Chapter 106: Enhancing the Rejuvenation Technique

Among the three orange-tier pieces of equipment, two were strength-based, and one was an intelligence hat. The relevant players each rolled the dice, and this time Boss Wu’s luck exploded—he rolled and won the orange hat.

“Brother Blade, your luck’s on fire! I’m rooting for you,” someone said.

“Hehe, thanks, everyone. Let me just lie back and soak up the experience, and on top of that, I get an item,” Boss Wu replied.

After Boss Wu rolled the hat, it felt a bit awkward—he had barely contributed anything, especially during the red boss fight. He kept falling down and practically spent the whole time running away.

“No worries, we’ll play together again sometime,” came the reassurance.

Next, they rolled for purple gear. Zhang Shan was lucky; he snagged the only agility-based piece dropped that event—a pair of purple boots. But they were just ordinary purple boots, not valuable at all. No one even knew if they could fetch three hundred gold coins at auction.

The last two orange materials were not won by either Zhang Shan or Boss Wu. Materials were the hardest to roll for, with the entire fifty-person team participating, yet only one person could win. It was harder than landing a critical hit.

“When this is done, let’s call it a day. Everyone open your boxes and level up,” said Fengyun Tianxia as the team disbanded.

“Folks, off to grind monsters now,” Zhang Shan said after adding Boss Wu to his team.

“Let’s go. I’ll help you level up. First, we’ll hit the auction house to get you a pair of boots, otherwise you’ll be lucky to reach the monster grinding map before bedtime,” Zhang Shan explained.

“Damn, where are you grinding monsters? That far?” Boss Wu asked.

“We’re heading to the level forty monster map. It’s pretty far—I have to run over forty minutes. Without better boots, you’d spend at least an hour and a half just getting there,” Zhang Shan said.

Boss Wu was still wearing the plain white beginner boots he got from the newbie village. His movement speed was painfully slow. They had to get him a pair of level ten purple boots with no other demands—just something to run faster.

“Let’s head to the auction house.”

They teleported there instantly. Zhang Shan filtered intelligence boots, level ten purple gear.

Damn, level ten boots sold for a thousand gold coins, while level thirty ones went for just two or three hundred. Practicality was king.

No one used level thirty purple gear anymore; they sat unsold in the auction house, while level ten boots remained in demand due to the constant influx of new players.

Ignoring stats, Zhang Shan picked the pair with the highest movement speed bonus—boots that added six points to speed. A small treasure. He bought them outright for two thousand gold coins.

Money was no object. Running faster saved time, and time was money.

After trading the boots to Boss Wu, Zhang Shan waved his hand.

“Let’s go level up.”

They teleported to the city gate and started running toward the Ant Hill map—but not too fast. Even with the new boots, Boss Wu was still considerably slower, so they took it easy.

“Why grind level forty monsters? That’s way above your level! You’re only twenty-seven,” Boss Wu asked.

“No choice. I’m after the monsters’ passive skills,” Zhang Shan replied.

“Passive skills? What do you mean?” Boss Wu’s head was full of question marks.

He didn’t know about Zhang Shan’s Passive King talent.

Zhang Shan showed it in the team chat.

“Look at my talent, and you’ll understand.”

“Holy crap, that talent is insane! Even without an artifact, you’re a big shot in this game.”

“Hehe, it’s pretty good, but without artifacts, it takes a long time to develop. Not as smooth as now.”

“This talent breaks game balance. Later on, if you stack dozens of passives, who’d dare challenge you?”

“Not necessarily. This game’s weird—there are more and more items and skills. No matter how strong you are alone, you still need your brothers.”

“So that’s why you joined the Fengyun guild? They seem like good people, probably fun to play with.”

“Mutual help is key. Whether fighting big bosses or dueling, doing it alone won’t get you far.”

“Aren’t you thinking of founding your own guild? With your reputation as an artifact master, it shouldn’t be hard to gather people.”

“No interest. Too much trouble. I prefer this way—no responsibilities. Except for boss fights and important guild events, I basically don’t participate. I just grind.”

“Makes sense. You’re playing to make money after all. Better to lean on a big tree than start your own guild. If you pick a fight with someone you can’t beat, no money for you.”

“Exactly. If anything comes up, Fengyun Tianxia handles it. I just want to quietly grind.”

“What about that orange gear I rolled earlier? How much do you think it’s worth?”

“You’re not thinking of selling it, are you? No need. No one wants level thirty gear these days. Keep it.”

“Alright, I’ll hold onto it. But how do I make money in the game? I’ve always been a spender, never knew how to earn.”

“No rush. Once you level up, we’ll hunt bosses together. Just by getting a few good skill books, money will come.”

“Is it really that simple?”

“Not simple at all. First, finding a boss isn’t easy. Second, to beat a boss, you need a lot of people. Think about it—if many people share the drops, how much do you get?”

“So the two of us can handle bosses?”

“Don’t worry. Except for red bosses, everything else is easy.”

---

“Ha! I got a purple piece opening a box.”

What? Almost forgot about the monster siege event and the treasure chests.

I was so focused on leveling Boss Wu, I forgot there were treasure boxes to open.

At the event's end, besides treasure boxes, fortress contribution points automatically converted to honor.

Zhang Shan glanced at his honor points—9,018, nearly ten thousand. His rank had auto-upgraded to Commander of a Hundred.

From now on, he could collect a weekly salary of five gold coins from the civil affairs officer.

But going from Commander to Colonel required fifty thousand honor points—a hefty sum. He’d be working on that for a long time.

“Your luck’s something else. Level one boxes have a one in ten thousand chance of dropping purple gear, and you got it.”

“Hehe, not bad. A level fifteen Taoist weapon—should be usable soon.”

“I opened my box too, hoping for something good.”

“You’ve got a level five star box. Chance to get an artifact, right?”

“No finished artifacts yet, only broken ones that need NPC repairs. No artifact is easy to get.”

Zhang Shan took his level five star box from the mail and opened it.

Damn, another skill book.

Last event, he got a berserk skill book. This time, another skill book.

Was his luck just that good, or did level five star boxes have a higher chance of skill books?

This time it was an Enhanced Rejuvenation Scroll. Again for Boss Wu. Looks like his luck was real today.

“I got you a skill book you can use,” Zhang Shan said, trading the Enhanced Rejuvenation Scroll to Wu Qinglin.

“Isn’t that expensive? I’ve heard those skill books sell for a fortune.”

“Sell it? Why bother? Better to use it yourself. With two healing skills, you can keep the panda baby alive. Maybe even take down weaker red bosses just the two of us. That’s when the real money starts.”

Playing games with a brother-in-arms brought back memories of their student days.

I’ve got to find a way to get him to quit that lousy job so we can conquer the new world together. Hehe.