The Blood Trolls were near Gash Mine, a familiar area for Sun Busong. The crocodile hides Trisrick in Treasure Bay needed could also be found here. First, they took a zeppelin to the Rebel Camp's flight point—no, that was wrong. It was the Brotherhood's Stranglethorn Vale flight point!
"Greetings, sir!"
The Brotherhood members stationed there all knew Sun Busong and Heavy Fist. As soon as the two stepped off the zeppelin, several people ran over to greet them warmly.
"Hello, brothers! Haha, you don't need to be so formal from now on. We're here to do a job for the bosses in Treasure Bay. We brought some food and drink—take it and share it with everyone!"
"Hahaha, our commander's so generous! Thank you, sir."
"What job are you here for, sir? Need our help? We've got plenty of people!"
They didn't stand on ceremony with Sun Busong.
Whenever Sun Busong moved on to a new place, he bought some local specialties, especially alcohol. He took out three barrels of Goblin Ale and some roasted raptor meat and set them on the ground. The Brotherhood members happily started carrying it all away.
Afterward, they asked for two horses and set off toward the Blood Trolls' territory.
There were tons of Blood Trolls in this area, with a complex mix of classes. There were three kinds of spellcasters alone. Fortunately, they weren't very high-level: level 36 Bloodvine Arcane Mages, Bloodvine Witch Doctors, and Bloodvine Shamans. These spellcasters had low defense but dealt heavy magic damage, so Sun Busong would take care of them.
Tauren Punch Master's defense was already formidable. Sun Busong usually used him as a meat shield. He and Humar would take on the Blood Trolls who specialized in physical combat.
With their roles clearly assigned, they split up and fought on their own. Three hours later, they had completed the mission and then some.
Mr. Punch walked ahead, carrying a huge bag of loot. He'd turned Humar into a pack mule, too; a large sack was strapped to the beast's back. Neither of them had a super backpack like Sun Busong's.
"I'm exhausted, boss! This won't do." The Tauren dropped his loot-filled bag on the ground and plopped down, panting heavily.
"Every time we collect loot, I end up looking like a peddler, carrying around bags and bundles. I'm done with it! You have to get me a few backpacks like theirs this time. I don't ask for much—just one that holds twelve slots!"
Punch wiped the sweat from his brow and glanced around with his big eyes as he complained to Sun Busong.
The Tauren wasn't stupid. He knew exactly how extraordinary his boss was. The last time they fought their way into Gash Mine, they'd killed over a thousand Blood Trolls, leaving loot piled up like a mountain!
But his boss had just waved his hand, and all of it had disappeared. Punch had even been forced to work as a miner, digging up several thousand chunks of gold ore, which his boss had collected, too.
He'd taken note of that. After they returned to Night Town, he'd secretly asked some friends about it. Apparently, these were pieces of Spatial Equipment, and they came in all kinds of forms: rings, backpacks, pouches, or even plain sacks.
They also came in different qualities. Ordinary white-quality bags had six slots, each of which could hold only one type of item. Identical items could stack, and the bag didn't care how large they were—you could put anything inside.
There were some limits, though. Materials could stack up to 200, but weapons and armor could only be stored one per slot.
Then there were green-quality backpacks, with 12, 14, or 16 slots. Blue Fine-quality backpacks had 22 or 24 slots. Purple backpacks were Epic-quality, and he'd heard they had 30 slots!
He also knew these things were rare. Even an ordinary white six-slot backpack cost 100 Gold Coin. Green-quality backpacks could only be made by master crafters in major cities. Anyone who owned a 24-slot backpack was either a wealthy merchant or a noble with great power.
But he didn't dare even think about how many slots his boss's backpack had! Hundreds of different materials and all kinds of weapons and armor, gone with a wave of his hand. Who could even imagine it?
Sun Busong looked at the Tauren, who was darting his eyes around, and laughed. "My Tauren, you've got some nerve asking for a green-quality, twelve-slot backpack!"
Punch knew at once he wasn't getting one. His face fell instantly. That made sense. Even the Auction House rarely had one of those. No matter how extraordinary his boss was, getting one probably wouldn't be easy.
"You're the Imperial Guard's Right Commander, so how could a green one suit your status? Give me some time. There'll be an auction in Treasure Bay six months from now. I'll get you four Blue Fine-quality, 24-slot backpacks then!"
At Sun Busong's words, the Tauren's big face shot up. He let out an excited bellow. "Moo!"
"Boss, really? You're going to buy me Blue Fine-quality, 24-slot backpacks? Four of them, too! Hahaha, that's amazing, boss! Hahaha—huh?"
Punch laughed, then suddenly stopped. His grin turned into a mournful expression as he stared at Sun Busong, as if asking, Are you joking?
"Boss, are you messing with me? At the last Ironforge auction, they only had seven green-quality, twelve-slot backpacks. Blue Fine-quality ones haven't appeared in ages. If you don't want to get me one, just say so. Why lie to me?"
Punch was telling the truth. Blue Fine-quality Spatial Equipment didn't just show up at the Auction House whenever you wanted.
"Who told you I was going to buy them?" Sun Busong gave the Tauren a disdainful look. Then, under Punch's disbelieving stare, he took four palm-sized cloth bags glowing with green light from his backpack.
Red Magic Pattern Bag (Green Excellent): 16-slot storage container!
"Here. Make do with these four for now. The materials for 24-slot bags can only be found in higher-level areas, but there'll definitely be some at the auction in six months. When have I ever broken a promise to you? If I hear you slandering my reputation again, I'll chop off your bullwhip and pickle it in wine!"
When Punch saw the four bags in Sun Busong's hand, he sprang up and snatched them away at lightning speed. He probably didn't even hear what Sun Busong said afterward.
"Thank you, boss! Thank you, boss! Hahaha, I knew you cared about me most!" The guy bounced around and shouted, never taking his eyes off the Red Magic Pattern Bags!
"Put them away already. Stop staring—you've got red eyes. Don't go berserk on me later!"
Sun Busong had already dealt with the crocodiles. Once Punch had stuffed everything on the ground into the 16-slot Magic Pattern Bags, Sun Busong pulled out more than thirty crocodile carcasses. "Come on, time to show off your real skills!"
After returning to the Brotherhood camp, the two took a zeppelin straight back to Treasure Bay. Their next mission wasn't here.
As soon as they disembarked, Sun Busong went straight to the quest hall and found Kobok and Trisrick.
"Oh, wonderful! Absolutely wonderful. This should make things a little better..." Seeing a pile of Troll ears on the ground, Trisrick looked both excited and frighteningly fierce.
Sun Busong and Punch stood where they were, waiting for him to pay their reward.
"What? Why are you still here? Your reward? Oh, right... Of course. Here you go... There's definitely no shortage."
Goblins were stingy. If you wanted a reward from them, you had to stick close; otherwise, they'd disappear the moment you turned around. And once you tracked them down again, getting your money was a lot harder.
After they counted the reward, Trisrick gave them another mission. This time, it was near the coast of Treasure Bay, so Sun Busong accepted it while he was at it.
"Keeping up exports of tiger fangs to the Southsea Isles by constantly hunting tigers is a real pain. It's difficult, and it costs a lot, too. Luckily, we've found a substitute: the fangs of these Skullsplitter Tribe Trolls. Hey, as long as you don't tell, the buyers won't know, right? Get me a batch of Troll fangs, and we'll be able to meet our monthly quota!"
What a bunch of crooks! They were passing off Troll teeth as tiger fangs! But that had nothing to do with Sun Busong. He just had to bring back enough Troll teeth. This time, the target was the Skullsplitter Trolls.
After saying goodbye to Trisrick, they went to see Kobok.
When he saw the intact crocodile hides, he praised Punch's skinning skills without reservation.
"These hides should be enough. Since they're going to be used as insoles, their quality isn't all that important, but they do need to be comfortable. These hides seem a little stiff, though. I'll need some tiger blood to soften them. You know how it is: no merchant without a little dishonesty, and no dishonest merchant without a little business!"
Once he'd finished that work, he gave Sun Busong the next quest.
"Mm, these boots are nearly finished. Next, I'll need to polish the surface. But you didn't bring quite enough hide to make all the insoles."
"So what do we do now, Kobok?" You're sure to ask that right away. Haha, what bad luck for you—you're talking to Kobok, and I'm about to give you another job!
"No one's going to inspect the insoles, so we just need some thick, cheap crocodile hide. Those snapping crocolisks by Lake Nafiriti should do."
The three mission areas weren't far apart, so they accepted this one as well.
The two missions earned them 1,000 points of reputation with the Treasure Bay Goblins, along with 12 Gold Coin as a reward. They glanced at the sky. It was still early, so they set out again.
The Skullsplitter Tribe controlled a vast territory, ruling over three nearby ruins. These Trolls were powerful, and most of them were already level 40.
This time, Sun Busong didn't split up from Punch. He was worried the Tauren might get killed if he was surrounded.
The Skullsplitter Tribe had a complete class system. They had defensive Warriors, spellcasters, ranged attackers, and healers.
The main ranged attackers were the Skullsplitter Beastmasters. Their own attacks weren't very strong, but they had tamed a lot of tigers and leopards. There were also Skullsplitter Axe Throwers. Their range wasn't great, but they hit hard. One strike could take more than 130 Health Points from Punch.
Don't underestimate that hundred-plus damage. Even though the Tauren wore high-Defense, High-Health gear specially made by Sun Busong, level 28 Punch had only a little over 2,000 Health Points. If the enemies focused their attacks on him, he'd be dead. Not everyone had such a ridiculous health bar.
For this mission, Sun Busong only had to kill some members around the tribe's perimeter. They didn't venture inside. Once they had collected enough Troll fangs, they changed targets and went to gather crocodile hide.
Punch was already very skilled at skinning. At his level, it should have been difficult to remove the hide intact from a level 38 crocodile. But they had plenty of crocodile carcasses. After working for two hours, they finished the mission and called it a day.
Next was the final mission: Whiskey Slim's wine.
The location was in the shallow waters about five kilometers past the Treasure Bay exit, just around the bend to the left. When the two arrived, they found that someone else had already claimed the shallow bay.
The Blood Sail Pirates!
"Everyone, we're just here to look for some lost wine. We're not trying to take your territory. If you let us take the wine back, I'll give you a reward afterward!"
Most of these human pirates were level 40 or higher. Sun Busong found a pirate named Duncan. He looked a little roguishly handsome, and like he'd be easy to deal with.
"You two make a strange pair. A Tauren and a... Dwarf who's even taller than him? Hahaha, sorry! I'm not making fun of you. I just couldn't help myself. Hahaha!"
This guy didn't seem to have a very pleasant way of speaking.
Once he finally stopped laughing, he came over and put an arm around Sun Busong's shoulder. "Brother, we pirates are just looking to make some money, then eat, drink, and enjoy life. We don't have any quarrel with you. If what you say is true, we'd be happy to take your money and retrieve the wine from the sea."
He held out one hand, making the universal sign for money, and watched Sun Busong with a smile.
"Sure!"
It took only half an hour for these men, who knew their way around the water, to collect all the wine from the sea. In return, Sun Busong took food and drink worth several times the price of the wine out of his backpack. Duncan called over several beautiful pirate mages, and the party began.
Some of the beautiful mages wore elegant red robes, while others were wild enough to wear only three-piece outfits. They could hold their liquor remarkably well. The Tauren passed out at the feet of the beautiful mages, and several tipsy women in three-piece outfits climbed right onto him.
Sun Busong once again felt aggrieved by his underage status. Hold on! In another year and three months, his blissful sex life would finally begin.
The banquet lasted all night. Sun Busong passed out in the middle of the night, but he didn't have to worry about the pirates attacking him in his sleep. At the banquet, Humar had put on a show, killing a level 44 Naga Explorer in ten seconds.
They were friendly to Sun Busong because he was generous and easy to talk to. More importantly, his strength was unfathomable. Duncan was a clever man. He knew who he could afford to offend and who he should make a friend.
Early the next morning, Sun Busong pushed the slender leg resting on his chest away. He memorized the look of the woman in the short skirt above it with a fierce stare, then dragged the still-hungover Tauren off to Treasure Bay.
I'm on vacation, so I took a break, too. I didn't stay up late to update last night, hahaha!
Two updates today. We've passed 500 followers!
Thanks to the few readers who've stuck with me!
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