CHAPTER 426: CHAPTER 398: THE DIVINE ARTIFACT GIFTED BY THE DUKE

In the excited gaze of the onlooking players, under the live broadcast of the golden name reporters, the Royal Dominator and his group clad in gleaming magic crystal Anti-Demon Armor confronted Da Fei: "You’re Da Fei, right?"

Damn, any random nobody wants to find a chance to latch onto a big-shot like me and gain fame, right? I’m busy, no time to entertain your theatrics!

Da Fei, annoyed, said, "Don’t even think about challenging me one-on-one. I’m so strong I scare myself! Just say what you have to say in one sentence!"

The Royal Dominator raised an eyebrow, indeed he didn’t dare to go one-on-one with Da Fei! Then he coldly said, "Then let me tell you this, from now on our Royal Guild will fight your Dragon Cavalry Chamber of Commerce to the death!"

"Wow!!!" The crowd erupted in shock.

Little Frog quickly extended the microphone to the Royal Dominator: "May I ask, what means will your Guild use to confront the Dragon Cavalry Chamber of Commerce?"

The Royal Dominator responded blandly, "I just have one piece of advice for the players: don’t join his Guild!"

Little Frog immediately pointed the microphone toward Da Fei: "May I ask, how does your Guild plan to respond to the Royal Guild’s challenge?"

Da Fei, in a huff, said, "Wow, I’m so scared! I say, reporter friend, is such a trivial matter worthy of a TV spot? Did he pay you advertising fees?"

Little Frog was taken aback: "No!"

The Royal Dominator angrily said, "Our Royal Guild doesn’t need any advertising hype!"

Da Fei retorted, "Sounds like you’re a big deal!" Then laughed to the crowd, "Everyone, let’s clear out, or the NPC city guards will come to clear the area!"

The Royal Dominator angrily said, "Don’t be so arrogant, just wait and see!"

At that moment, the NPC city guards finally stepped in: "Warning to the players ahead, do not block the traffic, or we will remove you by force!"

With that, the crowd dispersed like birds and animals, and Da Fei was finally freed. Cut! Threaten me? I’ve got a fortune of twenty million; I’ve already lived a fulfilling life, so do as you please.

Under the relentless pursuit of the paparazzi players, Da Fei swaggered into Makar’s office. He was led by the same mysteriously-identified Vampire Butler, into the same demon-light-illuminated library reception room, and waited once again for Makar’s Santa-like benevolent smile: "My most outstanding student, what discovery have you brought me this time?"

Da Fei solemnly presented the task item: "Teacher, I’m here to report a significant discovery in map-making!"

"Oh? Let me see!" With a flick of his beard, Makar took the map-making device, and it projected two miniatures of the Blood Sea maps under the influence of Makar’s demon light.

— System Prompt: You completed the Chamber of Commerce’s commission task of "Mapping the Area around the Pool of Radiance." Based on the task completion progress, you gained Experience +800,000, Gold Coin +30,000, your Dragon Cavalry Chamber of Commerce reputation +6,000, Chamber of Commerce funds +30,000, and Chamber of Commerce membership slots +5.

Sigh, this task reward is indeed a bit underwhelming. But my purpose was never just about the reward!

Makar scrutinized the maps with utmost seriousness: "How did you arrive at these two spaces?"

Ah, finally getting down to business, yet the other party is ultimately a Death Lord, right? Should I tell him the whole truth? Let’s gamble on it!

Da Fei coughed and said, "It happened like this, one of my logging teams from Radiant City went to the Nasir Ancient Tree Space, once destroyed by demons, to log but was harassed by demons and couldn’t return to the city. So I went to rescue them but got chased by a demon army, missing the opportunity to retreat. Nasir Space collapsed and then spatial teleportation distorted, putting me in this Blood Sea!"

Hmm, I skipped over the discovery of the Black Forest, swamp, Vine Demon Jungle, and other "irrelevant" matters. These are spaces the Kingdom hadn’t discovered, they’re my private turf, I’ve got to keep a trump card!

Makar nodded, gravely, "I see! From these two maps, the crisis of the World Tree is far more severe than anticipated."

Did I hit the jackpot? Da Fei immediately capitalized on this to cut to the chase: "Teacher, I also discovered two crystal mines and a sulfur mine in these two areas. My territory is already in a severe situation. If these three mines fall into enemy hands, we’ll be even more in danger. However, if we secure these three mines, we’ll have the capital to counter the enemy! It’s both a crisis and an opportunity!" Hear that? I said "we!"

Makar’s brow twitched, then he chuckled and cleared his throat: "You want to take over these three mines?"

Don’t you want to? Da Fei eagerly nodded to pledge allegiance: "Of course! These three mines are unclaimed; it makes perfect sense for us to take them. But I lack the strength. If Teacher can come up with a plan, I... well, half of the minerals will be yours!"

Don’t just give me half; if you take action, I’m willing to split 75% after the job’s done! But if I have to put in effort, then it’s best we have an equal share!

Makar laughed and shook his head, then seriously said, "You’re right; the mines can’t be left idle, nor can they fall into enemy hands. Actually, I gave you this task to assess the enemy’s deployment around the World Tree. The sulfur mine is tricky; it’s probably already being mined by the enemy since it’s likely one of the Hell Race’s previous entrances to the surface world a thousand years ago. But fortunately, the two gemstone mines haven’t fallen into enemy hands. The guardian beast, Totos, was the Guardian Divine Beast of Jade Space a thousand years ago. According to reports, it went mad and died in the war a thousand years ago, but current reconnaissance shows it’s still alive, only now visibly demonic—and stronger."

Oh my! He’s tempted after all! Sure, three mines! Even the human Emperor would be tempted; how could a Duke with limited territory not be? But how do you know it’s stronger? Don’t tell me a human Mage can live over a thousand years! Haha!

Da Fei gleefully asked, "How do we deal with the demonic Divine Beast?"

Makar shook his head, "Precisely because of this Divine Beast’s presence, the enemies can’t touch these two mines, and it also hinders enemy invasion; we should properly regard the beast’s role."

Da Fei was stunned, "So, we can’t kill this Divine Beast?"

Makar nodded, "At least until we have enough strength to counter the Hell Race’s invasion, we can’t kill it! Besides, even if we could, I can’t get involved. After all, it’s disputed territory claimed by the Elf Kingdom; it’s inconvenient for a human Duke like me to appear there."

What a cop-out! I knew you’d say that, but as the rightful City Lord of Radiant City, I’m very conveniently positioned! And killing the Divine Beast isn’t super crucial for me; what matters is that I can use this as an opportunity to demand high-tech gear upgrades from you! If you disagree, I’ll side with the Elf Kingdom, and then you’re out of luck. Hahaha! If conditions permit, I’ll hit both sides up for gear! Hahaha!

Da Fei immediately volunteered, "Teacher, leave it to me; please grant me strength!"

Da Fei’s forthrightness caught Makar by surprise, eliciting a shake of his head and a laugh: "This requires careful planning; the key is you need to improve your strength first. Come back when you’re level 50. By the way, don’t alert the Elf Kingdom; these elves are sensitive. If they can’t get it themselves, they don’t want others to have it."

Reach level 50 again? I’m ahead of the curve! Well, as long as you’re wary of the Elf Kingdom, it’s fine by me. Guess you’ll have to make it up to me even more!

Da Fei hurriedly said, "Understood! But to take and run these mines without alerting the Elf Kingdom, I’ll need a lot of power!"

The Duke waved his hand, "I’ll consider it carefully, but before then, you need even more detailed reconnaissance of the surrounding areas—keep this item on you but let me add a small modification first; hold on a second!"

With that, Makar clasped the task item, the map-making device, and unleashed dazzling demon light, surrounding his hands with dozens of small rotating magic arrays. Under the guidance of Makar’s spell casting, the magical light particles floating in the library also gathered around him, forming a dazzling, imposing light particle nebula!

Such a grand setup for what he called a small modification?

Time ticked by second by second, and finally, the nebula dissipated, the demon light dimmed, and a flash of light appeared on the map-making device in his hands! In that instant, Da Fei’s mini-radar also flashed brilliantly!

Da Fei’s eyebrow twitched; was it... a treasure?

Makar smiled, "I’ve added a space marker function to the map-making device, allowing it to record a coordinate point in the surrounding space you’ve scouted and teleport you personally to it. If you want to teleport an army, you’d need to use a high-level military teleportation array. Use it wisely, and strive to upgrade your city’s teleportation array! Oh, by the way, your Saint Anthony also has a teleportation array for the actions in Abyss Blood Pool, right? That’s possible too, but requires a large number of magic crystal materials."

— System Prompt: You received the Divine Artifact "Space Waypoint Mapper" from Duke Makar!

— Space Waypoint Mapper: Task Artifact, capable of mapping the areas surrounding the Pool of Radiance and selecting one space coordinate for teleportation on the map of each region. Only usable in regions around the Pool of Radiance.

Da Fei was shocked speechless! A Divine Artifact! Any artifact that involves space teleportation is undoubtedly a Divine Artifact! Damned, with just a circle of hands, a task item became a task artifact! Shock, compared to this, the branch given by the Habbit Village Chief is simply a primitive artifact! And it’s single-use, completely incomparable, is Makar a God-level Alchemist?

Hahaha! This artifact is just right for me, precisely what I needed! The artifact combined with my Flying’s teleportation array, I can travel to and from my home turf freely!

Da Fei happily said, "Thank you for your guidance, Teacher!"

Makar, slightly fatigued, waved his hand, "Work hard! Dismissed!"

Da Fei bowed, "I will heed your teachings!"

Hahaha! I can finally sleep soundly, I’ll be smiling in my dreams tonight! (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit qidian.com to vote with recommendations and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)