Level Ten and the Mall

More than ten days later.

After Wang Qian Duo killed a team of magic rats, he finally used up his last bit of fatigue and his experience was enough to reach level 10.

Old Wang didn't hesitate and chose to level up on the spot.

These past few days, he had been constantly cycling through quests and taking people into nightmare dungeons with the Yu sisters.

Then, every day, he would grind his fatigue away in the underground of the Magic Rat Star, and finally successfully reached level 10.

This was a path that would take others over a month, but he had completed it in half a month, mainly because the repeating quests were too powerful.

At the same time, over these past few days, Old Wang's level had not only increased significantly, but his operational skills had also made considerable progress.

At the very least, with the advantage of his equipment, most players he brought into dungeons would respectfully call him a master, rather than just a rich player.

Only he knew how much hardship and sweat he had shed in the training grounds.

After reaching level 10, Wang Qian Duo had many more things to do. Fortunately, tomorrow was the weekend, so he could work late tonight.

As for his hair, he was still young and it could grow back! At worst, he would buy the best hair care products!

Upon reaching level 10, all three of his growth-type equipment could evolve, but he was still tens of thousands of experience points short. This would take some time to grind.

Tens of thousands of experience points were enough for him to level up a few more times, and also enough for him to grind for many days.

"When you put it that way, I'm not actually much faster than others!

Sigh, talking about it makes me cry!"

No wonder they say sensitive people are so melodramatic. Even after all this, he was still not satisfied.

Truly!

After a moment of being melodramatic, Wang Qian Duo opened his system interface and looked at the various functions that the system had prompted him to unlock.

Functions like mounts and character fashion were not important because he didn't have them yet.

He had fashion items, but they were all in storage, and he truly had no mounts.

Moreover, mounts required a license, which would also take some time.

What he was most concerned about was the game mall, which was closely related to his cheat. Everyone else also had access to it upon reaching level 10, but their malls only had one item: character decorations that added no stats.

But Wang Qian Duo's mall was different from theirs. His mall was divided into four sections.

Fashion was just one of them. There were also materials, items, and a limited-time special offer store.

In the fashion mall, in addition to the fashion items that added no stats, similar to ordinary players, there were also some that added stats, but they were not as good as the ones given by VIP 15.

The material and item malls were, as their names suggested. However, the highest-grade items in the material mall were only legendary, and legendary items were also limited in quantity.

For example, the [Earth Elemental Energy Crystal] (Legendary), which Wang Qian Duo was very familiar with, could only be bought once a month, and it was one of the most precious materials.

Gold crystals were also a material, and they were not expensive, costing ten for one dollar, like diamonds, but they were also limited to ten thousand per month.

The items in the item mall were more varied, with countless consumables of various functions, but the most common were various potions.

The 30% full recovery potion that Wang Qian Duo had been longing for was just a relatively ordinary item among them.

Now he didn't have to worry about potion consumption. He could use potions to get through some troublesome situations.

The limited-time special offer store had a total of six items. After buying them all, diamonds could be used to refresh it.

VIP 15 could refresh up to 50 times per week, at two dollars each time, which was 20 diamonds. After a week, it would reset, and it would also refresh once for free.

The items here were more complex. Although most of them were items from the other three malls, there were also some special items.

For example, explosion bombs, equipment blueprints of various levels, mounts, and epic materials.

As long as an item existed in the game, it could be refreshed here, but the rarer the item, the lower the chance of it appearing.

The items in these malls, like the VIP gift packs, all required the diamonds he had recharged to purchase.

He still had a lot of diamonds, so he didn't need to worry about it for a while.

The mall was good, but there was one drawback: items purchased with diamonds were bound. If there wasn't this restriction, what would be the point of going to work!

What a pity! What a pity!

After looking at the mall introduction for a while, Wang Qian Duo took flight and left the underground world.

His most urgent task now was to evolve his mecha. Everything else could wait. He had been looking forward to this moment for a long time.

Following the address left by his master, Old Luo, Wang Qian Duo used the token Old Luo had left him to arrive at an ordinary residential building on the mother planet.

This was his first time on the mother planet. It wasn't particularly special. The environment of blue skies, white clouds, green mountains, and clear waters was exactly the same as Earth, and even a bit backward.

Because there were not many people left on the mother planet in the game, after players entered in large numbers, the total population of the planet was less than the population of one area in the mother star's base suspended in the sky.

One reason was that players could not enter freely. However, a more important reason was the massive outflow of people and their unwillingness to return.

On this planet that had once nurtured human civilization, there were almost no valuable interstellar resources left.

Its commemorative significance now outweighed any other meaning of its existence.

Furthermore, the population here was still decreasing, as most of those who remained were elderly people who did not want to leave their homeland.

Young people are rarely seen these days, so Wang Qianduo attracted quite a few stares on his way here.

After entering the residential building, Wang Qianduo rang the doorbell and was invited inside by Old Luo.

Old Luo's home was a typical, unpretentious dwelling.

He lived alone, with no one else around, fitting his "world-weary" expression.

"You're here much faster than I expected. It seems you're quite talented!" Old Luo said, looking at Wang Qianduo with a hint of satisfaction.

"No, General Huang gave me a shortcut!" Wang Qianduo stated frankly.

Since the Elemental Crown was already bound to him, there was no turning back now, even if Old Luo wanted him to quit. Lying would be pointless.

Old Luo: "...You're really damn honest!"

"Thank you, Master!"

Am I praising you?

Old Luo: "Alright, enough chatter. Here's the price list for the materials you need for your mech's evolution. Take a look. If there are no issues, settle the payment, and I'll take you to start the trial."

"Materials? Settle the payment?" Wang Qianduo's expression soured as he looked at the price list handed over by Old Luo, which amounted to twenty thousand gold crystals.

He wasn't surprised that most rare mech evolution types required trials.

At the same time, it wasn't that he lacked twenty thousand gold crystals, but rather...

"I have most of the materials listed here. Can I use my own?" Wang Qianduo asked, looking at the bill.

"No!" Old Luo refused without hesitation.

This was a joke. The ten thousand gold crystals alone... he had spent a considerable amount to collect these evolution materials. If he didn't get the money, and these materials were unusable by him, wouldn't they just be sitting there? He was planning to make a profit! You can't rip off your master like this!

However, hearing this, this kid was indeed not simple! He actually had most of these materials. It seemed he hadn't been harsh enough.

"Master, you're not trying to rip me off, are you? Ten thousand gold crystals is too much! My mech is only evolving for the first time! Does it really need that much energy?" Wang Qianduo's eyes narrowed as he looked at Old Luo, finding something increasingly wrong.

"Hey!! This ten thousand gold crystals is absolutely non-negotiable. You might not know what the Elemental Crown represents, but I'm definitely not scamming you on this!"

"Then you're scamming me on the materials! Master, give me a discount. Your disciple isn't wealthy!"

"I can sense the amount of gold crystals you have!"

"That's fake!" Wang Qianduo

"It's the shortcut I had Old Huang arrange for you." Old Luo

Wang Qianduo: "...Master! You can't rip me off! Master!"

( ; ︵ ; ` )

Old Luo: "...You win!"

After much haggling, Wang Qianduo used all his wailing and crying tactics to get Old Luo to reduce the price to 16,000 gold crystals. Even then, Old Luo was still making a profit, which showed how ruthless the old man was.

Wang Qianduo wanted to haggle further, but Old Luo refused to budge. He could only reluctantly pay.

"Good, that's more like it. Let's go start the trial!" Old Luo said, leading Wang Qianduo away from his home.

The two then drove in Old Luo's car to the foot of a mountain. As the road ahead disappeared, Old Luo didn't slow down.

Wang Qianduo, however, wasn't flustered. As expected, a flash of light enveloped them, and they drove directly into the mountainside. The mountain had been hollowed out long ago; the cliff face was just a holographic projection designed to conceal the cave entrance. The reason Wang Qianduo wasn't flustered was that while this could fool him, it couldn't fool Ling, the artificial intelligence.