Chapter 49: Double Bonus

Chapter 49: Double Bonus Iris looked weird—she’d already gotten the full story about this necklace from the servants. After Sabina carried her brother back and put him down, she didn’t leave. Instead, she pulled out a necklace and bent down to carefully put it on Carlos personally, finally whispering something unclear in his ear before reluctantly taking off. The fancy necklace the servant mentioned had to be this one. Then combining Carlos’s meaning, Iris finally believed that old witch... no, Sabina was following normal "courtship" procedures? What Iris understood even less was that Carlos himself didn’t seem to mind? "You just accepted it like that?" "? Is there something wrong with this necklace?" Carlos looked at the necklace in his hand, various info about it popping into his mind, finding nothing worth getting suspicious about. "This necklace... sigh, forget it. If you accepted it, then whatever!" Iris sighed. Since Carlos wasn’t against it, she couldn’t say much more, or she might trigger Carlos’s rebellious streak. She’d heard some kids got moody when they got a bit older—the more adults banned something, the more they’d go against it. Though Iris felt her Carlos was a mature kid who wouldn’t be like this, better safe than sorry. However, she still quietly reminded him: "According to my intel, that Sabina is really mysterious. Decades ago, she already controlled the Flame Exchange, and nobody knows how old she really is." Yeah, though Iris admitted that woman’s looks could barely match her own, with an aura very attractive to young guys, loaded with cash, and serious strength. But... but all of this couldn’t hide the fact that she was an old hag! Iris didn’t want Carlos’s future to be an old hag. With Carlos’s potential, what woman couldn’t he get! So she couldn’t help indirectly telling Carlos this was a woman who’d lived who knows how long. The subtext was they should resist temptation. "Sis, the Demigod Mark tells me she’ll be really helpful to me down the road. So don’t worry—there won’t be any problems!" Carlos pulled out his old trick again. He naturally caught Iris’s meaning, but Carlos still needed to score many benefits from Sabina. How could he stop dealing with her? Besides, what was wrong with being older? This was a fantasy world—as long as someone lived long enough, with extended time dimensions, the relative age gap’s perception would become increasingly meaningless. "The Demigod Mark’s guidance again?" For the first time, Iris felt the Demigod Mark was unreliable—what was this, "using one’s body to seduce"? "By the way, sis, about that spirit equipment..." After temporarily calming Iris with the Demigod Mark, he remembered his main business. "Spirit equipment? What spirit equipment?" Iris was confused, her mind still stuck on how to handle Sabina and Carlos’s relationship, not catching up. "The borrowing spirit equipment thing I mentioned before." Carlos thought—no way. It hadn’t been that long. Had Iris really forgotten? Or hadn’t had time to handle it? "I remember now, take it!" Iris suddenly got it, waving her hand as a small piece of spirit equipment appeared in front of Carlos. This was a rare bracelet—thin, elongated, delicate bone pieces connected end to end forming a closed loop. Looking closely, each small bone piece had identical outlines but completely different surface engravings, like they were telling some story. "Thanks, sis. I’ll give it back right after using it!" Iris was so on the ball—Carlos was pumped, quickly storing this spirit equipment. Before Iris could react, he turned and bolted from the hall, eager to get back to his room. "Carlos, about that Sabina..." Iris had wanted to hint from the side again, but Carlos just ran off like that. Looking bummed, she got ready to talk with Yolanda and Sara, discussing how to pull Carlos back to the normal track... ... Back in his room, Carlos immediately pulled out #3 Fantasy Equipment as black fluid started covering the bracelet in his hand... Soon, two identical bracelets appeared in Carlos’s palm. [Prox’s Longing (Fantasy Equipment)] [Quality: Light Gold (Fantasy)] [Equipment Requirements: Carlos Only] [Special Bonuses: Skeleton Revival level +3, Slow Aura +3] [Slow Aura Level 3: Within aura coverage, enemy movement speed decreases. Aura range and effect improve with level increases. Current maximum aura range: 10 meters x3 levels] "This is it—Slow Aura!" This aura skill was perfect for Carlos’s combat system, making up for skeleton soldiers’ relatively weak movement speed to some degree. Enemy movement speed slowing was basically the same as skeleton soldiers speeding up. "Slow Aura is perfect for the transition period!" "After the transition period ends and three sublimations to Black Knights, skeleton soldiers’ speed weakness will naturally get fixed." Carlos put "Prox’s Longing" on his left wrist. Skeleton Summoning reached 21 levels (8+2+2+3+3+3), totaling 9 remaining summoning slots. "One bracelet can be equipped per hand. It would be awesome if I could keep the original." Touching the spirit equipment on his wrist, Carlos thought somewhat greedily. Suddenly, inspiration hit him like lightning as he immediately removed the "Blessing of the Dead (Fantasy Equipment)" from his ear. "Restore!" Blessing of the Dead (Fantasy Equipment) returned to its original state—a blob of black fluid. Then Carlos operated #1 Fantasy Equipment to copy "Prox’s Longing" again. Soon, another "Prox’s Longing" appeared. Carlos put it on his other wrist. This way, Blessing of the Dead (Fantasy Equipment)’s special bonus disappeared, replaced by the more powerful Prox’s Longing (Fantasy Equipment) bonus. Under two Prox’s Longing (Fantasy Equipment) bonuses, Slow Aura skill reached level 6, maximum influence range increasing to 10 meters x6. Skeleton Summoning increased another level to 22: +8 levels (personal allocation) +2 levels (Blessing of the Dead) - left earring +3 levels (Death Necklace of Bones) - necklace +3 levels (Hitus Spirit Undergarment - Fantasy Equipment) - undergarment +3 levels (Prox’s Longing - Fantasy Equipment) - left bracelet +3 levels (Prox’s Longing - Fantasy Equipment) - right bracelet, leaving 10 summoning slots. "All Fantasy Equipment copying done—the most important plan since getting back to Ember City is complete." Carlos looked at the panel showing 22-level Skeleton Summoning with pure joy. "Only the major problem of rare spirit equipment shortage remains." With tons of summoning slots, Carlos naturally wanted to sublimate enough guards. Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards’ second sublimation also required rare spirit equipment.