--- Birthday Gift

"The cost will be doubled for the servive. Are you sure?

"Yes!"

"Alright."

[Notice: An NPC was employed for continuous equipment level up. When the system determines that you do not have the required currency in your inventory, the continuous upgrade will be halted.]

*Clang!* *Clang!* *Tink!*...

'Oh? I hope not.'

Chris was in the Moon Empire capital's smithy. In front of him was a female master blacksmith, he employed to raise the level of the gift he was about to give. Even though the price was doubled, it didn't concern him that much.

*Clang!* *Clang!* *Tink!*...

A few minutes later...

"You're weapon has been successfully upgraded to level 100! That will be 10,500,000 Platinum Coins."

'Holy crap! That was from level 25. No wonder those top powerhouses have it hard leveling up their weapons, it's just too costly! And platinum coins are hard to come by especially the cheaper ones...'

The upgrade cost for leveling up an equipment from an NPC blacksmith was equivalent to the equipment's level in platinum coins. It doesn't mean that it will be an instant success, though, as there is less than 1% success rate.

That is why even the major powers have difficulty in improving their equipment. The good thing is that the equipment never breaks or falls off a level in the event of a failure. If not, these players might lose their minds.

There is also an alternative way to increase equipment levels and will never fail. This is by using a certain consumable item which can be found anywhere in the world randomly, it was extremely rare however.

"Thanks, here is the payment!"

"You're welcome! Here's your equipment."

-10,500,000 Platinum Coins

Chris did not hesitate to pay an exorbitant amount of coins, he already got into it, so he will take care of it until the end. He has so much of the stuff anyways and if he ran out and badly needed some, he can probably just raid an NPC nobility's treasury or provoke those top powerhouses. But he hopes that it doesn't come to that.

[You recieved 7,875,000 Platinum Coins back as a form of discount! (75%).]

He was about to leave the blacksmith shop, but was shocked by the system message he got.

"So it also works on that. If that's the case..."

Finding out that the discount also works that kind of service, he returned and employed the master smith once again to level up the other equipments that he will gift at some point inside his inventory.

He started with the level 50 heavenly twin swords then, the level 50 legendary heavy armor. But the upgrade stopped midway and the armor was given back to him.

"Here's your equipment! I ran out of materials so please come back later."

'Huh? This is only level 75. How come she ran out of materials?'

He got confused at what the smith said.

[Notice: You reached the equipment level upgrading limit of 200 from an NPC smith. Please come back in 2 months to use the service again.]

'So there's a limit!'

Overall, he paid a total of 6,500,000 platinum coins from all 200 leveling upgrades. If he didn't have a 75% Discount, he would have paid 4 times of that.

'I guess upgrading using my experience points is a much better way. Shame I can't use it now...'

Smiling wryly, he left the smithy.

[Light Jade Rabbit Egg(SS)^: Average Attack, Average Defence, Ultra High Speed, Very Low Regeneration, Super Dodge, Healing(Element Bonus), Land Based. ] (Hidden: Bathe the egg in Blessed Liquid Jade to increase rank.)

[Ultima(S)^Lvl.100^: One-handed Mace. +128,000 PAtk., +5% Crit., +10% Damage reduction. Add skill Bludgeoning and Encase.] (Hidden Omitted.)

[Bludgeoning: Each attack adds 20% chance of stunning the target for 5 seconds. If stun lands, adds 50% chance of bleeding, dealing 1%HP/second as damage for 10 seconds.(2% Stun Chance for .5 second and 25% bleed trigger rate, dealing 0.5%HP/second that lasts for 5 seconds on bosses.).]

[Encase: Upon activation, makes the user invulnerable for 15 seconds. Once over, adds 25% DMG. Reduction that lasts for 5 minutes.]

'She'll be a very powerful tank with these guys.'

He chose a divine rabbit egg as a reward inside the holiday gift box as he remembered that she loves bunnies and even had a fat fluffy one as a pet when she was young.

After admiring the stats, he sent his birthday gift to a certain pink-haired shorty. He also gave the hidden information for them.

[You sent 10K Spirit Stones, 10M Platinum Coins, Light Jade Rabbit Egg(SS), Ultima(S), Chromium Armor set(A), 10x Skillbooks(C-A) to you friend, Pink Mocha.]

'I owe you 10 years worth of birthday gifts. I hope you forgive me with this...'

He was sending coins as if he owned a mine for them. It was nothing to him; if he dedicated a month to grinding and farming, he could earn enough money to drain an empire's coffers. He might even disrupt Gaia's market.

"Ah! Since there is still time before the auction, I should see if there is a class trainer who can upgrade my class."

*******

*Sniff!* *Sniff!*

A girl with pink hair who looks to be around 14 years old is seen on the bed lying on her stomach in a room full of adorable bunny plush toys. She recently cried, so her eyes are a little wet.

Even with disheveled hair and reddened eyes, she doesn't lose any of her cuteness. Her name was Eri Soliel, the youngest daughter of one of the three dukes of Pegasus Empire. Yes, a Soliel. She's Hannah's cousin. She logged out a while ago and now just sulking and crying from time to time.

*Trit! Trit! Trit!*

Her phone rang and she opened it immediately.

[You recieved a mail with attachment from your friend, Despair. Hurry up and collect it!]

"Huh?"

Seeing the content, she immediately logged in.

[May you have an epic andventure...]

Just as she was about to check what's inside the mail, a hand comes to rest on top of her head.

"Eri, are you alright now?"

"B-big Sis..."

It was Hannah. She's been waiting for her for a while now.

"Geeez... You act too sentimentally. Simply being rejected caused you to start crying like a baby."

"..."

"Hehe... They even joke about you getting rejected by your crush after you confessed you know..."

"I-It's not like that!"

"Alright, alright. Let's go, you can just confess again when you thoroughly knew each other..."

"Big Siiiiis!"

*Chuckles!*

Upon leaving the room, she was greeted by her sisters and made fun of her, which annoyed her quite a bit. Then, she suddenly remembered why she logged in again.

"Ah! Lord Des sent me a mail with an attachment!"

"""..."""

"Hoh? Has your crush had a change of mind?"

***Chuckles!***

"Hmph! Please don't bully me anymore..."

"Hehe. Now go, let us see what the "attachment" is."

With a cute pout, she opened the mail. But she suddenly froze upon seeing the content of the mail.

"Eri? What's wrong?"

"Eri!"

"Eh?"

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"""..."""

"Actually, look..."

She put all the contents of the mail on the big table.

"""!!!"""

The rest of the girls were dumbfounded after seeing the items on the table. They didn't even know what to say until Eri broke the silence.

"Yaho! Yaho! I'm rich! I'm super rich! Yaho! Lord Des gave me a birthday gift. Yaho!"

She jumped around happily after seeing all the amazing stuff. Who won't? She just received an incredible gift after all. It was hers now. While the rest of the girls couldn't believe it.

"U-Unbelievable..."

"So much platinums..."

"Spirit Stones..."

"Skillbooks..."

"L-Look, an egg! Divine Ranked Pet Egg!"

***Gulp!***

"Oh my god!"

"E-even if you rob a bank, you won't even get this much..."

"""..."""

Just as everyone was shocked at the treasures spread on the table, Hannah just remembered something about what Eri said.

"Wait, wait, Eri, did you say birthday gift?"

"Huh? Yes, Lord Des greets me, happy birthday. And these are his gifts to me! Heeeheee~"

"How did he even know? Did you tell him?"

"Hm? No."

Everyone also realized it, and now they've started speculating about the man's motive. Eri didn't care about it and just admired all the gifts she recieved from her idol.

"Errr... maybe he saw little Eri's profile or something?"

"A Stalker?"

"Hey Sis Amy! Don't slander Lord Des like that!"

"Hehehe... just joking alright?"

Just as the rest of the girls were speculating and Eri was on the defense, Hannah started mumbling with a confused face. Miya, who was behind her, was frowning.

"Knows her birthday...rabbit...rabbit...i-it can't be..."

"You're highness?"

"Hey Miya, it can't be him right?"

"There's a possibility..."

Hannah remembered a certain person that could only be too generous on her cousin like that and knows about her love for bunnies. Aside from her male cousins, Eri's brothers, her father, and her grandpa, no other men know that. She can only think of a certain man.

"Ehehehe...I will have a Super Cute Bunny! Yay!"

***Sigh...***

"Whoa! Lord Des even wrote the upgrade requirements for the mace and the secret on how to rank the rank of the egg before it hatched!"

"W-what!? I understand if it's the mace, but for the pet? It's already got divine rank, you know?"

"D-does that mean..."

"Unbelievable!"

"""Haaaaah..."""

"Heeeheee~"

Everyone was dumbfounded once again. Even Hannah, who was a little far away, already had a slight hint of envy in her eyes. It will become a god class once the man's instructions are fulfilled.

While looking at Eri, Hannah mumbled something again that only Miya could hear. Dissatisfaction could be felt in it.

"Hmph! If it's really you, how come you only gave to Eri?"

'That's your problem!?' Said Miya in her mind while her mouth was twitching.

The pinkhead just had her best birthday ever, all thanks to a certain guy.

*******

After several hours of searching, Chris managed to find a person who could help him upgrade his class. His class was rare, and currently, he's the only one with it. Unlike regular class NPC trainers that stay in one spot, this NPC never stays in one place, much to his annoyance.

[Chase McRunner(A+) Lvl.100

(Stats Omitted) (Hidden: Required to have a Chaser class in order to start a conversation with him and start a class upgrade quest.).]

"Phew..."

'Yep, the name alone says it all...'

In front of him was a bearded, black-haired, middle-aged man in ordinary clothes. He looks just like any other NPC that you can see everywhere.

It took him nearly 8 hours of continuous searching while his observation was on non-stop, using it on every NPC he came across. This made him mentally exhausted.

"Good day, senior!"

"Good day? What so good about it!?"

"..."

'What a grumpy person. He must've gone to a gambling house and lost a lot of money.'

"My class is a Chaser and I'm wo-"

"I can see that!"

"..."

Just before he spoke, the class master cut it short, making him quite annoyed. He already had a tick mark on his forehead, but decided to just keep silent. He's not good at dealing with this type of person after all. Since it's come to this, he just decided to go straight to the point.

"Senior, please upgrade my class!"

"See? It's much better if you get to the point."

"..."

"There was a band of bandits near Crescent Moon City that terrorized the roads. Chase them all down and destroy them. Simple, right? Now, get out of my sight."

'Seriously, I want to punch this guy...'

[Ding! A Quest has been triggered!

Title: The Pursuer(S)

Description: Go to Crescent Moon City and look for the clues about the whereabouts of the Moonlight Raiders.

Reward: Job upgrade to Pursuer.]

After accepting the quest, he left immediately without looking back. Since the person is rude, why can't he? He's also going to postpone the quest for now, as the target city is extremely far, according to the guide. It will take him days of travel just to reach it.

And besides, the auction will start in a few minutes, so he has to rush to the nearest merchant association branch.