(Second Update) (Continued)

Hisatake Nao smiled fawningly, though his smile was just as frivolous.

In comparison, Miyamoto Daichoku, a retired special forces soldier hardened by countless battles, was far more wary. He kept his eyes fixed on the players acting as bodyguards beside the other students.

To the two Player Hunters, these higher-level players were larger Experience Packs, but they were not easy to deal with either.

The higher the level of the player they hunted, the more Experience Points they could gain. Moreover, after killing them, they could obtain all of their possessions. That was far better than hunting newbies who were only level 1 and carried nothing.

However, neither of them dared act rashly for now. After all, the sugar daddy was still sitting here, and openly falling out with everyone would not be good.

Likewise, the bodyguard players beside the other students were also watching the two highest-level people present.

The others were not as high-level as those two players, but they were all above level 10. Their weapons might not be Rare Grade, but each of them had at least one Fine Grade weapon. They had enough strength to put up a fight.

Furthermore, some of them were Player Hunters themselves. Otherwise, their levels would not have risen so quickly.

Of course, this was merely the mutual vigilance among high-level players. As for the students entering the campus, they were still the same as usual, joking with one another in a harmonious atmosphere.

Everyone quietly waited for the system countdown to end.

[Inner World opens in: 30 seconds]

As the system message appeared, Nita Goichi raised his glass of champagne.

The students present also raised their champagne glasses in return.

"A toast to the new world we will rule!"

(I was busy with homework yesterday, and I had early classes all day. Some chapters in the novel also contained content that did not align with social values and got blocked, so I needed to revise them. I only slept three hours from morning to night and really could not hold on anymore. I only managed to write half of this chapter last night in whatever spare time I could squeeze out. I finished the word count at noon today and posted it first. I seriously cannot take it anymore. I have to take a nap.)

As he watched the countdown, Tsukikawa Shu had already gotten dressed and prepared to enter the Inner World in a hotel near the beach.

Since items from the original world, especially weapons and such, basically could not be brought into the Inner World, Tsukikawa Shu simply wore a set of black clothes that allowed easy movement and kept him warm.

They had originally planned to come to the beach for a relaxing day of dates, and he had even impulsively prepared a surfboard. However, reality had diverged somewhat from the plan.

The three of them had been all lovey-dovey together, and with no one else around, it had been easy for things to get out of hand.

As a result, they barely completed any of the planned activities. They had only sunbathed and floated around in the seawater a few times.

"Ah, we can't do this next time."

Tsukikawa Shu looked regretfully at the newly bought surfboard that had yet to be used.

"Wasn't it because you kept wanting to continue?" Hiratsuka Shizuka said somewhat indignantly.

"Teacher Hiratsuka, I haven't been the one taking the initiative that often lately, have I?" Tsukikawa Shu looked utterly innocent. "And every time, you even drag Hitori in too."

"Mm..." Goto Hitori did not dare say anything.

"Isn't that what you wanted? Who was the one who took the initiative in the Inner World before?" Hiratsuka Shizuka said.

"But now I'm increasingly convinced of the saying that at thirty, one is like a tiger." Tsukikawa Shu spoke seriously.

Goto Hitori was still fine; she was completely passive. As for Hiratsuka Shizuka, she had become increasingly proactive.

Perhaps because she had never experienced this sort of thing before, she had always been unable to let go. But after entering her own home ground, with no one else around, she had become more and more assertive.

Nights were one thing, but now she wanted it in broad daylight too.

Should he look in the Inner World for a skill that could improve his prowess in that regard?

Tsukikawa Shu considered it.

The two of them could still handle it for now, but if another one joined later, he might one day die in bed.

He should make a post on the forum first.

Tsukikawa Shu took out his phone, registered another alternate account on the forum, put up a bounty, and listed the skill he wanted.

To the players currently surrounded by noobs, this sort of skill was absolutely the most useless kind. Those with some strength were all thinking of gathering more resources to develop their power as quickly as possible, hoping useless skills could be exchanged for more leveling resources.

After posting on the forum, the three of them entered the Inner World.

It was still that desolate city.

Tsukikawa Shu took a lap around the surrounding area, but this time, he did not find anyone familiar who had entered the Inner World.

Whenever the Inner World opened, there was a certain chance that people near a player would be dragged in as well. However, it had not triggered this time.

That made things easy. They could just rush straight into the instance and start farming.

It was still that Goblin Instance. After spending half a day, they directly completed all twenty available runs.

Goblin corpses piled up on the ground like mountains, but they soon weathered away completely. Then goblin statues rose from the earth one after another, and after shattering, two of them gleamed with purple light.

[Congratulations. You are the warrior who was the first in the entire Inner World to clear this instance 100 times. You must be covered in wounds, but the Goblin King admires your courage. Your chance of obtaining Epic Grade items has increased~]

[You have obtained an Epic Grade item: Fire Phoenix Gem]

[You have obtained an Epic Grade item: Sea Dragon Whisker]

[Want even more Epic Grade items? Then become the first in the world! Be the first to successfully challenge this instance for the 200th time!]

"..."

Tsukikawa Shu held his katana and stared at the instance prompt, not knowing what to say.

What wounds? He had one-shot the instance with a Legendary Sword Skill.

Still, for the other struggling players right now, this was indeed a major challenge.

For this instance as it currently stood, they needed at least one player above level 20 to lead the team, and their weapon could not be below Rare Grade. They also needed to bring along several players above level 10 to ensure they could clear it.

As for Tsukikawa Shu, he was simply too powerful himself. His Class Card was the extremely special Enchanter, and he carried a pile of skills he had either snatched or picked up. After granting them to himself, he could use them freely.

Later, after he used Experience Cards to pull Goto Hitori and Hiratsuka Shizuka above level 20, this instance changed from a treasure trove where temptation and danger coexisted into a place purely for farming experience.

Tsukikawa Shu had even experienced the dull, monotonous feeling of farming daily instance rewards in certain grind-heavy games.

Sigh, high levels came with high-level troubles, just as rich people had rich-people troubles.

Tsukikawa Shu felt helpless. For a moment, he actually felt as though he could empathize with those great capitalists.

However, this instance prompt had given Tsukikawa Shu an even greater clue.

This Inner World did not only contain the place he currently belonged to, Tsukirou Town. Other cities existed as well. It was just that the people in those cities might not be as numerous as those here, making their presence less noticeable.

And since he was the first person in the entire Inner World to clear this instance one hundred times, did that mean he was also the highest-level person in the entire Inner World?

But that was hard to say. Perhaps other towns did not have this instance, while they had other powerful people.

"I still need to keep getting stronger." Tsukikawa Shu pondered.

Unknown dangers were what made people the most vigilant.

So, besides farming experience and instances every day, he also needed to quickly contract another wife.

Tsukikawa Shu had more or less figured out the rewards brought by the Destiny Contract. These rewards would not directly grant massive amounts of experience, items, or weapons. Instead, they gave even more valuable talents.

For example, when he signed a contract with Goto Hitori, he received the Double Experience Talent. When he contracted Hiratsuka Shizuka, he received the Double Drop Talent for instances, as well as the Instance Promotion Talent.

Tsukikawa Shu had yet to figure out where "talents" could be obtained, but they were definitely the rarest and hardest things to acquire. They were things that could allow a player to defy fate and change their destiny.

"Epic Grade items?"

Hiratsuka Shizuka was also surprised as she looked at the dropped items.

The Legendary Grade item they obtained last time had been the result of Tsukikawa Shu's own luck, but this time, they seemed to have accidentally triggered the instance's reward mechanism.

"Can Epic Grade items be farmed so easily?" Goto Hitori took a deep breath, almost unable to believe it.

"The drop rate for Epic Grade items is 0.1%. We've already run it over a hundred times, so just think of it as the drop rate having risen to 10%."

Tsukikawa Shu said, "Of course, we were indeed quite lucky to get them at this rate."

"Really?" Goto Hitori blinked.

Tsukikawa Shu did not explain further. Goto Hitori was not very good at studying anyway, so she would not understand the mathematical principle behind it.

She really was easy to fool~

"It's very tempting, but also very dangerous."

As usual, Hiratsuka Shizuka lit a cigarette. "Other players might not even be able to complete twenty runs in an entire day. They might find even ten runs difficult, or after only a few runs, they could face the threat of injury and death."

"If they want to complete one hundred runs without taking damage, it would take too long. I don't think many people would stubbornly grind this instance. Once they get the leveling items they need, they will probably move on elsewhere. After all, everyone's stamina and time are limited."

Tsukikawa Shu was naturally happy to obtain so many items. He refused nothing, stuffing every item into his backpack during each of his three visits to the Inner World.

[Current backpack space is full. Would you like to dismantle items in bulk?]

With the Double Drop bonus, rows upon rows of item names flashed before his eyes, and the System Backpack quickly filled again.

Tsukikawa Shu looked at the two Epic Grade items that had dropped this time.

[Fire Phoenix Gem:]

[An exclusive item for warrior-type classes. Combined with 10,000 units of Refined Ore, it can be attached to a Rare Grade weapon, allowing it to evolve into an Epic Grade weapon.]

[Sea Dragon Whisker:]

[An exclusive item for mage-type classes. Combined with 10,000 units of Refined Ore, it can be attached to a Rare Grade weapon, allowing it to evolve into an Epic Grade weapon.]

Tsukikawa Shu looked at the number before "Refined Ore." This stuff was in rather high demand.

Refined Ore was a common item in the Inner World and had tremendous uses.

Whether strengthening various items or enhancing weapons, none of it could be done without these things.

Tsukikawa Shu checked his backpack and found that he did not have much Refined Ore. It mainly had a chance to drop when killing monsters that fed on minerals, or when finding treasure chests during exploration, which contained small amounts of it.

However, Tsukikawa Shu had had no need for this stuff in the early stages. He leveled quickly and replaced his weapons just as quickly, so he had never paid attention to it.

But now, it seemed Refined Ore had enormous value. In this Inner World, where paper money was completely worthless, common items like Refined Ore were highly likely to become a general equivalent.

[Refined Ore can be obtained by dismantling weapons and items.]

[The amount of Refined Ore obtained from dismantling items of each grade is as follows.]

[Common Grade: 50]

[Fine Grade: 250]

[Rare Grade: 1,500]

[Epic Grade: 5,000]

[Legendary Grade: 50,000]

Tsukikawa Shu looked at the description of Refined Ore and did not hesitate before immediately selecting item dismantling.

Dismantling items was actually a loss. For example, items above Fine Grade were not easy to obtain, while Rare Grade items and above were rarer still. They could only be acquired from extremely hidden cave treasure chests, rare system gifts, or by farming instances.

Epic Grade items were now absolutely rare. Even if this Inner World developed for several years, Epic Grade items would probably still remain highly sought after.

Only because Tsukikawa Shu possessed the Double Drop Talent for instance materials, and had begun farming during the last opening of the Inner World, had he been able to obtain two of them.

Tsukikawa Shu thought about it. There was no need to keep items below Rare Grade. Their priority now was to first upgrade Hiratsuka Shizuka's and Goto Hitori's weapons to Epic Grade.

As for items above Rare Grade, he did not have many, but they were enough for the bounty of Widely Recruiting Virtuous Wives.

If someone truly came forward and passed Tsukikawa Shu's evaluation, he would gift them an entire set of weapons, Class Cards, and Skill Cards. He would also use Experience Cards to raise their level as much as possible, so they would not drag down the rest of the group.

[Common-type and Refined-type items are being dismantled...]

[Dismantling successful. You have obtained 25,400 Refined Ore.]

While other players treated even a Fine Grade weapon as a treasure, Tsukikawa Shu merely swiped his finger, selected everything, and tossed it all into the dismantling system.

"Wouldn't that be too wasteful?"

Watching Tsukikawa Shu's actions, Hiratsuka Shizuka said with some heartache, "These Fine Grade pieces of equipment could already arm a team of more than fifty people."

"We won't consider that for the time being," Tsukikawa Shu said. "The disparity in strength in this world is huge. In the future, it may be possible for one person to take on an entire army alone, so blindly massing troops is not the best strategy."

"Besides, I don't want to manage that many people right now. Too many people will lead to traitors in our midst, and we do not need them yet."