[Early Morning]
Lin Mo woke up.
Seeing Ning Xi beside him, still sleeping with her arms wrapped around his arm, a sense of responsibility and an even stronger desire to protect her welled up inside Lin Mo.
"In this life..."
"Even if it costs me my life..."
"I'll protect you no matter what."
As he spoke, Lin Mo gently kissed Ning Xi on the forehead.
That kiss woke her up.
"Did I wake you?"
Ning Xi kept her eyes closed, smiled, and shook her head.
"Brother Lin Mo, I'm hungry."
Lin Mo said, "Come on. Let's wash up and go have breakfast."
The two of them got up, washed up, and changed their clothes.
Then they met up with Zhao Lingyun, who had stayed in the room next door.
The three of them went to the hotel's restaurant together.
"Lin Mo, Ning Xi, thank you so much for traveling all the way from Jiang Province overnight to Xiangnan to help me and save me."
"And... about the money you gave my parents last night, I asked your bodyguards, and they told me everything. I'll definitely work hard and earn that money to pay you back someday."
With a serious expression, Zhao Lingyun continued, "Besides that, from now on, I'll do everything I can in the Divine Oracle world to support you."
"You don't need to say that," Lin Mo said casually, "Xiao Xi and I were planning to come to Zhuzhou for a visit anyway. Just treat it as a trip."
"And don't worry about the money. It's only a small amount."
"The boss you helped us kill yesterday in Black Wind Mountain Range, the Black Mage Elder, was worth quite a bit."
At this point, Ning Xi asked, "By the way, Sister Ling'er, you've lived in Zhuzhou for so many years. Do you know any fun places?"
That was right in Zhao Lingyun's area of expertise.
She happily replied, "Of course! Zhuzhou has lots of popular tourist spots and plenty of famous food streets. I'll take you there."
"Let's do it tonight," Lin Mo said, "We'll log in first. During the day we'll focus on Divine Oracle. Tonight you can lead the way and we'll go have some fun."
"In a couple of days, you'll come back to Ning'an with us."
Zhao Lingyun nodded, "Okay."
After breakfast, the three returned to their hotel rooms.
When they left the Zhao family last night, Lin Mo had deliberately brought Zhao Lingyun's Divine Oracle gaming equipment with them.
So the three of them connected through the hotel room computer, put on their Divine Oracle helmets, and logged into the game.
———
[Ding~ Supreme Lord Rulebound, welcome back to the world of Divine Oracle!]
As the familiar voice faded, Lin Mo appeared in Inferno City.
The moment Ning Xi logged in, she received another system notification...
[Ding~ Honorable Lord Liuli of the Divine Might Tower, please note. System notification: The Divine Might Tower has been fully repaired. Please return to your territory as soon as possible.]
Ning Xi said happily, "Brother Lin Mo, the Divine Might Tower has been repaired."
"Let's go take a look."
As they spoke, Lin Mo, Ning Xi, and Zhao Lingyun left the city and headed for the Divine Might Tower.
.
.
.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived.
Compared to yesterday, when the tower had been shrouded in endless dark energy and filled with lifeless silence, the pagoda before them now shone brilliantly.
This was the true Divine Might Tower.
Using the Fate Token: Heavenly Might, Ning Xi, as the Lord, invited Lin Mo and Zhao Lingyun to enter the Divine Might Tower with her.
At this time, the Beastfolk Archmage Wuna had become Ning Xi's "secretary."
"Honorable Lord, welcome."
"Please allow me to introduce how the Divine Might Tower operates."
'So this is why Wuna exists.'
Wuna said to Ning Xi, "From now on, as the Lord, you may freely authorize any player to enter the Divine Might Tower. You may also freely set the rank requirement, level requirement, and the ticket price required to challenge the tower."
"Of the ticket fees collected, the system takes 50% as commission (with a minimum deduction of 5 copper coins), while the remaining 50% belongs to you, Lord. In addition, you are responsible for paying the Divine Might Tower's daily maintenance costs."
"When players challenge the Divine Might Tower and earn Reputation rewards, you, as the Lord, will also receive the corresponding Reputation rewards at the same time."
"This is the Divine Might Tower's current operating status. Please have a look."
As Wuna waved her right hand...
Whoosh!
An information panel appeared before Ning Xi.
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[Divine Might Tower (Territory)]
Lord: Liuli (Temporary Lord, remaining time: 6 days 13 hours 40 minutes)
Level: 1
Rank Requirement: Not Set
Level Requirement: Not Set
Description: The Divine Might Tower is a place of prestige. Players who enter and complete challenges have a chance to receive additional Reputation rewards. At the same time, whenever challengers earn Reputation, the Lord of the Divine Might Tower automatically receives a percentage of that Reputation as a bonus. (At the tower's current Level 1, the Lord receives 10% of all Reputation earned. Upgrading the Divine Might Tower to Level 2 increases this percentage to 20%...)
Upgrade Requirement: The Lord must accumulate a total of 10,000 Reputation through the Divine Might Tower (excluding all Reputation bonus effects).
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Looking at the information panel describing the Divine Might Tower, Ning Xi happily said, "So as long as people come here to challenge it, I'll earn Reputation?"
"Looks like it," Lin Mo said with satisfaction, "Based on how the Divine Might Tower works, the more people you invite to challenge it, the more Reputation you'll receive."
So, using her authority as Lord, Ning Xi immediately lowered the entry requirements to the minimum:
Level Requirement: 50
Rank Requirement: Bronze I
[Ding~ Please pay today's Divine Might Tower maintenance fee: 10,000 gold coins. (This fee is based on the tower's current level. Level 1 daily maintenance fee.)]
Ning Xi froze, "The maintenance fee is so expensive..."
Ten thousand gold coins.
At Divine Oracle's current official exchange rate of 1:0.27, that was equivalent to twenty-seven million yuan.
Lin Mo didn't hesitate for even half a second.
He immediately counted out 10,000 gold coins from his inventory and paid the fee for Ning Xi.
After all, after clearing the Divine Tomb dungeon before, he had opened treasure chests containing over 250,000 gold coins.
Ten thousand was nothing.
But although the money had been spent, it also had to be earned back.
"Brother Lin Mo, what do you think the ticket price for the Divine Might Tower should be?"
After thinking for a moment, Lin Mo said, "Based on the tower's current settings, Level 1 only opens the first floor. The opponents there are all Level 51 to Level 55 monsters."
"In the wilderness, those monsters only drop around twenty-five to thirty copper coins each."
"Let's set it at ten copper coins. Any higher and people will think it isn't worth it. Any lower and we'll lose money. Since the system takes 50%, with a minimum deduction of five copper coins, this price happens to trigger the minimum deduction."
"We can adjust the ticket price anytime. For now, let's build up popularity first."
Following Lin Mo's suggestion, Ning Xi set the entrance fee for the first floor of the Divine Might Tower at ten copper coins.
The location, setup, and pricing were all finished.
Next, the Divine Might Tower could officially open for business.
Lin Mo opened the Inferno City chat channel and spent ten silver coins to post a pinned announcement for ten minutes.
[Supreme Lord · Rulebound (Lv68 Third-Turn Soul Archer · Rank #1): "The Divine Might Tower is now open. Challenge it for generous Reputation rewards. New and returning players are welcome to visit and take on the challenge. [Divine Might Tower] (Location)"]