Chapter 17

Natural armor, also known as armored skin, refers to skin so tough it resembles a suit of armor, capable of repelling blades.

This is a very rare ability. Aside from those Magic Beasts with powerful bodies, only ascetics who have undergone grueling training or veteran warriors who have survived countless battles could possibly possess it.

Because Sui Xiong "sculpted" Gerald's face to look quite young, he appeared to be a fledgling young giant. Consequently, no one would mistake him for an ascetic or a veteran warrior.

Since he was neither, only one possibility remained: this young man who merely looked big was actually a super-expert comparable to a Magic Beast!

How could those seasoned veterans who knew their stuff not be shocked by this!

The captain of the God of Justice's temple guards was, of course, someone who knew his stuff. Seeing the scene where an arm blocked a blade, he froze for a moment and couldn't help but smile.

"I underestimated you," he chuckled, his graying eyebrows trembling slightly. "So, are you interested in learning some advanced techniques? For example, cutting down several people with a single strike, or launching a second attack without needing to recover from the first, or perhaps using a light weapon to achieve the effect of a heavy weapon, or using a heavy weapon to achieve the effect of a light one... and so on."

Upon hearing this, Gerald was truly tempted.

He was a seasoned adventurer and understood quite a few combat techniques, but to be honest, they were all common goods. He had only heard of methods like the guard captain's "Whirlwind Attack," "Chain Attack," and "Weapon Mastery," but had never even seen them, let alone learned them.

For a warrior, the more combat techniques one knows and the more advanced they are, the stronger one naturally becomes. Those top-tier warriors could even slay legendary monsters single-handedly with a single blade, or charge in and out of thousands of troops; their combat power was simply monstrous.

If he could learn everything the guard captain mentioned, perhaps he could become stronger and not be a burden to His Majesty, to the point where the god he served had to specifically protect him...

Thinking of this, his heart warmed, and he couldn't help but want to accept the old guard captain's suggestion. But then, a second thought made him swallow the words that were about to spill out.

The lord he served was not one of the gods widely known in this world, but a newborn god. To become an apprentice, he would certainly need to stay at the God of Justice's temple for a period of time. If his true colors were revealed, wouldn't that bring trouble to His Majesty!

He was startled and hurriedly declined politely.

Seeing that the young man had seemed tempted but gave up for some reason, the old guard captain couldn't help but feel a bit regretful. However, as a believer in the God of Justice, he certainly couldn't force anyone to become his apprentice, so he simply urged Gerald to come to the temple to seek knowledge whenever he was interested, and left, disappointed.

This old man had quite a reputation in town. Since even he had failed to recruit him, others who had been interested in Gerald extinguished their thoughts of doing so, which finally gave Gerald some peace. Carrying his small pack, he walked casually down the street and, before he knew it, arrived in front of a large wooden board.

This board stood in the square at the center of town, in a highly conspicuous position. Pieces of cloth of various sizes were posted on it; some had only text, while others had both pictures and text. A seemingly sharp-witted youth was guarding it nearby. From time to time, people would go to the board to examine it closely, then go to the youth to ask for details, and some would even slip him a silver coin or two. Business was quite brisk.

"What are they doing?" Sui Xiong asked.

"Your Majesty, that is the bounty board. All kinds of bounties, large and small, are posted here as long as they aren't illicit. That young man is from the Adventurers' Guild; he's responsible for the initial contact here and sells some information on the side." Gerald was quite familiar with these things; after all, he had been an adventurer himself.

Sui Xiong roughly understood. He was curious about this employment system, so he split off a wisp of his consciousness to carefully observe the task list on the board. Before long, he suddenly saw Gerald's portrait on a piece of cloth.

It was what Gerald looked like "before he died." There were two pictures: one a close-up of his face, the other a full-body portrait. Overall, the artistry was excellent. With few strokes, it accurately captured Gerald's facial features, making him very easy to identify. Sui Xiong felt that if the fellow who drew these two portraits traveled to Earth, just his ability to draw portraits would be enough to set up a stall at a tourist attraction and make a living—just like his fellow disciple who was also bald.

However, his fellow disciple, who used the pen name Hua Siyuan, set up his stall in Tiananmen Square. Being able to set up a stall in the core area of a great nation showed his extraordinary skill; he belonged to the "King of Kings" among street artists. By comparison, this fellow who drew the portrait was at most at a "Platinum" level; he could probably only set up a stall at Badaling, earning a hard-earned living under the sun and wind.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Your Majesty, is there something funny?" Gerald asked.

Sui Xiong pointed to the piece of cloth for him: "Look, there's a bounty on you."

Gerald looked calm, without the slightest hint of surprise: "That's right, my bounty should still be up. Let me see... Ha, the bounty has increased."

On that piece of cloth, below the portrait, were a few lines of text. The general meaning was: The bald man Rune, accused of attacking a noble, is wanted by the Blue Moon Kingdom. The bounty is one thousand gold coins; it can be claimed by bringing the head to the temple of the God of Nobility or the God of Commerce for verification.

"One thousand gold coins is equivalent to one hundred thousand copper coins. That's a huge sum! What on earth did you do to incur such a large bounty?"

"Back when I was an adventurer, I went by the alias Rune—most of us adventurers use aliases to avoid trouble. At that time, we had an adventure team of six people, and we were all very close. Later, during an adventure, a companion had his leg bitten off by a Magic Beast. We needed to scrape together some money for him to receive limb-regeneration treatment at a temple, so we took a black-market job smuggling weapons. As it turned out, after the job was done, the employers not only refused to pay but also wanted to silence us. After a fierce battle, I was the only one left of my teammates." Gerald summarized the past events of conspiracy, betrayal, anger, and blood as lightly as possible in the simplest words. "A viscount died in the battle... that's about it."

Sui Xiong was silent for a moment, then said: "Well killed! Are any of the enemies from back then still alive?"

"No, we adventurers don't let grudges last overnight."

"Well done!"

Gerald scratched his head and gave a simple, honest smile.

"Your Majesty, I suggest we take a look at these tasks; perhaps there are some suitable for us," he suggested. "Building a temple, promoting the true faith, and training holy servants—all of these cost money."

"I've told you before, I'm not a god. There's no need to spend this wasted money..."

"You will need to spend this money sooner or later. It's not a bad thing to prepare in advance."

Sui Xiong was helpless against Gerald's stubbornness. The thing a boss fears most is encountering a subordinate who is both loyal and stubborn. You can't bear to punish them, and you can't reason with them—especially when the other party puts on a "Boss, I'm doing this for your own good" attitude, as if they are ready to sacrifice their life for the cause at any moment. Aside from brainless fools like Emperor Yang of Sui, even those "emperors through the ages" could only shake their heads, sigh, and concede.

Anyway, since he was idle, finding something to do to pass the time wasn't bad.

Since he decided to do some tasks to make money, Sui Xiong naturally went straight for the tasks with the highest rewards. At the top of the bounty board, there was a piece of cloth that looked slightly old. It had no pictures, only a few lines of text.

Slay the Shadow Devil King, using the magic core as proof. Jointly notarized by major temples. The reward is one hundred thousand gold coins, plus two pieces of custom-made high-level magic items. After verification, the magic core belongs to the slayer.

"This task is not bad! One hundred thousand gold coins!"

Gerald took a look and shook his head: "The Shadow Devil King is the most famous Magic Beast in the eastern part of the Ash Forest. It is at least a legendary monster, and very likely a demigod. There are many ways to make money; why risk your life against a demigod for money?"

"A demigod... they must be very powerful, right?" Sui Xiong couldn't help but feel a bit interested. Since he transmigrated, he hadn't encountered a truly evenly matched opponent yet.

According to Gerald, he estimated that he himself belonged to the level of a demigod expert. Demigod against demigod—it would surely be a very satisfying fight.

"Your Majesty, we really don't need to go out of our way to provoke that guy!" Gerald was a bit anxious. "It's not worth it! Even if you want to find an opponent to spar with, you could find someone like the 'Skeleton Devourer' who can communicate. The Shadow Devil King is notoriously evil; it will definitely use all kinds of conspiracies and tricks to plot against you!"

Sui Xiong sighed and stopped discussing this topic. He could see that if he insisted on having a fight with that Shadow Devil King, Gerald would probably rather commit suicide than let him go.

What do you do when your subordinate is too loyal? Waiting online, it's quite urgent.

Sigh... there's no internet!

Leaving this task aside, there were other high-paying tasks on the bounty board, one of which Sui Xiong thought was quite good:

Expel the evil dragon "Tyrant of Extreme Cold" living in the mountains near Dragon Roar Town. After the expulsion is complete, you must bring holy servants from three different temples, including the God of Justice, to the dragon's lair for verification. The reward for the task is five thousand gold coins. Additionally, if no reinforcements are needed, you can exclusively enjoy all the treasures in the dragon's lair.

Gerald had no objections to this quest. As far as he knew, evil dragons were mostly bullies who feared the strong; with the martial prowess of His Majesty Void Mask, as long as they didn't loot the dragon's hoard, they would surely be able to force the beast to relocate. All in all, these five thousand gold coins would not be hard to earn.

After paying a silver coin to inquire for information from the Adventurers' Guild liaison and confirming the general location of the dragon's lair, Gerald bought some wilderness survival essentials and prepared to leave Glimmerstone Town for Dragon Roar Town.

However, he had barely traveled far from the town when he came to a halt.

An overturned carriage and a group of merchants in complete disarray blocked his path.

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