Chapter 265 Reputation and Money

“Reputation? Publish books?”

“That’s right, reputation. Xingjian, although you’re the Regional Champion and a genius who has solved all seven levels of the Pantheon Monument’s mysteries, your reputation is still merely that of a talent and a student.

“Therefore, they’ll be willing to sign up to receive your guidance.

“But if it’s only your summary, and for them to practice according to your methods… it would probably be much worse. You might as well publish a book which talks about your journey to becoming the Regional Champion, your biography, and what you’ve learned from your cultivation. There’ll definitely be a lot of people who would buy it.”

Ferdinand smiled, “By the way, Xingjian, do you want to become an authority in sword arts? To research sword arts?”

“Authority in sword arts?” Fang Xingjian started to think about how pleasing it sounded, but his gaze reflected a total confidence. Putting aside his sword arts mastery, just with his Sword Specialist specialty, his Unparalleled Sword Intent specialty, and the Heavenly Sword Imprint specialty, the maximum level of his sword techniques had been further increased by ten levels.

Moreover, in the first place, he had the world’s best sword arts talent and had cultivated over one hundred sets of sword techniques. Even a level 29 Conferred Knight would not be able to proclaim to be an authority in sword arts before Fang Xingjian.

However, Ferdinand stared into Fang Xingjian’s eyes, and when he discovered the confidence in Fang Xingjian’s eyes, he smiled. “Only when you’ve become an authority in the area of sword arts, when no one else will retort your words in the area of sword arts and when everything you say is taken as the absolute truth… Forget about conducting cla.s.ses, you’ll be able to sell any books at sky high prices.

“You would be just like Hoppes from your Regional Academy. He’s the authority in sword arts in the Great Western Region. Any simple words he says will be studied in detail by countless swordsmen. The sword techniques he created… Just by authorizing other academies to use them, it would bring him a huge sum of money every year.

“In the whole Great Western City, people who want to become his disciple can form a line from the east gate all the way to the west gate.”

‘Hoppes?’ Fang Xingjian thought to himself. Was that not the old man who taught him the Ninety Thousand G.o.dly Demon Flash? He had not expected the old man’s reputation to be so great.

Ferdinand continued, “Of course, Xingjian, although your talent is unrivalled, it’s not easy to become an authority in sword arts. We’ll still need to take it step by step, slowly maintaining and building up your reputation.

“If you want to research sword arts, based on the current trends in the study of martial arts, the most popular and advanced area is the research of specific martial techniques. Regardless if it’s finding out a new synthesis combination or creating a set of new martial arts, it’ll be able to build up your reputation.”

The idea of finding out a new synthesis combination referred to testing out a synthesis combination which had not appeared in history nor recorded in the Regional Academy. Of course, the prerequisite was that the new synthesis had to be powerful enough. Otherwise, even if the synthesis was successful, not many people would give it much attention.

However, such things depended too much on luck, and there were tens of thousands of skill varieties. It was tougher than scaling the heavens to be able to find an effective and powerful synthesis combination.

Usually, only those level 29 top notch experts would be able to come up with a conjecture of the results based on the traits of two skills. Moreover, they had an ether synchronization rate of 100%, and their efficiency would be raised by a lot, allowing them to explore new skills continuously.

Despite this, for strong experts who needed to train a technique for half a year, or sometimes even for one to two years, time was still not enough.

This was even though they were already much faster in comparison to ordinary people, who would need to take ten or even over ten years to be able to bring a technique to the maximum level.

As for creating new skills, the difficulty was even higher. It required one to have a deep understanding toward the human body and the ether particles. The person must not only be able to display the techniques but also be able to understand the deeper principles behind them.

While Fang Xingjian might be able to create a few sets of Nurturing and Training techniques easily, it was of no use. Too many Nurturing and Training techniques were repet.i.tive. Clearly, what people needed the most were new and powerful Killing techniques.

However, Fang Xingjian stroked his chin and gave it some thought. Although his Rebirth Sword Technique was also a Nurturing technique, it was from a combination of one hundred sets of sword techniques. He did not believe that there would be anyone in this world who had synthesized so many Nurturing sword techniques before.

While it was impossible for him to share the synthesis combination for the Rebirth Sword Technique, if he were to come up with a detailed cultivating method and report it as a self-created technique, it would build up his reputation by a lot. It was because the Rebirth Sword Technique’s efficiency was definitely greater than any Nurturing sword technique in Miracle World.

He went into deep thought for a while before asking suddenly, “Right, you mentioned earlier that after Hoppes created his own techniques, he authorized it to other academies?”

“That’s right. He created new sword techniques and had no reason to give it to other people for free. Neither did anyone dare to blatantly spread around a Conferred Knight’s sword technique. However, Regional Academies, Prefectural Academies, or even the National Academy can purchase the rights from him.

“As long as they pay him the royalties, they will be able to teach the sword techniques he created in their academies. The royalties will have to continue to be paid until the person who invented it dies.

“Hehe, do you know that the Radiant Light Sword Technique you practiced was created by Hoppes?”

“The Radiant Light Sword Technique?” Fang Xingjian blinked before continuing to ask Ferdinand, “How much in royalties did the Kirst Academy have to pay Hoppes each year for the Radiant Light Sword Technique?”

Ferdinand gave it some thought and said, “I think our academy paid an annual fee of two hundred gold, with no limits to the number of people who can have access to it.”

‘Two hundred gold yearly?’ Fang Xingjian thought secretly to himself.

There were a total of twelve academies in the Great Western Region, and if they were all to purchase the rights to the Radiant Light Sword Technique, it would amount to 2,400 gold per year. Additionally, with there being eight regions in the Empire, with just the Radiant Light Sword Technique, Hoppes would have an income of over 15,000 gold each year.

This was still because the Radiant Light Sword Technique was not powerful enough. Fang Xingjian believed that the royalties for the more powerful sword techniques would definitely be higher.

This was the first time Fang Xingjian had known about such things. He looked at Ferdinand and asked, “Who is in charge of handling the issues with the royalties?”

“Of course, it’s the Empire and the Knight a.s.sociation. 10% of the royalties must be paid to them.” Ferdinand looked at Fang Xingjian and asked, “Xingjian, are you thinking of creating your own sword technique?”

Fang Xingjian shook his head and answered, “I’m not thinking of it. I’ve already created a sword technique—a Nurturing sword technique.”

Ferdinand, who had become extremely excited, immediately appeared disappointed upon hearing that it was a Nurturing sword technique. It was too easy for the effects of Nurturing techniques to clash with another, and there was not much room for creativity. Usually, the ones available in academies were free, and the people, who created them, had all died. Who would be willing to pay for such things when there were plenty of similar versions of them around?

“Nurturing technique…” Ferdinand shook his head and said, “Nurturing techniques would probably be hard to sell out. There aren’t many academies who’d be willing to purchase new Nurturing techniques.

“If only it’s a Killing technique… That way, even if it’s not that powerful, it can be sold with a pricetag and can also build up your reputation.”

However, Fang Xingjian smiled and said, “My Nurturing technique is quite good. Oh, right. Where can I register my newly created technique?” What a joke. A level 30 Rebirth Sword Technique would be able to provide one with a total of 20,000 potential points daily. This was, after all, a super Nurturing technique which combined over a hundred Nurturing techniques.

Even if a level 10 Rebirth Sword Technique would only be able to provide a few thousand points, that would already be ten times or a hundred times more than what ordinary Nurturing techniques could provide.

He had also wanted to invent his own Killing technique, but the synthesis of the Supreme Mistwind Sword and Radiant Light Sword Technique was too simple. There would definitely have been people who had already discovered it.

In fact, when Fang Xingjian went to the library to check it out, his guess had been proven to be right. The synthesis combination of his Luminous Heaven Soaring Slash had long been discovered by someone else.

Ferdinand gave it some thought and said, “Actually, there’s one in your Regional Academy. This is something huge. You’re better off looking for a teacher in the Sword Arts Department to help you with the registration. It’s a place with greater authority as compared to some other places.”

However, Ferdinand did not hold much hope for Fang Xingjian’s nurturing sword technique. He was still hoping that Fang Xingjian could write a book about his cultivation experience or write a biography. Taking in the fact that the Regional Selection had just ended, it would definitely sell well.

Therefore, he said, “Then are you still going to write the book?”

“I will. But I’ll just come up with the outline. Help me get someone to go through the rest for me.” Fang Xingjian had already decided that after he returned, he would start summarizing the cultivation method for the Rebirth Sword Technique. After that, he would look for a teacher to help register the technique and see if it could be sold to other academies for royalties.

Fang Xingjian was still very confident with his Rebirth Sword Technique.