Updated: 2014-02-19

"Alright! Keep it low-key! Low-key! Lots of people are watching!" Lin Zheng tugged at Yang Qi, who was still excited.

"Playing games is all about being flashy! Why be low-key!? That's not how I play games!" Yang Qi said flamboyantly, even intentionally turning on her equipment's glow, as if afraid others wouldn't know she was wearing Golden-tier gear! Lin Zheng rolled his eyes and quickly walked away, feeling like he'd lost a lot of face being with her!

"Hey—why are you walking so fast!?" After her antics, Yang Qi quickly caught up to Lin Zheng.

"Little Linzi, what kind of Dark Gold-tier item did you get?" Yang Qi asked as they walked.

"A necklace, Elemental Crystal, here! Take a look!" With that, Lin Zheng tossed the necklace's item description to Yang Qi.

Elemental Crystal: Level Requirement 40, Dark Gold-tier

Physical Attack 200, Magic Attack 200

Physical Defense 100, Magic Defense 100

Intelligence: Intelligence +25

Acuity: Intelligence +43

Elemental Mastery Level 4: Magic Consumption -40%

Elemental Call Level 4: Magic Channeling Time -40%

Elemental Activity Level 4: Magic Damage +40%

Comes with special skill: Elemental Barrier

...

"Holy crap!" Yang Qi's eyes widened, too shocked to speak! Dark Gold-tier items also varied in quality, mainly judged by the additional attributes on the equipment. It was possible for a Dark Gold-tier item to have very impractical attributes, such as Spirit or Accuracy, which were very useless. If such attributes appeared on equipment, its rating would undoubtedly be greatly discounted, sometimes even being inferior to a Silver-tier item with excellent additional attributes, like Lin Zheng's Night Raid Leather Boots. Generally speaking, common high-level equipment would more or less have one or two useless attributes, but Lin Zheng's necklace clearly had no useless attributes, and every attribute was extremely powerful! Every attribute was tailor-made to create a powerful magic artillery platform! This was definitely one of the top-tier Dark Gold-tier equipment! It was very likely unique!

"It really blinded my money-grubbing eyes!" Yang Qi exclaimed, "If this thing were auctioned, how many mages would fight tooth and nail for it!?"

"Why sell it?!" Lin Zheng said indifferently, "Youxi is a mage, this is perfect for her!"

"No way!?" Yang Qi was greatly surprised, "Do you know how much this thing is worth? You're just going to give it to a girl? You're spending way too much money to pick up girls, aren't you?"

"Pick up your sister!" Lin Zheng smacked Yang Qi's head hard, "Youxi is my younger sister, what's wrong with me, an older brother, giving my younger sister a gift?"

"Meow! I consider you my brother too, why don't you give me a few items?!" Yang Qi said shamelessly.

"Who gave you the Jiaotu Sword, you scoundrel!"

"Well, that... Haha!"

"You shameless scoundrel, I'm going offline to eat something, I'm starving!" With that, Lin Zheng opened the system interface, clicked exit, and left the game.

As soon as he went offline, Lin Zheng heard his phone vibrate. He picked it up casually and saw it was Wang Yu calling.

"What's up?" Lin Zheng answered the phone and asked.

"Boss, you finally answered the phone! I've called several times!" Wang Yu's voice came through.

"Less talk, I haven't eaten yet!"

"What? What time is it and you still haven't eaten?"

"Are you still talking nonsense?!"

"Alright! Alright! I won't talk nonsense anymore!" Wang Yu said repeatedly, "It's like this, this afternoon I asked Da Jie Tou for help and brought back all 21 young ladies, but many of them have severe psychological trauma and don't want to stay in Dragon Garden. Only 8 people are willing to stay in Dragon Garden, what do you think we should do?"

"8 people!" Lin Zheng pondered for a moment, "8 girls are a bit too few to manage a school. You find someone to help watch over them for now, and at the same time, quickly cultivate a new generation of young ladies. In the future, the management staff of Dragon Garden will be selected from the cultivated young ladies. As for those who don't want to stay in Dragon Garden, figure it out! At least arrange a position worthy of a young lady for them!"

"Okay! I understand!"

"Anything else? If not, don't call me again!"

"That... there's still one more thing!" Wang Yu said somewhat shyly.

"Just say it if you have something to say, don't pretend to be shy, as if I just met you today!"

"That..." Wang Yu was still very shy, or rather, embarrassed and ashamed! He said, "I want to ask you for a young lady!"

"Holy crap!" Lin Zheng immediately cursed, "I just told you today to deal with those scumbags who were eyeing them, and now you're eyeing them?!"

"No! I mean..." Wang Yu was anxious and quickly said, "I, I've fallen for a young lady, I mean, can I pursue her?"

"Meow! I'll spray you with a face full of toilet water!" Lin Zheng said with a bad-tempered laugh after hearing him, "Can't you just say it clearly in one breath?"

"Hehe—" Wang Yu just chuckled foolishly.

"Alright! The young ladies aren't my private property, pursue whoever you want, why ask me! As long as you don't abandon them, I don't care who you pursue!"

"You agreed!?" Wang Yu was overjoyed, "Thank you, Boss! Boss, you're truly great!"

"Alright, enough with the flattery. Now you're also a pursuer of young ladies. From now on, keep a close eye on things at Dragon Garden. If anything goes wrong again, I'll skin you alive!"

"Don't worry, Boss!" Saying that, Wang Yu's tone turned chilling again, "If anyone dares to cause trouble for the person I like, I'll make them regret coming into this world!"

After hanging up the phone, Lin Zheng felt relaxed as he boiled water for instant noodles. Speaking of which, he had just gorged himself at noon, and now he was eating instant noodles at night. His life was quite complicated! However, according to Yang Qi, it was the early stage of the game, and everything should prioritize leveling. After this period of widespread leveling frenzy, they would be able to comfortably eat out every day!

After a quick meal, the two went back online. As soon as Yang Qi logged in, she continued her quest. Although she currently held the top spot on Tianshuang City's Heaven Ranking, those chasing her were fierce. If she relaxed even a little, she could easily be overtaken. To be the first player to undergo the second class change, she had to work harder!

Lin Zheng was much more relaxed. Although he would create a guild later, Yang Qi could be the flagship character, so he didn't need to push himself so hard! So, after logging in, Lin Zheng leisurely went to consign his gold coins, and then started working on his equipment. The quest to kill General Yaofeng had given him two pieces of equipment. Now his full Night Raid set was complete, completely replacing his previous Ice Ape set. Aside from the Night Raid Leather Boots, the attributes of the other components were:

Night Raid Leather Armor: Physical Defense 220, Magic Defense 220, Physical Defense +120, Stamina +21, Agility +22, Damage Reduction 10%

Night Raid Gloves: Physical Defense 80, Magic Defense 80, Attack Speed +5%, Strength +18, Agility +21

Night Raid Bracers: Physical Defense 100, Magic Defense 100, Physical Defense +100, Magic Defense +100, Agility +18

Night Raid Leggings: Physical Defense 70, Magic Defense 70, Strength +20, Stamina +18, All Basic Attributes +10

After putting on the full Night Raid set, Lin Zheng's attributes changed dramatically again!

Yi Ping (Swordfighter)

Level 40

Strength: 211

Intelligence: 11

Stamina: 151

Agility: 91

Spirit: 11

Physical Attack: 1412-2235

Magic Attack: 602-780

Physical Defense: 1472

Magic Defense: 702

Health: 8305

Mana: 1650

...

The physical defense deficiency was compensated, and it was quite solid! Attack power also increased a lot, and his overall strength was stronger than Yang Qi's, not weaker! After admiring himself proudly, Lin Zheng opened his friends list and found Xiao Meng, who was already online.

"Xiao Meng, come to the city gate!" Lin Zheng said.

"Shengun Gege, is it for my potions?"

"Yes! I made a lot this afternoon, come and get some to share with others!"

"Okay! Wait for me, I'll be right there!" After hanging up the call, Xiao Meng appeared in Lin Zheng's sight shortly after. Lin Zheng didn't waste any words upon meeting her and immediately traded 10 stacks of yogurt to Xiao Meng. Xiao Meng saw there were 10 stacks of yogurt and couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow! So much yogurt!"

"Hehe! Besides quick use, this stuff can also be drunk as a beverage for fun. Anyway, there's plenty, drink as much as you like if you enjoy it!"

"Really?" Xiao Meng was delighted, immediately took out a bottle of yogurt, and happily drank it. "Delicious! I love drinking yogurt the most, but Shengun Gege, why is there only yogurt? Is there nothing to restore health?"

"I don't have the materials to make them, but no rush, I'll go gather some materials now, and tomorrow when you all log in, I'll have health-restoring cooked dishes for you!"

"Mm! Then we'll look forward to your cooking! I'll continue leveling with Youxi!"

"Go ahead!"

...

After seeing Xiao Meng off, Lin Zheng began to prepare to gather level 3 cooking materials. There were two types of level 3 cooking materials: strawberries and chicken. Strawberries were used to make strawberry milkshakes, which also required a portion of milk, making it more troublesome. It was a level 3 mana-restoring dish. Chicken could be used to make poached chicken for health restoration, which was simple and could be made without seasonings. So Lin Zheng decided to gather chicken!

Chicken could be gathered from any chicken-type monster. This level was probably the easiest to train, because chicken monsters were ubiquitous in this game! Even Qingfeng Forest occasionally had two or three domestic chickens walking around, and killing them would also yield chicken! Not to mention some Newbie Villages where chickens were everywhere right outside the village entrance for new players to kill! So once you reached level 3 in gathering, it might only take a few hours or even less to reach level 4! There were also places near Tianshuang City specifically for high-level chicken spawns, but Lin Zheng chose to go to the Newbie Village to gather in order to quickly raise his cooking level.