Chapter 83: Kiara Beast King Enchanted Gem

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Activating both the Dark Pupils and Wolf Soul Necklace, Lin Jie’s vision suddenly became clearer. The Wolf Soul Necklace flickered slightly in the dark.

Night View +15!

For those who liked to roam around alone in The New Age, it was necessary to be equipped with sufficient items, as anything could happen in the wild. After all, the death penalty of players in The New Age was very heavy, and no player would want to die.

Lin Jie could see much further now. His pupils were like the Shadow Wolf’s eyes and looked like two specks of wildfire in the darkness.

There were no coffins on the second floor of the castle. Most vampires belonged to aristocratic families, and hence they would abide by strict hierarchical orders. When the master was in his sleep, no one else was allowed to trespass his territory.

Lin Jie crept to the bedroom where the Vampire Count was located.

There was a portrait of the Vampire Count on the wall which was about five or six meters tall. Wearing a luxurious dark robe, his high collar covered his blood-red lips while his eyes stared into the dark, quiet castle.

Lin Jie took a few steps forward, but his heart suddenly beat faster.

Danger!

He looked up and stared at the portrait. It seemed like a normal portrait—the Count still looked as elegant and mysterious as before…

Suddenly, the Count’s eyes moved!

Lin Jie was shocked. ‘Τhis portrait ιs alive!’ He immediately stopped in his tracks and tried to keep as silent as possible while he tried to hide.

‘Actually… no, this should be just a surveillance device operated by runes!’ Lin Jie took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down from the shock of seeing the moving portrait. He ordered the servant maid to walk up the stairs and decided to let her test the waters.

The portrait glared angrily, and there seemed to be ripples of air trying to expel the vampire servant maid which came forward. The servant maid continued on with a blank expression, faithfully executing Lin Jie’s orders.

Whoosh—

As if the air was being squeezed, the surveillance device suddenly fired several attacks which blew up the vampire servant maid into pieces!

‘It’s now or never!’ Making use of time when the portrait’s eyes focused on the attacks, Lin Jie rushed into the bedroom and closed the door!

After the servant maid was destroyed, the portrait’s eyes began to scan through the castle again with the support of the runes’ power. It was startled when it noticed the closed bedroom, but as many years had gone by and the effect of the runes was not as strong as before, it could no longer assess things logically.

Soon, the portrait closed its eyes and fell back into a deep sleep.

Lin Jie quietly listened to the movements outside the door. ‘The vampires shouldn’t have discovered me.’

Then, he looked around the room. He was standing in a gorgeous bedroom with a diamond-filled chandelier, a bookshelf made of sandalwood and yellow lima. There was also a four-meter-wide lion king’s mane bed.

No doubt, this was a bedroom befitting of the nobility!

Unfortunately, as there was a row of coffins erected in the room, it seemed extremely eerie and scary.

There was a total of five coffins, and four of them belonged to the Vampire Count’s Guardian Ghosts. These were Level 20 Ghost-like Elites, and they were one of the few types of monsters which could become Ghost-like in the early stages of the game. This skill allowed them to be completely immune to physical damage.

‘The Kiara Beast King Enchanted Gem must be in the hands of the Count! However… which coffin is the Count in? There’s only a 20% chance of identifying the correct coffin!’

Lin Jie stared at the coffins and tried to find some clues, but gave up soon as the coffins were placed in the exact same positions, angles and each of them looked exactly alike. Unless he opened the coffins to check them one by one… but this would not work! Once he opened a coffin which did not contain the Count, he would alarm the Level 20 Elite Guardian Ghost, and then he would be a goner!

‘Wait a second…’

Lin Jie looked at the few coffins, and suddenly had a wild thought, ‘Since Counts are usually males what would the favorite place of a male Count that liked to have occasional flings with pretty ladies in a bedroom be?’

The bed!

‘That’s it!’ Lin Jie stared at the coffin which was leaning against the bed.

Holding his breath, Lin Jie concentrated hard as he flipped open the coffin’s lid. There was only 1/5 chance of him getting the correct coffin!

A pale face was revealed. The eyes of the person lying inside the coffin were slightly closed, but sharp fangs were exposed outside his mouth, making him seem bloodthirsty.

‘It’s the Vampire Count!’

Lin Jie’s heart beat wildly. There were countless precious gems, ornaments, and gold bars placed in the Count’s coffin, but he was holding onto a jewel which was around the size of a grown man’s fist!

[Kiara Beast King Enchanted Gem] (Sub-Legendary Fragment)

Can be used by Human Warriors, Human Paladins, and Human Hunters

Requires: Level 10

Resistance: 5

Magic Defense: 25-45

Magic Resistance: +30

Additional: It will always reduce Elemental Damage by 20 points.

Additional: Reduce Elemental Damage by 15%

Note: Cannot be equipped.

Weight: 1 pound

The Kiara Beast King Enchanted Gem was known as the nemesis of players who had Mana jobs! After all, the average damage a Level 10 Mage could deal out would be between 60 to 80 points. However, with the Kiara Beast King Enchanted Gem, the Mage’s damage would be reduced by 20 points or more!

Lin Jie reached out his hands in excitement and grabbed the Kiara Beast King Enchanted Gem! The Kiara Beast King Armor sensed its parts and vibrated excitedly.

“Er——”

The Count’s lips moved suddenly, and his eyelids trembled like a sleeping person who sensed motion but refused to wake up.

The Count had been sleeping for too long and was reluctant to return to the dark world. However, his wild fangs definitely did not think the same. They vibrated about greedily, and after a ‘Gwap’ sound, they actually detached themselves from the Count’s mouth!

Lin Jie was shocked. ‘Wth, who was the scientist who said that teeth are non-living things and don’t have wills of their own!? That’s because he hasn’t seen these!’

Sucker Fangs of the Vampire Count: Level 20 Elite, Health Points: 1,200.

What did it feel like to watch two fangs fly about in the air? Lin Jie was dumbfounded and felt at a loss of what to do as he stared at them. The two fangs had divided their tasks very clearly: one protected the treasures in the coffin, while the other one was swooping down at Lin Jie’s face.

“Ssss——”

The venomous fang was like an iron hook, and it tore through the skin on Lin Jie’s face, causing more than 70 plus damage. It throbbed about in the air excitedly with a green number on the top of its head.

Its health bar had risen to 1,275 points!

This was one of the Vampire Count’s signature terrible abilities. Unlike ordinary vampires which absorbed health points, it absorbed the maximum cap of its target’s health bar!

“Darn it.”

The Broken Blade thrust out. However, as its target was too small, all attacks were dodged by the fang. The series of misses irritated Lin Jie, making him extremely anxious. ‘I can’t go on like this! If not, the Vampire Count will be awakened!’

Shoosh!

Once again, the fang slit across the vulnerable skin on Lin Jie’s face which was not covered by his armor, and the upper limit of its health bar increased. Lin Jie’s attacks had repeatedly failed, and he felt as if he was being played on.

“Army Obliteration!”

Activating Flame Boost, Lin Jie shot out several gusts of Blade Auras at the same time and slashed the fiery Broken Blade down at the fang from top to bottom! The fang danced in a circle in mid-air mockingly, dodging the blade just right before it came into contact with the blade.

Lin Jie couldn’t hold back his movements in time, and the Broken Blade slashed down upon the sleeping Vampire Count!

-245! -263! -255!

-245! -263! -255!

-245! -263! -255!

… Nine numbers floated up. Lin Jie was stunned as he saw that the two Sucker Fangs of the Vampire Count also suffered damages when the Vampire Count was injured. This could only mean one thing—attacking the Vampire Count could damage them!

Lin Jie was overjoyed. With the bloodsucking abilities of the Wolf Soul Necklace, he activated Blood Soul Multi-Slash and smashed the Broken Blade onto the Vampire Count’s head! Nearly 1,000 points of damage were dealt out, and it instantly killed one of the Count’s Sucker Fangs.

“Ssss——”

The other Count’s Sucker Fang flew into Lin Jie’s back armor, but it was too late. The Withered Leaf Sword had pierced through the Vampire Count’s body, and it slit the blood vessels which was in the midst of the internal organs.

Weakness Exploit!

-198!

Death of the Count’s Sucker Fang!

Lin Jie was overjoyed and hurriedly grabbed the Kiara Beast King Enchanted Gem, but found that the gem was still tightly held. He raised his head suspiciously and saw that the Vampire Count was staring at him coldly with his white pupils, while the two blood-sucking fangs grew again.

‘I’m done for!’

“Give it to me!” Lin Jie was furious, and he slashed out his sword! Under the great force, he actually cut off the Vampire Count’s palm! He hurriedly took out the enchanted gem and ran off!

‘Boom—’

‘Boom—’

All the coffins exploded, and the Guardian Ghosts rushed out!

Lin Jie kicked open the door and found to his horror that all the vampires had awakened from their coffins, and they were all charging at him! Behind Lin Jie, the Vampire Count restored his palm, and his fingers were toying with a mess of black, stinky blood.

‘There is no turning back!’

Charge!

A crazed look covered Lin Jie’s eyes as he forced the Kiara Beast King Enchanted Gem roughly into his chest armor!

Normally, Sub-Legendary fragments would need to be inlaid by Superior, Master, or Grandmaster Blacksmiths to be able to exhibit their attributes completely. However, Lin Jie couldn’t be bothered with all these now as he needed to get out first!

A glaring ray of light shone from the fusion of the armor and the gem! Even though the vampires had covered their eyes immediately, they were still blinded temporarily by the strong light, something which they were always afraid of.

The light slowly dissipated, and the Kiara Beast King Armor which Lin Jie wore now seemed to be transformed! Although it was still like a skeleton, the luster of the gemstone made it give off a bright gleam, and the surface looked like it had been covered with lots of Anti-Mana Potion! The Anti-Mana Potion flowed like blood towards one spot——the enchanted gem in the middle of the armor!

Kiara Beast King Broken Armor (Sub-Legendary, Fragment)

Can be used by Human Warriors, Human Paladins, and Human Hunters

Requires: Level 10, Strength: 50, Resistance 5 and above.

Defense: 94-155

Magic Defense: 35-55

Strength: +25

Endurance: +15

Magic Resistance: +30

Damage reduction: 9%, Forward Charge Judgment +10

Additional: Outraged Roar level +2, Hunter’s Forward Charge level +1

Additional effect: Thick skin. You can stack a layer of thick skin when you receive damage. Each layer of thick skin provides you with 0.5% damage immunity. You can stack at most 30 layers.

Additional: It will always reduce Mana Damage by 40 points.

Additional: Reduce Mana Damage by 25%

Note: The Kiara Beast King Broken Skeleton is incomplete equipment. You need to collect the Kiara Beast King Ore Plating, and the Roar of the Kiara Beast King to unleash all of its attributes.

Such was the power of Sub-Legendary level equipment!

What was Sub Legendary level? In the era when Legendary equipment was in the hands of Primordial Demigods and Primordial Heroes, Sub-Legendary level equipment would be considered god-like weapons! Lin Jie’s attributes were immediately boosted, and he definitely felt more confident now!

Having recovered from the glaring light, the vampires discovered that the Warrior who was previously standing in front of them was already gone!

There were two deep footprints on the ground! This must be the traces left behind by the Warrior when he jumped off from the second level.

“Get that human!”

The vampire housekeeper was furious, and all the savage vampires started their hunt.

Lin Jie was hiding within the shadows of the staircase. He bit down hardly on the loaf of bread he held in his hands, recovering his health bar with great difficulty.

A skinny vampire wandered into his vision. He seemed to detect life nearby and gradually turned his body around.

Hunter’s Forward Charge!

Bang!

With the effect of the Flame Walker Pauldron and Kiara Beast King Armor, the whole body of Lin Jie was like a steel chariot. He smashed into the vampire, sending it flying, and then rushed towards the exit!

“Ssss——”

“Ssss——”

The vampires started their attacks, and a thread of blood was sucked out from Lin Jie!

-24!

-20!

-21!

…

The Kiara Beast King with the inlaid enchanted gem blocked off the attacks effectively!

The Wolf Soul Necklace suddenly glimmered as Judgment by the Wolf Soul Guardian was completed, and it was successful!

+200!

‘Boom—’

The door burst opened! When the Vampire Count was enraged, he smashed the entire place down until it was only left with a broken wooden door!

Chapter 88: Massacre with only 300 Health Points

“Luuuuuuup——”

When he rushed out of the wooden door, Lin Jie did not have time to calculate the Aggro range of the Vampire Bats. He could only run forward. All at once, as if dozens of light bulbs were turned on at the same time, the bats opened their bloody eyes and charged at their food.

There were also vampires chasing behind him!

Lin Jie gritted his teeth and put away the Broken Blade and Withered Leaf Sword. He took out the Shield of Courage, transformed it to Double-Handed Shield, and continued charging forward!

He was like an unbeatable torrent of steel! The sharp teeth of the bats were nothing in the face of the Shield of Courage. They could not get at Lin Jie unless they bit into the body parts which were not covered by the Shield of Courage. Otherwise, they must face the high-defense prowess of the Shield of Courage, the Flame Walker Pauldron, and the Kiara Beast King Armor all at once!

Each bat could only cause less than 10 damage to Lin Jie under the effect of level suppression! The Wolf Soul Necklace shone brightly, and a recovery force from the natural grasslands flowed into his body like the continuous trickling of a stream.

+200!

After the evolution of the Kiara Beast King Armor, Lin Jie’s defense capabilities had reached an astonishing height, and any slight reduction of his health bar triggered the Judgment by the Wolf Soul Guardian. He was like a tiger thrown into a flock of sheep, absolutely unstoppable. Although he suffered attacks all the time, his health bar did not decrease!

Lin Jie aimed at the bat at the farthest point of the passageway, and activated Hunter’s Forward Charge!

BOOM!

The bats along the way were all blasted to a side by the Shield of Courage, and they were pinned firmly onto the rock wall of the passageway! As the skill level of Hunter’s Forward Charge had been increased to Level 3, the speed of his assault had increased, coupled with an additional two yards of charge range!

Lin Jie was nearing the exit!

Lin Jie’s eyes lit up, and he activated the Feather Drop skill. Stepping on the wall, he was immediately lifted up four yards into the air! He kept the Shield of Courage, took out the Broken Blade and Withered Leaf Sword at the same time, and stabbed them into the walls of the passageway on both sides!

The Broken Blade cut through the rotting wall like slicing through a piece of tofu effortlessly!

However, the Withered Leaf Sword made a crisp sound, and Lin Jie dropped down, unbalanced. He hurriedly put the Withered Leaf Sword away in his backpack and climbed up the wall using the Broken Blade! It was unfortunate that there were too many Vampire Bats here, or else he would have stripped off of all his equipment and would have an easier climb.

With the help of Feather Drop skill and the Broken Blade as support, Lin Jie climbed towards the hole’s entrance with much difficulty. The Vampire Bats licked Lin Jie’s blood which dripped down from the wall, but under the scary defense capabilities of the Kiara Beast King Armor and the Life-Steal effect of the +8 Wolf Soul Necklace, they could only watch reluctantly as their prey left the castle’s boundaries.

‘Zeng——’

Like a ghost movie, a hand broke through the earth and grabbed onto the edge of the hole. With a loud cry, Lin Jie finally got out of the castle’s boundaries and returned to the ground!

Lin Jie heaved a sigh of relief and sprawled out flat on the ground, refusing to move. However, a Skeleton Knight suddenly appeared! The flesh on his body had been corroded by the years which passed, and specks of blue light shone off from its skeleton. The Skeleton Knight was dressed in an old-fashioned Forward Charge Paladin’s armor, and there was a conspicuous emblem on his shoulder—that was the emblem of the former empire.

The Skeleton Knight’s sword was stained with a layer of dark black Undead Magic, and it slashed down the sword upon Lin Jie!

Ding~

Parry!

-1!

The Broken Blade collided with the Skeleton Knight’s sword, and Lin Jie pushed it away forcefully. The Skeleton Knight backed off unsteadily. Lin Jie activated Forward Charge and Army Obliteration!

-245!

-237!

…

Before the third sword was thrust out, the Skeleton Knight was broken into pieces as it could not withstand such strong attacks!

—’You have killed the Skeleton Commander Shebart! You gained 14,500 EXP.”

Lin Jie blinked. ‘What, is this actually a Boss? How come it is so weak?’

The Skeleton Knight spawned two Augmenting Gems and a Wristguard. In addition, it also dropped numerous Bone Dust and a Runes rib.

[Commander Wrist Guard] (Silver)

Can be used by Paladins.

Requires: Level 10

Defense: 17-32

Strength: +4

Willpower: +5

Additional: When you activate Brilliance Aura, you can give your teammates an additional 5 points of Attack Power and increase your own and your teammates Mana level by 10 points.

Weight: 1.5 pounds

It was a sturdy Paladin wristband, and as it had an additional 5 points Resistance, it could increase the Paladin’s skill strength by 8%. In addition, the Brilliance Aura was the halo that Paladins liked to use currently, as it not only increased one’s Attack Power but also restored their Mana levels.

One could only use a single Aura skill at any time.

However, the Commander Wrist Guard could add extra attributes to Aura skills, which would be useful for Paladins.

“F*ck, the Boss was robbed!”

“Wth, no wonder its EXP dropped out!”

More than 20 players came forward and looked at the broken Commander Skeleton on the ground. Then, they turned to glare at Lin Jie, who was musing over the equipment he held. They shouted angrily, “Boy, are you looking for death?”

Lin Jie threw the Wrist guard in his hand and smiled apologetically. “Sorry, this was purely an accident. I didn’t know that this was your Boss. You can have this equipment If you need it.”

It’s not that Lin Jie was afraid of them, but as he just escaped from the William Castle, he was only left with a maximum 320 health points. He wanted to get back to the city to seek help from the Holy Church’s priest to recover his health bar as soon as possible.

If one did not fill up their health bar for a long time, the upper limit of their health bar would drop and decrease after every fixed period of time, until their health bar’s upper limit was lowered to a minimum!

It’s best to avoid more trouble now.

At that moment, a shifty-eyed Bandit sneered, turned his head and whispered into the group leader’s ear, “Leader, looks like this Warrior doesn’t have much health points left. Look at his health bar…”

Lin Jie felt threatened.

Those people were looking at him with sinister looks, while the corners of their mouths were curved up in mocking smiles. It looked like they were up to no good!

“Brother, we won’t bother you, but…” the captain was called Aquatic Predator, and he threw glances at his followers, signaling for them to surround Lin Jie. He sneered and said, “… only on the condition that you give us each a gold coin. Then we shall consider this issue settled. How’s that?”

Lin Jie scoffed, “A gold coin? Are any of you worth that price?”

“Hey, you f*cking boy…” the shifty-eyed Bandit was displeased. Like a street gangster, he crept out from behind his leader and slapped hardly on Lin Jie’s shoulders. “What do you mean by that? You are looking for death…”

Before his voice died away, two bloody slashes tore his body!

The Bandit looked down at his wound in horror. His lips trembled, but before he could say anything, he dropped down dead.

Aquatic Predator was shocked and furious. “How dare you attack us? Wth, brothers, kill him! Keep watch over his corpse until he deletes his account!”

Lin Jie’s eyes scanned the crowd. There were eight Mages, four Warriors, four Paladins, four Bandits, and four Hunters! He subconsciously glanced at the Mages who were gathered all together in the distance…

Aquatic Predator wielded a big hammer, and smashed it down on Lin Jie’s armor! As the Hammer had the slowest Attack speed within all weapons, it had the ‘Repel’ effect as a compensation. As long as the one’s strength was great enough, they would be able to attack their target indefinitely!

‘Duang!——’

There was a loud noise, but Lin Jie did not step back at all!

Aquatic Predator was shocked as he saw a ‘-17’ float above Lin Jie’s head!

‘What kind of defense does this f*cking boy have!?’

The next second, the Broken Blade thrust into Aquatic Predator’s muscles which were exposed, and the damage of more than 200 points caused his health bar to drop by 1/3!

“Weakness Exploit!” Lin Jie thrust out both of his swords and brought about a strong wind, piercing the abdomen of Aquatic Predator. He was dead instantly!

All the melee jobs watched in horror as Lin Jie killed their leader in just one shot. For a while, none of them dared to go forward!

Suddenly a 30 plus years old Mage who had slicked back hair shouted, “Block him! Why should we be afraid of a Warrior who is only left with a thin health bar? We just have to bombard him with spells. He must possess some superb equipment which can reduce injuries. We’ll just kill him and if he spawns that equipment, we’ll get rich!”

As soon as everyone heard the Mage’s words, all the Mages began chanting spells collectively, while several Paladins gritted their teeth and tried their best to hold off Lin Jie!

As long as a team could hold off as much time as possible for their Mages to cast spells, it wouldn’t be that difficult to kill a Warrior! It was known that Mana Defense was the weakness of all Warriors.

“ROAR—”

Lin Jie’s throat trembled, and a beast-like roar came out of his throat! All the Paladins were stunned. Caressing the Broken Blade, he activated Flame Boost! At the tip of the quaint Broken Blade, flames jumped in joy. Like a beam of laser light, it slit across all the Paladins’ waist areas from left to right. In fact, all the Blade Auras given off were accompanied by flames!

-274!

-295!

-281!

A series of great damage followed! When the Paladins got out of their Stun states, they discovered in shock that their health bars had fallen by more than half!

“Let’s attack him together, kill him!” roared the Paladins and all their weapons were simultaneously thrown towards Lin Jie!

Ding!

Ding!

Ding!

There were three consecutive sounds caused by the collision of metal, but Lin Jie was not the one being hit! The tip of the Broken Blade had parried the thrown weapons accurately! In the hands of Lin Jie, the prowess of ‘Army Obliteration’ was fully executed—it parried attacks coming from the various directions by the different Paladins. Several gusts of Blade Auras were shot out and pierced through the Paladins’ bodies!

The Wolf Soul Necklace sucked in the blood which flowed out, and turned it into health points for Lin Jie!

In the blink of an eye, the death toll for the group was more than 1/3. Yet Lin Jie’s health bar had not changed the slightest! He looked at the Mages coldly and activated Forward Charge!

The Mages yelled angrily, “Blast him with the spells!”

Flames, Arcane spells, and Ice was formed in their palms, and thrown consecutively at this crazy Warrior! Elemental Attacks could get through the Warrior’s high-intensity physical defense capabilities!

The ground shook while the wind howled at Lin Jie’s every step.

Finally, Lin Jie was hit by Elemental magic. The Mages almost shouted out in excitement when they saw this scene! They had used eight kinds of Elemental magic altogether, and they believed that this would be enough to kill him as he was only left with minimal health points!

Unexpectedly, when the Element spells came in contact with his armor, the Kiara Beast King Enchanted Gem emitted a strange light. Elemental Attacks were like nothing to Lin Jie—they could not even burn or slow him down!

-17!

+16!

-8!

+9!

-15!

+18!

What’s more frightening was that the health points that Lin Jie lost due to the eight types of Elemental Attacks were regained by him in a jiffy with the help of the Wolf Spirit Necklace. It was almost like mocking them right in their faces!

Like a God of War, every step Lin Jie took brought War and Death nearer to them!

One of the Mages’ eyes widened in horror. He had completely lost any will to fight on!

Lin Jie held up the Broken Blade in a nonchalant manner. That fellow actually knelt down on the ground and shouted, “Big brother, don’t kill me! I worked so hard to get to Level 10. I was just planning to do some missions so I can earn my own living. If you kill me, I will drop back to Level 9, and it will be over for me…”

“Yes, yes, we are just helping someone complete his mission. It is Aquatic Predator who wanted to kill you, it’s none of our business!”

Several Mages hurriedly pleaded, hoping that Lin Jie would let them go.

It was not easy to get to Level 10. No one wanted to die after they changed jobs and finally had the ability to make money!

“Mission?” Lin Jie frowned.

“Brother Fu Sheng!”

A familiar voice rang out in the distance. Baili Changcheng held on to a fine sword and shouted, “How are you… oh WTF!”

The corpses all around the ground, coupled with the pleading players… Even fools would understand what happened.

Baili Changcheng drew in a sharp breath…

Chapter 89: The Greatest Wastrel

After a ray of Soul Magic engulfed Aquatic Predator, he was resurrected. He immediately ran to Baili Changcheng with a face full of grievances, and he pointed to Lin Jie. “Leader, he snuck up on us when we were attacking the Boss and even robbed our Boss! You have to help us and return justice to us!”

Lin Jie raised his brows in surprise. ‘Leader?’

This was Baili Changcheng’s team?

Baili Changcheng rolled his eyes. “Shut up!”

Aquatic Predator immediately stopped. He stood behind Baili Changcheng and had the expression of a sullen wife.

“I am not their Leader,” Baili Changcheng shrugged and let out an embarrassed laugh, “please don’t kill me along with them.”

Lin Jie shook his head calmly. “They attacked me first.”

Baili Changcheng turned to look at the Skeleton Commander’s corpse—what’s left of it anyway—and asked, “Fu Sheng, are you holding on to the Runes Rib?”

“Yes.”

“That is my friend’s required quest item. Since you won’t have any use for it, do you mind giving it to me so I can give it to my friend?” said Baili Changcheng.

Lin Jie threw him a glance, decided not to make things difficult for him and took the Runes Rib out. This bone was densely imprinted with words from ancient times. Were the words Dragon Language? Lin Jie couldn’t understand them anyway.

The relationship between Lin Jie and Baili Changcheng was still amiable now. It would definitely be a good thing to earn his trust and let this sly fox-like enemy keep his guard down around him.

“Here.”

“Thanks.”

After taking the Runes Rib, Baili Changcheng said smilingly, “Brother, how about introducing you to a friend of mine? You will definitely be interested to know him.”

“Oh?” Lin Jie thought for a moment and nodded. “Okay then.”

Aquatic Predator watched as the two of them went off and felt utterly cheated. This time round, he was definitely being taken advantage of! Fuming, he shouted, “Stop there!”

Baili Changcheng turned and said coldly. “Is there something?”

“No… no.” Aquatic Predator flushed, and his fists tightened and loosened for a few times. His blood vessels were visible too, but he did nothing except to let out a sigh.

——————

“I swear, all those idiotic players just now were not my people,” said Baili Changcheng disdainfully. “We are just working together for a mission. I am of a higher level than them, and thus they addressed me as their leader…”

Lin Jie asked, “Mission?”

Baili Changcheng nodded. “Yeah, a hired mission. Have you heard of Brotherhood? I joined this organization and earn a little pocket money by completing hired missions. Hehe… This time round, the person I planned to introduce you to is a big local tyrant. He’s what I’d call ‘stupid but rich,’ and his money is easy to earn!”

He laughed and patted Lin Jie’s shoulders.

Now, it was Lin Jie’s turn to feel speechless. In his previous life, Baili Changcheng had owned more than 20 cities and had been assisted by the Alliance of the three major guilds. Why would he still need to earn money by completing hired missions personally?

Shouldn’t such people concentrate on collecting the resources of the entire game, and then conquer the game secretly from behind the scenes?

Returning to the City of Light, Lin Jie first went to the Holy Church to heal his injuries, and then followed Baili Changcheng to the most prestigious Imperial City Restaurant and entered a room.

There were three tables in the room.

On the first table, there were Roasted Dragon Meat, Fried Devil Scorpion, Desert Oasis King Crab, Giraffe Sauce…

On the second table, there were all kinds of clear soups, like the Hundred Poultry Soup, Thousands Beast Soup, Chinese Paddlefish Soup…

In comparison, the third table seemed more light—colorful fruits which still had dewdrops on them were placed in beautiful platters. Although Lin Jie had not seen many fruits before, he thought the prices of the foods on this table wouldn’t be as expensive as the previous two tables. However, when Lin Jie noticed that there were two Blood-Enhancing Berries on one of the fruit platters, he realized he was still too naive. He should dump his previous assumption into the Atlantic!

‘Which damn wastrel would spend on such a lavish banquet?’

“Baili! Is the mission completed?” A fat man with a big belly walked in with a smile and said, “Is he your friend? Come, sit, sit…”

He sat on the Dragon Leather seat and chewed a piece of golden Roasted Dragon Meat, greeting Lin Jie, “Here, do help yourselves to the food, it is still rather difficult for me to finish all of these foods alone.”

Lin Jie blinked. “You are planning to eat all of these?”

“Yeah, is there a problem?” The fat man blinked and put a Blood-Enhancing Berry in Lin Jie’s hands. As if like a salesperson trying to promote his product, he encouraged, “You must taste one of these fruits, its sour and sweet at the same time. This is tasting much better than all the other fruits.”

Lin Jie took a look at the fruit, and his pupils shrank.

[Blood-Enhancing Berry]: Strength +8

Lin Jie couldn’t help but pull up the corners of his mouth into a weak smile. Strength was the most important attribute to a Warrior. If one could increase their own Strength for nothing, they would be overjoyed.

However, Lin Jie had already eaten two Blood-Enhancing Berries so it wouldn’t matter to him even if he ate more. As for the berries’ taste, who would really care about how that thing tasted?

This fat man who was now eating heartily was Dominance, or else known as the greatest wastrel in the entire of The New Age! He was also the president of the Money Gang! Lin Jie had once seen this fatso In the village where the Boss for the Guild Base was respawned. Lin Jie had recognized him when he first stepped into the room.

“Do help yourself, the taste of this fruit is really good, trust me,” commented Dominance.

Lin Jie smiled and snuck the Blood-Enhancing Berry into his backpack. Such a precious item should not be wasted—it could be sold for a large sum of money!

Dominance took the Runes Rib from Baili Changcheng in a gleeful manner, and let out a sigh. “Aish, just by exchanging these for EXP, when can I ever get to the top of the Rankings Board?”

Feeling dejected as it seemed like there was no hope of reaching the top, Dominance dug into his food again.

Baili Changcheng poked Lin Jie and sent him a private message. “This person is called Dominance. His real name is Hong Dali, a super rich kid, and his family seems to be very powerful! I heard that he had used millions of dollars to build the Money Gang!”

Lin Jie gulped nervously and glanced at the Runes Rib.

There were some missions in The New Age which allowed players to exchange rare items for experience points. However, the purpose of these missions was to increase the monsters’ values, rather than for the EXP, which was what Dominance was doing exactly. A Runes Rib could be exchanged for 3,000 EXP points, and it would take about 400 such items to level up. However, only monsters which were of the Elite level or above could spawn such items.

Lin Jie inquired about the price Dominance gave for obtaining a piece of Runes Rib and got the shock of his life—he actually rewarded players with 1,000$ for a piece of Runes Rib!

‘Wastrel, such a wastrel! WTH! Surely this guy has not gotten to the level he is at now by such means!’

However, after looking at the items on the three tables and calculating that all of it amounted up till an estimated $10 million, Lin Jie felt that Dominance’s actions seemed somewhat logical, then. As the saying goes, ‘The portals of the rich reek of meat and wine while frozen bodies lie by the roadside.’ 1 Money could be the ultimate life goal for an ordinary person, but it could also be just some useless paper to someone else.

“You want to reach the top of the Rankings Board?” asked Lin Jie.

“Yes, that’s right!” Dominance wiped his mouth, “A girl told me she will sleep with me if I make it to the Rankings Board… oops, I mean, she promised to have a ‘friendly exchange’ with me. Thus, I can only try my best to earn it.”

“Aish, as the saying goes, ‘The hero is angered for the sake of the beauty 2 , who would he go to great lengths for’…” Dominance sighed, and there were traces of saliva at the corners of his mouth.

Baili Changcheng hurriedly interrupted, “This is my friend, he’s an expert among the experts! He had once won the GIA championship, and he’s a professional gamer. You can employ him to complete your mission.”

Lin Jie whispered, “What is GIA?”

“I made it up, who cares anyway?” Baili Changcheng shot him a look.

“Good! It’s great working with experts! But we will not talk about this today, I can put the matter of my leveling up aside first. I will need to tell you all about this great insider news—are you interested?” said Dominance. Before anyone replied, he revealed excitedly, “The Cash Exchange System will be launched soon, and several sets of the game’s estates will be placed for sale!”

Lin Jie’s pupils constricted. ‘How does he know about this?’

One of the events which caused a series of drastic changes to the game was the introduction of the Cash Exchange System within one month of its official launch!

Previously, the state had officially stated that no real cash could be used to exchange for game currencies, as they had predicted this would cause a detrimental impact in both the real world and in the games!

If such systems were set up, many rich businessmen and corporates would reduce their investments in the real world and invest their money in the games. If the real world’s businesses lost financial support, how would the country’s economy continue to prosper?

As for the virtual game world, if the real world’s cash could be exchanged for an unlimited amount of game currency, the economic system of the whole game would be completely paralyzed, and “inflation” of the game’s currency might occur. Imagine, if a low-level health potion was priced at a few gold coins… who could afford it? The game would be abandoned soon.

However, despite all objections, The New Age managed to launch its Cash Exchange System! The catch was this: could one use cash to exchange for the game’s coins anyhow to buy equipment, properties, swimming pools, or even a King’s title just for the sake of enjoying life in the game? No! The game had strict rules, and the game currency cannot be exchanged for such purposes!

However, dearest rich players, you could skip the steps of exchanging your real-world cash for the game’s currency and buy the items you want directly in cash. As long as you have enough cash, you can obtain coins from players, groups or get them from other channels. In essence, you still can live like an emperor in the game.

In the game, the smart NPCs’ settings were very novel. They would accept the currency of the alternate realms, just that they would treat them as waste paper… No, definitely not, of course! The currencies of the alternate realms were still quite useful to the NPCs. When they accumulated enough money from the alternate realms, they could turn them over to the Holy Church, and on their behalf, it would offer the currencies to the Lord God (the game’s system). In return, these NPCs would get all kinds of blessings, some including prolonged lives, transfer to another job, etc…

However, in order to maintain the order in the game, the Empire would strictly control the sale of real estate, land resources, etc. in the game!

The game’s structure henceforth would change entirely! Those small guilds that had just lifted their heads would instantly be overpowered by the big guilds which had strong financial backings. All kinds of branded goods would get introduced in the game, causing a trading war.

Nevertheless, the Cash Exchange System still benefited the majority of players. As everything one owned now would have a price attached to them, as long as one was skilled in certain areas, they would be able to make income using that aspect.

In Lin Jie’s previous life the rate of employment in China had reached a whopping 400%! That was an unprecedented figure in the whole of China’s history!

During the first month, the Cash Exchange System had been launched, the entire game had undergone through epic changes. Numerous companies had invested in virtual games for the first time, and real-world endorsements, advertisements, branded goods were introduced to the game. This situation only stabilized until half a year later.

During those six months, the daring move of The New Age had earned it a great name—the second ‘world’ indispensable to mankind!

Other than that, with the launching of the Cash Exchange System, the game’s properties would start being auctioned in the game! These properties would basically lay the foundation for the city’s future developments. In his previous life, many shrewd businessmen still had had their doubts about the game and decided to wait for a while before starting their investments, only to regret later as no more game’s properties were being auctioned in the next few years.

The first property auction had been the one with the fewest participation, but definitely the most historic one!

Lin Jie looked at the sky outside the window, muttering silently to himself,

“Everything is going to be changed!”