Chapter 144: Chapter 144

Du You smirked, grumbling, "Once bitten, twice shy. You think I want to fall for it again?"

Xi Qianxue decided not to keep provoking Du You. After all, given Du You’s luck and capabilities, there would be ample opportunities for them to work together in the future. Crossing him wouldn’t be wise.

It appeared, however, that Du You wasn’t an excessively greedy individual.

"By the way, you finished such a large task on your own this time. You must have some pretty good loot. Why don’t we do a little trading?" Xi Qianxue suggested.

Du You waved her off: "No, I don’t have that much. What I do have, I will need. If you want, I’ve got some Black Flame Iron bars, do you need any?" He declined the offer straight-right.

"No need, there’s a vein to the north. If I need it, I can just purchase some with Crystal Coins. It’s even cheaper than buying directly." Well, that’s the awkward dilemma of the Black Flame Iron ore.

In all honesty, Du You initially intended to trade these items with Xi Qianxue. But after some thought, he decided against it.

He had already done two transactions with Xi Qianxue. If they continued their dealings, although it would undoubtedly be more convenient, Du You feared that Xi Qianxue and others might learn too much about him through these transactions.

He didn’t fully trust Xi Qianxue yet and any knowledge gathered about him could become a potential danger in the face of a future betrayal. So he came up with a new plan to scatter his transactions.

He decided to discreetly dispose of the objects in his possession once he returned.

To secure his safety, it is often helpful to keep certain methods concealed.

Seeing that Du You didn’t want to continue doing business, Xi Qianxue was somewhat disappointed. Although she didn’t know what Du You was thinking, she didn’t press him further. After all, maintaining a relationship requires mutual efforts.

Finally having sold his intel, even though he got a relatively low price for it, Du You was not too disappointed. He obtained what he needed and that was enough. For now, he didn’t plan to establish any power, so he didn’t need to nit-pick over these things.

Next, Du You set his sights on continuing to hunt down bandits and various organizations around him.

He was about to have a new spell and already had two Dark Element Stones. His current shortage of Crystal Coins motivated him to kill more creatures and collect the needed coins as quickly as possible.

Now that his rank had risen to the intermediate Awakener, his rewards from killing lower-level entities had decreased.

Du You’s modus operandi differed from the mission-oriented Professionals. He disliked being tied down by various assignments. Therefore, when he found out where the bands of robbers were, he attacked and completely wiped them out.

As a result, several nearby bandit groups were also eliminated.

The dark and dirty dealings between Border City and Wood Shield City increased. Gradually, even the city’s dark watchers were deemed as bandits by Du You. While he was aware of this, he did not bother. These people from Wood Shield City were stronger than ordinary bandits. Given he had the location information from Border City, why not take them down?

Due to his actions, the relationship between the two cities deteriorated further. Even though they appeared harmonious on the surface, behind the scenes, they had crossed swords numerous times.

Because of the increasingly dangerous environment, and for his own safety, Du You decided to raise his level to 5. He also enhanced all his various skills to their maximum at level 5.

In total, he spent three hundred and ninety Crystal Coins to elevate to a step away from level 6.

With the increase in level, Du You’s abilities once again improved considerably. His Mucus Swamp area alone reached fifty meters. The average outpost camp was no match for him.

Over time, through his relentless slaying, the amount of Crystal Coins in Du You’s possession gradually increased. Counting the leftover untraded Crystal Coins, he had already amassed fifteen hundred.

Although he had tens of thousands of Crystal Coins for trading, he found the untraded ones more thrilling compared to the former.

Time trickled away and he had already been in this world for twenty-six days. Only four days remained before their departure.

The teams of Elder Brother and Xi Qianxue were constantly planning. As for Lao Er, he trod a similar path to Du You but he took along a group of soldiers for support. While his gains weren’t as large as Du You’s, he was inching closer to level 4.

Apart from them, only three professionals were left in this place. However, Du You had no interest in their situations.

At this moment, Du You had a new target.

This target was a small fortress, seemingly for military purposes. It was said to be an important secret stronghold of Wood Shield City.

Previously, Border City hadn’t discovered it, possibly because they chose not to conflict with Wood Shield City. The fortress wasn’t positioned strategically and was quite remote, but recently, large batches of food were transported there.

He wasn’t sure if it was for his own capture, or some other situation. According to the intel, it seemed Wood Shield City planned to sell this batch of food to the Beastmen. Hence, they had to be stopped.

However, this mission couldn’t directly involve substantial military power, otherwise, the two cities would be in open conflict.

So, they could only operate in secret and limit the number of people involved. In the end, this mission was posted in the mission hall. Usually, those who dared to take up missions from the hall were people with decent abilities and without much military obligations. Thıs content belongs to 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⁂𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱

Such people wouldn’t attract much attention from the military of Wood Shield City.

If this mission had happened in the past, Du You wouldn’t dare to take it because of its high risk. It was said that in the fortress, there were three individuals of level 6 alone, along with numerous elite soldiers.

But things were different now. Du You was at the pinnacle of level 5. If a battle was to ensue one to one, even three level 6 individuals might not be his match. This was his confidently held belief.

Currently, Xi Qianxue had no subordinates and didn’t plan to take up this mission. That’s why Du You picked it up.

"The mission only has a three-day timeline. If it is not finished within these three days, then it will be reposted for others to take up." Because of the significance of this mission, it was unlike regular ones.

"Three days of time will be enough, don’t worry." said Du You nonchalantly.

The destination was quite far, but riding on the Purple Lightning Golden Hawk, Du You would take just two hours to reach there.

As for others, starting from Border City, they would count themselves lucky to reach the destination in three days. The spare time was left to validate their military merits with the army. After all, one couldn’t complete the task without time to earn military merits.