However, to Shangguan Bing Xue's surprise, Bai Zemin did not have much reaction.
"Okay." He nodded calmly and easily put down the Rejection Ring on the table to indicate that she should take it.
Actually, Shangguan Bing Xue really wanted those two rings. After all, she did not possess a Rejection Ring that granted such a powerful defense-attack skill, and the Water Animation Ring had given her many ideas to use alongside her Second Order Ice Maker skill.
However, if Bai Zemin really wanted one of them or if she noticed some hesitation in his expression that exposed his need for one of these rings, she most likely would have let him have it.
But seeing that he didn't seem too interested in any of these two treasures, she felt no regret as she took them for herself and immediately equipped them. Her perfect fingers gained two extra decorations, now totaling four of them.
"That leaves two necklaces and one bracelet." Bai Zemin reminded as he looked at the three items on the table and pointed, "As per our agreement, you can choose one more at will regardless of whether it is the best."
In reality, Bai Zemin was extremely clear that he was taking the big side in this deal. However, since he had forged equipment for her in the past, he didn't feel bad about it too.
Shangguan Bing Xue nodded and carefully scanned the three accessory-type treasures one by one.
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[Empowering Necklace (Magic grade treasure): Increases Health, Stamina, Agility, and Strength by +15 points when equipped automatically. It has the ability to increase Health, Stamina, Agility, and Strength by +100 points for a short period of time depending on the user's Magic stat where 100 points are equivalent to 2 minutes of effect. As a side effect, the user will suffer a stat loss of 20% for 6 hours when the boosting effect is over. It has a cooldown time of 24 hours.]
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[Binding Bracelet (Magic Grade Treasure) Increases Strength by +15 and Stamina by +15 points. Possesses the ability to bind an enemy to the ground to prevent them from jumping, flying, or teleporting. It also greatly decreases the movement speed of the affected enemy in case of fighting on the ground. The power of the effect depends on the user's magic power and Magic stat. It consumes 1 Mana point for every 30 seconds it is active and after deactivating the effect it goes into cooldown for 12 hours.]
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[Anti-Magic Necklace (Magic Grade Treasure) Decreases Magic stat by -10 and increases Strength and Agility stats by +20. Grants to the user the ability to block a magic attack that exceeds its current strength or block up to 10 magic spells of equal magnitude of power to that of the user, being the amount of lower magic spells that the necklace can block after releasing a powerful anti-magic barrier around the user equal to 100. The anti-magic barrier has a cooldown time of 24 hours after its destruction or disappearance.]
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After studying the remaining three treasures, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue remained silent for a few minutes. In their heads, they were both trying to imagine different scenarios, possibilities, and ways in which they could apply the power of the treasures before them.
"As expected of a Magic grade treasure." Bai Zemin sighed and shook his head.
Although he had already encountered powerful Epic grade treasures, the power of Magic grade treasures still did not cease to amaze him.
Shangguan Bing Xue nodded and said with seriousness in her melodious voice: "A single one of these treasures has the capacity to change the outcome of a battle by itself. The real limit lies in the imagination and wit of the one who equipped them."
The value of these treasures could not simply be described in words. Were it not for the fact that Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue could be considered close to each other and were it not for the fact that they both needed each other for different reasons, there was a high probability that they were both plotting against the other.
Human greed was always insatiable. Much less when it came to coveting real power, a power capable of granting the ability to decide who lives or who dies.
"So? You've made up your mind?" Bai Zemin asked calmly and leaned back, resting comfortably.
Shangguan Bing Xue frowned her pretty eyebrow slightly and did not answer right away. Instead, she looked at the three treasures again and took several minutes to carefully contemplate which one to choose from them.
Bai Zemin did not press her to hurry. After all, this was a really important decision that no one would want to mess up.
About 5 minutes later, Shangguan Bing Xue finally seemed to have made her decision as she unhesitatingly stretched her small hand forward and picked up a treasure.
"...Are you sure you want that one?" Bai Zemin asked with a raised eyebrow as he saw the option she had chosen.
"I'll take this one." Shangguan Bing Xue nodded and took off the old Rare grade treasure necklace she was using before finally equipping the Magic grade Empowering Necklace.
"That's a choice I didn't expect, to be honest." Bai Zemin gave her a puzzled look.
From his point of view, while the Empowering Necklace bestowed a great impulse of power momentarily, the consequence of losing 20% of all stats for 6 hours was incredibly severe. If one finished a combat and then lost 20% of one's total power and was taken by surprise by an enemy; then it was highly probable that day would mark one's death.
Therefore, while it was tempting as the Empowering Necklace was undoubtedly the one that granted the most amount of explosive power, Bai Zemin believed that a woman like Shangguan Bing Xue who aspired to slowly exhaust her enemies and aspired more for mass control would choose something else different.
"It's okay, I have my own ideas and reasons." She casually replied and put away the necklace she had just taken off.
The real reason she made such a gambled decision was that she really needed that big power boost. The amount of overall strength that the Empowering Necklace bestowed was precisely what Shangguan Bing Xue was looking for right now.
Seeing that she did not say much about the matter but seemed extremely firm in her decision when she looked at him, Bai Zemin did not say much more about it and silently took the other two accessories for himself.
The first thing Bai Zemin did was to equip the Binding Bracelet to his left wrist right away since on his right was the Earth Bracelet.
The next thing he did was to remove the Hurricane Necklace, exchanging it for the Anti-Magic Necklace.
In a matter of seconds, Bai Zemin lost 20 Magic points. However, in exchange, he gained 35 Strength points, 15 Stamina points, and 20 Agility points.
In addition, the Hurricane Necklace had the whirlwind skill that Bai Zemin never used except to cast his Crimson Blood Judgment skill since it was his only source of wind power until now. On the other hand, the skill of the Anti-Magic Necklace was much more useful to him in combat so it was better for him to wear it at all times.
Of course, Bai Zemin was not going to get rid of the Hurricane Necklace as he would need it when he was forced to use Crimson Blood Judgment again.
Bai Zemin looked at the greenish necklace in his hands and thought he better start gathering defensive equipment for the time when he finds his loved ones. As he raised his head and looked at Shangguan Bing Xue, he noticed that she was looking at the necklace in her hands and realized that perhaps she was having the same thoughts as he was. After all, he had no doubt that she did love her mother tremendously.
"I'll go see Lu Xiaoyao." Bai Zemin stood up and announced.
"Okay." Shangguan Bing Xue also stood up and commented on her plan, "I'll go check how things ended yesterday with Fu Xuefeng and Nangong Yi."
Hearing this, Bai Zemin's eyes flashed coldly.
"There's no need to leave survivors in case they caught those who caused trouble."
Since these people were scum enough to cause trouble inside the base but did not have the courage to come out to fight, then Bai Zemin would not be considerate to them regardless of gender or age.
Shangguan Bing Xue frowned slightly and said calmly, "Wouldn't it be better to just enslave them and force them to work for us?"
"No need." Bai Zemin shook his head and walked towards the exit as he said firmly, "I'd rather invest the food we get to pay for other survivors willing to work than waste valuable resources feeding scum who are no longer worthy of even calling themselves human. Remember, I don't care if it's male or female, adult or child; they don't need to live anymore."
Shangguan Bing Xue watched his back disappear beyond the corridor and sighed. Since the lord had spoken, there was little she could do.
In fact, if it were someone else who contradicted him they probably would have received a slap in the face. The only reason Bai Zemin took the trouble and time to explain the reasons for his decision was solely and exclusively because she was she.
Soon, Shangguan Bing Xue departed as did Bai Zemin and the village was left in the hands of the maidens. None of these maidens were frightened at all as during the last few days they realized how powerful their new lord was.
Even without direct protection, the slightest trouble would alert Bai Zemin and in a second he would be able to put out the flames.
* * *
Sitting in the living room of Lu Yan's mansion, Bai Zemin was dressed in comfortable clothes while casually enjoying a cup of tea that a beautiful middle-aged maiden had served him moments ago.
Opposite him, Lu Xiaoyao was wearing a nice professional woman's uniform and was currently finishing some documents. It was obvious from the dark circles under her bloodshot eyes that the young beauty had not had enough sleep the night before when she had to get to work.
Seeing that she was not complaining and was working diligently, Bai Zemin nodded secretly and was relieved to leave such an important position like this to the young girl in front of him. It was obvious that Shangguan Bing Xue had not delegated the position of logistics team leader to Lu Xiaoyao casually, but had noticed the young woman's rapid speed of maturity.
Approximately forty minutes later, Lu Xiaoyao finally put down the last document and stacked everything neatly in a folder.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting, leader." She said in an exhausted voice.
Bai Zemin looked at her and shook his head, "Don't worry. Instead, tell me what you have there."
"Yes." Lu Xiaoyao nodded and while looking at the summarized document in her hands she started, "In last night's battle against the mutant beasts that came out of the forest, over 160,000 rounds of ammunition were consumed. This caused the supply of bullets that was supposed to last for about half a month to plummet, and according to the reports I received from the logistics team, I'm afraid we will barely be able to last another three days."
Bai Zemin frowned as he heard this. But Lu Xiaoyao was not finished yet.
"These three days will only be possible if the surrounding zombie and beast attacks will not exceed the number of 500 per day. Otherwise, I'm afraid that number will only decrease even more."
"... Continue." He nodded without commenting. In his mind, he was already looking for countermeasures, but he didn't have to think about it too much since the only obvious solution was clear for anyone to see.
"Yes." Lu Xiaoyao nodded and observed his face for a moment before looking at the papers in her hands again. "Last night, Mr. Fu Xuefeng and Mr. Nangong Yi along with a team of approximately two dozen soul evolvers killed a total of 34 survivors who were causing chaos while the troop was fighting on the front lines. In addition, 12 more were imprisoned of which 8 of them are children whose age is barely approaching their 15..."
Saying that, she looked at Bai Zemin to observe his reaction. After all, she knew that he seemed to have a certain weakness for young people.
However, Bai Zemin's cold expression did not change at all and he said indifferently, "Continue."
He had already given Shangguan Bing Xue orders. He believed that she would pass his words soon.
It was true that the fact that he as an older brother and the memories of his sister when she was still little made Bai Zemin much more lax and kind to the younger ones, however, if they thought that because of that they could go over his head then they were terribly mistaken.
Lu Xiaoyao took a deep breath and said nothing. She simply nodded firmly and continued while hardening her heart.
* * * * * * *
Thank you very much to everyone who voted for Blood Warlock with their Golden Tickets! <3