Chapter 176 A Breath of Fresh Air

Though both were crafty, they were also skilled at making friends. Now calling each other "brother," Yin Yue even took out the King's Sword from his hidden pocket for Bu Xiao to examine, acting like a true comrade.

Bu Xiao, of course, was highly accurate in his appraisals. A quick glance revealed that the King's Sword, aside from its dazzlingly high sword proficiency requirement, also had a formidable need: Leadership 25.

Anyone with a bit of Parallel World common sense knew that Leadership was a crucial attribute for team leaders. One point of Leadership allowed a captain to lead ten people. New players started with one point and could accumulate Leadership experience by frequently leading teams. However, the current limit was nine points, after which leading teams yielded no further experience. Clearly, other methods were needed to improve it, but no one knew what those methods were.

Bu Xiao had spent enough time with Yun Zhongmu's group to have heard some tales of Yin Yue. He knew that this guy had flaunted the King's Sword in Moonlit City at level 30. It seemed he had already met all the sword's requirements at that level. Meeting the sword proficiency requirement wasn't too difficult, as players now knew about mastery-enhancing equipment that significantly boosted proficiency. But having such equipment at level 30 was quite avant-garde. As for how Yin Yue had achieved the 25 Leadership, Bu Xiao guessed it was through equipment, specifically the equipment Yin Yue had now lost. He could see from the appraisal that Yin Yue still wore "Sword Mastery" equipment, so his sword proficiency should be sufficient. What he lacked was the 25 Leadership.

"Yin Yue, do you have equipment that adds Leadership?" Bu Xiao asked, having never even heard of such a thing.

"Yeah, I used to have a necklace that added 20 Leadership, called the Ring of Leadership, but I lost it. Damn it, it even got dropped from my pocket. What a curse! I hope whoever picked it up suffers a terrible fate," Yin Yue cursed. In the game, the drop rate upon death was relatively low without PK (Player Killing) points, and the chance of something dropping from a pocket was even lower.

"I've never even heard of such equipment. It must be hard to get," Bu Xiao said.

Yin Yue nodded and said, "Hong Chen Yi Xiao brought me here, clearly needing the power of my King's Sword. I haven't told him that I can no longer activate the sword's abilities."

"But now that you're free, brother, you can tell him and see how he handles it. If this guy really has some inside information, he might be able to get this kind of equipment, or even directly increase your Leadership," Bu Xiao said.

"Good point, that's exactly what I plan to do," Yin Yue nodded.

Ye Xiao Wu wasn't too surprised by Yin Yue's news. He was fully aware of the King's Sword's equipment requirements. Sword proficiency wasn't a major issue, especially at this stage of the game, but Leadership 25 was the key. Ye Xiao Wu had appraised Yin Yue's equipment and found no Leadership-enhancing items. As for Yin Yue's belated confession, Ye Xiao Wu simply smiled it off, but Duan Shui Jian expressed indignation: "What a scumbag!"

Ye Xiao Wu patted him. "Even so, we still have to help this guy. Being able to use the King's Sword can save us a lot of manpower."

"How? Help him increase his Leadership?" Duan Shui Jian asked.

"Impossible," Ye Xiao Wu flatly rejected. "Increasing a player's Leadership requires opening the reputation system, which needs world-breaking content. We can't touch that."

"Then what do we do?" Duan Shui Jian said.

"He wouldn't have sold the equipment to the system, would he? It must have been dropped during a PK and picked up by another player. I wonder if there's any sales information. If we can buy it with money, that would be the easiest solution," Ye Xiao Wu said.

"If he dropped it, it should have been near White Stone City. Didn't you take a look while you were there?" Duan Shui Jian said.

Ye Xiao Wu smiled wryly. "I picked up the guy and came straight back. Besides, this kid only told me he couldn't meet the requirements now. You were just looking down on him."

"Then we have to make a trip to White Stone City," Duan Shui Jian said.

Ye Xiao Wu nodded. "Check out the market there, ask around. I'll also put out a request on the forums. Currently, the demand for Leadership isn't that high, and players aren't fully aware of its value, so this thing won't be of much use. Hopefully, whoever picked it up won't be too farsighted and hold onto it."

"Is there only one of this item in the game?" Duan Shui Jian asked.

"How would I know?" Ye Xiao Wu smiled wryly. He was just an ordinary player now. He couldn't possibly know something that required checking backend data. Logically, this kind of equipment shouldn't exist at this stage, but cross-level equipment was already a major feature of Parallel World, and this was related to Parallel World's famous quest chain system.

A quest chain, randomly strung together, certainly offered great freedom, but it was undeniable that some lucky individuals would encounter a string of simple events that formed a quest chain. Although a powerful boss would always be at the end to ensure the final difficulty, the random nature meant that rewards weren't necessarily concentrated in the last stage. For example, in Gu Fei's quest chain, the Dark Night Flowing Light Sword and Dark Night Spirit Robe were the final rewards, but Eddie's Emblem and the Enchantment of Baptism by Fire were also quest rewards obtained in the early stages.

"I'll make a trip to White Stone City!" Duan Shui Jian said.

Ye Xiao Wu didn't stand on ceremony. Duan Shui Jian's job was more suited to running errands, making it more efficient.

Meanwhile, Yin Yue and Bu Xiao, having completed their registration, were anxiously awaiting Ye Xiao Wu's response. Soon after, Yin Yue, slightly excited, told Bu Xiao, "That guy says he'll take care of it."

"He really does have some ability!" Bu Xiao was also moved.

"I wonder where he's going to get it?" Yin Yue said.

Bu Xiao also wanted to know. Getting a piece of equipment was nothing, but mastering the whole process would be a gold mine!

Yin Yue cautiously inquired with Ye Xiao Wu, of course not directly. He euphemistically expressed that he was helping him with Leadership, so he had a responsibility and obligation to contribute and hoped Ye Xiao Wu wouldn't treat him like an outsider.

Ye Xiao Wu's reply made Yin Yue laugh and cry: "Damn it, I thought he had some ability, but he's just going to buy it…"

Bu Xiao was also disappointed but was still able to comfort himself: "At least it shows that this guy has money."

Yin Yue shook his head. "What's the use of Leadership right now? For leveling, ten people is the limit, so two points are enough. For team PK? Parallel World doesn't have friendly fire immunity, so you don't need a team for PK. Recognizing faces is more important. The only use for teams is in battle formations! But even then, a guild or mercenary group only needs a few people with high Leadership. So Leadership is a very niche thing. Unless Leadership-enhancing equipment is extremely difficult to obtain, it won't be worth much."

"Is it difficult to obtain?" Bu Xiao looked at Yin Yue.

Yin Yue's tragic expression said it all.

"Then how did you get it?" Bu Xiao asked.

"A quest chain. I haven't finished it yet. It was a reward in the early stages, just for running errands, without even fighting a single battle. Is that difficult or not?" Yin Yue said.

"A quest chain! Just being able to encounter one is already very difficult," Bu Xiao said.

Yin Yue shrugged. "Anyway, I don't have high hopes for it at this stage. If that guy is spending a lot of money to buy it, I think he can get it back soon."

Bu Xiao nodded, then patted Yin Yue. "Let him get busy, then. Shall we level up or do quests?"

"Let's wander around first. Have you been to this city?" Yin Yue said.

"No, let's wander around." The two left the respawn point together and started strolling through the streets, getting along harmoniously.

Ye Xiao Wu and Duan Shui Jian were both very busy at this time.

Ye Xiao Wu logged out of the game and went to the forum's trading section to specifically request Leadership-enhancing equipment. Then he eagerly bumped his own thread and refreshed it. As a result, there were no serious replies. Some know-it-alls ridiculed him for collecting such things. Ye Xiao Wu was originally calm, but as he watched his thread slowly being derailed into a discussion about Leadership, with everyone having different opinions, the only unified view was that the guy asking for this thing was definitely kicked in the head by a donkey.

Ye Xiao Wu was furious! Seeing his thread flooded for five pages without a single seller, he complained to the moderator, who was very responsible and quickly replied, telling him: more water, more health.

Ye Xiao Wu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The moderator was a colleague he knew from his company, probably lonely from managing such a boring trading section for a long time, and cherished the rare occurrence of a flooded thread. Soon after, he even set Ye Xiao Wu's thread to top, highlighted, and bolded. Ye Xiao Wu really wanted to kill him in real life right now.

While Ye Xiao Wu was being flooded offline, Duan Shui Jian online wasn't having a good time either. He was visiting every stall in the White Stone City trading market, asking around, going to the auction house and the exchange. Unlike Ye Xiao Wu, who could sit in front of the screen and click to refresh, he had to run around, making it even harder than Ye Xiao Wu.

Pitifully, he also came up empty-handed. It seemed that the player who picked up Yin Yue's Ring of Leadership had kept it as a rare treasure.

After staying up all night, the two met up early in the morning and told each other about their miserable encounters. They had both expected the outcome. If there had been any gains, they would have said so by now? Yin Yue was shameless enough, having a great time in Lin Yin City all night, and immediately sent Ye Xiao Wu a message when he found him online early in the morning: "How is it, brother? Did you get the Leadership equipment?"

"Damn it, what a scumbag!" Ye Xiao Wu almost replied like that.

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Wow, writing about the protagonist's crew every day, switching to writing about these guys feels like a breath of fresh air…