17-Instance Rewards Shock the Old Guys Again.

---

"Of course there are monsters in the instance—what else would there be?" 

Su Mo's words made the old men want to string him up and give him a good thrashing. 

Wasn't that obvious? 

Everyone knew instances had monsters—they were asking what kind of monsters! 

Even so, Vice-Principal Chen kept his tone gentle. "So, could you tell us about your experience in there?" 

Su Mo nodded. "Oh, you just wanted to know that? 

Well, I stepped in, and a bunch of monsters rushed at me…" 

The Tianfu City Lord cut in urgently. "Wait—can you tell us what kind of monsters and what level?" 

"All scarecrows, around level 8 or 9. All elites." 

The Tianlan City Lord frowned. "All level 8 or 9 elites? How'd you survive their encirclement?" 

"Encirclement? Why couldn't it be me encircling them? They weren't even tough—just chopped them all down." 

The old men clenched their fists, itching to smack this braggart. 

A kid fresh off awakening, only level 6, calling level 8 and 9 elites "not tough"?! 

Saying he encircled them?! 

Why don't you ascend to the heavens while you're at it?! 

The Tianlan City Lord was about to lose it, but Chen's mind sparked. He stopped him and asked, "Are you Su Mo?" 

Su Mo nodded. "Yeah. How'd you know?" 

The Tianlan City Lord glared at Chen darkly. "Old Chen, what—" 

"If it's Su Mo, then it's no issue," Chen interrupted. 

"Old Chu, remember that Hall Guardian surnamed Zhang who got beat up at our school? 

This kid did it—level 3, taking on a silver-tier!" 

"Level 3 beating a silver?!" 

"Old Chen, you sure you didn't misspeak?!" 

"Silver starts at level 40—how'd he do it at level 3?!" 

Chen shook his head. "I wasn't there, but Principal Wang stepped in. 

I only heard about it, but this kid slashed that guardian and drew blood." 

At that, the old men—who'd been bristling at Su Mo—melted into warm smiles. 

The Tianfu City Lord beamed, reaching for Su Mo's Z-shaped Guandao. "Young Su, you're a prodigy! Don't worry, I'll fix this blade up and—holy crap, it's heavy!" 

He staggered, nearly tweaking his back. 

The Tianlan City Lord smirked. "Heh, Old Bai's getting old—can't even lift a kid's weapon. Go farm potatoes. 

Here, Little Su, give it to me—I'll reinforce it for you!" 

The Tianfu City Lord's face flushed. "You don't know squat! I wasn't ready—and you've got no idea how heavy this is!" 

"It's just a little Guandao—how heavy can it be?" 

"At least 600 kilograms!" 

"Can't lift 600 kilograms? Quit being city lord and farm instead!" 

The Tianfu City Lord raised the Z-shaped blade like he'd smack him, but paused and turned to Su Mo. "Little Su, ignore him—go on!" 

Su Mo, watching the guy nearly throw out his back, said sheepishly, "Teacher Wang reinforced this for me, but it still feels light. Could you double its weight?" 

The Tianfu City Lord's face twitched, but he forced a laugh and nodded. 

The Trial Hall elder stepped in as peacemaker. "Alright, alright—let Little Su keep talking." 

"There's not much to it," Su Mo said. "I killed all the level 8 and 9 elites, then the last one turned into a boss. Killed that, and I was done. 

Oh, and the system said the instance would grade in 30 minutes." 

The Trial Hall elder stroked his white beard, nodding. "Grading, huh? No wonder. I thought it was a new instance spawning—turns out it's just this one getting tiered." 

He paused, then whipped back to Su Mo. "Wait—you said a boss? What level?" 

"Level 10 golden boss—Fear Scarecrow." 

"Level 10 boss—WHAT?! Golden boss?! You soloed a golden boss?!" 

The Tianlan City Lord, casual at first, snapped to attention. In a flash, he was in Su Mo's face, shaking his shoulders, his voice rising shriller each time. 

"A golden boss! A level 10 golden boss! 

Little Su, quick—what'd you get from it? Our Great Xia Trading House will buy it at a premium!" 

Su Mo raised an eyebrow. "How much of a premium?" 

"50% above market—I can authorize that. Everyone here knows value—we won't rip you off!" 

Su Mo thought it over. He'd planned to sell at the Trading House anyway—50% extra was a no-brainer. He nodded. 

Next moment, he pulled the items from his inventory one by one. 

This wasn't a regular backpack—it was a system inventory every awakener got. 

Why didn't he store his Guandao in it? Simple: the inventory was a one-meter cube, and his nearly two-meter blade wouldn't fit. 

So he'd only stashed clothes or food in it before. 

He laid out the three items, then—after a pause—added the [Trajectory Shift Left] scroll from the Goblin instance too. 

The old men crowded around, gasping at the haul. 

"A weapon mod with +50 Spirit! That's top-tier stuff— 

Well, yeah, it is from a golden boss!" 

"This scepter's solid too—only needs level 10 to equip. 

Level 10 golden gear? Super rare." 

"This skill's curse-type, with both AoE and single-target effects. Great for support!" 

The Great Xia Trading House manager picked up the [Trajectory Shift Left] scroll, frowning. "This looks familiar…" 

Chen burst out laughing. "It's a textbook classic! I've only seen it in books—never in person. This is an eye-opener!" 

The manager's face darkened as he shoved it at Chen. "Since you love it so much, why don't you take it?" 

---