Intelligent Scheme ?... Impossible !

Saying goodbye to Fatty Dong didn't feel good. Even though he just met him for a few days, he was still a fat cash cow that he could rely on.

Tang Ling returned home and saw Tang Fuxi with a couple of "friends", holding a bottle of Fusion Reagent.

[Diluted Fusion Reagent (Common-Special) LV : 0

Description: A diluted version that sometimes appears in the dark market. But don't compare to the common knock-off products (have a 30% effect with side-effect) which is sold to rich people! This is an original product made of advanced technology that has 60% of the intended effects with no side-effect.]

Diluted Reagent? Did his sister get a reagent? But why is it diluted? Tang Ling frowned and checked her classmate's reagents.

[Super Diluted Fusion Reagent]

[Diluted Fusion Reagent (57%)]

[Diluted Fusion Reagent (62%)]

[Diluted Fusion Reagent (44%)]

None of them had the real version of it that the graduated students had(albeit being mass-produced and only having 75% effect). The average effect was only 52%. It could be said that his sister was lucky!

Tang Ling didn't understand why he received a 75% fusion reagent but his sister got a 60% diluted fusion reagent. But after he thought carefully, he was finally enlightened and understood the inner working of the distribution :

Graduates were lucky as they graduated about the same time as the Third Prince's victory and got a full version reagent. The others who didn't graduate weren't lucky and got a diluted one. There was also a matter of luck here, if he was lucky he could get a higher effectiveness reagent but unlucky, less. If one became an Orderer, it meant that he had good talent and luck! It would also mean that either he was super talented or he was very lucky and happened to have decent talent. After all, luck was also a type of strength.

Tang Ling began to feel respect for the Empire's scheme (or the Third Prince), by spending a little money, it allowed geniuses born from humble households to show their talents and join the ranks of His Highness. The newly-awakened Orderer will also never betray him as he was the one who gave "life" to them. Without him, they would become a petty thief or die of hunger or similar cases. Increased Orderers meant more power to his Territory and meant that he would more likely gain the Throne!

The Separation of Power was a common thing in Brokang Empire, the heirs (or princes) when born, are fated to snatch power. The princes would normally get their bases and conquer cities through 'soft' and 'hard' manners. They would battle each other and kill to have more territory as more territory meant a higher chance to get the Throne and it was more brutal as the Emperor is now 470 years old and could die/abdicate at any time*. When he abdicated the Throne (death), violent wars will truly start and the last Prince (or King) remaining will become Emperor of Brokang. Principalities weren't a joke, Princes were gods in their territory; everyone knew that.

*Emperors can only reign for a maximum of 500 years. But in the history of Brokang, only one had truly reigned for 500 years: The First Emperor. The others would, on average, abdicate or die at 400 years of reign. It was pure luck that the current emperor could live this long. ( More would be explained later.)

Scary.

With this in mind, Tang Ling reminded himself that the Empire wasn't truly simple and he should be careful when dealing with the empire's officials. If he wasn't quick-witted, he would never know how deep the waters a Prince had in this city!

---

In the school backstage

The Intendant Mu Xi was standing on the hard wooden floor for about 20 minutes, waiting for someone.

A black shadow came to him and said :

"You're really mean to them. Giving such a big hope to them, you really gave them diluted/mass-produced reagent? Even I would need two 87% fusion reagents to awaken. Giving them a single 80% and less won't give them a chance to become a Fluxer."

Mu Xi snorted: "Humph. They are just commoners, even if you gave them the rare 90% reagent, it would still fail."

"Sigh. You, and your so-called 'superior bloodline'... You actually dared to replace the bottles that Third Prince gave and replaced them with inferior bottles. the shadow seemed to have opened his mouths but also didn't.

"What do you even think? These pieces of trashes would just waste the resources, we should give them to noble lineages like the Limunite Family." Mu Xi said.

"You think, the youngsters in the Limunite Family just spend their days wasting their time. Lecherous, the current Limunite Family is just the shadow of its past. No matter how glorio.."

Muxi interrupted him: "You will never understand the lineage of a noble. The families can never waver. Though that the descendants cannot match the ancestors, they still have its blood, commoners are just trash-devils !"

The shadow could only look at his old helpless friend. The Brokang Empire's noble blood was now more and more corrupt. Only the royal family retained some of their previous dignity, if this statement was somewhat true in the past; it is now completely false. No matter how 'pure' their blood is, if they are given to these trash youths like in the Limunite Family, it wouldn't change anything. He wanted to change his friend's judgment of commoners but he already knew that this notion was imprinted in his mind.

"It is impossible for these rats in this city to become a Fluxer !"

...

Tang Ling waited before the reagent. The wait was long but he was patient. After eating his lunch and his supper, he could see that the reagent cooldown was over.

'Finally, it has been like an eternity.' thought Tang Ling before he opened the bottle with his arm strength. He didn't need a tool to open it; he was a Martial Artist. Having 1.3 Strength, 1.2 Agility, 1.2 Constitution, and 1.4 Spirit. His stats overwhelmed the common people here who had 0.3 each. So a bottle, which normal people would use tools and be tired, was easy for him to open.

He then sniffed at the bottle and felt a huge power from them; Tang Ling was certain, this reagent was made of the Empire's technology. No doubt about it.

Tang Ling drunk the contents of the reagent and he suddenly felt heavy.

Badum! BADUM! His heart began to pump furiously and a part of his stomach began to activate and seemed to transform into a bowl-like organ.

The process was painful, even for him it made him groan and kneel. It was only after a minute that the pain stopped and he felt a new 'organ' in his body. It felt real yet felt like an illusion; he knew that something was in his body but this 'something' didn't take any space in his body.

The name of this organ was finally remembered in Tang Ling's mind: Broken Vessel.