The Almighty Ring

With the Green tier equipment in hand, all four guild representative could now form elite squads of their own. All the bosses in the open world would soon have the time of their lives. With the support of stronger equipment, those players could kill the boss, obtaining rare drops and an abundance of experience points.

After selling that batch, Jiang Fei had earned a total of 130 gold coins. Take away 50 gold coin for the material costs, it was a nett profit of 80 gold coins. It was all due to the power of the mysterious ring. Having reached the third level, the ring now granted Jiang Fei 20 Luck, as well as increased his success rate of crafting Ascended equipment.

With more than 100 gold coins lining his pockets, Jiang Fei went on to buy as much material as he can.

Even though he had crafted more than a hundred Green equipment with bonus skills and attribute, only those that were above average had passed Jiang Fei’s filter. Even so, those had been “tossed” to the girls of Rosette Knighthood. To them, they were phenomenal, but to Jiang Fei, there were just scraps that could not satisfy him.

To have the perfect equipment, Jiang Fei had to resort to the most traditional, foolproof method. Mass crafting. As long as there was no shortage of metal for him to hammer, surely, the perfect specimen could someday pop up. After some quick counting, Jiang Fei spent all 130 gold coins on Copper Ores. All 130 stacks would be enough to grant him a new level in Smelting.

“Ding! Player’s Smelting has reached Level 2! Chance of material wastage reduced to 50%!”

Reducing wastage from 60% down to 50% was most helpful, especially in his capacity of mass-production!

After he was done, Jiang Fei had collected a total of 58 Copper Ingot stacks. By the end of the smelting process, Jiang Fei found that his experience bar would not go up any further. Apparently, he would have to start smelting higher grade ores, if he wished to continue raising his Smelting level.

It was almost time to wake up, and Jiang Fei decided to end his labors. The temporary storage in the Blacksmith’s Workshop was already at capacity. Jiang Fei moved all 58 stacks to his personal bank storage, planning to continue the crafting process the next day.

“Ding! Attention players. The server will shut down in 30 minutes. Please make the adequate preparations before the server disconnects! Enjoy a new day, a new life!”

It was almost time. Jiang Fei had just finished transferring all 58 stacks to his bank. The temporary storage was just like its name suggested — it would be wiped clean whenever the server shut down.

Jiang Fei woke up, content with his progress. After breakfast, Jiang Fei walked to school. But on that day, something was different. Jiang Feis’ journeys were usually mundane and without incident. On that morning, there seemed to be glares coming from all angles! Along the way to his classroom, he could hear students whispering his name. It was probably because of the basketball competition he won the day before.

“Lookie lookie! It’s the famous Jiang Fei!”

“Is that him? He doesn’t look like the athletic type…”

“Tsk. What do you know? It’s exactly because he doesn’t look like he plays any sports, period! The kid is good. He trashed the sixth class as if they were toddlers!”

“What? He must be really good then… Aha! He does look a little cute from certain angles.”

“Pss. Don’t even try… Dino girl.”

“…”

“…”

“I’ll flatten you nice.”

“Look! It’s the basketball superman.”

“You’re right. Let’s talk to him. Maybe we could be friends.”

“Doesn’t that make us look… Easy?”

“You’re right… We should get someone from his class to introduce us!”

“Good idea!”

“And the Oscar goes to that kid. What a fake. He wouldn’t even budge when people are insulting him.”

“Are you insulting him, or are you praising him? Make up your mind.”

“Both.”

“Liar. You’re obviously super jealous of him. He’s got all the girls on him now.”

It was too much for Jiang Fei to handle. All the girls had a sudden change of heart, and all the guys were either impressed or envious of Jiang Fei. It was all due to this sudden influx fame of him. Afterall, he had led a class of bookworms to victory, against the sixth class — the athletes’ class, no less. His popularity had shot up like Jack’s’ beanstalk, from a pebble on the side to the road, to a school celebrity! Jiang Fei was a magnet to the young girls who were just going through puberty. They were still young and naïve, and they would rather drool over a man’s abs than his grey matter. In this case, when it came to looks, Jiang Fei was average at best, but the girls still regarded him as a superstar nevertheless. Sometimes, one needed to throw a few slam dunks to get the girls.

Jiang Fei had long been a master over his body. He managed to maintain his cool while making his way to class. Truth be told, he was screaming with joy in his heart.

Zhao Feng had waited, just long enough for Jiang Fei to take his seat.

“Brother Fei, you’re a superstar now!”

“Oy, back off. I may be a superstar, but I’m not gay!” Jiang Fei pushed Zhao Feng’s face away from his, unable to contain a grin.

“Brother Fei. I’d have never known that you would be hiding your talent like that! Hey! Don’t you dare forget me when you’re up there among the stars!” Zhao Feng pouted.

“Get lost, you! What’s that supposed to mean, huh? Up among the stars, pfft!” snapped Jiang Fei, flinging a pack of cookies at Zhao Feng.

“Good man! Good man! Apology accepted!” said Zhao Feng, ripping the packet open and stuffing his face full.

High school classes were so boring that Jiang Fei could not even think of a single item from the game that he could sneak in and lighten his eyelids.

The basketball competition amongst the first year students was still ongoing. On that day, the ninth class had been left without an opponent. Jiang Fei was bored enough to attend even regular class, much less a basketball match. Sun Mengmeng had not missed a chance to remind Jiang Fei about joining the next match as part of the team. The best of his class were just barely short of being massacred. Now that Sun Mengmeng had found herself a super player from their class, she would never stop whipping Jiang Fei like a workhorse!

“Brother Fei… when is your dad gonna let you play the game… I’m finally graduating from the Beginner’s Village…” Zhao Feng mumbled, stifling a yawn during the last class.

“I’ve no idea.”

*Ring…*

“That’s the bell. I’ll be going back home now. Catch you tomorrow.”

“Byeee…”

Back home, Jiang Fei repeated his daily routine. Dinner, homework, bathroom. It was a boring cycle, and his family had no qualms about it. They were the epitome of China’s most average family. Jiang Fei’s father worked as a blue collar in some random company, earning a decent amount that kept the family in relative comfort. Jiang Fei’s mother’s was a full-time housewife who took care of Jiang Fei and his father. That was all to it.

“Welcome back to Dawn Break!”

With a bright flash, Jiang Fei entered the game for the fourth time.

“Time to work for a living. Again!” said Jiang Fei with a wide smile on his face.

To be able to keep up with the combat specialists, Jiang Fei would have to pack on some crazy, serious equipment. He would have to craft an insane amount of equipment to find the perfect skills and attributes.

“Ding! Class Level has increased! Beginner Blacksmith is currently at Level 2!”

After continuously smithing for more than 10 hours, Jiang Fei had gained yet another Class Level. Blacksmithing was then Level 2. His crafting success rate had increased by a mere 5%, and the success rate of crafting Ascended equipment had risen by a minuscule 1%.