I Ascend to the Divine Throne through Arcane Means

"What is this?"

Lis asked as he took the grey gloves passed over by Joyce, his voice laced with confusion.

The grey gloves seemed to be made from the fur of some creature, with a grey exterior that appeared to be swallowing the surrounding light, and they felt cool and silky to the touch,

He had realized that this was a piece of magic equipment, but for some reason, when Lis tried to infuse it with magic power, the gloves did not respond.

But soon, a prompt appeared before Lis's eyes.

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[You have acquired the equipment "Shadow Dragon Skin Gloves"]

[Equipment: "Shadow Dragon Skin Gloves"]

Tier: Gold Level

Introduction: Gloves made from the extremely precious neck skin of a Shadow Dragon. It seems that due to the maker's insufficient skills, the full power of the Shadow Dragon has not been utilized, but this still remains a considerably valuable piece of equipment.

Equipment Effect 1: +100 (50) to agility attribute, +50 (25) to mysterious attribute.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Equipment Effect 2: Your finger dexterity +30%.

Equipment Effect 3: When using skills related to the Shadow Plane, you receive a +2 priority in checks.

Equipment Effect 4: Durability (these gloves are made from special material and are extremely hard to damage).]

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"This was found on the assassin during the Sacrificial Festival,"

Joyce said indifferently,

"The material of these gloves is quite special, probably made from the fur of a creature from the Shadow Plane, which should aid you in using your shadow abilities."

Lis, looking at the gloves in his hands, finally understood how that assassin named "Blood Blade" was able to breach the King's Defense Array.

It was due to this equipment's buff to the "Shadow Jump" skill.

This effect was somewhat similar to that of Lis's "Shadow Crown," the assassin profession specialty, which provides a +3 to skills related to the Shadow Plane.

But it was clear that the effect of the "Shadow Crown" was stronger.

After trying on the gloves, Lis felt they were quite nice and even felt that his affinity with the Shadow Plane had improved.

However, since this was Gold Level equipment, Lis couldn't fully unleash its power; the numbers inside the bracket for Equipment Effect 1 were the actual attribute boosts he could obtain now.

After trying them out, Lis stored the gloves away.

"Thank you, Uncle Joyce. I really like these gloves."

"Hmm, be careful out there,"

Without much ado, Joyce nodded and advised Lis.

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Having decided to leave Bright City to gain experience, Lis no longer delayed and immediately began preparations for his adventure.

In Gaia World, most regions are sparsely populated, and the distances between towns are quite vast for an ordinary person; furthermore, the journey could involve encounters with various Magic Beasts and Extraordinary Creatures, so commoners rarely ever leave the city of their birth.

This situation has led to a feudal system being the dominant form of government in Human Kingdoms, where a vast array of Lord Nobles assist the Kingdom in governing its expansive territories.

Even in this era, there were people who were constantly on the move, and these were the Guild caravans.

The circulation of goods in different regions of the Fanor Continent was mainly built upon the efforts of these traveling merchants.

Of course, it wasn't that the merchants enjoyed braving various dangers to travel afar; it was all for the sake of the high profits.

To give an example, even merchant traders from Feis Kingdom's neighboring Boditch Kingdom could earn several times the profit just by transporting various common fish from the coast to Bright City via special preservation methods, not to mention luxury goods like pearls and corals.

Currently, most merchant caravans were organized by large Guilds, which hired enough mercenaries to guard the caravans.

They also accepted the addition of individual travelers, who could join for a corresponding fee to share the costs.

Lis naturally didn't need to personally look for a caravan to join, as Mora had already taken care of the arrangements with his preliminary network of contacts and intelligence.

A merchant group from Feis Guild was soon to set off from Bright City to Viscount Oraya's territory in the Northern Kingdom. Their final stop was not far from Luoxue Mountain Range, so Lis could travel with the caravan for the initial part of his journey, sparing him from worrying about many trivial matters.

Although Lis opted to venture out to gain experience, the central core area of the Royal Capital, where the Kingdom's strength was strongest, lacked sufficiently powerful Extraordinary Creatures, therefore offering little in terms of training effectiveness and significance for Lis. It was more practical to sit in a carriage and travel with the caravan.

On the carriage, he could also free up time to study the arcane, making full use of his time.

As for supplies, Lis had the White Dove Chamber of Commerce prepare them for him; one had to admit that, as the White Dove Guild gradually matured and began to operate formally, its potential for growth was increasingly unfolding.

Leveraging Lis's influence, Mora had progressively built up the White Dove Guild's business network in Bright City, and the players that Lis had in mind to recruit played a huge role in this process.

The Guild's managers were astonished that these people had such exceptionally high work enthusiasm and could handle all kinds of tough and tiring jobs with impressive efficiency.

For instance, the players had cleared all the ruins of Mingzhu Street, which Lis purchased from the Kingdom, in just a few days.

Aside from sometimes behaving oddly and speaking in incomprehensible terms, these individuals were simply the best workforce.

However, Lis knew that this situation wouldn't last long. After all, the players were here to play a game. At the beginning, they would patiently complete tasks set by the White Dove Chamber of Commerce to accumulate experience. But later, those tasks with not enough Experience Points would no longer attract them.

Lis wasn't too worried though; by then, it would be the time of version 3.0, with most players having advanced to Silver Rank.

By that time, of course, Lis would have many more methods to maintain the players' interest.

Special costumes, exclusive titles, higher-end Magic Items and potions, etc.

As a professional gamer, Lis knew quite well what could attract players; after all, in his previous life, there were many players who paid him to acquire these items, so he clearly understood what would appeal to them.

The current players were just budding "leeks," and there was still a long time before they could be truly useful. Lis was not in a hurry; after all, he had plenty of time.

After White Dove Chamber of Commerce had placed the replenished supplies in the storage ring, Lis made sure to prepare plenty of useful and less useful items for this experience-gaining trip, even bringing an extra storage ring.

After all, Lis was no ascetic; why not make preparations to make himself more comfortable?

He also updated the Memory Ball he had obtained previously to the White Dove Chamber of Commerce's power panel, ensuring he wouldn't have to worry about being unable to harvest experience from players after leaving Bright City.

Next...

Lis was ready to head to the First Magic Workshop.