Inside the treasury of An Guo Temple, Ying Rushi took out a coil of snake-pattern rope from her backpack.
"Ah, it truly deserves to be called the rope of the Murong Family," Shang Xinlei remarked with admiration as she wrapped the snake-pattern rope around the dial outside the treasury. "It's practically a work of art."
"It seems that White Fox has quite the connections in the Qi Kingdom," Pharmacist's Wish commented mildly while wrapping the rope. "The ropes sold by the Murong Family to outsiders aren't of this quality."
Ying Rushi laughed, "It's not exactly connections. After all, while this rope is precious, you really can't find this quality elsewhere. However, it's so affordable that few care to maintain such high quality standards like the Murong Family does. After all, their secret realm is located under a cliff... I just have a friend from the Murong Family and got it easily."
"In comparison, Black Wolf, your connections are even more outrageous. You actually managed to get a Rare Token. Did you get a blueprint for combining tokens from a secret realm?"
"It wasn't combined," said Pharmacist's Wish, raising her head with a hint of pride. "It was imbued."
"Indeed, I know a little about Rare Tokens, but none match your described power, Black Wolf," Ying Rushi's voice carried a subtle envy, "To be able to imbue a token... truly..."
Underneath her mask, Pharmacist's Wish blushed slightly, feeling pleased. Her gaze towards Ying Rushi softened, and she was even willing to offer some guidance: "Imbuing tokens isn't that hard. You just need to practice day and night until the token's use becomes second nature, and then it might be imbued."
Yan Qing was a bit confused internally. He knew 'token combining' and 'token imbuing' were pathways for upgrading tokens.
However, he had never heard the term 'Rare Token' from Black Wolf and White Fox, so he didn't know what it referred to.
"Black Wolf, your Rare Token effects should be 'Defense' and 'Counterattack,' right?" Shang Xinlei, though phrasing it as a question, was very certain in tone: "And the counterattack's strength correlates with the damage you blocked. Otherwise, you wouldn't wait for those monks to attack you before striking back. From this perspective, your Rare Token should be armor? Or clothing?"
Ying Rushi glanced at Shang Xinlei.
She could deduce this information too but chose not to speak.
However, Red Snake is quite sharp, Ying Rushi thought. She assumed the token should be Black Wolf's eye-catching fine steel long spear.
Pharmacist's Wish didn't intend to hide anything. She tugged her collar, revealing a dark brown inner armor, with its edges faintly glowing blue, as if the armor was breathing.
"Second-Turn Rare Token, Bright King Armor," she said plainspokenly, "When the time comes for an offensive, you can rely on me."
This time, Pharmacist's Wish was finally pleased to see astonishment in Yan Qing's eyes.
Though there was just a lack of jealousy and resentment, hmph, she thought, perhaps he thinks he can never catch up in this lifetime, so he doesn't even feel jealous?
But Yan Qing wasn't shocked by the Bright King Armor. Instead, he finally understood that the Rare Token which Black Wolf and others spoke of with such reverence, shocking even the monks, was actually a rare-grade token from a game!
In "The Messenger," tokens are not only players' skill sources but also their equipment, and naturally have varying quality tiers. The grades, from lowest to highest, are plain white, blue rare, gold precious, orange legendary, and dark gold immortal.
Between plain white and blue rare, both are transitional for players, which is why Yan Qing didn't react when they mentioned Rare Tokens, much like hearing someone praise a treasure as 'thin as a cicada's wing, white as snow' without connecting it to the toilet paper brand they use daily.
While he turned the snake-pattern rope, he asked, "What's above the Rare Token?"
Everyone gave him a curious glance, and Shang Xinlei answered, "That would be the Rare Treasure Token."
"And above that?"
"That would be the Legendary Token, known across the world, where its holders are giants among men."
"And above the legendary?"
"Legendary is the highest tier," Shang Xinlei said puzzled, "Is there anything beyond legendary?"
It seemed they didn't know about the Immortal Token... Yan Qing wasn't surprised. After all, even legendary tokens only appear after the fourth turnover, and Red Snake and Black Wolf's level certainly couldn't provide information about Immortal Tokens.
But it's clear from the naming that high-tier tokens in this world are far rarer than in the game — rare becomes rarest, precious becomes rare treasure, yet legendary remains legendary.
Ah, a great work can't be accomplished without materials, no wonder they placed so much importance on rare tokens.
That's what he thought and how he saw it, so Pharmacist's Wish keenly noticed Yan Qing's gaze shifting from surprise to one of pity. It was a look she was not unfamiliar with — many wealthy individuals came outside Chang'an, seeing scantily clad street children, casually tossing some food for them to scramble over. They looked down as if with pity for the all the world's hardships.
Pharmacist's Wish never thought she'd become someone to receive that kind of gaze. She even forgot to be angry, only puzzled why Yan Qing looked at her that way.
But before she could speak, Shang Xinlei brought up a very attention-grabbing question: "Isn't the task reward to turn Bingzi Pepper Forest into a token? The reward from Thief's House, it has to be at least a Rare Token, doesn't it?"
"A Rare Treasure Token is possible," Ying Rushi said excitedly, "But absolutely not an ordinary token."
"It's a Legendary Token," Yan Qing remarked.
At this, Pharmacist's Wish finally realized she should get upset, and she quickly retorted, "How do you know it's a Legendary Token? Do you know how rare Legendary Tokens are? Plus, the reward for the task is a First-Turn Token, there's no such thing as a First-Turn Legendary Token!"
Yan Qing didn't argue, he continued turning the snake-pattern rope. As they twisted the rope, it tightened more and more, and the treasury's door entwined in the rope started making creaking, breaking sounds.
The Golden Gate that even messengers couldn't shake was beginning to crumble under the pressure of a single coil of rope!
Boom!
With a series of explosions, the treasury doors wrapped in snake-pattern rope blew off from the cabinet, colliding in mid-air!
The door of the safe that took a Martial Monk an hour to open gave way under their hands within just a few words' time, without using any tokens, just a single coil of rope!
"Though it was within the plan, actually seeing it is still shocking," Ying Rushi murmured, "Why does tying so many knots allow the rope to unleash such power?"
"It's simple, just the principle of the pulley advantage," Yan Qing took out a large sack, "Let's get everything and go quickly."
Using the rope to open the treasury door involved using knots as pulleys to amplify force. As long as there were enough knots, it was like using a long lever to pry open the door. This trick Yan Qing learned from the escapades of Jianghu Thief robbing banks, acknowledged in practice by professionals. He merely replicated the method using his physics knowledge.
All four safes were opened, and they obviously wouldn't just leave after grabbing Bingzi Pepper Forest. Even Pharmacist's Wish agreed — she had brought the largest bag. But with limited time and so much wealth in the safes, they had to fill their bags and leave as quickly as possible.
Even with the vastness of the safes, the majority of the contents were of little value to Yan Qing and his group: commercial contracts and land deeds were useless, gems and gold jewelry weren't needed, antiques and paintings were meaningless to them.
Thus the most valuable items in the treasury turned out to be Spiritual Jade, Blood Replenishing Pills, and various precious materials from secret realms!
As for tokens, there were none; after all, tokens were fundamentally weapons meant to be used for battle power. Even temporarily unused tokens would be kept at home as spares. Who would lock weapons in a treasury to accrue interest?
But just getting a bag full of Spiritual Jade was worth it. Yan Qing estimated the sack could hold two to three thousand Spiritual Jades. Unfortunately, he wasn't a game character, lacking a game console to use personal or public storage, otherwise he could empty all four safes.
Clang!
Suddenly, there was the sound of metal clanging behind. Yan Qing turned to see Black Wolf and White Fox fighting. Black Wolf thrusted his spear, White Fox wielded her longsword, neither giving an inch, blocking a treasury.
Inside the opened treasury was a weapon rack, upon which rested a three-foot-long knife. The handle was encrusted with gem-patterns, the scabbard adorned with engraved floral designs, elegant and imposing, extravagantly lavish. Even with other treasures, pearls, and gold silver inside the treasury, beside this knife, they dimmed in comparison.
This was their mission's target.
Bingzi Pepper Forest!