Chapter 121: Mei Terumi: Mist Village Rogues, Come Back!
Hiring a craftsman came with a steep price.
Their fee was based on stamina consumption—every 200 points of stamina cost 2,000 reward points. It was absurd.
But in the current era of competition, even if you were willing to pay, finding a willing craftsman was another story entirely.
The exploited peasants were finally singing their own songs.
...
Jack-o'-Boom!
Mei Terumi clasped her hands together, condensing a searing explosion into a compact sphere.
From the center of her palm, a bright, crimson pumpkin-shaped fireball took shape. At its core boiled explosive energy, the intensity of which even surpassed that of a Tailed Beast Bomb in the real ninja world.
Opposite her stood a Hell-level ghost mage.
Though its eyes were still cloudy and it retained only half the power it had in life, it still had no true consciousness.
Even so,
the sheer power radiating from the fire pumpkin stirred a primal fear within it.
Boom.
A blazing red beam shot forth.
The fire pumpkin landed at the mage's feet and detonated with a deafening roar. Firestorms engulfed the entire Soulcamp, consuming every remaining ghost-type monster in its expanding waves of flame.
"Incredible! Is that the power of Lady Mei Terumi?"
The members of the Kirigakure Clan watched in awe, their reverence for their Mizukage deepening further.
Buzz.
With a shimmer of light, materials and equipment dropped across the battlefield.
Mei furrowed her brow and walked forward with graceful steps. She bent down slightly and casually picked up a bottle of energy recovery potion.
The rest of the loot she left for her fellow Kirigakure players who had followed her in for some easy gains.
Four consecutive Hell-level runs had yielded not a single silver-tier heart. Not even a purple one. Just two measly blue-tier hearts that were better than nothing.
"Jack-o'-Boom. A purple-tier skill with destructive potential… it's my strongest attack."
Mei keenly sensed that
so far, purple was the highest grade for skills in the Samsara Game. No silver or gold-tier skills had ever appeared.
Perhaps certain conditions had to be met to unlock them.
Once the timer expired,
a flash of teleportation light enveloped her and the Kirigakure players, sending them out of the dungeon.
After a brief wave of dizziness—
"How many bottles of adhesive did we get?"
"Twenty-nine."
"Not bad."
Mei nodded slightly. Even without a silver-tier heart, once the Materials Workshop was complete, they could synthesize higher-grade ones.
Suddenly, she spotted something near the teleportation platform.
An old man with a full beard, wearing a straw hat, stood awkwardly in place.
Beside him was a cautious young girl in Mist ninja garb, her features delicate as she guarded the old man warily.
Outside the Soulcamp's teleportation area—
a PvP-enabled zone—a group of player-ronin dressed as wandering swordsmen eyed them like hungry wolves.
"A Mist ninja?"
Mei frowned. She didn't recognize the girl—not even vaguely.
Her gaze shifted to the old man's stall.
[Craftsman Player - Building Skill Lv.10 - Clearance Sale: 800 reward points per 200 stamina.]
"That's cheap."
Beside her, Hōzuki Chigetsu noticed the stall too.
Who would've guessed that such a plain-looking old man was a highly sought-after craftsman?
Even among craftsman players, having Level 10 building skill was a big deal.
Mei brushed back her bangs, her emerald eyes gleaming with interest as she looked at the surrounded elder. "In the Land of Iron, there are two craftsmen with the same skill level. How much do they charge?"
Chigetsu replied, "Four thousand reward points."
Even as he said it, he felt the Land of Iron craftsmen were robbing people blind.
But there was no helping it.
At first, no one valued the craftsman class. By the time people realized their importance, it was too late to train new ones.
Only the Land of Iron—a neutral country famous for its smithing and weapons—had developed any.
They were always in short supply.
And now, they'd stumbled upon a lone craftsman offering services for dirt cheap.
"Let's go take a look."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Chigetsu casually strolled over to the stall, pretending to browse.
But before he could speak—
one of the ronin stepped forward, face full of menace. "Scram."
He displayed his equipment to intimidate.
A Level 15 green-tier set of physical attack-boosting armor.
A matching set of energy regeneration accessories.
And a katana that also boosted physical attack.
To be fair,
this ronin was fairly geared for a non-clan player—likely the leader of the group.
Tazuna clenched his fists, glaring at the ronin with hate. "You bastards! Helping that scumbag Gato will bring you nothing but retribution!"
"Retribution?"
The ronin sneered. "Worry about your own neck. That Mist traitor Zabuza's already in Gato's prison. Once the mafia tracks down where you're hiding, you're done for."
The rest didn't need to be said.
Gato, outwardly a global shipping tycoon, was actually a ruthless underworld figure.
He employed hundreds of gangsters and rogue ninja to smuggle drugs and weapons. The entire Land of Waves was under his control.
Killing a bridge-building old man's entire family wouldn't even make a splash.
If not for Tazuna being a craftsman, and for repeatedly defying Gato, he would've been shark food long ago.
The ronin leader glanced at Chigetsu and barked, "Didn't you hear me? Get lost. Anyone who hires Tazuna won't leave the newbie village alive."
The threat was loud and clear.
Before Chigetsu could respond,
Mei Terumi stepped in, flashing a charming smile at the ronin. "You mentioned a Mist rogue… Momochi Zabuza, was it?"
"So what if I did?"
"I see… Based on our intel, when Zabuza left the Land of Water, he was accompanied by a survivor of the Yuki Clan. That must be you, right?"
Mei ignored the ronin and turned to the black-haired girl with the Mist forehead protector. Her eyes lit up with a hint of excitement.
The massacre of the Mist's bloodline clans had always been a deep wound in her heart.
The Kaguya Clan, with their Shikotsumyaku—an ability to manipulate and harden their bones at will—were once masters of taijutsu feared throughout the ninja world.
The Yuki Clan, with their Ice Release—a combination of wind and water chakra—could rival even her own Boil and Lava Releases in power.
Sadly, if the Mist girl before her had been male, Mei might've hoped to revive Ice Release.
After all—
while the Samsara Game allowed players to exchange for Kekkei Genkai, it did not permit those abilities to be passed on through bloodlines. Even bloodline-related exchanges didn't grant heritable traits.
That was a rule laid down by the Game Merchant—unchangeable.
Mei's mind raced.
She had to recruit this girl back to the Hidden Mist.
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