152: Chapter 153 First Contact with Players, Bizarre Talent

The white light dissipated, and a figure emerged.

The person wore a gray hoodie on his upper body, the hood drooping behind his back, with a large English logo printed on the chest.

On his lower body were dark blue jeans, worn white at the knees, and on his feet were a pair of white sneakers.

This outfit was naturally ordinary in the real world, but in this Martial Domain World of blue bricks, gray tiles, and coarse linen clothes, it appeared somewhat out of place, like a flamingo that had wandered into a flock of chickens.

The person looked to be in his early twenties, less than 1.7 meters tall, with a thin build—a quintessential weakling.

He opened his eyes and immediately saw Lin Ye sitting nearby.

The person was startled and scrambled back into the corner, his voice trembling slightly: "Who... who are you?"

Lin Ye didn't answer immediately; he brushed off some non-existent dust from his clothes before speaking unhurriedly:

"Don't be nervous, I'm a player too."

The man froze, the fear on his face slowly turning into confusion, then into relief.

He blinked and scrutinized Lin Ye carefully.

"You were caught and brought in too?"

"No, I came specifically to see you."

Hearing that Lin Ye wasn't a prisoner, combined with his extraordinary attire, Sun Daqian immediately realized that the person before him held an unusual status in the game.

"That's great! Big boss, please get me out of here."

"This crappy game is such a scam. I was locked up without doing anything. It's flat-out bullying."

Lin Ye looked at him, his lip twitching.

"Are you sure you didn't do anything?"

"Yeah." Sun Daqian sounded confident but lacked conviction.

"You stole a woman's undergarments in broad daylight and were caught red-handed by her husband. You call that doing nothing?"

Sun Daqian's expression instantly froze. He gave an awkward laugh, scratched the back of his head, and his gaze subconsciously drifted elsewhere.

"Well... I didn't mean to." His voice grew quiet.

"I just wanted to see if my Talent worked. Who knew I'd get caught the first time I used it?

Besides, what I stole wasn't even anything valuable. To be locked up for that... I'm being treated so unfairly."

"Testing your Talent? So your Talent is related to theft?"

Lin Ye wasn't sure if the third batch of players still had guaranteed benefits. However, according to the principle of diminishing returns, the first batch awakened at least epic-grade, and the second batch at least rare-grade. Surely the third batch could manage at least a fine-grade Talent?

Sun Daqian didn't seem to have much guard up, or perhaps he felt that since they were both players, there was no need to hide anything. He directly revealed his Talent: "Yes, the Talent I awakened is called Hand of Spell-Stealing. Its effect is remote theft.

I can take something from a distance without even touching it.

At first, I thought it was a superpower like telekinesis where I could take whatever I wanted, but after trying it, I realized that wasn't the case."

At this point, he sighed, a hint of disappointment in his tone.

"This thing is somewhat random. I can't just steal whatever I want.

I originally wanted to steal that person's hairpin, but who knew my hand would slip, and I accidentally stole... cough cough."

Sun Daqian was too embarrassed to continue.

"Hand of Spell-Stealing? Sounds quite interesting. What grade is the Talent?" Compared to Sun Daqian's embarrassing story, Lin Ye was more curious about the Rank of the Talent.

It sounded like it involved the Law of space; it should have more effects than just what he mentioned.

"Uh, rare-grade. Is it trash?"

"It's not trash. It can have miraculous effects if used well."

Hearing it was only rare-grade, Lin Ye instantly lost interest.

Hand of Spell-Stealing—the name sounded quite elegant. He had thought it could steal more conceptual things.

But if it was only rare-grade, it clearly wouldn't have such effects.

Of course, it was also possible that the other party was playing dumb.

But looking at his clear, foolish eyes, he didn't seem like a scheming person.

"What about your Life-Bound Weapon? What grade is it?" Lin Ye asked again.

This time, Sun Daqian didn't speak; he just held out his hand.

Accompanied by a flash of white light, a translucent phantom of a pair of gloves emerged above his palm.

The gloves were very thin. One could faintly see a layer of fine patterns on the surface, like silk or spiderwebs, densely interwoven and shimmering with a pearly luster.

"This is my Life-Bound Weapon, Silk Gloves, also rare-grade.

Its properties are being impervious to water and fire, and difficult to damage with ordinary weapons."

As Sun Daqian spoke, he put the gloves on his hands as if showing off a treasure.

Seeing this, Lin Ye's heart stirred.

This thing seemingly didn't require a physical medium.

Could it be that only Life-Bound Weapons of epic-grade and above require a medium?

Suppressing this speculation, Lin Ye turned and pushed open the door: "Let's go, I'll see you out."

"Thank you, big boss!" Sun Daqian followed Lin Ye with an excited face.

Lin Ye took Sun Daqian to find Mayor Wang: "Mayor Wang, this man is a fellow townsman of mine and doesn't quite know the rules.

He learned some petty thievery skills and couldn't resist testing them out.

Additionally, he practiced a technique for hiding his tracks, which is why he suddenly vanished in that room. He isn't an Demon, is he?

Here are 10 taels of silver. Mayor Wang, could you perhaps show some leniency?"

Mayor Wang looked at the silver in Lin Ye's hand, then at Sun Daqian. His gaze lingered on Sun Daqian's clothes for a moment before he smiled and said, "Lord Lin, you're being too formal. Since it's a misunderstanding, just clearing it up is enough. There's no need for the silver."

Given Lin Ye's status, he didn't dare put on airs.

As long as he wasn't an Demon, it was fine. As for stealing on the street, that was a minor matter.

"Then I thank Mayor Wang. However, the silver should still be accepted—consider it compensation for the victim's emotional distress."

Lin Ye pushed the silver over.

Although Mayor Wang didn't understand what emotional distress meant, since Lin Ye had put it that way, he couldn't refuse further.

It was only 10 taels of silver; for people at their level, it really wasn't much.

After handling this, Lin Ye led Sun Daqian out of the yamen.

"Phew, the air outside is much fresher."

Sun Daqian let out a long breath of turbid air, as if trying to exhale all the bad luck from the jail cell.

"What are your plans now?" Lin Ye suddenly asked.

Hearing this, the expression on Sun Daqian's face turned from excitement to confusion.

"I don't know. I was pulled here out of the blue. At first, I was excited, thinking I'd experienced Transmigration, but I ended up in jail as soon as I arrived."

He sounded more and more aggrieved as he spoke.

"Big boss, do you think there's something wrong with the design of this game?

How can they just throw people in without even a tutorial?

I'm completely in the dark right now. Aside from following you, I really don't know where else to go."

Lin Ye didn't take the bait.

He had no intention of taking Sun Daqian as a lackey.

After all, this person's Talent didn't look like it belonged on the Righteous Path, let alone joining the Demon Suppression Division.

There were Schools like the Dao Sect in the Jianghu, but those people were always elusive, and Lin Ye didn't know where to find them.

However, considering they were both players, he would help as much as he could; it wouldn't do to waste his status as a player.

"How about this: I'll find you some work. Go to Chijin Hall as an apprentice. Will you go?"