Chapter 58: The Cloak of Spores

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The Chieftain of the Spore Village said, "As you can see, the combat capability of our Spore Village is extremely weak, and the surrounding prey is far too powerful. I hope you can help me find more Darkmarsh Spider Silk and Glimmering Elements to assist us in battle."

"Alright, no problem," Lu Yang said.

Quest Prompt: You have accepted the commission from the Spore Village Chieftain to find 1 stack of Darkmarsh Spider Silk and 1 stack of Glimmering Elements.

Before coming here, Lu Yang's inventory was already packed with 18 stacks of Darkmarsh Spider Silk and 18 stacks of Glimmering Elements.

He took out one stack of each from his inventory, handed them to the Spore Village Chieftain, and asked, "Village Chief, are these the items you are looking for?"

The Chieftain received the materials from Lu Yang with both hands and said excitedly, "These are the ones! Young traveler, on behalf of the Spore Village, I express my gratitude to you."

System Prompt: You have gained 60 Spore Village Reputation.

Your reputation with the Spore Village has reached Friendly.

Lu Yang could understand the Chieftain's excitement. The warriors in their village were only level 5, while the monsters outside were generally level 20. Their survival in combat relied entirely on using Glimmering Elements and Darkmarsh Spider Silk at night to lure and trap enemies.

Furthermore, the source of the Darkmarsh Spider Silk and Glimmering Elements was a distance away equivalent to the cost of 1 silver coin in travel. Leaving aside whether they even had the money, with so many high-level monsters outside, simply figuring out how to venture out safely was a major hurdle.

The Spore Village Chieftain continued, "My friend of the Spore Village, these Darkmarsh Spider Silk and Glimmering Elements are far from enough. I hope you can help me find more."

Lu Yang took out the remaining 17 stacks of spider silk and elements from his inventory, handed them to the Chieftain, and said, "I have plenty more here. Take them all."

"So many!" the Chieftain said excitedly. "Young traveler, thank you for your generosity."

System Prompt: You have gained 1,020 Spore Village Reputation.

Lu Yang said, "If you need more, I can get them for you, but my inventory space is not enough."

His inventory only had 36 slots, which came default with the system. Additionally, to make things convenient for players, the system allowed them to carry up to 5 extra bags.

Lu Yang had never bought any before because the drop rate in "Second World" was too low, making them useless to buy. Besides, the bags sold by the system only had 4 slots and cost 30 copper coins, making them expensive and impractical.

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The Spore Village Chieftain said, "Young traveler, as a token of my gratitude, I permit you to resupply in our village. If you need anything, you can visit the village grocery store; they might have what you require."

"Alright, I'll go take a look," Lu Yang said.

In "Second World," every location with a reputation system offered special items for sale. The Spore Village had three special items, one of which was the Spore Material Pouch. It had 36 slots—nine times better than the basic system bags—and was even cheaper.

The other two items were the Mage's Spore Cloak (Silver-grade) and the Mage skill book *Blazing Speed*. However, these required Honored and Revered reputation respectively, so they could not be purchased yet.

Familiar with the path, Lu Yang navigated to the grocery store and said to the Spore Matron standing at the door selling goods, "I would like to buy some things."

"Of course," the Spore Matron said. Because Lu Yang's reputation with the Spore Village had reached Friendly, the spores in the village had a much better attitude toward him.

"Thank you." Lu Yang opened the purchase interface and found the Spore Material Pouch, which cost 10 silver coins each.

Earlier, Lu Yang had sold the Silver-grade equipment dropped by Watkins, earning 67 silver coins, which was just enough.

After buying 5 bags in succession, Lu Yang had 17 silver coins left, while his inventory space had reached 216 slots. With just 6 more round trips, he could transport the remaining 500-plus stacks of Darkmarsh Spider Silk and Glimmering Elements over.

Pulling out a Town Portal Scroll, Lu Yang returned to Saint Gall City and ran to the bank. "Second World" highly simulated reality; the banks between various cities, towns, and villages were not connected. If players wanted to transport items from one city to another, they had to carry them in their inventories or use supply carts.

Although this mechanic had long been criticized by players, it greatly increased the game's replayability—especially during fortress wars, where both sides would attack each other's supply convoys carrying herbs and equipment.

Sometimes, routing an enemy supply team could secure victory in a battle, while also yielding massive amounts of equipment and materials, making it more lucrative than outright robbery.

Precisely because of this, heroes known as chivalrous thieves and phantom thieves always emerged in the game. They never revealed their names, yet they always stepped forward when large guilds bullied ordinary players, pulling off crucial assassinations of key supply team members in pivotal battles. For this reason, several chivalrous thieves had even made the news and been interviewed—albeit within the virtual world.

Half an hour later, Lu Yang returned to the Spore Village and handed the 108 stacks of spider silk and 108 stacks of elements to the Chieftain.

System Prompt: You have gained 6,480 Reputation.

Your reputation with the Spore Village has reached Revered.

With his reputation at Revered, Lu Yang was now eligible to purchase the Spore Cloak. He returned to the grocery store and said to the Spore Matron, "I would like to make a purchase."

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"Respected sir, please feel free to browse," the Spore Matron said. Now that Lu Yang's reputation had reached Revered, the attitude of the Spores toward him had drastically improved.

Lu Yang clicked open the operation interface and located the Spore Cloak.

Spore Cloak (Silver-grade)
Level: 10
Stamina: +4
Intelligence: +7
Spell Damage: +11
Spell Hit Chance: +5
Effect: The insignificance of the spore makes its presence difficult to detect.

The stats of this cloak were quite mediocre among Level 10 equipment. However, back in those days, when Lu Yang was being hunted down everywhere by Black Blood and lacked gear, he had no choice but to equip this cloak.

Yet, to Lu Yang's surprise, despite its poor stats, the cloak possessed an unexpected advantage: it actually reduced threat generation.

Lu Yang had grasped the Mage's Free Mode very early on, but under Free Mode, his critical strike chance was so high that nearly every attack resulted in a critical hit, leaving the defensive warrior among his group of brothers deeply frustrated.

Later on, after acquiring this cloak, no matter how hard Lu Yang pushed his output, his threat remained completely motionless. After investigating for a long time, Lu Yang finally discovered it was due to the cloak's effect.

Subsequent testing proved that even if Lu Yang landed 20 critical strikes in a row, the boss wouldn't even glance his way. Therefore, even when he reached Level 50 and owned a Level 50 Gold-grade cloak, Lu Yang never had the heart to take this one off.

Previously, when running dungeons and fighting bosses, Lu Yang feared getting OT (Aggro Transfer) the most, to the extent that he always had to hold back fifty percent of his output. Now, with this cloak, he could unleash his full offensive potential.

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