"This… this can't be right, can it?"
Onipur was dumbfounded, staring blankly as his eyes carefully scanned over Bai Qiu's personal info card—every single requirement had been fulfilled!
At first, he didn't think much of Bai Qiu's simple storage card, but when he saw the more than 120,000 regular Dragonfangs stored inside, he was utterly speechless.
This kid must be cheating, right? Onipur thought suspiciously.
If he had really hunted that many monsters, the drops should've completely filled his inventory—even if they were all low-level monsters.
He started to wonder if Bai Qiu had some kind of skill that multiplied normal material drop rates by a hundredfold.
Taking the info card again, he examined it carefully from top to bottom.
The moment he flipped to the skills page, he froze—the glaring text "Luck: F–" appeared right before his eyes, and Onipur stood still for a good ten seconds, stunned into silence.
"Here… here you go," Onipur finally said, returning the card to Bai Qiu while submitting the task completion report.
Moments later, a system screen appeared before Bai Qiu—task complete.
He received 1,000 Sanctum Coins and 1,000 EXP.
At the same time, Onipur handed him the third-stage task reward ahead of schedule and said solemnly,
"This is the skill card for Sevenfold Arcane Crystallized Eyes. But I feel I should warn you—unlike the threefold or fivefold versions, this one consumes a great deal of mana and demands a strong spirit attribute. I advise against learning it unless you possess mental power."
Bai Qiu nodded and asked, "Then do you have any other missions for me right now? Since the Wave mission can only be completed once the time comes, I've got some spare time."
Onipur waved his hand, thinking to himself that this kid's survival was pure strength, nothing else.
"No, nothing that needs doing right now," he said.
"But I suggest visiting other Sanctuary Towers. Each Supporter is different—perhaps the others can offer you something new.
Also, between Sanctuary safe zones, you can travel freely using the Teleportation Clock—a two-way transfer device connecting all Sanctuaries."
As he spoke, he led Bai Qiu up the black tower's wall.
After weaving through a series of narrow corridors, they arrived at a massive clock-like device.
It was the Teleportation Clock.
Beneath it was a slot where one could insert a map and select the desired destination safe zone.
Bai Qiu stepped forward and placed his circular map into the slot.
Immediately, a large holographic screen appeared before him—some areas on the map were shrouded in darkness, while others were clearly visible.
None of the teleport coordinates were selectable, meaning he would need to visit those areas in person to unlock their teleportation points.
Afterward, he could freely travel between the unlocked safe zones.
"Once a teleport coordinate is unlocked, does it cost anything to use?" Bai Qiu asked.
He didn't believe one could instantly travel twenty or thirty kilometers between safe zones without paying some price.
"It depends on the distance," Onipur explained.
"You'll need to pay one Sanctuary Coin per kilometer."
Bai Qiu nodded.
For now, he had no plans to visit other Sanctuaries—the Magic Merchant was unique, and he needed to exchange his Dragonfang for crucial supplies as soon as possible.
After changing out of his distinctive armor, Bai Qiu went to the Magic Merchant wearing only his iron boots.
By now, as time had passed, players had naturally formed an orderly queue to make purchases.
Most of them no longer worried about food shortages, but the Magic Merchant's shop sold all kinds of goods—not only food, but also tents and various household items.
Including the gaps in his equipment—if he only aimed for E-rank gear, it wouldn't be too hard to fill them with a bit of effort.
A long line had naturally formed, and Bai Qiu stood quietly, listening to the chatter of players ahead of him.
"Brothers, help me grab a pair of leg guards and a helmet later, then I'll buy an E-rank AoE Taunt skill. After that, I'll finally achieve farming freedom! We'll definitely make it into the top ranks!"
"Stack the thickest armor and take the hardest hits—respect, man, that's rough."
"Yeah, we'll leave the tanking and aggro-pulling to you. We'll keep stacking our DPS!"
Some players had already started forming spontaneous parties to practice efficient monster farming.
Most followed a similar pattern: let a tank take hits and draw monsters' attention while damage dealers wiped them out from behind.
Since Dragonfang Soldiers didn't deal much damage, a basic E-rank Iron Armor Set could tank them almost effortlessly.
After all, this game world felt painfully realistic—no one wanted to get hurt.
Naturally, tanks were in high demand.
Combined with other limiting factors, few players could solo Dragonfang Soldiers.
For instance, melee classes feared getting injured, ranged classes often failed to perform—Archers, for example, frequently missed their shots (a very real issue).
And as for Caster… better not even bring them up.
Among all current classes, Caster was undoubtedly the weakest—fragile, with low damage output, practically a trap-class.
Anyone unlucky enough to draw Caster early on could forget about farming efficiently through magic alone.
Bai Qiu went to the blacksmith's shop and handed his damaged Darksteel Longbow to the blacksmith, Li Zhu, for repairs.
The repair cost 50 Sanctum Coins and would take half an hour.
Bai Qiu nodded and left the forge—he still had other matters to handle.
At the Magic Merchant's stall, Bai Qiu purchased a number of items he had previously wanted but couldn't afford: Spirit Fruit, Rank-Up Cards, Tier-Boost Card, and Extra Item Card Slot.
He also bought the Magia Armor—said to withstand even C-rank Noble Phantasm—even though he couldn't use it yet.
Still, it was the best gear currently available.
Once the merchant left, it might never appear again, and with Bai Qiu's luck, looting a C-rank equipment drop was probably a dream.
He continued browsing through the merchant's wares and came across a complete set of wilderness camping gear—which he bought immediately.
Although he now had enough Sanctum Coins to rent a room inside the Black Tower, a tent was still a useful emergency item—especially in case of massive dungeon raids or field events.
Equipment Rank-Up Card (C-rank)
Effect: Upgrades one piece of equipment to C-rank.
Price: 10.000 Dragonfangs
Stock: 8/8
Bai Qiu suddenly remembered the Flame Orb stored in his inventory.
Lately, he'd been studying mana mechanics and had taken an interest in magical equipment.
He bought two C-rank Rank-Up Cards, intending to test the orb's potential.
If the orb proved useful, he would consume one card to upgrade it—if not, back into the storage it would go.
After spending some Dragonfangs, he still had a little over forty thousand remaining.
Bai Qiu wandered a bit more, skipping over the cheap stuff and heading straight for the high-end section.
That's when he nearly jumped in surprise—under Special Items, he found something outrageous:
Storage Ring (Special Equipment, C-rank)
Function: Stores up to 50 item slots; each item type can stack up to 999.
Trait: Does not occupy an equipment slot.
Price: 50,000 Dragonfang
Stock: 1/1
Great. Another thing he couldn't afford.