"Coming, coming!" Hearing the doorbell ring, Ai Shiping shouted as he jogged over.
He peered cautiously through the peephole before opening the door for Ming Po. Ai Shiping looked at him in surprise.
"Are you going on a blind date? Why are you dressed so flashily?"
Ming Po had taken off his usual clothes and changed into a pure white trench coat. Ai Shiping knew that Ming Po had a strong preference for light-colored, minimalist clothing.
Most of the clothes in his wardrobe were white, gray, and sky blue. There were only a few brown and black pieces, reserved solely for occasions that demanded dark attire.
As for their style... one could only say that anyone who knew Ming Po would imdiately recognize the aesthetic as entirely his own. These garnts ranged from cheap to expensive, varying from a few dozen to tens of thousands. Ming Po cared little about the price and even less about comfort.
He cared far more about whether the cut of the clothes accentuated his charm. They all looked incredibly simple, almost entirely devoid of flashy patterns or designs.
But just like Ming Po's hair—that shoulder-length wolf cut which seed to carry a hint of careless disarray—they actually required a considerable amount of ticulous styling to achieve that exact level of "ssiness".
The long trench coat Ming Po wore was perfectly tailored, and the texture of the fabric was top-tier. Yet, it lacked any brand logo—this was a custom-made piece Ming Po had specially commissioned, with the tailor's personal mark sewn into the lining. The double-breasted buttons on the coat were custom silver pieces crafted by an artisan.
The buttons looked like four-pointed stars, or perhaps clocks with four mutually perpendicular minute hands. Right in the center lay a sapphire... Of course, it was not a natural sapphire, but a lab-grown one. Otherwise, two rows of buttons of that size would easily push the coat's value into the six-figure range. In reality, this handcrafted trench coat barely cost four figures.
In Ai Shiping's words, Ming Po was exactly this kind of "closet exhibitionist." However, Ming Po was not angry at all.
In fact, he flashed a rare, pleased smile, because to him, such an evaluation was actually a complint.
It ant that this outfit simultaneously satisfied his two completely contradictory, awkward needs—
Naly, [Keeping a Low Profile] and [Acting Pretentious].
"You're out of the Promotion ga."
Ming Po did not answer Ai Shiping directly. He simply straightened the collar of his trench coat and asked casually, "It seems everything went smoothly?"
"Naturally." Ai Shiping looked quite smug. "I am now at the rank of Day's False Gold."
"Did you get a new Title?"
Ming Po nodded and stepped into the house. Ai Shiping casually closed the door behind him.
"How was the rating? A perfect score promotion!"
He puffed out his chest and declared with a beaming smile, "Rejoice! I am no longer a weak beast like 'Fox'."
"What happened? Did you beco a strong beast?"
"What kind of talk is that! Is that appropriate?!" Ai Shiping hollered, trailing behind Ming Po. "My new Title is [The Chariot]! Sounds badass, right?"
"...The Chariot?"
Ming Po paused and turned around, looking quite surprised. "Is it from the Domain of Strength? You can get a Title from the Domain of Strength too?"
At the ntion of a chariot, Ming Po imdiately thought of the Chariot card from the tarot. Not long ago, he had been designing Sin cards for his custom character "Aiwass" and had studied tarot cards extensively. The Chariot was a concept associated with strength and victory. It was quite reasonable for Ming Po to make that assumption.
"I knew you would guess wrong!"
Ai Shiping practically bead with pride. "Since even you guessed wrong, others probably will too. It's actually still in the Domain of Balance."
"A chariot in the Domain of Balance? Which chariot is this? It couldn't be the kind of chariot Cú Chulainn drives, could it?" Ming Po found it very strange.
"The active ability is called 'King's Rook Castling'," Ai Shiping answered straightforwardly. "It's like Nether Swap from Vengeful Spirit... Ah, if you don't understand that, you can just think of it as Exchange Field."
Ming Po rarely played online MMOs or multiplayer esports titles, but he did play Pokémon.
Exchange Field was a move commonly used in Pokémon double battles, and its effect was to swap positions with a teammate. It could absorb so damage for an ally and even potentially render the opponent's attacks completely ineffective after the swap, drastically increasing the strategic pressure on the enemy. But in reality, the situation was completely different.
In reality, there was no such thing as type advantages or damage immunity.
If they swapped positions instantly to take damage for Ming Po, wouldn't that an Ai Shiping would get hurt instead?
"...The chariot from chess."
Ming Po frowned, looking sowhat displeased. "Can such an ambiguous Title even be considered a unique Title?"
"It is indeed a unique Title."
Ai Shiping knew the specific effects of "Frankenstein". He shook his head and answered earnestly, "But my effect isn't as broken as your cheat-like Title. The passive effect just increases defense. Also, inherited Titles cannot be promoted—in that regard, it's the sa as yours."
"...It just increases defense?"
"Xiao Fan said this ability is quite rare, and it's also quite practical," Ai Shiping hurriedly explained, seeing Ming Po frown.
He montarily had the illusion that he had spent money on a useless, bulky ho appliance. Upon being scolded by a frugal father asking 'What is the use of spending so much money on this?', he had to scramble to explain how 'it's actually quite useful' and so on.
"The defense it adds isn't too weak. And it operates on a strange principle, which is 'the faster my instantaneous speed, the higher my imdiate defense will be'. Hit hard. I want to test my defense in a stationary state—use force!"
The mont Ai Shiping finished speaking, Ming Po unceremoniously delivered a vicious kick right to his stomach.
Ai Shiping let out a muffled wheeze and flew backward, crashing directly into the living room table and knocking it over. He rolled twice on the ground before clutching his stomach, grimacing as he scrambled back up.
"Are you really that strong? You didn't activate 'Frankenstein', did you?"
"...I have never seen such a strange request."
Ming Po curled his lip. "The defense is pretty decent... If I had activated 'Frankenstein', you would be plastered against the wall right now."
As the tester, he could clearly feel the feedback from that kick just now. If Ai Shiping hadn't activated this Title, with Ming Po's strength, Ai Shiping wouldn't have been able to get up after taking that hit.
Just like the old locked wooden doors at the Water Mirror Resort, it would take Ming Po three kicks at most to bust them open. Yet, the instant his foot connected, Ming Po felt a heavy, solid resistance from him, sowhat akin to kicking a sack of rice or a heavy punching bag hanging from the ceiling.
...This Title was actually quite effective!
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