Chapter 102: Taking Money But Not Delivering the Goods

Chapter 102: Taking Money But Not Delivering the Goods However, Carlos wasn’t overly worried. "If push comes to shove, I can use Fantasy Equipment to devour it and remove the restrictions." Fantasy Equipment in its original state could only copy spirit gear of light gold quality and below. But once in growth state, there were no quality restrictions on devoured spirit gear. Once devouring was complete, Fantasy Equipment would perfectly inherit the Sun Emperor’s Sword’s attributes and special enhancements. Carlos would only need to equip the Fantasy Equipment. All restrictions like swordsmanship limitations, bloodline restrictions, pathway restrictions, etc. from the original Sun Emperor’s Sword would disappear. However, once Fantasy Equipment entered growth state, it could never return to original state, meaning it would lose its copying ability. "Once Strength and Constitution reach 20 points, I’ll go grab the Sun Emperor’s Sword!" Having finished thinking, and with the shield guards having finished cleaning the battlefield, loot was piled before Carlos. Carlos had rested enough. He first stored the loot—nothing of great value. Then he randomly selected a corpse: "Skeleton Revival!" The twenty-sixth skeleton soldier was born with creaking sounds. Then Carlos’s gaze fell on Purple Vortex in the distance, which was constantly picking parts, torn about which eyeball in its hands had better quality. "Purple Vortex, stop messing around. Time to go." "Roar!" Purple Vortex was slightly conflicted. It still felt the two eyeballs in its eye sockets were top quality. So it crushed the eyeballs in its hands and strode up to Carlos. "Your appearance..." Carlos’s mouth twitched hard. Never mind this spine-chilling grotesque face, just the heart, liver, lungs, etc. appearing on the black-red flesh of its chest, pulsing bloodily, was absolutely jarring. Noticing its master’s gaze, Purple Vortex showed off slightly by shaking its upper body. Various organs bounced in unison, making rhythmic thumping sounds with a weird charm. Who would have thought Purple Vortex had some musical talent. "..." Carlos’s thoughts moved instantly. All skeleton soldiers, including Purple Vortex, were recalled to the summoning space. No time to waste! "Depart for the first dark mist node: Mineral Ant Nest!" Crimson-gold wing bones spread, storm surged, Carlos shot into the sky, becoming a golden streak that quickly disappeared on the horizon... ... Lezhe’s group, the seven-person squad, after drinking Golden Pattern alchemical potions and fully recovering, immediately changed into ordinary equipment. Their previous equipment had been torn to shreds in the traitors’ attacks, with greatly reduced defense—worse protection than ordinary equipment. After several days of non-stop high-speed travel and running into several waves of monsters, they finally returned to Rock Sand City. They immediately went to Rock Sand City’s exploration unit headquarters and reported this trip’s events to the squad leader. "The ruins portal was destroyed by traitors using mysterious high-level arcane rituals... Dozens of traitors attacked us. They were gathering together, plotting terrible conspiracies... Fortunately, a ’mysterious lord’ with terrifying strength passed by and saved us..." Roughly that much. As for trading Uto for Golden Pattern alchemical potions, they felt this was Demi’s private matter and didn’t report it. After listening, the squad leader looked grim: "Didn’t expect this trip to have so many complications. You’ve all worked hard." After saying this, he immediately turned to leave—he needed to report this to the brigade commander. Just then, Sibel among the seven began complaining to her teammates: "...Taking such great risks, investigating so much information, where are our rewards... why aren’t there any?" Seeing Sister Sibel’s eye signal, Loris understood and played along perfectly: "The city-state won’t forget us. Maybe they’ll distribute them later..." The two women’s conversation was ’accidentally’ a bit loud. The squad leader’s body went stiff. He turned back around, saying irritably: "After I finish reporting, I’ll discuss with the brigade commander what level of rewards to give you. Or should I hand out ordinary rewards now?" "No need! No need!" "Squad leader, you go ahead with your business. The rewards aren’t urgent!" Both women shook their heads repeatedly, watching the squad leader leave... After reporting, the seven left the Rock Sand City exploration unit facility. ... On the street, squad leader Lezhe clapped his hands to get his team members’ attention and said: "Dismissed! Everyone rest well!" "Hooray!" "Finally can sleep!" "So tired!" "..." The seven immediately scattered, each going to rest or have fun. After they left, several black shadows nearby also quietly slipped away... ... Golden Sand Society headquarters, a luxurious and extravagant mansion, in the main hall. A white-haired elder in a gold robe with white trim was playing with a wolf-headed parrot. In front of him knelt a black-robed figure. "You’re saying Demi’s group returned safely?" The elder spoke slowly, his voice steady, revealing no joy or anger. "Yes, my lord. The seven just returned with no casualties or serious injuries. However, their equipment shows much damage. It appears they experienced considerable combat." The black-robed figure replied respectfully, describing everything he had witnessed. "Useless! Combat—entering dark mist areas, which squad doesn’t experience multiple battles!" Suddenly the elder flew into a rage, wrinkles on his face constantly trembling: "Is this what I ordered you to monitor?" "Bang!" The elder kicked the black-robed figure away, a flash of vicious light in his narrow eyes. After kicking, the elder continued feeding the wolf-headed parrot. The wolf-headed parrot cried out: "Useless! Useless!" Repeatedly saying "useless," the vicious light in the elder’s eyes grew stronger. The black-robed figure remained kneeling. In the repeated cries of "useless," he finally caught on and hurriedly said: "Lord Salimo, the damage on their equipment was clearly left by monster attacks, with absolutely no traces of spiritual techniques!" Hearing this, Salimo’s feeding motion paused: "You’re certain?" "Absolutely certain, my lord!" The black-robed figure had no hesitation—he definitely couldn’t be wrong. After several moments, Salimo’s aged voice rang out: "You may withdraw." The black-robed figure carefully exited the hall. Soon, another black-robed figure entered. Same questions, same answers. ... Salimo was now certain of his subordinates’ intelligence. Vicious light flashed in his eyes: "Good, good, good! An organization hiding in the gutters dares to pull a fast one on me!" "Deceive! Deceive!" The wolf-headed parrot loudly repeated, blood on the fangs in its wolf muzzle. His anger intensified: "I’m going to wipe them out!" "Slaughter! Slaughter!" The wolf-headed parrot played along perfectly, making piercing wolf howls. This actually calmed Salimo down. "Forget it. After I get their research potion, then I’ll wipe them out." Salimo put down the meat chunk in his hand and slowly stood up with his cane. The wolf-headed parrot fluttered and brought over a golden gauze hat, skillfully placing it on the elder’s head, finally perching obediently on the elder’s right shoulder. "Let’s go ask them what they mean by taking money but not delivering the goods." ...