Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Black Mage Equals the Plate Armor Mage

The improvement in skills had been tremendous and was where he had spent most of his energy; in contrast, Yi Shen had devoted far less effort to his equipment. After all, his current level was rather unfortunate and didn’t quite match his attributes; most of the items that caught his eye required a level of fifty or above. As a result, Yi Shen mainly bought some defensive gear to bolster his resilience. In high-level battles, the stats and special effects provided by equipment could make a significant difference.

For example, Yi Shen now owned a B-grade shield suitable for someone around level thirty. One of its effects, the Radiant Shield, was exceptionally powerful—essentially granting him an extra defensive skill.

...

[Collector’s Obsidian Shield]
[Required Level: 30]
[Quality: B]
[Attributes: Endurance +970, Defense +550]
[Special Effect 1: In a frontal defensive stance, Defense +300]
[Special Effect 2: When struck in combat, 2% chance to increase Armor by 2,000 for 10 seconds]
[Special Effect 3: Upgrades your Shield Block skill by one grade]
[Special Effect 4: Activating the shield creates a radiant barrier for 5 seconds, generating a shield equal to 50% of your health, which decays over 5 seconds; 5-minute cooldown]

...

It was an excellent shield. Even though it was only level thirty, the B-grade quality brought its price up to three hundred thousand. Along with several other pieces of defensive gear, Yi Shen was now essentially a plate-armored mage. He currently had three sets of backup equipment: an offensive set, a defensive set, and a set for everyday use.

Unwittingly, most of these three sets leaned toward black, especially the obsidian shield, which had turned Yi Shen into a veritable “black mage.”

With all his gear and skills updated, Yi Shen glanced over his attributes. If before he could face explorers in their forties without flinching, now he felt confident that he could hold his own even against those in their fifties.

The only regret was that after researching so many materials, his Mage’s Heart had advanced to level four, but this time it had only granted him a simple mana shield skill. This skill was not much different from the Mage Shield he had purchased himself—it just gave him an extra layer of protection, not much of an upgrade. He could only wait for level five to see if a new skill would become available.

By the time he was done shopping, evening had fallen. Yi Shen stopped by Zhu Qing’s little shop to say hello to her and Zhu You, asking them to keep an eye out for any new skill books for him. Then, he decided to return to his family’s villa. His mother was there, and Jiang Jinying seemed to have no intention of leaving. There were about three days left until the next negotiation at Peach Blossom Dock, and Yi Shen felt he could only be at ease by staying close to his mother.

Back at the villa complex, Yi Shen noticed there were scattered watchers in the area—he guessed they were probably people from Blood Reapers or Peach Blossom Dock.

Upon entering his home, he found Jiang Jinying lounging on his sofa, cracking melon seeds and watching the news on TV. His mother had mentioned before that Jiang Jinying would be staying for a while. She seemed to have truly made herself at home, dressed in a green set of pajamas that covered her tightly, a stark contrast to her earlier revealing leather skirt.

When Yi Shen came in, Jiang Jinying glanced up at him. He ignored her and went straight upstairs, intending to have another talk with his mother.

“Your mom’s busy talking with people from Peach Blossom Dock,” Jiang Jinying said with a smile, signaling that he shouldn’t disturb her.

Yi Shen still ignored her and turned to head for the training room, wanting to test his physical strength. After strengthening his attributes, his body had improved significantly. Even though Blue Star suppressed the influence of attributes on reality, the increased cellular vitality was still quite noticeable.

Yi Shen’s home gym was spacious—his father used to enjoy working out here and had even set up a specialized thunder ring. Yi Shen used to think these things were pointless, but as his own attributes improved, he realized he needed to work on physical control and reflexes as well as raw stats.

“Why are you ignoring your big sister? I just wanted to have a chat,” Jiang Jinying said as she strolled in before he could begin, wearing his mother’s slippers and leaning against the wall while snacking on melon seeds.

Jiang Jinying seemed very interested in Yi Shen. Given his age, she figured he should be at most level ten in terms of intelligence, yet whenever she tried to probe him, all she saw were question marks. She was curious as to what equipment enabled Yi Shen to bypass such a huge level gap in detection.

“Nothing to talk about,” Yi Shen replied, knowing the Blood Reapers were involved in the Peach Blossom Dock affair and wanting nothing to do with her.

“You’re a lot like your father,” Jiang Jinying said, looking him up and down with a smile. “I was actually quite close to him. If your mother hadn’t appeared back then, who knows, maybe I would’ve been your mother.”

Yi Shen glanced at her, unsure how to respond. He’d never heard his father mention Jiang Jinying.

“Don’t you want to know how your father died?” Jiang Jinying, perhaps sensing his reluctance, abruptly threw out a weighty topic.

Yi Shen paused and looked at her.

“Your father’s death can’t be separated from Anqing, and apart from them, Jingbei Industries had a big hand in it too,” Jiang Jinying said with a teasing tone.

“Maybe you people were involved as well,” Yi Shen replied directly.

Jiang Jinying smiled without answering. After a pause, she continued, “Don’t think too badly of your big sister. I’m living here now just to protect your mother. If we’d had anything to do with your father’s death, why would I be here to protect you?”

She clearly still regarded him as a child and tried to draw him in: “Do you know why there are so many people around? The situation is unusual right now. Your mother is getting close to Zhao Nanxing, and Anqing won’t just sit back—they may try to make a move against you. My task is only to protect your mother, not you. Tell you what, if you call me ‘sister,’ I’ll make sure you’re protected too if anything happens.”

“No need,” Yi Shen recognized her teasing and didn’t want to engage.

“How much did you pay for your anti-detection gear? Want to let your sister in on the secret—or sell it to me? I’ll pay handsomely, or share more about your father,” she asked casually, revealing her true interest.

“An SSS-grade artifact, a system gift,” Yi Shen replied.

Jiang Jinying broke into peals of laughter, taking it as a joke. She sighed and was about to try again, but just then, her expression grew tense and she turned to the window.

At the same moment, Yi Shen sensed a powerful sense of danger.

Someone was coming!