Chapter 127: A Call for Help
At the very least, it could provide some useful support during combat.
Unfortunately, after searching for a long time, he still couldn’t find anything that truly satisfied him.
In the end, he could only continue scrolling endlessly through the listings.
After all, perhaps an unexpected surprise was waiting somewhere among them.
However, even after staring at the listings until his eyes nearly blurred, Joo Joowon still couldn’t find a suitable pet to fill the empty follower slot.
With adult pets, unless they were naturally carefree breeds like Huskies, accepting a new owner wasn’t easy at all.
Joo Joowon preferred breeds that he was already somewhat familiar with.
At the very least, he had a rough understanding of their personalities and knew how they should be trained.
Unlike cats, dogs genuinely required training.
They had internal social hierarchies and ranking systems.
Some breeds were naturally rebellious and would constantly challenge the authority of their owners.
Since Joo Joowon had never raised a dog before, he had no idea which breeds were more likely to behave that way.
As a result, he could only try to choose breeds he was at least somewhat familiar with.
After searching for so long, Joo Joowon was beginning to feel tired, so he opened his private messages to take a short break.
...
[ HighlyCultured ]: Are you willing to sell your [ Lord Qualification Token ]? Any conditions can be negotiated.
[ TheMadScientist ]: Boss, I believe you! That so called MusclePotato404 clearly doesn’t look like a good person! By the way, could you tell me more about the [ Lord Qualification Token ]? I just finished making several explosives over here and they’re insanely powerful!
[ BlessedByRNG ]: Boss please notice me! I’m surrounded by plants over here, save me save me save me! The Ancient Ginkgo Tree in my yard can’t hold on much longer! T-T
...
Joo Joowon replied to each message one by one.
[ Reply to @HighlyCultured ]: Already used it.
[ Reply to @TheMadScientist ]: It requires a series of quests. It’s fairly troublesome and takes a long time. You’ll probably need an entire team to complete it.
While replying to TheMadScientist, Joo Joowon also sent over an image of the Lord Qualification Token.
After all, there wasn’t really anything secret about the item itself.
He wasn’t sending over the quest details, only the item image.
As for BlessedByRNG’s request for help, Joo Joowon hesitated for a moment before finally replying:
[ @Ashfall ]: I have Molotov Cocktails and Earth Bombs. They should be effective against plants. However, if killing the plants results in equipment drops, I want half of them, and I get first pick.
BlessedByRNG was apparently staring directly at the private chat window because the reply arrived almost instantly.
[ @BlessedByRNG ]: No problem! Boss, you’re too polite! You can keep all the equipment if you save me!
[ @Ashfall ]: Just half. I’ve already listed the items. I can’t guarantee they’ll work though. If the plants can’t be killed, then there’s nothing I can do.
The marketplace didn’t support any kind of "pay later" system.
Once an item had been traded away, it was truly gone.
The marketplace also took no responsibility for players agreeing to verbal conditions and then changing their minds afterward.
However, for Joo Joowon, Molotov Cocktails had already become fairly limited in usefulness.
Earth Bombs also had very few situations where he could use them.
Considering how straightforward BlessedByRNG had been during their previous trades, helping out in an emergency wasn’t really a big deal.
Even if the other party broke their promise, the price he paid wasn’t something he couldn’t afford to lose.
BlessedByRNG immediately accepted the items, quickly asked how to use them, and then hurriedly disappeared offline.
It was only a little past six in the evening, but the sky had already become completely dark.
BlessedByRNG hid beneath the crumbling protective barrier raised by the Ancient Ginkgo Tree and hurriedly retrieved the items from the trading platform.
Only after holding them in his hands did he finally feel a slight sense of security.
He raised his head and looked outside the courtyard.
At this point, there was no trace of the temple anymore.
All that remained was a broken and incomplete courtyard.
Outside the temple, a gigantic plant whose original appearance was impossible to identify waved its countless branches wildly.
Its limbs stretched across the sky and blocked out what little daylight remained.
Its branches slammed repeatedly against the protective barrier created by the Ancient Ginkgo Tree.
Every time one struck, the barrier trembled violently.
Even a fool could tell that it would not hold much longer.
BlessedByRNG took out a box of matches and lit the Molotov Cocktail.
He turned toward the Ancient Ginkgo Tree beside him and shouted, "Martial Uncle, throw this Molotov Cocktail at its main body!"
The Ancient Ginkgo Tree had originally been an ordinary Ginkgo Tree planted in the courtyard.
According to the story told by BlessedByRNG’s not yet officially accepted master, the tree had been planted when the temple itself was first constructed.
Before all of this, it had behaved exactly like an ordinary Ginkgo Tree.
Only today, when the plants suddenly went mad, did BlessedByRNG discover that it had actually been alive all along.
Even after receiving Ashfall’s warning, BlessedByRNG had spent the entire day dealing with hostile plants without ever considering attacking the Ancient Ginkgo Tree.
After all, it was far too tall and difficult to deal with.
He also lacked any kind of rainproof equipment that would have allowed him to safely chop down trees inside the courtyard.
Besides, they were located in the middle of a remote wilderness where plants were so numerous that they were impossible to count.
As a result, not long after the rain stopped, the inside of the temple remained safe, but they soon came under attack from the plants growing outside the temple grounds.
BlessedByRNG was forced to retreat step by step.
He had already fallen into complete despair.
Who could have imagined that at the most critical moment, the Ancient Ginkgo Tree planted in the courtyard would suddenly take action?