Chapter 68 – Being the World's Strongest Minor Character

Dormitory Building, Fourth Floor.

In Room 404, darkness had long since fallen.

When Su Ming returned, the place was utterly silent. Steady breathing sounds from various rooms told him all his teammates had already fallen asleep.

“Good.”

Su Ming breathed a slight sigh of relief.

No one had noticed his absence, which was naturally a good thing.

At the very least, he didn’t want anyone here to know about tonight’s events.

So Su Ming deliberately slowed his footsteps, returned to his room, washed up, completely relaxed himself, and only then lay down on the bed.

He closed his eyes, wanting to sleep, but found himself unable to fall asleep no matter what.

Recalling tonight’s events, remembering the scene of that ferocious Fiend swinging its massive fist toward him, Su Ming ultimately opened his eyes and sat up.

At this moment, only one thought remained in Su Ming’s mind.

“I’m still not strong enough.”

This was the conclusion he’d drawn from his chaotic thoughts.

“If I were strong enough, tonight wouldn’t have been so full of unexpected twists.”

“If I were strong enough, I could have easily handled those Sin mercenaries.”

“If I were strong enough, even if my opponent could undergo Demonization, I could have dealt with them effortlessly.”

“If I were strong enough, that Young Miss wouldn’t have needed to risk her life to protect me.”

It could be said that tonight’s events had tempered Su Ming’s slightly inflated mindset from his recent power surge.

Originally, after opening 147 packages and seeing his Spirit Power skyrocket over tenfold, Su Ming had indeed felt somewhat carried away.

He believed that with his current strength, he could secure a place for himself even in professional circles, let alone at the Demon Hunter Academy, where he would undoubtedly be uncontested.

And this was indeed the case.

Both Xu Qianqian and Yi Junchuan assessed that Su Ming now possessed strength equivalent to a Three-Star Sorcerer. If considering only the quantity of Spirit Power, even Upper-Rank Professionals of Four Stars and above might not be able to match him.

A Three-Star Sorcerer was already among the elite of lower-rank Professionals, and at the Demon Hunter Academy, they could be considered truly unmatched.

With such strength, it was understandable that Su Ming would feel somewhat carried away.

However…

“Three Stars—that’s still ultimately a lower-rank Professional, just the tallest among short people.”

Professionals of this star rank might be unmatched within the Academy, but placed within the entire professional sphere or the whole human race, they remained weak.

To become truly strong, one needed to be at least a Four-Star Upper-Rank Professional.

Lower rank?

In the Spirit Demon Abyss, they were just small fry.

“I can’t afford to slow my pace of getting stronger.”

Su Ming had to consider this.

He was indeed lying low, indeed developing discreetly, but he wasn’t doing it just to survive—he was doing it to buy time for his development.

Was discreet development not still development?

Did being an extra mean just collecting a boxed meal and calling it a day?

No! Of course not!

He, Su Ming, wanted to be an extra for one goal.

“Lie low until I’m invincible, then emerge.”

He had ambition.

He wasn’t content with obscurity.

His goal was nothing less than world domination—how could he possibly want to keep lying low forever, remaining just an extra?”Even if I’m going to be a supporting character, I want to be the world’s strongest supporting character.”

With this thought, Su Ming began to ponder.

He was thinking about how he could rapidly improve his strength next.

“Continuing to accumulate resources and constantly opening packages—this plan absolutely cannot change.”

The various extraordinary items in the packages were Su Ming’s greatest reliance in this life, among which were things that could elevate someone to the heavens in one step. Therefore, the packages absolutely must not stop; he had to keep opening them.

“But opening packages is still about accumulation. Without knowing when I might get something that helps me the most, there aren’t many ways for me to quickly improve my strength.”

For example, Awakening.

“Hunters, by training themselves to the extreme and increasing their bloodline concentration, may awaken Demonization. By transforming into a Fiend, their power increases dramatically.”

“Sorcerers can also awaken Vision Marks, greatly enhancing their Spirit Power, which causes the power of their Spirit Arts to multiply exponentially.”

Su Ming was lost in thought.

“Can I try to awaken Vision Marks now?”

But the awakening of a Sorcerer’s Vision Marks was also a very mysterious matter.

Hunters could desperately train themselves, hone their Physique, and refine their Bloodline to approach the Realm of Awakening.

But what about Sorcerers?

“According to records, for Sorcerers to awaken Vision Marks, they first need to continuously accumulate Spirit Power, and second, they need spiritual guidance.”

“As long as Spirit Power accumulates to a sufficient level, it’s possible that one moment of sudden enlightenment will allow a Sorcerer to awaken Vision Marks.”

“This method is no different from the Epiphany described in novels.”

With such a mysterious way of awakening, Su Ming truly didn’t know where to start.

His Spirit Power had already accumulated to a very sufficient level, and because of this, he felt he had encountered an elusive barrier, and there had been some changes in his Physique as well.

Su Ming estimated that this might be a sign that he was touching the edge of Awakening.

But what to do next, Su Ming was completely at a loss.

In light of this…

“Awakening is probably something that can’t be rushed.”

So, if Su Ming wanted to quickly improve his strength, there was only one effective method he could think of.

Su Ming then took out a bottle of blood from his backpack.

It was unmistakably the blood of a Nightmare Species Phantom Demon.

“Obtaining the Bloodline of a Nightmare Species and becoming a Professional who practices both Hunter and Sorcerer paths—this plan must be moved up.”

Originally, Su Ming had planned to wait and find an opportunity to do this later.

But there was no other way. To obtain the Bloodline of a Nightmare Species, he first needed to find an Alchemist to refine this Phantom Demon blood into a Phantom Demon Potion for him.

Alchemists are a branch of Sorcerers.

They might not be like ordinary Sorcerers, proficient in various Spirit Arts and able to go to the battlefield to subdue Phantom Demons, but they can use their Spirit Power and spiritual guidance to refine various extraordinary items.

Among Alchemists, some specialize in refining alchemical potions, some in crafting alchemical tools, and some can even forge alchemical weapons, providing various forms of assistance and enhancement for Hunters and Sorcerers.

Especially alchemical weapons, which are highly sought after by Professionals.Alchemical weapons typically possess extremely powerful performance and capabilities. Even when wielded by a one-star Professional, they can greatly amplify and enhance combat power, sometimes even enabling one to defeat powerful opponents across star ranks. They are truly weapons dreamed of by all Professionals.

Especially for Hunters, their need for alchemical weapons far exceeds that of Sorcerers.

This is because Hunters lack the ability to easily kill Phantom Demons. Against the Phantom Demons’ unfair regenerative abilities, even the strongest Hunter can be held back by the weakest Phantom Demon, which is undoubtedly a frustrating situation for powerful Hunters.

However, with alchemical weapons, things become different.

Since alchemical weapons are forged by Alchemists using various special materials combined with Spirit and Spirit Power, they significantly hinder the regenerative abilities of Phantom Demons when used to inflict damage, allowing Hunters to quickly eliminate their opponents.

The damage caused by some top-tier alchemical weapons to Phantom Demons even surpasses that of high-sequence Spirit Arts.

Therefore, Hunters’ pursuit of alchemical weapons is endless, and their quest for powerful alchemical weapons is almost comparable to their pursuit of strength—it could even be described as obsessive.

Unfortunately, the forging of alchemical weapons is extremely difficult, resulting in their scarcity. Otherwise, ordinary humans wouldn’t appear so helpless when facing Phantom Demons.

If one day alchemical weapons could be popularized and made available to ordinary humans, even the weakest child might potentially gain the ability to hunt Phantom Demons.

Under such circumstances, coupled with the emergence of various alchemical potions and items with miraculous effects, the status of Alchemists—who can forge these Extraordinary Items—surpasses that of ordinary Professionals.

Even high-ranking Professionals must treat truly skilled Alchemists with respect and dare not easily offend them.

After all, one never knows when they might need such an expert to brew a life-saving potion, forge a sufficiently powerful weapon, or create an item to help them overcome difficult challenges.

However, becoming an Alchemist is no easy task.

First, one must be a Sorcerer.

Without Awakening a Spirit Constitution and possessing Spirit and Spirit Power, it is impossible to forge alchemical items with extraordinary effects.

This single requirement eliminates over 99% of the world’s population.

Those who can Awaken a Spirit Constitution are already few in number. Within the Professional community, the ratio of Hunters to Sorcerers is approximately 7:3, with the former far outnumbering the latter.

Taking the Demon Hunter Academy as an example, while the Academy has several thousand students in total, only about seven to eight hundred belong to the Sorcerer Department—less than half the number in the Hunter Department, which has over twice as many students.

Across the entire Professional community, within Longyao City’s population of over 60 million, there are only a few hundred thousand Professionals. Among them, Sorcerers likely number only in the tens of thousands, illustrating just how rare it is to Awaken a Spirit Constitution.

Such individuals are rare talents, appearing in only about one in several thousand people.

Under these conditions, among such a scarce pool of talent, those who can become Alchemists are a minority within a minority.”To become an Alchemist, one must not only possess extensive knowledge and an outstanding intellect, but also continuously hone their skills and craftsmanship through tedious and monotonous refining work. This is not something that can be achieved casually.”

When concocting potions, formulas are naturally required, along with constant calculations and attention to the proportions and quantities of various materials.

When crafting tools, the combination and compatibility of different materials need to be designed and calculated.

As for forging weapons, it goes without saying—blueprints, technical expertise, craftsmanship, and even factors like heat control must all be considered.

This kind of work is far more challenging than simply using Spirit Art through Spell Formulas, which relies on intuition to communicate with the world in a somewhat mystical way.

If Sorcerers can be compared to reckless brutes with keen senses, then Alchemists are high-quality academic elites.

Naturally, the difficulty of finding a few elites among a group of brutes is self-evident.

Thus, when it came to finding an Alchemist capable of refining the Phantom Demon Potion for his Nightmare Species, Su Ming only needed to think for a moment to realize how challenging it would be.

For this reason, Su Ming had no intention of immediately launching his plan to refine the Phantom Demon Potion.

But now…

“I have no choice but to start.”

Su Ming pulled out his phone, stared at a number on the screen, and fell into hesitation.

If possible, he really didn’t want to dial this number.

“Whatever, if I die, I die.”

Gritting his teeth, Su Ming resolutely pressed the call button.

“Beep—beep—”

Amid the busy tone, his heartbeat quickened.

Until…

“Hello!”

An exceptionally pleasant voice rang out from the other end of the line.

(End of Chapter)