The Spoils

Thanks to the rule in Free Mode that reduced damage dealt to fellow Reincarnators by 30%, five of the newcomers survived, not counting Gao Xu.

The five battered newcomers gathered before Gao Xu, the very person they had looked down on most, and bowed sincerely in gratitude.

Although the one who had just offered them advice had been a childish voice, it was clear that none of them would have survived without Gao Xu. He had saved their lives, and they were deeply grateful.

Of course, the more important point was that the three veterans were dead, and the newcomers still hadn't completed their main mission. If they didn't want to be tragically erased for lacking enough points, then the unfathomable Gao Xu was a powerful ally they needed to cling to~

Newcomers who had just entered the Space inevitably had flaws such as greed, cowardice, and foolishness. But, on the whole, few repaid kindness with betrayal. Given Gao Xu's current strength, he would struggle to manage alone without help from characters in the story, so he didn't mind the newcomers rallying around him.

Under his direction, the newcomers helped Xu Lang and the other two, who had fainted nearby, to their feet and headed for the stone chamber where the girl was. With the formidable Miss Lin escorting them, these two optional missions were all but guaranteed, making them a safer bet than continuing to hunt minor monsters in the Hidden Dragon Cave.

Before they set off, Gao Xu asked everyone to wait a moment and returned to the room. During the earlier battle, he had put Zhu Hao, who had been inside the Rescue Card, in an inconspicuous corner. To keep Zhu Hao from escaping amid the confusion, Gao Xu had also struck him hard on the forehead and knocked him out.

Now it was time to deal with him.

After shaking Zhu Hao awake, Gao Xu took out two chests and waved them before his eyes. "From now on, you'd better do everything you can to convince me. Otherwise, in a minute, you'll end up just like them!"

When a Reincarnator was killed by an enemy in a story world, a chest that characters from that world couldn't see would drop at the spot. It lasted for ten minutes, and could only be collected after the battle ended.

That meant if a companion died during a boss fight, the boss had to be killed within ten minutes to recover the chest. Otherwise, all they could do was watch it disappear!

After the Snake Demon and Fox Demon escaped, the boss battle was naturally over. Lin Yueru was also a friendly story character, so Qin Guang and Tang Mei'er's chests had naturally gone into Gao Xu's pockets. None of the other newcomers dared object.

Feeling Gao Xu's undisguised killing intent, Zhu Hao shuddered. Without another word, he immediately offered 1,000 points as the price for his life and pleaded, "All the good stuff was on Tang Mei'er. Aside from my points, I really don't have anything else worth offering! Please, let me go!"

Gao Xu narrowed his eyes and pointed at Zhu Hao's equipment. The muscles in Zhu Hao's face twitched, and he said with great anguish, "I failed half of this main mission, so the penalty will definitely be severe. I probably won't have much left by then. If I hand over my equipment too, I'll be doomed in the next world. You might as well kill me now!"

"Oh? Is that so? Your temporary team has fallen apart, and you also failed the Newcomer Guidance mission. Your default rating is already extremely low, so you won't have that extra five percent difficulty increase in the next mission world. As long as you're careful, you should still be able to survive." Gao Xu's calm words made Zhu Hao's expression change drastically. He stared at Gao Xu in terror and muttered, "You! Aren't you a newcomer? How could you know all that... Could it be..."

"You don't need to overthink it. It's impossible for other veterans to sneak into the Space's newcomer guidance." Gao Xu idly toyed with his long sword, his gaze cold and piercing. Then, without warning, he slashed Zhu Hao's arm, reducing his health to just one point!

"You lied. That's your punishment! I won't allow you to do it again. Of course, you won't survive another time..."

Zhu Hao broke down. To save his own life, he handed over 1,500 points, a blue weapon, the Flying Rainbow Sword, eight Osmanthus Hibiscus Cakes, and three bowls of Hundred Jujube Ginkgo Porridge.

Flying Rainbow Sword: Blue equipment, inferior quality, longsword-type weapon. This slim, light sword was named Flying Rainbow because its blade shimmered with five colors. Attack: 8–12; Strength +1; Agility +1. Equipment requirements: Strength 5, Agility 5. Durability: 50/50. Can be exchanged for 700 points.

Osmanthus Hibiscus Cake: White item, inferior quality. A pastry made from glutinous rice flour and osmanthus. Sweet and soft, with a rich osmanthus fragrance. Restores 10% of the user's health. Cannot be used in combat. Cooldown: 10 seconds. Can be exchanged for 30 points.

Hundred Jujube Ginkgo Porridge: White item, inferior quality. A porridge made by simmering lily bulbs, jujubes, and ginkgo with a little rock sugar over low heat. Nourishes the yin and moistens the lungs. Restores 5% of the user's health and mental energy. Cannot be used in combat. Cooldown: 15 seconds. Can be exchanged for 50 points.

Replacing his long sword with the Flying Rainbow Sword immediately boosted Gao Xu's attack power. The Osmanthus Hibiscus Cakes and Hundred Jujube Ginkgo Porridge also solved his urgent lack of restorative items.

Don't underestimate these snack-like restorative items. In low-difficulty spaces, they were essential supplies that saw the most use.

Items such as annual herbs, Gold Wound Medicine, and Minor Vitality Pills could restore health during battle, making them more effective. But their long shared cooldown meant most battles allowed them to be used only once, and the more potent medicines were extremely expensive. Qin Guang had been the team's tank, yet even at a critical moment, he hadn't been willing to use a basic healing potion worth 800 points. That showed just how precious and scarce medicines were.

After signing a mutual non-aggression agreement and leaving combat, Zhu Hao was immediately forced to return to the Space. Watching his figure gradually fade, Gao Xu simply opened Qin Guang and Tang Mei'er's chests as well.

Chests dropped by Reincarnators differed from those dropped by enemies in story worlds. Their color was a vivid, heart-stirring crimson, chilling and bloody, as if warning whoever picked one up that in the Space, the slightest mistake could make them the next cautionary tale!

After a chest was opened, the recipient could choose the category of reward: 1. Attribute points (there was a certain chance of drawing a percentage of the deceased's highest attribute for the opener; if two or more attributes were tied for highest, the opener could choose one); 2. Equipment (only equipment the Reincarnator was wearing at death counted; items in their storage space were excluded, and zero to two pieces could be obtained); 3. Skills (only skills in the skill slots counted; if there was an empty slot, the draw might yield nothing. Any skill obtained would be copied onto a scroll); 4. Items (including quest items, special items, discarded equipment, and miscellaneous objects; one to five could be obtained); 5. Points (10% to 50% of the points held by the deceased; if the Reincarnator had borrowed from the Space, the amount was deducted first. If the result was negative, this option became invalid and could not be selected.)

The choice had to be made within 60 seconds. If the selected category was empty—for example, if there were no items—there would be a second chance to choose. If that draw also came up empty, the recipient would just have to accept their bad luck.

As an aside, if Gao Xu had personally killed Tang Mei'er, her chest would have been sent directly into his Emblem storage space by the Space, making it impossible to steal. The rewards inside would also have been increased to some extent, depending on the circumstances.

For Qin Guang's chest, Gao Xu chose the second option, equipment, without hesitation. He was lucky enough to draw the Black Iron Scale Armor, but unfortunately, his current attributes weren't high enough to wear this heavy armor.

Black Iron Scale Armor: Blue equipment, inferior quality, chest armor. A suit of armor forged from fragments of low-quality black iron ore. It offered decent defense but was quite heavy, reducing agility. Defense +4; Strength +1; Constitution +2; Agility -1. Equipment requirements: Strength 8, Constitution 6. Durability: 60/60. Can be exchanged for 800 points.

As for Tang Mei'er's chest, Gao Xu hesitated between the equipment and item categories.

It went without saying that as the team leader, Tang Mei'er had been carrying all the good items. But she had also used a lot of them to stay alive against Lin Yueru, so choosing the item category now might only turn up worthless junk.

The equipment category was the safer choice, but Tang Mei'er's equipment was all designed for women, and Gao Xu couldn't wear it. He would have to sell it at the Space's trading market after this story world ended.

After thinking it over, Gao Xu decided to take a gamble and chose the item category. A beam of crimson light rose above the chest, flickering between the numbers one and five before finally settling on four.

Gao Xu breathed a sigh of relief. If his luck held, one of the four items was bound to be something good~

The first item to appear was a strange, horn-shaped object: a Sound Transmitter.

Sound Transmitter: Blue item, inferior quality. A magical object that could carry sound up to a hundred yards without making it easy to detect where the sound came from. Uses: 28/30. It could be recharged in the Space using points to increase its remaining uses. Can be exchanged for 200 points.

"An interesting little trinket. It might come in handy at a crucial moment!" Gao Xu put it away with satisfaction, then looked at the second item. His eyebrows rose, and delight spread across his face.

Scroll: Howling Gale: Blue item, inferior quality. A scroll containing the Howling Gale skill. Activating it required 8 points of mental energy. Its power was equivalent to a C-rank Howling Gale skill. Cooldown: 60 seconds. Uses: 2/3. Cannot be recharged. Can be exchanged for 800 points.

Howling Gale was a well-known skill in the magic-fantasy system, derived from the Druid class skill Hurricane. It damaged all targets in a fan-shaped area and could also inflict status effects such as knocking them away or pushing them back. It was an area-control skill!

In fights between Reincarnators in the first difficulty level, Howling Gale was absolutely worthy of being a trump card. Its only drawback was the scroll's activation requirement: 8 points of mental energy was simply too much!

After all, D-rank skills such as Charge and Shield Block required only 2 points of mental energy. Phantom Assault, a C-rank skill on the same level as Howling Gale, required only 4. Most B-rank skills cost 6 or 7, and only A-rank skills cost 8 or more!

If not for that serious flaw, the scroll would absolutely have been a gold item. And in that case, Tang Mei'er wouldn't have been unable to use it after running out of mental energy, only to die with hatred in her heart.

"She came prepared. Too bad it ended up being a gift for me..." Gao Xu put the scroll away without a trace of guilt. He didn't have any active skills yet, and his 9 points of mental energy were just enough to use Howling Gale once. It was practically made for him!

The third item was a Palace Lady Dress, a purely decorative outfit with no attribute bonuses. It was probably worth only a few points. The Succubus transformation must have damaged Tang Mei'er's clothes, so this was likely the spare she'd kept in her Emblem storage space.

Gao Xu wasn't disappointed. He was already quite satisfied with getting the Howling Gale scroll.

As it turned out, he'd been satisfied a little too soon, because the final item shone with a golden light!!!