Chapter 7: Necromancy

“What’s wrong, Wendy?” Seeing her react the same way, the group was full of confusion. They wondered what could possibly be so strange about this shabby glove.

“I can’t quite explain it. Why don’t you all have a look yourselves?” Wendy slipped off the glove and handed it to the Storm Sorceress beside her.

The latter took the glove, put it on, and just like the others, her expression became one of utter disbelief.

The Storm Sorceress herself owned a piece of green-quality equipment—a staff named the Frostjade Staff. It, too, was part of a unique Frostjade set. But, like the others, she only had the one piece.

Yet as soon as she donned the glove, she discovered its automatic set-matching effect. The glove transformed into Frostjade Gloves, also known as the Hand of Ice, unlocking set attributes and boosting her combat power.

“What’s going on?” The Wild Huntress looked at them, baffled. One after another, whoever put on that ratty glove seemed to turn into a different person—struck speechless!

She snatched the glove and tried it on herself.

Then—

“Whoa!” she cried.

“What’s with you all? Are you seeing ghosts?” The Barbarian Priestess marched over, grabbed the glove, and put it on.

“Oh my!” As expected, her eyes widened just like the others, disbelief written all over her face.

“Seriously, what is going on with you all?” The Frost Archer’s handsome face remained cold. He shot Luo Yong a look, strode forward, and took the glove from the Barbarian Priestess.

Women are so unreliable! he grumbled inwardly as he slipped on the glove—

“What the—!” His mouth fell open; his usual cool composure shattered by astonishment. He glanced at the beautiful teammates around him, then at Luo Yong, as if seeing this… “lucky devil” for the first time.

A casual enchantment, and the glove gained such a miraculous property! Just how many gems had this guy farmed from monsters out in the wild?

“Brother! Let us try it, too!” The two Heavy Knights crowded in, each trying on the glove in turn.

“Good heavens!”

“My goodness!” they both exclaimed.

Now, every gaze was fixed on the newcomer Luo Yong, their eyes so fervent it was as though they might melt him with their stares.

As for Luo Yong, he was a little stunned himself. He’d only wanted to trade for that +3 level necklace, never suspecting that each of these supposedly broke Level 8s owned at least one set item!

This team… At this stage, it could only be called a luxury lineup.

“Um… so…” Elia looked at Luo Yong expectantly and asked tentatively, “Are you… still willing to trade?”

All eyes turned to Luo Yong, focus settling on him once more.

“I’ll trade,” Luo Yong replied, earnest as a clueless rookie.

“Here!” Elia snatched the glove back from Wendy and shoved the +3 necklace into his hands.

“Wait, that’s it? The trade’s done just like that…” The others felt caught off guard. Everything had happened too quickly, leaving them unprepared. In the blink of an eye, a set-matching glove had slipped into someone else’s possession. Then, in another blink, it was gone again!

“Elia!” Wendy glanced at Luo Yong and said, “He probably doesn’t realize the true value of this item. The two things aren’t even in the same league…”

“Wendy!” Elia clung to the glove, gazing at her imploringly. “Let’s just make the trade, please?”

“We’ve never made an unfair trade, nor taken advantage of anyone,” Wendy replied firmly, turning to the others. “These two items can’t be exchanged.”

“Then what do we do, Wendy? We don’t have anything else to offer!” Elia replied, crestfallen.

“We don’t have anything now, but that doesn’t mean we won’t in the future.” Wendy looked at everyone’s faces and suggested, “Why not do this: let Luo Yong hold onto the +3 necklace for now and come with us on our quest. If, during the mission, someone finds something of equal value to the glove, they can trade with him then.”

As soon as Wendy finished, the group exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

“Let’s do that!”

“First come, first served!”

“Let’s see who can wear that glove next!”

“Uh…” Luo Yong suddenly spoke up. By now, he’d put on the necklace and his level had temporarily reached 8, just like the rest of them.

“What is it? You don’t agree?” Wendy asked.

“Well, it’s just… all I really wanted was this necklace. The rest may not even be useful to me…” Luo Yong replied meekly, lacking in confidence.

“That’s my oversight,” Wendy admitted after a moment’s thought. They really had nothing else he might need…

The others were also at a loss. Who knew what this new guy wanted, anyway?

“Wait!” Elia suddenly exclaimed, “You’re a Magic Swordsman—what type of magic did you choose?”

“Uh…” The question caught Luo Yong off guard. His real class was “Impostor.” Magic Swordsman was just a facade.

But his bewildered look only made the group think he was a true rookie, fresh to the world and utterly clueless. That made him all the more endearing; if he’d come in as a know-it-all, that would have been alarming!

So they saw even more potential in this.

“You haven’t learned any magic yet?” The Wild Huntress clapped him on the shoulder. “How about trying Summoning magic?”

“Step aside!” The Storm Sorceress sashayed over, hooked an arm around Luo Yong’s shoulder, and said, “Storm magic will let you dominate the battlefield, always victorious!”

“Give it a rest!” The Barbarian Priestess yanked the sorceress away, pinched Luo Yong’s chin, and whispered in his ear, “Blessing magic is the true choice of real men!”

“A real man, right here!” The Frost Archer stood like a block of ice, coolly declaring, “Freeze the battlefield, range far and wide—Ice magic is essential for any real man!”

Bang, bang, bang! The two Heavy Knights slammed their shields, shouting together, “Heavy Knight charge!”

Though they hadn’t specified a magic type, magical light flickered on both their bodies.

“I don’t really know much about magic, so I don’t have any preferences,” Luo Yong said, feeling that these people were all a little unreliable. They’d do anything to get their hands on that glove.

The Barbarian Priestess was especially handsy—not only pinching his chin and face but sneaking in a pinch elsewhere when no one was looking.

“Can I learn magic right now?” Luo Yong asked in a tone so amateurish that half the group nearly fainted.

“Ahem, I do have a magic scroll, but I’ve used it up. It won’t work anymore,” said the Wild Huntress.

“Same here,” the Storm Sorceress shook her head.

“Alas!” The Barbarian Priestess sighed and moved away from Luo Yong.

“Um… I…” Elia stammered, hastily pulling a pristine magic scroll from her pocket.

“Ah! How sneaky! Elia, you actually carry something like that with you!”

“Isn’t that a curse magic scroll?”

“Luo Yong, you’d better choose carefully—selecting your magic is a lifelong decision!”

“Elia!” Wendy was surprised as well. The scroll had dropped during a previous quest and wasn’t a curse-type magic. However—

The magic recorded on it was… hard to describe.

“I got this when I was doing a quest and it dropped from a monster—the luckiest moment of my life,” Elia said, feeling a bit sheepish as she brought the scroll to Luo Yong.

After all, in front of a true “lucky king,” her little bit of luck was nothing. Who knew—maybe he could just wave his hand and produce a scroll!

“But the magic on it… is Necromancy.”

A collective gasp swept through the group as Elia finished her words. The impact was visible; for a bunch of Level 8 elites to react this way…

Well. They were all pretty dramatic.

Luo Yong swore that no matter what kind of magic scroll the “Curse Witch” Elia presented, they would have had the same reaction.

Still, he maintained the look of a clueless rookie, lost and overwhelmed—a fact that left the others helpless.

If he didn’t understand anything, all their performance was wasted!

“This…” Luo Yong took the scroll and was about to open it, asking curiously, “Can I learn it now? Will I be able to use it right away?”

“That depends on your talent,” Wendy quickly interjected. “Necromancy is rarely accepted. So, perhaps we should reconsider this deal…”

“Wendy!” Elia tugged at her friend’s sleeve. She knew Wendy meant well, but sometimes she was just too good for her own good—not everyone deserved that level of care!

“We’re not getting ripped off—”

“And we’re not taking advantage, I get it. You’ve said it a million times, enough already,” Elia sighed and bowed her head.

“How about this,” Wendy said, not wanting Luo Yong, who so clearly didn’t know what he was doing, to accidentally learn Necromancy. “Let’s put this trade on hold for now, since we don’t have anything of equal value to the glove.”

“Let’s go finish the quest and open some chests—maybe we’ll get something good!”