Chapter Seventy-One: The Dragon-Patterned Battle Helm

"Ma... Master?!" I suddenly felt completely at a loss, as if a monk trying to make sense of a riddle with no answer. Why were all the summoned beasts I called forth so interesting?

"Of course, you are my master, and I am your servant. Please accept my loyalty and devotion!" With that, she bowed deeply to me.

I said, "Can you take off your cloak and mask?"

"Yes, master." She removed her mask and shrugged off the cloak, revealing her true appearance. She was indeed a woman, but more precisely, she was a woman of boundless allure. She wore a dark red cheongsam, her height nearly matching mine, her figure long and elegant. Her angelic face was graced with a pair of deep, gentle eyes that sparkled with myriad emotions. Her long red hair cascaded over her shoulders, and from the opening at the chest of her robe, a generous expanse of snow-white skin was visible, her curves subtly outlined. Further down, her slender, fair calves were exposed, and through the slits on either side of the robe, the full, smooth lines of her thighs could be clearly seen. No one would doubt the suppleness of that fair skin, and I began to wonder if she wore anything beneath the cheongsam. On her hands were a pair of crimson gloves, ending in claws, and strapped to her back were two dark red swords.

Had I not possessed a strong will, I might have lost control like any other man in the face of such beauty. At that moment, she asked, "Master, is there anything else you require?"

I replied, "No, just put your cloak back on and forget the mask." She obeyed without protest, acting with utter compliance.

Then the man in crimson armor said, "Well, now that everything is done, I should take my leave. Until we meet again."

"Wait! I still have something to say..." Before I could finish, he vanished into thin air. My vision blurred, and when I opened my eyes, I found myself teleported to the edge of the magma lake outside. Across the lake, the fire dragon on the stone wall rose, cast me no glance, and flew off.

Regrettably, I never learned who that man was, but since he said we would meet again, I supposed our paths would cross in the future. My vision blurred once more, and in the next instant, I was teleported back to the resurrection point in Dragon City.

The place was as crowded as ever, but the appearance of Assassin drew the attention of nearly every male player present. "Master?" Assassin looked at me with delight.

I felt somewhat uneasy because, though she was a humanoid summoned beast, summoned beasts normally could not appear in the city. But she could, so to others, she appeared to be just a beautiful young girl. If anyone heard her calling me "master," who knows how many would think I was some creepy old man raising a young girl.

I said, "From now on, don’t call me ‘master.’ Can you choose another form of address? And your current name is too awkward. Let’s give you a new one... but what should it be?" I fell into contemplation.

By now, a crowd of male players had gathered, all drooling, casting envious glances and muttering, "Damn! Another girl snatched up by a top player. Frustrating—why couldn’t I be the one power-leveling her? Look at that bust, and that figure..."

Soon, one bold (or perhaps reckless) player stepped up to flirt: "Hey there, is someone leveling you up? If not, how about I take you? Big brother has great gear—full purple set. I’ll help you level and get you a purple set too, alright? By the way, what are your measurements, where do you live, and do you have a QQ number?"

But she turned to him coldly and snapped, "Scram!"

"Uh... uh..."

The player, rebuffed, considered threatening her with his sword, but before he could act, Assassin’s twin swords were already at his throat. Realizing she was not to be trifled with, he slunk away, defeated.

Assassin giggled and continued to look at me. "Master, what is it?" Suddenly, Assassin appeared right before me, startling me. I said, "Didn’t I just tell you not to call me that? Pick another name for me."

"Then what should I call you?"

"Well... just call me ‘Brother’."

"Brother?!"

"Yes, that’s right. Though I do quite like being called master." I smiled.

"But calling you ‘Brother’ feels odd, as if I’m not respecting my master." Assassin shook her head.

"Then just call me Weiwei Long."

"Understood. So, when there are people around, I’ll call you ‘Dragon Brother,’ and when we’re alone, I’ll call you ‘Master.’ Is that alright, Master... I mean, Dragon Brother?"

"Good!" Such intelligence in an NPC—it’s enough to make anyone’s heart flutter with joy...

I continued, "And your name..."

"I don’t remember my name. In my memory, I had no name—only ‘Assassin,’ ‘Death’s Proxy,’ and before you summoned me, I used the code name Amaterasu. That’s all," Assassin replied.

Hearing this, I said immediately, "Alright, from now on, I’ll call you Amaterasu. Forget about ‘Assassin’ and ‘Death’s Proxy’—your name is Amaterasu now, understand?"

"Amaterasu understands!"

With her title and name settled, the blank space in her attributes now bore the name Amaterasu. Next, it was time to level up with her, but first, I needed to get my items appraised. I still had a sword and a set of armor unappraised, as well as two reward items. So, I made my way to the item appraisal center.

The appraiser gleefully cheated me out of 200 gold coins, but the properties of the two items appeared at last.

Soul-Devouring Sword
Grade: Verdant
Attack Power +800
Strength Mastery +10
Armor Mastery +5
Effect: Increases user’s attack power by 10%. Attacks have a 25% chance to trigger a splash effect, dealing 50% damage to surrounding enemies.
Restores 72 mana per minute.
Sharpness: BC
Additional Skill: Soul-Devouring Slash. Consumes 300 mana to deal dark physical damage to a target and restores 8% of the damage dealt as health. Cooldown: 40 seconds.
Required Level: 35

The attack boost was enormous. With this sword, even at level 50, I’d be set. Once Ye Shuang and Xiaoyue see it, they’ll be fighting over it for sure. After admiring the sword, I checked the armor.

Soul Guardian
Grade: Verdant
Defense +350
Health +500
Mana +300
Evasion Rate +10%
Effect: 3% chance to ignore attacks, reduces skill cooldowns by 10%.
Additional Skill: Shield Strike for Me. Consumes 100 mana to take a hit for an ally. Afterwards, increases user's attack by 50%, attack speed by 40%, and movement speed by 60% for 3 seconds. If a kill is made during this time, a random skill cooldown is refreshed. Cooldown: 15 minutes.
Required Level: 40

A fantastic item—no one else was getting this. I immediately equipped it.

Next were the reward items: a helmet and a vest.

Dragoncrest War Helm (Sealed Equipment)
Grade: Verdant
Defense +110
Health +1000
Mana +1000
Mana regeneration +10 per second
Movement Speed +15%
Dark Resistance +10
Additional Skill: Fiery Eyes. Scans a unit’s basic information and all units within a 100-meter radius, revealing any stealth or transformation skills of lower level than the user. Activation costs 400 mana, then 1 mana per second to maintain. No cooldown.

Overlord Bracers
Grade: Silver
Defense +40
Health +200
Mana +200
Health regeneration +5 per second
Casting speed +5%
When attacked, 30% chance to trigger Overlord Armor, reducing all damage taken by 15% for 5 seconds.
Additional Skill: Grasp Cannon. Consumes 250 mana to grab an enemy, dealing non-elemental magical explosion damage, then throws the target forward, causing physical damage. If the enemy hits a wall or the ground, they are stunned for 3.5 seconds.

Ha! Now I’ve got silver gear too. I quickly put on the new equipment and checked my stats.

Weiwei Long, Title: Guardian of Peace
Class: Beastmaster
Level: 40
Health: 6,300 (5,000 + Soul Guardian 500 + Dragoncrest War Helm 1,000 + Overlord Bracers 200 + Armor 2)
Mana: 4,000
Attack: 759 (Base 400 + Ruyi Staff 300 + Fate 35 + Strength 24)
Defense: 779 (Base 200 + Soul Guardian 350 + Pathfinder 30 + Black Feather 22 + Wind Thunder 50 + Dragoncrest War Helm 100 + Overlord Bracers 40 + Armor 2)
Reputation: 3,210
Trial Points: 2,500
Luck: 1 (Fate 1)
Summoned Beasts: Gale Wolf King, Burning Core—Dragon Warrior
Strength Mastery: 8 (5 + 2 + 1)
Armor Mastery: 2 (0 + 2)
Agility Mastery: 3 (10 + 5 + 11)
Magic Mastery: 0

The number one tanky summoner in history—there’s not another like me under the heavens. As I was grinning foolishly at my stats, a sudden message came through, and as I read it, I immediately grew tense.