"Calculating everything, we can offer a total of 2000 gold coins, so the total gold reward is 2211 gold coins!"

Even Lin Mo himself was shocked by this enormous amount.

Over two thousand gold coins - what kind of concept was that?

Lin Mo remembered that C-rank mission he saw back in Roland Town - Heart of the Crimson Flame, which involved hunting the lord-level monster Crimson Flame Tiger King, only offered a reward of 3000 gold coins.

And that mission wasn't even considered particularly low among C-rank missions.

This single conscription mission had almost earned him the equivalent of a C-rank mission's payout!

"Additionally, due to your extraordinary contribution, you can also receive 2 pieces of superior-grade equipment."

"You may select from the superior-grade equipment in the storage room. Please proceed."

With that, he stepped aside.

Meanwhile, Landon had already chosen his equipment - a cyan-blue mage robe.

He went directly outside to change into his new equipment. The robe fit him perfectly, almost as if it were tailor-made for him. The design was quite practical too - although called a "mage robe," it wasn't actually very long, and the hem didn't appear excessive, so it wouldn't hinder movement.

This was quite good indeed...

Torren, on his part, chose a pair of leather boots made from lord-level monster materials, and the style was quite attractive.

Finally, it was Lute's turn. He was the only one among them without a superior-grade weapon, so he chose a silver-gray bow, holding it lovingly in his arms as if he couldn't bear to part with it.

Now it was Lin Mo's turn.

He walked up to the equipment rack and was momentarily dazzled by the choices.

Superior-grade equipment was relatively rare after all - even the Association didn't have many pieces, but there were still several dozen of various types, making it difficult for Lin Mo to decide immediately.

He didn't need a staff - it wouldn't be useful for him anyway. Given his situation, either he needed to create that "magic sword" Flora mentioned that had high magic affinity and could amplify magic, or he should stick with equipment like the "mithril gloves" form.

As for swords...

The weapon he currently used was the excellent-grade equipment Black Sword.

Upgrading to a superior-grade weapon would indeed provide significant improvement for Lin Mo.

But after looking for a while, Lin Mo found that while these swords had excellent attributes, they weren't quite suitable for him.

Moreover, compared to improving from 3 to 10, the improvement from 0 to 10 was obviously greater.

So quickly, Lin Mo turned his attention to other equipment.

Like mage robes.

These were good items - they provided some protective capability while offering additional bonuses for mage professions.

Landon was an experienced senior mage - following his choice wouldn't be wrong.

Plus, versatile equipment like mage robes could be worn over leather armor, meaning you could wear two pieces of defensive equipment simultaneously.

Only the combination of leather armor + cloth armor could achieve this.

Other combinations like light armor + cloth armor, or plate armor, including wearing two pieces of leather armor, would be too cumbersome and affect combat performance. With heavy armor types like light armor, it would be difficult to wear a mage robe over them, so you'd have to choose to pair them with cloaks instead.

Many wealthy mages or rangers preferred the combination of leather armor and cloth armor.

Leather armor + mage robe, or leather armor + ranger coat.

Both aesthetically pleasing and effective.

Of course, whether it's the leather armor and cloth armor combination or the heavy armor and cloak combination, they all had one drawback - they were expensive.

Especially special equipment like mage robes, which were even more expensive than heavy armor or plate armor of the same grade.

That's why Landon chose this without hesitation.

So the first piece of superior-grade equipment was determined to be a mage robe.

Lin Mo walked to the corresponding rack, where only two mage robes remained.

Lin Mo examined them one by one.

The first was a fiery red robe with exquisite patterns embroidered on it.

[Crimson Flame Robe]

Weapon Type: Magic Equipment/Cloth Armor

Grade: Superior (Blue)

Attributes: Durability +100%, Sturdiness +60%

Hidden Attributes: Flame Assistance: Increases fire element spell casting speed by 20%;

Enhances fire element spell power by 25%!

Equipment Bonus: Crimson Flame Power III: +6 Magic attribute when using fire element magic

The craftsmanship was quite good, with no issues in durability and sturdiness, and the hidden attributes were very powerful.

Spell casting speed was definitely a very useful attribute, especially for Lin Mo - the faster he could cast spells, the more time he could devote to other professions. In the future, he might even be able to seamlessly use magic during close combat, catching opponents off guard.

The 25% enhancement to fire element spell power was also very useful for Lin Mo, as he had quite a few fire attribute skills.

And the equipment bonus was even more exaggerated - when Lin Mo first saw it, he was stunned.

How much?!

No wonder they said superior-grade magic could help non-professionals bridge the gap with professional levels and fight above their grade.

These 6 attribute points were pure numerical monstrosity!

Lin Mo almost wanted to choose this one directly, but he decided not to rush and look at the next one first.

The other robe was entirely pale blue, appearing much more restrained than the red one, less flamboyant.

[Frost Chill Robe]

Weapon Type: Magic Equipment/Cloth Armor

Grade: Superior (Blue)

Attributes: Durability +80%, Sturdiness +70%

Hidden Attributes: Solid Glacier: Increases ice element spell casting speed by 20%;

Enhances ice element spell power by 25%!

Equipment Bonus: Frost Chill Power III: +6 Magic attribute when using ice element magic

This was an ice attribute robe. In terms of craftsmanship, its durability was slightly worse than the fire one, but its sturdiness was slightly better.

The hidden attributes were basically the same model as the previous one, just one ice and one fire - otherwise identical.

Even the equipment bonuses were similar, both adding 6 points to Magic when using corresponding attribute magic.

So, which one should he choose?

To be honest, with two similar pieces of equipment, Lin Mo found it difficult to decide immediately.

He had more fire magic in his arsenal, but his ice magic progress was faster, already having the superior-grade [Blizzard].

And from an appearance perspective, Lin Mo's personality actually leaned more toward the latter.

He wasn't the type who liked to show off, and the white-blue color scheme matched his aesthetic better.

So in the end, he chose the second [Frost Chill Robe].

After selecting it, he changed into it on the spot. When the mage robe was put on, it automatically adjusted its size to achieve a perfect fit.

One could only say this was worthy of superior-grade equipment.

"So handsome!"

Ellie, standing nearby, saw Lin Mo appear wearing the mage robe and her eyes immediately lit up.

Lin Mo was already quite handsome with a well-proportioned build - broad shoulders, slim waist, and long legs. Now wearing a perfectly fitted mage robe, he looked even more like he had that "elegant and gentle" vibe.

He absolutely nailed the aura department.

Lin Mo smiled at her, everything communicated without words.

Next was the selection of the second piece of superior-grade equipment. According to previous analysis, it was best to choose equipment that provided improvement from zero.

This eliminated swords and armor.

The remaining options were only shoes, helmets, and accessories.

Among these, helmet options could be further eliminated because there were no suitable mage hats here, leaving only shoes and accessories to choose from.

Although these types of equipment used less material, their value wasn't necessarily lower than weapons and armor.

Because the smaller they were, the more difficult it was to preserve the characteristics of the raw materials and perform enchantments, so ultimately the value of these equipment pieces was generally similar.

Of course, magic equipment was generally still more expensive.

So Lin Mo's gaze naturally focused here.

Soon, he found a decent piece of equipment.

[Flame Ring]

Weapon Type: Magic Equipment/Accessory

Grade: Superior (Blue)

Attributes: Durability +70%, Sturdiness +40%

Hidden Attributes: Fire Accumulation III: Can store and accumulate some fire element magic power, can be used directly when needed. Magic capacity is approximately 2 superior-grade spells (equivalent to 32 normal-grade spells, 8 excellent-grade spells)

Equipment Skill: Flame Barrier: Automatically triggers when receiving powerful attacks, forming a flame barrier to block damage. Barrier lasts 30 seconds, requires long recovery time after use (12 hours).

A very good, very interesting piece of equipment.

The craftsmanship wasn't excellent, but as an accessory, that wasn't important.

The key was the hidden attributes and equipment skill... That's right, this equipment didn't have "equipment bonus" - instead, it had an equipment skill.

This was the first time Lin Mo had seen equipment with a skill.

And it was an automatically triggered survival skill at that. Given this equipment's superior-grade quality, the strength of this "Flame Barrier" probably wouldn't be low.

As for the function of storing fire element magic power, it was somewhat redundant.

Not that it was useless, but Lin Mo's main problem now wasn't insufficient magic power, but insufficient spirit.

Although the mental burden from using magic was far from needing to be equal to both, it still required at least about half. That is, with Lin Mo's current total of 47 Magic points, he would need at least 23-24 Spirit points to basically balance magic consumption with mental load.

So the usefulness of storing magic power wasn't that great, at least for now.

But just that single "Flame Barrier" skill alone was valuable enough.

Reality wasn't like games where you could blindly pursue damage output - no matter when, survival was always the most important.

Adding this Flame Ring to his candidate list, Lin Mo continued looking.

After skipping several relatively ordinary pieces of equipment, he finally found another powerful one.

[Calming Bracelet]

Weapon Type: Magic Equipment/Accessory

Grade: Superior (Blue)

Attributes: Durability +80%, Sturdiness +40%

Hidden Attributes: Calming III: Wearing the bracelet will continuously nurture the spirit, increasing spirit recovery speed by 20%

Equipment Bonus: Soul Fortification III: Reduces mental load from using magic by 15%, and reduces effects received from mental attacks by 25%

Wow!

Lin Mo's eyes immediately lit up.

This one was even more heavyweight!

Increasing spirit recovery speed, reducing mental load from using magic, and even providing some defense against mental strikes.

For him, this was practically a god-tier item!

One of Lin Mo's biggest frustrations was always having mental load limitations when using magic.

And with this equipment, it could almost solve half the problem, which was already very good.

Plus, this kind of percentage-based bonus would still be very useful later when his strength increased, with better value retention.

"I want this one!"

Without any hesitation, Lin Mo directly chose this "Calming Bracelet" as his second piece of superior-grade equipment.

But honestly, the previous "Flame Ring" was also quite suitable for him.

The effective upper limit for this type of accessory equipment happened to be two pieces. Any more, and apparently because the energies between them would conflict with each other, it would cause the effects to greatly diminish, making it worse than just wearing two.

Similarly, the upper limit for full-body equipment including weapons was a total of 7 pieces.

Generally speaking, it was typically helmet/hat, weapon, armor, boots, cloak, and two accessories.

Magic professions and some rangers/assassins would choose to replace the cloak with cloth armor worn over leather armor, like mage robes.

Lin Mo really wanted to get the "Flame Ring" too.

So he looked at the Adventurers' Association Vice Chairman: "By the way, I wanted to ask - are the things here for sale?"

The other person was momentarily stunned, then said: "If you want to buy, that's possible too. What are you planning to buy?"

"How much for that 'Flame Ring'?"

The Vice Chairman glanced at it: "Magic accessory equipment is generally quite expensive. The price for this Flame Ring is 1000 gold coins. Since you're a Bronze-rank adventurer, you get a 5% discount - 950 gold coins."

It was indeed a bit expensive.

More expensive than the mithril gloves Lin Mo had.

But this was partly because there were mithril mines near Silverstream City, so mithril equipment was naturally cheaper. If it were elsewhere, the value of mithril gloves would be around 1000 gold coins, similar to this Flame Ring, possibly even slightly more expensive.

After all, Association equipment was generally more expensive. If you went outside, this ring would probably only sell for 900 gold coins - provided you could find one to buy.

And mithril gloves themselves were among the cheaper weapons for mages.

A mithril staff of the same material, like the one Finnie had, was worth 2500 gold coins. The one Landon had was slightly cheaper, but still around 1950 gold coins.

After all, the material requirements between gloves and staffs were completely different.

Of course, there were naturally differences in effects too - staffs performed much better than gloves.

But back to the main point - although the price of 950 gold coins was a bit expensive, Lin Mo had just earned a large sum of money and could afford it.

Money earned was meant to be spent, especially for adventurers - gold coins sitting in hand wouldn't multiply. Buying equipment, skills, etc., and converting them into personal strength was the real principle.

So, Lin Mo bought this "Flame Ring" without hesitation.

His original deserved reward was 2211 gold coins. After subtracting 950 gold coins, he ended up with 1261 gold coins.

After receiving his rewards, Lin Mo happily left the Association with 1261 gold coins and a full 3 pieces of superior-grade equipment.

"Landon, what are your plans next?"

Since Landon happened to be here, Lin Mo took the opportunity to ask.

"Are you taking missions?"

Landon shook his head: "Probably not for now. Need to rest for a few days, summarize the gains from these past days, practice some magic. Huck and Sheila are also planning to rest for a while... maybe about one to ten days?"

"Alright."