"What do we do? Hold on! I'm coming over right now!"
After ending the call, Zhao Hu cast an unwilling glance at the grayed-out High Martial Descent icon and directly chose to enter Heavenly Dragon Dynasty.
The second phase of the assessment BOSS was simply inhumanly difficult, impossible to crack in a short time. As a high-ranking elder of Heavenly Might Guild, Zhao Hu's first priority was preserving Heavenly Might's advantage in Heavenly Dragon Dynasty. Everything else could only be set aside for now.
While the test assessment for High Martial Descent was in full swing, Lin Qi stretched lazily in the lounge of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, utterly unaware of what had happened over on Blue Star.
"After an entire day, I've finally copied out Crushing Stone Fist and Leopard Shadow Steps. This really isn't work for a human."
Lin Qi looked at the two handwritten martial arts manuals on the table, feeling immensely satisfied.
With these two martial arts techniques, his game finally had the beginnings of a combat system. At least newcomers to the martial arts hall would not be limited to learning the Fitness Breathing Technique to improve their physical fitness, with barely any combat strength to speak of.
Moreover, as long as players could learn Crushing Stone Fist and Leopard Shadow Steps, even if their physical fitness was only at kindergarten level, they would still have the strength to fight a Quasi-Apprentice.
A Quasi-Apprentice possessed between 100 and 200 kilograms of strength.
Their speed ranged from 10 to 12 meters per second.
In City of Light Chasing, the overwhelming majority of people could be said to be at Quasi-Apprentice level.
As for martial arts techniques, even for official residents of City of Light Chasing, they were luxury goods that ordinary people simply could not afford to learn.
As long as players who were not Quasi-Apprentices mastered Apprentice-level Crushing Stone Fist, they could unleash more than double their usual strength. Once they mastered Apprentice-level Leopard Shadow Steps, their speed could increase by over twenty percent. If they mastered both, their strength and speed could fully reach Quasi-Apprentice standards.
"Next comes the question of pricing. If it's too cheap, I won't have anything worthwhile left to exchange here. But if it's too expensive, the players' strength will improve too slowly. What a headache."
Lin Qi suddenly felt that balance truly was an art.
On one hand, he worried that the players would consume the game's lifespan too quickly. On the other, he worried that they would lack motivation.
These leeks really were not easy to harvest.
Just as Lin Qi was agonizing over how to set the price, a tall figure entered from outside the martial arts hall. One mechanical prosthetic hand carried a metal case, while the other bore two large cardboard boxes. Her steps were steady and powerful, far beyond what an ordinary Quasi-Apprentice could compare with.
"Lin, I brought everything you wanted." Luo Qi set the boxes directly in the corner of the lounge, then looked at Lin Qi with curiosity. "Why did you order so many Blood Essence Rice seeds, along with food and water? Don't tell me you're planning to live in the wilderness long-term?"
"I'm only stockpiling more, just in case. After all, City of Light Chasing hasn't been very stable lately." Lin Qi directly took out 6,000 bits and handed them to Luo Qi. His bits immediately dropped to just over 2,400, no longer enough to pay next month's hospital debt.
This time, he had asked Luo Qi to purchase 100 catties of Blood Essence Rice seeds, along with enough food and water for ten players, himself included, to last a month. Success or failure would be decided in this single gamble.
"It really hasn't been stable lately." Luo Qi nodded after hearing that. "Just yesterday, several more gangs in the outskirts were wiped out. So many gangs have been fighting so fiercely that weapon consumption has been enormous. If I weren't delivering these things to you, I'd probably be busy forging weapons right now."
"They're fighting that hard?" Lin Qi was quite surprised. "Didn't they say that the Half-Scale Race gangs had merely expanded their territory in the outskirts a little?"
"I don't know the specifics." Luo Qi shook her head slightly, then sized up Lin Qi with interest and said with a smile, "Our shop has a pretty good part-time job lately. Do you want it?"
"Your shop has part-time work for undocumented drifters?" Lin Qi could not help feeling curious.
As one of the more prominent weapon shops in the outskirts, Azure Crystal Weapon Shop normally had plenty of official residents competing to work there. As for undocumented drifters, even getting a part-time job there would be nothing but a dream.
"Yes, a very good part-time job. It suits you perfectly." Luo Qi nodded, no longer keeping him in suspense. "Aren't you going out to farm? Since you're heading into the wilderness, you can do some transport work along the way. Our shop has been worked nearly to madness recently, and all kinds of weapon-making materials are being consumed at a breakneck pace, so we've negotiated partnerships with several gangs."
"Those gangs have each mined quite a bit of ore from mines not far from the abandoned district. Our shop plans to exchange weapons for their raw materials, but the transaction volume is huge, and our staff can't handle it all. Those gangs are busy fighting one another now too, so they have no spare manpower."
"So our shop plans to recruit a group of people to transport goods for those gangs part-time. The more ore you bring back, the more you earn. Since you're going into the wilderness, you can make a trip there on your way back. Although 100 kilograms of ore only earns 30 bits, even a mosquito's leg is still meat."
"Will those gangs allow me to approach?" Lin Qi was tempted after hearing this, though not because of the money.
The mines occupied by the major gangs were forbidden territory for ordinary people. If anyone dared approach and was discovered, those gangs would kill them without mercy, giving them no chance at all.
And avoiding detection was nearly impossible. Those gangs had monitoring equipment around their mines. For ordinary people to dream of going unnoticed was simply wishful thinking.
Besides producing large quantities of ore, those mines also had countless trees growing on them.
Most of those trees were as thick as a person's body, making them exactly the materials needed to repair the martial arts hall.
If he were allowed to approach the mines, he could gather timber openly and aboveboard, then have the players repair the martial arts hall. That would be far more cost-effective than finding people himself to restore it.
"You can rest assured about that. We have identification from those gangs. As long as you carry the ID, those gangs won't do anything to you." Luo Qi explained, "Many employees in the shop are fighting over this part-time job. The manager stipulated that each person only gets one recommendation slot, so you're getting a bargain now."
"Fine, I'll take the job!" Lin Qi agreed without hesitation.
"Good. This identification is yours." Luo Qi nodded and directly took out a metal wristband. "But let me make this clear first. This part-time job has a minimum requirement. You have to transport at least one ton of ore each week, or the job will be taken back."
Lin Qi accepted the metal wristband and said happily, "Don't worry. I guarantee there'll only be more, never less. I'll make sure you're satisfied."
Now, not only could he finally set a good price for those two martial arts manuals, but once new players arrived, they would even have another new way to play. It was simply a win-win—he won twice!
Blue Star, as the sunset gradually fell, Heavenly Elegance Pavilion High-End Residential Complex.
The four-story villa courtyard was already brilliantly lit. Zhao Hu lay inside the Virtual Game Pod and let out a deep breath, his gaze once again sweeping over the dim High Martial Descent icon.
"I finally dealt with those Mythic Paradise bastards. Now I can think about how to deal with that BOSS." Zhao Hu checked the time on the screen. He still had several hours before tonight was over. He refused to believe he would not see Luo Wu Shang tonight.
Just as Zhao Hu paid 198 for revival and prepared to enter High Martial Descent's test assessment, a system notification suddenly popped up in High Martial Descent.
System: Seven preorder players have now obtained all connection slots. Thank you to all preorder players for participating.
"How is that possible?!" Zhao Hu stared at the system pop-up, utterly dumbfounded.
Zhao Hu could not have been clearer about just how powerful Qin Mu was in the second phase of the BOSS fight. He had even doubted whether anyone could pass such an inhuman assessment.
Yet now it was telling him that in the time it took him to fight one campaign, all seven slots had vanished. How could he possibly believe that?
"Could it be the old monsters from the other four major guilds?"
Once Zhao Hu recovered his senses, his mind kept speculating about who could possibly pass such a terrifying assessment—and do so with seven people at once.
"I still underestimated the experts of the world." Looking at the connection slots that were already gone, Zhao Hu could not help feeling some regret. If he had not gone to deal with Mythic Paradise, perhaps he might still have had a chance to pass the assessment. He then picked up the phone beside him and directly called Zhang Qingwei. "Qing Wei, please tell Vice President Luo that I can't go meet her tonight. But the next time there are slots, I will definitely enter High Martial Descent!"
After saying this, Zhao Hu had already made up his mind. Before High Martial Descent added more slots, he absolutely had to pass the assessment.
"Enter High Martial Descent?" Zhang Qingwei asked with some surprise. "Is getting into that game difficult?"
"Very, very difficult." Although Zhao Hu did not understand why Zhang Qingwei was asking, he answered honestly. "At least, I'm not confident yet."
"Is it really that difficult?" Zhang Qingwei said slowly after hearing that. "All right. When I enter High Martial Descent later, I'll tell Wu Shang."
"Enter High Martial Descent?" Zhao Hu could not help looking at the phone in his hand, doubting whether he had heard wrong. Doing his utmost to suppress his racing heart, he confirmed again, "Qing Wei, are you saying that you'll enter the game High Martial Descent and inform Vice President Luo?"
"Yes." Zhang Qingwei nodded, not understanding what Zhao Hu was so excited about.
"Qing Wei! No! Secretary Zhang!" After hearing Zhang Qingwei's confirmation, Zhao Hu spoke with a trace of reverence in his voice. "Could you tell me how you held out for twenty seconds? Of course, if you feel it's inappropriate, I won't force the issue. I just want some ideas for a strategy."
To Zhao Hu, Qin Mu's second phase in the final ten seconds was like a heavenly god descending to earth—impossible to evade, impossible to block. Yet Zhang Qingwei had actually passed. Her strength was simply terrifying beyond measure.
"Hold out for twenty seconds? Strategy ideas?" Zhang Qingwei was stunned. "Couldn't you just buy the game directly and enter?"
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