Chapter 17: Strengthening, Star Ascension, Beauty Awakening

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

As he successfully strengthened it four times, Gong Ziliang looked at the iron sword in his hand again, his face almost turning black.

“Damn it!”

“It’s already increased to Level 5, but there’s still no change?”

“At least increase my attack power!”

Gong Ziliang was very defeated. He had spent a total of 15 augmenting stones, but in the end, it still strengthened nothing.

(Author’s Note: +1 uses one, +2 uses two, +3 uses three… To get to +5, he used 1+2+3+4+5 = 15.)

Could it be that he had to strengthen the other small square boxes too?

Eh?

Gong Ziliang’s eyes lit up. Without saying anything, he immediately pressed the other seven parts to Level 1. Only then did he realize that there was a small symbol that had just lit up on the top of the entire interface.

He opened it.

Level 1 Strengthening Set Attribute: All Equipment Sturdiness+1%

Gasp~

It turned out that it could only be effective after all the equipment slots were strengthened. Gong Ziliang pressed the iron sword in his hand on the ground.

Indeed, in terms of pure feeling, it was indeed a little tougher than before.

At the same time, Gong Ziliang also discovered that to upgrade the attributes of the Level 2 enhancement set, all eight small square boxes had to be strengthened to Level 5.

He looked at the remaining square boxes that had not been strengthened to Level 5.

Clearly, the 100 augmenting stones he obtained from the $6 First Purchase Gift Bag were naturally not enough for him to strengthen all eight small square boxes to Level 5.

Currently, only weapon, armor, leg guards, boots, hat, and necklace were at Level 5.

The bracelet was Level 3.

The ring was Level 2.

(Author’s Note: 15+15+15+15+15+15+15+6+3 = 99. The remaining one is temporarily kept.)

Although he did not manage to raise the attributes of the enhancement set to Level 2, Gong Ziliang felt that it was nothing. He would leave it at that for the time being.

Then, Gong Ziliang clicked on the Star Ascension column inside the forging.

The Star Ascension column was very similar to the Strengthening column. However, other than the eight small square boxes, there was also a small square box on both sides of the character’s feet.

Divine Paralysis Ring!

Divine Protection Ring!

Good lord!

“Damn!”

Gong Ziliang was shocked. It turned out that these two things could undergo Star Ascension. After he bought the $3 Divine Paralysis Ring Gift Bag, he would definitely raise the stars to see the effect.

This time, Gong Ziliang spent a star ascension stone like before.

[Ding!]

There was still a crisp sound. A white pentagram appeared in the small square frame of the weapon. If he wanted to level up again, he would need to spend two star ascension stones. This was the same as the strengthening method.

However, as soon as the weapon rose to one-star, Gong Ziliang immediately felt the iron sword in his hand become a little lighter and sharper.

Compared to strengthening, he realized that the effect of the Star Ascension was quite good.

As a result, Gong Ziliang raised all eight grids in one go according to the strengthening just now.

In the end, there was also one left.

Five white pentagrams appeared in the small square boxes of weapon, armor, leg guard, boots, hat, and necklace.

Three for bracelet and two for ring.

However, the effect was much better than strengthening!

As a result, Gong Ziliang immediately rushed towards a Mutated Chicken King and waved the iron sword in his hand. He believed that after Strengthening and Star Ascension, it would bring better damage.

However, just as the iron sword in Gong Ziliang’s hand was about to hit the Mutated Chicken King, the voice of the Legendary System suddenly sounded in his ears.

[Ding! The daily gold farming activity has ended. Come back tomorrow.]

With a notification from the system, a blinding light flashed past. Gong Ziliang left the small village.

“Damn it! Can’t you let me slash it once?” Gong Ziliang shouted regretfully.

The moment he opened his eyes, he was stunned.

Because…

Bai Chuxia was actually awake!

Not only did she wake up, but she also held a sharp sword in her hand and placed it on Gong Ziliang’s neck. The black cloth that had fallen off previously covered her beautiful face again, and her eyes stared fixedly at Gong Ziliang.

Gong Ziliang was shocked and said desperately, “Ah, this… you’re… you’re awake. Is your body okay? Are you thirsty? You should be thirsty, right? I’ll go get you some water now, right away!”

Bai Chuxia looked at Gong Ziliang’s meditation posture and wanted to get up. She immediately reprimanded, “Stop!”

“Alright, alright, alright. I’ll stand still. I won’t move.”

Gong Ziliang raised his hands. He was really afraid that he would anger this beauty in front of him. His head would fall to the ground, but…

“Are you really not thirsty? You’ve been unconscious for a few hours.” Gong Ziliang asked while trembling again.

“What? A few hours? Oh no!”

Bai Chuxia’s heart skipped a beat.

She did not expect that in order to kick away this wretched man in front of her, she would not be able to withstand the smash of that huge rock. She had indeed overestimated her strength.

However, did this wretched man really have nothing to do with the escort agency’s leader?

“Oh no? What’s wrong?” Gong Ziliang asked curiously.

“Let me ask you, do you really not know about the atrocities committed by the Hua Clan’s escort agency?” Bai Chuxia asked sternly.

“Hey! Stop!” Gong Ziliang was furious and continued, “Don’t mention the Hua Clan’s escort agency to me. If I see them again, I’ll definitely teach them a lesson. I’m only a disciple of the Profound Heaven Sect who took a sect mission to come down the mountain and assist in this escort trip, but that useless Hua Sheng actually kicked me down the canyon. This is absolutely unacceptable!”

Bai Chuxia: “???”

What was he saying?

“Don’t you know what kind of goods the Hua Clan’s escort agency is escorting?” Bai Chuxia probed.

This was also because when she was beaten down by Hua Sheng earlier, she had thought that this wretched man had nothing to do with the Hua Clan’s escort agency. Otherwise, why would Hua Sheng force him down the canyon?

“Aren’t they food carriages? We’re taking them to Green Cloud City.”

Gong Ziliang was dumbfounded.

The mission said that it was a guard mission. He had confirmed with Hua Sheng that they would send grains to Green Cloud City. However, the young lady in front of him asked this.

Could it be that the carriages were hiding something?

“Food?”

Bai Chuxia shook her head gently when she heard this and put away the sword in her hand, constantly guessing in her heart.

She continued, “We’ve received very reliable news that the Hua Clan’s escort agency appears to be a legitimate escort agency on the surface, but in fact, they’re only doing some heartless things. This time, they’re transporting 15 children. They’ll sell them in Green Cloud City to be sent to another kingdom.”

“What?! There’s such a thing?!” Gong Ziliang frowned and asked angrily before standing up.

If all of this was really as the young lady in front of him had said, the black-clothed man who kidnapped a child on the streets of Cloud Glow City…

When he thought about the sound of the child crying in the Hua Clan’s escort agency, he realized that he was not hallucinating.

Was this really caused by the Hua Clan’s escort agency?

However…

Gong Ziliang stretched out his hand to rub his chin and said while trying to figure it out, “However, if Hua Sheng wants to transport children in the name of an escort agency, why would he come to our Profound Heaven Sect to commission this trip?”

Yes, Gong Ziliang did not understand this. What were the two Hua brothers thinking?

Bai Chuxia turned her eyes and looked pensive…