I blearily opened my eyes as the morning rays fell on my face. I hated sleeping in this position. Sitting in a chair while resting my body against the edge of a bed left me feeling all creaky and tired despite those hours of sleep.

"Achooo!"

I rubbed my nose. As expected, even though my body had been strengthened by the virus, I was still an ordinary person. I had been drenched in the rain and I hadn’t even gotten a chance to take a hot bath, so I ended up with the expected cold.

Silvery laughter that tinkled like small bells rang out from behind me. He Yi and Murong Mingyue walked in the hospital room together and Murong Mingyue was holding a cup of hot tea. She smiled as she said, "Lu Chen, here’s some cold medicine. Drink it first. We still have a lot of work to do today…"

I took the cup of hot tea and sniffed it. The strong smell of medicinal herbs immediately hit my nose, this was definitely some Chinese cold remedy.

I drank it down in one gulp.

Ah, that felt good!

"What are you going to be busy with today?" I asked.

He Yi laughed. "I need to take a trip to Nanjing. There are some formalities there that I need to handle personally. That’s because the GGS Nanjing Branch will simply ignore me if I don’t go there and force things to happen. Oh, we’ll also be able to get the company permit later in the morning. Heehee, Raincube Corporation is about to officially open for business!"

I chuckled as I nodded my head. "Okay, so what can I do?"

He Yi giggled as she patted me on the shoulder. "Raincube’s most important mission is to provide technical support for Blue Star and the Eternal Moon Corporation. Hmmm, as for your role. I am going to build a Raincube Company virtual gaming hub. You will be in charge of this hub’s security. Hehe, basically you will be the ace fighter who protects our holdings. The strongest shield who will guard against any attacks on our virtual gaming hub. Perhaps, we can sign ourselves to our own company once we have finished our contract with Lenovo."

"Okay! Also… when you say that I’m your ace fighter who’s in charge of protecting everyone, does that mean that I’m like the martial scholar in the Flirting Scholar? I asked. [1]

He Yi nearly spat out whatever she was drinking. "Why? Do you also want to have your own Sister Pomegranate?" [2]

"Oh, no, no! My tastes aren’t that exotic!"

"Heehee~"

……

I looked toward Murong Mingyue and said, "Sis, the hospital’s discharging you today?! It’d be best for you to rest for another two days. I mean, you suffered a bad shock yesterday. It won’t be easy for you to move about…"

Murong Mingyue gave me a deep and meaningful look. "Truth be told, I wasn’t really shocked by the collision. Rather… Rather, I was shocked by the sight that greeted me the moment I opened my eyes. I mean, I saw a silly little boy desperately clawing away at the dirt like a mole. Didn’t he know that my A8 is a convertible, I can open my car roof with the press of a button…"

"Fuck my life. How was I supposed to know? Dammit…" I grumbled to myself angrily.

However, I wasn’t expecting her to suddenly step forward and kiss me on the cheek. She grinned at me. "Oh, alright. Don’t grumble so much. It’s time for our martial scholar to go back and keep watch over the house. I’ll accompany Eve to Nanjing today. We’ll have an experienced driver at the wheel, so you won’t need to worry about us."

"Hmm, okay. But are you coming back home first?!"

"Of course I am! I need to at least change my clothes. My clothes were completely drenched by the rain yesterday and they’re still not dry!"

"Okay!"

Of course, everyone had gotten drenched last night. But if all of us could make it home safe and sound, it was worth it.

……

We found Beiming Xue, who had gone to buy breakfast. After we finished eating, we headed back to the workshop and took turns to wash up. Murong Mingyue and He Yi changed into fresh clothes and immediately left for Nanjing with bloodshot eyes. They had run themselves ragged the last few days, and laymen like Beiming Xue and I hadn’t been able to help. We could only do what we were good at, and that was to protect Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Dark Moon City. We needed to provide Raincube Corporation with as much virtual firepower as possible!

He Yi had also said something else. Since the Raincube Corporation was a newly-established company, they were in desperate need of capital. Any monetary contributions would be great boons to the fledgling company, so I transferred ten million RMB of the twelve million RMB I had in my card to He Yi. Even though it wasn’t much, it could pay for a portion of Raincube’s salaries for three months. I still had to continue earning money after that, because He Yi’s company was based on a shareholding system. She owned 50% of the stock, and she gave Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, and I 10% each. She would use the remaining 20% to attract investors.

All in all, they were building the company using GGS as the foundation while also banking on He Yi’s influence in China and the Asia Pacific Region. It was clear that Raincube Corporation would become an influential and powerful existence in the country. This was especially true because Raincube’s technological expertise stood at the very top of Asia and even the world! It was precisely because of this point that the Eternal Moon Corporation and Blue Star would be willing to entertain He Yi and agree to cooperate with Raincube.

After we sent the two ladies off, Beiming Xue and I went online. It was time to put our noses back to the grindstone!

……

Swoosh!

I appeared in the main square of Sky City and I swiftly received more than ten consecutive auction house notifications. I had sold all of the items I had put up for sale. The Bloody Dawn sets went for at least 250000 RMB and the highest price I got for one of them was 470000 RMB. There really were a lot of rich people in the world!

As for the other items I had put up for sale, the Earth Fiend War Boots, Earth Fiend Helmet, and Earth Fiend Battle Armor had been bought by the same player and they sold for a grand total of 3750000 RMB. The Tempest Staff, an excellent magic staff in its own right, actually sold for 1400000 RMB all by itself! As a result, I had earned nearly ten million RMB just from the sale of the itemsI had farmed yesterday! This had turned out to be an unbelievable harvest!

Of course, this was also because I had gotten very lucky. All the items I had gotten yesterday were extremely desirable. If my luck had been poor, I would only have been able to get normal Dark Gold and Purple Gold–grade items. Even if I had been able to get Spirit or Earth–grade items, they wouldn’t be Outstanding either. In the end, I would only have been able to sell those items for less than one hundred thousand RMB. That was the worst-case scenario, but it was also something that could easily happen.

I transferred another ten million to He Yi’s card. I owned 10% of Raincube Corporation’s stocks, and this company was also equivalent to the dream of our Frost Cloud workshop. There was no reason for us to not contribute as much as we could to it. I heard that Beiming Xue also transferred the five million RMB in her account to He Yi.

However, the truth of the matter was that He Yi was only having some cash flow difficulties right now. The entire Raincube Corporation, after taking over GGS facilities, would soon be worth at least ten billion dollars. This means that our stakes in the company could be considered worth around one billion dollars each. Our current contributions absolutely couldn’t be counted as us being charitable to He Yi. In fact, He Yi was the one who was merrily shoving a huge steamed bun into each of our mouths. We were just paying for some pickles to go along with it as a side dish.

……

I checked my level. I was currently at Level 142 and I only needed 23% more to hit Level 143. My leveling speed when I wasn’t completing a quest was quite slow though, so I couldn’t be bothered to find a place to grind.

Alright, I will get my Spirit Cooking to Rank 8 first. Once I reach it, I’ll have access to the Rank 8 versions of the Saint Spirit Potion and the various stat supplements.

I used nearly one hundred thousand gold coins to buy up all the Rank 7 herbs and food ingredients I could find. After that, I started mass-producing Saint Spirit Potions! Not long after, I heard the ringing sound of the system notice in my ears. My Spirit Cooking had risen to Rank 8, and the new recipes appeared under my Spirit Cooking skill window.

Agility Supplement VIII: Raises Agility by 400. Required Ingredients: Agave, Green Peppers.

Intelligence Supplement VIII: Raises Intelligence by 400. Required Ingredients: Conyza Blinii, Green Peppers.

Strength Supplement VIII: Raises Strength by 400. Required Ingredients: Agave, Fresh Ginger, Purple Cloud Net.

Stamina Supplement VIII: Raises Stamina by 400. Required Ingredients: Agave, Garlic.

Deadly Poison VIII: Reduces target’s health regeneration by 80% while dealing a fixed amount of damage every second. Damage dealt is calculated based on the user’s stats. Required Ingredients: Agave, Wild Pansy, Seven Star Grass.

Blinding Poison VIII: Causes target to lose vision for 1 second. Required Ingredients: Agave, Purple Cloud Net.

Silencing Poison VIII: Silences a target and prohibits them from chanting any magic spells. Target will not be able to cast any magic-based skills for 3 seconds. Required Ingredients: Agave, Seven Star Grass, Mimosa of Tranquil Silence.

Curse Poison VIII: Curses target and drastically reduces their hit rate. Reduces target’s hit rate by 30% for 12 seconds. Required Ingredients: Agave, Fragrant Poison Orchid, Lizard Venom.

……

The Rank 8 Spirit Cooking recipes caused my eyes to shine brightly. All of the stat supplements were incredibly powerful. This was especially true for the Strength Supplement that added 400 points of Strength.

What did this mean? It meant that most fighter-class players who obtained this potion would be able to reach 1400 points of Strength after consuming it. After that, they could go learn Barrier Break from their class trainer! This was going to be a watershed moment for all the fighter class players in the game!

Also, even if they didn’t need to use this potion to learn Barrier Break, adding 400 points to one’s Strength was incredibly broken. If a player consumed four different supplements, each stat would be boosted by 400, for a total boost of 1600! That was equivalent to 320 levels worth of stat points! It would allow a player to undergo a complete metamorphosis! Just the Stamina Supplement alone, which provided 400 points of Stamina, would boost a player’s max HP by 4000! This was bonkers!

Furthermore, the Deadly Poison was incredibly useful while fighting bosses and the Blinding Poison, Silencing Poison, and Curse Poison were all tailor-made for PvP. As long as a player used the right poison, they could absolutely abuse the opponent they were fighting!

I was over the goddamn moon! Fuck me, this is awesome!

However, there was one significant problem. The other ingredients needed were still obtainable at the very least, but Agave seemed to be an exceedingly difficult herb to acquire. It wasn’t any ordinary herb, and that was evidenced by the fact that it didn’t even appear in the ingredient list for the Rank 10 Health Potion!

……

Goddammit! Oh well, let’s take a look on the forums, I’m pretty sure I can find some information there.

After I searched the forums, I managed to find some news regarding Agave. In the depths of Sky Forest, there was a map called the Windmill Forest. The map was filled with high-level monsters but it also produced a Rank 8 herb called Agave. However, it seemed like this herb wasn’t very popular and no one was willing to take the effort to go and gather it.

Okay, I found my target! Time to set out! For the Agave!

I ran through Sky Forest for nearly half an hour before I finally arrived in a rather secluded place. I opened up the map and I could vaguely see the words "Windmill Forest" in the corner.

I looked ahead to see a large and battered windmill standing in the center of the forest. It was swaying a little and it wasn’t in operation any longer, it had clearly fallen into disrepair a long time ago.

Joy surged through my heart as I ran forward and trampled on all of the fallen leaves on the ground. I grinned happily. This Spirit Cooking skill was incredibly useful. It looked like my Air Force One shop was about to start selling Spirit Cooking items en masse, and since this was something that only I could produce, it was a one-of-a-kind product that would surely spread the name of my little store far and wide!

……

As I rushed forward, a Level 122 warrior stepped out of the woods to block me. He raised his battle axe high in the air as he roared, "Halt, stranger! The Mad Dragon guild is hunting in this place, so no one is allowed to enter the Windmill Forest!"

"Hunting?" I retorted with a raised eyebrow. "What the hell does that have to do with me? I’m here to pick herbs…"

1. Flirting Scholar is a famous comedy starring Stephen Chow

2. Sister Pomegranate is an ugly woman in said movie who has the hots for the main character