TSA Chapter 92

After logging off, Ran Qi realized it was already past midnight. Feeling both exhausted and sleepy, he simply washed up and went straight to bed. This dungeon run had lasted over six hours, and even though his physical condition had improved, the high-intensity gameplay still took a toll on his mind and body. He needed a good night’s sleep to recover.

By the time he woke up again, it was already afternoon, and his stomach was growling loudly—it felt like he was starving.

Ran Qi rubbed his stomach, got up, and grabbed a bottle of nutritional supplement from the storage unit. After taking a few sips to ease his hunger, he opened his neural computer and began browsing for ingredients. At the same time, he sent a message to Gu Le, inviting him over for a meal.

Before logging off last night, he had agreed to run dungeons with Night Owl and the team in the evening. To save time, he only bought a few simple ingredients: chicken, mushrooms, and rice, planning to make a quick mushroom chicken fried rice.

On Gu Le’s end, he had just woken up not long ago. As soon as he received the message, he immediately rushed over.

“Ran Ran! Have you seen the official game announcement? The game is getting a version update tomorrow at 8 AM! They’re adding a currency exchange system for game coins and star coins!” Gu Le exclaimed excitedly the moment he sat down.

“Oh? You can exchange star coins for game coins now?” Ran Qi raised an eyebrow slightly.

In <Magic Realm>, game coins were notoriously hard to obtain. They could only be earned through quests, grinding monsters, or player-to-player trades. Only someone like Ran Qi, who had practically hacked the in-game economy, could consistently hold the top spot on the wealth rankings.

Because game currency and equipment were difficult to acquire, leveling up in the early stages of the game had been incredibly tough. Although some players had been privately trading star coins for game coins via forums, the transactions had been limited due to the rarity of game currency. But now that an official exchange system was in place, pay-to-win players could start purchasing high-quality equipment and catch up in levels much faster.

“Yeah! But the exchange rate is really high,” Gu Le said as he pulled up the official website on his neural computer and projected the information onto a holographic screen in front of Ran Qi.

Ran Qi leaned in for a closer look. The official exchange rate was 1,000:1—1,000 star coins for just 1 gold coin. 1,000 star coins was roughly equivalent to a normal person’s daily wage, but for the wealthy, it was basically nothing.

With this change, high-level players and elite guilds would start multiplying rapidly. Guild wars were inevitable, and preparations for them needed to start immediately.

Not to mention—Zhang Shuo would likely come looking for him soon.

And just as Ran Qi predicted, only a few days after the update, Zhang Shuo showed up at his dormitory, accompanied by his lackeys. They banged on his door so loudly that even while lying inside his gaming pod, Ran Qi could hear everything clearly. He had no choice but to log out, take a quick shower, and go answer the door.

The moment he opened it, Zhang Shuo and his group stood outside, looking like debt collectors, their expressions less than friendly.

“What the hell took you so long?! You made Brother Shuo wait forever! Are you scared to face him?!” One of Zhang Shuo’s lackeys immediately shouted.

“I just got out of my gaming pod. I needed to rinse off first. Besides, it’s not like I invited you guys here. If you’re so impatient, you can just leave,” Ran Qi shot back without hesitation.

“You—!”

“Enough,” Zhang Shuo interrupted, stopping his lackey from arguing further. “You’re only good at talking trash. You haven’t forgotten our agreement, have you?”

“Of course not.” Not only had he not forgotten, but he had been waiting for this moment for a long time. “Tell me—when?”

“Good. Tomorrow at 2 PM! Meet me outside the North Gate of Otto City!”

“You’re not choosing the Arena?” Ran Qi raised an eyebrow.

“Heh, the Arena? In your dreams.” Zhang Shuo sneered.

Arena PVP and wild PVP were completely different. Arena battles were considered friendly duels, where fights ended before death. But in wild PVP, dying three times would result in forced logout and a seven-day login restriction—not to mention the pain of death. Even though the game filtered out 50% of the pain, enduring the remaining 50% was no joke.

By choosing an open-world PVP fight, Zhang Shuo’s intentions were crystal clear.

“Fine. North Gate it is.” Ran Qi agreed without hesitation. “Now tell me your ID.”

Seeing how readily Ran Qi agreed, Zhang Shuo’s heart skipped a beat. Feeling wary, he said, “You just want to know my ID so you can set me up in advance, huh? Cut the crap—just be at the North Gate tomorrow at 2 PM sharp! Look for the guy in Slaughter Mode—that’s me!”

What a classic case of judging others by your own standards.

Ran Qi was speechless. “Alright, got it. If there’s nothing else, you can leave now.”

Since he had accomplished his goal, Zhang Shuo naturally had no reason to stay. But Ran Qi’s dismissive tone irritated him. Gritting his teeth, he added, “Don’t even think about running away! I already announced this on the school forum, and the PK battle will be live-streamed tomorrow! If you don’t show up, you’ll be a laughingstock in the entire school!”

Ran Qi was even more speechless now. Where did Zhang Shuo get the confidence that he would win? Was he actually planning to live-stream the fight? Was he afraid of only losing his dignity and decided to throw away his pride too?

Well, since this was his decision, Ran Qi wouldn’t be holding back.

“I could say the same to you.” Ran Qi’s tone was calm.

Zhang Shuo felt a surge of anger and nearly threw a punch at his face. But with campus surveillance cameras everywhere, he had no choice but to swallow his frustration.

“You’re all talk! Just wait till tomorrow—I’ll make you regret it!” With that, Zhang Shuo stormed off.

As they left, they ran into Gu Le, who had rushed over, worried about Ran Qi.

Gu Le was about to confront them, but Zhang Shuo didn’t even spare him a glance before leading his crew away.

“Ranran! Are you okay?” Gu Le asked, concerned. “What did he want?”

“I’m fine. He was here to challenge me.”

“Oh?” Gu Le’s expression turned complicated. “So he finally hit level 45?”

“Yeah.” Ran Qi smirked slightly. “Probably paid someone to carry him through dungeons.”

Now that the game had enabled star coin-to-gold exchanges, wealthy players could buy equipment or hire high-level players to boost them through dungeons. In just a few days, the overall leveling speed of players had skyrocketed.

Gu Le scoffed. “Figures. That guy only has money going for him.”

The last time they saw Zhang Shuo, he was barely past level 30. Now, after the exchange system had launched, he had somehow reached level 45 so quickly—there was no way he did it on his own.

“So, where and when is the fight?”

“Tomorrow at 2 PM, outside the North Gate of Otto City.”

“What?! He chose the wild?!” Gu Le frowned. “That bastard—he’s obviously up to something!”

“No worries. We’ll see who actually ends up losing.” Ran Qi’s voice carried a hint of mockery.

Hearing that, Gu Le’s lips curled into a mischievous grin. “Heh, you’re right. Now I’m actually looking forward to your PK match.”

“Alright, let’s get back online. We haven’t finished the dungeon yet.” Before Zhang Shuo showed up, Ran Qi and Night Owl’s team had been grinding a level 50 EXP dungeon. Since he had logged off mid-run to answer the door, he needed to hurry back and finish it.

“Got it! I’ll head back too!” Gu Le had only logged off to check on Ran Qi. Now that he was reassured, he hurried back as well.

At level 52, they only needed to clear five more EXP dungeons to reach level 53. Ran Qi wasn’t called the Number One Priest for nothing. Tomorrow, Zhang Shuo was in for one hell of a surprise.