"Wow, this Level 220 Sacred Armament ring is amazing!"

I waved the ring once before saying to He Yi and Lin Yixin, "Alright, I’ll be the judge for this one. For fairness'’ sake, whoever gets the ring will have to give up on the sword."

He Yi’s eyes were widened with interest and desire, and Lin Yixin’s were no better. I could almost see the words "I want" flying across her eyes...

A long time later, Lin Yixin licked her lips and held both of He Yi’s hands smilingly. "Sister Eve…"

He Yi almost rolled her eyes at her at the honey-laced voice Lin Yixin was using. "What do you want, Yiyi?"

Lin Yixin giggled. "Well you see, you have a shield, a mount, and naturally high Stamina scaling, so your max HP is at least 30% higher than mine. This Afterimage Ring adds Attack and max HP, so… can I have this please? It’ll help me escape the label of glass cannon…"

He Yi pursed her lips and nodded. "Okay. You take the ring, and I take the sword. Deal?"

"Deal!"

Lin Yixin immediately equipped the ring upon obtaining it. While she was enjoying the sight of her new stats, I picked up the flaming sword next and examined it for a bit. There were runes floating around the sword, and a pair of fullers at the center of the blade, giving the sword an exquisite and elegant appearance. The weapon was probably better-looking on a female player, and I could tell from its appearance it was of rank lower than my Chill of the Nine Provinces. That was only natural though. Even in its incomplete state, Chill of the Nine Provinces was still one of the Twelve Divine Armaments. It was only natural that it surpassed most other weapons!

I waved my hand across the sword and brought up its stats. It wasn’t one of the Twelve Divine Armaments as expected, but it was still incredibly powerful…

Suppressing Fire Sword (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding★★★★★★★★)

Attack: 10000~12500

Strength: +2450

Stamina: +2300

Agility: +2250

Intelligence: +2100

Tactics: +259

Passive: Increases user’s Attack by 195%

Passive: Increases user’s fire-type splash damage by 50%

Slots: 17

Outstanding Property: Flame Dance. When swinging the weapon, 20% chance to unleash a flaming sword aura that deals critical damage to all targets within 7 yards.

Effect: Benevolence. When attacking a target, 12% of the damage dealt is converted to HP.

Introduction: During the ancient times, an emperor with the dynasty name "Zhou" procured a strange metal from the mountains to forge divine arms. It took a decade of effort, but the ancient sword "Suppressing Fire" was born into this world. It was said that Emperor Zhou had summoned the heavenly flames to burn all the demons and devils plaguing the human world with just one swing of the weapon. The feat was so impressive that it became a widespread folktale. For an unknown reason, the Suppressing Fire Sword went missing and wouldn’t resurface until many thousands of years later. It is still as sharp as ever.

Level Requirement: 220

Reputation Requirement: 600000

……

I gave the Suppressing Fire Sword to He Yi and said, "This is Eve’s as per the agreement. Now both of you got what you needed. Of course, the next melee-type weapon we run into will go to Yiyi. If the author wasn’t such a lazy fuck, both of you would have been wielding Ancient Immortal-grade weapons for a while now…"

He Yi giggled. "I’ll be using this Suppressing Fire Sword, Yiyi!"

Lin Yixin nodded affirmatively. "Of course!"

Both girls were happy with the outcome, which made it the best outcome. After that, I checked out the third and last equipment dropped by the boss before tossing it into Murong Mingyue’s hands. I said, "It’s a necklace that increases base healing by 1500 and healing effects by 185%, and obviously sis is the only one who can use this. It’s also an Ancient Immortal-grade equipment that boosts all 4 attributes and especially Strength by over 1900, which is absolutely critical in tanking Ultimate Strength Breaks. In the future, all classes will seek to increase all four attributes evenly, so grind hard, sis!"

Murong Mingyue nodded in agreement. "Yes, you are right. During the previous Nation War, there were multiple times I could’ve died to Ultimate Strength Break if I hadn't buffed myself with an HP card…"

"Haha!"

I checked out the rest of the stuff the boss dropped. There were Rank 16 and 17 enhancement gems, and they boosted all kinds of stats such as Attack and Defense. We split them all between us in no time.

……

After the loot distribution was complete, I rose to my feet and looked to the west. "It’ll take us about an hour to pass through Fire Dragon Canyon and arrive at a small section that is part of Yellowstone Desert. From there, we’ll make our way to Cyanscale Coast and finally, Dragon Domain. There’s an NPC harbor at Cyanscale Coast where we can repair our equipment and restock on potions, so there’s nothing to worry about."

"Got it. Let’s go!"

……

Over an hour later, we arrived at the burning hot Yellowstone Desert.

Although this part of Yellowstone Desert fell under Vanished God City’s domain, it was located at the southwestmost corner. That was why not a single player could be spotted at this place. The desert was littered with monsters like Sand Foxes and Sand Wolves. The monster level ranged between 225 to 275, and the monster rank between dread and fiend. It was a great map to grind in, but the problem was that it was so far away from the main city it took at least 2 to 3 hours for a cavalryman to make it over, and 5 hours or more for a foot soldier. Unless a new territory were to spawn in this area, there was little chance any player would be willing to make the journey.

Rustle rustle...

The Ancient Divine Dragon didn’t seem to enjoy the scalding hot sand burning its paws, so it twisted here and there to get rid of some of the discomfort. Unfortunately, its swaying movements made Murong Mingyue and I pretty uncomfortable as well. A while later, Murong Mingyue raised her butt a little—she was sitting in front of me—stretched her scepter to the front and hit my poor dragon right on the head, demanding, "Stop twisting around, you fool! Your master’s going to get hard at this rate!"

I could hardly believe my ears, but this was sis we were talking about. Staring blankly at her exposed thighs and round butt, I said, "Sis, you can stand to be a bit modest, you know. Also, seriously? You think this is enough to get me hard?"

Murong Mingyue looked back at me before moving her legs so that she was facing toward the side. Then, she wrapped her arms around my waist and narrowed her eyes seductively, "Ho? I guess I did underestimate your cultivation somewhat. Very well, let us try something more blood-pumping this time, shall we?"

My blood was already pumping faster as she spoke. She was shorter than me, so I had a perfect view of her amazing cleavage from above. It was a sight no man could possibly resist!

Luckily, Beiming Xue woke me up from my trance by saying, "Sister Mingyue, Sister Eve and Sister Lin Yixin are both here, you know? There are other more suitable times to tease big brother."

He Yi said expressionlessly, "It’s fine, I got used to it a long time ago…"

Lin Yixin unsheathed her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword partially and threatened, "Sister Mingyue can tease Little Cheat all she wants, but if Little Cheat crosses the line even a millimeter, I swear I’ll chop off his little brother!"

Whatever heat had entered my blood a moment earlier was chased away instantly. "Let’s get out of this desert already! It’s way too hot here!"

As I urged the Ancient Divine Dragon to move faster, a chorus of bell-like laughter came from behind me. The girls were absolutely reaping their happiness from my misery and loss of dignity. Of course, I would be lying if I said that it was true misery. As unbearable as it was to hold a 9/10 girl like Murong Mingyue in my arms without reacting, it was still a kind of enjoyment. Of course, I couldn’t show any hint of it on my face unless I wanted to die.

Judging from Murong Mingyue’s evil laughter, she knew exactly what she was doing to me. Sigh. Not only were we as close as siblings, she was completely open to me, and I was hardly resistant to her charms. There was nothing I could do except endure until the day Murong Mingyue finally got married.

That gave me an idea to launch my counterattack, so I said immediately, "Sis, you’re not a young woman anymore. When are you going to find your perfect partner? I can’t wait to attend your wedding, you know!"

Murong Mingyue fell silent for a moment. "My perfect partner?"

"Yeah? A boyfriend can keep you company at night, if you get what I mean…"

Murong Mingyue let out a giggle. "Is that so? You know, summer’s about to arrive, and autumn is never too far behind summer. By the time autumn arrives, the carrots, cucumbers and eggplants will all have matured already. Why would I need a boyfriend when I have them?"

I shuddered violently as the desire to slap myself to death erupted. Why did I think I could beat her in a verbal spar? Idiot!

……

When we arrived at the edge of Yellowstone Desert, someone brought up the matter of physiological needs.

So, we agreed to log off for an hour. At 8 pm sharp, we logged back into the game and continued on our journey.

We left the edge of Yellowstone Desert and crossed over a hill, arriving at a lush forest. 20 minutes later, we appeared on the other side of the forest and soaked in the sound of sea waves. The boundless sea was right in front of us, and the map screen showed that we were at Cyanscale Coast right now.

He Yi spurred her mount forward and pointed to the north, "Look, our harbor is right there. We can rent a boat there and sail for about 10 hours to reach the other side. Once we’re onshore, we only need to travel west to enter the Snow Region, which is where Dragon Domain is located."

I said, "Before that, we should check out the harbor, stock up on supplies and repair our equipment."

"Yeah!"

The harbor was called a city, but I personally thought that it was a town at best. It was located between the borders of China’s Vanished God City and Russia’s Frostsword City, so most of the players we saw belonged to the two main cities. However, the large majority of them were loners who were here to gather precious herbs and ores. In fact, very few players came here to grind because the monster levels were too high for the average player for now.

……

It was nighttime at the harbor. The moon hung high, and the silence was tranquil and soothing.

The musical sound of bagpipes flowed out from inside an inn. A group of NPC sailors were downing their ale, hugging beautiful elf women and sliding their hands up and down the latter’s butt. There were also NPC adventurers such as the hill dwarves who were sitting at the corner of the inn and chewing on their rabbit legs wordlessly. Their axes were placed on top of their table.

I led the girls into the inn and spoke with the inn assistant to purchase some bread. It was impossible to survive in Dragon Domain on an empty stomach, not to mention that this SSS Rank main quest most certainly wasn’t going to be finished in just a day or two.

While buying the bread, I asked the NPC assistant, "Hey man, can I ask you something? How can we make it across?"

He answered, "You just need to rent a boat at the harbor registration area, dear guest. This isn’t a good time to sail though. A fierce storm is ravaging the sea right now, and I doubt there’ll be many sailors who’ll be willing to make the trip for you."

I curled my lips. "Mn, thanks!"

I glanced to the side. A charming elf beauty with half her breasts exposed was enticing me with her eyes.

My response was to grab Lin Yixin’s hand and said, "Come on, let’s head out and rent a boat already!"

"Oh!" A red-faced Lin Yixin answered before allowing herself to be dragged out of the inn. She was going to murder a bunch of NPCs who were wolf-whistling at her and saying, "What a gorgeous lass you are! Come over here and play with us, girl!"

……

After we exited the building, we didn’t go far when someone suddenly called out to us from behind, "Friends from China! Are you guys planning to travel to the other side of the sea? Gold alone isn’t enough, you know. You need to gather a group of 20 players at minimum before the sailors will accept your request. It so happens that me and my friends number 13 people exactly. If you want, we can travel together!"

I looked back. The speaker was a brawny axe wielder. The city name on his arm marked him as a member of Frostsword City.