I thought I was dead, but then I checked the system messages and laughed!
System notification: Congratulations, you have passed Dack's test!
Haha, that last medium potion still saved my life. Dack had already returned to the tent, and I immediately followed him, waiting for the quest reward!
Dack was still an NPC, already sitting steadily in his chair. Seeing me, he said, "Young man, it seems you are indeed strong enough to rescue Princess Misha. How about this, a sword is a weapon for self-defense and I cannot give it to you. You can take this pair of gauntlets of mine. Old Man Carvin and Misha both recognize it. The Old King bestowed it upon me back then."
I took the gauntlets and looked at them, but it was as if I saw nothing at all—contention of justice, quest item.
Dack then said, "To prove the princess is still alive, I hope you can bring a token from the princess from the King. If you can do that, I will be willing to lead my soldiers to pledge allegiance to the Kingdom once more!"
I nodded, and the quest was accepted... Damn it! I thought Dack would give me that sword, which might be a divine artifact, but in the end, I only got this quest item. I don't even know what's going on.
I checked the time; it was already 4 PM. Unknowingly, just doing this quest took over two hours. The Wild Horse Plains map was indeed very large, and walking while fighting monsters didn't make the time feel particularly fast.
"Ding~!"
Murong Shanshan sent a message, but it had no content. I only saw an equipment illustration:
[night elf sword] (Blue Equipment)
Attack: 120-175
Strength: +21
Stamina: +24
Agility: +16
Required Level: 26
...Oh my god, what does this even mean?
120-175 attack? My pine forest greatsword only has 24-45 attack!
I immediately opened the communicator, and Murong Shanshan's bell-like laughter already came from the other end. It seemed she was overjoyed.
"Shanshan, is this your quest reward?" I asked eagerly.
"Yes, I spent five whole hours on the quest, and it was worth it!"
Two minutes later... "Hey, Lin Fan, why aren't you talking?" Murong Shanshan asked with a giggle.
I wiped my drool and replied, "I'm reflecting on my pain. I'm determined to get an even better weapon than yours. Oh, right, Shanshan, how did you allocate your points? What's your attack now?"
"All put into Strength. My current attack is 265-345. How about you?"
"220-284..."
I was heartbroken. My attack was actually surpassed by Murong Shanshan because of a weapon. It seemed my Level 12 pine forest greatsword indeed needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, this kind of thing couldn't be rushed. There were no weapons better than the pine forest greatsword dropping in the market right now, and such weapons were rare finds. No matter how many monsters I killed, they might not drop.
"Lin Fan..." Murong Shanshan spoke again.
"Hmm?"
"I'm already Level 26 now, just able to equip this night elf sword. I'm telling you, this sword is so beautiful! It's entirely crystal green, I love it! To celebrate, how about I treat you to dinner tonight?"
"That works? Oh, right, tell me the details of your quest. Can I take it too? My weapon is really too weak..."
Murong Shanshan said with a mysterious smile, "Let's talk about it at dinner. See you at Shi Wei Tian in an hour, no problem?"
I thought about it. I had originally planned to spend Christmas Eve with Xin Yu and Lu Xuehan, but unexpectedly, for a weapon, I was still being dragged to dinner by Murong Shanshan. Fortunately, she was paying, so it would be a comfortable meal.
I turned off the communicator. I still had an hour until dinner, so I'd go back to the city to turn in the quest first.
The Lyonne Castle, where the Royal Palace was located, was separated from Hurricane City by only one bridge. There were not many guards, and I entered the Royal Palace after just a few checkpoints. Walking on the red carpet felt particularly different. The King and Queen were in the main hall of the palace.
I exchanged the quest item for an audience certificate with the guards in the main hall, which then allowed me to enter the main chamber past the second line of guards. The bearded Old King and the elegant Queen were seated there.
Seeing my arrival, the King spoke, "Young brave one, I hear you have obtained a token from Commander Dack. May I know what message you bring from him?"
"Yes, Commander Dack asked me to bring his gauntlets to express his loyalty to the King, but he wishes to see a token from the princess to confirm she is still alive."
The Old King said readily, "That's easy. Bring up Commander Dack's token. The princess is in the palace on the left. Ask her for whatever you need!"
I was stunned, not expecting things to be so easy. It seemed the King was indeed quite helpless about the current situation; otherwise, his attitude wouldn't have changed so much. He didn't even care about Dack's previous rebellious actions.
I quickly stepped forward and handed the contention of justice to the King. I saw him excitedly wipe the gauntlets carefully, and he said with a trembling voice, "It really is Dack's gauntlets! He must have suffered a lot all these years!"
I secretly chuckled. This procedure was too realistic. The Old King played the scene of crying over a dead mouse to perfection.
The Old King looked at the gauntlets for a moment, then looked up and said, "Young warrior, this is my decree for Dack. I will pardon Dack and all the warriors of the Golden Knights Order. I hope they can immediately set off for the Twilight Forest in the west to eradicate the undead forces there! After restoring that place, he can bring his troops back to report to the royal army. I will send people to re-receive the Golden Knights Order and reorganize their numbers."
I was secretly astonished. The Old King was indeed an old fox. Even before Dack's army returned, he still wanted to use him to eliminate some of the undead forces as a sign of loyalty. This kind of cunning and depth of character left me in awe.
Seeing that I hadn't left yet, the Old King suddenly smiled and said, "Oh, right, Dack's gauntlets probably won't be taken back. Brave warrior, I will bestow them upon you. I hope you can work even harder for the Kingdom!"
"Ding~!"
System notification: You received quest reward—contention of justice!
Dack's equipment certainly wouldn't be bad. I quickly opened my inventory and glanced at it, and my heart immediately started pounding!
[contention of justice] (Blue Equipment—Armor)
Defense: 57
Stamina: +24
Strength: +22
Agility: +21
Additional: Increases the effect of Light healing received, up to 100 points
Required Level: 28
...It was a Level 28 blue armor with very high defense and high attribute points. Three attributes above 20 points were equivalent to the points gained from leveling up 12 times. This meant that, not counting resistance, this piece of equipment could be worth 10 levels. This showed the importance of equipment attributes in moons constant.
As for the additional healing effect, it probably meant that when I was healed by a priest, the HP restored would be more than usual!