light practically illuminated half the city!
Even the Awakening Plaza was a wash of pure white, leaving everyone dumbfounded...
Yet the light lasted for merely three seconds before all of it retracted inward, and right before Bai Ze's eyes stood someone...
Wearing a phoenix-feathered purple-gold crown, draped in golden chain mail, and stepping on cloud-walking boots! How awe-inspiring were those two words?
That pair of pupils emitted a piercing brilliance capable of penetrating nearly everything!
Of course, since Bai Ze was merely a blind man, he couldn't see the Great Sage's appearance; he could only sense the violent, overwhelming aura rushing toward him.
At that moment, Bai Ze felt his throat go dry as he trembled and said, "Gr—Great Sage?"
"Hn."
The Great Sage nodded, then sat down on a nearby wooden chair, picked up an apple from the table, chewed on it twice, and tossed it aside...
The instant he was summoned, he understood all the rules of this world and even perceived quite a few underlying truths.
It could be said that he understood the composition of this world and its various rules far better than Bai Ze did.
"What are you standing around acting like a fool for? We need to level up, kid!
You actually summoned me into a level-one body—tell me, should I thank you, or should I really, really thank you?"
Despite saying this, the Great Sage walked up to him and placed a furry palm over Bai Ze's eyes.
"Huh? This..."
Bai Ze instantly understood what the Great Sage was trying to do.
He remained as benevolent and loving as ever; the very first thing he did upon appearing was to try and cure his eyes!
Unfortunately, the Great Sage let out a sigh: "Dao injuries... It seems you have a rather extraordinary past."
"Huh?"
Bai Ze was somewhat dumbfounded, thinking to himself, "I have no idea either, I just got here too!"
His memories only started from the age of four; he remembered surviving by scavenging as a child,
after which he followed an old carpenter to learn woodworking skills, and then things led to the present day...
Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly felt those furry palms patting his head.
Following that, his sense of smell, hearing, and touch were being crazily enhanced!
In merely a split second, Bai Ze even heard sounds from over fifty meters away and smelled various scents drifting from afar...
He could even detect whether there were obstacles ahead from the flowing air, and a fuzzy image began to form in his mind!
If he had to describe it, he felt like he had turned into a bat, seemingly no longer needing eyesight at all!
Still, he would need to get used to this ability and slowly adapt to it.
While Bai Ze was still caught in shock, the Great Sage spoke up: "Consider this a gift for our first meeting.
Got any money? Buy some fruit to eat."
"I do, Great Sage, I do." Bai Ze fished out his worn-out wallet.
Seeing that wallet, the Great Sage couldn't bear it and said, "Go borrow some from your head teacher; he has money."
The moment the words fell, the Great Sage instantly transformed into a young man wearing a leather jacket.
He shielded Bai Ze as they walked out the door, familiarly hailed a taxi, and headed straight for the head teacher's home...
The two of them remained silent along the way, but Bai Ze discovered that the Great Sage's status panel had appeared within his mind:
[The Great Sage Equal to Heaven — Sun Wukong]
[Level: lv1]
[Comprehensive Combat Power: 1899–]
[Talents: Fiery Eyes of Truth, Longevity, Poison and Disease Resistance]
[Skills: Seventy-Two Transformations, Body Outside the Body, Lawful Tianxiang, Peak Martial Arts, Bronze Head and Iron Limbs, Summoning Wind and Rain, Earth-Shrinking Technique...]
[Weapons: None for now]
[Items: None for now]
"From 1,800 to nearly 20,000—that 20,000 is probably the effect after activating Lawful Tianxiang!"
"Wait a minute! 20,000 combat power? Hold on!"
Bai Ze was rendered an idiot. He dropped his jaw and muttered in disbelief:
"How come Brother Monkey is already in his complete form the moment he comes out? Shouldn't we be leveling up slowly and then acquiring various skills along the way?"
Brother Monkey chuckled, lost for words:
"Hey... you silly blockhead, hurry up and carve my weapon out! What do you expect me to use to fight, use you as a stick?"
"Oh, oh, right!"
Bai Ze's heart surged with excitement! He had actually carved the complete-form Great Sage!!!
Though come to think of it, the Great Sage had demonstrated his divine powers right from the start.
Hadn't he enhanced all five of his senses? It was just that he himself had been too slow-witted to react in time!
Before long, the two of them knocked on the head teacher's door and began to state their request.
Yet Brother Monkey noticed that Yáo Qīng's complexion was exceptionally ugly, and upon seeing Bai Ze's face, a look of panic and guilt surfaced across his features...
The Great Sage furrowed his brow!
"No way! Borrowing a bit of money from you and you pull a face like that? What's the meaning of this?!"
"Bái... Báizé!"
Yáo Qīng spoke with guilt in his eyes:
"I went to the Professionals Center tonight and found out your 300,000 subsidy was claimed by someone else... Among those people was your cousin..."
"!!!"
Bai Ze's heart shook violently, and he hurriedly searched his memories!
At that moment, as the words "cousin" entered his ears, those distant memories in his mind gradually began to surface...
Yet the memories were extremely blurry; he hardly remembered much at all.
After a brief moment of thought, Bai Ze asked, "Why did they claim my subsidy? Why are those dog-raising relatives of mine so vile? I'm going to find..."
"Slap!"
Yáo Qīng pressed down on his shoulder, and with regret in his eyes, said: "..."