*Bang*
A sound of a gunshot reverberated in the surroundings for the tenth time while Allen was holding a screaming raccoon in his hand, lifting it up, not letting it escape.
The bullet escaped from the semi-automatic pistol pierced its forehead and ended its life.
As soon as it died, Allen threw it away, not paying attention to it any longer and then, went into scanning his surroundings again to find the next set of beasts for his master to hunt down. Because of deaths and huge sounds, the beasts nearby had long escaped.
<strong>*Ding! You completed the Daily Quest I. You received 10 credits as a reward.</strong>
"Big Brother, there's a group of creatures between 9 o'clock and 10 o'clock, 3231 meters away," Allen informed him after his scanning is finished.
Mark waved his hands, "Nah, we are done with today. Let's return."
Killing the beasts won't improve his stats either way. They can only be improved by either absorbing the ether energy from the ether crystals or from the rewards he acquires from the missions.
Of course, there's another way. It is by absorbing the natural energy from the surroundings and refine into his ether energy just like how the system did it for him but he doesn't know any technique to do that.
"I guess I have to find out to see if it is possible. I wonder how much it would cost if such a technique exist."
By the time Mark and Allen returned to the store, it was already morning and the public already started to swarm in the streets. So, he didn't bother to take a sleep and opened the store with new enthusiasm.
For a whole hour, the store didn't get any customers except for one who ran away as soon as he saw the prices on the instructions board. It disappointed Mark, a bit, making him blame his luck once again.
But, at around nine, a familiar-looking horse carriage entered the alley.
Mark, who was busy with creating 9mm bullets to complete another Daily Quest, was interrupted by the greetings of Allen.
"Welcome to Genesis, Lady Lin."
Mark raised his head to find Lin Xue at the entrance of the store. Along with her, there's the black-robed man who is still wondering how his spirit is being suppressed as soon as he stepped in.
"Is there some sort of Semi-Divine grade artifact?" He wondered for a moment before ruling out the possibility. "Nah, that's impossible. Even the Lin Clan had the possession of only one Semi-Divine Artifact. How this tiny store could have it? Hmm, maybe, there's a powerful spell placed on the store by some powerful expert."
While Yao Ling is still busy in his thoughts, Lin Xue expressed the intentions of her visit. "I want to challenge your servant, once again. Yesterday, I underestimated his strength and lost. Today, I won't. I want to see a clear winner between us. If he wins, 100 gold coins will be yours. If I win, then, you don't have to pay."
"100 gold coins?" Mark fell into thoughts.
When he first saw Lin Xue, early in the morning, he was indeed incredibly annoyed as he knew for sure that this girl isn't here for shopping. He even planned to refuse her challenge as soon as she said it but after she revealed the bet amount, he was tempted a bit.
Now, the only thing that he was waiting is to receive an Emergency Quest just like the previous day. Unfortunately for him, there's no such thing appeared. So, he fell silent, thinking of the pros and cons of this battle.
Mark realized that Lin Xue probably wanted to regain her face in the public. Maybe, without knowing, did this news already spread over to the entire city?
"Hmm, it might be possible considering she's like a top celebrity within the Empire. Then, how should I turn this into opportunity?" Mark started to think about it seriously.
Lin Xue was patiently waiting for his answer as Allen was neither giving any reaction to her challenger nor he was showing any expression to even guess his thoughts.
Once he formulated a plan in his head, Mark put his hands behind the back and spoke in his head, "System, Lock the target for Talent absorption."
<strong>*Ding! Target locked. Target has three luck points. Proceed to absorb?</strong>
"Uhh… only three. She's as unlucky as me?" Mark couldn't help but take another glimpse at Lin Xue and look at her in pity after reading the notification on the holographic screen.
"Why do I feel like he's planning something vicious? Was this greedy fellow is going to ask for more gold coins as a wager?" Lin Xue thought in her mind when her eyes met Mark's stare.
"Absorb." Mark then mumbled slowly in a low tone. He chose one point. The ring on his index finger started to glow.
He waited until the notification is heard and then, finally opened his mouth, "I agree to your challenge but only if change the wager. Instead of 100 gold coins, you have to buy weapons worth 200 gold coins. As for what type of weapons, they will be decided by me."
"Buy weapons?" Lin Xue's facial expression immediately changed for a moment. "I knew it. This guy is indeed greedy but why sell weapons when he can get them for free? It's even weirder how this guy emphasized that the selection of weapons won't be my choice too. Does he want to dump low-quality products?"
When she thought about it deeply, she only got a headache but she couldn't guess his intentions. Lin Xue decided not to think much as 100 gold coins or 200 gold coins, both are the same to her.
In the end, she agreed to his condition as for her, sleeping in peace is very important.
And that can't be achieved unless she beats him through swordsmanship.
"Okay, let's get to it?" Lin Xue turned around and was about to walk away.
"Wait." Mark stopped her before she gets out of the range. "I'm not finished yet."
As she turned around with a frown on her face, Mark spoke, "This is only my first condition.
My second condition is that there should be a time limit. I can't let my only employee spend his time sparring with you when I have a store to take care of."
"Fine, ten minutes, it is." Lin Xue felt it reasonable and was also confident in defeating him within that time. "I will accept defeat if he still stays conscious but he can't also run away to spend the time. So, I'm proposing an additional rule that neither of us can't get away more than ten meters from your store."
Mark never planned on doing that. So, he readily agreed to it and turned towards the Android while handing the gold-grade heavy sword. "Allen, no killing, no skills, and not giving a permanent injury, Understand?"
Allen saluted him as he took the sword, "Roger, Big Brother."
Both of them walked outside.
There's already a small crowd gathered outside as some of them recognized Lin Xue earlier and word spread in such a neighborhood very fast.
Allen was ready with her sword and Mark took out the old pocket watch that he had with him since childhood.
As the Lin clan heiress also took a gold grade sword from her storage ring, Mark who was standing at the entrance of the store spoke, "The time is now 7:21. The duel starts at 7:22 and ends at 7:32."
"Hmm?" Yao Ling's attention was stolen by the golden pocket watch for a moment. Staring at the serpent drawn around the clock dial, he thought, "I think I have seen this somewhere, probably in a clock store."
Meanwhile, Mark then stared at the watch. Nearly twenty seconds later, he announced, "let the duel begin."
Lin Xue didn't waste any time to charge forward this time, going into offense. Allen might not know sword techniques like her, but his analytic ability is off the charts and his reaction speed is almost equal to that of a six-circle realm expert.
Naturally, he was fast enough to dodge and counterattack. Due to her extraordinary reflexes, Lin Xue managed to dodge his counterattacks but every time, she tried to evade the attack, the blade gets slightly brushed off her skin, creating a small scratch.
After three minutes, Lin Xue's arms could be seen bleeding with a lot of scratches here and there and she started to lose her strength in her arms due to pain.