ocean-life Chapter 550: Masters and Leaders
Chapter 550: Masters and Leaders
With the sight of their newly gained fortune right before them, Alex and Jewel are openly celebrating, both carefully scrolling through the newly acquired items, going through them again and again.Soulmate should become a Sniper. That Rifle [UHDR10K] is deadly. With his LUK, he’ll probably trigger the unique ability quite often. Maybe Princess Jewel can also become a sniper—the word sounds quite similar to spider, after all.
“I have my bow, Jewel. It’s more reliable, usable in all worlds, and I have a decent skill for it that synergizes with my Black Magic and even Nen,” Alex counters, ignoring her last line entirely. “The item that interests me more is actually [Hades' Hammer]—the effect is incredible. Destroying enemy armor instantly is so broken. However, the switch would be painful and, more importantly, expensive. Unlearning skills, buying new skills, levelling them up... I think I’ll stick with what I got for now. My weapons are more than acceptable, and I don’t think I can just buy a Gold Quality hammer skill. What I really need is a new shield.”
That is true, Soulmate. Meanwhile, Princess Jewel will become a Pokémon Master! [Pokéball (Permanent)] and [Cage of Hattori (Pet)] are a solid start, though Princess Jewel might be tempted to eat the pigeon if she runs out of chicken during her journey.
“You can’t use either of those two items, and Hattori is just a normal pigeon, not a Pokémon,” Alex yells, immediately annoyed. “Also, that would be silly. I can’t even imagine you using a Pokéball. It’s best if we sell these, as I can only have one pet and I’ll never trade you in.”
Soulmate shouldn’t be prejudiced against spiders. Princess Jewel can easily do all of these things. She can easily become the greatest Pokémon Master in all of history.
I doubt it... but well, whatever.
“...”
“...”
“I see you and the little one are already discussing your strategy for the future,” a voice says from behind, disrupting their discussion. “Though, expectedly, your focus could be better.”
“Good morning, sleepyhead. Have you slept well?” Alex jokes, smiling at her.
Benezia sits down across from Alex and Jewel and glares at him for a second, causing his smile to falter, his lips twitching before she regains her calm.
It was only a joke....
“Let’s talk about your plans for your items and beyond,” Benezia states coldly. “How do you want to proceed?”
“Well, Jewel and I already sorted through our items,” Alex says, before sharing his system screen with her. “Honestly, I don’t want to keep most of the things I listed under trade. Maybe you should keep a Seastone, and these two weapons with the pricy effect, since they can sell easily for local currency. The rest, I think you can freely trade.”
He takes a breath, remembering his wishes, feeling like a kid making a Christmas wishlist again.
“Instead, I want FC and more. I want things that can strengthen Jewel, you, Menchi, or me. Rare ingredients or cooking items are also high up on my list. As for items for myself in particular, I’m lacking a good shield... I really need to get one at this point. Also, I have a couple of items that are slowly becoming obsolete. My Pluto set is nice, but I think I have the funds to slowly but surely replace those pieces with Gold Quality items.”
Alex taps the screen again, more focused now, switching into theorycrafting mode.
“However, it’s only worth replacing the set if I find another set, or obtain at least two or three Gold Quality items. With just a single Gold Quality item, the set should still be superior.”
“Reasonable and justifiable requests,” Benezia says, nodding in approval. “We should first speak with your guild leader. After that, Glimmerwhisk might have some guidance or suggestions. As soon as we have done these things, I’ll ask in the guild chat, as I remember someone asking specifically for Gold Quality items. He may offer us a valuable trade or reasonable prices. In any case, I’ll get the maximum out of your items.”
“Sounds good, I trust you,” Alex says, looking pleased.
He then stands up, walks up to her, opens his inventory, and initiates a trade.
“Before I forget... I also require shards. A lot of shards,” he says as he transfers ownership of his items.
“Indeed, shards are already high on my list. It’s a smart investment to have a part of our wealth invested in items that we can shard at our convenience. As prices constantly fluctuate, it’s easy to find a decent entry point to buy and then finally sell. I want to become a shard broker in the long run—it’s a constant source of reliable income, and I believe I can do better than the Trade Alliance and the other guilds. You did well to separate your items accordingly. If I can’t sell certain items, I’ll return them for you to shard. However, I’ll only do that if they can’t be sold for more than their current shard price,” she explains calmly and diligently.
“Yeah, yeah, I know how it works. I’ll trust you—no need to justify yourself,” Alex says, waving his hand. “When Tereza gets up, we should visit the Realm and the guild headquarters... though I think the Seeker leader singled me out and ignored Tereza. Why always me?”
Yes, why not Princess Jewel?
“Do you want to become the scapegoat again, Jewel?” Alex asks, amused by her suggestion.
Princess Jewel may be the GOAT, but she is not a goat.
As Jewel finishes her attempt at a joke, Tereza enters the living room, sloppily dressed and still yawning. “Good... morning. Please spare me with that nonsense so early in the morning, Jewel.”
Princess Jewel does not offer nonsense—she only offers valuable lessons and keen insights.
“Morning... please ready yourself, grab something to eat, and then let’s head into the Realm,” Alex says, smiling at her current sloppy state. “I think Menchi is quite busy, so it’s best to leave her alone.”
“No,” Menchi says, walking in from the kitchen, smelling like food. “I’ve prepared breakfast, and I’ll join you in the Realm as well. I can continue later. I also want to be in the loop.”
“Fine,” Alex says, licking his lips at the aroma drifting his way. “Let’s eat and then enter the Realm.”
One very mixed, random, and strange breakfast—consisting of random, yet strangely delicious meat dishes made out of dinosaur, lizard, Sea King, shark, and fish meat—later, the group decides to enter the Realm.
Instead of choosing to teleport into Alex’s room in the Player Tower, they choose to teleport directly to the guild house, located at the very bottom of said tower.
As soon as Alex enters the Realm, he instantly sends a message to his guild leader.
[Alex: Hi, we are in the guild house. I don’t know if you are in the Realm as well. Could you give us a reply when you have time to meet us? Thanks again for the help.]
This may take a while....
“Let’s get out of this room, it’s so stuffy inside,” Tereza complains.
Then get your own one... also, the maid kept it clean and fresh.
As soon as they move out of Alex’s room and enter the hallway, Alex immediately receives a response.
[Li Qingfeng: Please, visit me in my office. I assume you still know the way?]
“How rude... could have sent their special maid,” Alex mutters, as he reads out the message.
“Just move. It’s much faster to go on our own anyway. You know that we have a lot of stuff to do, so the quicker we finish this, the better,” Menchi reminds him.
“Fine... let’s go,” Alex laments, walking through the hallway to the central staircase and heading up to Li Qingfeng’s office.
Alex knocks, but gets no reply. After around five seconds, he decides to open the door anyway.
Carefully, he enters her office, followed by the others, only to see her calmly sitting in her chair, looking at them in amusement. Alex instantly looks confused, not understanding her complete lack of reply.
Say something, will you?!
“Welcome, everyone. While it is customary to knock indoors in my culture, it’s merely done out of superstition to announce one’s entry to the spirits. Since you are welcome guests and I’ve invited you properly beforehand, there is no need to ask for a second approval,” Li Qingfeng explains with a grin.
“...”
Can I trust her? She might be bullshitting me... whatever.
“Fine,” Alex responds, looking at his guild leader once again. Her tall figure and beauty once again surprise him, but he remains cool and approaches her desk, sitting in one of the empty chairs close by.
Heh, since constantly being around Menchi, Tereza, and now Benezia, this kind of body doesn’t affect me anymore... I have grown!
Princess Jewel is proud of Soulmate. He has grown the most by constantly being surrounded by Princess Jewel, of course.
... sure. Anyway, let’s do what we came here for.
“Well, anyway, thanks for the warning—it looks like this Seeker asshole is salty that his people failed to kill us and got demolished by us instead,” Alex states, crossing his arms.
Yes! A salty peasant indeed.
“... a colourful description that is not only lacking in class but also substance,” Benezia can’t help but comment, clearly unimpressed.
“It’s fine, Lady Benezia,” Li Qingfeng replies, smiling. “I understand his intentions just fine, and I fully agree with your analysis of the situation, Alex. Nonetheless, there are proper steps to consider.”
“That’s why I called you here,” she continues. “There are a couple of things I wish to tell you. First, we are not beholden to the Seekers. We do not care about pressure, and we’ll actively help you circumvent possible restrictions that they might try to apply towards you—though I honestly think they won’t even attempt to do that.”
She pauses briefly, still smiling.
“However, we’d also like to inform you that we can’t—and frankly won’t—go out of our way to protect you, with no recompense at least. If you want help or backup for your missions, you need to arrange that yourself, using your own resources. For a price, I am sure many of our members might be willing to help, including myself.”
“Since you have left, we also had the pleasure to welcome a couple of new arrivals. You know our philosophy. We are free spirits, offering our services to each other at a preferred rate. This is not a charitable organisation. I take it you understand?”
“Yes,” Alex replies. “That’s all we ask for, and it sounds fair... still, maybe you can give us some additional advice?”
He then unleashes his brightest smile at her.
“Pfft,” Li Qingfeng says, trying to hold back a laugh before smiling brightly. “Usually I’d charge for that, but how about I indulge you this once. Let’s get to business then.”
Nice! My CHA must be working. I totally wooed her.
Princess Jewel thinks that this time, Soulmate is clearly delusional....