Chapter 147: Perks of Rebirth

Although everyone was reluctant to accept it, they knew Master Hong was right. Continuing to drag this out wouldn't cause Old Lu much trouble, but it would only delay their own progress.

Besides, the jungle became extremely dangerous after dark. The challenge rating of a level 14 to 18 zone would likely spike directly to level 20 at night—it was simply too dangerous.

They did not have much time left.

The group quickly acknowledged the order and dispersed. Before leaving, Master Hong added in the party chat, "Don't let these matters cloud your judgment. If your mindset crumbles over something this minor, you might just be playing right into Old Lu's hands."

Hearing this, everyone felt a jolt in their hearts, firmly engraving their leader's words in their minds.

Soon, night fell, and the twin moons reappeared in the blue-black night sky.

Just as Master Hong had anticipated, Lu Kuan struck and immediately fled, having long since broken through the encirclement of the Flaming Sword.

"The second temple... is it in the middle of a river?" Lu Kuan was currently hiding in a patch of tall grass, looking at the map with a slight frown.

The temple ruins marked on the map were drawn right in the center of a large river, with a few sketchy leaves hastily sketched around it, making its meaning entirely unclear.

"This map is way too sloppy..." Lu Kuan muttered, smacking his lips.

Earlier, when he went to explore the first temple ruins, he happened to run into members of the Flaming Sword who were also heading there. Naturally, a fierce battle ensued—or to be more precise, Lu Kuan ran while the other side chased, wasting a lot of time for no good reason.

Fortunately, Lu Kuan had extensive jungle combat experience, and all their numbers combined didn't amount to a fraction of his skill. Coupled with the assistance of the Elven Cloak of Invisibility, sniping and killing them was an absolute breeze for him.

Had he not been pressed by his quest, Lu Kuan definitely would have spent a whole day properly toying with them.

However, time and tide waited for no man, so Lu Kuan subsequently kept his head down and hurried along. He dodged monsters whenever he could, and if he couldn't, he simply activated his skills to eliminate them as quickly as possible. Before the sun had completely set, he finally arrived near his destination.

The banks of the Salonmir River.

This was a tributary of the Raging Waters River. It was not very long, but it was extremely wide. The terrain of the watershed was very similar to the Banyan Prairie, surrounded by shallow flats and crisscrossing streams.

Lu Kuan climbed up a towering tree and stood at the top of the canopy, looking far into the distance. He saw several river islands of varying sizes right in the middle of the wide river ahead. The islands were densely overgrown with lush vegetation that shrouded them tightly, making it impossible to see the interior conditions of the islets at all.

After repeatedly cross-referencing with the map, Lu Kuan confirmed that the temple marked on the map should be located on the largest river island.

"Crossing the river at night is too dangerous. Looks like I'll have to wait until tomorrow," Lu Kuan said with a hint of resignation as he checked the time.

Afterward, Lu Kuan found a towering tree with thick, sturdy branches nearby, set up a single-person tent within the canopy, sprinkled his self-refined insect repellent around the area, and finally crawled into the tent to log out of the game.

This was the earliest Lu Kuan had logged out of the game since his rebirth. However, once offline, Lu Kuan was far from idle; he immediately logged onto the forums to collect the latest gaming intelligence, browsing until past 1:00 AM before logging off.

Lu Kuan thoroughly investigated the background of the Flaming Sword, especially the materials concerning Old Man John, gaining a deeper understanding of this veteran gaming studio.

Just as Lu Kuan was about to take off his virtual helmet, the notification sound of an incoming email rang in his ear. Opening it, he saw a message just sent by Du Zhifeng.

It detailed Du Zhifeng's thoughts on Lu Kuan's plan, some suggestions for modification, an estimated acquisition price, and his intention to go talk to the target party tomorrow.

Some of Du Zhifeng's suggestions were very targeted; even from Lu Kuan's perspective of foresight, they possessed extremely strong practical execution.

Lu Kuan nodded with satisfaction, then took off his helmet and dialed Du Zhifeng's phone number.

"Lu... President Lu," Du Zhifeng answered awkwardly, adjusting his form of address.

"Ha~ forget about all this 'President Lu' stuff, it sounds weird. Just call me by my name."

Unbothered, Lu Kuan smiled and said, "I read your email, and some of your ideas are quite good. Go handle the negotiations tomorrow and rely on your own experience. As long as you keep the price under 500,000, it's acceptable."

Upon hearing this, Du Zhifeng immediately said, "Isn't that a bit expensive? It's just a small program. To avoid drawing attention, I'll be acquiring several of its related finished products along with it, but based on my understanding of the market, the total shouldn't exceed 300,000..."

"That doesn't matter. Your task is to secure it as quickly as possible; a slight overage in price is fine," Lu Kuan stated directly. "We aren't the only ones interested in that thing. It's best to secure it cleanly and decisively before the other party catches on, preferably within this week."

"Alright, I understand," Du Zhifeng immediately agreed. Since his boss wasn't stingy with money, he, as the subordinate handling the matter, could operate with much freer hands.

After a brief briefing, Lu Kuan hung up the phone.

The next day, after finishing his meal, Lu Kuan went out and headed to school, because today was the day for submitting college entrance examination applications.

Before this batch of graduates returned to school, the campus was already bustling with activity because the students who had just advanced to their senior year of high school had ended their summer vacation and started their intense senior-year life early.

On the second and third floors of the teaching building, senior students who had just finished class crowded the balconies, gazing across the open air at the graduates laughing and chatting on the playground, remaining silent. The moods of the two sides at this moment could be described as worlds apart.

"How about it? Do you feel like some otherworldly master who has seen through the mundane world~"

Dai Guang looked up at the senior high students, as if seeing his former self, and couldn't help nudging Lu Kuan with his elbow as he smiled.

"Whether I've seen through the mundane world is hard to say. I only know that if we don't hurry, the two of us are going to be late." Lu Kuan gave Dai Guang a sidelong glance and sprinted toward the classroom first, prompting Dai Guang to holler and scramble after him in a panic.

As for college preferences, the students had already researched them thoroughly at home. What needed to be done at school was simply to fill out the forms properly on the web page under the teacher's supervision, ensuring no mistakes were made.

Lu Kuan finished quickly. Seeing that Dai Guang was still carefully filling it out word by word, Lu Kuan simply took advantage of the time to stroll around the campus, taking in the place where he had lived for several years while reminiscing about his youth.

However, as soon as he stepped out of the classroom, Lu Kuan was called to a halt.

"Wait a moment~"

Xiaoqin, a classmate from the same class, walked out shortly after and trotted up with a cheeky smile. "Lu Kuan, do you have time? I want to discuss something with you."

"What is it?" Lu Kuan asked with some surprise.

Xiaoqin then briefly told Lu Kuan about the gaming club at Donghai University and said, "I mentioned it to the club leader, and he's seen that gaming video of yours. He said they can consider letting you join the guild."

Hearing this, Lu Kuan chuckled and rejected her without even thinking.

Donghai University's gaming club? That must be the guild called "House of Metallic Dragons," right?

In his previous life, Lu Kuan had no shortage of conflicts with people from this guild, especially the guild leader, who was arrogant, conceited, and blind to everyone else. He was practically the "Empyrean Court" of the gaming world—the only catch was that he lacked the actual competence of the Empyrean Court and had only managed to imitate their arrogance.

This was the benefit of having lived a few extra decades. Even though he had never met them in this lifetime, Lu Kuan clearly knew the true faces of certain people, bringing a spontaneous and satisfying sense of insight into the ways of the world.