Heading to Crouching Dragon Ravine

The heated bidding carried on despite Lin Lei's conversation.

"Fifteen thousand gold coins."

"Twenty thousand gold coins."

"Thirty thousand gold coins."

"..."

Lin Lei watched the wealthy merchants bid with great interest. The price for the woman kept climbing until it quickly reached a staggering figure.

"Rich people really do have peculiar ideas."

Lin Lei thought to himself.

"A beautiful woman with a notable status is actually worth more than ten thousand ordinary slaves."

The auction soon drew to a close, and the woman was quickly bought by a young man who looked like he was suffering from kidney deficiency.

He offered the exorbitant price of a hundred thousand gold coins, beating out the other bidders.

With an arrogant look, he led the woman away, glancing disdainfully at the onlookers.

Watching the crowd's many different words and actions, Lin Lei suddenly lost interest and returned to his North Wind Garrison.

An hour later, at the North Wind Garrison's training ground.

"First, I have something to tell you all. I've been appointed a baron of the kingdom, with a fiefdom a thousand miles away at Crouching Dragon Ravine. Naturally, I can no longer serve as a centurion in the City Defense Department.

"Based on your performance these past few days, I recommended Henry to the lord. The others will also see some changes in their positions, and may become guards or squad leaders under other centurions.

"Second, I'll soon be heading to Crouching Dragon Ravine, and I need suitable soldiers. Crouching Dragon Ravine is a newly established territory, and everything there is still waiting to be built. There won't be any pay at first.

"But it has abundant resources: all kinds of magical materials, rare medicinal herbs, and valuable monster materials. As someone at the Gold rank, I have to tell you that if you don't want to spend your whole life achieving nothing, you can come to Crouching Dragon Ravine and take a chance.

"Take a gamble, and you might turn a bicycle into a motorcycle, or a motorcycle into a luxury car."

After saying this, Lin Lei quietly watched as they discussed it.

Though they didn't understand his last sentence, they got the general idea. The training ground quickly grew noisy.

They were all noble scions with comfortable lives. They could be persuaded to work hard, but asking them to risk their lives was a different matter.

Although Lin Lei's offer was tempting, fewer than twenty-five people were willing to go to Crouching Dragon Ravine. Lin Lei wasn't surprised. For a small territory like his, a little over twenty soldiers was just right for now.

After having Henry register them, Lin Lei returned to his room, where the dishes from his previous life were laid out.

"Not bad. You're amazing—you got them right after I explained them just once. You really are from the Gourmet Clan."

Lin Lei praised the two Halflings, Kuimu.

Looking at the fragrant mapo tofu, pickled cabbage with pork, and red-braised pork, Lin Lei began to eat as if making up for lost time, compensating for how bread and roast meat had tormented his stomach.

"Knock, knock!"

Henry entered the room with the roster.

"The personnel have all been registered."

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

Lin Lei spoke casually. As a member of the food-loving kingdom, unless the sky was falling, nobody could stop him from enjoying a good meal.

Lin Lei ate quickly, then suddenly noticed a figure blocking the sunlight. He looked up and saw that Henry hadn't left after setting down the roster. He was staring intently at the food.

"What is it? You want some too?"

Lin Lei asked with amusement.

"Mm-hmm..."

Henry nodded vigorously, not at all like a tough military man.

"Fine. Wipe your drool and sit down to eat. Kuimu, get him a pair of bowls and chopsticks—the utensils I'm holding."

Lin Lei didn't know how other centurions and their subordinates got along, but he had always treated his men as equals. He'd also tried to share his meals with them whenever he could.

As Henry took the chopsticks, Lin Lei sat down and watched him use them.

"Huh?"

Lin Lei exclaimed. Henry was at the Silver rank, and quickly adapted to using the unfamiliar utensils. The scene Lin Lei had hoped to see never happened.

"Did I do something wrong?"

Lin Lei watched Henry in confusion, able to attribute it only to his strength. Seeing Henry wolf down the food, Lin Lei quickly put aside his stray thoughts and joined him in the battle.

After they'd eaten their fill, Henry joked with Lin Lei.

"With food like this, if I weren't about to be appointed centurion, I'd definitely go with you."

Lin Lei smiled without replying. Even if Henry hadn't been appointed a centurion, he couldn't have gone with Lin Lei. His father was the lord's personal guard captain, and that status meant he would have to serve in Flower Territory for the rest of his life.

He could only leave Flower Territory for another territory if his father stopped being its personal guard captain.

After seeing Henry off, Lin Lei also sent the two chefs, Kuimu, back to the temporary lodgings he had arranged for them.

Once he was alone, Lin Lei opened the long-unused King Card System panel.

Host: Lin Lei. Thunder Roar

Rank: Gold Rank, Tier One

Hero Cards Owned: Yang Jian Card, Guan Yu Card

Skin Cards Owned: None

Draws Remaining: One

Rank Experience: 20/100

"Huh? The system has a new feature. There's a skin feature now, too. What's that for?"

After a flurry of frantic experimenting, Lin Lei figured it out.

The Skin System had unlocked because he'd reached the Gold rank. In other words, those without strength didn't deserve skins.

Skins also came from draws, and the skins available belonged only to heroes he already owned. In other words, Lin Lei had no chance of getting skins for heroes he didn't have. In that respect, the system was quite considerate, doing its best to boost its host's strength.

Skins had three uses. The first was to enhance equipment. A skin could imbue equipment with power and change its appearance, increasing its strength by up to a hundred percent. For example, Lin Lei was currently at Gold Rank One; a hundred percent boost would bring him to Gold Rank Five. It was a very powerful effect.

The second use was experience. By acquiring a hero's skin, he could experience that hero's growth and master their power.

The last use was sacrifice. Permanently sacrificing a skin could raise the growth limit of that hero. For example, Lin Lei's Yang Jian Card had a growth limit of Silver Rank Five. Sacrificing five skin cards would raise the card's limit to Gold Rank Five, with further increases following an exponential progression.

After learning all this, Lin Lei bathed and changed as usual, ready to make a single draw and get lucky.

Based on his experience, this was Lin Lei's first skin draw, so he was sure to get a skin card. Countless casual games did the same thing, giving players a little treat at the start.

He opened the draw panel. Alongside the familiar white, green, yellow, and purple sections, a red skin section 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 got especially nervous.

That was probably the magic of a lottery.

"Ding-dong!"

The pointer stopped dead in the red skin section.

"Just as I thought."

Lin Lei thought to himself.

The skin images flashed by rapidly. Lin Lei prayed that he'd get Guan Yu's skin, since Guan Yu would help boost his strength the most right now.

"Conquer! In the name of the bitter winter;

"Harbinger of the blizzard, King of Calamity in the Frozen North!"

Guan Yu's usual vivid green appearance turned cold and imposing. His horse looked as if it were carved from ice, and so did the figure upon it.

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

Lin Lei had never dreamed he'd draw this top-tier skin on his first try. According to the system's classifications, if he mastered its power, he could even fight a Platinum-rank expert on equal terms.

When Lin Lei tried to use the skin card right away, the system told him he had to be sitting on a mount. The skin's power would also be bound to the mount and could not be changed.

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

Perhaps because he had used the Guan Yu Hero Card before, Red Hare had been waiting for him for some time.

"You want to experience a boost in power too, right?"

Lin Lei said to Red Hare.

"Good partner, let's see what the Frost War God can do."

"Use Frost War God."

At Lin Lei's thought, the skin card disappeared from his inventory.

"Whoosh!"

With a rush of noise, the armor on Lin Lei's body gradually transformed to look like ice. It changed from the bottom up, until even his face was covered by an ice-like visor.

Red Hare changed in wondrous ways as well. His fiery red mane gradually turned icy blue, icy blue horseshoes appeared on his hooves, and his scarlet eyes turned deep blue. A sharp horn grew from his forehead, making him look like an icy blue unicorn.

"Seriously, this is way too cool."

Looking at his appearance, Lin Lei felt he could pass for someone with the power of a king.

"Hyah!"

Lin Lei urged Red Hare to gallop around the courtyard. Faint traces of frost appeared wherever Red Hare stepped, and even his breath came out icy blue.

"Who's there?"

The commotion Lin Lei made with the Frost War God's presence was so great that the ever-vigilant members of the garrison soon noticed him.

"It's me."

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

Once Lin Lei had identified himself, Henry and the others prepared to leave and resume training. The people of Azeroth certainly had a strong capacity for acceptance. Even after seeing Lin Lei's unusual, distinctive appearance, they simply took it in stride.

"Let's test how well this gear protects me."

After Henry and the others left, Lin Lei set the visor on a piece of obsidian and swung the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear he'd used before at it.

Although the Yang Jian Card was only at the Silver rank, the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear was almost as good as an ordinary Gold-rank weapon.

At first, afraid of damaging the visor, Lin Lei used only the strength of a Silver Rank Five fighter.

"Bang!"

After a deafening crash, the visor remained unmarked, while fine cracks appeared in the obsidian.

"Not bad."

Lin Lei praised it silently, raised his strength to Gold Rank One, and swung again.

"Bang!"

A few cracks appeared on the visor, but they soon healed. The obsidian beneath it had already shattered into several pieces.

Seeing this, Lin Lei was delighted. He hadn't expected it to repair itself automatically. What a pleasant surprise.

"The armor looks like it's made of ice, but I don't feel even a hint of cold. Instead, a faint warmth radiates from it, making me feel comfortable all over. No wonder it was the most expensive skin in the old game. There's a reason it cost so much."

Lin Lei thought.