Chen Rui had never trained in combat in his previous life, and he didn't have much experience fighting, so he'd been a little nervous at first. But the more he fought, the more relaxed he became. Gob's fierce assault hadn't touched him once. Instead, Chen Rui had quickly moved behind him and kicked him in the rear, sending him flying in a classic face-first landing. Gob hit the ground and ate dirt.
Gangke could tell that this cloaked man was no ordinary opponent. He took the iron hammer a minion held out to him and stepped forward. "Who are you? Haven't you heard of me, Gangke, here in Darkmoon City? If you don't want to die under my hammer, get out of here!"
The cloaked man gave a scornful snort. "So you're Gangke. I heard a woman had you so cowed with one hand that you couldn't even lift your head. You only got to keep your miserable life by begging for mercy."
Chen Rui was referring to the time Gangke had nearly been split in two by Athena's sword at the city gate.
Gangke roared and charged, swinging his iron hammer. They were both F-rank, but Gangke was much faster than Gob, and clearly more powerful in a fight. It seemed there was a considerable difference in strength even among those with the same rating. Unfortunately, at the Star-Wielder level, Analytical Eye couldn't provide more detailed data.
Though Gangke was stronger than Gob, he still wasn't fast enough to avoid Chen Rui's attacks. Chen Rui soon adjusted to the rhythm of the fight. Seizing an opening, he leaped backward several times to put some distance between himself and Gangke. Then he copied the pose shown in the skill tree illustration, spreading the fingers of his right hand and aiming at Gangke as he silently intoned, "Aurora Blast!"
A brilliant white light filled the alley. To Gob and the others' horror, a gigantic orb of light, about two meters in diameter, shot from Chen Rui's palm at high speed and roared toward Gangke.
The moment the Aurora Blast left his hand, Chen Rui felt as if more than half the Star Power in his body had been drained. Yet he was stunned by the orb's enormous size. The illustration hadn't shown anything this outrageous. This wasn't an Aurora Blast—it was an Aurora Cannon!
Gangke tried with all his might to dodge to one side, but the edge of the white light still grazed him. His burly body was blasted nearly ten meters away and crashed heavily to the ground. The iron hammer flew from his grasp with a whoosh, passing right by Gob's head just as he got up and scaring the life out of him.
The white light continued onward and slammed into a stone wall in the distance. It punched a huge hole through the thick wall, leaving exaggerated cracks all around it. The entire wall then came crashing down. Fortunately, the passersby had already fled when Gangke and his gang were extorting the goblin father and daughter. Even after hearing the commotion, nobody dared come over.
Gangke lay on the ground like a heap of mud, his eyes filled with terror. The leather armor protecting his chest had been ripped and warped by that terrifying force. His hands were smeared with blood and trembled uncontrollably. He had completely lost the ability to move. The Horned Demon knew that he'd only been grazed by the edge. If he'd taken a direct hit, he'd certainly have been killed.
Only then did Gob and his other accomplice realize what a terrifying enemy they'd provoked. They hurriedly begged for mercy.
The Aurora Blast had drained more than half his strength, but its power had far exceeded Chen Rui's expectations. One shot had taken Gangke down, and he immediately felt a surge of triumph. The pent-up frustration he'd carried since his rebirth vanished, and his confidence soared.
"If you dare bully the weak again, I'll take all three of your heads and hang them at the city gate!" Chen Rui pointed at Gangke, who was sprawled on the ground. "You have two minutes. Get out of here with this guy before I change my mind!"
Don't bully the weak? Were they supposed to go pick a fight with someone as strong as him and get themselves killed? What was wrong with him?
Gob grumbled to himself, but didn't dare say anything. He called over his accomplice, and together they carried Gangke away in a hurry. They didn't even dare retrieve the iron hammer.
That one Aurora Blast had cost him 10 Spirit Energy Value. After subtracting the 2 points used for "Analysis," only 10 remained.
"Your radiance rivals the Twin Moons in the night sky of the Demon Realm! I am deeply grateful for your mercy." The older goblin he'd rescued crawled over and prostrated himself at Chen Rui's feet. The female goblin also knelt beside him.
Chen Rui's childhood dream of being a hero had been thoroughly satisfied. Bathed in the purple light of the Twin Moons, he felt impossibly impressive. Then he remembered that he'd forgotten to get back the money stolen from the father and daughter. Resisting the pain, he took out a Purple Crystal Coin. "Get up. Here, take this and buy some food."
Goblin Didi had been about to offer the few White Crystal Coins he had hidden on him, but the man had given him money first. He stared in surprise, then quickly took the Purple Crystal Coin as if afraid Chen Rui might change his mind. "Thank you, sir!"
Didi thought to himself that he'd had incredible luck today. He'd actually met a powerful man who wasn't right in the head. Not only had he driven Gangke away, he'd even given him a Purple Crystal Coin.
In the Demon Realm, might made right. The general belief was that the weak deserved to be bullied. Few people would step in to help like this, let alone give away money. No wonder the goblin thought Chen the Hero had a few screws loose.
Didi's eyes darted about. "Sir, your kindness to my daughter and me is deeper than the Sea of Death. If you don't mind, I'd be willing to give you my daughter Sasa as a concubine."
The old goblin had a shrewd plan. This sir might be a bit of a fool, but his strength was undeniable. Even the notorious thug Gangke had been no match for him. If his daughter followed the man, he'd never have to fear the likes of Gangke again. Who knew? Maybe one day he'd even throw his weight around Darkmoon City.
The old goblin's daughter, Sasa, looked shy at his words and gazed tenderly at the fool of a sir.
Chen Rui was shaken to the core, as if struck by a divine thunderbolt.
Miss Sasa's figure was delicate—she only came up to his waist—and her complexion was unusual, dark green with little spots. Her face had a particularly abstract beauty: large ears, bulging eyes, prominent cheekbones, an upturned nose, and a cavernous mouth... Even that internet celebrity from his previous life, Sister So-and-So, would have been put to shame!
Chen Rui shuddered several times. Such a peerlessly beautiful calamity of a woman was better left to someone who needed her more.
After he firmly and righteously refused, the old goblin changed his offer. "I owe you a great debt, my lord, and have no way to repay it. I can only offer myself to you."
Chen Rui's whole body convulsed. He shook his head hard, then realized that the divine thunderbolt had made him hallucinate. The old goblin meant he wanted to become Chen Rui's servant. Attaching oneself to the strong was a common way to survive among demons.
Chen Rui already had a Lesser Devil servant who was good at flattery. He didn't think he could afford any more sycophants, and he certainly didn't want to reveal his identity. But the goblin was clinging to his trouser leg and wailing, refusing to let go. Chen Rui couldn't just kick him away without ruining his heroic image, so he had to pay two more Purple Crystal Coins to finally get away from the enthusiastic father and daughter.
"Master, please tell us your name!"
Even after Chen Rui had paid a total of three Purple Crystal Coins, the old goblin still called him master. Chen Rui cursed his greed under his breath and decided not to pay another cent. After thinking for a moment, he left them with a temporary name that sounded very demonic, then disappeared into the darkness.
"My name is... Agulie!"
He'd done his good deed and left without a trace. It was a heroic gesture, but it had cost him a lot of effort and money. On the way back, Chen Rui came to a reluctant conclusion: being a hero was risky, so anyone getting into the business should be careful.
The old goblin watched the cloaked man vanish and silently repeated his master's name. After a long while, he finally spoke. "Don't worry, Master. Your mind may not be entirely clear, but Didi will put the wealth you left behind to good use!"
Chen Rui didn't know that, for some time to come, he'd become the old goblin's pretext for throwing his weight around. He also had no idea that the name "Agulie," chosen on a whim, would one day stir up a storm in the Demon Realm. At that moment, he was simply immersed in the overwhelming happiness of having just gained power.
After quietly slipping past the guards in the outer courtyard and returning to his room in the laboratory, Chen Rui lay in bed, still unable to fall asleep. His excitement had gradually subsided. Gangke was a junior officer in the Darkmoon Guard. Judging by their fight, Chen Rui could probably bully ordinary demon soldiers with ease. But when he recalled the power Shea had displayed in the palace garden, he knew he was still no match for her—let alone someone as powerful as Pagliu.
Chen Rui wasn't discouraged. Whether it was the Star-Wielder level or the Gang Realm, they were only the beginning. The path to power lay clearly before him; he just had to figure out how to walk it.
The Super System was powerful, but he was still at the very beginning. The Demon Realm held too many dangers and too many powerful beings. Until he became strong enough to truly control his own fate, he had to keep a low profile and avoid drawing attention. His identity as an apprentice potion master, along with the Breath Concealment skill, made the perfect cover.
Now that Chen Rui had found his direction, he was no longer the weakling who could only rely on cleverness and luck to get out of danger. In this strange and dangerous world of demons, he finally had what he needed to make a living.
For the first time, he felt confident about his future after being reborn.
Spirit energy! The most important thing now was to find a way to increase it—not just for skills, but also for the Training Ground, Storage Warehouse, Trade Center... and so much more...
The next day, Chen Rui tried taking some poisonous potions to increase his spirit energy, but the results were disappointing. After drinking a bottle of powerful Fierce Poison Potion worth hundreds of Purple Crystal Coins, his spirit energy had only increased by 2. There were only a few bottles of that potion in the entire laboratory.
Aldas assumed he was studying and testing the potions' effects, and winced at the cost. He advised Chen Rui to start testing the most basic ingredients instead of reaching too far too soon. If it had been any other master, they would have kicked out this apprentice who only spent money, paid no tuition, and ate for free long ago.
Chen Rui also thought the cost was too high. It seemed he'd have to find another way.
Sandru's failed challenge meant that the large fortune he'd put up as a wager was left behind. But Aldas didn't get to keep all of it; most was handed over to Princess Shea to fund the development of Darkmoon City. In any case, he was working for the boss. If he really needed more research funds, he could ask her for an increase.
Chen Rui received a share of five Black Crystal Coins. He should have gotten more, and it wasn't because Aldas was stingy; it had been the eldest princess's decision. Chen Rui could only accept it. Money was a worldly possession, after all, while his life was the most important thing. Besides, he'd just made a tactful confession to his female boss. It was already fortunate that he hadn't crossed a line.
If one White Crystal Coin was like ten cents, then five Black Crystal Coins were equivalent to five thousand dollars. Added to the Purple Crystal Coins he'd originally conned from Kamp, it was a decent little fortune, even if he couldn't yet call it his first real earnings since arriving in the Demon Realm.
Magic Crystal Coins were energy crystals in their own right. Demons could absorb the energy inside them to increase their strength, and the purer the crystal, the more expensive it was. Black, Purple, and White Crystal Coins—the currencies currently in circulation—worked this way. Above Black Crystal were the higher-quality Blood Crystal and Gold Crystal, but they were so rare that nobody used them as currency.
The night before, Chen Rui had tried using the Aura Conversion skill on a Purple Crystal Coin. It worked, just as the illustration had shown. After the conversion succeeded, the coin crumbled into powder, but his Spirit Energy Value didn't increase. He figured it had only gone up by a tiny amount after the decimal point.
Judging from what had happened with the Purple Crystal Coin, he'd be lucky if a Black Crystal Coin gave him one point of spirit energy. He only had five Black Crystal Coins, which amounted to just over two hours of automatic spirit energy absorption. Converting them directly would be a terrible deal.
That's it! Why not use the coins to buy things that could give him more spirit energy?
P.S. I'll try for a spot on the new-book rankings tonight. Friends who can, please drop by the book reviews at midnight and leave a comment. I'll mark every post as a featured one and award points, as a small token of my appreciation.
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