Chapter 12: Set Skill, Mana Regeneration!

In the world of Abyssal Realm, players can only log out within safe zones.

On his way back to Moonfall Town, Lu Ming pulled out the equipment rewards he had just received from the dungeon to take a look.

[Moon Demon Legguards] (Lv8)
[Quality: Black Iron]
[Armor: 35]
[Magic Resistance: 28]
[Additional Attribute: Endurance +8]
[Durability: 15/15]
[Class Requirement: Assassin, Trickster]
[Note: This equipment is part of the Moon Demon set]
[Description: Forged by the Moon Demon clan from the essence of the Blood Moon, this powerful weapon was specially designed to enhance the combat abilities of their warriors. Humans should use with caution…]

At the same time, Lu Ming also took out the Moon Demon Mystic Ring and Moon Demon Cloak he had previously seized from those three assassins.

He equipped all three items.

Opening his status panel, he saw that his attack power had nearly doubled, rising from 44 to 87!
His health surged from 270 to 390!
Armor skyrocketed from 8 to 59!
Magic resistance jumped from 8 to 52!

It was hard to imagine such stats for an 8th-level Trickster.

After all, not all players below level 10 possessed Black Iron gear.
Let alone a full set of Black Iron equipment!

Many casual players still wore basic white gear even at level 20.

With these three pieces equipped, a system notification chimed:

[Ding~ Moon Demon set exclusive skill “Mana Recovery” (3-piece set) activated!]
[Mana Recovery] (3/8): Passive skill; the wearer automatically regenerates 2 mana points per second.

Thanks to the tenfold enhancement of his comprehensive amplification talent and an additional 29 points from his spirit attribute, a blue “+22.9” mana recovery number popped above Lu Ming’s head every second!

His mana bar instantly refilled.

Currently, the level 8 War Stomp skill consumed 4 mana points per second.

Lu Ming murmured, “With this set skill, I won’t have to worry about running out of mana at least until level 20!”

By then, these pieces would likely be obsolete.

Even without considering the level restrictions, their mere 15 durability meant they wouldn’t last long.

Once durability hits zero, the equipment breaks and becomes unusable.

Low-level gear isn’t worth spending costly Repair Stones on.

Lu Ming also listed two basic white equipment pieces and one Black Iron item dropped by the boss on the trading platform.

Since white gear wasn’t valuable, he priced them at the average of 200 gold coins.

The Lv8 Black Iron item, however, was worth more—he set its price at 900.

As for the warrior’s F-rank skill scroll “Execute,” this was a rare treasure!

He directly listed it at 2,500 gold.

New players in the Abyssal Realm were increasing daily, so even the lowest-rank skill scrolls were in demand, especially in a small third-tier city like Lanhai.

Calculating the earnings, Lu Ming realized he had made nearly 4,000 gold coins just from one night’s dungeon run!

He couldn’t help but sigh, “A ten-star account really makes making money much easier than a one-star account!”

In his past life, when luck was poor and good gear was rare, he might only earn this much in an entire month.

Plus, he had to spend money hiring others to help with dungeons and quests, and pay for potions and other expenses. Sometimes, by the end of the month, he found himself in the red!

Back in Moonfall Town, Lu Ming logged out.

Checking his messages, he saw that the “Moon Demon Boots” and “Iron Sword” he had listed last night were sold!

After deducting a 5% transaction fee, he earned 2,451 gold coins.

At this point, his bank account held over 4,200 gold coins.

Including the newly listed items, his total assets approached 8,000 gold coins!

The hard times were finally over.

“The good days are finally coming for me!” he thought.

He immediately opened WeChat and transferred 2,400 gold coins to his landlord, paying off three months’ rent arrears.

Next, he planned to earn a bit more and then buy a computer.

After all, running to the internet café every day wasn’t sustainable.

He wanted to play Abyssal Realm comfortably at home, and in the cold winter, just order takeout if he didn’t want to go out.

Craving something, he could just go downstairs for hot pot.

“Wonderful!”

After logging off, Lu Ming returned home.

The shared apartment in the complex cost only 800 gold a month but was uncomfortable in every other way.

Among his two roommates, one was a musician, and the other was a young couple.

Recalling the original owner’s memories, he realized that every night he was tormented by the sounds of “Dying to Love” or the couple’s intimate noises, almost to the point of madness.

“I’ll change this place once I earn more!” Lu Ming vowed.

After showering, he set an alarm for 7:30 a.m. and collapsed into bed.

Morning came.

Woken by the alarm, Lu Ming dressed and freshened up quickly, then went downstairs to the bun shop to buy two meat buns and a cup of soy milk for breakfast.

He crossed the street to the Ant Internet Cafe, started a machine, and logged in.

[Ding~ Welcome back to Abyssal Realm, esteemed ten-star talent player, Nethershade!]

The early morning in Moonfall Town was bustling with people.

Especially today, the number of players was unusually high.

Even those lazy players who usually logged in once every ten or fifteen days were online early!

Lu Ming knew exactly why.

After all, he himself logged in at this time for the same reason.

“Did that influencer Chen Di say he’d go online at eight o’clock?”

“Yeah! I heard him say it live in his stream last night!”

“He said fans who meet him online each receive gifts worth between 1 and 10 silver coins! The market price for one silver coin averages 200 gold coins—damn, I’m so excited!”

Blending into the crowd like an invisible shadow, Lu Ming waited.

Suddenly, the crowd grew restless!

Then a shout rang out: “Chen Di is online!!”

“Brothers, hurry and claim your gifts!”

No sooner had the words fallen than players surged forward like a swarm.

Lu Ming didn’t even have to walk; he was pushed along by the crowd!

The scene was as heated as a supermarket promotion giving away 100 free eggs on a first-come, first-served basis.

Thanks to the enthusiastic crowd’s shoving, Lu Ming effortlessly pushed his way to the front.

Amid dozens of bodyguards, a young player of extraordinary presence and regal bearing smiled and waved repeatedly to the surrounding crowd.

This spectacle—anyone unfamiliar would think a major celebrity had returned!

Lu Ming instantly recognized the youth as Ye Chen.

He remembered their last face-to-face meeting was just three days ago.

At that time, Lu Ming, already level 199, was rushing to hit level 200 for a quest, fearing he wouldn’t have time to celebrate his brother-in-law’s birthday later.

So he had traveled from the capital with Ye Ling’er to Lanhai to celebrate Ye Chen’s birthday.

Because Ye Chen had once said that on his 18th birthday, no matter what star-level account he registered, he was determined to become a professional Abyssal Realm player and planned to play the assassin class.

Thus, Lu Ming had spent three months saving income and pulling strings to gather materials to meticulously forge a level 1 Black Iron assassin weapon: the Watcher’s Blade, as an 18th birthday gift for Ye Chen.

At this very moment, Lu Ming saw that Ye Chen had indeed chosen the assassin class, naming his game ID [Chen Di].

The dagger hung at his waist was precisely the Black Iron Watcher’s Blade that Lu Ming had gifted him!

Once upon a time, Lu Ming had truly regarded Ye Ling’er as his future wife and treated her family as his own, caring for them wholeheartedly.

But now, looking at Ye Chen, his eyes burned with fierce anger and boundless murderous intent!

If it weren’t for the safe zone and the many onlookers, Lu Ming would have already struck.

For now, he held back.

He planned to wait until Ye Chen left Moonfall Town before making his move.