Chapter 13: Fortune

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Seeing how quickly Li Mingxing responded, the beautiful bartender didn’t hold back. “Since the Wheel of Light you obtained exists in the real world, most of the items from those two apprentice heroes are still preserved inside and not consumed. Therefore, we can offer you a greater reward.

“Of course, since most heroes now are apprentices, the items aren’t very impressive. You’ll get 10% of their resources, weapons, equipment, and spirit coins; one random skill they know; one random building blueprint from all the city structures; and a 50% chance to gain control over one of their followers. How does that sound?”

Li Mingxing thought it over, understanding this was the maximum the Dark Alliance could offer. If he died in battle and his subordinates returned to revive him, it would surely cost just as much.

With that in mind, Li Mingxing made his decision. “Then I’ll exchange.”

“A wise choice,” the beautiful bartender said with a gentle smile. “Now it will depend on your luck.”

As she spoke, she brought out a large spinning wheel similar to a roulette wheel, placed one of the Wheels of Light on it, and gave it a heavy spin.

When the wheel stopped, she looked up and said, “Your luck isn’t bad. The random skill is Level 0 Herbalism—you can identify, cultivate, and harvest common herbs. The random building blueprint is for a stable. Seems like you’re aiming for a human knight path. As for followers, none came up, so you won’t get any this time.”

She then transferred 10% of the resources, weapons, equipment, and spirit coins to Li Mingxing. Seeing the amounts, Li Mingxing found them quite generous; the spirit coins alone totaled over eight thousand, which was considerable.

Having received the reward of an apprentice hero from the Light Alliance, Li Mingxing watched as the bartender prepared to place another Wheel of Light on the wheel, then suddenly asked, “Is that spinning wheel thing for sale?”

Her laughter rang out. “How could it be for sale? Even we can only borrow it. Buying one is impossible. But I can introduce you to some facilities—like prisons or dungeons—where you can imprison captured followers and enemy heroes and slowly train them to become your own.”

“That sounds more like a skill of the Fallen or Evil paths,” Li Mingxing said, understanding immediately.

“That’s true, but you could train followers of those paths. With such followers, you could use those methods. This is universal among heroes.”

“Oh.” Li Mingxing then thought of another possibility. “If I randomly get a skill unique to the Light Alliance, can I and my followers also use it?”

“Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Each path seems to have certain skills that others cannot learn. For example, Necromancy for Death path, or Conspiracy for Dark path—these are skills outsiders can’t master.”

“What about Leadership?” Li Mingxing asked, raising the question he cared about most.

“Leadership? The most common skill among humans. Other races can learn it too—as long as you’re not undead, you can learn it. Let me check... This Wheel of Light has Leadership. Whether luck favors you is another matter.” The bartender smiled.

But Li Mingxing knew he wouldn’t be so lucky. Having revealed what he wanted, the Dark Alliance would surely take advantage to make more profit.

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As expected, the second spin only yielded an attack skill that increased his followers’ attack power, not the Leadership skill he desired.

Li Mingxing didn’t react strongly to this. Instead, he looked at the newly acquired building blueprint, pleased that the bartender hadn’t let him down entirely. This time, a good item had been drawn.

“The blueprint for the first floor of a Magic Tower. Seems my luck is quite decent.”

“Of course, luck has its ups and downs. By the way, I have a task here that, upon completion, grants the Leadership skill. Are you interested?”

“I think I’ll pass for now. I plan to rest for a while and complete the inner world tasks assigned by my mentor. Leadership and such can wait.”

Seeing this, the bartender didn’t press further. “Suit yourself. But I must tell you, these tasks are rare. If you miss it, it’s gone.”

“No problem. I know my limits,” Li Mingxing replied confidently.

“Alright then. Oh, by the way, this time you could have gained control over an enemy apprentice hero’s follower, but all their followers died at your hands. So even if you got them, it’s as if you didn’t. Any other special requests?”

“Well, I’d like a translation skill. I’m encountering more and more people, and some scripts I can’t understand or interpret.”

The bartender, unaware that Li Mingxing had just acquired a map he couldn’t read, thought this was a simple skill and assigned him a task accordingly.

Accepting the task, Li Mingxing chuckled. Since it was a basic task in the real world and not very difficult, and he still had two other real-world tasks from the bartender, he could complete all simultaneously.

So without hesitation, he accepted the task. After collecting all the rewards, Li Mingxing didn’t linger and returned directly to the real world.

Back home, he tossed the two building blueprints into his city and ordered his followers to construct them.

These two buildings were valuable to Li Mingxing. Once completed, his battles in the inner world would become significantly easier.

He resolved to delay re-entering the inner world until these two—and, in fact, three—buildings were completed. The third was naturally the scripture pavilion he had obtained upon first entering the inner world.

While constructing these three buildings, Li Mingxing continuously completed the three real-world tasks he had. Thanks to his current knowledge and funds, these beginner-level real-world tasks were quite easy.

In just ten days, he completed all the tasks, obtained two new building blueprints, and acquired the ability to read alien scripts.

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Li Mingxing wasn’t in a hurry to use the two new building blueprints, so he didn’t pay them much mind.

What interested him more was the ability to read alien scripts. Currently, it was only a Level 0 skill, allowing him to translate unknown scripts encountered for the first time after using the skill. Even if he found cave paintings, he could understand and read them aloud.

Of course, this opportunity was one-time only. To learn more languages, he would need to upgrade the skill to Level 1 or beyond.

Seeking privacy, Li Mingxing found a room and placed the records he had snatched from the Egyptian apprentice hero before him. Then he activated the newly acquired ability.

As the orb-like light merged into his mind, his vision brightened. He recognized the characters as hieroglyphs from Upper Egypt thousands of years ago.

The text was ordinary, apparently a priest’s diary, mostly about how the gods treated him and the revelations they granted.

Li Mingxing lost interest after a brief look but kept the records with him. Then he entered the mysterious bar.

He had previously promised Raymond that after reviewing the records, he would begin the inner world mythic-level task Raymond had mentioned. Now was the time to start.

Upon meeting Li Mingxing, Raymond didn’t begin by telling him the mission. Instead, he said, “This time, you can’t bring too many troops. You may only take your human followers.”

“Why?” Li Mingxing was taken aback.

“Because this is the mythic layer—the home of the gods. If your troops haven’t reached the seventh tier, bringing them will only irritate the inhabitants.”

“Seventh tier?”

“Yes. Most there are above the sixth tier. So far, no one from our Dark Alliance has ever entered the mythic layer.”

“Then why me this time...?”

“I didn’t want you to go so soon either, but the Light Alliance has already sent four, and three survived. If we don’t send someone, the seven mythic layers of the inner world will be completely divided among them. We have to act. And you know, great danger often brings great rewards.”

He paused, then added, “You might even gain rewards beyond your imagination.”