Minor Protagonist
The sun was already shining brightly up in the sky when Shi Long reached the gate he exited from yesterday.
On his way back, he consolidated his newfound strength and drew up a plan about the steps he needed to take to smoothly leech off every Protagonist.
He was still lamenting over the downgraded high-grade Spirit Gathering Pill but upon reinforcing his mind about his severe unluckiness, he felt relieved.
'At least it was only downgraded to middle-grade. I would really cry rivers of blood if it became a low-grade from high-grade.' Shi Long could only compare it to a worse result to let himself feel relieved.
Furthermore, he considered the magical beast that he defeated as another bout of fortune for him which further consoled his hurting heart for the wasted pill.
"Shi Long! What the hell… Did you defeat that? How?"
Even before he could approach the gate, Zhan Jun had already spotted him. The man ran over to Shi Long. At first, there's a troubled expression on his face but it quickly turned into shock and disbelief. after seeing the Berserk Swine that he dragged.
"No. But I helped in taking it down." He answered. "The generous expert let me take home the prize."
"There's no cut. Its head was bashed in and a deep indentation shaped like a footprint on its hide… Yep, you're not the one who took this down." Zhan Jun inspected the corpse before agreeing to his made-up 'excuse'. "You helped become a bait to lure it out?"
Upon hearing that, Shi Long almost spat from the rude assumption. Nonetheless, he held it in.
That was the only significance that Zhan Jun expected from him. They're the same 3rd Stage Spirit Gathering Realm disciple. Zhan Jun wouldn't believe Shi Long even if he told him the truth.
"You can say that. Anyway, your shift's about to end, right? Help me take this to the slaughterhouse. I'll give you some and exchange the rest for Contribution Points." Shi Long answered before employing his buddy's help to complete his act.
Hearing that, Zhan Jun's eyes lit up as he willingly agreed.
As they dragged the magical beast's body inside the Outer Court grounds, Shi Long recalled his buddy's troubled expression.
'Does that mean Hai Tuo did something, huh? How petty can that kid be?' He thought.
If the same thing happened during his previous life, Shi Long would have to find a way to avoid the twerp for a few days. However, gaining an additional 8 Lions of strength that sets him up to be as strong or stronger than a 4th Stage Spirit Gathering Realm disciple, he's confident that he could now defend himself against Hai Tuo as long as his unluckiness behaved itself.
Setting that aside, Shi Long had another goal for asking Zhan Jun's help. He needed to check his halo!
Enduring the pain of activating his Eye of Destiny Peeker, Shi Long closed his right eye and focused his left on the Halo hovering behind Zhan Jun. It's not pure-white like Ling Xia but a lighter shade of blue. However, it reached the necessary size!
[Ding!]
[Host has discovered a minor Protagonist!]
[Note: A minor Protagonist cannot affect the world. However, because of his luck, he will become an important figure at one point in time.]
[Host can leech off any type of Protagonist, be it a minor or a major one.]
[Host can also influence a Minor Protagonist's fate. There's a small possibility that Host can increase or decrease their importance to the world depending on the Host's performance.]
Upon reading the system messages, Shi Long memorized them.
In simpler terms, a minor protagonist like Zhan Jun could be compared to a local superhero. In the grand scheme of things, he's just one of the many such heroes. Ling Xia, on the other hand, could be compared to those nationally or internationally famous superheroes. Everything that happened to them would impact the world in one way or another.
Since their friendship broke down in his previous life, Shi Long couldn't remember any important role that Zhan Jun played before he died.
Shi Long put out a guess that it probably happened when he ranked up to become an Inner Court disciple and before he died with him under that pond.
'In any case, a minor Protagonist is still a Protagonist!' Shi Long decided to strengthen his friendship with Zhan Jun. And giving him a share of the magical beast's meat was a start!
Being the only Protagonist near him at the moment, he decided to leech off from Zhan Jun's luck and if at all possible, influence his fate to become more important to the world. Who knows? If he does well, this guy will become even more important than Ling Xia.
As if, it was that easy.
A few minutes later, Shi Long and Zhan Jun reached the slaughterhouse. It's a menacing structure that reeked of a thick bloody scent.
Even from afar, they could hear the squealing of magical beast livestock being gutted.
An Elder in charge of it who looked really imposing because of his huge stature met them and asked the necessary questions before calling in someone to take the corpse to the slaughter.
It's proper procedure. And the same as Zhan Jun, the Elder easily believed Shi Long's story about an expert killing the beast and generously giving it to him.
Although negative, Shi Long's infamy was widespread that even this terrifying-looking Elder had heard of him. Never in his wildest dream that Shi Long could take the Berserk Swine that cleanly.
Compared to the magical beast livestock that was being raised inside the sect grounds, those wild magical beasts were significantly stronger. They weren't tamed at all so taking them down without drawing blood was hard.
When the Elder returned from inside the slaughterhouse, Shi Long received the magical beast core as well as the few kilograms of meat that he was going to share with Zhan Jun.
"You finally got lucky, Disciple Shi. Because it didn't bleed, the quality of that beast's meat is excellent. I'm raising the price for it. From 10 Contribution Points, I'm giving you 20." In contrast to how scary his appearance is, the Elder surnamed He pleasantly said.
Upon hearing that, not only Shi Long, but even Zhan Jun rejoiced for his buddy's fortune.
"Many thanks, Elder He. This junior has been stricken with luck nowadays." Shi Long handed his sect token and smilingly watched as his meager Contribution Points swelled up a bit.
It's an important resource to every disciple of the Mighty Dragon Sect and not something he could acquire easily. He could exchange it for treasures, weapons, manuals and everything available at the Contribution Hall.
After taking his token back, he and Zhan Jun left the slaughterhouse and made their way back.
"Ah! Damn it! I forgot!" Suddenly, Zhan Jun cried out as he held his head.
Confused, Shi Long looked at him. "What's wrong?"
But right at that moment, he also remembered something… 'What the… That's right. It's not the time to be jubilant. There's still that twerp and whatever he did.'
"Shi Long, you have to leave again. Hai Tuo… He announced that he's challenging you to a duel on the basis of how you broke the Sect Rules, disrespecting a senior, like him. And he got a witness who testified and an Elder to preside over it!" Zhan Jun blurted all that out in one breath, leaving him gasping for breath.
But the message was clear, "That twerp… He's surprisingly using his head." Shi Long smiled.
Seeing that his friend wasn't even panicking at what he revealed, Zhan Jun was confused… 'What the…? Something's different from this guy…'