Chapter 80: What Kind of Sandbox Company Is This
After leaving his exclusive room, Su Xiao did not go directly to meet with the witch. According to what the witch said, the Traveling Group currently had two first-rank members and one second-rank member. She would contact all three and provide their general information, leaving the final choice to Su Xiao.
After exiting his exclusive room, Su Xiao bypassed the Trade Market and arrived at Reed's forge.
Before he even entered, he heard Reed's roar. From the sound of it, he was already half-dead with anger.
A wave of heat hit him, the air mixed with the smell of metal and burning debris. As soon as he stepped into the forge, Su Xiao saw Wow crouching in a corner, sniffling with red-rimmed eyes, looking utterly pitiful. She had clearly been scolded harshly by Reed again, like an elementary school student who hadn't done their homework, facing the "Seven Wolves" belt in their loving father's hand.
Reed sat imposingly before the forge, his hands trembling slightly from anger. When he saw Su Xiao enter, his gaze shifted to Wow, and he barked, "Get to the back room and cry."
Wow's body trembled, and she trudged into the back room, looking wronged. The situation was this: just a few minutes ago, Reed had been patiently teaching Wow how to forge. He used short tongs to clamp the molten billet and told Wow to strike. But Wow was a bit slow-witted and smashed the hammer right onto Reed's hand. At the time, to enhance Wow's forging strength, Reed had fitted her with the "Aggregate Hydraulic: Assistive Exoskeleton."
That one hammer blow nearly made Reed's eyes pop out. His hand was trembling now not from anger, but from the impact.
"How did I end up raising something like this? It's driving me mad."
Reed fished two cans of ice-cold beer from the cooling liquid nearby and tossed one to Su Xiao.
Su Xiao un-equipped his Dragon-Slaying Flash, Black King Bracer, and other gear needing repairs, placing them on the forge table. Reed put on a pair of special gloves, pulled out Dragon-Slaying Flash, and upon seeing its blade, he looked somewhat surprised.
"How did it get damaged this badly? Durability dropped by over four-fifths."
"Clashed with high-tier weapons."
"Take care of it. This blade has been with you a long time. At least make sure its durability doesn't drop below 2 points before bringing it to me, or there's a risk during repairs."
As he spoke, Reed activated the furnace and began repairing Dragon-Slaying Flash. The cost of this repair was high; the auxiliary materials and one batch of special tools alone were worth at least 800 Soul Coins, and that was at Reed's cost price.
Reed didn't mention the fee. He was more interested in the three gems on the blade.
"These gems... truly impressive setting technique. The energy within the gems is fully released, and there are interconnected protective measures. Such a masterful method—I've never seen it before."
With Reed's eye, he naturally recognized that the gem setting on Dragon-Slaying Flash was extraordinary, but he didn't ask who had set them.
Hearing Reed's words, Su Xiao remembered that he still had dozens of forging books obtained in the White Town in his storage space. These books were of little use to him, but lending them to Reed might improve the other's forging and repair skills.
He took out dozens of ancient books from his storage space. Most had metal covers, and some were bound from multiple notebooks.
When Reed saw Su Xiao pulling out these books, he wasn't initially interested. But when he spotted a circular emblem on one metal cover, he froze, suspecting he was mistaken. After squinting and staring for a moment, he strode over.
"These ancient texts..."
He picked up one, carefully opened it, and his eyebrows nearly shot up.
"Bai Ye, name your price. I won't lie to you—these texts are incredibly valuable. Or rather, it's not about value; this is a lost art from a certain lineage, long since severed, originating from the Void. To me, this is like you discovering the inheritance ability of a Law Destroyer."
The more Reed flipped through, the more obvious the delight in his eyes became.
"I'm not planning to sell them for now. I'll leave them with you, and I'll come for them when I need them."
"Then many thanks."
Reed didn't engage in excessive pleasantries. They were old acquaintances, and too much formality would only seem fake.
"Reed."
"Hmm?"
Reed responded, but his gaze never left the ancient book in his hands.
"Fix the gear first."
"Hmm."
Reed said this, but he turned to a new page. However, noticing Su Xiao hadn't spoken for a while, he seemed to make a great effort to close the book.
"Wow!"
At Reed's shout, Wow quickly scurried over.
"Store these texts in the secret room. Finish reading this one by tonight, or no dinner."
Under Reed's scolding, Wow struggled to carry the dozens of books toward the back room. In truth, learning a craft required hardship. Though Wow's treatment seemed harsh, what she was learning was something many dreamed of touching. Whether in Reincarnation Paradise or the Void, one had to either possess an admirable skill, be strong enough, or be as cunning as a demon—choose one of three, or remain beneath others.
Reed continued repairing the gear. Besides that, he also needed to appraise ten talismans for Su Xiao.
Su Xiao sat cross-legged on a single sofa and took out the Deathmatch Terminal. Upon activating it, he found that the Deathmatch Game Company had posted three more game announcements.
'Scandal: Our company president has absconded with a large sum of money! (Attached photo of the president before fleeing)'
'Doom Star witnesses a Starry Sky Seat member: the Undying Old Man! (Photo evidence, but dare not release yet—life is more important)'
'Shocking: A certain Night Temptation Witch was found late at night... (Attached 17 photos, pay to view).'
A flicker of surprise crossed Su Xiao's face. He couldn't quite understand—what kind of sandbox game announcements were these?
The company president running away could be linked to the Deathmatch Game, but the Undying Old Man of the Starry Sky Seat and the Night Temptation Witch's scandal had nothing to do with it.
Moreover, these news items had comments and likes below them. The most liked was from the official account, which read: 'Dear big shots, the boss has run off, and there's nothing we can do. From now on, we'll switch to real-time news releases.'
Su Xiao had felt before that although the Deathmatch Game Company was large-scale, its staff had no scruples. Now it seemed that after the game completely flopped, these people had switched careers, using their channels to release exclusive news.
Among these exclusives, the news that the Undying Old Man had gone to Doom Star was valuable. According to the report's details, this happened a few days ago.
Closing these 'game announcements,' Su Xiao began tackling a puzzle game. Two hours quickly passed. Dragon-Slaying Flash, Black King Bracer, and other gear were all repaired, and the ten talismans he had obtained from the Kodo School were also appraised.
Initially, Su Xiao had obtained five talismans, then Beini had gotten two more, and the last three were brought out by Archbishop Noah after the battle, including the strongest one, the Silver Heart.
[Talisman Gloves] No appraisal needed. As long as talismans are loaded, this item can be used. It can hold up to five talismans simultaneously, but only one takes effect at a time. Talismans can be switched freely during combat, but cannot be removed from the [Talisman Gloves] until after the battle ends.
In other words, even with ten talismans, careful selection was necessary. Different combinations were used for different battles.
Su Xiao picked up the ten talismans. They were like small cards, 3 cm long and 2 cm wide, each a different color. Among them, the Silver Heart was entirely silver-white and the most conspicuous. The attributes of all talismans were as follows:
Strength Talisman: Strength correction +8 points. Attacks have strong knockback. Strength crushing damage increased by 15%.
Defense Talisman: Equipment/Body defense increased by 8%.
Valor Talisman: Delays entering a dying state by 20 seconds.
Howl Talisman: Moderately increases skill attack range.
Pride Talisman: Ranged attack power increased by 10%. Accumulates Pride Marks on attacks. When an enemy accumulates 3 layers of Pride Marks, deals true damage based on own Agility attribute.
Life Talisman: Generates a life shield (shield durability is 5% of max HP, regenerates every 30 seconds).
Sacrifice Talisman: Instantly consumes 50% of own HP. Movement speed and attack speed greatly increased. Attacks inflict Blood Thirst effect (life drain).
Metal Talisman: Hardens part of the body. Defense of hardened part increased by 300%.
Blade Maiden Talisman: Summons a Blade Maiden phantom behind the user. Each melee/ranged attack has a 7.5% chance to summon a Blade Maiden (up to three Blade Maidens can exist simultaneously. Their combat power and duration depend on the user's Agility and Intelligence attributes: Agility determines combat strength, Intelligence determines duration).
Silver Heart Talisman: After activating this talisman's effect, all four other talismans loaded on the Talisman Gloves are fully activated. Based on their different traits, they combine into different abilities (e.g., Metal + Blade Maiden + Strength + Pride = Slaughter Angel). This talisman can only be used once per day. The duration of the ability after use depends on the traits of the four resonated talismans.