Chapter 168: Small Tricks, Huge Rewards

Initially, Wen Nan intended to use both of his skill selection opportunities to upgrade his existing Mind Reading skill, as he often felt that the cooldown was too long and the effect duration was never enough.

However, upon seeing the four new options, Wen Nan decisively gave up on upgrading his old skills.

He wanted all four of the new skills...

In the end, gritting his teeth, he first discarded "Play Multiple Fields at Once." Considering that his charm value was already extremely high, and any enhancement to item effects could be achieved through the use of tears, he let it go.

Next, he eliminated the "Time Management Master." The ability to stop time, with the accumulated duration available for use in critical moments, was truly tempting. Raising the favorability of three characters simultaneously by 50% was a bit difficult, though entirely manageable for Wen Nan. The problem, however, was that the skill was far too weak at level one, accumulating a mere 0.1 seconds per use... Ten accumulations would only equal 1 second. Such a brief duration was completely useless for accomplishing anything.

Therefore, Wen Nan raised his hand and illuminated the remaining two skills: [No Lewdness Allowed] and [Endurance is King].

As soon as he saw two of the branches on his talent tree light up within the system, the prompt on the glowing screen overhead shifted—

[This refresh point is about to close.]

[All contestants, please enter the game lobby and rest briefly.]

Immediately, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble, and the bodies of everyone inside the refresh shop began to plummet rapidly.

After a dizzying spin, Wen Nan's vision opened up to a vast lobby.

The interior design of this game lobby was very similar to the one Wen Nan had been assigned to at the end of the last trial—

It was covered by a glass dome, with booths of various sizes and styles set up throughout the hall. However, this game lobby was much larger than the previous one, with a ceiling height of nearly forty meters.

Looking up, directly beneath the center of the dome, a row of text floated in the air—

[Welcome to Game Lobby No. 8128!]

Beneath the welcoming text was another line of smaller characters—

[Remaining time until the next instance opens: 96:00:00——]

Fortunately, the intermission time this time was a full four days.

This amount of time was enough for Wen Nan to adjust his condition, recruit the remaining members, and complete the third stage of the trial operation period.

Standing at the entrance and deep in thought, Wen Nan noticed out of the corner of his eye that the players brushing past him all cast strange looks his way. Unable to resist stopping for a second glance, they then hurried along into the depths of the lobby.

Lifting his head, Wen Nan confirmed that his Bronze Tier 3 level information was set to hidden, which meant... it was his maxed-out charm value at work.

At this thought, Wen Nan ran his fingers through his bangs and swept them back.

A gaze drifted over from beside him, somewhat cold and tinged with a hint of mockery.

Wen Nan was far too familiar with this feeling. Turning his head, he indeed saw Yu Shujun holding a long sword, standing not far away and watching him with an ambiguous smile on his face.

Though he clearly received the teasing look in the other's eyes, Wen Nan maintained a straight face as he pushed his bangs back behind his head and asked, "Well, am I handsome or not?"

Yu Shujun didn't really want to answer that question, but bound by the command tattoo, he couldn't refuse either. In the end, he countered, "Do you want the truth, or do you want me to praise you for being handsome?"

Wen Nan paused for a moment and brazenly declared, "Aren't these two the same option?"

Yu Shujun swept his gaze over the bulging muscles on Wen Nan's body that looked as though they were about to burst through his clothes, and then said, "As long as you're happy, Master." Wen Nan was just about to argue further when a young man dressed like an NPC walked over and asked, "Pardon me, are you Mr. Ye Jiu?"

Wen Nan nodded, and the man promptly turned around, saying, "Please follow me. I will lead you to your guild's newly acquired teleportation point for activation."

His words were polite, but his expression looked rather stinky. This was undoubtedly an official game NPC, no mistake about it.

Wen Nan followed him and gladly arrived in front of a small booth.

Unsurprisingly, the newly acquired guild teleportation point this time was yet another "miniature" villa radiating a strong Pinduoduo aesthetic.

Wen Nan raised an eyebrow and, following the NPC's instructions, quickly completed the identity verification. The next moment, a system message popped up—

9527: [Congratulations, contestant! You have successfully completed the activation of the new teleportation point! You are one step closer to the official establishment of your guild! Hurry and share this joy with your guild members!]

Right beneath the message was a button to automatically send the teleportation point's location info to all members.

Wen Nan glanced at it without clicking send immediately. Instead, he temporarily minimized the interface, looked around the room, and eventually walked up to the second floor.

The ceiling height on the second floor was extremely low; given Wen Nan's height, he had to walk hunched over. He made his way to a corner, picked a quiet and comfortable spot to sit down, and then raised his head to look at Yu Shujun, who was standing at the top of the stairs.

Guarding the entrance, Yu Shujun caught Wen Nan's glance, instantly understood his meaning, and nodded.

Wen Nan curved his lips into a smile toward the other.

Yu Shujun paused for a second, then averted his gaze, standing there like a temple guardian and refusing to spare Wen Nan another glance.

Wen Nan shook his head helplessly and returned to his own business—

He brought up his spare equipment slots from the system, found the portable storage ring right next to the locked card of Guan Ailin, retrieved it, and placed it in the palm of his hand.

With his thumb, he gently pressed the circular protrusion in the center of the ring. The moment it sensed Wen Nan's fingerprint, the storage compartment clicked open.

Slipping his index finger into the storage slot and poking around, Wen Nan fished out a tiny piece of metal resting inside, placed it in his palm, and scrutinized it closely.

It was a size smaller than a mobile phone SIM card, densely covered with intricate fine lines. In the bottom right corner, a trademark was stamped in lines as thin as mosquito legs: ..

Wen Nan's gaze lingered on the metal piece, his thumb rubbing gently against its surface as he mobilized the system in his mind to scan the item.

However, no message indicating a successful scan popped up in the system.

It seemed that once separated from that instance, this little trinket was nothing at all.

Recalling how he had stood by the furnace earlier, pretending to throw the metal piece away, Wen Nan chuckled softly.

What looked like an act of abandonment was actually just an opportunity seized to slip the metal piece into this tiny ring.

A simple magic trick that a three-year-old could learn, combined with Yang Mingzhong's ring space which could carry any item out of a map...

Wen Nan had used a method so plain and unadorned it bordered on the mundane to successfully smuggle out this little object capable of throwing the entire instance into chaos.

(End of this chapter)