Chapter 59 – Inventory

Mu Yuan was utterly bewildered.

His original plan was to let Deadbone experience life-and-death combat and push past his limits.

Now, while there had been some life-and-death struggle, Deadbone was far from reaching his limit. As the Lord, Mu Yuan could clearly sense Deadbone’s condition—he had expended considerable energy, but he was still a long way from being on the brink or breaking through his limits.

So why had it ended so abruptly?

He hadn’t even had his fill of fighting yet!

“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have recklessly ordered Bone Two and the others to ambush the enemy.”

The reason he had directed Bone Two to interfere was to secure more rewards from clearing the stage. After all, in this Challenge Realm, it was his group of troops facing off against a single guardian.

That was perfectly within the rules.

He never expected that before he could even get fully into the fight, the Challenge Realm would chicken out.

Who was it that said this stage was an endless mode again?

Oh, right—no one had. He had just assumed that from watching the young miss next door.

Mu Yuan wasn’t really annoyed, though. After all, he had narrowly escaped disaster.

He began selecting his rewards.

「Prompt: You have obtained 3 Soul Crystals.」

「Prompt: You have obtained the special treasure ‘Perfect Breakthrough Stone (Basic)’.」

「Prompt: You have obtained ‘Experience Stone: Thunder Martial Artist (Rare)’.」

These were the rewards from the previous fifth stage.

「Prompt: You have obtained 5 Soul Crystals.」

「Prompt: You have obtained the special treasure ‘Perfect Breakthrough Stone (Basic)’ ×3.」

「Prompt: You have obtained the Miracle Blueprint: Thundercoil Tower (Rare).」

「Prompt: You have obtained the cultivation treasure ‘Self-Healing Flower (Rare)’.」

「Prompt: You have obtained the special treasure ‘Life Elixir’.」

As soon as he finished selecting his rewards, the rules of the Challenge Realm took effect.

The fallen skeletons returned one by one.

The cracked earth instantly restored itself, becoming pristine and white once more.

The scattered remains of the guardian, the shattered armor, and the broken weapons all dissolved into points of light and vanished.

Only a certain Slime remained, clutching a broken spear shaft it hadn’t had time to gnaw on, letting out furious gurgling roars.

The next moment, Mu Yuan was teleported out.

Having cleared the stage once, he could no longer challenge this Secret Realm again.

Glancing at Jiang Luoxing, who was still standing there dumbfounded, and another female player whose face was obscured by a hood, Mu Yuan had no intention of striking up a conversation.

He had already shown off—what was the point of sticking around?

Of course, it was time to head home, organize his resources, and put this batch of loot to good use.

While the two were still stunned, Mu Yuan turned and strode away, leaving behind only a dashing, imposing, mysterious, and invincible silhouette for the two distant figures.

“Wait, Big Shot, I haven’t added you as a friend yet!”Watching Mu Yuan disappear into the time-space vortex, Jiang Luoxing, who had been hoping to latch onto a powerful ally, suddenly snapped back to reality and let out a groundhog-like cry.”

The waiting area fell into silence.

It was as if nothing had happened, yet the two who had witnessed the invincible Slime and the overpowered Skeleton General couldn’t calm the turmoil in their hearts for a long time.

Liu Miumiu turned to Jiang Luoxing.

“Do you know him?”

“Of course! Brother Mu and I go way back!”

“Then can you tell me about him? Like, what’s his ID?”

Jiang Luoxing thumped his chest as he agreed, but as he spoke, his voice gradually trailed off.It seems, perhaps, maybe, probably—he actually knew nothing about Bigshot Mu. Which territory he hailed from, what background he possessed—he had no clue at all.

All he knew was that this bigshot loved pretending to be a newbie.

He didn’t even have a clear idea of what Bigshot Mu looked like—Mu had been fully clad in armor from head to toe, wearing a helmet, pulling down his face guard, and even sporting goggles. He was practically armed to the teeth!

As a result, aside from the name ‘Mu You,’ he had no other information.

So what had he even been talking about earlier?

Jiang Luoxing was dumbfounded.

He could only wait until he got back to ask if anyone else had heard of the name ‘Mu You.’

At that moment, Liu Miumiu had already left, and Jiang Luoxing was still spacing out inside the Secret Realm.

Suddenly—

Buzz—

The distant Space-Time Door began to spin. Jiang Luoxing froze, then broke into a smile. “Is Bigshot Mu back?”

But the next moment, his face fell with disappointment. It wasn’t Bigshot Mu.

It was his rival, that flashy guy with the ID Feathered Serpent.

“Yo, you finally made it in too. Well, sit back and watch how awesome I am,” Feathered Serpent said, flicking his bangs.

But his rival, Luo Xing, looked utterly uninterested.

“Boring, dull. What’s so great about watching someone tackle a challenge?” With that, he turned and left.

Feathered Serpent: “??”

…

After leaving the Secret Realm, Luo Xing’s consciousness returned to reality. He opened the forum and sneered at the players still heatedly discussing the strongest newcomer.

“Hmph, you lot have no idea what true power means!”

He clacked away at his keyboard, wanting to fiercely roast these ignorant players.

But in the end, he felt his descriptions couldn’t even come close to capturing a fraction of Mu God’s prowess. These utterly foolish players would only cling to their own biases.

Thinking this, he lost all enthusiasm and deleted the several hundred words he had typed.

“Forget it. Once the Lord Trials begin, you’ll see who truly stands invincible.”

…

Baijiang City, White River Villa District.

Mu Yuan stretched in front of his computer and sighed, “Finally done. I’ve really worked hard.”

Now that his game character had returned to the safety of his territory, he could finally rest.

Mu Yuan had to admit that computer controls had their inconveniences, but for new players, the benefits likely outweighed the drawbacks.

If one’s consciousness descended and had to face terrifying enemies head-on, an ordinary person might struggle to even breathe.

If it were their real bodies entering, it would be even worse—players might collapse from daily hardships like food and shelter before even encountering any monsters.

After all, which ordinary person could endure eating wild berries and half-cooked game, or living in a drafty, broken-down wooden shack?

Mu Yuan cracked open an ice-cold drink, gulped it down in a few swigs, and began admiring the rewards from his journey.

“Hmm, I’ve earned quite a few Soul Crystal Coins this time. Besides buying Remnant Souls for Little Skeleton and the others, I’ll purchase a batch of Black Iron Stone and start by constructing the Mage Tower and the Blacksmith.”

“I’ll also recruit the 46 Wandering Souls first to accumulate Evolution Points as quickly as possible.”

After handling these tasks, Mu Yuan finally checked the other items.

Four Perfect Breakthrough Stones, one Experience Stone, one Miracle Blueprint, and two Treasures.

「Perfect Breakthrough Stone (Initial): Increases the probability of a troop breaking through to a higher major tier and grants the troop additional basic ability enhancements during the breakthrough process. This Perfect Breakthrough Stone can only be used for breakthroughs between Tier 1 and Tier 2.」The former was of little consequence to Mu Yuan, as his troops never had much difficulty breaking through realms anyway.

But the latter…

“It can provide greater enhancements during major tier breakthroughs? I’ve never even heard of such a thing!”

After all, he truly was just a novice.

Perhaps for second-generation Lords, Perfect Breakthrough Stones were common knowledge, but for him, this was completely uncharted territory.

What he didn’t know was that even second-generation Lords considered such special treasures rare finds rather than common possessions. They wouldn’t go out of their way to pursue them either. It was the truly established Great Lords who might actively seek out or purchase Perfect Breakthrough Stones to cultivate their key commanders.

“This Breakthrough Stone suits me quite well indeed.”

Dolai and Deadbone would soon reach level 9 Great Perfection. Having an opportunity to make them even stronger was exactly what Mu Yuan desired.

Among the other treasures, the Experience Stone was similar to the Inheritance Stone, with the key difference being that it only imparted combat techniques and experience without transferring skills. Therefore, the improvements from Experience Stones were far inferior to those from Inheritance Stones. However, their advantage lay in not locking in one’s professional path and having no side effects after use.

As long as a player’s mental fortitude could withstand it, they could absorb as many Experience Stones as they wanted.

“I can use this Experience Stone myself. While it’s not exactly the survival-oriented combat experience I was hoping for, the combat techniques of a Thunder Martial Artist… will have to suffice for now.”

“However, the greatest reward from this Challenge Realm wasn’t the Breakthrough Stone, nor the rare Miracle Blueprint, but this special treasure called ‘Life Elixir’.”

Without question, this was the most valuable treasure in the entire Challenge Realm, bar none!

(End of Chapter)