Chapter 033: The Little Mage in the Toad Suit

Old Fourth could never figure out why Lin Jia, who was terribly nearsighted, was so sensitive to those crumpled bills hidden among dust, in the corners, gutters, overgrown grass, or mixed with garbage and weeds. After all, he never saw Lin Jia walking with his head down, looking at the ground. Sometimes, as the two of them walked along, laughing and horsing around, Lin Jia would suddenly bend down for no apparent reason, and when he stood up, he would have a bill or two in his hand.

Lin Jia's luck seemed almost like a sixth sense, an instinct. Whenever money was around, he would subconsciously react, reaching down before even recognizing that the colorful wads of paper were actually currency. It was a mystery how someone with an 800-degree prescription—who couldn’t even see his own fingers without his glasses—could instantly distinguish the subtle patterns of a crumpled banknote.

Growing up together with Lin Jia, Old Fourth could only feel increasingly frustrated. Every day they went to school, came back, or hung out together, but he had never once spotted even a single dime on the ground! Sometimes, Lin Jia would even peel a nearly-shredded bill off the sole of Old Fourth’s shoe—how could anyone not cough up blood from sheer envy at that?

Lin Jia’s luck was not limited to finding money. This mysterious intuition would show up in other parts of life as well. An avid reader of martial arts novels since childhood, Lin Jia could walk and read at the same time, completely absorbed. Yet, whenever there was a tree or a vehicle in his path, he would inexplicably stop or swerve just half a foot before disaster struck. Old Fourth once saw a car suddenly speed out of a side alley toward Lin Jia, who was less than five meters away, crossing the street. Before Old Fourth could even shout a warning, Lin Jia’s outstretched right leg inexplicably drew back as he squatted down, eyes still on his book, to pick up a fifty-cent coin, slipping it into his pocket before standing up and continuing on. At that moment, the car’s tire could not have been more than twenty centimeters from Lin Jia’s crouched body!

After that, Old Fourth absolutely forbade Lin Jia from reading while walking, because the psychological pressure was just too much—he was afraid that one day his heart couldn’t take it and he’d die of a heart attack before his time.

Yet for all his luck—as if he’d fallen into a pile of dog dung—Lin Jia was an absolute disaster when it came to directions. Other than the routes he took daily, he would get lost anywhere. He avoided supermarkets and complex shopping districts because he couldn’t find his way out, and sometimes couldn’t even find the door back from the restroom.

Just a few days ago, Old Fourth and Lin Jia went to see Boss. As they walked along chatting, Lin Jia suddenly stopped and yanked Old Fourth backward. The very next instant, a flowerpot came whistling down from above, shattering less than a meter in front of them, spraying broken shards and soil everywhere, slicing up their bare legs. Dazed and shaken, they looked up to see a terrified six- or seven-year-old child on a fourth-floor balcony hastily ducking back inside.

Old Fourth began to suspect that their recent lucky streak in the game was also somehow tied to Lin Jia’s strange fortune. But even Lin Jia’s luck couldn’t possibly affect the server’s underlying code, right?

They watched helplessly as the Blue Jade Necklace and the mysterious Prayer Helmet vanished from the corner of the wall as the system refreshed. The three brothers could only collect themselves and press on, deeper into the second level of the Fragrant Stone Crypt.

Dense monsters were stacked before them like rows of wheat in a field. Lin Jia’s only regret was that his little mage didn’t yet have any area-of-effect spells. The power of Lightning Strike was formidable, but being a single-target, point-to-point attack, it was barely sufficient in the face of such overwhelming hordes.

Trapped in an “e”-shaped alcove by Rib, Boss, and Old Fourth, Lin Jia received several bundles of super magic potions Old Fourth had just sprinted back to buy. He glanced at the skill book lying in the corner of his inventory: Firewall. The official description read: “Creates a wall of fire on the ground, damaging enemies who step into it. The temperature is so high that affected creatures receive two to three times normal damage. The spell’s area of effect is 2x2. As training level increases, the firewall burns longer.”

Clearly a powerful area spell. Just the threefold damage and 2x2 range alone were enough to make Lin Jia drool. If he could throw a few of these persistent, area-damage spells into the monster horde, he’d watch his experience points soar. Unfortunately, this skill required level 24 to learn.

With a resigned sigh, Lin Jia continued to unleash Lightning Strike on the horde, held at bay by Boss, Old Fourth, and Rib outside the low wall. Once the zombie monsters were taken out, the creatures posed little threat. Since the monsters were so densely packed, the three brothers had to change tactics again. Instead of hit-and-run, they did what they’d done on the first floor—found the central “e”-shaped wall on the second level, formed a human barricade in the corner, and locked the precious little mage, Lin Jia, safely inside.

Here, the monsters were even denser than on the first floor, and the variety meant triple the experience and loot rates, including high-level monsters like Black Boars, Red Boars, and Scorpions. These often dropped powerful gear and exclusive “brand-name” equipment unavailable in the system store.

However, since their own gear was mostly made up of rare, overpowered items, their attributes were better than most professional set gear. So the three brothers ignored the brand-name sets, single-mindedly pursuing high stats to maximize combat effectiveness.

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(Trouble: Everything in this chapter actually happened in real life. If there are any similarities, it’s pure coincidence!

P.S.: After a few days’ effort, my book “Legend of the Mage” has finally broken into the top 12 of the New Books chart, just 1,500 points shy of the tenth spot! Once again, thank you to all the brothers who support “Legend”! Please keep it up and help push this book onto the New Books chart! I also hope that, like our protagonist Lin Jia, all of you will carry a huge, stinky lump of super-luck into 2008!

Honestly, I never expected this spur-of-the-moment book to have a shot at the New Books chart. At this pace, breaking in before 150,000 words is no problem! With so many big names on this round of the chart, these results have brought me close to tears.

Oh! Ka Mao! You rascals! Don’t hold back, swing those votes my way!)

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