"Too many things affected overall strength. How much money would that take?"
Jiang Liu felt completely outclassed by Lingyun Sect Senior Disciple. They were the same person, moving at the same pace, yet it had taken dozens of tries to kill him.
The movement techniques and footwork had really taught him a lesson.
Thinking that he'd need all this stuff himself someday, Jiang Liu couldn't help feeling apprehensive. There were so many random things to upgrade by spending money. Even with a 99% discount, he couldn't afford it.
Cultivation really was impossible without money.
Jiang Liu exited Cultivation Era in a daze. An unbearable wave of exhaustion washed over him. After killing Lingyun Sect Senior Disciple dozens of times, he was completely drained, his eyelids fluttering as he promptly fell asleep.
He hadn't slept in days, and this nap felt incredible. If someone hadn't been shaking him, he might have slept for who knew how long.
"Wake up, wake up! The event's about to start."
"Get off me."
"You're not joining the new event?"
"What new—huh?"
Jiang Liu's eyes flew open. He jolted all over and stared blankly at Li Dongze beside him. "What did you say?"
"The event, bro!"
Li Dongze said exasperatedly, "You've got some nerve. If I hadn't woken you, you'd have missed the event, right?"
There's a new event?
Had I really slept for several days?
Jiang Liu instantly snapped awake. He pulled out his phone and checked the date, then breathed a sigh of relief. Good, it had only been one night.
"This lousy game finally launched a new event."
After grumbling, he eagerly entered Cultivation Era.
A colorful, festive event screen popped up.
[King of Parkour—Limited-Time Event!] [Footwork! Magical Treasures! Wings! Titles!] [Parkour for All—Come and Compete!]
The background was decorated with festive red colors, fireworks, and firecrackers. In the center was an illustration of Lingyun Sect Master wearing roller skates, with icons of books, boots, wings, and titles scattered around him.
Jiang Liu had no interest in Lingyun Sect Master's promotional appearance, so he went straight to the event details.
[King of Parkour: Starting today, the parkour event will open at 12 noon sharp each day for three days. Every 10,000 players will be assigned a track. The top ten players on each track will advance each day.] [The tracks for the second round will be assigned according to the number of qualifiers. The top ten will advance to the third round.] [On the third day, the final competition will take place across 108 King's Tracks.] [The top 100 on each King's Track will receive one random low-grade Law-tier item. The top ten will receive one random mid-grade Law-tier item. The first-place player will receive one random high-grade Law-tier item and the title "King of Parkour."] [108 Kings of Parkour await your challenge!] [Event begins in: 5 minutes 32 seconds.]
"Now that's a big giveaway!"
Jiang Liu was stunned by the event details. The entire server would be split into 108 tracks, meaning the game would hand out ten thousand low-grade Law-tier items, a thousand mid-grade ones, and a hundred high-grade ones. That would suddenly double the number of high-level items in the game.
Wouldn't the game operators lose a fortune running this event?
Soon, his gaze landed on a buff icon in the lower-right corner of the event screen, and his expression stiffened.
As expected, the game operators would never be the ones taking a loss.
Jiang Liu tapped the buff icon. Three buffs were on sale.
[Low-Tier Movement Speed Buff]: Increases movement speed by 5% for 30 minutes. Price: 10 Spirit Stones. [Mid-Tier Movement Speed Buff]: Increases movement speed by 10% for 30 minutes. Price: 20 Spirit Stones. [High-Tier Movement Speed Buff]: Increases movement speed by 30% for 30 minutes. Price: 198 Spirit Stones.
"They're just forcing us to pay!"
After seeing the buff prices, Jiang Liu's face darkened. He couldn't help cursing.
The low-tier and mid-tier movement buffs only differed in price by a factor of two, but the high-tier buff cost ten times as much as the mid-tier one!
It was practically telling players outright: if you wanted to become King of Parkour, you had to buy the highest-tier buff!
And you had to buy it for all three days!
"Brilliant, brilliant. So you're not even pretending anymore?"
Jiang Liu gritted his teeth and bought the high-tier movement buff, his face black with anger. He had no choice—the first-place reward was a high-grade Law-tier item and a title.
Purchase failed.
He'd almost forgotten. He'd put all his Spirit Stones into the furnace.
Jiang Liu hurriedly claimed his sign-in rewards and Monthly Card, then collected the Spirit Stones from Master Jiang and Grandma Zhao in his mail before angrily buying the high-tier movement buff.
Purchase: 1.98 Spirit Stones!
"The event starts in five minutes. Good thing I've got a great buddy."
Jiang Liu looked relieved. If Li Dongze hadn't woken him, he would have missed this three-day event.
He exited Cultivation Era and patted Li Dongze on the shoulder. "Thanks. Want me to carry you for a bit later?"
With ten thousand people crammed onto one track, the crowd might cause a bottleneck. Carrying Li Dongze for a stretch would be one way of thanking him.
"Heh, no need. I bought wings too."
Li Dongze chuckled smugly. "Not just wings. I bought the high-tier movement buff, too!"
"Couldn't afford the buff? Sell me a magical treasure."
"Who do you think you're looking down on?"
Jiang Liu rolled his eyes. "I've got enough Spirit Stones for that. I'm a lucky player, got it? Do you think I'd be short on Spirit Stones?"
Li Dongze: "..."
This guy had magical treasures and Spirit Stones. How was that fair?
They weren't the only ones talking about the new event. The whole class had been roused from their dreary cultivation, their faces alight with excitement.
"Finally! Finally, an event I can actually join!"
"I spent all day farming the Foundation Establishment Event in the story, and only got a few Foundation Establishment Stones. Damn, that event takes forever to grind!"
"So everyone's supposed to get Perfect Foundation Establishment? Give it up. This is the event we can actually play."
"If you can't afford a buff, you're out in the first round. Poor people don't deserve to cultivate."
"What a garbage game. Can't they make one fair event?"
"Fair? It's the taking part that counts!"
Even with all the complaints, nothing could dampen the students' enthusiasm for the new event. Five minutes passed in the blink of an eye amid the chatter.
Just then,
an electronic voice sounded in Jiang Liu's mind.
[The limited-time King of Parkour event is now open. Would you like to participate?] [Yes.]
The instant he accepted, his head grew woozy. The Cultivation Era game interface appeared before his eyes, as if it were sucking his soul inside. The world spun around him.
When he came to again, he found himself in a completely new map, surrounded by a dense crowd of people. They were all students from Third Middle School.
Immersive Experience!
This was actually an Immersive Experience for everyone!
Jiang Liu was slightly taken aback. He'd assumed it would be a paper-doll parkour game, but it turned out to be a real race.
He glanced at the translucent map in the upper-right corner of his vision. Its name was [Illusion Realm: Abandoned Spirit Mine].
So this parkour event took place inside an Illusion Realm!
Everyone nearby had been assigned to the same track. Jiang Liu hadn't even had a chance to look over the terrain when he heard someone cry out beside him.
"Holy crap! Jiang Liu, why are you dressed so flashily?"
I've got eight magical treasures on me. I've been exposed.
Please follow!
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