Alone and Infinite

Pointing diagonally towards the sky, it adds a special touch to this bright scene.

The clanging and banging sounds are notes that never stop.

It merges with the hissing sounds of various classic, modern, sci-fi, and magical large-scale pressure devices in operation.

This has created a unique hymn to the forging zone.

No matter when, the raging fire always makes people feel the vigorous vitality and represents hope.

So the apostles who came here were the same; they wandered around with anticipation of crafting equipment.

The same was true for that secluded forge hut.

What are they doing here?

Aowu stretched its long neck, perched on Li Xia's shoulder, and gazed at the groups of apostles in front of the forging hut.

He remembered the last time he came here, the hut was eerily quiet, it didn't look like a forging area at all, and the old man looked more like a jeweler.

He even uses a high-powered magnifying glass to play with minerals!

Li Xia was equally puzzled. She paused for a moment, then continued walking forward. As she got closer, some sounds drifted over on the wind.

"It's been three days already, hasn't it?"

"Still not out?"

"Didn't the old man say he'd resume taking orders starting today?!"

“ε=(ο｀*))) Sigh, this old man, his skills are good, but he's too strange. Sometimes he won't even take the money that's offered to him.”

"I heard he took on a job upgrading equipment, and Old Ma has been busy with it the whole time."

"Upgrade equipment? Good heavens, Old Ma is a Tier 2 craftsman, right? What kind of equipment takes so long?"

He can't even handle a 2-to-3 elimination round.

Besides, who would be so brain-dead as to use the materials to upgrade from level 2 to level 3 to buy seven or eight pieces of equipment of the same grade?

Could it be related to Smaug's Scales?

Thoughts raced through my mind, but my feet didn't stop, and I arrived at the entrance of the courtyard.

Just as I was about to pull the bell, a somewhat lazy voice, with a hint of hoarseness, came from the side.

"Hey handsome, you'd better not pull it."

Li Xia looked in the direction of the sound and saw a female apostle wearing a tight-fitting leather bodysuit leaning against the wall of the courtyard with her arms crossed.

Her chestnut-brown, wavy long hair was casually draped over her shoulders, giving her a powerful and queen-like aura.

Although she doesn't have a charm attribute, Li Xia believes that if she did, she would definitely be the one with a special charm stat.

She belongs to the same type of female apostle as Lisa and Lovera.

"Master Ma has a habit: if he hasn't opened the gate to the courtyard—"

The female apostle pointed to the tightly closed door and smiled sweetly:

"That means he doesn't have the time or inclination to take orders. If you bother him at this time, you'll get blacklisted. Many people have suffered from this before."

Li Xia paused for a moment, then nodded: "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I find you quite pleasing to the eye. Would you like to come and have a drink with me?"

Her full lips gleamed with a faint sheen, and the tip of her pink tongue, barely peeking out between her pearly teeth, evoked endless reverie.

We apostles are indeed bold and unrestrained.

"Squeak-"

The courtyard door opened, and Ma Da'ou, with his hands behind his back, looked at Li Xia with surprise and said:

"What are you doing at the door? I've been waiting for you for ages—"

Without a word, he grabbed Li Xia's wrist and pulled her inside, leaving the apostle behind, who was equally astonished.

Li Xia's gaze swept over Madao's withered hands.

This power is at least 20 points!

Are the workers really that powerful?

"Young man, that woman just now is one of Black Widow's people. It's best not to touch her. She's ruthless and heartless. With the Destiny Gear in hand, there's no need to invite trouble for a little pleasure."

Madaro released his grip and said slowly.

He hesitated for a moment, then shook his head:

"Hey, why am I telling you this? Come in and take a look at the equipment."

With a soft "hiss," it said, "There's no way Your Highness would even look at that woman!"

The two walked into the room, and Li Xia felt that Madao's spirit seemed different from the last time, whether it was her imagination or not.

It feels like a complete transformation.

"Young man—do you know how employees can improve themselves?"

Suddenly, Madaro started talking about something unrelated.

But this question really stumped Li Xia, as she hadn't thought about it before.

They didn't even consider whether employees could improve themselves.

Li Xia carefully recalled her understanding of employees.

It is known that all employees are apostles who voluntarily or involuntarily change professions, and this applies only to those below the 3rd rank.

If you're above level three, you don't even have the chance to change jobs and become a worker, so how do you craft high-level equipment?

The energy emitted by those super equipment alone is enough to turn low-level apostles into particles.

Even with the protection of the temple, how can a third-tier craftsman modify eighth or ninth-tier equipment?

Therefore, employees also have ways to improve themselves!

"The Workers—also known as the Apostles of Failure."

Madaro chuckled self-deprecatingly:

"In short, even those who become employees can still grow, and their growth path is completely different from that of normal apostles."

You've probably played video games, haven't you?

He gestured, his white beard trembling:

"Our employees have something similar to an experience bar. We gain experience points every time we produce something, and the amount of experience points varies depending on the production tools we use."

For example, those who run restaurants can gain experience points every time they cook a meal.

Sounds great, right?

It allows you to earn money and level up, and leveling up automatically grants attribute points to employees, increasing various attributes.

Madaro held up one finger:

"However, for normal catering, one serving is about 1 experience point, and it takes 300,000 experience points to advance from Tier 2 to Tier 3!"

Li Xia:

"Therefore, in order to gain more experience points, employees need to improve, study, and find ways to make better things."

Otherwise, they will remain stagnant forever, unable to die but losing all hope.

Employees can also surpass the ninth rank, and it is even said that employees who surpass the ninth rank will be granted a special title and become titled employees.

Every employee with this title is a treasure of the institution, enjoying unprecedented benefits and freedom!

Li Xia listened quietly; he now had a pretty good idea of ​​why Madao had suddenly started telling him these unrelated things.

They even understood why the hall was designed that way.

Without a promotion mechanism for employees, the number of employees in the Hall of Fame will decrease, and their quality will decline.

The threat of death is not always that effective.

Humans are strange and extremely contradictory creatures.

It's a paradox that as long as there's hope, one can persevere even through torment.

But if there is no hope, they will give up and eventually begin to self-destruct.

This tendency toward utter self-destruction is extremely rare and uncommon because it completely contradicts the biological instinct for survival.

Li Xia nodded, indicating that she understood.

"You've advanced?"

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1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

Chapter 196 The Armor of the Molten Mountain!

"You guessed it?"

Madao's face showed a mixture of wistfulness and heartfelt joy:

"Yes, I've advanced. It really wasn't easy."

"Congratulations--"

"Thanks to your equipment, this kind of parasitic equipment is extremely rare at Tier 1."

No, it should be said that this type of equipment is inherently very rare.

Madaro shook his head: "Some will appear in the ghoul world, but those things are living beings, which is very dangerous, and their potential is limited."

Yours is different; it could even be called the perfect parasitic armor!

The absorption of maximum blood and qi is only because it requires blood and qi to form and generate scales, not because the armor itself is greedy or exploitative.

He picked up a box from the table, opened it, and handed it to him.

"have a look."

【Molten Armor】

[Grade: Dark Purple (Tier 2)]

【Origin: The Lord of the Rings - Middle-earth】

[Category: Special/Armor]

[Durability: 150/150]

[Defense Tier: 5 - ? ? ? (Tier 2)]

[Equipment Requirements: Constitution 20, Physical Strength 4]

Greed Armor: When equipped, it will absorb 6% of the maximum health, and generate scales based on the quality of the absorbed health.

Dragonblood Armor: When equipped, it slowly increases Strength, Dexterity, and Physique, with a maximum bonus of 3 points. When removed from the equipment, the bonus slowly decreases (excitement-type bonus, regardless of rank).

The Roar of the Lavasioth: Immune to temperatures below 1500 degrees Celsius, has slight control over fire, increases fire energy damage resistance by 40%, and slowly increases fire resistance after equipping, up to a maximum of 20% (permanent bonus).

Concealed Armor: Does not occupy an armor slot.

[Review: A nightmare for fire-type characters, a treasure for those who equip it — Madaro]

"Those materials were mainly used to reduce the consumption of Qi and Blood and enhance other attributes."

With his hands behind his back, Mada proudly said:

"The Lava Dragon's gem is very strong. It once took the initiative and almost removed the stealth armor's properties."

Energy-based armor has acquired properties similar to physical armor formed by cooling lava.

Li Xia imagined the scene in his mind: scorching magma covering his body, then cooling and solidifying into a black and hard shell like a lava dragon.

It looks like a lava behemoth or a stone golem.

It's incredibly ugly! And it's lost its flexibility.

"In short, it was barely suppressed in the end, but the Lava Dragon's gem did not achieve a higher effect, at most less than 60%."