Chapter 89: Investing in the Future

Mazzola stared tightly at Luciano and shook his head seriously. “Whether Alexander really is the God’s Favored One or not, it’s absolutely true that he has two golden Battle Aura Rings. That means if he wants to join the Church, he can easily get the favor of the great ones at Wanliu Peak. By then, I’m afraid even His Holiness the Pope Sergiyeli would lower himself to rush to make friends with him. For low-level Divine Master Knights like us, Magic Stones and Scrolls can be slowly gathered again with plenty of time, but the chance to connect with such a big shot only comes once.”

The bearded knight leader Luciano thought about it and agreed.

“What should we do from now on?” he asked.

“Remember one thing—obey Alexander wholeheartedly…” Mazzola’s eyes flashed with a wild, adventurous glimmer, like a gambler’s fierce look right before placing a huge bet. “Even though this is a gamble, we have many advantages. By placing our bets early, if we win, we’ll have a chance to rise rapidly. Maybe we can even enter the Holy Mountain Wanliu Peak someday… hehe. On the other hand, if we lose, we’d only be out some Mages and Scrolls, hehe—losses like that are nothing to worry about.”

“Should we send someone to report this to His Holiness the Pope Sergiyeli?”

“Absolutely not!” Mazzola was shocked by this suggestion. “Old friend, have you lost your wits? Drop that idea right now! Remember, you must strictly control your followers. This matter must not leak out. Shampoo City has produced a God’s Favored One. The interests involved are too sensitive. If the news about the great one being here gets out, this small Shampoo City Church will become too hot to handle, and countless big shots will compete to come here… Compared to them, you and I have no status advantage. We’d surely be forced to leave Shampoo City Church. Then it would become truly difficult to maintain a relationship with Lord Alexander.”

Luciano was jolted by this and nodded repeatedly in agreement.

The pair were like a wolf and a jackal—a brawn and brains combo—and Mazzola often made decisions for him. Time had proven Mazzola’s vision sharp and his schemes ruthless, and with Mazzola’s plans, they had climbed the ranks and earned countless benefits.

In the back chamber of the church, the wolf and jackal quickly reached an agreement. They convinced themselves of Sun Fei’s identity as the God’s Favored One. Then they started to figure out Alexander’s preferences after he returned to normal, aiming to cater to his tastes and win his favor.

…

King’s Hall.

Sun Fei put away the two iron boxes, called Prison Warden Oleg over, and gave him careful instructions before dismissing him. Then he opened a Portal and entered the Diablo World.

At the Rogue Encampment, Sun Fei found the Mercenary Beauty Ileena.

“Tell me, what did you find inside that Underground Grotto Labyrinth?”

In a brand-new tent set up for Sun Fei as the supreme leader’s temporary residence, Sun Fei looked curiously at the tent’s furnishings as he asked.

“Yes, my lord. It’s unbelievable—there’s such a huge Labyrinthine Grotto City hidden in the mountains behind Shampoo City!” Ileena grew excited as she spoke of the grotto. “It’s a magnificent structure… After following Warden Oleg inside, I carefully checked every inch of its passages and every stone chamber. The carvings all looked very simple, so there were few clues… Since I only saw a small part in front of the iron door, I didn’t find anything concrete… But for some reason, the whole grotto gave me a strangely familiar feeling.”

“A strange feeling?”

“Yes, my lord. It was a very peculiar sensation—familiar yet strange, as if I’d seen such a grotto somewhere before. But when I tried to recall, I couldn’t find any clues.” Ileena lowered her head, a bit ashamed. “I’m sorry, my lord, I wasn’t able to help you this time!”

Sun Fei shook his head with a smile. “Ileena, don’t blame yourself. In fact, the reason I asked you to go check it out was that I had the exact same feeling—that familiar yet unfamiliar sixth sense… Well, forget it for now. There’s another matter: take a look, do these two gems look different in any way?”

As he spoke, two bright red gems pulsing with Fire Element appeared in Sun Fei’s hands.

“Oh my… are these two Chipped Gems?”

Ileena’s face showed great surprise, and she gasped.

She took the two gems and observed them as if handling priceless treasures. Her young, beautiful face looked enchanting illuminated by the red gems’ glow. Amid her excitement, she felt a touch of bewilderment. Elemental gems were extremely rare on the Rogue Continent, because skilled blacksmiths could use them to forge powerful Magical Equipment… This was the first time Ileena had seen such legendary gems.

She restrained her excitement and carefully examined them.

But because she could see no difference at all between the two elemental gems, the clever Ileena didn’t rush to a conclusion. She clearly understood that since Sun Fei was asking her opinion, there must be some special reason. So the Mercenary Beauty scrutinized them a thousand times more meticulously.

In the end, though, Ileena still found nothing.

Shaking her head, she returned both gems to Sun Fei, her peerless face showing disappointment. “I’m very sorry, Lord Sun Fei. To me, these two Chipped Gems look exactly the same. Whether in size or the elemental power stored within, they are almost identical.”

Sun Fei nodded upon hearing this.

He stored the gems in his Barbarian Belt Space and didn’t speak further.

Deep in his heart, however, Sun Fei felt a surge of wild joy.

Because one of these two red gems was one he had picked from the iron box of Magic Stones offered by Mazzola, while the other was a Chipped Gem that dropped from killing monsters in the Diablo World. At first glance, Sun Fei had thought the Magic Stones looked like the gems from the Diablo World, but he hadn’t been sure. Now, after Ileena’s appraisal, Sun Fei was completely certain: the Magic Stones from the Azeroth Continent and the elemental gems from the Diablo World were the same thing.

This discovery gave Sun Fei a new plan.

Mazzola’s iron box contained at least three to four hundred gems—a rare and immense fortune. Once he completed the quest chain in Lut Gholein and obtained the Horadric Cube, he could use these Chipped Gems to synthesize many powerful Perfect Gems with strong magical energy. Embedding Perfect Gems into equipment would greatly boost their magical properties.

After asking two questions in a row, Sun Fei’s doubts were mostly cleared. Next, he planned to go to Lut Gholein to level up.

“Ileena, go get ready. Prepare your armor and weapons. I’m taking you away from the Rogue Continent to visit the eastern city Lut Gholein. Hehe, and maybe hunt some higher-level demons along the way—we might find unexpected surprises.” Sun Fei said with a laugh.

“The desert pearl Lut Gholein?”

Ileena was overjoyed, her thrilled expression completely unrestrained. After all, she was just a twenty-year-old girl who had spent her whole life confined to the barren Rogue Continent. She had always longed to see the legendary grand city, the desert pearl Lut Gholein. Hearing that Sun Fei would take her there, she jumped up happily like a little girl and hurried off to prepare.

Watching this, Sun Fei felt infected by Ileena’s joy, and his own mood lightened.

While Ileena prepared her gear, Sun Fei went looking for the creepy old white-bearded Kane in the Rogue Encampment. He wanted to ask about the appraisal progress on the Silver Masked Man’s gear and the four-star wood Mage Evans’s Storage Ring.

But from afar, he saw that the creepy old man seemed to have gone into a frenzied state, engrossed in appraising the equipment. He was drooling over the items and the Storage Ring while muttering to himself, looking almost crazy. Spotting Sun Fei approach, he didn’t look up, just muttered fervently, “This is unbelievable… It’s a whole new magic system, an enchantment method never seen before… And it actually works! Aaah, how is this possible?”

Seeing this, Sun Fei knew the old man had hit a snag and the appraisal wasn’t done yet. To avoid being dragged into endless questions, he turned and left quickly.

Then he went to the northeast corner of the Rogue Encampment to find the pretty, big-chested female NPC blacksmith Charsi—though honestly Sun Fei now struggled to think of the Rogue Encampment folk as NPCs, since each had such vivid personalities and intelligence. After spending time with them, Sun Fei felt they were like real friends.

Big-chested blacksmith Charsi had been very warm toward Sun Fei ever since he helped her retrieve the Magic Hammer. With an expression of disbelief, Sun Fei took out a few Chipped Gems from his Belt Space and handed them to her. Like a reckless spendthrift, he said breezily, “Hey Charsi, I think these dozen or so gems might help you make some Magical Equipment.”

“It’s actually… Oh my, legendary elemental gems… But… but Lord Sun Fei, I haven’t fully mastered the power of the Magic Hammer yet, and… my forging skills are still low-level. I might waste these precious elemental gems…”

“Haha, no problem. These gems are just for you to practice with.”

“What? Using legendary elemental gems… to… to practice? I… I…” Charsi gaped, thinking she must have misheard.