Chapter 953: Declaration of War
Three days passed quickly.
Zhou Xue'er submitted the compiled roster.
Ling Zhan glanced at it.
He saw that every member of the Demon-Slaying Legion chose to trust him.
But only half of the Amethyst Legion did.
Originally, there were around 150,000 people.
Now, only 70,000 had signed up.
The remaining 80,000 had gathered their materials but didn't dare trust Ling Zhan, so they didn't register.
Aside from that—
Even though the War Supply Vault opened access to rare material exchanges, no one wanted to redeem anything.
It was obvious...
No one wanted to trade their merit points for upgrade materials.
And none of them believed in Ling Zhan.
In response—
Ling Zhan just shook his head slightly and said nothing, instructing Zhou Xue'er to go prepare the gear upgrade furnace.
Naturally, the highest-grade upgrade furnace was selected.
Regular gear upgrade furnaces couldn't upgrade Sacred Artifacts.
And they had very low success rates.
This top-tier furnace, however, had a success rate of 5%.
That rate was actually already quite high!
With the stacking of lucky gear, lucky titles, and lucky items, the success rate could be boosted to 10%.
Of course…
That was under ideal conditions.
Typically, most people could only push the success rate to 8%.
Once the upgrade furnace was ready—
Members from both the Demon-Slaying Legion and Amethyst Legion came to watch.
It was worth noting...
A small argument had broken out between members of both legions.
The Demon-Slaying Legion members mocked the Amethyst Legion for missing a great chance to upgrade their gear.
The Amethyst Legion members retorted that the Demon-Slaying kids were nuts—if their gear broke and materials vanished, they'd better not cry.
"Silence!!"
Seeing the noise, Zhou Xue'er furrowed her brows and said sternly, "Enough arguing! Whether you believe it or not, it's your choice—no need to fight!"
"Then, Deputy Zhou, what about you? Did you give your gear to Commander Ling Zhan to upgrade?" asked an old veteran from the Amethyst Legion.
"I did. My Thousand Snow Peach Talisman Sword." Zhou Xue'er nodded.
"Then just wait for it to shatter! Haha!" The old veteran burst out laughing.
These old soldiers, seasoned from years of warfare, had rather unrestrained personalities.
They were serious when needed, but in relaxed moments like this, they weren't shy about speaking their minds.
Zhou Xue'er didn't get angry. She simply smiled and said, "Then let's wait and see."
"Also, Commander Ling Zhan said, since so many don't believe in him, he's setting up a wager."
"Just so happens the War Supply Vault is running low on storage resources—might as well use this chance for contributions."
As soon as she finished—
Whoosh!!
The crowd was in an uproar!
The veterans of the Amethyst Legion stared wide-eyed in shock.
"Deputy Zhou, are you serious? He's really setting up a wager?"
"Isn't this obvious? Brothers, this is a chance to get rich! Just bet on failure without thinking!"
"I only came here to watch some gear get smashed today, but now there's money to be made. I'm betting!"
"Demon-Slaying brats, what are you betting on?"
The Demon-Slaying Legion members sneered.
"Don't worry! We're all-in on success!"
"And we're betting on 100% success!"
The entire bet was split into tiers: 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, and complete failure.
The Amethyst Legion veterans all placed their money on the 25% success rate.
After all, with so many gear pieces, surely a few would succeed.
Whichever result was closest to the actual success rate would win the bet.
All Demon-Slaying Legion members bet on 100% success.
Many Amethyst Legion veterans bet half their life savings.
"Deputy Zhou, if we win, you guys won't back out on the payout, right?"
Someone asked with a cheeky grin.
"Don't worry, we won't back out. If we're short, we'll apply to the Dragon Kingdom's higher-ups."
"And not to mention Commander Ling Zhan's current status—just my Zhou family alone has enough to cover this wager."
Zhou Xue'er replied calmly.
"Haha! That's rich, Deputy Zhou…"
"Isn't it Commander Ling Zhan's wager? Why should you pay? You're not his wife."
Someone teased with a laugh.
Zhou Xue'er calmly replied, "I'm not now. But maybe I will be in the future?"
As soon as she said that—
Whoa!!
The entire crowd erupted!
This Deputy Zhou was seriously bold!
Among the crowd, Saint Lucy turned to Li Chaoge and said, "See? I told you that Zhou woman was eyeing Ling Zhan."
Li Chaoge said calmly, "Isn't that normal? With a man this outstanding, what woman wouldn't be?"
At those words—
Even Saint Lucy was momentarily speechless.
Her sister, Saint Luni, smiled and nodded, "True enough. Good men are too rare in this world..."
And she wasn't even trying to be preachy.
After all, in this power-dominated world of Professionals, what capable man didn't have three wives and four concubines?
Though the Dragon Kingdom practiced monogamy—
Foreign kingdoms didn't.
Many empires had no such restrictions.
Which was why...
A lot of Dragon Kingdom Professionals went abroad to enjoy themselves.
On the flip side, some female Professionals also liked keeping pretty boys.
Though fewer in number compared to the men.
All in all…
In such a hedonistic age, good men and good women were both rare.
And someone like Ling Zhan…
Was truly one-in-a-million.
So what woman wouldn't covet him?
Zhou Xue'er making her stance so clear was basically a public declaration of war to the other prodigy girls.
But that didn't really upset Li Chaoge or the others.
After all, everyone was progressing at the same pace.
No one was ahead yet.
So letting a few words slip wasn't a big deal.
At the moment—
Amid the uproar—
The gear upgrade furnace was fully prepped.
Ling Zhan finally strolled over.
All the gear and materials had been fully prepared.
All stored in Ling Zhan's storage ring.
Already sorted and categorized.
All Ling Zhan had to do was move his mind, and the gear with the matching materials would appear.
That's the convenience of storage rings—super accurate classification.
When Ling Zhan arrived—
He didn't have to say a word.
The noisy crowd fell silent on its own.
Ling Zhan's authority was now absolute.
The Amethyst Legion members might not believe in his gear upgrade success rate—
But when it came to his strength and leadership, they were utterly convinced.
At the very least, they now all gazed at this lone non-specialist with reverence.