Book 6: Chapter 2: Morning Star

“Oh? Finally came!” Qin Lun had just returned to the villa from the Mercenary Guild when he noticed an important message waiting on the home projector, underscored by a footnote identifying it as from the “Lost Team”.

“Hello, I’m Morning Star. Big Sister Kelly mentioned you have a set of archer equipment skills for sale. I’d like to see it!” Qin Lun opened the projector, revealing the image of a shy young man.

“Big Sister Kelly? So her name is Kelly!” Qin Lun immediately understood, taking a closer look at Morning Star without any disguise mask. He showed a gentle smile. “I am Qin Lun. Very pleased to meet you, Morning Star! Kelly… she must have told you, right? For this archer equipment and skill set, I only accept item exchange!”

“Yes, Big Sister Kelly mentioned it. Sorry, it took me a few extra days to get in touch. I needed time to prepare the requested equipment items!” Feeling Qin Lun’s gaze, Morning Star’s face flushed slightly with a touch of red. He didn’t seem very accustomed to dealing with strangers.

“No problem. Let’s take a look at the items first!” Qin Lun suddenly felt a tiny, odd sensation. He blinked involuntarily while looking at Morning Star. This person…

“Alright!” Morning Star grinned happily, revealing flawlessly white teeth. He placed two pieces of Dark Gold Equipment on the projector.

These two Dark Gold items were: one suit of armor and one single black leather glove.

The Dark Gold armor Morning Star produced was neither mail nor plate. It was an ancient Chinese scale armor, a fish-scale design. Fish-scale armor offered better protection than mail but lacked the bulkiness of plate armor. Frank, the person the armor was intended for, would find it more suitable than the mail Qin Lun originally had in mind.

This fish-scale armor was a half-body piece. But it included protective flaps at the bottom akin to battle skirts, providing solid defense for the groin and thighs. Most valuable was the accompanying plate shoulder guards. On the raised shoulder armor plates were three curved fangs arranged in a triangular shape. Clearly, they also imparted a ramming or charge skill.

Xiana Scale Armor (Half-body Armor)

Quality: Dark Gold

Material: Obsidian Steel, Tiger Hide

Weight: 5200g

Protection: 13 points; Constitution: 2 points

Equipment Rule Ability: Spirit of the Xiana Tiger

Artifact Spirit Effect One (Tiger’s Roar Charge): This armor contains the complete Artifact Spirit of a High Rank Xiana Tiger. Driven by the Apostle’s will, it can channel the Apostle’s own abilities to unleash a Tiger’s Roar Charge against an enemy. Charge speed is based on the combined attributes of Strength and Agility, and can synergize with certain movement and Leap skills.

Artifact Spirit Effect Two (Tiger’s Stance): The Spirit of the Xiana Tiger will temporarily meld the armor’s rule power into the Apostle’s body, granting steadfast Protection. While using this skill, the Apostle’s movement speed decreases. Protection capability is based on the combined attributes of Constitution and Strength and can be influenced by certain defensive skills.

Equipment Notes: The two skills of Xiana Scale Armor cannot be used simultaneously. The cooldown for Tiger’s Roar Charge is three minutes. The cooldown for Tiger’s Stance is five minutes. Both skills cause minimal wear to the armor’s quality, recoverable through nurturing by the Apostle’s spiritual force.

Equipment Requirements: To use Tiger’s Roar Charge, the Apostle requires combined Strength and Agility attributes exceeding 50 points. To use Tiger’s Stance, combined Strength and Constitution attributes must exceed 70 points.

Looking at the description of the Xiana Scale Armor, light gleamed in Qin Lun’s eyes. This armor boasted high 13-point Protection, a bonus of +2 to Constitution, a defensive skill and a charge skill. It was undeniably high-quality equipment. Its value was easily double that of an ordinary Dark Gold armor, probably around 150,000 Shattered Crystals.

Thinking this, Qin Lun sighed softly. This armor felt like a shame. Its core material was rather subpar, and the quality of its Artifact Spirit was a bit low. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be Dark Gold, it would be Violet Gold. If its material potential had been slightly better, it would have been worth investing significant resources to upgrade it to the Legendary Domain.

However, Qin Lun quickly snapped back to reality, inwardly chuckling wryly. Legendary Equipment wasn’t so easily achieved. Perhaps the armor being so good was why he felt this strange sense of regret.

After examining the armor, Qin Lun swiftly turned his attention to the other item: the single leather glove. He’d seen many gloves and finger guards at the Auction House, but they usually came in pairs. Single pieces of glove equipment were very rare.

Glove of Sacrifice (Leather Glove)

Quality: Dark Gold

Material: Archdemon Hide

Weight: 220g

Constitution: 3 points; Protection: 2 points

Equipment Rule Ability: Hexagram Curse

Hexagram Curse: Using Archdemon Hide as a container and the Hexagram Curse as the Magical Array, the Glove of Sacrifice can store three different elemental or dark magic spells below Sixth Tier (including Sixth Tier). Spells activate autonomously upon the Apostle’s mental command. These are one-time spells. Once used, refilling requires the Apostle to use Magic Scrolls. It cannot be filled using magic skills cast by the Apostle themselves.

Equipment Notes: This World Treasure, produced by Shattered Starry Sky, cannot hold holy or light magic spells. There is no buffer time or cooldown between activating the three stored spells. It cannot hold opposing elemental magics.

After reading the description of this Glove of Sacrifice, Qin Lun paused, momentarily unsure how to evaluate it.

The glove seemed very good. Even an Apostle unfamiliar with magic could wield it, effectively gaining three auto-delivered Sixth Tier spells without expending Mana Value. It sounded exceptionally sharp.

Paired with an Apostle’s other skills, this equipment could create wildly varied battle tactics, easily serving as a trump card for a Novice Apostle. Even a Second Order Professional Apostle would find it very useful.

The problem was that this thing, much like Burial of Light and Darkness he encountered before, was a money-eating beast! It couldn’t be filled with the Apostle’s own magic skills. This meant even if Qin Lun teamed up with a Magician, he couldn’t get the Magician to charge the glove for him. He’d be stuck dutifully using expensive Magic Scrolls.

Did Qin Lun remember the Dark Gold item——the Flesh Golem——he once bought for ten thousand Shattered Crystals? Sixth Tier magic-consumption scrolls were no cheaper than that golem! Depending on the spell type, they cost around ten thousand Shattered Crystals each.

Three Sixth Tier spells cost thirty thousand Shattered Crystals! This glove wasn’t throwing spells; it was throwing gold bricks!

The thing that most surprised Qin Lun was how the other side seemed to see right through why he wanted a high-level earth defensive spell. As a Jungle Hunter, long-range hit-and-run tactics were his main fighting style; defensive spells were rarely needed. But when a defense was needed, it usually meant the battle was reaching its fiercest point.

This was the exact reason why Qin Lun specifically insisted on a high-level earth spell – higher tier meant higher defensive capability! Moreover, a Jungle Hunter might learn a spell, but advancing it later would be difficult. Better to learn a high-level earth defensive spell right away for a more permanent fix.

This glove wasn’t itself a specific earth defensive spell skill, meaning its use wasn’t bound by the high requirements of learning such a skill. Filled Sixth Tier spells were powerful enough to meet his current needs. Plus, it could hold attack magics, giving him an ace in close combat.

Compared to a simple earth defense spell, this glove actually met Qin Lun’s true requirements much better!

In some Low Magic Worlds, Sixth Tier spells might be unusable, but spells below Fourth Tier should work fine. The glove’s material was Archdemon Hide, meaning it could potentially advance later, maybe even hold Seventh or Eighth Tier high-level spells later.

This glove had broad applicability and high potential. However, because it was also a money-eating beast, its value was actually lower than the Xiana Scale Armor. Combined, the two items were worth roughly 250,000 Shattered Crystals, matching the value of Qin Lun’s three offerings.

Of course, if Qin Lun fully repaired the Beast King’s Hunting Bow and the Gladiator’s Leather Armor, their combined value would then exceed that of these two items by twenty to thirty thousand Shattered Crystals.

Qin Lun shifted his gaze away from the two pieces of equipment. For a short while, he stayed silent, merely smiling as he looked Morning Star over again. Only after several moments did he speak, “Add thirty thousand Shattered Crystals, and you can head to the Auction House to pick up that archer equipment set.”

“Deal!” Morning Star agreed readily, looking embarrassed as he did so. Then he pulled two more items out, waving them at Qin Lun. “Here! Big Sister Kelly asked me to give these to you! One Skill Scroll is a thank-you gift for ‘Flamingo’. The other card… it’s actually an Invitation Letter. If you can’t understand it, she suggests finding an Elven tribe elder you know to explain it!”

“Please convey my thanks to Kelly.” A glint flashed in Qin Lun’s eyes. He nodded slightly and switched off the projector.

…

“Morning Star! Well? Well?” Back at the Lost Team’s base, Kelly urgently tugged at the young man’s arm and asked.

The Lost Team Leader, Kadilas, wasn’t in the castle hall at the moment. But the young swordsman and the stunning Elf Magician present both looked over with curiosity, waiting for Morning Star’s response.

“Kelly, you’ve finally salvaged a bit of your character points! That Novice Apostle… is not simple,” Morning Star replied, all traces of youthful shyness gone. He smiled faintly.

“Ha! Told you all!” Kelly exclaimed victoriously, throwing her arm around Morning Star’s neck in a headlock and ruffling his hair, casting a challenging glance at the other two.

“Cough, cough. Kelly, I’m not finished!” Morning Star calmly extricated his neck from Kelly’s grasp. “True, this guy wasn’t trying to suck up to Lost. But his mind isn’t as simple as you made it sound! He seemed to figure out my identity. And… he gave me a feeling. In a certain way, he and I… are the same kind of person.”

“He’s like you?” Hearing Morning Star’s words, all three deputy leaders of Lost immediately frowned. Even Kelly’s expression shifted, her slender eyebrows knitting together. It didn’t seem like being compared to Morning Star was seen as a positive thing by them.

Seeing his companions’ reactions, Morning Star rolled his eyes dramatically. He totally knew these three would react like this.

At the same time, in another corner of Devil’s Horn, Qin Lun’s expression was also grim; he was lost in thought.

The transaction with Morning Star hadn’t been relaxing at all. Instead, he’d found himself unusually cautious. From start to finish, Qin Lun was absolutely certain this shy-faced young man was not genuinely a Novice Apostle needing archer gear. He also sensed an intensely familiar aura from this Apostle.

It felt… it felt exactly like his first experience receiving an evaluation from a psychiatrist back in his youth!