Chapter 30: Mastery

[Fragment of the Grand Archmage’s Staff? Isn’t that in the hands of Night Nine Times? I just took a screenshot with it for my collection, so I can’t be wrong.]
[Newbie? One-round player?]
[Everyone knows the Grand Archmage’s Staff was shattered into twelve fragments, so there are twelve in total. The streamer only got one of them.]
[Right, twelve fragments, and each one has a different skill.]
[The one the streamer got now is ‘Soul of Replication’. I know there’s one called ‘King of Disguise’, which lets you ignore game rules and become any identity you wish—player, NPC, or even the ghost boss.]
[So, this academic genius Yu Shu-jun might be some big shot who acquired the ‘King of Disguise’ fragment, changed identities, and entered this trial map as a game character?]
[Looks like it.]
[As for the twelve fragments, I’ve heard that nine legendary players each have one, and the remaining three are missing. We just saw one with the streamer, so there are two left, either hidden in the map or held by mysterious players.]
[That means Yu Shu-jun could also be one of those nine legendary players?]
[Damn, what luck is this? Watching a newbie trial map and running into two legendary players at once?]
[Is this… a showdown at the top?]
[This stream is the right place to be!]
[I’m staying, never leaving again.]
[Sitting back and waiting for gods to clash.]
…
…
However, Wen Nan clearly had no intention of fulfilling the chat’s expectations—fighting was out of the question. He was here for romance, not the kind of clumsy affection the fat guy tried to display.
If things could be settled with words, he would never resort to violence.
“What exactly do you want?” Yu Shu-jun calmed himself and asked.
Wen Nan answered coolly, “I want to see your sincerity.”
Yu Shu-jun took a deep breath and said, “Your main quest one has already been settled. You should’ve seen it. Your favorability rating with me stands at sixty percent, not too much, not too little, just enough for you to clear the stage. Isn’t that sincere enough?”
Wen Nan shook his head with a smile. “Favorability can change at any moment. Sixty percent isn’t enough. Besides, Qiqi’s favorability dropped last night. We haven’t accounted for that.”
Yu Shu-jun said, “Qiqi’s favorability dropping has nothing to do with me. I merely told her the truth.”

Wen Nan sighed, “Little brother, if you’re going to dodge responsibility like that, there’s nothing to discuss.”
Yu Shu-jun lowered his gaze and thought for a moment, then relented, “Fine, I admit I do bear some responsibility. But her favorability is still above ninety percent. You haven’t lost much, have you?”
Wen Nan said nothing, only regarding Yu Shu-jun with a look that said, 'Figure it out yourself.'
Yu Shu-jun softened his attitude. “What kind of sincerity do you want?”
Wen Nan’s smile was gentle. “We’re all players. Meeting on a trial map is fate. I don’t want to make things hard for you.
“If you don’t trouble me, I won’t trouble you.
“I picked five targets for my strategy, and accidentally included you, an outlier. It caused you some trouble, but that’s not my fault. You chose to impersonate a character, so you should have expected the risk of being strategized by a player.
“But I’m not interested in you and have no intention of strategizing you, and I assume you don’t want me to.
“In that case, we should clarify things in advance and set a peaceful, friendly agreement.”
Wen Nan stopped here and looked at his companion.
Yu Shu-jun said nothing, but gave Wen Nan his full attention, waiting for him to continue.
Wen Nan cleared his throat and went on, “I agree not to report your identity to the complaint center, nor interfere with your actions on this map. However, you must guarantee that from now on, you won’t contact any of my other strategy targets, and ensure my favorability rating with you stays at ninety-nine percent until I clear this map.”
“…Ninety-nine percent?!” Yu Shu-jun’s voice rose. “That’s nearly a perfect strategy rating!”
Wen Nan acted unconcerned. “Is it difficult? You managed to keep yours precisely at sixty percent. Raising it to ninety-nine shouldn’t be hard.”
Yu Shu-jun said in a low voice, “It’s not a matter of difficulty…”
“Then what is it?”
“Forget it.” Yu Shu-jun thought for a moment and gave in again, “Ninety-nine percent is fine, but you have to promise me one extra condition.”
“What condition?”
“Before the last main quest is settled, let me borrow your equipment inventory.”
Wen Nan was puzzled. “My inventory? Aren’t you a player? Don’t you have your own?”
His backup inventory had thousands of coin pouches stuffed in it, yet the usage rate barely hit one percent. Clearly, from the game mechanics, a player’s backup inventory had virtually no slot limit and was almost impossible to fill.
So why borrow his inventory?
Yu Shu-jun shook his head. “Right now, I’m using equipment to switch identities and have become a game character. On this map, all my player privileges have been revoked. Characters don’t have inventories. Any hidden items I find here can’t leave the map unless I use another player’s inventory to carry them out.”

It sounded reasonable enough, but…
“If you put your hidden items in my inventory, aren’t you afraid I’ll keep them when we leave the map and refuse to return them?”
“I am.”
Yu Shu-jun answered straightforwardly. After speaking, he unzipped his school uniform and pulled out a roll of parchment, handing it to Wen Nan.
“That’s why we use an item to sign the agreement. With its binding, any player who breaks the contract will pay a heavy price.”
Wen Nan’s gaze fell on the ancient-looking parchment. At once, a system prompt sounded in his mind.
9527: [Hidden item detected on this map—Gentlemen’s Agreement Scroll.]
9527: [Gentlemen’s Agreement Scroll:
Can be signed by any two players, NPCs, or game strategy characters; the agreement terms are determined by both parties and entered into the scroll;
If either party breaches the agreement, the violator will be permanently banned from entering the map, and all their skills, items, equipment, goods, and assets will be transferred to the other party;
The scroll binds both accounts and takes effect immediately. It cannot be revoked or altered.
Please exercise extreme caution when signing.]
After hearing the system’s explanation, Wen Nan furrowed his brow, lost in thought.
…
…
[This item sounds… pretty formidable.]
[I keep feeling the academic genius is setting a trap.]
[He seems to be at the streamer’s mercy, but maybe it’s the streamer who’s walking step by step into the genius’s snare.]
[Don’t sign.]
[Nine, wake up! The academic genius isn’t a soft lamb like Qiqi; he’s a legendary big shot, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. If you play with him, be careful or you’ll be devoured down to the bone!]