Some of the low-level materials had already been synthesized into advanced materials by Lu Chen, leaving only this much. He hadn't sold them yet, thinking they might come in handy when he needed to upgrade in the future.

But now, he planned to check out the Reputation Shop. He didn't want to put all his eggs in one basket, so he decided to exchange some materials first.

After all, the exchange rate was ridiculously unfair, and even exchanging one felt like a loss.

He exchanged 300 Tier-0 Talent Shards and 300 0-Star Evolution Points, costing him a total of 60 Monster Reputation points.

"Open the Reputation Shop."

Several purchasable items appeared in the Reputation Shop.

A Tier-1 Talent Shard actually cost 10 Reputation points! ... As expected, the Reputation Shop still had the characteristics of a rip-off.

"Unlock more equipment slots? Wow~ there's actually something like this!"

Currently, Lu Chen only had one weapon slot. As a Gnoll, having even one equipment slot was already a blessing.

Originally, Lu Chen thought he could only ever have one weapon, but he didn't expect to find such a good thing in the Reputation Shop.

The second equipment slot required 50 Reputation points, which was still acceptable.

"I'll wait until I have equipment before unlocking it, otherwise I wouldn't know which slot to open." Lu Chen skipped this option.

"Hmm? Legion Recruitment Order (Single Unit) (Unique)?" The next option immediately caught Lu Chen's attention.

[Spend 10 Monster Reputation points to purchase a Legion Recruitment Order (Single Unit) (Unique).]

[You can recruit one creature. After recruitment, the wild monster's level and talent tier must not exceed the recruiter's, and its quality must be lower. After recruitment, the original equipment is reset.]

[If the recruited creature dies, it disappears without dropping experience, equipment, or items, but the Legion Recruitment Order is returned.]

[Recruitment method: After recruitment begins, both parties enter a "Forceful Subjugation" state, equivalent to a solo duel. During this process, no potions can be used, and if the recruit target is attacked by an external force, the recruitment will automatically fail. When you defeat the opponent, they will retain 1 HP and be in a "recruitable" state.]

[There is a certain chance of recruitment failure. If it fails, the target dies without dropping experience, equipment, or items, and the Legion Recruitment Order is returned. The species of the creature determines the recruitment success rate.]

[After successful recruitment, the recruit opens up some enhancement paths. The recruiter can use Reputation, Talent Shards, and Quality Points to enhance the recruit's corresponding attributes.]

Lu Chen carefully studied the detailed explanation of the Legion Recruitment Order (Single Unit) word by word.

In theory, as long as he had a Recruitment Order, he could recruit any wild monster; it's just that after successful recruitment, the wild monster's abilities would be lower than Lu Chen's.

But in practice, it wasn't that simple.

To recruit the creature, he must subdue it by force, meaning a one-on-one fight without using potions.

So, for Lu Chen to recruit a creature, he must be stronger than it! This also prevented Lu Chen from using any tricks to recruit a particularly strong subordinate.

"The item is unique, meaning I can only have one, but with just one, I definitely can't beat that elite..." Lu Chen frowned.

A 1-Star Quality increases attributes by 50%, 2-Star by 100%, and 3-Star should increase by at least 150%, maybe even 200%!

If calculated by these attributes, Quinn Zakas's attributes would be terrifying.

"Two might not be enough; it's best to have three subordinates!" Lu Chen calculated.

After staring at the Legion Recruitment Order for a few seconds, Lu Chen suddenly had an epiphany.

This item is called a Legion Recruitment Order; can one subordinate be called a legion? Surely, more subordinates can be recruited later.

But the shop only had one Legion Recruitment Order, so the issue might be that this item is "unique."

Which means he can't buy a lot of tokens, so how to recruit more subordinates in this situation? The answer seems to be only one.

The Legion Recruitment Order can be upgraded!

"So, I must purchase this token to possibly continue upgrading it!" Lu Chen gradually began to understand.

10 Reputation points weren't expensive, and regardless of whether Lu Chen's guess was correct, it was worth a try.

"Purchase the Legion Recruitment Order (Single Unit) (Unique)."

A token appeared in Lu Chen's hand.

"This is it?" Lu Chen looked at the rectangular wooden plaque in his hand, with "Legion" written on the front and "Order" on the back.

Lu Chen couldn't continue admiring the exquisite craftsmanship of the token and immediately opened his personal Attribute Panel.

Sure enough, two new lines appeared after Reputation.

[Legion Recruitment Order (Single Unit): 50/500 (Reputation)]

Lu Chen's expression was quite remarkable. Initially, he was ecstatic to see that the Legion Recruitment Order could be upgraded, but when he saw the Monster Reputation needed for the upgrade, his smiling face instantly turned cold.

To read the uncut version, go to [p𝘢wread.com].

"Damn, buying a token only costs 10 Reputation, but upgrading it requires 500? Why don't you just rob me!"

Complaints aside, Lu Chen had no way to reason with the shop.

"Maybe the 10 Reputation is just to open up my legion, but really upgrading requires a lot of Reputation." Lu Chen found a plausible reason for the shop.

Now Lu Chen could only sit there, going through his materials one by one.

0-Star materials could only be exchanged for 0.1 Reputation each, and he had 540 left, which could be exchanged for 54 Reputation.

1-Star materials, 284 in total, could be exchanged for 1 Reputation each, totaling 284 Reputation.

2-Star materials could be exchanged for 10 Reputation each, and he had 18, totaling 180 Reputation!

3-Star materials were the most valuable, each could be exchanged for 100 Reputation, and he had 12, all of which were Talent Shards.

"Sell all 0-Star materials. The 1-Star Quality might still be useful later, so I'll keep them for now. I'll have to sell the Talent Shards, sell all 2-Star, and... painfully sell 1 of the 3-Star!"

After the sale, Lu Chen gained 476 Reputation points, which, combined with the remaining 110 Reputation points, was enough to upgrade the token.

"Upgrade the token!"

[Legion Recruitment Order (Duality): 36/1000 (Reputation)]

"Damn..." Lu Chen felt conflicted. Being able to upgrade again was good news, but the Reputation cost was terrifying. If he wanted to upgrade, he'd have to sell all his 3-Star materials.

"Damn, at this point..." Lu Chen hesitated. If adding two subordinates still couldn't defeat Zakas, all the Reputation spent before would be meaningless.

"Ah! Such agony!" Lu Chen looked at Zakas in the distance, who seemed so conspicuous and arrogant, the purple name above his head seemed to say: Come on, I drop equipment, lots of it, you can sell it for lots of money!

Clearly a walking ATM, constantly tempting Lu Chen.

"Damn... upgrade! As long as I can beat this guy, I can farm him for 3-Star materials!" Lu Chen gritted his teeth and said, "Sell 10 Tier-3 Talent Shards!"

With 1000 Reputation in hand, Lu Chen upgraded the Legion Recruitment Order once more.

[Legion Recruitment Order (Trinity): 36/2000 (Reputation)]

This time, even if Lu Chen wanted to upgrade, he couldn't; he was already bankrupt.

"Three it is, that should be enough!"

Lu Chen stood up, the token was upgraded, and now it was time to recruit subordinates!

"I need to find three strong subordinates!" Lu Chen said with determination.