New Experience Slots Added

"What did you do?"

Lin Qi glanced at the system notification, then quickly shifted his gaze to One Leaf Floating Cloud, whose expression was somewhat crazed.

"It worked!"

"I really did it!"

One Leaf Floating Cloud completely ignored the blood spraying everywhere from his arm. He raised the rubber spear in one hand and celebrated without restraint, like a beggar who had just won five million.

After that brief burst of wild joy, One Leaf Floating Cloud heard Lin Qi's question and swiftly calmed down as well.

"Dojo Master, I lost my composure. Please forgive me." One Leaf Floating Cloud suppressed the ecstasy in his heart and hurriedly covered his bleeding severed arm with his still-intact hand. After a pause, he said, "I merely tried out a martial skill I learned before. Its side effects were simply too great, which is why I ended up like this. Please rest assured, Dojo Master. I'll clean up the room soon and definitely won't cause you any trouble."

No one was willing to violate the martial arts hall's new rules, especially now that the recreation had succeeded.

With one leap, he had gained combat power equal to Luo Wu Shang and Zhang Qingwei. He was no longer a player in the second echelon. If he were kicked out of High Martial Descent now, he would probably want to die.

"Fine. We'll let it go this time. Clean all this up later."

Looking at One Leaf Floating Cloud, who was unwilling to explain further, Lin Qi understood that no player would explain to an NPC how they had recreated a skill from another virtual game within High Martial Descent.

Rather than waste time asking, it would be more efficient to hide nearby and eavesdrop.

"Old Ye, you're amazing!" Fang Zhen looked at One Leaf Floating Cloud, whose entire body was spurting blood, and exclaimed in amazement. "I always thought you were just a casual whale player. I never expected you to recreate the third-tier spearman ultimate from Gods and Devils Battlefield. Incredible! Seriously incredible!"

Although the fantasy virtual game Gods and Devils Battlefield was nowhere near as popular as the wuxia masterpiece Pilgrimage, it was still a masterpiece with over a hundred million players online.

Players could take on many classes within it, such as swordsmen, knights, spearmen, mages, and more. Every class possessed numerous skills, and the higher their tier, the more powerful the skills they could learn.

Gods and Devils Battlefield currently had a maximum tier of five. When a third-tier spearman used Spiral Demon Spear Kill normally in Gods and Devils Battlefield, a single thrust could level a mountain—an attack as terrifying as an Electromagnetic Cannon.

Fang Zhen truly had not expected One Leaf Floating Cloud, a player who clearly seemed like a whale, to recreate Spiral Demon Spear Kill. Though it was an extremely simplified version, with less than one percent of the original's power.

Still, simply recreating it had earned him a five-stage martial artist evaluation from Instructor Number One. Anyone would have to call that badass.

"Not bad. If my Star Explosion Meditation Technique and physical fitness hadn't both broken through, I probably couldn't have done it either." One Leaf Floating Cloud laughed loudly. "I feel that if my physical fitness and Star Explosion Meditation Technique improve a little more, I should be able to fully display Spiral Demon Spear Kill."

"No wonder. I was wondering how you could spin so fiercely—it was practically like a lightning drill. And the explosive force when the spear finally shot out... I feel that even with my physical fitness at the limit of a Quasi-Apprentice, I couldn't achieve it with Crushing Stone Fist. So you broke through." Twilight of the Gods's eyes lit up as well. "Then if I want to use that move, I just need to find a way to improve my physical fitness and Star Explosion Meditation Technique!"

"This game's gameplay is hidden incredibly deep." Outlander Gunslinger sighed. "No wonder Dojo Master sold the Star Explosion Meditation Technique so cheaply before. It was all preparation for us to create our own martial skills."

The others came to a sudden realization upon hearing this, and they began to understand that the game company truly calculated every step.

Lin Qi, who was eavesdropping outside the room, felt a wave of embarrassment.

He truly had not thought that much about it. He had merely wanted to repair the martial arts hall and have a proper place to live.

"Still, these twenty additional recruitment slots will ease the shortage of manpower somewhat." Lin Qi looked at the upper limit for system recruitment slots at the bottom of his vision.

It had risen from the original ten to thirty. The increase was undoubtedly enormous.

The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was too large, about the size of a normal stadium. Even though he had recruited a hundred people from the abandoned district, all internal repairs to the martial arts hall relied on players.

And winter in this world was approaching. Based on what he knew of winters in the high martial world, they were exceptionally brutal. Temperatures generally fell to minus fifty degrees Celsius, and at their coldest could reach minus eighty.

In such terrifying cold, even a Quasi-Martial Artist would not survive the winter without sufficient cold-weather clothing and heating equipment.

Although players could revive infinitely, for the sake of gameplay, he had to prepare a set of cold-weather clothing and heating equipment for every player's residence.

Cold-weather clothing and heating equipment would cost a great deal of money.

Although he now had Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros meat and over a hundred kilograms of Blood Essence Rice, neither could be sold casually. Even if he sold them, the money he received would likely only barely be enough to repair the martial arts hall.

If all ten players focused on repairing the martial arts hall, no one would earn money afterward. In the end, he would still be broke.

These twenty slots had solved his pressing need.

City of Light Chasing, Azure Crystal Weapon Shop.

A Big Three-Wheeler loaded with a cartful of ore slowly rolled up before a seven-story building. Pedestrians streamed along the street, with all manner of races among them. Outlander Gunslinger and Peerless One Shot, sitting in the Big Three-Wheeler, were utterly stunned by the sight before them.

"This is fucking amazing! It's a perfect fusion of cyberpunk and wasteland!"

"I never expected this to be the suburbs! Getting picked by Dojo Master to come here this time is seriously lucky!"

Like curious children, the two frantically examined their surroundings, completely conquered by the vast scenery designed in High Martial Descent.

The suburban scenery was especially worlds apart from the abandoned district.

One was a cyberpunk city of future technology, while the other was a post-apocalyptic wasteland. They were practically two different worlds.

After arriving in the suburbs, the two also gained greater anticipation for High Martial Descent's future development. Since the game company had designed a city like this, players like them would definitely come live here in the future.

Otherwise, there would have been no need for the game company to go to such pains to create such a grand suburban district.

"Don't say anything later. Do whatever I tell you to do. Understood?" Lin Qi stepped out of the vehicle and swept his gaze over the two.

Originally, he had not planned to bring players into the suburbs. There were simply too many people here, and the amount of information they could come into contact with was immense. Even if players could only understand the human language, they could still obtain quite a lot of information.

But Lin Qi reconsidered. Now that the martial arts hall had activated the contribution point system, players probably valued contribution points even more than points. Especially since these players were all thinking about how to create their own martial skills, they no longer cared much about points and instead cared more about how many contribution points they could earn.

Under such circumstances, he could completely loosen the players' understanding of bits. Even if they learned that the bits they earned from missions were pitifully few, missions gave contribution points, and those were far more important than money.

Of course, he had two more important reasons for bringing them here.

First, unloading the cargo!

A cartful of ore like this would take him a long time to carry alone. But if he had players do it, it would only cost five contribution points, not even a single point.

Second, purchasing supplies.

There were twenty more recruitment slots now, while the martial arts hall only had supplies for ten people. He therefore needed to buy more alloy shovels, as well as a month's worth of food and water for twenty people. That would probably fill another small cart.

"Rest assured, Dojo Master. If you tell us not to speak, we absolutely won't say a single word."

"That's right, Dojo Master. We won't utter even half a word!"

Outlander Gunslinger and Peerless One Shot nodded repeatedly, wanting to desperately raise their favorability with Lin Qi so that he would bring them along again the next time he went out.

"Alright, go unload the goods." Lin Qi nodded and motioned for the two to move the ore.

The two immediately jumped down from the rear compartment and began carrying the ore from the vehicle.

"Why isn't Luo Qi here?"

Lin Qi looked at the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop employee who had come to receive the goods and asked curiously.

"You mean Luo Qi?" The young three-eyed Azure Crystal Weapon Shop employee hesitated for a moment before saying, "You should just pretend she isn't here. That would be better for both you and her."

"What do you mean?" Lin Qi asked, his expression darkening.

Luo Qi was an employee of the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop and an official resident of City of Light Chasing. Her safety in the city should have been guaranteed to a certain extent. Otherwise, she would not have run alone to the abandoned district every so often to deliver goods to him.

It was hard to imagine something could have happened to Luo Qi.

"Don't get angry." The three-eyed young employee spoke calmly. "You should know how this line of work is. We employees usually deliver weapons, even when going into the wilderness. This time, Luo Qi took an order from the Green Sparrow Gang—twenty weapons and twenty sets of armor—but she was intercepted on the way by the Green Sparrow Gang's mortal enemy, the White Feather Gang."

"Although the Green Sparrow Gang sent quite a few people to escort her, the White Feather Gang had more people, with several squads. In the end, everyone from the Green Sparrow Gang died. The White Feather Gang demanded ransom from the Green Sparrow Gang before they would release Luo Qi. Naturally, the Green Sparrow Gang was not stupid. Luo Qi was not one of their people, so of course they would not pay. And our weapon shop has always remained neutral. We are merely employees, so the shop owner naturally would not pay the ransom either."

"So the matter has reached a deadlock. The White Feather Gang has said they will wait at most another three days. If no one pays the ransom, they will kill the hostage, and then it will have nothing to do with them."

"How much is the ransom?" Lin Qi asked in a low voice, his brows tightly furrowed.

"I already told you, you should just pretend she isn't here. That would be better for both you and her." Seeing that Lin Qi intended to pay the ransom, the three-eyed youth shook his head slightly. "As an official resident of City of Light Chasing, Luo Qi is insured through the shop. Although she went into the wilderness, she will still receive a sizable compensation payment."

"How much?" Lin Qi stared directly at the three-eyed youth and demanded.

Seeing Lin Qi grow somewhat angry, the three-eyed youth could not help but sigh.

"Three hundred thousand bits!"