I directly traded the Bright Silver Battle Armor to Murong Shanshan. The originally spacious armor suddenly looked much more exquisite on her, highlighting her firm chest and slender waist, making her look incredibly alluring.
"Oh, why is your name red?" Murong Shanshan only noticed I was red a long time after she arrived. "Hmm, not only is your name red, but even you look a bit red!"
Indeed, my originally black battle armor now had a reddish tint, looking somewhat ghastly.
"Shanshan, have you had your late-night snack?"
Murong Shanshan looked at me in surprise and said, "You're not going to invite me out for a late-night snack in the middle of the night, are you?"
"No, I mean if it's no problem, stay up all night leveling with me here. I'll carry you!"
"Really? Such a good deal? Do I need to pay for the power leveling?"
"No need, I just need a pretty girl who doesn't annoy me to keep me company, so I don't think I've seen a ghost in the middle of the night..."
"..."
Murong Shanshan's current level was 19. It should have been very difficult to fight monsters 7 levels higher than her, but her equipment was excellent. With the high-defense armor I just sold her, she had an even better chance. The sword I sold her had long been replaced. After I asked, I learned that she had obtained this sword with a friend, and with an attack of 21-36, it was already very good.
Only after fighting monsters did I realize my assumption was wrong. Murong Shanshan killed monsters cleanly and efficiently, her speed not much worse than mine. When I asked, I found out she was also a full-strength Swordsman, and with five pieces of green equipment, her current defense was 122, not much worse than mine.
"Lin Fan, who did you kill to become a red name?"
It seemed Murong Shanshan didn't know about my PK with Kuang Zhan.
I smiled, "Shanshan, do you know whose body the armor you're wearing dropped from?"
"Whose?"
"Kuang Zhan!"
"What? You killed him?" Murong Shanshan asked, a mix of surprise and delight.
"Of course. I saw him leading a group to brawl with another group, and I took advantage of his carelessness to stab him to death with a sword. Satisfying, right?"
"Well, that method of killing is a bit sneaky, isn't it?" Murong Shanshan chuckled, then added, "But it doesn't matter, as long as he's dead. I'll treat you to dinner next month!"
"Just make sure it's not just a rice bowl!"
"Of course, Shi Wei Tian! It seems I'll need to raise a bit more activity funds next month."
"Shanshan, why are you investing so much money in this game?"
Murong Shanshan turned and looked at me, then thought for a moment before saying, "My mom says this game has great commercial development value. There are already 100 million players online simultaneously. If I can work hard to become famous in the game, and then use the company's name to build a team, it would be like advertising in the game. It's similar to how many big companies now sponsor e-sports clubs. The only difference is that this kind of advertising is done entirely within the game, and the main target audience is players. So, whether the product is suitable for the gaming demographic is also very important. For example, my mom's company, a factory that specializes in producing instant noodles. For people who spend all day in games, instant noodles are their primary food source, right?"
I nodded. If I were playing the game alone, I'd probably finish everything in the fridge in a few days and then rely on instant noodles to get by. That kind of life... *sigh*, dark and endless! But Murong Shanshan's mom's idea was indeed good. Gaining fame by forming large teams in moons constant definitely has great commercial publicity power. Currently, on moons constant's official forum, a slightly popular post can get over ten million clicks. If a guild post with a commercial name could be stickied, the promotional effect would be unimaginable.
"Shanshan, is your mom the boss of the company? What kind of instant noodles? Master Kong?"
Murong Shanshan giggled, "My mom is the chairman of that company, but it's not Master Kong. My mom's surname is Liu, haha, it's called 'Niu Shifu Instant Noodles.' The slogan is quite cheesy: Niu Shifu Instant Noodles, truly awesome!"
"That's certainly cheesy. Today is already the 30th, so will your funds arrive tomorrow?"
"Yes, this time my mom will allocate at least 100,000 to me. If I can establish a legion earlier, I'll get even more operating funds. My mom is serious this time. She said that as long as the effect is obvious, funds will be invested indefinitely!" Murong Shanshan was beaming.
I frowned and said, "It seems the conditions for establishing a legion are quite strict. With the current levels and prestige of many players, it's simply unrealistic. A legion leader needs 10,000 prestige. How much do you have now? I only have a little over 1,000 at the moment, still a long way off!"
Murong Shanshan bit her lip, "My prestige hasn't even reached 1,000. How long will it take to form a legion?"
"Take on more quests. Killing BOSSes higher level than yourself also gives certain rewards, but repeatedly killing the same BOSS will result in lower prestige."
Murong Shanshan stopped what she was doing, looked towards the depths of the Lumber Mill, and said, "Will there be a BOSS here too?"
"There should be, I guess. Usually, if a large area is filled with a single type of monster, there's always a leader. Looking at how dark and gloomy it is inside, there's probably some high-level undead or something."
"Then let's slowly clear our way in!" Murong Shanshan looked eager to try.
I nodded and, ahead of her, cut through the main path in the center of the Lumber Mill. The large Skeleton Warriors on both sides fell like wheat being harvested. Murong Shanshan and I were like two sharp knives, carving a path through the monsters, leaving behind piles of shattered skeleton bones and broken blades.
An hour later, Murong Shanshan leveled up to 20 in a burst of milky white light, officially ranking second on the town's level leaderboard! And I also leveled up to 24 a few minutes later, continuing to widen the gap with the second-place player.
I checked my friends list. Besides Lu Xuehan at level 19, the others were all level 17 or 18. Our group of women here were quite crazy about leveling. All 8 of them were in the top 100 of the town. Now, that gang boss Kuang Zhan had been killed back to level 15, so pathetic that even an ordinary expert could easily take him down.
"Lin Fan, it looks like there's a small wooden hut guarded by Skeleton Warriors over there. Let's go take a look, maybe there's treasure inside the hut!"
I looked in the direction Murong Shanshan pointed, and sure enough, a group of skeletons were guarding a small wooden hut. Faint candlelight could vaguely be seen inside the hut in the night.