"Does the Spiritist Association have the position of honorary vice president?" Chu Ran looked at Jian.
Jian was rummaging through the bag for extra fruit. She blinked at the question. "I haven't heard of it, but sometimes they invite famous people as a gimmick for recruitment."
Chu Ran understood. It seemed the Spiritist Association sent her this invitation to recruit her.
After all, the Spiritist Association was now mired in negative news.
Jian hesitated and asked, "Want me to take a look?"
As an S-level spiritual power user, the Spiritist Association had also sent her recruitment offers back then.
Chu Ran nodded.
Jian leaned in and carefully examined the invitation from the Spiritist Association. She commented, "The salary is quite low. As far as I know, Spiritist high-ranking officials start at least at five million carats. But honorary positions don't require any duties, and they're probably strapped for cash right now, so it's understandable."
"Let me see if there are any other benefits."
Jian scrolled down. "This is good: a one-month private training period with President Edwood as your personal coach."
"The instructors at the Third Training Institute have solid combat experience, but as a Spiritist, they're far behind President Edwood. He was pushed into the position of Seventh Sub-Star Spiritist Association President back then precisely because of his exceptional individual combat ability."
"Undead-type gods are very rare."
Chu Ran agreed. "What other benefits can I ask for?"
"Let me think," Jian hesitated. "You could ask to share their database, especially information on Divine Tombs and gods."
"Both the Spiritist Association and the military regularly organize teams to explore Divine Tombs each year. Every Divine Tomb is different, and the extent of exploration varies greatly. This data is classified."
Chu Ran nodded. When she replied, she directly expressed that she was willing but the compensation was insufficient.
In addition to what Jian mentioned, she also demanded an annual salary of 800,000 carats.
"Isn't that a bit too much?"
Chu Ran looked composed. "I'm scarce right now. Scarcity increases value."
The Spiritist Association replied quickly.
Without any haggling, they directly agreed to Chu Ran's demands and even thoughtfully included Edwood's contact number.
While sending a friend request, Chu Ran remarked, "It seems the Spiritist Association is having a very hard time recruiting new people this time."
Edwood quickly accepted Chu Ran's friend request and sent her a StarNet training room link.
Seems he was prepared.
Chu Ran swallowed the last piece of fruit Jian handed her, got up, and went to her room.
Edwood's image on StarNet was almost the same as in reality. The black robe was his permanent protective color, making it impossible to see his face clearly.
The training room was spacious, with various testing instruments in front and a showcase of creations on the right, each in different colors.
Edwood didn't bother with small talk. He directly took a black rod from the showcase and tossed it to Chu Ran. "Use this for the test first."
He pointed to the impact testing device at the front. "Inject spiritual power, expand the rod to five times its size, then hit it with all your strength, but don't trigger divine power."
Chu Ran caught the rod. She could clearly feel it was heavier than the ones she'd used before, but when expanded five times, it consumed much less spiritual power than before.
"These creations are all made by master creationists. Purely in terms of craftsmanship, they're far superior to your special artifact," Edwood explained without turning around.
Chu Ran calmed herself, took a deep breath, dashed forward a few steps, gripped the rod with one hand, raised it above her head, and slammed it into the testing device with all her strength.
The impact testing device let out a sharp beep, then projected a segmented bar. Red filled up from the bottom, grid by grid.
10, 20, 30, 40... The red climbed all the way to 210.
The number at the top was marked 500.
Edwood's tone was calm. "Passable. Your basic physical training foundation is solid."
"And you?" Chu Ran looked at the gap between the red and the top, frowning slightly.
Edwood didn't hide it. "The last time I tested, it was 410."
"But the gap between us isn't due to your training intensity; it's because your body hasn't undergone divine power enhancement."
Chu Ran was surprised to hear that.
Edwood sighed. She was truly a pure novice. But thinking of the Spiritist Association's empty accounts and his black eye, he patiently explained, "The residual divine power when invoking a god strengthens a Spiritist's body. Increased strength is fundamental. The rest varies depending on the god—for example, Lei Jianguo's body has high resistance to lightning."
"As for you..." Edwood recalled how Chu Ran looked when she invoked her god and fell silent. He couldn't figure out what attribute this god favored. The god could split into clones, emit golden light, and teleport—it seemed exceptionally versatile.
Chu Ran naturally knew the god she invoked was Sun Wukong, the most legendary and beloved fighting sage in Chinese mythology.
But what attribute did Sun Wukong favor?
Agility?
Edwood seemed to think of that too. "Maybe your body will become more agile. But it doesn't matter. It'll be a long time before your body completes divine power enhancement. The researchers will summarize it for you."
"I remember you've made basic creations before," Edwood suddenly said. "I suggest you minor in creation at the Third Training Institute. Creations you make yourself can better match your god's attributes and be more powerful when used."
Chu Ran agreed.
"Now trigger divine power and hit the testing device again. If your current spiritual power can't trigger it, don't force it."
Chu Ran poured all her spiritual power into the black rod, but it seemed insufficient.
Thinking back to the circumstances when she previously triggered divine power, Chu Ran recalled Chu Zhenzhen's last words: "At least she was raised to eighteen."
She had heard that sentence hundreds of times before.
So I had to choose to die?
A trace of unwillingness stirred the faint power in Chu Ran's heart. Instantly, golden light flickered on the black rod. Chu Ran spun and slammed the rod into the testing device.
Bang! A loud noise erupted.
Edwood teleported to the device to inspect it and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no cracks.
They couldn't afford any waste of funds now.
The testing device projected a segmented bar again, this time blue, gradually rising from the bottom.
40, 50... 230, 240... This time the blue reached 400.
Edwood was silent.
Chu Ran waited for a moment, but when he didn't speak, she asked, "What level is this?"
Edwood's dark eyes stared at the blue bar that had reached 400. His voice was unusually solemn. "SSS-level god's power, or..."
"Son of God."