22: Failed reinforcement

Before anyone could react, Kelli's voice drifted over from the side, "Oh my, it looks like the enhancement failed!"

Quan Wudi asked in shock, "What? Explain yourself! What do you mean it failed? This thing can actually fail?"

Kelli said with a smile, "Hehe, as the weapon's enhancement Rank gets higher and higher, this kind of situation can occur. It's perfectly normal."

"Sometimes a failed weapon enhancement results in the enhancement Rank dropping, and sometimes... it shatters!" Kelli said nonchalantly, picking at her nails.

Upon hearing this news, Quan Wudi felt as if the sky were falling. His body trembling slightly, he approached the enhancement machine, which was still radiating heat, wanting to see what had become of his Gauntlets.

Xiao Hongyuan quickly comforted him, "Brother Quan, don't worry. Perhaps the enhancement Rank only dropped a little. You can just continue enhancing it."

Kelli's annoying voice continued to drift over, "Don't bother. If an enhancement of +5 or higher fails, the Rank will drop. But if it's +9 or higher and fails... it will only shatter."

By now, Quan Wudi had opened the enhancement machine. With trembling hands, he pulled out a pile of ash and a few small, square, transparent Clear Cube Fragments.

Quan Wudi lowered his head and asked in a low voice, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Kelli laughed, "Hehe, I saw that you didn't fail even once from +5 to +9, so I thought you were a lucky kid. Who would've thought you couldn't even make it to +10."

Quan Wudi raised his head, two streaks of tears hanging on his well-defined face.

"Fuck your mother! Give me back my money! You profiteer, give me back my weapon!"

Seeing that the usually honest Brother Quan was now even shouting profanities, Xiao Hongyuan knew he was truly enraged. She quickly pulled Jian Wuxie and A Fei back a few steps.

With a roar of fury, Quan Wudi lunged directly at Kelli.

Kelli, who was leaning against the enhancement machine nonchalantly picking her nails, saw Quan Wudi lunging at her. Her long leg suddenly thrust forward, and a Knee Strike slammed into Quan Wudi's face.

In mid-air, Quan Wudi felt his face get hit by something, and his entire body suddenly flew uncontrollably into the air.

Dazed and confused, Quan Wudi didn't even know what had happened before he fell from the air onto the ground.

Kelli's long leg lifted again with extreme speed. With a 'smack', one of her feet was already stepping on Quan Wudi's chest.

Jian Wuxie asked in surprise, "Did you guys see that clearly?"

A Fei and Xiao Hongyuan both shook their heads and said, "We didn't see it! That leg technique was too fast!"

Kelli, who was stepping on Quan Wudi's chest, suddenly pulled out two strange weapons. Holding them in both hands, she aimed them at Quan Wudi's head.

Two crisp 'bang bang' sounds rang out. Two bursts of fire erupted from the strange weapons in Kelli's hands, blasting two small deep pits into the stone floor right next to Quan Wudi's ears.

The three of them were even more shocked, "What kind of weapon is that? You can't even see the trajectory of the projectiles it fires?"

Lying on the ground, Quan Wudi was even more stunned. No one could feel the power of the weapons in Kelli's hands better than he could.

Although they hadn't hit him, the deafening sound and the sharp pain from the stone fragments splashing onto his face told him that this woman was not someone to be trifled with.

"What? You want to cause trouble?" Kelli looked down at Quan Wudi, her weapons pointed at his head.

"Cough, cough." Quan Wudi coughed awkwardly and said quickly, "No, I wasn't trying to cause trouble."

Kelli put away her weapons and moved her foot off his chest, smiling. "I thought you were going to cause trouble. My apologies."

Quan Wudi climbed up from the ground speechlessly and quickly moved away from Kelli.

"Hehe, don't worry if your weapon shattered. Once you get another good one, feel free to come back and enhance it again!" Kelli called out warmly to the retreating Quan Wudi.

Quan Wudi's back was turned to Kelli. Hearing her words, his already dark face turned even darker as he silently walked out of the crowd.

Xiao Hongyuan quickly pulled A Fei and Jian Wuxie to catch up with him, comforting him, "Brother Quan, don't worry. How much gold do you have left?"

Once Quan Wudi and the other three were far from Kelli, he suddenly shouted back in her direction, "You profiteer! I won't let you off!"

With a 'bang', Kelli pulled out her weapon and fired another shot in their direction. A bullet whizzed past Quan Wudi's ear with a whistle.

In the distance, Kelli smiled at Quan Wudi and put her weapon away.

Quan Wudi shrunk his neck and awkwardly led the three of them further away.

Xiao Hongyuan continued to ask, "Brother Quan, how much gold do you have left? If you're short, why not go to Master Blacksmith Xinda and buy a weapon to make do for now?"

Quan Wudi glanced at his inventory and said with a bitter smile, "I only have a bit over 200 gold left..."

A Fei didn't say anything after hearing this. He silently took out a pair of Gauntlets from his inventory and handed them to Quan Wudi.

Quan Wudi looked at A Fei in surprise and asked, "Little brother, this is?"

"I just got it in a Dungeon Instance. It's not very good. I was going to sell it to the blacksmith, but you can make do with it for now," A Fei said directly.

Quan Wudi took the Gauntlets, moved. He said with a choked voice, "Thank you, little brother. How many Spirit Stones is it? I'll pay you back once we're out."

A Fei felt a bit uncomfortable seeing the burly man looking at him with tears in his eyes and a face full of gratitude, so he took two steps back.

"Forget it. Just return it to me when you get something better. Use it for now," A Fei said quickly.

Quan Wudi put the Gauntlets on his hands and looked at them. Although they weren't as good as his own, they were enough for an emergency.

A Fei hesitated and asked, "Are you guys still going into Dungeon Instances? Where are you at?"

Jian Wuxie replied, "The Thunder Ruins quest is complete. We need to go find Pung Jin to ask about the follow-up quests."

Quan Wudi also said, "I've already looked for Pung Jin. Those Gauntlets that shattered were a reward from him. He told me to find a blind old man, called 'G-something' or other."

A Fei nodded after hearing this, "I know where that old man is. I'll take you there in a bit. I've already found him. He wants me to go to the Vicious Thunder Ruins to eliminate the Poison Cat King. I think your quests are probably similar. We can go together then; it'll be faster."

"That's great! Senior Sister and I will go find Pung Jin to collect our rewards first. Wait for us for a moment," Jian Wuxie said happily.

A Fei shook his head and said, "Let's go together. Once you've collected your rewards, I'll take you to find that old man."

Under A Fei's lead, the group passed through several small alleys and finally arrived at a dim alleyway, stopping in front of a blind old man sitting on the ground.

"Hey, Old Blind Man, you're G.S.D, right?" Quan Wudi called out bluntly.