Chapter Thirty-Six: Five-Star Review, Rare-Grade Equipment

She didn’t call Zhang Chunlei and the others over again, for the pirates had already collapsed and fled, and Zhang Chunlei’s group was now inside the town, too late to intercept them. Duan Yuqin couldn’t possibly help stop them either; as a teacher, according to school regulations, he could only intervene to save them in life-threatening situations, or offer extra help at the end of the monthly scenario. Normally, he was not allowed to interfere excessively with their actions.

The defeated pirates, including Chu Cheng, could do nothing but watch as roughly a third of the remaining pirates escaped toward the docks.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Amid the deafening roar of cannons, shells streaked with fiery tails crashed onto the main street, smashing through and collapsing countless houses.

“Stop pursuing them!” Sheriff Hans shouted to his men, halting them outside cannon range, gazing from afar at the pirates fleeing to the docks.

At the docks, the pirates could be seen disembarking from their warships, sparking a fresh wave of chaos, during which several pirates were killed.

Chu Cheng felt tense at first, thinking the pirate king was still unwilling to give up and might rally his forces for another attack.

But after a while, as the pirates at the docks began boarding the ships, he finally relaxed.

The pirate fleet then unleashed a furious barrage on the town, covering more than half of it in cannon fire, destroying untold numbers of homes.

The vengeful bombardment lasted for a whole hour before the pirate fleet finally withdrew.

Only when the pirates had truly departed did cheers erupt within the town.

The surviving militia, as if drained of all strength, collapsed to the ground, expressing the joy of narrowly escaping death.

Thus ended the plotline of the Battle of Braid.

There were no dramatic twists, nor was the combat spectacular, but this was exactly what Chu Cheng hoped for.

The best outcome was defeating the enemy while minimizing casualties; no one wished for a fierce, extraordinary battle, for such intensity always meant heavy losses.

“Prompt: The plotline for the Battle of Braid has ended. Settlement begins now...”

“Prompt: Base score, 10 points.”

“Prompt: Killed 3 elite pirates, score +6 points.”

“Prompt: Killed 7 pirate captains, score +70 points.”

“Prompt: Killed 582 Black Sail pirates, score +291 points.”

“Prompt: Played an absolutely critical role in the plot, score +100 points.”

“Prompt: Final score, 477 points. Overall rating: Five stars.”

“Final reward: 1 red chest, 20,000 slaughter experience, 5 free attribute points, 8 skill points.”

“Oh, just as expected!”

A total score over 300 meant a five-star rating, and he had far exceeded that.

Chu Cheng looked at the red chest solidifying in his hand, and felt the warm surge of another upgrade within him, laughing heartily.

Setting aside other matters, when he entered this world his level was 12 with seventy to eighty percent experience. After slaughtering the fishmen tribe, he rose to level 13, and accumulated most of level 13’s experience on Black Sand Island.

In the Battle of Braid, 582 pirates died at his hands, plus 7 pirate captains, which pushed his level directly to 14, with experience left over.

Finally, with the five-star plot rating granting twenty thousand slaughter experience, he shot up to level 15 with 32% experience.

Two levels meant 10 free attribute points, plus the 5 from the plot, for a total of 15.

He had previously saved 6 skill points; with the plot reward of 8, he now had 15 skill points.

In addition, he possessed 1 red chest, 3 green chests, and 7 white chests.

Since he hadn’t killed any major bosses, there were no blue chests.

Returning to the Braid Town barracks, Chu Cheng immediately took out the chests and lined them up.

The seven white chests held little hope; he opened them casually, finding mostly less than two silver coins, some white-grade equipment, and miscellaneous items, all meant to be sold to shops.

Opening the three green chests, he found each contained no more than three silver coins and two green-grade pieces of equipment, which could also be sold.

For low-grade gear, white items were typically recycled and dismantled for materials.

Green-grade items could also be dismantled; those with good attributes were placed on the shelves, and newcomers struggling to get by would buy them.

There was a huge disparity among the Descenders; plenty couldn’t even afford blue gear.

Chu Cheng estimated that all three green chests and seven white chests together were worth only 27 to 28 silver, not enough to buy a top-tier blue item.

But that was no matter; he never expected anything good from low-level chests. All his attention now focused on the plot reward: the red chest.

In general, the color of the chest indicated the quality of the items inside. Red chests guaranteed rare equipment, or items as valuable as rare-grade gear.

With anticipation, he pressed his hand against the chest. A crisp click sounded, and the chest opened, a streak of red light seeping out.

“Excellent!”

Chu Cheng’s eyes lit up; he had gotten something good.

Inside the chest lay only two items.

A finely crafted cloak, and a sheet of paper.

He picked up the cloak, and its attributes immediately floated before his eyes.

Diversion Cloak (Rare / Deep Crimson)

Equipment type: Cloak.

Requirement: Level 15, Constitution 25.

Base attribute: Defense +6.

Additional attribute: Agility +5.

Additional attribute: Strength +5.

Extra skill: Diversion – When activated, forms a swirling airflow enveloping the whole body, evading all targeted attacks and spells. Duration: 2 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.

Note: Evasion limit is below extraordinary rank.

Slots: 2.

Evaluation: A cloak imbued with mysterious power.

“What powerful attributes!”

Altogether, it increased defense by 2, agility by 3, and strength by 5, plus a lifesaving special skill and two slots for embedding magic gems to further boost stats.

Compared to these enhancements, the reduction of 5 points to movement speed was negligible.

Chu Cheng immediately equipped it, replacing his old blue cloak.

A single rare item’s boost was already immense; if all his gear were rare-grade, the bonuses would be staggering, enough to let him easily solo a level 20 mini-boss, and even a level 30 elite boss—

Well, for melee types it was possible; for caster types, not so much.

It was worth mentioning that although he got a rare item from achieving a five-star rating this time, it didn’t mean he could use this method to farm rare items every major lesson.

There were no messy restrictions; theoretically he could do so, but in reality he wouldn’t have the chance.

Because all the loot and rewards in the scenario were condensed from the scenario’s source power, and that power was finite. By earning a five-star rating and a generous loot, it meant the benefits harvested by other bosses and the final boss would be diminished.

He had to remember, this scenario belonged to the school, meant to train students, not for him alone.

He could, by virtue of outstanding results, get permission to do this once or twice, but certainly not all the time.