Red Scale Conqueror!

The four of them quickly walked forward along the Flame Road.

A fawning smile appeared on Steamed Bun's face. He wanted to use his own abilities to win back the goodwill that Single had ruined.

"My lord, is there something you need from us? Just say the word, and we will be absolutely willing to serve you like a dog or a horse, even if it means going through fire and water!"

[Affection -5.][[Mysterious Dragon Vein Sorcerer - Keosius] Your affection level is -10 (mild dislike).] Steamed Bun's smile froze on his face.

"Why is it going down instead of up?!"

"No way, why does this mysterious NPC cause so much trouble?" he cursed inwardly.

A hint of mockery flickered across Keosius's face. He thought to himself, "Do you think I don't know what you're like? You're probably cursing me in your hearts right now."

But he still said Yun Danfengqing, "Starfallers from the unknown land, I invited you here not to listen to your nonsense."

[You have issued a quest to players [I'm Going to Eat Mantou], [Singo], [Xia Ye Qiuyu], and [Born Battle Maniac].] Singo replied succinctly, "Please speak."

The half- Dragon Sorcerer looked down at the crowd, radiating a powerful aura, his golden eyes gleaming.

"Since you were born in Bator City, it must be the arrangement of the God of Fate. Go and learn about its short history, or the more ancient stories about Tiefling Ember Nest. You will make new discoveries."

The tasks were refreshed on everyone's panels.

Investigating the story of Tiefling

Quest Description: The Tiefling, known as the "Devil's Spawn," did not originally belong here. They were driven away and slaughtered, but with astonishing willpower, they migrated here and, in just five years, established their city on this monster-infested Storm Highlands. What happened to them five years ago? And what made them migrate here and join the Ember Nest? Quest Reward: +500 [Ember Nest] Faction Contribution

"So the reward is Faction Contribution points."

Singo's voice sounded somewhat disappointed, but considering the other party was an important NPC, he forcibly swallowed back the last sentence, "I wouldn't even want a dog."

Even the two Born Battle Maniac and Xia Ye Qiuyu, were somewhat disappointed. They had both read Single's strategy guide, which stated that Faction Contribution were currently useless. Although they could not rule out the possibility of them being of great use in the future, they were just empty promises in the early stages.

"Wait a minute. Look at this!"

"Quick, check the store interface!"

Steamed Bun's voice trembled with excitement.

"Damn, are you out of your mind?"

Singo was startled by Steamed Bun's sudden outburst, cursed under his breath, but still instinctively opened the interface.

[The mysterious Dragon Vein Sorcerer - Keosius] has opened his personal shop for you.] Unlike the trading panels of ordinary merchant NPCs, the trading panel of this high-class [Mysterious Dragon Vein Sorcerer - Keosius] is divided into three modules: [Adamantine Shop], [Mithril Shop], and [Ordinary Shop].

The items sold in the [Ordinary Shop] are no different from those sold by ordinary merchants; they are just a variety of iron swords, leather armor, potions, raw materials, and food. Although there are many items, there doesn't seem to be anything special about them.

"What's the big deal? I can get more."

But as he continued reading, Singo was also stunned, and after a long while, he finally uttered two words—

"Holy crap."

Starting with the Mithril Shop, the product interface underwent a dramatic change—it featured rare quality equipment never before seen since the Internal Beta, such as the Whispering Greatsword, the Emerald Dragon Scale Sword, the Openwork Staff, and the Hunter Longbow.

Moreover, these pieces of equipment were dazzling, numbering over a hundred in total! The interplay of magical light dazzled the onlookers.

Singo browsed the equipment descriptions, his face beaming with excitement. He muttered to himself, "Whispering Greatsword, Whispering Tree Root extend from the hilt, silencing the target upon hit—an incredibly versatile early-game artifact. Dragon Scale Shield, with built-in Anti-Dragon Aura, a core piece of equipment specifically designed to counter dragon bosses. Hunter Longbow, applies Hunter Mark to the target with a single aim—my Archer Warrior's best-in-slot early-game gear."

But when he looked at the prices below, his heart sank.

Most of these items cost tens of Gold Coin, and even a few rare early-game god-tier items cost hundreds of Gold Coin. Even a professional player like him would find it difficult to accumulate that many. Perhaps only wealthy guilds could afford one or two of these items.

In fact, these overpriced equipment were not originally intended for solo players like Singleo, but were specifically released by Keosius to Leeks guilds.

But Singleo also noticed the description on the store page.

[Mithril Shop: Requires 3000 Faction Contribution points to the [Ember Nest] faction to unlock.] Singo gasped, "Looks like I was wrong. Faction Contribution is so crucial!"

Keosius's golden eyes narrowed slightly, and he sneered inwardly, "You brat belittled my Faction Contribution, making it so that no one wants to take on the manual labor tasks, and I have to allocate special funds to do so. Now you know how powerful I am!"

Keosius's status has risen from a hardworking worker in his previous life to the Faction Chief, and with the rise in status, his mentality will naturally change as well.

Now that he's the boss, all he wants to do is ruthlessly exploit the players. He first squeezes out a wave of Gold Coin with the invitation letters, and then squeezes out a wave of labor with the Faction Contribution restrictions.

As for buying equipment? The player said, "I can get a few more Gold Coin. If we pool our resources, we can always save up enough money."

What? You say you can't save enough? No problem, you can always pay in installments. There's only a tiny bit of interest; just keep paying off the debt every day. After all, Keosius isn't some kind of demon, just an ordinary Red Dragon, and he's still willing to fulfill every player's dream of owning a full set of god-tier gear.

"Xin Gou, take another look at the Adamantine Shop."

"Steamed Bun," he reminded him, his tone already somewhat numb.

Singo didn't dwell on the name "steamed Steamed Bun" and simply brought up the control panel.

[[Adamantine Shop]: Requires 10,000 Faction Contribution points in [Ember Nest] to unlock.] It's the familiar Faction Contribution system at the start.

However, the [Adamantine Shop] doesn't have a wide variety of items; there are only a few items displayed on the interface, and they are all priced according to Faction Contribution!

Singo stared intently at the descriptions of those items.

"Dragon Blood Secret Medicine, unlocks the Sorcerer subclass [Dragon Vein Sorcerer] quest, price 4500 Faction Contribution."

"This is Crimson Scale, which unlocks the Fighter advanced class [Red Scale Conqueror] quest. Price: 9800 Faction Contribution."

[Red Scale Conqueror]

Requirements: Large Dragon Vein Creature mount, Dragon Bloodline, Fighter base level 3, +4 riding skill proficiency.

Job Description: When the roar of dragons echoes from afar, the Red Scale Conqueror will ride massive and ferocious Dragon Vein Creature down from the sky, bringing endless flames and utter death to their enemies.

Steamed Bun gritted his teeth, made a silent resolution, and his eyes shone with unprecedented determination. "No one can stop me, I'm going to be Dragon Knight!"