“Ah… No wonder you gave me such a special impression. So you’re a man who obtained the Hero’s Badge, just as Wuming did all those years ago. Back then, Wuming used his power to avert a great calamity for our City of Heaven’s Stars and saved the entire city. From that time on, I understood that heroes are worthy of respect and reverence… Young man, I look forward to you becoming a hero like Wuming. If you ever need anything, come find me — everything in my shop is thirty percent off for you.”
Ye Tianxie: “…”
Putting the tiger mask on his face, Ye Tianxie thanked the item shop proprietor and walked out. The tiger mask was a simple tiger-head guise that covered the entire face, leaving only two good-sized openings at the eyes; it obstructed his vision not at all, and felt perfectly comfortable to wear.
A pot-bellied fat man came into view — the City of Heaven’s Stars’ warehouse proprietor. Seeing Ye Tianxie approach, his two eyes, already all but squeezed out of existence by the fat around them, narrowed into slits that could scarcely have been thinner. “Young man from another world, is there anything I can help you with?”
“Expand my backpack capacity to 200 slots.” With that, Ye Tianxie produced a hundred and fifty gold coins… a fortune no ordinary player could possibly lay hands on. Indeed, at this stage, anyone carrying a hundred and fifty gold was no less than a multimillionaire in the real world.
A player’s backpack capacity could be expanded by the city’s warehouse proprietor, up to a maximum of 200 slots from the base 50. Each additional slot cost one gold. The price was reasonable enough… but consider: this was an investment requiring no cost whatsoever, and if all five hundred million players in Huaxia expanded their packs to the maximum, the total capital involved would be seventy-five billion gold — all of it flowing, naturally, into the mysterious Skyward Group. If so trifling and negligible a detail could generate such staggering value, one can imagine the whole. The Skyward Group’s insane act of distributing every game device for free would recoup its costs several times over before very long at all.
“Certainly, please wait a moment…” The warehouse proprietor agreed with a beaming smile — and then, all at once, those tiny, nearly invisible eyes of his went wide to an inconceivable degree. He pointed at Ye Tianxie’s chest. “That… that… If my eyes don’t deceive me, could that be the Hero’s Badge that only Wuming had the ability to obtain?!”
The fat man’s exaggerated expression of shock was cut from precisely the same cloth as the old man’s at the item shop — his lines were eighty percent identical as well. Ye Tianxie could only lift the Hero’s Badge again and say, “Yes. This is indeed the Hero’s Badge.”
“Heavens, you’re actually a powerhouse bearing the Hero’s Badge… How terribly rude of me. Here, take your gold back at once. You’re a man destined to become a hero, and helping you is my honor — how could I possibly take your gold? Let me expand your backpack to the maximum, and I hope it may aid you on your road of adventure.”
The warehouse proprietor’s manner turned fervent. He refused Ye Tianxie’s gold and, at the greatest possible speed, expanded his backpack capacity to the 200-slot ceiling.
Cupping the Hero’s Badge at his chest, Ye Tianxie could have kissed the thing several times over… Every last trace of the grumbling he’d felt when he first received it — with its paltry hundred points of Renown — had vanished without a trace. The Abyss trial, a trial that should have been impossible to complete, was hardly going to hand out a simple reward. Its listed attributes might be pale, but its inner power had revealed itself again and again in so short a span of time.
“You hold those with the Hero’s Badge in great respect?” Ye Tianxie asked, probing.
The warehouse proprietor lifted his head, a holy light kindling on his oily, gleaming face. “The Tower of Fate teeters on the brink of collapse, and all Eight Demon Kings have escaped. Anyone can see now that the Lost Continent may face an enormous calamity at any moment. So we need heroes; we long for heroes to appear… and we long all the more for heroes like you, who can obtain the Hero’s Badge, to appear and save the Lost Continent. And so we will do everything we can, in our own way, to provide a hero with whatever conveniences he requires.”
“I see… I hope I can become the hero you’re waiting for.” Ye Tianxie said, his expression utterly sincere… What he was actually thinking, only he knew.
The item shop proprietor had mentioned that Wuming had once saved the entire City of Heaven’s Stars by his own strength… No wonder Wuming’s renown here was so great. Even Kong Xiu, styled the strongest Magus of the City of Heaven’s Stars, had spoken of him with a face full of pride and animation.
“Ah — brave one destined to become a hero, I’d suggest you pay a visit to the city lord’s manor. The city lord has a great many thorny problems he needs you brave ones from another world to resolve. You obtained the Hero’s Badge as the hero Wuming once did, so you must possess extraordinary strength. The city lord would surely be delighted to see you.” The warehouse proprietor said suddenly, just as Ye Tianxie was about to leave.
The look Ye Tianxie turned on the fat man grew markedly more fervent. Already intending to hunt for quests, he changed course and headed straight for the city lord’s manor at the city’s center.
And upon arriving, the horrifying crowd there very nearly frightened him straight back out again.
The vast manor was besieged so thoroughly that not a drop of water could have trickled through, as noisy as if the crowds of ten markets had been crammed into one. And this with only a million players advanced — in a few more days, the scene would surely be beyond imagining. And every one of these players was here for the same purpose: to take quests.
To the right of the manor’s main gate hung a large board listing five quests in all… every one of them precisely suited to the players’ current level. Beneath the board stood a row of a dozen-odd officials, sweating profusely as they dealt with the terrifying multitude of the quest-taking army.
Ye Tianxie shoved his way forward for a good long while and flatly failed to get through, and could only hold his breath and peer up at the great signboard.
Lightning Rabbits of the Windfall Plains — Quest requirement: Level 10. Quest type: Ordinary. Quest reward: 6,000 experience, 10 gold, 3 Renown, 10 portions of the city lord’s manor’s specially made roast meat. The Windfall Plains are home to a breed of Lightning Rabbit that runs exceedingly fast. Rabbit meat is delicious and is one of the city lord’s favorite delicacies, but the Lightning Rabbits’ speed makes them extremely difficult to catch. Should any brave one be able to collect 50 Lightning Rabbit legs for the honored city lord, he would be exceedingly pleased.
The Ugly Freak King of the Black Forest — Quest requirement: Level 10, Renown 10. Quest type: Ordinary. Quest reward: 10,000 experience, 5 Renown, one emerald earring with a random attribute bonus of 1–2. In the Black Forest north of the city there often appear green-headed ugly freaks of hideous appearance, who have repeatedly frightened children passing through into tears. Their king frightened the honored city lord’s own son into tears several days ago, and the city lord now hates the Ugly Freak King to the bone. Should any warrior defeat the Ugly Freak King and bring back his green hat (hm? A green hat?), he would be exceedingly pleased and would grant a generous reward. Note: the Ugly Freak King is a Level 12 three-star elite. Players may complete this alone or in a party.
(End of Chapter 83)