Chapter 119: The First Dark Gold Item

"Report."
"Enter."
"Captain Yiran, the military headquarters has notified you to report there immediately."
"Understood."

Li Xin’s current position is Captain of the 1st Special Task Force, directly under the 3rd Army of the Holy Angel Legion. According to the system’s revised records, he suffered a misfortune while leading his team on a mission. Now, of the 55 members of the 1st Special Task Force, he is the only one remaining.

Upon arriving at the military headquarters, a colonel staff officer offered some cordial condolences before commending Li Xin.

Ding!
"Received a commendation from superiors. Awarded the Holy Angel Medal of Freedom."
"Awarded 1,000 Honor Points and 500 Combat Power."
"Awarded a pair of Golden-tier Ice Silk Gloves."

Afterward, the colonel chatted with him for a while, instructing Li Xin to go back and get some good rest while waiting for the assembly of the new 1st Special Task Force. Li Xin understood perfectly well that this was official game jargon—it essentially meant he was temporarily off-duty and should go about his business, whether that meant questing or leveling up.

After taking his leave from his superior and exiting the military headquarters, Li Xin felt a sense of relief. His losses at the hands of the Yellow-Ringed Snake had now been compensated. Since the Black Lion Legion had not yet issued any suicide missions, he could focus on leveling up for the time being.

After some simple preparations, Li Xin changed into casual clothes, left the base, and headed toward the nearest city: Xiangzhou.

While waiting for dawn the previous night, he had sorted through all the loot he had acquired. Having been consecutively killed by the Black Lion King and the Yellow-Ringed Snake, one of his gauntlets and one of his greaves had been damaged.

In "Journey," there are a total of 12 equipment slots: 9 for standard gear and 3 for special components.
Standard gear: Head, Chest, Left Gauntlet, Right Gauntlet, Pants, Left Greave, Right Greave, Gloves, and Boots.
Special components: Ring, Belt, and Special Item.

Li Xin did not possess any special components, as only a few Silver-tier rings and belts had been dropped across the entire server so far. As for special items, none had appeared yet.
In terms of gear, Li Xin owned one Golden-tier armor piece: the Blazing Fire Armor. Everything else was Silver-tier.

Upon detailed inspection last night, Li Xin realized he had made a massive profit. The Black Lioness had gifted him a Silver-tier belt: the Wind-Runner Jade Belt.

Wind-Runner Jade Belt: A specialty of the Swift Black Lion. When equipped, actions are bolstered by wind-elemental power, granting increased speed.
[Equippable by]: Male
[Level Requirement]: 20
[Combat Power Requirement]: 1,500
Bonus HP: 228
Speed Bonus: 10%
Attack Bonus: 7%
Melee Combo Chance Bonus: 8%
HP Recovery: 50

Although it was a Silver-tier belt, it possessed three additional attributes beyond the primary speed bonus. This came as a great surprise to Li Xin. After recalling the encounter for a long while, he realized these were the exact traits the Black Lioness had possessed, such as automatic health regeneration and melee combos.

Comparing it to other belts on the forums, Li Xin felt the Wind-Runner Jade Belt should be considered Golden-tier. Once equipped, his assessment was proven correct, as it immediately soared to the top of the belt rankings.

Next was the bead gifted to him by the Enhanced-tier Black-Ringed Snake.

Venom-Calamity Bead: Among snakes, there is a supreme one named Black-Ring. Among poisons, there is a tyrant named Venom-Calamity. Born from the Black-Ringed Snake, it can be applied to weapons, granting a 50% chance to trigger a one-hit kill.
[Equipment Tier]: Silver-tier
[Level Requirement]: 30
[Combat Power Requirement]: 2,500
Bonus HP: 300
Defense Value Bonus: 3%
Area-of-Effect Attack: 2 uses, 1-day cooldown.

It lacked other offensive bonuses, but these few stats alone were enough to make Li Xin grin from ear to ear. His own "Cross-Strike" skill already had a 50% chance to trigger a one-hit kill; with this bead, that probability would rise to 75%. In other words, out of every ten Cross-Strikes, he could potentially claim seven lives.

Truly terrifying.

There was no specific slot for a bead in the equipment menu, so it clearly occupied one of the special component slots.

However, neither the Golden gloves from the 8th Army colonel, the Wind-Runner Jade Belt, nor the Venom-Calamity Bead were what excited him most.

Laser Boots!
Dark Gold-tier, the best item dropped by the Black-Ringed Snake.
It had only two attributes: 30% movement speed increase and 500 points of defense.
Though simple and straightforward, they were immensely powerful. As soon as Li Xin put them on, they immediately took the top spot on the equipment rankings.

As of today, with the Ice Silk Gloves equipped, all of Li Xin’s stats had seen significant growth.

Player: Yiran
Military Rank: Captain
Class: Infantry
Level: 31
Skills: Charge, Piercing Shot, Cross-Strike, Stealth, Phalanx, Gunslinger, Roundhouse Kick, Sweeping Army.
Revival Charges: 3
Honor Points: 81,205 | Combat Power: 5,300 | Defense Value: 3,360 | Popularity: 6
HP: 5,133 | HP Recovery: 205

These were his surface stats; the actual synergy between his equipment formed new bonus values that weren't included here, but rather depended on his actual combat performance.

Swallowing hard, Li Xin took a few deep breaths to calm himself.
With his current stats, he could definitely slay that Enhanced-tier Black-Ringed Snake within five moves. Even if he were to encounter the Black Lion King of Black Lion Mountain again, Li Xin now possessed the strength to fight and retreat unscathed.
His defense of 3,360 was nearly double what it had been before, and the 2,000-point increase in HP meant he could withstand far more damage.

"From now on, I must keep a low profile. I cannot easily provoke others, lest they discover all the treasures I have on me."
"As the saying goes, 'a man's wealth is his own ruin.' One Dark Gold and three Golden items are enough to incite a frenzy of people hunting me down."

Li Xin warned himself, shook his head with a faint smile, and turned to look out the window. This was an internal transport vehicle for the 8th Army of the Holy Angel Legion heading to the city, bearing civilian license plates. Usually, many player-soldiers took this transport to the city, but for some reason, there were only a few people today.

Li Xin was accustomed to sitting in the back row, and none of the others had paid him any mind. However, he noticed the gazes of three individuals had swept over him intentionally or otherwise, so he had to stay vigilant!

Newly arrived in Xiangzhou, he knew little of the place, and there was very little information on it in the forums. Hearing the vehicle's broadcast announce that they were nearing the station and seeing the city appear in the distance, Li Xin considered his options and decided to enter the "Void-Realization" state.

Only by maintaining peak combat readiness could he perfectly handle any unforeseen situations.

According to the game's rules, player-soldiers could not use firearms when entering the city to accept missions. The firearm icons were already grayed out, indicating they were temporarily unusable. But Li Xin was not worried; with the "Qiankun" in hand, he could manifest any weapon.

Furthermore, although he possessed an invincibility skill, he could not use it unless absolutely necessary; it was his trump card for survival and ensured his stealth abilities remained functional.

Void-Realization, Merge!

Li Xin suddenly froze.