Volume 1, Chapter 44: Spirit Turtle Set

"No wonder that fellow Toldt would rather die than hand over the Crimson Wave Crystal."

Having read the letter carefully from start to finish, Lin Yu roughly understood the ins and outs of Cui Jie's wrongful case.

It turned out that both Toldt and the former Cui Jie were originally members of the Willow Wind City garrison.

It was just that because Cui Jie was overly upright, he had offended Zhen Yuelin, a high-ranking official of Willow Wind City, during a mission, causing a grudge between the two.

Given Zhen Yuelin's status, getting rid of someone without power should have been extremely simple.

However, Cui Jie had an exceptionally good reputation in the military, and acting rashly might have provoked public criticism.

Therefore, Zhen Yuelin devised a plan to frame Cui Jie on charges of colluding with the demon race.

After all, colluding with the demon race was a grave crime, and no amount of prestige in the military could save him.

This letter clearly detailed the entire process of how Zhen Yuelin instigated Toldt to frame Cui Jie.

As for why Toldt had ended up in the Ten-Thousand Snake Valley, it was entirely because Zhen Yuelin, in order to silence him, also framed him for colluding with the demon race, forcing him to flee to this place.

Now, it also explained why he had sacrificed his skill.

"With this letter, although it might not necessarily save Cui Jie, at least there is a glimmer of hope."

Putsing the letter away safely, a flash of excitement crossed Lin Yu's eyes.

The old village chief had treated him extremely well, even bestowing upon him the ancestral family heirloom—a god-tier skill enhancement manual.

Therefore, he had to go all out regarding Cui Jie's matter.

He decided that after turning in the quest, he would first return to Novice Village 332 and hand this letter to the old village chief.

At the very least, it would allow the latter to see a glimmer of hope.

Having made up his mind, Lin Yu no longer wasted time. After allocating all fifteen newly gained free attribute points to attack, he embarked on the road back to the novice village.

...

Novice Village 331, Blacksmith Shop.

When Lin Yu returned, Blacksmith Li was still hammering away at his anvil.

It seemed that in his eyes, forging iron was the most important thing in the world.

"Blacksmith Li, I'm here to turn in the quest."

Lin Yu walked into the blacksmith shop, took out the Crimson Wave Crystal, and handed it to Blacksmith Li.

"I didn't expect you to actually pull it off."

Seeing this, Blacksmith Li quickly put down his tools, took the Crimson Wave Crystal in front of him, and after inspecting it for a moment, looked at Lin Yu with eyes full of shock.

Although he had learned from the server-wide announcements that the Ten-Thousand Snake King Toldt had been slain, seeing it with his own eyes still left his mood difficult to calm.

After all, Toldt was an existence that even he found quite tricky to deal with.

Yet Lin Yu, a level 9 adventurer, had actually accomplished it, which completely shattered his imagination.

"Just fulfilling my duty!"

Lin Yu merely smiled faintly, then looked at Blacksmith Li and asked expectantly, "I wonder about the reward?"

"Although I am not sure why this Crimson Wave Crystal has suffered damage, since you completed the quest, I naturally won't go back on my word."

Blacksmith Li rolled his eyes at Lin Yu; he, Li Youtian, was not a man who broke his promises.

With those words, he put away the Crimson Wave Crystal.

Then, the storage ring on his hand flashed slightly, and a set of dark green equipment instantly appeared in his palm.

"This set of equipment happens to meet the requirements you previously requested. It's called the Spirit Turtle Set. True to its name, it doesn't have many advantages, except for extremely high defense."

Handing the equipment over to Lin Yu, Blacksmith Li began to introduce the gear.

"The Spirit Turtle Set?"

Lin Yu was slightly stunned. Just hearing the name gave off a strong turtle vibe, and coupled with the entirely green color scheme, it truly lived up to its name.

Though it somehow felt a bit odd, Lin Yu didn't overthink it and accepted the set.

At the same time, the attributes of the Spirit Turtle Set appeared before his eyes.

[Spirit Turtle Set (Black Iron Equipment).
Effect 1: Attack Power +150.
Effect 2: Defense +520.
Effect 3: HP +1600.
Effect 4: Movement Speed +20%.
6-Piece Set Effect 1: Defense +1000.
8-Piece Set Effect 2: Spirit Turtle Shield: Activation grants a shield lasting 30 minutes equal to 300% of maximum defense, zero cost, cooldown 5h.]

"Hiss, truly a set focused entirely on defense."

After reading the attributes of the Spirit Turtle Set, Lin Yu couldn't help but smack his lips in satisfaction.

The defensive attributes provided by this set were enough to rival some Bronze-tier sets.

Of course, what satisfied Lin Yu the most was the Spirit Turtle Shield.

Being able to provide a shield worth 300% of his maximum defense was simply monstrous to Lin Yu.

One had to know that his current defense was already approaching seven thousand. 300% of that meant a shield value of over twenty thousand.

That was twice as high as his maximum health points!

Without any hesitation, Lin Yu equipped it right in front of Blacksmith Li.

The set was divided into eight parts: helmet, armor, weapon, leggings, boots, ring, belt, and necklace.

When Lin Yu put on the Spirit Turtle Set, the Blood Serpent Blade and Ghost Scorpion Boots he had previously equipped automatically dropped into his backpack.

Once equipped, Lin Yu opened his attribute panel.

[Nickname: Extreme Yu
Level: 10 (0/100)
Class: Warrior
HP: 12726/12726
Energy: 250/250
Attack: 1318
Magic Might: 10
Defense: 8057
Movement Speed: +20%
Skills:
Absolute Defense (Talent Skill, God-tier) Lv3: Proficiency: 850/200000.
Spring of Light (Passive Skill, SS-tier) Lv1: Proficiency: 0/10 (requires skill book to level up)
Resilient Will (Passive Skill, S-tier) Lv1: Proficiency: 0/10 (requires skill book to level up).
Taunt (Active Skill, SS-tier): Lv2: Proficiency: 0/50 (requires skill book to level up)
...
Warrior Mastery: Attack and Defense attributes increased by 5%.
Equipment: Spirit Turtle Set (Black Iron-tier Equipment)]

Under the augmentation of the Spirit Turtle Set, Lin Yu's current defense was extremely exaggerated, directly breaking the eight-thousand mark.

However, there was still some distance from his expected nine thousand.

Yet Lin Yu wasn't worried. On his way back, his Absolute Defense had already reached level 3.

Now, it increased his defense by 0.05 per second.

In other words, even if he did nothing, in less than six hours, his defense would break the nine-thousand milestone.

Additionally, his Taunt skill had now reached level 2 thanks to the skill book upgrade, and the taunt duration had increased from three minutes to seven minutes.

One could say that this trip to the Ten-Thousand Snake Valley had yielded him a bountiful harvest.

Now, he had even greater confidence in destroying the novice village.

"This equipment has great defense, but the attack power is just too low."

Looking at his attack power, which had dropped by nearly half, Lin Yu couldn't help but smack his lips with a sense of sentiment.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Yu decided to swap the Spirit Turtle Saber from the Spirit Turtle Set back out for the Blood Serpent Blade.

After all, with his current defense, it would be very difficult for anyone to break through it.

While the Spirit Turtle Shield was useful to him, it wasn't crucial.

What mattered more to him right now was undoubtedly attack power.

"Many thanks, Blacksmith Li." After swapping his equipment, Lin Yu looked at the opposite Blacksmith Li and smiled.

He was quite satisfied with this Spirit Turtle Set.

"This is what you earned."

Blacksmith Li waved his hand, then looked at Lin Yu with some curiosity and asked, "Right, adventurer, do you know why the Crimson Wave Crystal was damaged?"

Although the current Crimson Wave Crystal didn't affect his forging of Gold-tier equipment, he had always pursued perfection, so he was somewhat curious about it.

Hearing this, Lin Yu felt his heart skip a beat. Could Blacksmith Li have discovered something?

However, he quickly reacted, putting on a calm facade and smiling, "I'm not sure about that. It was already like this when I got it."

"Alright."

Knowing he wouldn't get anything out of Lin Yu, Blacksmith Li didn't pursue the matter further.

"Since that's the case, Blacksmith Li, I'll take my leave." Lin Yu hastily offered his farewells.

After all, if he stayed here any longer, he might give something away.

"Could the damage to the Crimson Wave Crystal be related to that kid?"

Until Lin Yu had walked far away, Blacksmith Li suddenly looked at Lin Yu's retreating back and muttered to himself.

Generally speaking, the material of the Crimson Wave Crystal should be extremely tough and shouldn't have been damaged.

Most importantly, based on his years of experience, he discovered that the damaged part looked as if something had been extracted from its center.