16: Rich Rewards

With a casual swipe, the skill book transformed into a streak of light, merging into Tristan's body.

"Ding, you have learned the skill Tear LV1 (Black Iron Grade)."

After acquiring the skill, Tristan checked his inventory for the dropped equipment.

The first item he noticed was a dagger that looked like a rabbit's fang.

[Rabbit Fang Dagger: Black Iron Grade, Attack +50, Agility +5, Equipment Requirement: Level 5]

Excellent!

At the early stages of the newbie village, fifty attack power was already quite high.

What's more, when combined with the Sniper talent's double damage, this attack power would become ridiculously high.

The only downside was the level requirement of five, so Tristan couldn't equip it just yet.

But that wasn't a problem—thanks to Tear, his damage had already increased, and he was now able to challenge higher-level wild boars. His leveling speed would only increase!

Moving on to the next item.

[Wild Rabbit Leather Armor: Black Iron Grade, Defense +20, Health +200, Equipment Requirement: Level 5]

This was a great boost for Tristan. He had chosen not to invest in Vitality, so even if he reached level 5, his base health would only be 190. This leather armor added a full 200 health, which he definitely needed to keep.

He had infinite Stealth, but it was always good to be prepared for the worst.

"Three useful drops from the BOSS. My luck is certainly improving."

Tristan thought to himself.

In his previous life, he hadn't been so fortunate.

"It's looking good, very good."

With a satisfied look, Tristan checked the next piece of gear.

[Rabbit Tendon Longbow: Black Iron Grade, Attack +50, Agility +5, Equipment Requirement: Level 5]

Essentially, this was the long-range version of the Rabbit Fang Dagger.

"Right now, players can only carry one type of weapon. This bow won't serve much purpose in my hands. I've seen Drake's team has an archer. If the price is right, I might sell it to him."

While in the later stages of ExoGenesis, players would be able to master all kinds of skills and wield multiple types of equipment, for now, the game still had class-based restrictions.

If possible, Tristan would love to wield both the Rabbit Fang Dagger and Rabbit Tendon Longbow. That combination would result in a monstrous attack power—explosive damage.

But he couldn't equip both for now. So, he'd have to let it go.

Of course, Tristan could also keep the bow and sell the dagger, but it wasn't worth the hassle. He wasn't in a situation where he needed to kite enemies yet.

Hiding and throwing daggers was a lot more enjoyable.

Taking a deep breath, Tristan looked at the last piece of equipment.

[Rabbit Bone Shield: Black Iron Grade, Defense +50, Health +100, Strength +5, Equipment Requirement: Level 5]

Tristan immediately sent the Rabbit Bone Shield's stats to Drake.

The next moment.

"Big guy, what's the price? Whatever you say, I'll match it."

"Big guy, just say the word!"

"Brother, you're my brother, this piece of gear has to be mine!"

Tristan couldn't help but laugh.

It was still the same Drake he remembered—he had integrity, but it wasn't without a price.

He casually replied, "I need gold. How much do you have?"

ExoGenesis allowed players to bind their bank accounts, making it easy to receive cash without worrying about tracing funds, offering full security.

But Tristan didn't need that much cash right now. What he needed was gold.

There was a task that required a certain amount of gold to activate.

Drake quickly typed in the party chat, asking, "How much gold have we gathered?"

Holy Fire Priest Sophie responded, "Boss, other guilds are also looking to purchase Blackshade's gear, and right now, the monsters only drop one or two copper coins. So…"

Drake interrupted, "I just want the result."

"Got it, boss." Sophie quickly reported, "We've made an offer of 1 copper coin for 5 dollars, and we've gathered 15 gold, spending over 750,000 dollars."

(1 Gold = 100 Silver Coins = 10,000 Copper Coins)

Drake nodded and calmly said, "Increase the acquisition efforts."

Before he could finish, a new message popped up in the chat.

It was a screenshot of the Rabbit Tendon Longbow's stats from Blackshade.

Drake immediately sent it to the archer in his team.

The archer's excitement was visible, and he looked at Drake with eager eyes.

Drake smiled and said, "Look how anxious you are, I'll buy it all. Since Blackshade is willing to send me the gear stats, it means he's inclined to sell it to us first. So we must be generous and offer a high price! Sophie, go ahead and buy more, don't worry about the funds—I have some savings."

Sophie thought to herself, Boss, you're so humble.

Those savings aren't just a little bit.

She quickly led the team to collect more gold.

During this time, Drake made sure to build a connection with Blackshade.

This was definitely a golden opportunity; he had to secure it.

Drake asked, "Big guy, what's your price? I've gathered 15 gold, but other guilds are also buying. I estimate I can gather up to 40 gold."

Tristan thought for a moment. Given the current market, one gold coin was worth about 50,000 dollars.

40 gold would be almost 2 million dollars, or even more.

Since there was very little gold circulating among players, and several guilds were buying, the price would definitely go up.

Tristan replied, "I won't ask for too much. A flat price—30 gold for the two pieces of gear."

Drake didn't hesitate for a second and agreed.

He didn't care about the money.

If he could improve his team's strength and form a relationship with Blackshade, it would be worth it.

Drake had great foresight, knowing ExoGenesis would become the leading global game. His investment would pay off tenfold in the future!

Of course, in Drake's heart, these returns were nothing compared to building a connection with Blackshade.

Undoubtedly, Blackshade would follow the solo BOSS route, and his gear would only get more powerful.

If he got along with Blackshade, that meant he would also have access to more of that top-tier gear.

"With Blackshade's help, Iron Fist Alliance will definitely become the number one guild in ExoGenesis!"

Drake thought to himself, content.

But this move wasn't sitting well with the other guild leaders.

They had sent friend requests to Blackshade but were ignored, and they couldn't get in touch with him.

Yet, seeing Drake's reaction, it was clear that Blackshade had extra gear.

Knowing that there were rare items available but unable to get them, the frustration was palpable.

One of the guild leaders wanted to test the waters.

But Drake, as clever as ever, played it cool, putting on a distressed expression and said, "Ah, I can't get in touch with Blackshade either. What do we do?"

He then turned around and raised the price for purchasing gold, clearly determined to secure the deal.

In the shadows, Tristan nearly laughed out loud.

This guy was a real drama queen.