Heading to Crouching Dragon Ravine

The heated atmosphere at the auction did not falter due to the conversation between Lin Lei.

"Fifteen thousand gold coins."

"Twenty thousand gold coins."

"Thirty thousand gold coins."

"..."

Lin Lei watched the wealthy merchants bidding with keen interest, observing the price of the woman climb steadily until it reached a figure far beyond reach.

As expected, the wealthy have such unique ways of thinking.

Lin Lei mused to himself.

A beautiful woman plus a prominent identity is actually worth tens of thousands of ordinary slaves.

The auction soon drew to a close, and the woman was quickly purchased by a young man with a sickly, dissipated appearance.

He offered a staggering price of one hundred thousand gold coins, crushing all other competitors.

He led the woman away with an arrogant air, casting a look of disdain at the onlookers.

Watching the varied behaviors and words of the crowd, Lin Lei suddenly lost interest and returned to his North Wind Garrison.

An hour later, at the North Wind Garrison drill ground.

"First, I have an announcement: I have been appointed as a Baron of the Kingdom, with my territory located in Crouching Dragon Ravine a thousand miles away. Naturally, I can no longer serve as a centurion for the City Defense Department."

"Based on your performance over these days, I have recommended Henry to the Lord. Others will also see changes in their positions, potentially becoming centurions or squad leaders under other commanders."

"Secondly, I am about to head to Crouching Dragon Ravine and require suitable soldiers. Because Crouching Dragon Ravine is an emerging territory, everything is in its infancy, and there will be no salary at the start."

"However, it possesses abundant resources—various magical materials, rare medicinal herbs, and valuable beast components. As someone with Gold-tier strength, I must tell you: if you do not wish to live a life of mediocrity, you can come to Crouching Dragon Ravine to strive for more."

"Take a gamble; turn a bicycle into a motorcycle, and a motorcycle into a luxury car."

After saying this, Lin Lei watched them discuss in silence.

Although they did not understand the last sentence, they grasped the general meaning of his speech, and the scene below erupted into a chaotic buzz.

They were all children of noble families with stable lives; they could manage hard work, but asking them to risk their lives was a different matter entirely.

Even though Lin Lei's offer was tempting, fewer than twenty-five people were willing to go to Crouching Dragon Ravine. Lin Lei was not surprised by this; twenty-odd soldiers were just right for a small territory like his.

After having Henry finish the registration for them, Lin Lei returned to his room, where the food from his previous life was laid out.

"Not bad, you are truly amazing. You managed to make this after just one explanation; you are worthy of the Gourmet Clan."

Lin Lei said to the two halflings, Kuimu, with admiration.

Looking at the fragrant Mapo Tofu, pickled meat with vegetables, and braised pork, Lin Lei began to eat with a vengeance, compensating for the stomach that had been tortured by bread and roasted meat for so long.

"Knock, knock!"

Henry entered the room carrying the roster.

"The personnel have been registered."

"Leave it there; I'll look at it after I finish eating."

Lin Lei said casually. As a member of a nation of foodies, unless the sky were falling, nothing could stop him from enjoying his meal.

Lin Lei ate rapidly, but suddenly noticed a figure blocking his sunlight. He looked up to see that Henry had not left after putting down the roster, his eyes fixed intently on the food.

"What, you want to eat too?"

Lin Lei asked with a chuckle.

"Mm-hmm..."

Henry nodded vigorously, looking nothing like a hardened military man.

"Alright, wipe that drool off your face and sit down to eat. Kuimu, bring him a pair of bowls and chopsticks—the same utensils I'm using."

Although he didn't know how other centurions in the garrison interacted with their subordinates, Lin Lei had always communicated with them as equals, and he had tried to eat with them whenever possible in the past.

As Henry took the chopsticks, Lin Lei watched him try to use them.

"Huh."

Lin Lei let out a sound of surprise. Henry, who possessed Silver-tier strength, quickly adapted to using these strange utensils; the scene Lin Lei had expected to see did not happen.

Did I open it the wrong way?

Lin Lei looked at Henry in confusion, eventually attributing it to his strength. Watching Henry wolf down the food, Lin Lei quickly cast aside his distracting thoughts and rejoined the battle.

After a full meal, Henry joked to Lin Lei.

"Just for the sake of this food, if I weren't about to be appointed as a centurion, I would definitely have followed you."

Lin Lei smiled without speaking. Even if Henry hadn't been appointed as a centurion, he couldn't have followed Lin Lei, because his father was the captain of the Lord's personal guard. This identity meant he was destined to serve in the Flower Territory for his entire life.

To leave the Flower Territory for another domain, his father would have to step down as the captain of the Flower Territory's personal guard.

After seeing Henry off, Lin Lei had the two cooks, Kuimu, head down to the temporary quarters he had arranged for them.

With no one else around, Lin Lei opened the long-neglected King Card System panel.

Host: Lin Lei. Thunder Roar

Rank Strength: Gold Rank Tier 1

Owned Hero Cards: Yang Jian Card, Guan Yu Card

Owned Skin Cards: None

Draw Chances: 1

Rank Experience: 20/100

"Huh? The system has a new feature. A Skin System? What's the use of that?"

After a flurry of operations as fierce as a tiger, Lin Lei understood.

The Skin System only unlocked once he reached the Gold Rank, meaning those without strength weren't worthy of skins.

Skins were also obtained through the lottery, and one could only draw skins for heroes already in their possession. In other words, Lin Lei had no chance of obtaining skins for heroes he didn't own. In this regard, the system was quite user-friendly, knowing how to maximize the host's strength.

There were three functions to the skins. First, equipment enhancement: the skin would imbue the equipment with power, changing its appearance while increasing strength by up to double. Since Lin Lei was currently at Gold Rank 1, doubling his strength would bring him to the level of Gold Rank 5, which was a massive boost.

The second point was experience; owning a hero skin allowed one to experience that hero's growth journey and master their power.

The final point was sacrifice: permanently sacrificing a skin could increase that hero's growth potential. For example, Lin Lei's Yang Jian card only had a growth potential of Silver Rank 5. By sacrificing five skin cards, the Yang Jian card's potential could be raised to Gold Rank 5, increasing exponentially.

After clarifying everything, Lin Lei bathed and changed as usual, preparing for a miracle from a single draw.

Based on Lin Lei's experience, this was his first time drawing a skin, so he was bound to get a skin card—just like countless fast-paced games that gave players a little treat at the start.

Opening the lottery panel, besides the previous white, green, yellow, and purple, a new red skin panel had indeed appeared.

As the pointer spun rapidly, Lin Lei's heart began to race again. No matter how many times he drew, he still felt incredibly nervous.

Perhaps this was the charm of the lottery.

"Ding-dong!"

The pointer stopped dead in the red skin zone.

"Just as I thought."

Lin Lei mused.

The skin images flashed by rapidly. Lin Lei prayed silently, hoping for a Guan Yu skin, as Guan Yu currently provided the greatest boost to his strength.

"Conquer! In the name of the frozen winter; the blizzard's voyager, the Calamity King of the icy north;"

The originally verdant image of Guan Yu turned cold and grim, featuring an ice-sculpted warhorse and an ice-sculpted figure.

"This is Guan Yu's Frost War God..."

Lin Lei never dreamed he would draw this most powerful skin on his first try. According to the system's classification, if Lin Lei put his heart into mastering the power of this skin, he could even fight a Platinum Rank expert to a standstill.

When Lin Lei wanted to use the skin card immediately, the system required him to be mounted; the skin's power would be directly bound to the mount and could not be changed.

Without hesitation, Lin Lei went to his stable and found his Fire Cloud Horse, Red Hare.

Perhaps due to his previous use of the Guan Yu hero card, Red Hare had been waiting for Lin Lei's arrival for some time.

"You want to experience the power boost too, right?"

Lin Lei said to Red Hare.

"Good lad, let's see the might of the Frost War God."

"Use Frost War God."

With a thought from Lin Lei, the skin card vanished from his inventory.

"Clatter!"

With a series of sounds, the armor on Lin Lei's body gradually turned into the appearance of ice, from bottom to top, until even Lin Lei's face was covered by an ice-like visor.

The Red Hare beneath him also underwent a wondrous transformation. Its originally fiery red mane gradually turned ice-blue, ice-blue horseshoes appeared on its hooves, its crimson eyes turned deep blue, and a sharp horn sprouted from its forehead, making it look like an ice-blue unicorn.

"No way, this is too cool."

Lin Lei looked at his new appearance; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he had the strength of a King.

"Giddy-up!"

Lin Lei urged Red Hare to run around the courtyard. Faint trails of ice appeared wherever Red Hare stepped, and even the breath it exhaled was ice-blue.

"Who goes there?"

Lin Lei's Frost War God presence was too overwhelming, and the highly vigilant members of the guard station quickly discovered him.

"It's me."

Lin Lei removed his visor, revealing his yellow-skinned face.

After Lin Lei identified himself, Henry and the others prepared to leave to continue their training. It had to be said that the people of Azeroth were highly adaptable; even seeing Lin Lei in such an alien, unique getup, they simply took it in stride.

"Let's test the defensive power of this gear."

After Henry and the others left, Lin Lei placed his visor on a piece of Obsidian and used his Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear to strike it.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the Yang Jian card is only at the Silver tier; this Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear is not much worse than an average Gold-tier weapon.

At first, Lin Lei was afraid of damaging the faceplate, so he only used strength at the Silver Rank 5 level.

"Bang!"

After a loud crash, the faceplate remained completely unmoved, while the Obsidian instead developed thin cracks.

"Not bad."

Lin Lei praised it inwardly, adjusted his strength to the Gold Rank 1 level, and swung down once more.

"Bang!"

The faceplate developed a few tiny cracks, but they healed almost immediately, while the Obsidian underneath had already shattered into several pieces.

Seeing this, Lin Lei was overjoyed; he hadn't expected it to have an automatic healing function—a truly pleasant surprise.

This armor looks like ice, yet I don't feel a hint of coldness; instead, there is a faint warmth radiating from it, making my whole body feel comfortable. It truly lives up to being the most expensive skin in the game back then; there is a reason why it's expensive.

Lin Lei thought to himself.