Chapter Sixty-One: The Struggle for Justice

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Christmas Day—three chapters today, with the first arriving at one in the morning. Please don’t be stingy with your flowers and VIP tickets~
The reader group for this book has been established, group number 52374929. Interested friends are welcome to join~!
I thought I was dead, but after checking the system message, I was overjoyed!
System prompt: Congratulations, you have passed Dark’s trial!
Haha, the last medium potion saved my life. Dark has already returned to the camp, and I followed him, waiting for my quest reward!
Dark, after all, is still an NPC. He sat firmly in his chair, and upon seeing me said, “Young man, it seems you truly possess the strength to rescue Princess Misha. However, a sword is a weapon for self-defense, and I cannot give it to you. Take these gauntlets instead. Old Carven and Misha both recognize them—they were bestowed by the late king.”
I took the gauntlets and examined them, but saw nothing special—‘Justice’s Struggle,’ a quest item.
Dark continued, “To prove the princess is still alive, I hope you can bring back her token from the king. If you succeed, I’ll be willing to lead my soldiers and pledge allegiance to the kingdom once more!”
I nodded, accepting the quest.
…
Damn! I thought Dark would give me that sword, which might be an artifact, but in the end, all I got was this quest item. Who knows what’s going on.
Looking at the time, it was already four in the afternoon. Unconsciously, doing this quest alone had taken more than two hours. The map of Wild Mustang Plains really is enormous; walking and fighting monsters along the way, I hardly noticed how quickly time passed.
“Beep~!”
Murong Shanshan sent a message, but there was no content—just the image of a piece of equipment:
[Night Elf’s Sword] (Blue Equipment)
Attack: 120-175
Strength: +21
Vitality: +24
Agility: +16
Required Level: 26
…
Oh my God—what does this mean?

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120-175 attack? My Pinewood Giant Sword only has 24-45 attack!
I quickly opened the communicator; on the other end, Murong Shanshan’s silvery laughter rang out. She was clearly overjoyed.
“Shanshan, is this your quest reward?” I asked urgently.
“Yes! The quest took five whole hours, but it was worth it!”
Two minutes passed…
“Hey, Lin Fan, why aren’t you saying anything?” Murong Shanshan asked, laughing.
I wiped away my drool and replied, “I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll definitely find a weapon even better than yours! By the way, Shanshan, how did you allocate your stats, and what’s your attack now?”
“All points went into Strength. My attack is now 265-345. How about you?”
“220-284…”
I was devastated—because of a single weapon, Murong Shanshan had surpassed my attack. Looks like my level 12 Pinewood Giant Sword is due for a replacement, but such things can’t be rushed. Right now, there’s nothing better on the market, and this kind of weapon is rare—a monster drop is never guaranteed, no matter how many you kill.
“Lin Fan…” Murong Shanshan spoke again.
“Hmm?”
“I’m now level 26, just enough to equip the Elf Sword. I’m telling you, it’s beautiful—entirely crystal green, I absolutely love it! To celebrate, I’ll treat you to dinner tonight!”
“Is that so? Tell me more about this quest—can I still take it? My weapon is really inadequate…”
Murong Shanshan grinned mysteriously, “I’ll tell you at dinner. Meet me at ‘Taste of Heaven’ in an hour, alright?”
I considered it; I’d originally planned to spend Christmas Eve with Xinyu and Liu Xuehan, but for the sake of a weapon, I was dragged off to dinner with Murong Shanshan. At least she was treating, which made things more comfortable.
I turned off the communicator. There was an hour until dinner, so I decided to return to the city and turn in my quest first.
The royal palace in Lion Castle was only separated from the Hurricane District by a bridge; few guards and checkpoints, so I entered easily, stepping onto the red carpet and feeling quite different. The king and queen were in the main hall.
At the guards’ post, I exchanged the quest item for a certificate of audience, which allowed me to enter the throne room. The bearded old king and the elegant queen sat there.
Upon seeing me, the king spoke, “Young warrior, I hear you obtained Captain Dark’s token. May I know what message you bring from him?”
“Yes, Captain Dark sent his gauntlets to express his loyalty to the king, but he hopes to see the princess’s token to confirm she is still alive.”
The old king replied readily, “That’s easy. Bring Captain Dark’s token forward. The princess is in the left wing; whatever you need, just ask her.”

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I was stunned; I hadn’t expected things to be so easy. It seemed the king truly felt helpless with the current situation, otherwise his attitude wouldn’t have changed so drastically, disregarding Dark’s previous rebellious actions.
I quickly stepped forward and handed ‘Justice’s Struggle’ to the king. He took the gauntlet, excitedly wiped it, and said in a trembling voice, “It really is Dark’s gauntlet. He must have suffered greatly all these years!”
I chuckled to myself; the procedure was so realistic—the old king played the scene of ‘the cat crying for the mouse’ to perfection.
After gazing at the gauntlet for a while, the king looked up and said, “Young warrior, here is my decree for Dark. I will pardon him and all the warriors of the Golden Knights, hoping they can march immediately to the western Twilight Forest and eradicate the undead forces there! Once the area is reclaimed, he can bring his troops back to report to the royal army. I will send someone to reestablish the Golden Knights and reorganize their designation.”
I was secretly amazed—the old king was truly a cunning fox. Even before Dark’s troops returned, he wanted to use them to wipe out some of the undead, as proof of their renewed loyalty. Such scheming and depth of thought truly impressed me.
Seeing I hadn’t left yet, the old king suddenly smiled and said, “By the way, Dark’s gauntlet likely won’t be returned. Brave warrior, I now gift it to you—may you work even harder for the kingdom!”
“Ding~!”
System prompt: You have received the quest reward—Justice’s Struggle!
Dark’s equipment surely wouldn’t be bad. I hurriedly opened my pack and glanced at it, my heart racing.
[Justice’s Struggle] (Blue Equipment—Armor)
Defense: 57
Vitality: +24
Strength: +22
Agility: +21
Bonus: Increases the healing effect received from Light magic by up to 100 points
Required Level: 28
…
A level 28 blue armor with very high defense and attribute bonuses—each stat over 20, equivalent to the points gained from twelve levels. That means, excluding resistance, this equipment can match ten levels’ worth of stats. This illustrates the importance of equipment attributes in “Moon Eternal.”
As for the healing bonus, it probably means that when I am healed by a priest, the health restored will be much greater than usual!