Chapter 46: Talent Promotion
[You chose the Talent Star-Up Stone.]
[The Bureau Director looks over your relevant records with a calm gaze.]
[Oh?]
[A professional of the Black Iron talent tier?]
[With a poor background as well?]
[Under such circumstances, you actually managed to form a combat corps?]
[You established the Red Heart Society, the Red Heart Combat Corps, and the Red Heart Chamber of Commerce, monopolizing all transcendental resources from two universities to sustain yourselves.]
[By criticizing other forms of exploitation, you internalized the exploitation of your own subordinates, quietly completing the subjugation of the forces under your command.]
[It seems you are an exceptionally clever figure.]
[Yet at this stage, using the merits earned by your combat corps to exchange for a precious item that elevates your own talent is somewhat foolish; however, this also reveals your bitter resentment toward your Black Iron talent.]
[Putting oneself in another's shoes, if he were in your position, he would make the exact same choice.]
[From this perspective, your claims of being ready to die for the Federation, offering your life, and leaving your corpse wrapped in horsehide are absolute bullshit.]
[You are just hoisting a banner to fool people!]
[He knew it: anyone who could crawl from the very bottom to the position of a combat corps commander must be a hypocritical person whose mouth is full of benevolence and righteousness.]
[No matter, communicating with such a person is actually quite convenient; there is no need to deal with the stubborn and idiotic personality of some heroic figure.]
[Thus, the Bureau approached you, hoping you would guide public opinion on the combat corps communication channels.]
[You looked at the Director, asking if this meant they wanted you to act as a paid shill.]
[The Bureau Director's mouth twitched slightly. While that was indeed the nature of the matter, could you perhaps not phrase it so bluntly?]
[You paid no mind to the Director's thoughts, directly reaching out your hand to lay out the fee for being a shill in broad daylight.]
[After all, you couldn't possibly do this kind of work for free, could you?]
[Meanwhile, looking at your unappreciative demeanor, the Bureau Director maintained an impassive expression on the outside while feeling extremely irritated on the inside.]
[For him to seek you out and ask for your help was already giving you face.]
[Other combat corps higher-ups would kill for the opportunity to help him work, yet they had no chance!]
[If you didn't satisfy him, how could he let you progress?]
[The power to decide dozens of policies—such as combat corps rating evaluations, funding allocations, and subsidies—was entirely in his hands.]
[A fellow who understood nothing of human worldly sophistication would undoubtedly be swept into the dustbin of history once the Federation's wars concluded.]
[It seems that you and the Red Heart Corps under your command are still in need of some tempering!]
---
[To this, you remained indifferent.]
[Wanting you to do all the work for nothing, expecting a free ride, and putting on the arrogant dog-show posture of "serving me is your honor, and assigning you tasks is my way of promoting, tempering, and assessing you"—whoever wants to do it can go ahead!]
[The Red Heart Corps was already struggling to hold the line at the Ningcheng Demon Cave; you had no time for such nonsense here.]
[However, observing the Director's gloomy expression, you could tell he despised you to the core.]
[Therefore, before leaving the Federation Center, you acted as an instigator on the Federation communication channels, steering the situation toward an uncontrollable escalation of conflict.]
[That very night, twelve combat corps rioted, charging directly into the Bureau to smash, loot, and slaughter.]
[By that time, you had already taken the teleportation array back to Ningcheng.]
[Although amidst the chaos of burning, killing, and looting, there was a high probability of reaping benefits from the Bureau's logistics department, such actions were best left to high-tier professionals.]
[Your current professional tier was simply too low, making such an endeavor far too dangerous. In matters where survival was a nine-to-one bet, it was always best to steer clear.]
[In September of the 133rd Year of the Transcendental Era, you advanced to Level 26.]
[Simultaneously, you refined the Talent Star-Up Stone and upgraded your talent.]
[Talent: Loyalty -> The Loyal.]
[Tier: Black Iron -> Bronze.]
[Ability: When others offer their loyalty to you, they become loyal subjects under your command. Within a radius of ten thousand meters, they can hear your teachings directly in their hearts, and you can perceive their current state of loyalty through spiritual awareness.]
[You looked at your brand-new talent, your eyes flickering.]
[Following the talent upgrade, the range of telepathic transmission had expanded tenfold.]
[In the past, the ability to listen to guidance served merely to verify whether someone was loyal or not.]
[Yet now, with the coverage area multiplied tenfold, you would be able to directly command the combat corps under your banner right on the battlefield.]
[Of course, as the Red Heart Corps grew in the future, the battlefield coverage would inevitably expand further, perhaps even encompassing battle lines hundreds or thousands of kilometers long.]
[But that matters not; with the Talent Star-Up Stone in your possession, further enhancements would be possible in the future!]
[Furthermore, the ability to perceive loyalty was quickly put into practical application by your hand.]
[You discovered that the lowest-ranking combat corps members held the most fanatical loyalty toward you.]
[The higher-ups of the corps, having been meticulously handpicked by you, were likewise fiercely and fanatically loyal.]
[Only among the frontline squad leaders and platoon commanders did a slight issue arise.]
[It wasn't that they lacked loyalty—after all, within the Red Heart Corps you founded, anyone who failed to offer their loyalty had no chance of joining in the first place.]
[It was simply that compared to the fanatical devotion of the rank-and-file soldiers, their loyalty appeared somewhat lukewarm.]
[If you could have fanatical loyalists serve in management and lead other professionals into battle, why bother letting ordinary, moderately loyal professionals hold those posts?]
---
[As for the original squad leaders and platoon commanders?]
[With the Red Heart Corps boasting numerous personnel nowadays, there were still plenty of other suitable positions for them.]
[Thus, with a single command, you stripped those squad leaders and platoon commanders who had failed to reach the state of fanaticism of their posts.]
[Perhaps in other organizations, such a massive blood transfusion would require days of haggling and dispute.]
[Yet within the Red Heart Corps, it was merely a single order from you.]
[To call the Red Heart Corps a dictatorship would actually be understating the absolute nature of your rule.]
[After carrying out this blood transfusion for the Red Heart Corps, you found that the corps' combat effectiveness had experienced a noticeable increase.]
[Though the margin was not massive, on the battlefield, even the slightest enhancement in combat power was profoundly precious.]
[In October of the 133rd Year of the Transcendental Era, a Level 40 mental-type lord emerged from the Ningcheng Demon Cave: the Chaos Flower Demon.]
[Under the command and orchestration of the Chaos Flower Demon, the demon tide—which had previously been as scattered as loose sand—transformed into an iron fortress, with the highest-defense abyss monsters positioned at the outermost perimeter to withstand the bombardment of magic crystal cannons.]
[When the Red Heart Corps prepared to execute their customary decapitation strike, the assassination division reported that this mental-type lord was heavily guarded by a dozen Level 40-plus elite monsters.]
[Even if the Red Heart Corps attempted to detonate psionic bombs via suicide attacks, these guardian monsters would instantly transform into defensive shields, tightly sealing the lord within their protective sphere.]
[Forget about harming the target; not even the shockwaves of the psionic bombs could reach them.]
[Most importantly, the stockpile of psionic bombs stored by the Red Heart Corps was nearing exhaustion and could not be squandered carelessly.]
[For a time, the defense line at Ningcheng teetered on the brink of collapse.]
[In November of the 133rd Year of the Transcendental Era, ten stealth-capable Level 35 abyss monsters seized a moment when a breach appeared in the defense line and covertly infiltrated Ningcheng.]
[These ten abyss monsters managed to suppress their instinctive desire to slaughter professionals, disguising themselves as ordinary civilians to lie low.]
[When the next wave of the demon tide erupted, these ten abyss monsters suddenly struck right in front of the teleportation array.]
[Although the Red Heart Corps ultimately annihilated the ten monsters, the teleportation array had already been destroyed.]
[You could no longer leave Ningcheng via the teleportation array.]
[Once fermented, this news plunged many warriors of the Red Heart Corps into a state of bleak despair.]
[Acutely sensing this atmosphere, you knew that in such a situation, what mattered most was the fighting spirit of the soldiers.]
[Therefore, taking advantage of a lull when the demon tide receded, you held a morale-boosting military parade in the cultural square not far from the Ningcheng defense line.]