Chapter 81: Cooperation

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Mixed Breathless did not know how to reply to that comment. He raised the shield in his hand and said solemnly, “Promise me that you will first get out of the fight once there are any signs of danger! Just leave, don’t care about me! I will team up with you only if you agree to this.”

Lin Jie took a glance at his shield. In terms of appearance, it was almost similar to the Wolf’s Teeth Shield he got from killing the Wolf King. However, the Gold Wolf’s Teeth Shield gave off more a more austere vibe, and the gem in the middle of the shield shone brighter.

In Lin Jie’s previous life, he did not know much about Mixed Breathless as both of them had never crossed paths. His knowledge of Mixed Breathless’ character was solely based on what he heard from others. However, considering the exchange between them up till this moment, he felt that this chap couldn’t be a rotten egg.

“Since now we are considered teammates,” Lin Jie took out the Wolf’s Teeth Shield and gave it to Mixed Breathless, saying, “use this shield then.”

When Mixed Breathless took the shield, his pupils constricted—it was a Gold grade shield!

The price of shields was extremely high. No matter if a shield was a one-handed round shield or a heavy two-handed shield, its price would be several times higher than other equipment of the same grade. The shield which he held in his hands now had high Defense, high Grit, high Resistance, and could even deal out great damage to beasts—it would definitely cost a bomb! One could sell it at the price of at least 1 gold coin or more!

What did 1 gold coin mean? It was the entire sum of money his whole team had now!

He compared it with his Silver shield and felt like throwing it away.

[Wolf’s Teeth Shield] (Silver)

Can be used by Warriors and Paladins.

Requires: Level 10, Endurance: 40.

Defense: 40-65

Strength: +3

Endurance: +5

Grit: +2

Block: +3%

Parry: +3%

Additional effect: It will permanently reduce attacks by beast-type creatures by five points.

Weight: 12 pounds

“I will return this to you after killing the Boss,” he said solemnly.

Lin Jie laughed. “If you need it, I can sell it to you.”

Mixed Breathless took a deep breath and creased his forehead. To any ambitious Shield Specialist, the attraction of a powerful shield was no less than the attraction of a beautiful girl to a guy! He asked tentatively, “How much will you sell it for?”

“1 gold coin.” Lin Jie stated the price. It was exactly what Mixed Breathless had predicted, but just a bit cheaper.

If the Gold shield was really put up for auction at the Auction House, it would definitely be sold for more than 1 gold coin. If competition for it was fierce, it might even be sold at the price of 2 gold coins.

This was literally an item that could not be bought even if it was available.

“I can’t afford it now,” Mixed Breathless shook his head.

Lin Jie thought about it and said, “I can give you the shield, but my team lacks a strong Shield Specialist…”

“I won’t leave my team,” said Mixed Breathless in a serious tone. He thought that Lin Jie was trying to poach him.

“I know, I just hope that you can come and help me if you have time when I explore a dungeon.” Lin Jie shrugged.

All players in their right minds would jump at this opportunity—just imagine, a verbal promise in exchange for a Gold grade shield! During the beginning stages of the game, a Gold shield was almost as useful as a human tank! Yet this rigid guy here actually thought over it for a long time before he agreed, “Okay then, but I will give you 50 silver coins to make up for its value… I don’t have enough now though, I will pay you when I return to the city.”

One would need to fulfill a lot of conditions to kill off the Wolf Queen successfully. For instance, one had to be on a specific type of terrain to do so. Even if a team had 40 players, all of them could be killed by the large number of Shadow Wolves summoned if the battle took place on flat grounds.

This cave was definitely the most suitable location for killing the Wolf Queen.

Unlike Wolf King Cree’s high stats, the Wolf Queen had mediocre stats. However, as a queen, it had summoning skills that covered the entire canyon.

In Lin Jie’s previous life, it was common knowledge that if one wanted to kill the Wolf Queen, he would need to organize a team to clear the area of all other Shadow Wolves one day in advance.

In the cave, only up to three monsters could be allowed in at any one time.

Mixed Breathless held the Gold shield and seemed even stronger as a person when using it. After all, the stronger the Defense capabilities of a Shield Specialist, the more steady would he appear.

Bang!

Lin Jie blew at the gun muzzle which was smoking slightly after firing a shot.

The sound of the gunshot rang out from the cave. The Wolf Queen, which was hunting for food in the periphery, and at the same time trying to mate with several male Shadow Wolves, bared its teeth. With a loud howl, a dozen Shadow Wolves followed the Wolf Queen and rushed to the cave.

Forward Charge!

Mixed Breathless held the shield in front of his body. He seemed to merge with the shield altogether, and like a piece of sharp metal, he charged at the Wolf Queen! After a dull colliding sound, the Wolf Queen was sent flying into the mid-air!

Claw Attack!

The Wolf Queen clawed at the shield with its sharp paws, but there were no traces of any damages.

-8!

-9!

Mixed Breathless was shocked. The damage caused by the Wolf Queen had actually dropped to this point! It was evident how invaluable a powerful shield was to a Shield Specialist!

Shield Strike!

Heavy Shield Dive!

Shield Attack!

Mixed Breathless carried the shield around as if it was a feather, even though it was about one full-grown man’s height. The feeling he gained from using this shield to attack was utterly satisfying. The shield bumped against the soft belly of the Wolf Queen and slammed it into the cave’s wall. When it slid down with much difficulty, the shield slammed down on its head again!

Elated, Mixed Breathless exclaimed to himself secretly, ‘Yes! This is what a Shield Specialist should exactly be like! A properly equipped Shield Specialist should be able to take on thousands of monsters just by himself!’

However, the output of a Shield Specialist was still far too low. Even though the Wolf Queen was being trampled on, its health points had just dropped by 500 points.

After having his fill of attacking the Wolf Queen, Mixed Breathless turned and shouted, “Aggro is steady now. Attack!”

Lin Jie pulled out Broken Blade from behind his back; its blade was hot red from the burning flames. After a loud ‘weng’ sound, flames burst out from the crack on Broken Blade!

Hunter’s Forward Charge!

In the blink of an eye, Lin Jie had already rushed in front of the Wolf Queen. The Withered Leaf Sword stabbed into the Wolf Queen’s jaws and flung it up into the air. The fiery Broken Blade then slit it from top to bottom. Its stinky fur sizzled, and the blade made a hole in its heart accurately, avoiding the rest of the messy internal organs.

Weakness Exploit!

-285!

The increase in damage caused by Weakness Exploit was evident, and the Wolf Queen backed off in pain.

Outraged Roar!

Lin Jie pierced both of his swords into the same parts again!

Blood flowed out of Wolf Queen’s wounds, and 30 plus damage points floated on the top of its head.

Bang!

After the Wolf Queen was flung away by Broken Blade, Lin Jie activated Wild Charge and stunned it in mid-air, and Broken Blade stabbed through its heart again! If his health points were less than 10% at this time, he might even be able to deal out a combo of four attacks.

After the Wolf Queen regained consciousness again, its body trembled a little. Lin Jie’s fifth thrust of his sword deviated from its aim and did not stab the critical weakness point. The Wolf Queen’s bleeding stopped.

It was a hundred times more difficult to deal out combo attacks against living creatures.

Mixed Breathless lured away the Wolf Queen’s aggro. Now, the attacks by the Wolf Queen and the other two Shadow Wolves were just like tickles to him. Power Storage values kept appearing on the top of Mixed Breathless’ head. This was one of the few active attack skills that Shield Specialists possessed: Power Storage.

Power Storage: Every time you are attacked, you will add on a Power Storage value. When your Power Storage values reach 50, you can release all the power. Each Power Storage value allows you to deal out 1 Damage to your target and will be capped off at 200 Damage points. Once out of Battle mode, your Power Storage values will be emptied.

Although growth potential for the Power Storage skill was only 0.5 and it could only be considered a moderate skill, it was still very important for Shield Specialists.

With Mixed Breathless focusing on fending off the other monsters, Lin Jie started his usual strategy of attacking from clever positions. He attacked the Wolf Queen’s waist and abdomen, as it could give him additional weak point damage. Lin Jie’s output was very high, and the Wolf Queen’s health bar dropped very fast.

“Awo——”

When the Wolf Queen’s health bar fell below 500 points, it howled madly. The next instant, the entire canyon’s Shadow Wolves, rushed over. The Wolf Queen ran slyly to the depths of the cave.

Lin Jie caught sight of this move, and he activated Wild Charge at a Shadow Wolf which was positioned at the entrance of the cave. He reached the cave’s entrance in the next instant. Thereafter, he changed direction, activating Wild Charge, and rushed back into the cave. At the same time, he activated Forward Charge, slashing Broken Blade against the Wolf Queen’s lower abdomen. It flew into the cave like a broken kite.

-416! (Critical Hit)

Mixed Breathless leaped into the air, aimed his shield at the Wolf Queen and enlarged it, then slammed it down on the Wolf Queen!

Power Storage!

-135!

The Wolf Queen howled and fell down to the ground.

“Block the cave’s entrance!” Lin Jie shouted. Broken Blade and Withered Leaf Sword were kept behind his back, while the Shield of Courage was enlarged to the height of a grown man, blocking off the claws of the Shadow Wolves.

Mixed Breathless surrounded Lin Jie with the Intervene spell and pulled him behind for cover, while the shield he held in front of him exuded an austere gleam. This scene depicted the famous Chinese saying, ‘A single soldier is enough to fend off ten thousands of enemies 1 !’

Ten minutes later, the pack of Shadow Wolves gradually backed off after losing the commands by the Wolf Queen.

Lin Jie took a look at the EXP he gained. It was much less than the EXP gained from killing the Wolf King Cree. After all, the difference in both monsters’ stats was very great. However, with the EXP Gem, his EXP bar still managed to increase by 8%.

The Wolf Queen only spawned two items: an Enchanted Scroll, and a recipe.

[Shield Life Value Enchanted Scroll]: Can be used with shields of Silver grades and above. It will add 80 health points to the shield with a success rate of 70%.

[Engineering Precision Aim Formula]: You can make an Engineering Precision Aim Apparatus with this formula.

Lin Jie took a look at Engineering Precision Aim Apparatus’s attributes.

[Engineering Precision Aim Apparatus] (Additional Props): It can be used on Fire Guns, Crossbows, and Longbows to increase the accuracy of your long-ranged hits by 20 points. It increases Armor Penetration by 5 points.

“You can take the Enchanted Scroll, I will take the recipe.” Lin Jie picked up the spawned items.

The Wolf Queen did not drop coins as it was a beast-type monster, but it dropped two pieces of clean White Wolf Skin which could be sold at stores. These skins would not have any augmenting value, but one could exchange them for 3 silver coins with those of the Noble statuses.

Mixed Breathless shook his head. “You can take them all.”

Lin Jie accepted the gifts then, knowing that such was Mixed Breathless’ temper. He intended to give the Shield Life Value Enchanted Scroll to Water. If he found a good shield and used this scroll with it, his strength would definitely see a boost.

Originally, Lin Jie had intended to give the Gold Wolf’s Teeth Shield to Water. With such a good shield, the process of conquering the dungeons would definitely be smoother for them!

However, to put it very realistically, ‘A good saddle should be used by a good horse.’ At this stage, Water did not have the skills befitting of this shield.

Once the War of Light was launched, Lin Jie would begin to train the whole team. He could then give them the required equipment. Now, it was more worth it to use a good shield to win the affection of Mixed Breathless. Hence, he left a good impression on Mixed Breathless.

The Engineering recipe would be given to Zheng Ziliang. He had recently completely integrated into the Netherblue team. Other than exploring dungeons with them every day, he would be in the lab making some Engineering products. Lin Jie believed he would definitely be interested in this Engineering recipe.

“Let’s go back to the city,” Mixed Breathless said while he tore up the returning scroll. The two of them were back to the Town of Kedella the next moment.

“Breathless, are you okay?” A 40-year-old middle-aged Mage hurried over. He took a look at Mixed Breathless’ gaming level, sighed and smiled. “Good job, good job.”

This middle-aged Mage was Dejected Night.

Lin Jie sized him up secretly. This man looked very honest and gave off humble vibes, and his every movement showed signs of concern towards Mixed Breathless…’Would such a person really do something as despicable as getting fresh with his friend’s girlfriend?’

Dejected Night looked at Lin Jie and smiled. “Hello, are you Breathless’ friend?”

Lin Jie nodded. “I am Fu Sheng.”

“Big brother, Fu Sheng… my friend here, he sold me a Gold grade shield at a low price. Can I borrow 50 silver coins from you to pay him?” Mixed Breathless was a little embarrassed to put forth his request.

“Oh? Gold grade shield?” Dejected Night was rather stunned.

Chapter 83: Divination Scryer (Counterfeit)

“Brother Fu Sheng is too generous,” Dejected Night laughed and said, “please wait here for me for a while, I will get the money.”

In less than three minutes, Dejected Night returned with 50 silver coins and passed them to Lin Jie.

Lin Jie noticed that the Assistant Enchanted Staff which Dejected Night had kept at his waist before was gone. Mages could be equipped with both Wands and Enchanted Staffs. When a Mage’s Mana was depleted, he could use his Enchanted Staff to deal out continuous Damage. This could continue the Attack output in a battle.

In general, the differences between an Enchanted Staff and a Wand were that an Enchanted Staff had its own unique attributes, which would often offer additional continuous Damage attributes, such as Poison, Light and Dark Damage.

The Enchanted Staff which Dejected Night possessed was an item from the Lands of the Nikola Locust. It had an Attack of 12-16, and when using it to attack creatures other than the Undead, it could deal out an additional 5 Poison Damage points. It could be considered an upper-middle ranged equipment within the Enchanted Staffs available in the game.

“Here. Thanks for giving this to us.” Dejected Night laughed. The importance of a Gold grade shield to a team was evident. He patted Mixed Breathless’ shoulders and said sternly, “Breathless, we will need to go explore a dungeon and earn enough money for one gold coin and give it back to Brother Fu Sheng.”

Lin Jie waved his hands and rejected this gesture. “No need, this will be the end of the transaction between us. See you around.”

Ding~

——’Mixed Breathless requested to be your friend.’

——’Dejected Night requested to be your friend.’

Lin Jie raised his brows. He accepted their requests, and in less than three seconds, Dejected Night sent him a private chat message.

“This Shield was gotten by your team?” asked Dejected Night.

“Yes.”

“Oh… Brother Fu Sheng, is your team lacking a Shield Specialist? Or to put it more directly, is your team lacking an able Shield Specialist? If you have seen Breathless’ performance, I believe you will definitely have the idea of kicking off your team’s MT.”

Lin Jie raised his brows when he saw Dejected Night’s message. He stopped answering him and left.

When he returned to the City of Light, Lin Jie entered the Sky Provisions Shop.

As they had sold off the Augmenting Gems at a low price and won the popularity of players in the game, Sky Provisions Shop had gotten even greater trade traffic than the trades the entire ‘Transaction Street’ had—this was a trading street set up by some players spontaneously. The prices of items sold in the Sky Provisions Shop was considered the most reasonable, and after the accumulation of praises by word-of-mouth, it was now regarded as the “conscience” of the game’s trading industry!

Seven Ears exemplified his talents at doing business thoroughly. After gaining the favor of a large group of solo players, he started the policy of using the shop’s points to exchange for coins which these players had. Thereafter, he opened a special exchange warehouse which allowed solo players with not-so-good equipment to redeem more suitable equipment for themselves. Of course, most of those pieces of equipment were acquired by him at prices below the market prices.

With regards to earning money, the Sky Provisions Shop definitely fared much better than those so-called studios.

Lin Jie checked the store’s transactions. ‘Good chap!’ Other than the reserve funds for the shop, the net profit they earned had already reached as great as 240 gold coins!

This was definitely a sky-rocking amount! As the Sky Provisions Shop’s name had spread to places other than the City of Light, players from the nearby cities would even come all the way here to pawn or exchange their equipment. In fact, the shop’s daily transaction value had reached 200 gold coins or more!

This was a shop which monopolized the trading industries of several cities, could anyone ever achieve such a feat? No! Even a top-ranking guild wouldn’t be able to put in such a large amount of gold coins for its operations! Of course, if the president of a guild managed to coerce all his members to hand over the coins they had, he might be able to open a shop that was of comparable scale to the Sky Provisions Shop. However, this would be tantamount to killing the goose that laid the golden eggs! Who would do that?

However, Lin Jie was different. After all, Brotherhood was not a guild. Not only did he not need to invest his own money into it, but he could also even make gains from the large amount of transaction taxes he received from Brotherhood daily.

Withdrawing 200 gold coins, Lin Jie looked at the huge amount of money he held in his hands and was rather dazzled by it. ‘This felt like a dream!’

Money shouldn’t be kept and wasted! The one month’s deadline was left with just 5 days. He should make the greatest use of the game currency!

——

Lin Jie conducted the shop’s inventory routine check and discovered an item.

Divination Scryer (Counterfeit): This is a special item that can predict future events.

In The New Age, there was a special job known as the ‘Prophet.’ Only Priests and Paladins could become Prophets, but they must first accumulate enough reputation to become a prestigious member of the Holy Church, and then be promoted to become a member of the Parliament. Only then would they fulfill the requirements to become a “Prophet,” but that was not the end of the story. These players must still make 10 successful prophecies during the Conferences of the major cities before they could finally be promoted as a Prophet. Once successfully promoted, they could get several rare skills, and enjoy titles equal to the Duke level.

However, once they failed in making accurate prophecies, they would be stripped of their statuses and be Silenced for an entire month, meaning they could not use their skills for that month.

The Divination Scryer was legendary divine equipment which could help them accurately predict future events.

Of course, the one that Lin Jie held in his hands now was fake. It could not predict the future but had the ability to record events.

As masters of the game, the system allowed players to record videos on their own without any additional equipment. Thus, what use was there for a piece of equipment whose sole function was to record videos?

Lin Jie opened up the Scryer and saw that its remaining magic power could allow it to record 60 minutes of video.

‘This is enough!’

Lin Jie recalled a gaming strategy he had come across in his previous life and started exploring the alleys of the City of Light by himself. Finally, he found a dilapidated house. The wood used to build the house was decaying and crumbling to pieces, while the whole house gave off a disgusting smell.

This was the House of the Antique Collector Larolle!

Lin Jie pushed the door and was greeted with a big swarm of flies which flapped their wings and kept making annoying wheezing sounds. He almost got pushed out of the house by them.

“Hehehehe…” A series of sinister laughter echoed in the air.

Lin Jie rolled his eyes and thought to himself, ‘Well, I still can’t avoid this.’ After which, he took out a gold coin and threw it into the air.

BOOM!

Shadows rushed to cover the gold coin, and it disappeared without a trace. The flies disappeared in a blink of an eye. An old Mage wearing a cloak stared greedily at the gold coin in his hands, and the pale skin on his face seemed like it would start peeling off at any time… He gave a hoarse laugh and greeted Lin Jie, “My esteemed guest, what do you want?”

To make any deal with the Antique Collector Larolle, one had to first spend 1 gold coin. The point was that most of Larolle’s collections were limited, or there would only be just one piece!

The Transaction Pane was called out.

Glazed Half-Centaur Pocket Watch: Priced at 20 gold coins.

Water Element Drinking Water: Priced at 20 gold coins

Essence Fluid of the Kajia Mountain’s Guardian Dragon: Priced at 20 gold coins…

The items sold here were mostly expensive but useless items. At least, that was true for most players.

For example, the Water Element Drinking Water was known as the most disgusting and most expensive freshwater in The New Age. It was made from Water Elements that were sealed. When one drank it, the Water Elements would resurrect and jump about on his tongue.

Another example would be the Giant Dragon’s Essence Fluid. In actual fact, it was the secretion produced by one male and one female dragon when they mated…

Lin Jie bought all these items without a care for his money. All the hard-earned money he had gained from the past month was gone in an instant…

“Whoa, there is still such a thing?” Lin Jie’s eyes brightened when he caught sight of an item.

Half Catwoman Slave: Priced at 100 gold coins.

“Heh heh, you have an eye for exotic goods,” the old Mage gave a lecherous laugh. “This Half Catwoman was a Nobleman’s favorite item. If not for the fact he met his downfall, he would never sell her. There is only one of these items available now, and it’s hard to say whether there will be more of such items in the future. She has the body of a woman, and at the same time also has a cat’s ears and tail. She always appears lazy, and there will be a few days in a month when she enters her estrus period…”

Lin Jie was, after all, a hot-blooded virgin guy. Subconsciously, an image of a fair Catwoman with her tail being pinched while performing intimate acts appeared in his mind’s eye…

“I’ll take this!”

With a big wave of his hands, he spent the last 100 gold coins in his pockets.

The old Mage’s gray eyes gleamed. Waving his right hand, the items in the shop which Lin Jie bought flew through the air and landed in front of him.

Among them, there was a cage which was about half a person’s height. A Half Catwoman was half-squatting inside the cage. Her furry tail was curled up beneath her, and she pursed out her lips, making a loud and lazy ‘Meow’ sound.

“This Catwoman is just in the midst of her estrus period for the current month…” The old Mage flicked his finger, and bright specks of light – an Arcane spell – enveloped the Catwoman’s petite but hot body. “I will help you apply this Arcane spell for free. This will reduce the weight of your load.”

Lin Jie nodded and put all the luxuries, which cost 200 gold coins in total, away in his backpack.

At the moment when the Catwoman was put in, she sucked her fingers naughtily, and her tongue gently rolled over the tip of her fingers, revealing two cute little tiger teeth. From this angle, one could also see her two large fair boobs trembling slightly while she made an innocent “Meow——”

‘Heavens, who could stand this!?’

Lin Jie shoved the cage inside his backpack and shuddered. ‘I am afraid no man can resist it…’

Of course, the purpose of buying this Catwoman was not for his pleasure. Lin Jie had a very serious purpose. Since the price of this Catwoman was so high, wouldn’t it cost ten thousands of gold coins once inflation occurred?

This Half Catwoman Slave was not a human being. Though she looked like a human being, her intelligence was equal to that of a beast.

Once he got back to town area, Lin Jie made his way to the City Leader’s Mansion.

Technically speaking, there were two groups of people who governed the Guild of Light; one would be the Empire, while the other would be the Holy Church. Similar to the Emperor and the retired Emperor of the past dynasties in China, the former ruled the country, while the latter became the advisor behind the throne.

By right, all governmental affairs in the city should be decreed by the City Leader.

The magnificent City Leader’s Mansion was strictly guarded by stern-looking guards. Due to the massive power the Holy Church had in the City of Light, the Imperial Army simply disregarded the City Leader and did not even bother to reserve horses for him. The poor City Leader thus ordered all the available manpower he could command to surround his own mansion in a bid to protect himself against any possible threats.

“Stop!”

Two guards wearing luxurious gemstone armors and holding sharp spears shouted sternly, “Unauthorized people are not allowed into the City Leader’s Mansion.”

Lin Jie coughed dryly. “I have something to request from the City Leader.”

One of the guards glared at him. “Unauthorized people are not allowed, this is the rule!”

“Seems like I need help with some lingua franca here.” Lin Jie took out 30 silver coins, weighed them in his palms, and placed them into the guards’ backpacks.

The guards’ eyes gleamed, but they still commented in a serious tone, “Though the rules are ruthless, followers should be flexible. Get in!”

Lin Jie swaggered into the City Leader’s Mansion. Numerous guards patrolled the place, and from time to time they passed by Lin Jie.

Fortunately, Lin Jie knew the correct amount to bribe the guards. At this stage of the game, if he bribed less than 30 silver coins, the patrol guards inside the mansion would come up and extort more money from him. If they were not satisfied with the amount given, they would just kick him out.

However, if he gave more than 30 silver coins, he would be regarded as a sucker. The guards would be insatiable and expect more from him. If he refused to give them more, he would still be kicked out.

30 silver coins were just right!

Pushing open a magnificent door which was engraved with all sorts of gems and golden threads, Lin Jie immediately caught sight of the City Leader of the City of Light. He was sitting on the main seat in the hall, which was made of Mithril gold mix, and enjoying the fruits handed over to him by his servant maids.

“Most respectable City Leader,” Lin Jie called out respectfully when he was still some distance away.

The City Leader was shocked. In fact, he fell straight off his chair in fear and shrieked loudly, “Guards! Guards! Where are you!? Someone has barged into the City Leader’s Mansion! Help!”

——

Chapter 84: Tsundere Phoenix

No one would have thought that the City Leader who was in charge of the City of Light would be such a weakling. He was now hiding under the chair, shivering uncontrollably without a care for his image as a leader of a city. Lin Jie pretended as if he did not see this.

Meanwhile, the guards seemed to have become accustomed to the shouts of this weak guy, and they continued going on about their patrolling duties.

Lin Jie approached the City Leader and saluted to him respectfully. “My Lord, the series of dodging actions you displayed just now were just so delicate. Even the Great Holy Mage would not be able to attack you.”

The City of Light City Leader’s full name was Albert Caesar.

Though magnificent-sounding, this name did not give its owner the befitting courage and strength. There were rumors that Albert had suffered from paranoia since he was born. He could often see the wandering spirits and even make conversation with them. As such, Albert had always lived in fear since the time he was a child, causing him to develop his timid character.

He must live in a place he was familiar with, and he strictly forbade any changes to be made to the structures in his house. Or else, he would panic and lose all his senses.

The City Leader was slowly lifted up by his servant maids and looked around in confusion. After a long while, he finally confirmed that the ‘thing’ standing in front of him was a living person. Heaving a sigh of relief, he fell back down to his chair.

“Soldier, state your purpose.” The City Leader placed his legs onto the soft bosoms of his slaves and enjoyed massages from them. He swayed his head gently and was in such a comfortable state that he almost started whistling a tune.

Lin Jie took out the iron cage that held the Half Catwoman Slave, opened the cage and smiled.

In a bid to keep out offensive sexual contents in the game, the game designers had specially designed the Half Catwoman slave’s image. Although she was naked, there was fur covering her nipples. As she slowly crawled out from the cage, her fair skin glistened like the winter snow while she shook her cute cat’s tail. The Half Catwoman Slave slowly crawled to the City Leader’s side, opened her tempting little mouth, licked the City Leader’s earlobe and made a lazy but charming sound.

This scene was definitely too inappropriate for young children.

The City Leader’s eyes gleamed, and his hands inched forwards eagerly towards the Catwoman’s private parts.

Lin Jie started the recording function of the fake Scryer! The scenes in front of him were recorded into the Scryer and played over again, just like a movie.

“Cough, cough…” Before things got too far, Lin Jie made a dry cough hastily and commented, “Most respectable City Leader, are you satisfied with this gift?”

“Oh, yes, definitely.” The City Leader sniffed the Catwoman’s body, inhaling in her body odor and asked with a wide smile, “Say now, what do you want? Title? Manpower? Or authority to manage the city?”

“I want a piece of land.” Lin Jie projected the map of the City of Light into the air and pointed to an open space in the city’s center.

The City Leader raised his brows and questioned loudly, “Do you think a mere female slave can be used to exchange for a piece of my land? Is it even worth it?”

“Isn’t it worth it?” Lin Jie threw the question back.

The Catwoman was right in the midst of her estrus period. She started licking the man in front of her, without giving a care to the dozens of human beings who were watching this scene. Her figure was simply seductive.

“Hahaha, oh yes, she’s worth it!” The City Leader laughed and gave a wave of his hands. “But you, the people from the alternate realms, have not yet been authorized to buy estates. How about postponing this request, and coming back to me when you finally get the permission to buy lands? I will give this piece of land to you. Deal?”

Lin Jie replied respectfully, “Thank you, my Lord.”

“Leave then!” the City Leader couldn’t wait for another moment. He gave an impatient wave and ordered all his servants to leave too.

Seeing this, Lin Jie guessed there might be a sexy scene coming up soon in the main hall of the City Leader’s Mansion.

He deactivated the recording spell of the Scryer, curved up the corners of his mouth and left the City Leader’s Mansion.

Lin Jie visited several senior officials personally and presented the luxury goods to them in the same way. Some of his targets included the Commerce Supervisor of the City of Light, the White-clothed Godfather of Sunshine City who was in charge of people’s livelihoods, the Trade Supervisor of Prague City and the Gladiator of the Triumph City, Loka.

There was one similar characteristic within all these people—they were all greedy people!

There were many buildings in the city which players were not allowed to purchase at the beginning stages of the game, such as the Auction House, Horse Stables and Casinos, etc. As the influence of The New Age had spread to the real world in many ways, the virtual properties in the game were even more expensive than properties in the real world. Wouldn’t it be such a waste if one did not buy them in at the low sale prices in the beginning, then sell them off when there was high demand for these virtual properties in the market?

Only idiots would watch such great opportunities pass by!

Thus, Lin Jie decided to resort to certain means in order to get what he wanted.

Most of the NPCs in The New Age had their own worldviews and values, and they had a certain understanding of the players from the alternate realms. Many stingy NPCs would often deliberately lower their tasks’ rewards, yet lots of players would still be eager to complete their tasks.

As such, the NPCs thought they grasped the truth: the IQ levels of the alternate realms players were generally not high. As long as they employed certain means, even the Lord God (system) couldn’t fault them.

Seeing that incident would be happening soon and the game’s structure would be changed, Lin Jie decided that he should focus on improving his stats.

He felt that his level in the game now was not that important when compared to his current stats. Saying that the gaming level was still invariably an obvious performance marker of a player’s progress.

Lin Jie looked at his stats: currently, his Attack and Damage values were around 167-221 (Heritage Broken Blade), and 101-138 (Withered Leaf Sword). This was triple the Attack values than Warriors of the same level. Even for Mages with Dark Gold Wand Shards, they could only deal out about 130 basic Mana attacks on average.

Lin Jie’s weakness still lied in his Defense capabilities!

A Berserker required high Defense capabilities, especially if he could not use skills that required near-death statuses. This was especially so for now as Mages were the majority in power. The Defense against Mana attacks was thus ever more so important.

Lin Jie took a look at the Kiara Beast King Armor he wore on himself and focused his attention upon the center of the armor. There was a scratch as if it had been torn by wild beasts. There was supposed to be a gem engraved here originally!

At this stage of the game, it was impossible for players to get hold of the other fragments of the Kiara Beast King Armor. The only possible item he could get now to enhance the armor would be the Kiara Beast King Enchanted Gem. It was located at the Level 20 map, the William Castle, which was an Unexplored Map. There were many vampire bats and Vampires staying there, and it was commonly known as the bane of the melee jobs.

Lin Jie’s stats were not enough to challenge it now!

He returned to the Sky Provisions Shop and took out some Augmenting Gems, and then walked towards the center of the City of Light.

Other than using Enchanted Scrolls, the only other way one could enhance their equipment would be to use Augmenting Gems! A piece of equipment could only be enhanced to a maximum of 10 layers, and at every 6th and 8th layer, hidden attributes would be revealed. If it was enhanced to its full value, its additional enhanced attributes would be activated!

Focusing on Enhancing had always been considered by players as the fastest way to go bankrupt. However, in order to be able to get the Sub-Legendary fragment, Lin Jie decided to give it his all!

A female barbarian who was scantily dressed stood in the center of the City of Light. She was definitely very sexy, and hard muscles surrounded her 36E huge bust. Perhaps, this was considered beautiful in the eyes of the Barbarians?

This Barbarian, Maria, was the NPC in charge of Enhancing!

Not every city had Enhancing NPCs. There was only one such Enhancing NPC around in the City of Light, and thus her business was very good. Maria urged impatiently with her hands akimbo at her waist, “Those little ones who are hogging on to the Enhancing Furnace, be fast! Or else Maria shall throw you all into the furnace!”

“Wow, hahaha, +6 success, I have revealed my equipment’s hidden attributes by 5%! Great earn!” Someone holding a freshly Enhanced weapon laughed maniacally.

On the other hand, some people were crying and had sullen expressions. “Wth, I continued at Enhanced +7, but failed at +8, and everything I gained was gone?! I am not playing this game anymore!”

The price of the Augmenting Gems was very expensive, and as the number of players reaching Level 10 was increasing, Augmenting Gems had become the synonym of a luxury good.

As such, many rich players regarded the Enhancing process as a fun hobby, as their main intention was to attract the attention of the onlookers, especially the pretty girls around.

Of course, not all of the people besides the Enhancing Furnace were like these. Take for example the little loli with double ponytails standing in front of Lin Jie.

“I can help you Enhance your equipment! Successful +1 for 1 silver coin! If unsuccessful, I won’t take your money!” The little loli’s dark double ponytails hung down to her waist. Lin Jie suspected if she let her hair down, it would even reach her backside.

Lin Jie knew this little loli. Her name was Tsundere Phoenix, and she was a well-known figure for her superb Enhancing skills in his previous life.

With a pretty look, a sweet voice, and her innate cuteness, Tsundere Phoenix had managed to start a business from nothing using the Enhancing Furnace. She would help players Enhance their equipment. If successful, she would charge them 1 silver coin, and would not collect money from her customers if the enhancing process was unsuccessful.

Just imagine, both the equipment and Augmenting Gems belonged to a person, but how was it possible then that the chances of enhancing successfully could become higher after this little loli handled them?

This was definitely not the case. Tsundere Phoenix knew where her charm lied exactly and making use of this, she had actually managed to earn a living for herself just by helping players enhance their equipment. For a whole two years, she had never changed her price, and it remained at the condition: successful +1 for 1 silver coin.

Secretly though, Tsundere Phoenix had been experimenting with the Enhancing process, including the rumored ‘Padding skills,’ the ‘Coin Flipping Tips’ and so on.

Many big-hearted grown men would simply not be able to ignore this cute little loli who looked just like an underage 15 or 16-year-old girl.

Just imagine the following scene: a good-looking little loli came by your way and showered you with compliments. All she needed was a chance to help you enhance your equipment and at the condition of ‘successful +1 for 1 silver coin’. How could you reject her request, especially when it was just a mere silver coin?

Most players would relent in and think: Okay, I will give it to you, you shall help me enhance my equipment… What? You failed!? My equipment which was previously Enhanced till +7 was ruined now? Oh wth… oh my, please don’t cry, I am not blaming you. Come, I shall give you a lollipop!

When she finally broke into smiles from tears, her innocent smile would warm the hearts of these rich players. All the anger and frustration that they once had with her for ruining their equipment in the Enhancing process would simply feel like nothing.

Using this tactic, Tsundere Phoenix had actually managed to make a living for herself for two whole years without risking anything of her own. In fact, she had managed to come up with a whole theory of Enhancing equipment, and her chances of Enhancing equipment had increased. From the beginning when she was just hoping to get lucky, she had actually become an expert at Enhancing!

However, Tsundere Phoenix remained stationing besides the Enhancing Furnace and continued her Enhancing service at the price of 1 silver coin per Enhancement. This was a gesture in return for those who had helped her out before.

“Big Brother, do you want to enhance your equipment? Why not try my services? I have created the Phoenix’s Original Theory of Enhancement, and it will definitely increase the chances of Enhancing your equipment successfully!”

Lin Jie’s equipment gave off imposing vibes, and this little loli immediately noticed this sucker—cough, she meant kind-hearted person. Thus, she rushed over to sell her services and patted her chest in an attempt to show her confidence.

When her boobs bounced like a water ball due to her actions, the passersby swallowed their saliva.

Lin Jie laughed. “Successful +1 for 1 silver coin?”

“Yes, yes. This price is absolutely the most value-for-money!” The little loli nodded her head fervently and wriggled her finger. “Big Brother, would you like to give it a try?”

In his previous life, Lin Jie did not understand the process behind Enhancing equipment, and thus he had employed Tsundere Phoenix to help him with the Enhancing process for many of his equipment. At that time, although Tsundere Phoenix still styled a double ponytail, she had grown up and was generally more gentle and mature, giving off sexy vibes.

It was such a magical moment when he saw her once again now. This little loli with a crisp voice standing in front of him seemed to gradually merge with the image of Tsundere Phoenix in his previous life.

“Sure, help me enhance these then,” Lin Jie took off the Flame Walker Pauldron, the Wolf Soul Necklace and the Withered Leaf Sword. He called out the interface pane beside the Enhancing Furnace and set the dealer as Tsundere Phoenix. After which, he clicked OK, and threw in 30 Augmenting Gems.

Tsundere Phoenix’s eyes brightened up at this gesture, and she rubbed her hands gleefully. “Wow, this is a great deal! Big Brother, watch carefully, I will definitely help you enhance all your equipment to +10!”

The Enhancing Furnace became heated, and a magical flame wrapped around the Augmenting Gems. It dissociated the gems, and bright specks of light covered the Wolf Soul Necklace…

Whoosh—

Enhancing failed!