Chapter 080: Would You Wear the Green Hat?

Rushing into the second floor of the Stone Tomb, Lin Jia ran wildly without any sense of direction. The eldest and the fourth chased after him furiously, but whether it was due to internet speed or the natural swiftness of mages compared to priests and warriors, they simply couldn’t catch up with Lin Jia. Finally, the eldest couldn’t take it anymore and shouted, “Hey, bird! Stop running! If you keep going, you’ll end up in America!”

Only then did Lin Jia stop. Glancing at the screen, he saw nothing but darkness. He suddenly remembered he hadn’t even equipped a candle, so he slapped one on with a silly grin and wiped the sweat from his brow, laughing, “Damn! This game is insanely thrilling. If anyone with a heart condition plays and gets a top-tier item, they’ll surely end up with a myocardial infarction!”

The fourth laughed as well, “Yeah! This is what makes it fun! No other online game I’ve played has ever been so exciting! It’s really a rush! Quick, see if you picked anything up!”

Lin Jia responded and pressed F9 to open his inventory, carefully searching through his crammed pack. He had brought a fair amount of potions, some life-saving sun water, and the gear he picked up during the brawl—rings, necklaces, bracelets, and even, by accident, two talismans for priests and a pack of poison. His forty slots were stuffed with all sorts of light-weight items; otherwise, his level-22 little mage would never have managed the burden.

Eight slots per row, five rows, forty slots—Lin Jia quickly scanned through everything, but he didn’t find the green helmet. His heart sank. Had he failed to pick it up earlier?

The disappointment hit Lin Jia hard. After all that effort and a near-death fright, he hadn’t even managed to pick up the prize. Wasn’t this just cruel?

Seeing Lin Jia sighing with a troubled face, the eldest and the fourth asked anxiously, “Didn’t find it?”

Lin Jia slumped back on the sofa, moving aside to let them see the screen. Their heads bobbed back and forth in front of it like a pair of horns, and finally, the fourth said, “Damn! All that excitement for nothing! I thought you’d gotten it!”

Lin Jia replied mournfully, “How was I supposed to know? It was so dangerous at the time. If I hadn’t acted fast, I’d have died right then…”

The eldest comforted him, “Forget it! If we’d picked it up, it would’ve been our luck. If not, we didn’t lose anything! Let’s level up, let’s level up! We’re all so red now! Who knows how long it’ll take to get back to white! Let’s train! I noticed a lot of people are ahead of us now!”

Lin Jia could only sigh and began clearing out his inventory, tossing out some talismans, poison packs, and other odds and ends for the eldest to pick up. But when Lin Jia moved his mouse to remove a poison pack and drop it on the ground, he was surprised to discover a powerful healing potion suddenly appeared in that slot!

Now that was odd! Once an item was removed, the slot should be empty—how could another potion pop up? It was simply bizarre. Besides, Lin Jia’s mage didn’t need powerful healing potions; medium ones were more than enough to restore his health, so this potion must have been accidentally picked up during the chaos.

Not convinced, Lin Jia tried again, pulling out the powerful healing potion and dropping it, only for a blue crystal ring to appear in the slot. After removing that, a random teleport scroll popped up!

This was turning into quite the game! Was it not going to end? When he finally took out the random scroll, a delicate emerald green helmet appeared!

Prayer Helmet: Weight 2, Durability 8, Defense 3-4, Magic Defense 1-2.

“Wow! I got the helmet! I didn’t see it earlier! Look, look! These stats are amazing!” Lin Jia exclaimed, “And it’s so light—only two points! I can wear it!” The fourth and the eldest, hearing this, eagerly crowded around to take a look.

After some investigation, Lin Jia finally realized the reason he could keep pulling items out of full slots was because the six quick slots on the chat bar counted as part of the inventory. As long as the weight limit allowed, if the pack was full, players could still pick up items from the ground, but the items wouldn’t show in the pack or quick slots—they were hidden in those six quick slots. Lin Jia had just used up six potions and a random scroll from the quick slots, so it was no wonder he unknowingly picked up the helmet.

Delighted, Lin Jia equipped the extremely light Prayer Helmet onto his little mage’s head and basked in the joy for a while. Due to weight limitations, he hadn’t worn any helmets from level ten up to now, and after putting on the level-22 class gear, his burden was even higher. To wear the Prayer Helmet, he had to remove his candle, leaving not a single extra point of carrying capacity.

The candle, worn in the slot below the necklace in the equipment bar, also counted for one point of weight. Luckily, the three brothers always played together, so even without the candle, Lin Jia’s visibility wasn’t too badly affected.

“Damn! The stats on this helmet are awesome! It’s even better than my Skull Helmet for defense! And it’s so light! Must be designed for mages!” the fourth marveled.

Lin Jia was equally amazed, “So the Prayer Helmet has such good stats? I remember we once got one when fighting monsters in the corner, didn’t we? Damn! Too bad we couldn’t pick it up from the wall! What a pity!” Lin Jia lamented the Prayer Helmet they’d once dropped but couldn’t retrieve.

“Yes! At least we didn’t know how good its stats were back then! Otherwise, we’d have been sick with regret!” The eldest looked enviously at the Prayer Helmet on Lin Jia’s head. Its stats surpassed the Skull Helmet, suitable for all three classes, so of course he was jealous. But since its weight was so low, the eldest decided to let Lin Jia keep the emerald green helmet.

“By the way! Why does it look so odd with Second wearing the helmet?” The eldest stared quizzically at Lin Jia’s equipment bar on his screen.

“What’s weird about it?” Lin Jia paused, checked his equipment bar, then laughed, “Yeah, it’s pretty ugly! Like a slice of watermelon rind! Wearing it makes my mage’s head look tiny!”

The eldest pouted, “That’s not what I meant… I’m talking about the color…”

“The color?” Lin Jia and the fourth both paused, peering suspiciously at the emerald green Prayer Helmet. “There’s nothing odd about it! It’s quite bright, really… emerald green… green… green?”

“Ahahahahahahaha!!” The eldest and the fourth burst out laughing, barely able to speak as they pointed at Lin Jia, “Ahahahaha! Oh my god! You’re wearing a green hat, Second! Oh, I can’t take it! My stomach hurts!!” They laughed so hard they rolled on the sofa, cramps and all.

Lin Jia’s eyes widened, his face turning green. He hadn’t noticed before, but now he realized just how taboo this was! For a man, wearing a green hat is never a good omen! Lin Jia, face scrunched in misery, hurriedly took off the “green hat,” shouting, “Damn! I don’t want this hat! Fourth, you wear it instead!”

The fourth laughed even harder, “No way! I don’t want your green hat! You keep it! Ahahaha!”

Lin Jia wailed, “I don’t want to wear a green hat either! I don’t even have a girlfriend yet!!”

*********

[Trouble: I might not have time to update this afternoon—the house is noisy with guests! I’ll try again tonight once everyone leaves! Call to action: Send all your Soul Fire Charms my way~]