Chapter 2: Equipment Upgrade Technique

Enduring the pain in his waist, Bai Yunfei managed to slowly rise back up to his feet, only to stare in stupefaction at the sinister-looking youth in front of him.

“How….how could I do such a thing like this? It felt as if my actions were natural, wha—what’s going on?” Now, Bai Yunfei was back to complete awareness. But when he thought back to the attitude of the young woman in front of him, he didn’t dare believe in what he had just done….

The nobles right in front of him, weren’t they not people he couldn’t risk to offend? These were people that couldn’t care less about the lives of commoners such as him!!

The very thought of that made Bai Yunfei go weak in the knees. Not daring to look up at these two figures, he bowed deep the ground and spoke, “Dear miss, please forgive me….I really didn’t mean to offend you. I hope that you will find it in your heart to forgive me…”

“Forgive you?! You plebeian, do you really think my little sister Meng’er is someone you could touch? I’ll have your lowly life ended right here and now!!” Zhang Yang laughed nastily. Looking at Bai Yunfei as if he was a dead man walking, Zhang Yang strode forward with his right arm extended. His right fist had a series of blue veins popping out from underneath his flesh, and with each step he took, the muscles in his arm seemed to grow even larger.

When Bai Yunfei tilted his head up to look, a fierce pain stung at his head the moment when his eyes made contact with Zhang Yang. Something from the depths of his soul flooded his body, causing it to tremble briefly before collapsing to the ground. In his eyes, the incoming Zhang Yang was no longer a man, but a horrifying demon. The hands that came towards him were sharp claws, and if it were to just squeeze around him gently, Bai Yunfei would be crushed like an ant.

“Zhang Yang, hold on….did I say that I wanted him dead?” Just as Bai Yunfei felt as if he was going to collapse, a harmonious voice like the sound of nature came echoing into his ears, alleviating some of the pressure on his body.

Halting in his footsteps, Zhang Yang turned to look back to Liu Meng inquisitively, “Me—Liu Meng, this commoner has accosted you. Doesn’t he deserve death? I’ll teach him a lesson for you to vent your anger.”

Frowning, Liu Meng casted another scornful eye at Zhang Yang, “I’m not ‘yours’, please watch what you’re saying….”

Then casting an eye to look behind him, she continued, “This person looks rather out of it, so it must have been an accident. Even if he did offend me, there wouldn’t be a need for him to die….”

Stunned, Bai Yunfei looked to Liu Meng as if in a trance, “Is....is she pleading for me? What a reasonable young lady, she’s like a fairy…”

“He took a kick from you already, see how injured he is? Let that be enough punishment for him.” Liu Meng’s eye flickered to the dropped tanghulu Bai Yunfei had bought for her earlier.

There was a flicker of light as if she was thinking about something. Unexpectedly, she casted a smile towards Bai Yunfei, “Haha, if anything, he already tried to pay me back with another tanghulu, but it was kicked to the ground by you….”

Her smile had forced Bai Yunfei’s heart to beat more rapidly than before when he saw it. His face began to grow flush with a red heat, and his mind felt as if it was swimming, “How…how beautiful she is….”

Seeing how Liu Meng was treating this plebeian with such a smile, a flash of bitter hatred entered his eyes, “How could we let him off so easily? At the very least, we should cut off one of his hands! I’l—”

“Yang’er!” A dignified voice suddenly barked out, interrupting Zhang Yang’s speech.

Walking up from behind the two youngsters was the middle-aged man before.

“Father!”

“Uncle.”

The one that both Zhang Yang and Liu Meng called out to so respectfully was the father of Zhang Yang and the lord of the house of Zhang. Zhang Zhenshan.

“Meng’er is right. As a soul cultivator, how could you bicker with people of his kind? You even plan to kill on the streets, are you not afraid of losing face for our Zhang?!” The man barked out to reprimand his child on his behavior.

Just a moment ago, Bai Yunfei’s heart was threatening to leap out of his chest when Zhang Yang threatened to cut off own of his hands. Hearing this middle-aged man advocate against that had allowed for Bai Yunfei to let out a sigh in relief, but when the man looked to him, Bai Yunfei immediately felt as if his entire body had been thrown into ice. Even his soul shivered at the man’s gaze—it was many a times more intimidating than the one Zhang Yang had given to him.

Even breathing was a challenge for him now.

Fortunately, this sensation had only been for a moment before receding away. Heaving heavily, Bai Yunfei could feel beads of sweat drip down from his face one after another.

“Your mother is still waiting for us to return, don’t let her wait even longer.” Zhang Zhenshan spoke.

But seeing how his son was still quite discontent with the outcome, he let out a casual suggestion, “If you’re still not satisfied with this one….let your servants teach him a lesson.”

Unwilling to say anything more, Zhang Yang gave one of his servants a look before heading off with the others into the city center.

Two of his servants didn’t leave with him. Instead, they glared ominously at Bai Yunfei as they approached him.

Now that Zhang Zhenshan had spoken, Bai Yunfei knew that there would be no escaping this beating today. If he resisted, the chances of being injured even worse would only just go up. With no other choice, he curled up into a ball and protected his face while the two men began to beat at him with their hands and feet.

Already some distance away, Zhang Yang couldn’t help but cast a look backwards with an eye of resentment. However, he then turned his head to look at Liu Meng for a brief moment before returning to his guise as an elegant noble. Waving his fan, he continued to introduce Liu Meng to the different parts of Talus City to her.

Later that night, Bai Yunfei dragged his beaten and weary body back to his home. Pushing open the teetering doors of the entrance, he walked past the narrow hallway and onto the simplistic bed. There were several holes in the ceiling so that the moonlight could shine through and give the hut some lighting.

Anything of worth in his home was already sold off. Originally, he had a room next door, but even that was sold off too.

Seated on top of his bed, Bai Yunfei stared despondently at the top of his ceiling. Rubbing at the black and blue spots of his body, Bai Yunfei couldn’t help but shed some tears in disappointment.

Resistance.

Humiliation.

Uselessness.

What about it? He couldn’t do anything to change himself….

As he stroked at the jade stone pendant hung on his neck, the tears from his eyes began to slow down. This pendant was shaped like a crude cloud due to its rough craftsmanship, and one could tell that it was obviously made from low quality material. But because Bai Yunfei had kept this pendant next to him at all times and touched it for years, it had an especially glossy feel to it and shined to some degree.

This was the memento given to him by his mother.

“Mother….Is there really a point for me to live like this?” Bai Yunfei muttered to himself as he looked at the pendant.

“One day, when my little Yunfei grows up, he will be like a white cloud in the sky. Floating freely under the skies without worry….”

The loving words of his mother began to reverberate into his ears.

Wiping away the tears on his face, Bai Yunfei forcibly slapped at his face with his hands.

“I can’t think like that! Mother’s birthday is coming up soon. I just need some money so I can repair mother and grandfather’s grave! I can’t let them see me unhappy like this!!”

Pacing himself with several deep breaths, Bai Yunfei calmed himself down and began to rethink of the events that happened today.

“What is going on with me? I didn’t…feel like myself on the streets. Why in the world did I go and provoke those nobles….?

“I’m myself still though. But…feels like I’ve a lot more things in my head now…I can feel it, but I just can’t really seem to recall it clearly.

“Maybe I’ve worked so hardly recently I’m starting to see things? I wasn’t feeling strange yesterday though.”

Slapping his head, Bai Yunfei looked as if he was trying to forcibly jog his memory.

“Item Upgrade Technique…What's that?”

It was right at that moment something underneath his bed suddenly gave way, forcing his bed to sway unsteadily.

“Ugh, what got loose now? This stupid bed, really now….”

Stooping over, Bai Yunfei could see that the left side of the bed was clearly shorter than the other side. Originally, he had something propped up underneath. But when he moved about on his bed, the sudden movement brought the item elsewhere.

Groping around underneath the bed, Bai Yunfei retrieved a single object.

It was just a brick.

Just as he was about to get it up and reset the bed, a sudden notification popped up into his head.

Equipment Grade: Normal

Attack: 9

Upgrade Requirement: 1 Soulpoints

This sudden notification had startled Bai Yunfei, causing the brick to fall from his hand and onto the ground.

At the same time, the notification disappeared from his mind.

Fearful, Bai Yunfei looked around himself for some time, only to see that nothing was amiss. After a long time, Bai Yunfei finally managed to pick up his courage and picked up the brick again.

Sure enough, as soon as he picked up the brick, the same notification appeared.

When he put the brick down, the notification disappeared.

And when he picked it up, the notification appeared again.

“Yea...this points to it, but….what does upgrade mean?”

“Upgrade….”

Another notification popped up into his head. In the next second, his mind went blank as if something from the innermost parts of his soul lessened. But even before he could even speak, the feeling disappeared.

Upgrade Successful

Another notification similar to the last one popped up in his head, prompting him to look down at the brick in his hand.

Equipment Grade: Normal

Upgrade Level: +1

Attack: 9

Additional Attack: 1

Upgrade Requirement: 2 Soulpoints

Just seemingly, it felt as if the brick in Bai Yunfei’s hand grew a little heavier than before. It also felt a little sturdier too. But Bai Yunfei didn’t know if this was just an illusion of his.

“Another notification. Attack...does that mean how strong it is? If I upgrade it, does it grow stronger? What the heck? Am I dreaming or something?”

He pressed a hand to the injured part of his waist, only to flinch and take in two deep breaths of frosty air—he wasn’t dreaming.

“Maybe this….has something to do with my strange behavior today?”

Thinking hard about it for a while, Bai Yunfei shook his head. It was pointless to continue thinking about it now since there weren’t any clues to follow. It didn’t hurt him, so he didn’t feel too bad about it.

“If I continue to upgrade it….what’s going to happen?”

Bai Yunfei couldn’t help but feel curious about this.

“Upgrade.”

Like if his heart had skipped a beat again, Bai Yunfei looked to the brick.

Upgrade SuccessfulEquipment Grade: Normal

Upgrade Level: +2

Attack: 9

Additional Attack: 2

Upgrade Requirement: 3 Soulpoints

Waving the brick, Bai Yunfei felt that the brick had gotten a little sturdier than before.

“Let’s try it again….”

Not too long afterwards….

Upgrade SuccessfulEquipment Grade: Normal

Upgrade Level: +6

Attack: 9

Additional Attack: 6

Upgrade Requirement: 7 Soulpoints

But then the next time Bai Yunfei upgraded it, an unexpected result came up.

Upgrade Failed

“Wha?? Failed?? What does that mean?”

Looking at the brick, he could see that the upgrade level had gone from from +6 to +5.

“So...it can fail as well. And failure means….it’ll drop down a level?”

And now he was even more curious. He was already captivated by this ‘interesting’ thing like a small child stumbling onto a new toy.

No longer taking a look at the brick with each upgrade, Bai Yunfei stared at the brick and thought to himself nonstop:

“Upgrade.”

“Upgrade.”

“Upgrade.”

He felt rather excited by this, but even as he was thinking out the command, a sudden pang of dizziness hit his head. It felt as if his soul had been emptied out, and his mind was rapidly dropping out of consciousness as he collapsed onto his bed.

Just before he could lose all consciousness however, he could very vaguely feel a string of notifications pop up into his head.

Upgrade SuccessfulEquipment Grade: Normal

Upgrade Level: +10

Attack: 9

Additional Attack: 16

+10 Additional Effect: Attacks have a 1% chance of stunning the target for a maximum of three seconds.

(If attacking the head, the chance of stunning increases to 5%)

Upgrade Requirement: 7 Soulpoints

“………”