LWGP - Chapter 124
Chapter 124: A Multitude of Experts
The people in the woods were an accident, and the little fox that tunneled out of the ground was even more of an accident. But the fact that the little fox was hugging Wang Jiu's leg and calling her "Grandma Ancestor" was probably no accident.
There had to be a reason.
As everyone was pondering this, they saw Wang Jiu coldly ask the little fox, "Were you the one who took the final blow?"
She didn't say "stole," because killing a boss was all about skill. It made no difference whether the other party was a person or a fox.
Whether it was "Grandma Ancestor" or not was also unimportant. What she wanted was the result.
So she asked, and as she did, she used the Demon's Eye to check the little fox's attributes.
Thousand Banyan Little Silver Fox (Silver Boss, Level 20)
Strength: 1500
Agility: 1500
Stamina: 1500
Description: This BOSS possesses excellent natural aptitude. It is a dormant bloodline of the fox clan, hidden within a thousand-year-old banyan tree on Huize Mountain while being pursued by a sworn enemy. It was born from absorbing the essence of the plants after the hundred-year-old banyan tree was destroyed. It can accelerate its evolution by devouring other sacred spirits.
Below that was a long list of seven or eight skills.
Among them was the impressive Fox Clan Stealth Technique (which Wang Jiu had failed to detect several times), as well as various racial talents from different boss species.
Wang Jiu looked on, lost in thought.
This person never had a normal temperament to begin with. When she was cold, she was utterly devoid of emotion, like a killing machine—ferocious and incomparably brutal. The little fox was a bit intimidated and couldn't help but rub its fluffy little tail against Wang Jiu's ankle. "I, I… it was an accident."
Wang Jiu: "Was it you or not?"
The little fox couldn't help but stand up to explain, its tone righteous. "I did it to save you! That big rat was too vicious. I was afraid it would hurt you, so I tunneled underground to get close and hit it just a tiny bit."
Wang Jiu: "So it was intentional after all."
The little fox dropped to its knees again with a thud, hugging Wang Jiu's calf tightly. "Grandma Ancestor, I was wrong, but I'd do it again next time! If I didn't, how would you ever notice me?"
Wang Jiu: "???"
Although she had been a professional actress for a decade or two, Wang Jiu never played the role of a scheming, infatuated lover. Whether it was real or fake, she was always the one in control, the one being pursued.
Now, she was still the one being pursued, but she had never expected to be pursued in this manner.
Looking down at it, she said, "Let go."
The little fox's eyes turned red. It shook its head, its voice milky and soft. "No, no, no, I won't let go! Grandma Ancestor, you're Bai Bai's only family! You can't abandon me!"
"My family is all dead."
"No, no, no, your body has the strong essence of a fox spirit! I can feel it—pure and powerful, mysterious and great, unparalleled in this world!"
To hell with your mysterious and great.
Wang Jiu: "…"
The others couldn't contain their expressions, and the atmosphere grew a little awkward. Even the crew-cut man in the woods, who had heard the commotion, let out a soft chuckle.
After a moment of speechlessness, Wang Jiu actually laughed. "If I remember correctly, you should be that little fox from Huize Mountain, right? I seem to recall you chasing after me, trying to kill me. Why the change of heart now?"
The little fox's body stiffened. "That was because I was young and didn't recognize you, Grandma Ancestor."
Wang Jiu: "Is that so?"
She bent down, her long, blood-stained fingers pinching the little fox's fluffy chin. "You've gotten fatter. I almost didn't recognize you either. I don't care why you're so insistent on latching onto me, but since you got the final blow, you have the right to distribute the loot. In that case…"
The little fox: "What's mine is yours!"
Wang Jiu smiled, then suddenly tightened her grip, grabbing its neck and lifting it straight up.
Oh my, so villainous, so brutal, so much negative energy!
"If I kill you, I can still get everything, and I can even count your own resources as a bonus."
The little fox was shocked. Its large, foxy eyes trembled, filled with terror.
She really didn't seem to be joking. Her tone and expression were familiar to Liao Luo, Jiang Ming, Qi Shuanghan, and the others who had been swiftly dealt with in the past. Then they saw Wang Jiu raise the golden blade in her other hand. Before the blade could fall, a strange silver light erupted from the little fox's body, flinging it away. It landed in front of the golden rat. It had used the "Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell" skill from a cicada-type BOSS. Wang Jiu failed to interrupt its skill. They watched as it opened its mouth, revealing a swallowing technique like that of a giant python, and gulped down the massive golden rat in one bite.
With a gulp, its belly suddenly swelled up.
Then, clutching its ball-like stomach, it sat down on the ground and declared in a desperate tone, "I've already eaten it! The benefits are gone, but you can have a stronger me!"
That little milky voice sounded so, so fierce. It even let out a burp, its expression unpleasant, as if it found the meal disgusting.
The Domineering CEO's Little Runaway Wife with a Bun in the Oven, The Ruthless CEO's Little Wife Secures Her Position with a Child, The Untold Story of Gobi's Lao Wang and the Little Fox.
Anyway, Wang Shu had already written several scripts in his mind in a matter of seconds, but he didn't dare to voice them, because Wang Jiu's expression was very ugly.
The others, like Jiang Ming, also felt quite frustrated.
Eaten? Such a huge golden boss was just eaten like that?
This little fox was a cheater.
No, it should be Wang Jiu who was the cheater. Such a powerful little fox was desperately trying to be enslaved by her. Was she playing the role of a Mary Sue protagonist from a Jinjiang female-oriented novel?!
However, Wang Jiu surprisingly didn't make a decision on the spot, nor did she look at the little fox on the ground that was trying to swindle her. She just had the System confirm the rewards.
System: "After calculation, and upon the confirmation command of the Gobi Lord, all members of the Gobi Territory are now notified. The results of the Luoyang East Rat Tide Campaign and the Tuoluo Ground Rat Clan Advent Campaign are as follows. Final participation is calculated based on leadership qualifications and contribution. Individual rewards will be sent privately, while public rewards are as follows."
"1: The Gobi Territory is awarded the title of 'Honorary Territory of East Luoyang,' an intermediate title, which permanently increases Spirit Energy by 300. However, this only applies to members of the territory and becomes invalid upon leaving."
"2: The top ten contributors in this battle will receive a Golden-grade War Glory Badge. The top one hundred will receive a Silver-grade War Glory Badge. The top five thousand will receive a Bronze-grade War Glory Badge."
"3: Assessing the strength and threat level of the Rat Tide and the Tuoluo Ground Rat Clan, and because you successfully prevented them from harming human interests, avoided losses, and permanently eradicated the foundation of the rat clan in eastern Luoyang, the overall evaluation of the war's effectiveness is 'Excellent.' Therefore, the rewards are as follows: The Gobi Territory will receive 5000 gold in territory funds and an increase of 2000 reputation points."
"Public reward calculation is complete. A reminder: Civilization has been destroyed. Rebuilding it still requires courage and ability. It is hoped that all living beings will strive forward and reshape its glory."
The public rewards were as listed above, and everyone was stunned. In comparison, the private rewards seemed like a minor matter.
"This Glory Badge isn't a growth type, but it can be upgraded? It seems like you can upgrade it by getting it multiple times. Holy crap, the top ten are amazing, getting a golden one right away!"
"Glory Badges can't be strengthened; they're special. But this is my first time getting a badge."
"Damn it, badges are so hard to get. They depend on individual performance. I know a lot of people with high attributes who don't have any badges. I never thought a territory war would be one way to get them."
"Even the bronze one has such strong stats. What about the silver and gold ones?!"
"I think those individuals with average attributes over a thousand probably all have badges. Now they've gotten a golden Glory Badge for being in the top ten. Truly awesome!"
Everyone was discussing animatedly while also collecting their individual rewards. Of course, there were also the pebble rewards from the vast number of rats outside the territory—two hundred thousand of them! And 21 rat clan bosses, plus the Tuoluo clan's 5 silver bosses and 50 bronze mini-bosses.
A huge pile of rewards!
Those with battle records swarmed out, prompted by the System to go and unlock their spoils of war.
The territory was bustling with a festive atmosphere. But for the first time ever, Wang Jiu's share of these achievements was very small, because she hadn't done much fighting.
In the past, she had always been the one to take the lion's share.
Fortunately, she had locked down the golden rat's output, steadily exceeding 50% participation. Coupled with her leadership role, her personal rating was also 10 stars, so she received 10 Mystic Realm Fragments.
By this count, she now had 50 Mystic Realm Fragments in her possession—a dozen of which came from the spoils of war dropped by others.
This item was very rare. It was estimated that few people had obtained it, and some used it as soon as they got it, rarely saving any. She had killed at least a few thousand people, yet only a dozen fragments had dropped. This showed just how rare it was.
With a mountain of items and rewards, Wang Jiu was busy organizing them. She simply grabbed the little fox and entered the territory.
Jiang Ming and the others were actually a bit reserved, afraid that Wang Jiu would withhold these rewards. After all, their kills were based on the foundation of her using the barrier to draw aggro.
Moreover, they were all considered slaves with no loyalty. If she threatened them, they would really have to give up a large amount of resources.
But to their surprise, she didn't even look at them, offered no post-battle debriefing, and left without a single word.
What kind of attitude was that? Was she planning something sinister?
As everyone grew anxious, the cunning Jiang Ming tried to probe Wang Shu, who replied directly, "Master told me to unlock the corpses for her. She's tired and wants to go back and rest."
A glint flashed in Jiang Ming's eyes. "Then these rewards…"
Wang Shu: "What? You guys want to offer tribute?"
Everyone immediately scattered like birds and beasts.
However, Xie Lu was still looking at the woods.
Qiao Xuejing asked, "Is that person still there?"
Xie Lu shook his head. "They should be gone by now. Since they didn't make a move at the beginning, they won't make one now."
That was why Wang Jiu hadn't paid it any mind.
But this person must be very powerful; otherwise, Wang Jiu wouldn't have been so cautious.
At that moment, the crew-cut man from the woods had indeed returned to 108 Novice Village.
"Boss, how are things over at Gobi?"
"I saw the fox's Grandma Ancestor."
"???"
A boss? An old fox? Did you fight it?
"Didn't fight. It's a tough fight. The Gobi Territory in eastern Luoyang is gaining momentum; its wings have fully formed. Let's check out the northwest and west regions. Maybe we can get a few pieces of the cake over there."
The crew-cut man rubbed his head and looked towards the northwest.
The lady in the east was a bit fierce and hard to deal with. So, should he choose the west or the north?
Wang Jiu returned to her homestead and threw the little fox on the ground. The little fox scrambled up and jumped to her side. "Grandma Ancestor, why did you private message me just now and tell me to eat that big rat?"
If Jiang Ming and the others were here, they would have instantly realized why she didn't care about the rewards from those smaller bosses.
Because Wang Jiu took off her jacket, turned to look at the little fox, and said with a faint smile, "You even knew to time the final blow to threaten me. You don't know why I had you do that?"
The little fox looked sheepish, rubbing its round belly. "Grandma Ancestor, you can see my attributes? You know that I have a chance to obtain an opponent's skills when I devour and evolve. You want the Gnaw skill."
As expected of the fox clan, very clever.
With the Gnaw skill, it would be a super weapon for attacking territories!
When Wang Jiu inspected the little fox's attributes and saw that it possessed skills from many other boss species, she became suspicious. That's why she deliberately put on a show in front of everyone, giving it the opportunity to devour the golden rat.
It wasn't that she was afraid of Jiang Ming and the others being dissatisfied, but rather to conceal the little fox's ability.
"Yes. So, can you get it?"
"There's a certain chance."
"Is that so? I don't care about chances."
"Thank you, Grandma Ancestor, for taking pity on Bai Bai."
"If you don't get Gnaw, I'll kill you."
"!"
Before the little fox could react in terror, Wang Jiu's discarded shirt flew over and covered it. Then, she went into the bathroom.
Shaking off the shirt, the little fox pouted. Its perky little ears twitched, and it made a face at the closed bathroom door, sticking out its tongue.
"Kill me if I don't get Gnaw? Can't I just run away?"
Its eyes darted around, and with a whoosh, the little fox tried to dash out of the homestead, only to slam into a protective barrier with a thud.
It's over!
It didn't have permission and couldn't get in or out.
It was trapped!
The little fox was terrified. Meanwhile, Wang Jiu had already started showering, organizing her rewards at the same time.
To summarize, the resources from the two victorious territory wars were as follows.
2600 gold (all spent), 820 Strengthening Stones and 10 Upgrade Scrolls (all used), over 800 pieces of silver and bronze equipment (already leased out at the territory armory), 280 (from Jason's reputation) + 2200 (from the 30% contribution settlement of all territory members in both wars) = 2480 reputation points, 80,000 bricks, 3000 bags of cement, 300 Basic Skill books, 100 Garden Fields, quite a few special items, 30 Puppet Cards, 10 intermediate dolls, 30 small dolls, 20 Class Skill books, some alchemy materials, and many basic material resources.
As for titles: a group title with 500 spirit energy attribute—"Victory in the First Territory War of the Weak Against the Strong," and an individual title with 800 spirit energy attribute—"Cunning Gobi Lord."
The resources from the victory against the eastern rat clan + Tuoluo ground rat clan were as follows.
5000 gold (territory funds, convertible to personal funds), 2000 (territory reputation, not convertible to personal reputation), 10 Mystic Realm Fragments, 2 spins on the Lucky Wheel (10 stars personal, 10 stars overall), a large amount of experience (which leveled her up to 29), and a Warlord's Glory Badge (Purple Gold grade).
As for titles: a group title with 300 spirit energy attribute—"Honorary Territory of East Luoyang," and an individual title with 1500 spirit energy attribute—"Luoyang's Number One Ratbane Champion."
In total, Wang Jiu's permanent spirit energy jumped to 9200, and her personal reputation reached 2480 points.
"A small territory requires 100 reputation, a medium one 300, but a large territory needs 3000?" Wang Jiu was a bit surprised, as the leap was quite large. She had originally wanted to make a push for the large territory leaderboard.
System: "It's easier to accept if you think of it in terms of villages, townships, towns, and cities. The difficulty just increases progressively."
Hmm, that seemed right. Three small villages could merge to form a township, just a few times larger. But the expansion to a town or city was on a crazy scale, at least tens or even hundreds of times larger.
Wang Jiu checked the territory reward leaderboard for the Ninth District. The list for small territories was already full, and the list for medium territories had grown wildly to 80 rankings.
She saw many familiar names, people who had been famous in their respective fields in the past, including several celebrities.
Speaking of which, she never thought that getting ninth place necessarily meant she was better than those behind her.
The time difference was too short. It was like an exam; could you really say that someone who scored 95 was definitely better than someone who scored 94?
There were too many influencing factors.
System: "You can make a push for a large territory now. People from other districts have already achieved it."
Wang Jiu rarely checked the data from other districts. Hearing this, she took a look and found that one of the nine districts was very special.
Exceptionally powerful.
The First District. Five people had already established large territories.
"The strongest death zone?" Wang Jiu was somewhat astonished. She calculated its geographical location and found that it was in the mysterious waters of the North Atlantic, an area that also had the terrifying moniker of the Grim Reaper's region.
Clearly, this was no coincidence. This region definitely had its secrets.
Wang Jiu fell silent for a moment. Interestingly, all five of these people had chosen to remain anonymous.
Powerful and obscure.
"A multitude of experts, indeed."
Wang Jiu smiled, closed the rankings, and turned her attention to the most important item.
"A Purple Gold badge… The System is suddenly so generous. I feel a bit overwhelmed by the favor."
Wang Jiu was a little puzzled, feeling that this might have exceeded the reward mechanism.
System: "It's not based solely on your two territory wars, or solely on the later battles with the rat swarm and the Tuoluo clan. It's a combined total reward for all four events. Sometimes, fighting hard really does pay off. Your calculations were not in vain."
Wang Jiu paused, tying her damp hair back. Standing under the shower, she said lightly, "Don't think too highly of me. I didn't accurately predict the events with the Frost Territory. At most, I only had suspicions."
She was just stating a fact.
The System didn't argue, but it thought to itself that according to the reward mechanism, she was given a Purple Gold badge as an exceptional reward for her performance today not because she had predicted things in advance, but precisely because she couldn't be 100% certain of what would happen, yet she had made the best preparations for it, or had come up with the best impromptu tactics.
Of course, the most important thing was that she had won.
As she spoke, Wang Jiu was also toying with the Warlord's Glory Badge.
Warlord's Glory Badge (Purple Gold, No Growth, Upgradable)
Attribute: Permanently increases critical damage of all attacks by 30%, permanently increases injury recovery speed by 30%.
Skill: 《Exemption》, with glory upon you, you can choose to be exempt from one negative status effect. Cooldown: one hour.
"I didn't expect it to increase crit damage and recovery speed instead of attribute points. Are the gold, silver, and bronze ones the same?"
System: "Just look at the social circle for the Luoyang region and you'll know."
Surprised, Wang Jiu opened the social circle and saw a stream of messages about titles and badges.
Wang Shu: Title, badge, Gobi Territory of East Luoyang. Glory is my life!
Dao Dao followed suit, along with Liao Luo and the others.
A long line of people copied and pasted the message, the only difference being the grade of their badges.
Even Xie Lu silently posted once. His was a golden badge, and its appearance was extremely prestigious. Following him were Mei Qingshu, Qiao Xuejing, and others who ranked in the top ten.
A stream of golden light blinded the eyes of everyone in the Luoyang region's social circle. The social circle instantly exploded with all sorts of envy, jealousy, and inquiries. But the smart ones had already started leaving their territories and applying to join the Gobi Territory.
At this moment, Jiang Ming and Leng Rong, both holding Glory Badges, had very complicated feelings.
Leng Rong: "Has Baiyan contacted you?"
Jiang Ming: "He just contacted me, asking if I want to go to the Mo Jiang Territory in 108 Novice Village after my slave status expires. He said we can choose for ourselves."
Leng Rong: "I don't really care. Victory and defeat are common in war. But I have to remind you, we've reached this point today—Nevernight was integrated after they fought us, and Frost Territory will be integrated after fighting the rat clan. This is the power of war. The winning side gains extraordinary faith, not to mention Wang Jiu herself is powerful enough. Of the original people, at least 90% will stay. The rest, seeing that everyone else is staying, might not have the determination to leave with us."
Jiang Ming sighed, "I know. Her schemes run too deep, one link after another. From the very beginning, she wanted to bind the three territories together, to gather everyone's strength to wipe out the rat swarm. And she succeeded… But I just feel humiliated. Maybe it's because I'm a gamer. I'd rather start over from scratch than submit to her."
Leng Rong nodded. "Alright, I'll go with you to Baiyan's place."
The two made their decision, but Jiang Ming's expression was extremely complicated as he watched the lively chatter on the channel.
Wang Jiu watched as the territory's gold began to skyrocket. The system had awarded 5000 gold, and the merger of the three territories had already brought in 3000 gold, for a total of 8000. Now, with Wang Shu and the others blowing up the chat, applications were flooding in. However, her own territory was full, so new members were being assigned to other people's territory blocks. Although they were all part of the whole, Wang Jiu could only receive half of the income.
Nevertheless, the numbers were still soaring. Soon, the territory funds were approaching 10,000 gold.
Wang Jiu directly withdrew 2000 gold and once again swept the market clean of the four mastery and Heavy Strike basic skills.
Now, the price of the four masteries had shot up to 5 gold, and active skills like Heavy Strike were 6 gold per book.
Wang Jiu spent 2000 gold to gather what she needed for level eight of the four masteries. Previously, when she upgraded them from level 6 to 7, the notification said there was no attribute increase, but an additional barrier was added. Now, at level 8, there was no barrier, but the attribute boost had changed. Adding the 1500 spirit energy title reward she received for having attributes over 3000, Wang Jiu's stats, now back to normal after the advent and other buffs wore off, were as follows after the new increase.
HP: 402 (Attribute points convert to HP at a 5:1 ratio)
Spirit Power: 500 (Permanent Spirit Energy: 10700)
Strength: 3700
Agility: 3900
Stamina: 3500
"Level eight for all four masteries. To get each one to level 9 requires 500 books of the same type? I have to say, your planners really have a grand vision when it comes to fleecing people."
Wang Jiu didn't hold back her sarcasm. The System was very calm: "Level nine is the final level, the great consummation. Once you upgrade, your barrier will also be upgraded."
Wang Jiu ignored it. Based on current prices alone, one mastery book cost 5 gold. To get all four masteries to level 9 would require 2000 books, which meant 10,000 gold.
Even emptying her territory's funds wouldn't be enough, and it would indefinitely delay the territory's development. She wouldn't make such a choice.
But she was indeed short on funds.
She couldn't touch the territory's reserve funds, so she had to find other sources of income.
Wang Jiu was already prepared. She began to use her level 29 privilege to export the videos she had recorded with the camera item.
At level 29, she had the privilege of exporting and copying a single video 290 times. Each video could be sold 290 times.
She had recorded a total of four videos, one for each of today's four battles.
She sold each video for 2 gold.
It was neither cheap nor expensive. Ordinary people certainly wouldn't buy it, but people at Jiang Ming's level would.
Territory war tactics, racial war tactics, techniques for fighting the rat swarm—all of this had informational value.
Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that some people with money and time to spare would buy it for entertainment.
In any case, Wang Jiu listed them, treating it as extra income.
In addition, she also listed a bunch of unwanted class skills for sale.
The prices she set were neither high nor low, all around a hundred gold. By the time she finished her shower, her personal account had an extra 3500 gold. She then used this gold to buy up many basic materials related to sewing and fashion on the market.
Basic materials weren't expensive right now. 3500 gold was an enormous sum of money. Even a lord like Bian Moshu, who had background resources and had annexed many novice villages, only had 1800 gold in funds.
The 1500 inventory slots Wang Jiu had cleared out were filled with various materials like cotton thread, cloth, cotton, and leather.
Each type was counted in the millions. After buying these things, she traded them all to Wang Shu in one go.
Wang Shu: "??? Master? What are you doing!"
Wang Jiu: "It's already the fourth day. The time limit on the clothes and shoes we brought from the old world is almost up. They'll all disappear soon, and people will be short on clothing. I know you're using recipes to make these things. I'll provide the materials, you provide the skills. An eighty-twenty split."
She had suspected this a few days ago when she saw the change in her hair tie while washing by the river.
Wang Shu: "??? Will they really disappear? I just thought that since recipes exist, new clothes would be needed once the old ones get damaged. I never thought they would disappear! But Master, with so many materials, I can't make them all. Can I get others to help?"
Wang Jiu: "Yes, but I won't cover those costs. You're the middleman; you bear that yourself."
Wang Shu: "Of course. Don't worry, Master. When the time comes, I'll definitely make a huge fortune for you!"
Wang Jiu: "If you have gold, stock up on more recipes. I'm surely not the only one who has noticed this, so the competition will be fierce."
Among the sixty thousand people in the territory, there were bound to be some with recipes. Wang Shu could gather these people to expand productivity. Game dungeons and monster drops only provided materials or special fashion with attributes, not finished clothing. This market was huge.
But she didn't need to say more. She knew that although Wang Shu seemed simple-minded and spoke without a filter, when it came to worldly wisdom, people like Xie Lu were far from his match.
But she saw through it without exposing it. They were still a good master and disciple.
After arranging these matters, Wang Jiu dried her hair and pushed open the door. She was startled to see the little fox in front of her. Its belly was flat. So fast.
"Finished digesting? Good timing. Come sign the agreement."
The little fox was puzzled. "What agreement? Don't you have a pet collar?"
Wang Jiu raised an eyebrow. "How did you know?"
The little fox looked embarrassed. "My bloodline is noble, so I have a sense for these things. I can smell the aura of a collar on you."
Wang Jiu casually tossed the towel aside, running her fingers through her damp hair as she spoke. "Oh, that thing. I've never liked it. After all, it violates the principle of equality among living beings. So, I've prepared something else for you. Something more elegant, more civilized, and more befitting the covenant quality of higher beings."
The little fox's eyes lit up. It jumped onto the table and said cheerfully, "Thank you for your mercy, Grandma Ancestor. Bai Bai is eternally grateful."
Then it saw Wang Jiu take out a thick Slave White Paper.
The little fox: "…"
Comments
Post a Comment