No one would be able to resist the temptation from 'old godma', even if it was this squirrel couple from the Alter World.
After all, the noble Zhou Shuren once said, "There's nothing a bottle of 'old godma' can't resolve. If there is one, just eat two bottles of 'old godma' then."
For this aspect, Xu Nan was still very confident. After all, 'old godma' dominated the Chinese food fare in American prisons.
What honey, what sea salt? The moment he heard that, it was like the living standards of people in the Alter World were at a very low level.
They urgently needed a genuinely kind and promising youth like Xu Nan to help them elevate their standards.
In truth, this bottle of 'old godma' was something he had stuffed into his bag in the passing during their meal earlier. After that, because too many incidents happened, he forgot to bring it back out. Now that he entered the Lost Paradise, he coincidentally brought it in.
Seeing that it was able to be of use, he also felt a little amazed.
A few minutes later.
The Smith couple were in deep discussion.
These two adorable squirrels shook their tails and mumbled in an unclear voice, "You passed."
After speaking, the two squirrels started to fight to see who could seize the bottle of 'old godma'.
At this moment, the hut's side door suddenly swung open.
Xu Nan smiled as he walked into it. He had long since guessed it.
Earlier, after the Smith couple appeared, he calmed down very quickly, guessing that they might be a part of the test to inherit this hut.
After all, he didn't encounter any monsters on his way here. Since that was the case, the test provided by Exxon for the later generations might have nothing to do with combat; it should be testing the other aspects instead.
For ordinary people, when facing the question posed by the Smith couple, they could only get 50% of the treasures left behind by Exxon.
However, Xu Nan passed the test with flying colors. This proved that Chinese food was still number one under the heavens!
…
The structure of Exxon's hut wasn't complicated.
After Xu Nan entered, the door automatically closed, and a table made of Chinese cedar slowly rose from below.
In the wooden hut, there were white candles everywhere. Although there were no electric lights, it was still extremely bright.
Slowly walking to the table, Xu Na could see a thin book on it. Some words were written in the common language on the cover.
[Gospel for the later generations]
Xu Nan's mind trembled.
What sort of gospel would a legendary warlock leave behind?
He impatiently sat on the chair and opened the book.
The first sentence in the book stunned him.
[The greatest mistake I've ever made in my life was to believe that evil fellow!']
[Dear junior, you must definitely remember an extremely important piece of knowledge. This is also the crux of this gospel!]
[Warlocks only need to put points in charm and intellect!]
[YOU MUST NEVER ADD POINTS TO STRENGTH AND CONSTITUTION!]
[YOU MUST NEVER ADD POINTS TO STRENGTH AND CONSTITUTION!]
[YOU MUST NEVER ADD POINTS TO STRENGTH AND CONSTITUTION!]
…
Xu Nan was flabbergasted.
He glanced at the high-end aura of the cover and the wondrous-looking fonts. At the start, the gospel gained the upper hand by a show of strength, and he initially thought that its content should be extremely important and valuable!
"I thought it was common sense that warlocks should only add points to charm and intellect?"
Xu Nan had a dumbfounded look on his face. However, he still continued to read it. For the majority of the content, this book was warning the later generations that to warlocks, strength and constitution weren't a necessity, and charm and intellect were the key!
So it turned out that…
When the legendary warlock named Exxon inherited the bloodline, there was a little slip-up. As he was adding points, he was at a loss regarding which stats he should add the points to.
Hence, he went to consult a drunk but extremely respectable archmage of good moral standing and reputation.
At that time, the archmage casually told him, "Oh warlocks? Add your points into strength and constitution. Your main weapon will be a magic staff. As for your secondary weapon, you can either use a sword or a saber! After that, you should max out the skills for close-combat. For example, cleave, military sword technique, forceful deflection, total annihilation, etc. As for magic, you just need to add a single point to the light spell to illuminate your surroundings, and you are good to go."
Exxon was so touched that he bowed with tears in his eyes. "Thank you, off I go then."
Many years later, Exxon became an extremely powerful legendary warlock. The first thing he did was to look for that archmage for revenge. As to the exact situation, Xu Nan had no idea what happened. From what Exxon had said, he had used a magic staff and slammed it down on the dog head of the archmage, exploding it.
However, even after taking revenge, Exxon was still very moody about adding points to the wrong stats.
If it wasn't because he had awakened another bloodline in his body, the giant dragon bloodline, and successfully changed his job to become truly suited for close-combat, he would have long died countless times in many of the close-combat fights he fought.
The awakening of the giant dragon bloodline caused intense conflicts with his pre-existing Ron Warlock bloodline. Exxon suffered a lot and had to experience many hardships before he managed to fuse the two. He then depended on the advantage of his fused bloodline and became a legend.
However, his miserable experiences during his youth made him feel that if a warlock added points to the wrong stats, it would be a fatal mistake.
This was why he wrote the meaningful and heartfelt words of his into a gospel.
Xu Nan was speechless.
"Isn't this the story of Gandalf from the [Lord of the Rings]...?"
Xu Nan sympathized with the early experiences of Exxon. He also felt that it was truly ball-breaking.
Luckily, at the last few pages of the gospel, there was still a simple introduction to the wealth he left behind on the first level of the Lost Paradise.
The inheritance he left behind could be divided into three portions. All of them were in the hut.
The first portion was a treasure chest and the gospel. These items were things Xu Nan could bring away now. They were the rewards for passing the Smith couple's test.
The second portion was two pieces of magical equipment. It was said that these equipment were the ones used by Exxon when he was young.
When Xu Nan read until here, he faintly felt a sense of unease. A warlock that added points to the wrong stats, what would the weapons he used during his youth be?
However, the words magical equipment still caused him to feel excited. After all, his only equipment was the ring he forged, so there was no need to mention genuine magical equipment and their attraction to him.
As for the third portion, it was a bloodline fruit.
For the treasures in the second and third portions, Xu Nan needed to pass the test left behind by Exxon before he could obtain them.
Xu Nan closed the gospel and glanced at the door to the second room. For now, he wasn't in a hurry.
He found the treasure chest at a corner of the hut and he opened it lightly.
The things in the treasure chest were a dazzling lineup that delighted the eye. Exxon's care for warlock juniors could be said to be extremely excellent.
Firstly, there was a palm-size storage pouch. It could be hung at the waist or hidden in his clothes. There was a five-foot space inside the pouch that could be used to store items.
This was also the first spatial-type item Xu Nan obtained. He carefully chanted the words on the storage pouch a few times, and he soon learned the method to control it.
Next, there were many thick bars of gold. Xu Nan pressed them with force and could confirm that these are gold bars of relatively high purity. They shouldn't be gold bars transformed from stone using the Midas spell that were used to fool juniors.
The third item was a small bag of pearls and gems. Although the number wasn't high, the variation was very comprehensive. There were sapphires, amethysts, rubies, king's tears, goddess's red silk, dragon eye stone… There was even an extremely high-quality azure heart!
Xu Nan reckoned that the value of this bag of gems should be the highest. In alchemy, these gems were important ingredients used to craft magical equipment.
Lastly, there was a wooden box with blank scrolls inside.
Xu Nan used his identification spell and discovered that the blank scrolls were made from the softest underbelly skin of wyverns. They were very suitable to use as materials for writing or copying something.
Boss Exxon was truly generous!
Xu Nan was silently thankful for the presents given by the senior. After that, he placed all the items into his storage pouch.
Next, it was time to probe the second portion of the treasures.
Xu Nan stood outside the door and breathed in deeply. He felt some trepidation as he pushed open the door to the room.
All of a sudden, a large farmland appeared before his eyes.
In the farmland, there were many strange holes that weren't that small. Xu Nan walked past them, feeling that this place was extremely dangerous.
Could it be that there was a monster that would leap out from these holes?
Xu Nan who cherished his life started to silently cast the shield spell and mage armor.
At the center of a field of pumpkins, he discovered a floating magical staff and a set of iron gloves.
There was a book made of sheepskin at his side.
[Test to obtain Staff of Innocence]
[The Staff of Innocence is one of my favorite weapons when I was young. It's very smooth to operate. Although close-combat isn't a specialty of warlocks, it isn't bad if you use it for self-defense. Speaking up until here, I have to remind you once again. Child, when you choose your secondary weapon, you must never choose a sword or a saber. The correct choice should be a short spear where you can toss over a long distance, etc. Even a slingshot is fine. Just never choose a sword or a saber—don't ask me why! Forget it...I'll tell you the truth. For young warlocks, they wouldn't be able to control the restlessness they feel in their bodies. If you have a sword or saber in your hand, you would frequently lose your rationality and rush into the pile of monsters to hack them in close-range. To a spellcaster, this is something extremely dangerous!]
[I'm sharing my painful experiences because I don't want you to become someone like me, one who lost a testicle tragically due to the excitement of fighting in close-combat…]
Xu Nan was dumbstruck as he read on.
[Back to the main topic. As long as you passed this test, you would be able to gain the Staff of Innocence, a weapon of self-protection. Do you see the pumpkin field? When you are done with your preparations, pumpkins would erupt forth. You have to wield the Staff of Innocence and attack these pumpkins. Your speed, accuracy, precision, and attack have to reach a certain standard before you can pass. Work hard, child!]
-- Exxon Romand --
Xu Nan read the sheepskin book a few times and cast his identification spell on the two weapons.
[Staff of Innocence]
[Grade: magic]
[Effect: When you wield the staff and attack the heads of your enemy, there's a 100% stun rate and 10% chance to explode their heads]
[Equipment requirements: Supreme Strength (20 points and above)/Warlock]
[Incantation: This is not intentional! (Reciting the incantation is not a must. But if you recite it while you attack, the chance of exploding heads will double)]
Xu Nan had a face filled with question marks. "This toy is a warlock's equipment?"
He then glanced at the iron gloves.
[Iron Glove]
[Grade: magic]
[Effect: Ignore the strength requirement for second-stage or lower warlock equipment]
[Effect 2: anti-magic]
Xu Nan instantly understood. This set of gloves must be something Exxon specially prepared for a fated junior. After all, other than him, how would there be any other warlocks that had Supreme Strength?
From his point of view, this set of gloves was very powerful. It could actually allow someone to ignore the strength requirement of an equipment. For this point, not only could he use it for the Staff of Innocence, but there might be other uses for it in the future.
As for the anti-magic effect, it was even more terrifying. This meant that Xu Nan had to properly consider when to equip the gloves and staff. If not, the consequences would be dire if he couldn't cast any spells.
He stretched his body, wore the gloves, and then took the heavy Staff of Innocence.
In the pumpkin field, a whistle suddenly rang out.
It was unknown when but the Smith couple suddenly appeared at the side of the field. The corners of their mouth still had stains from the spicy sauce.
A pumpkin suddenly blasted forth not far away from Xu Nan.
Xu Nan had a happy look on his face when he saw this. "Isn't this simply a game that's similar to whack-a-mole?"
"I can do this!"
After speaking, he lifted the staff, and violently smashed it down!
...