"Oh my god! One immortal crystal costs five thousand Dragon Kingdom dollars?"
Jiang Yuan stared at the exchange rate between immortal crystals and Dragon Kingdom dollars displayed on the trading hall, genuinely startled!
He opened the wealth rankings and took a look. The player with the most immortal crystals right now was named "Proud Merchant," a trader from the Proud Guild, holding a total of seventy immortal crystals!
In the future, even just doing quests to accumulate immortal crystals would net him at least twenty to thirty thousand a month—wasn't that way easier than working a regular job?
Looking at the five immortal crystals in his hand, Jiang Yuan felt like he was holding twenty-five thousand Dragon Kingdom dollars, but he gritted his teeth and chose to buy five [Taiyi Secret Pattern Stones]!
Once his stats improved, he wouldn't have to worry about earning immortal crystals!
After a moment's thought, Jiang Yuan's heart no longer ached. He took the purchased [Taiyi Secret Pattern Stones] and began to reforge the skills of his magic artifact [Demon-Suppressing Ruler]!
[Ding! Magic artifact enchantment complete!]
[Artifact Special Skill]: Demon-Suppressing Strike Level 1 Nine Spirits Summon Dragon-Bearded Tiger +1 Arcane Mark +1 Summon Beast Follow +1 Nine Spirits Summon Cangyuan Wolf +1
With the first enchantment done, Jiang Yuan gained four artifact skills. Aside from the Dragon-Bearded Tiger skill, which he found satisfactory, the others were pretty mediocre!
But what surprised Jiang Yuan a bit was that the artifact's special skill [Demon-Suppressing Strike] could also be reforged. He wondered what the highest level it could reach might be?
"Again!"
Jiang Yuan handed over the second [Taiyi Secret Pattern Stone] and began the second reforging!
[Ding! Magic artifact enchantment complete!]
[Artifact Special Skill]: Demon-Suppressing Strike Level 2 Lightning Spell +1 Fireball Spell +1 Nine Spirits Summon Sand River Turtle +1 Nine Spirits Summon Thunder Marsh Ox +1
"Damn it!"
Looking at the newly reforged skills, Jiang Yuan felt a surge of frustration!
If you said it was good, it came with two useless skills! If you said it was bad, it just happened to boost the artifact's special skill to Level 2!
[Artifact Special Skill]: Demon-Suppressing Strike Level 2 Adds 115% of the character's base attack power. On attack, there's a 40% chance to trigger the "Demon-Suppressing Strike" effect, instantly killing the enemy.
"Ugh! Should I keep going or not?"
For a moment, Jiang Yuan was caught in a dilemma, his mind tangled with whether to continue reforging.
Finally, looking at the three remaining [Taiyi Secret Pattern Stones] in his hand, Jiang Yuan steeled himself and decided to push on!
[Artifact Special Skill]: Demon-Suppressing Strike Level 1 Summon Wild Boar +1 Nine Spirits Summon Sand River Turtle +1 Nine Spirits Summon Thunder Marsh Ox +1 Sacred Beast Summon Xuanwu +1 Soul Sacrifice +1
With the third reforging, Jiang Yuan got a Level 1 artifact with five skills, and among the five class skills, he pulled the Sacred Beast Xuanwu!
But the downside was that the artifact's special skill, which had been Level 2, dropped back to Level 1!
"Damn! Why does this always happen!"
Jiang Yuan cursed in anger, thinking why couldn't he get both the artifact special skill and the Sacred Beast Xuanwu together?
Reforging artifact skills was like opening a blind box—you never knew what would come next, but there was always a feeling that the next pull would be better than the current one!
Jiang Yuan felt the same way now, so he reluctantly gave up the Sacred Beast Xuanwu skill he'd just rolled and enchanted the artifact again!
[Artifact Special Skill]: Demon-Suppressing Strike Level 3 Summon Wild Boar +1
Wtf??
Staring at the skills displayed for the fourth time, Jiang Yuan was dumbfounded!
Getting the artifact special skill to Level 3 was certainly a pleasant surprise, but what was the deal with giving him a Summon Wild Boar skill?
Was he supposed to evolve a Heaven-tier wild boar and have it act cute in front of some boss in the celestial realm??
"Screw your grandmother's leg!"
In a fit of rage, Jiang Yuan handed over the last [Taiyi Secret Pattern Stone] to the celestial craftsman!
[Artifact Special Skill]: Demon-Suppressing Strike Level 1 Nine Spirits Summon Sand River Turtle +1 Nine Spirits Summon Dragon-Bearded Tiger +1 Arcane Mark +1 Soul Sacrifice +1 Summon Beast Follow +1
"..."
A few seconds later, looking at the artifact skills from the final reforging, Jiang Yuan collapsed to the ground!
"Once, a Level 3 skill was right in front of me, and I didn't cherish it. Only when I lost it did I regret it!"
Jiang Yuan let out a mournful roar in his heart—that was a Level 3 artifact special skill!
A skill with a 60% chance to instantly kill an enemy, and he'd just thrown it away!
Gone with the Level 3 skill was twenty-five thousand Dragon Kingdom dollars!
Jiang Yuan pinched his philtrum hard to keep from fainting from anger, then trudged away from the celestial craftsman with a mournful face.
"Recharge! Recharge, damn it!"
"Recharge my ass! Money that's already in my pocket—why would I spit it out!"
All the way, two little figures fought in Jiang Yuan's mind. One black figure kept urging him to recharge and keep reforging the artifact, while the other white figure desperately advised him to stay calm!
In the end, reason won over impulse. Jiang Yuan restrained himself, dropped the idea of continuing to reforge the artifact, and prepared to head to the sect trial envoy to pick up a Golden Core quest to level up.
[Ding! Quest received: Report for Duty at the Criminal Investigation Department. Accept?]
Just then, a notification sound rang out, and a quest prompt popped up on Jiang Yuan's quest panel!
"Oh! I almost forgot, I still have to go to work!"
In ancient times, "reporting for duty" meant going to work. Since Jiang Yuan had been personally appointed by the Jade Emperor as a Fourth-Rank Criminal Investigator, he naturally had to clock in at the office!
Jiang Yuan quickly accepted the quest, and the system provided the specific coordinates of the Criminal Investigation Department.
Summoning his Clear Frost Flying Sword, Jiang Yuan soared into the air, heading toward the Southern Heavenly Gate.
The Criminal Investigation Department was located a few dozen meters east of the Southern Heavenly Gate, adjacent to the Administrative Department and the Military Command Department, collectively known as the celestial realm's "Three Departments."
Arriving at the Criminal Investigation Department, Jiang Yuan found the main gate wide open. Inside the hall, only a few bailiffs were leaning against the wall, dozing off.
"Ahem!"
Jiang Yuan stepped through the gate of the Criminal Investigation Department, walked into the main hall, and let out a soft cough.
"Who are you, daring to trespass in the Criminal Investigation Department?"
The drowsy bailiffs opened their bleary eyes and, seeing Jiang Yuan standing before them with his hands behind his back, appearing out of nowhere, quickly pointed their intimidation staves at him and demanded.
"Sleeping on duty—that's dereliction of duty, you know that?"
Jiang Yuan took out the Criminal Investigator's seal and ribbon from his backpack, which he couldn't wear yet, and held them out with both hands to the bailiffs.
"We humble officers pay our respects to the Criminal Investigator, sir!"
Seeing the seal and ribbon in Jiang Yuan's hands, the bailiffs instantly snapped awake, standing at attention and bowing to him!
"Two of you, go guard the door. The rest of you, perk up!"
Jiang Yuan put on the airs of a Criminal Investigator, giving orders to the bailiffs, then walked to the seat of the Criminal Investigator in the hall and sat down.
Jiang Yuan, the celestial realm's Criminal Investigator, was starting his workday today!