Time ticked away, second by second, as they waited.
Number Zero, under Li Xiuman's control, maintained its icy demeanor throughout.
It did not take long before the man who had taken the medicine to treat the wound rushed out, whispering something into Farah's ear.
Farah's expression instantly shifted from shock to excitement. He whipped his head toward Number Zero and asked, “Miss, may I ask where you obtained this magic potion?”
“No comment.”
“Miss, this is very important to us. Could you sell us more of this magic potion? We will pay the same price as before!” Farah adopted a posture that showed he was absolutely determined to get more of the bone powder.
Is the effect really that good?
Li Xiuman wondered as he watched Farah. He had not expected his own bone powder to be so effective. From the looks of it, if he ever became so poor that he had to resort to selling his own bone powder in the future, he could probably jack the price up even higher.
But given the current situation... he might even be able to take it a step further.
“This magic potion... is my family's secret brew,” Li Xiuman spoke.
“I see...” Farah stared at Number Zero's silver hair and crimson eyes.
She certainly did not look like she came from an ordinary background; she must belong to a rare race. It seemed perfectly normal for such a lineage to possess one or two ancestral recipes with unique properties.
Ordinary potions no longer had much of an effect on that sacrifice, yet the white powder they had just obtained from this woman was unexpectedly potent.
“A secret potion... Miss, do you know how to make it yourself?” Farah asked.
“Hmph. Naturally,” Number Zero answered proudly, crossing its arms.
As soon as he controlled Number Zero to strike this pose, Li Xiuman realized he had made a mistake.
Damn it, Number Zero's persona is supposed to be an icy beauty, not a tsundere. At a time like this, she should have just replied with a cold “Yes.”
Ultimately, his understanding of pretty girl characters was still too shallow. In the future, he had to cast aside his ego and study the nuances of the archetype more deeply. Li Xiuman engaged in some deep self-reflection.
“...”
Farah fell into deep thought for a moment. “Beautiful miss, I would like to hire you. Once we leave the dungeon, I am sure my employer, Viscount Fantes, would have great need for a talent like you.”
Li Xiuman adjusted Number Zero's posture; he could not afford to make any more mistakes. Personas were extremely delicate things; even the slightest slip-up could raise suspicions. If Number Zero accepted the offer, it would be easy for others to notice something was off if the persona cracked.
Aloof. He had to stay completely aloof.
Li Xiuman kept repeating the self-hypnosis to himself: I am a cold, icy, beautiful girl, I am a cold, icy, beautiful girl, I am...
“Miss?” Seeing that Number Zero had remained silent for quite a while, Farah prodded tentatively.
“The price?”
Number Zero's response allowed Farah to breathe a sigh of relief.
“How does ten gold coins a day sound? During this time, we will provide the materials, and you will be in charge of crafting the magic potions.”
Number Zero hesitated for a brief moment. Without saying a word, it simply gave a slight nod.
Infiltration successful!
Phase one of the plan was a complete success. All that was left now was to slowly win their trust. Plus, an extra ten gold coins a day in side income! Are they actually angels?
After controlling Number Zero for a while longer to ignore everyone who tried to chat it up and keeping it on the periphery of the party, successfully cementing its icy persona, Li Xiuman could finally rest easy leaving the control of Number Zero to its own hands. From here on, equipped with only “Yes,” “No,” and its alias, “Teri Zero Xiuman,” Number Zero should be more than capable of handling itself.
Three days later.
As expected, the volcano erupted.
After surviving numerous unexpected mishaps along the way, Li Xiuman finally managed to escape the volcanic crater. He had also figured out the quirks of the [Cursed Gold Coin].
The trigger rate of the [Cursed Gold Coin]'s curse was indeed very small. However, once triggered, the state of terrible luck would last for a full day. There was no way to get rid of the bad luck once the curse was triggered, but throwing the [Cursed Gold Coin] into his storage space at the moment of activation could effectively weaken its effects.
But as time passed, the bad luck would slowly intensify again. It was as if the Cursed Gold Coin was adapting to the environment of his storage space, continuing to torment him even from within.
“Trash coin! I will deal with you once I get out of here!” At that thought, Li Xiuman tightly gripped the coin and punched the stone wall beside him.
With a loud crash, the stone wall cracked open, and a massive amount of gold dust poured out of the hole. The glittering gold immediately buried Li Xiuman's feet.
With this volume, even if the purity wasn't high, melting and refining it would yield at least a thousand gold coins!
“...”
“Fine, I shall be the bigger skeleton and forgive you. I won't hold a grudge against a stupid coin like you.”
Bending down, he scooped up handful after handful of gold dust and stuffed it into his storage space.
Without weathering the storm, how can one see the rainbow? Li Xiuman understood this deeply at this moment.
The volcano was still erupting, completely submerging the 31st to 40th floors.
Originally, Li Xiuman had planned to wait until the volcanic eruption subsided before exploring further. But now that Number Zero had left the dungeon with that adventurer party, he decided it would be best to follow them just to prevent any accidents. Number Zero was very expensive; nothing could go wrong with it.
Furthermore, Li Xiuman now remembered exactly who Viscount Fantes was. He was the dangerous individual who had previously used Rorona to incite a monster riot on the twenty-something floors in an attempt to overthrow White Bear City. Later, Li Xiuman had even dug a tunnel and wiped out his entire nest of vampires.
He had always been on Li Xiuman's blacklist of dangerous figures. This time, he had hired such an adventurer party from outside White Bear City to transport something out of the dungeon. It might very well be another plot to overthrow White Bear City or something of the sort. Therefore, he had to keep his guard up.
“What just tripped me?!”
He lifted his foot to look. It was a massive gold nugget.
“...”
Could it be that once the [Cursed] effect wears off, the other effects get a boost?
He pried the gold nugget out and stuffed it into his storage space. He had accidentally stumbled into wealth again.
There was really nothing he could do about it. He was destined for riches; poverty simply wasn't in his cards.
...
The adventurer party that Number Zero had infiltrated was called the Labyrinth Sword. Hired by Viscount Fantes, they had ventured into the deeper levels of the dungeon to execute a mission.
During its time under cover, Number Zero's exquisite appearance attracted numerous pickup attempts from various party members. But they were destined to be disappointed. Courting a cow would have yielded better results, but Number Zero was fundamentally a stone. Their professions of love were destined to go unanswered.
They encountered several battles along the way, in which Number Zero made a few minor moves to showcase its swordsmanship. Having inherited the exact same swordsmanship and physical techniques as Li Xiuman from Ilu, its performance was naturally flawless.
This earned Number Zero even greater respect from the adventurers of the Labyrinth Sword.
Farah also hesitated slightly on whether he should introduce Number Zero to Viscount Fantes, or perhaps just recruit it directly into his own team. But ten gold coins a day... well, better introduce it to Viscount Fantes.
Rate on N.U.
