CHAPTER 277: CHAPTER 277: AM I NOT STRONG ENOUGH?

Ever since learning that the incense burners used for offering incense also came in different qualities, Jiang Yuan had been contemplating getting better ones for his two contract pets. However, after inquiring, he discovered that no one generally refined incense burners as magical treasures.

So, upon hearing that the neighboring shop could customize magical artifacts, he casually asked. Although magical artifacts were not as effective as magical treasures, they were far superior to ordinary incense burners.

"Incense burner?" Hou Ze hadn’t expected such an awkward conversation starter to actually pique the other’s interest. He hurriedly patted the golden little monkey perched on his shoulder, "Go fetch that booklet from the innermost part!"

During the time when ghosts were near but gods were far, cultivators had long ceased their worship activities, and ordinary humans, although fond of burning incense and praying to Buddha, couldn’t use magical artifacts or treasures. Thus, incense burner-type artifacts were indeed hard to come by.

However, what excited Hou Ze was that his shop could indeed customize such items!

Hehe, this was all thanks to having a wonderful artifact refiner as a friend. If that guy weren’t naturally inclined to research artifact refining and reluctant to interact with people, how could he have gathered such obscure little gadget blueprints?

If they couldn’t customize, wouldn’t they miss out on a great opportunity to bond with a new neighbor?

"Squeak squeak!"

The little monkey moved nimbly, and by the time Jiang Yuan docked at the store, it was already carrying a dusty booklet, hurriedly wiping it clean before handing it to its owner.

"This thing is hard to come by. You see, we’re not only neighbors but also seem to have a fateful connection. Hehe..." Hou Ze’s awkward small talk quickly turned into flipping to the last page of the booklet, "Incense burner artifacts are rare, so there’s not much choice, but the appearance can be customized according to your needs!"

Jiang Yuan took the booklet and indeed saw that there was only one type of incense burner available on the page.

As a magical artifact, it could enhance the effectiveness of incense offerings to increase absorption rates. How much it could enhance depended on the artifact refiner’s skill, materials used, and various other factors.

There wasn’t much choice, but having something was better than nothing. After paying a deposit, Jiang Yuan took some gems out of his storage bag and handed them over, "Make one incense burner golden with a white dragon coiled on top, with eyes inlaid with rubies. Make the other one stone blue, carved with a white fox, with eyes inlaid with purple gems."

After all, he tried it in the real world, and the gems couldn’t be taken out to sell for money, so he might as well inlay them onto the incense burners to increase their aesthetic value.

"Alrighty!" Hou Ze noted down the requirements in detail, took out a box to collect the gems, and handed over a signed receipt with both hands, "If you have time, come by tomorrow night to first look at the draft sketch and the basic appearance of the incense burners. If satisfied, the artifact refiner will craft them, and they can be picked up within three days maximum!"

The shopkeeper gave a 20% discount, and the two incense burners cost a total of 2,500 Spirit Stones. Jiang Yuan put the receipt into his storage bag and left the market from the general store.

The night was deep, and the small courtyard was very quiet.

Occasionally, there was a gentle sound of water, as Xiao Bai leisurely swayed its snake tail while cultivating.

Jiang Yuan tidied up his storage box and storage bag, taking out the two treasure chests he was previously rewarded with, preparing to open them.

After completing the side quest of interrogating Qing Wu, the system awarded him with an Equipment Exchange Card. The details only showed that he could freely choose one from many options. He had been reluctant to use it, wanting to save it until he had the last piece and knew what to choose.

But one face accessory had already increased to three million Spirit Stones, so the price for a belt must be even more exorbitant.

There were too many places that required money, so it was better to complete the set of equipment first. Anyway, the mysterious jeweler said he could buy back old accessories at a high price, and unused ones later could be given to disciples, contract pets, or mounts.

[Automatic Harvester Blueprint: Can be crafted on a Level Two Workbench. Upgradeable, the basic harvester can automatically collect mature crops within a certain range daily, reducing farming burden]

The first box opened, and inside was a blueprint!

Jiang Yuan looked at it with eager interest and immediately clicked to use it. Currently, what took up the most time every day was sowing and harvesting. Although the system could automatically pick up items, each needed to be harvested individually. With too large a planting area, just one second per plant was already too long.

Public welfare orders had a high demand for basic grain crops, and having such an automatic harvester could save a lot of time.

The lucky streak seemed to continue as he quickly opened the second treasure chest.

[Basic Material Gift Pack +1, please click to use]

"Is this to be used more pleasantly together?" Jiang Yuan laughed as he opened it. To date, whether it was upgrading buildings or crafting new ones, a large number of basic materials were always needed.

Especially with the newly acquired blueprint, upgrading the workbench and crafting the automatic harvester didn’t require a large amount of materials, but the variety was complete, mostly consisting of basic materials.

Opening this gift pack, everything instantly fell into place!

Since luck was so good, he decided to do it all in one go and exchanged equipment as well.

Jiang Yuan thought about it and directly clicked to use it. Sure enough, the system brought up a page listing the types of equipment to choose from, covering everything from rings and necklaces to organs and limbs!

"Wow, is the system reward this generous?" He looked at the dazzling array of selectable equipment and was momentarily dazzled.

What to choose?

The range was definitely set in the outer circle because clothing items like belts, no matter how expensive, were buyable. But things like torsos and limbs were much harder to come by.

Currently, he already had medium-quality heart, liver, lungs, and a mutated fierce ghost skull, but was missing a torso, feet, arms, and legs.

He thought about it; even if other parts were lacking, it shouldn’t matter much. He needed to get the body sorted first so that if necessary, he could display the external equipment and formally present himself with a non-human appearance!

[Beastman Body: Made from the skin-and-bones of the demon tiger beast that failed the tribulation crossing. Defense +500; Attack Power +300; Physical Strength +200]

With his options confirmed, there weren’t many choices. The demon tiger beast’s body looked like a muscular tiger walking upright, and comparatively, it had the highest cost-effectiveness. Jiang Yuan thought that pairing this body with a skull would surely have a stunning visual effect.

He clicked to exchange, equipped, and displayed the whole set in the closed-off floating market, and there appeared a "monster" with a beast’s body and a ghostly head.

"Oh! These arms and legs don’t match the body at all!" Jiang Yuan looked at the full body captured by the memory stone. The skull was eerie, the body with tiger stripes was imposing, the heart, liver, lungs were internally displayed, but his own arms and legs appeared slender and mismatched.

But after putting on the Demon God’s title, the aura emitted from the whole body was quite impressive, even if the limbs were slightly uncoordinated, it couldn’t conceal the sharpness.

He thought to himself, it’s a good thing he was cautious enough to choose the general store for his transformation. Otherwise, such an outfit would surely give the four in the small courtyard a big scare!

"Do you crave power? Do you wish to become stronger?" While admiring his new equipment, a mysterious murmur with a deeply tempting tone echoed in his mind. Jiang Yuan mildly startled, subconsciously replied, "Am I not strong enough now?"

It’s only been two full months since he entered the Wilderness World. In the early stages, he was busy farming, building his home, striving to keep all his skills advancing simultaneously in every aspect. Up to now, he could nonchalantly spend millions of Spirit Stones on equipment. Wasn’t he strong enough?

Even if you split the two months into half and double the time, that’s barely four months. Not only has he managed the small courtyard in an orderly manner, but he’s also taken on disciples, contract pets, and mounts. Even in the real world, he’s jumped to become wealthy, allowing his parents to live in a villa. Wasn’t he strong enough?