Chapter 72: The Blade of a Single Leaf

The Moon Fox couldn't take it anymore and coughed, "Enough, you two! This is a competition arena, not a place for you to flirt! If you're not here to compete, then get out!"

When she heard the words "flirt," Ye Zhiyan, despite her heartbreak, felt a trace of sweetness in her chest, even feeling a bit grateful to have lost, as it drew Chen Mo’s sympathy.

Chen Mo gently stroked Ye Zhiyan's hair. "Alright, don't cry. Next, however you were defeated just now, I’ll help you win it back!"

Chen Mo raised his voice, "Instructor! I want to challenge Zhong Lin'er!"

Immediately, several of Zhong Lin'er's admirers erupted, "Despicable! Shameless! You're making our beautiful goddess fight a gauntlet!"

"That's right! Aren't you embarrassed? You didn't go first but let a girl go instead, deliberately exhausting Zhong Lin'er's strength and mana, then you jump in yourself!"

"Enough, everyone!" The instructor Moon Fox shouted angrily. "Rest assured, to ensure absolute fairness, those who are challenged repeatedly will be given time to rest! The match between Chen Mo and Zhong Lin'er will be postponed for one hour. Zhong Lin'er can fully recover her strength and mana first. Is there anyone else from Class F who wishes to challenge upperclassmen?"

Not a single student from Class F stepped forward. Having witnessed the battle between Ye Zhiyan and Zhong Lin'er, most had given up. They had only just mastered the basic skills, barely able to cast spells. Compared to Zhong Lin'er’s advanced techniques like compression splitting, they knew they stood no chance.

Next, dozens from Class D rose to challenge Class C!

The battles were fierce and eye-opening for Chen Mo. He even felt that, relying solely on the Little Prince’s attributes and skills, he might not even be able to defeat Class C, to say nothing of the top student in Class B!

While the battle between Class D and Class C raged, Chen Mo opened the Evolution Forum.

He entered the trading section, seeking a melee weapon suitable for a mage. As for the Vampire Set, he definitely couldn’t use it—Instructor Moon Fox would recognize it immediately. The S-rank skill, Crystal Skin, was even more impossible; using it would expose him as the Demon King to the entire world!

In these turbulent times, Chen Mo wasn’t naive enough to think he could take on the world alone. Forget about nuclear bombs—even a single Patriot missile could easily take him out.

Never underestimate modern weaponry; at least for now, it still reigns supreme. That’s also why the Zizi Legion’s guild hid deep in the mountains and forests—only there do tanks, planes, and missiles have trouble reaching them.

Chen Mo scrolled through the trading section’s equipment. Most of it was ordinary E-grade gear, with only about a thousand pieces of D-grade equipment, and just a few dozen C-grade items, each costing over a hundred million!

With the Little Prince’s resources, he couldn’t afford C-grade gear, and the five available were useless for a mage anyway.

Chen Mo kept searching, flipping page after page; finally, on page 195, he found a C-grade item.

[Magic Gauntlets]
[Quality: D-grade Superior Equipment]
[Attribute: Magic Power +1. After equipping, magic damage is reduced by 50%.]
[Price: 5,000,000]

The price wasn’t high—just five million! Considering there were only about a thousand D-grade items worldwide, and even the cheapest went for tens of millions, this was a steal.

Chen Mo opened the comments below the listing; almost all were complaints.

#What the hell, this item is cursed! Magic Power +1? It’s worse than beginner equipment!#
#Don’t buy it! I spent everything I had, ten million, and it’s useless! With it on, my Fireball’s power was halved!#
#This is a trap for fools—only idiots would buy it.#
#Not necessarily. I heard that if a mage injects mana into these gauntlets, they can deal 50% of their magic damage in melee.#
#That’s crazy! I’m a mage, why would I go melee? My Fireball costs 100 mana for 200 damage; now I’d use 100 mana for 100 damage, and probably miss. What’s the point?#

After browsing through dozens of comments, Chen Mo smiled knowingly.

He understood why everyone despised the item: it was simply too counterintuitive, forcing a mage into melee with halved damage. Why not just be a warrior instead? No one bought it, and those who did quickly sold it off after testing.

But for Chen Mo, it was perfect!

He had studied Jeet Kune Do for a month, mastering it so well that even Grandmaster Feng Mingguang praised him, saying he had nothing left to teach.

However, with the Little Prince’s frail physique, using Jeet Kune Do in combat would be suicide—a warrior’s sword or a mage’s spells would end him instantly. But with the Magic Gauntlets, everything changed. He could deal melee magic damage. Imagine a mage unleashing a set of Jeet Kune Do moves in close combat—wouldn’t that be a surprise?

Buy! Chen Mo didn’t hesitate for a second.

He casually took twenty E-grade items left by the Shadow Warriors from his storage. The market price for E-grade gear was about half a million each; Chen Mo listed them at 400,000 apiece. The moment they hit the market, they sold out instantly, showing just how many people were watching the trading platform.

Many lacked talent in dungeon challenges but excelled at business. They entered the Evolution Sphere maybe once a week to maintain their Zizi energy, spending most of their time tracking market prices, buying low and selling high—more profitable than stocks!

[Confirm purchase of equipment—Magic Gauntlets?]
[Confirm]

Chen Mo touched the Zizi display.

[500 million deducted automatically. Purchase successful. Item has been transferred to your storage space. Please check.]

The Zizi system was impressive, able to teleport equipment from anywhere in the world instantly to the buyer’s storage—a technology at least a thousand years ahead of Earth.

Looking at the Magic Gauntlets lying quietly in his storage, Chen Mo was filled with confidence for the upcoming promotion match.

"Congratulations to Class D’s Ding Yan for a successful challenge and promotion to Class C!" Moon Fox’s voice rang out in the arena.

Ding Yan flicked his center-parted hair with a flourish. "Hmph. Don’t be upset, rookies. Being defeated by Grandpa Ding is your good fortune!"

Moon Fox continued, "We have confirmed that Class D’s Zhong Lin’er has fully recovered her strength and mana. Now, please welcome Chen Mo from Class F, who is here to challenge Zhong Lin’er from Class D!"