Chapter 14

Shout out to Freespot who helped me translate this chapter! Also, sorry if the writing’s a bit rough in this chapter, it’s late at night and I’m super tired .

There were countless players around and in Ba Huang City . Outside in the forests, there were thousands if not tens of thousands of players fighting Vampire Bats and other monsters . Inside the city, there were countless players selling items .

A level 10 White trash-tier coat was selling for 5 Silver coins! I didn’t think anyone was going to buy that . After all, a coat with 5 defense really didn’t have many uses or retained its value, and money was so precious right now that one would’ve been better off buying some potions and raising one’s level .

There were quite a few people in front of the Pharmacies, Blacksmith Forges and Training Halls, but there wasn’t anyone on their way to the meet the lord of the city, other than me . It looked like everyone was busy trying gain an advantage over one another and weren’t planning to pay their respects to the lord .

… . .

The blood red path to the city hall was guarded by soldiers wearing black armor that didn’t shine under sunlight . Inside the city hall was a sword-wielding general, the feudal lord of Ba Huang City . The Chinese server of only had three secondary cities and one main city, which meant he was one of the highest ranking officials in the Chinese sever .

I walked forward and courteously said: “My lord, I would like to become an adventurer for Ba Huang City…”

The lord who had a huge beard, with his hand on his sword, swept his eyes over me: “Young man, do you really want to become a member of Ba Huang? Are you willing to defend this city to your last breath?”

I nodded: “Yes”

“Good, come over here, you will now become a member of Ba Huang City . ”

Paa . The lord’s hand, covered with a gauntlet, patted my shoulder . The strength that the hand used was far greater than my imagination . Under his pat, I winced at the pain in my shoulders but at the same time a familiar ringing sound rang beside my ear-

Ding!

System Notification: Congratulations, you have joined Ba Huang City as an adventurer and received the right to use recall scrolls for Ba Huang City . In addition, you have received Ba Huang City’s City badge – [Let the Blood Spill over Ba Huang] …

Shua!

A badge of a bloody battle knife appeared on my shoulder . I’m guessing that it was Ba Huang City’s unique badge . The badge granted a City Buff – [Let the Blood Spill Over Ba Huang]: Anyone who wore this badge would receive a 3% increase in attack and defense!

Hmph, choosing Ba Huang City as my home city had paid off . I wonder what effect the badges from Fan Shu City and Jiu Li City had . I would remember to ask Lin Wan Er and Dong Cheng Yue next time I saw them .

After registering as an adventurer of Ba Huang, I left the City Hall since there was nothing more to keep me there .

But right when I was about to leave the City’s gate to venture into the surrounding forest, a player yelled: “Buying a [Vampire Bat Illustration], I’ll pay good money for it!”

[Vampire Bat Illustration]?

I opened my inventory . Hmm, after killing more than 20 bats, I had found 2 illustrations . One, I used myself while the other one was sitting snugly in my inventory . Therefore, I went up to the player buying the illustration . He was about 20 years old, level 13 and his game ID was [New Moon Merchant Number 4] .

I walked in front of him and asked: “My friend, why do you want to buy those illustrations?”

The merchant laughed: “It’s a business secret!”

“Is it really a secret? All you want to do is use the [Vampire Bat Illustrations] to catch some Vampire Bats and sell them as pets right?”

The merchant’s eyes narrowed: “Wuh? How’d you know?”

Now it was my turn to laugh: “Really? You thought that only you would think of that? Anyways, I have a [Vampire Bat Illustration], so how badly do you want it? If I think the price is right, I’ll sell it to you . If it’s not then I’ll just use it myself and catch some bats to sell . Then we’ll be competitors!”

As soon as he heard that I had an illustration, the merchant’s eyes lit up: “My good brother, do you really have the illustration? Our group of 30+ people has been killing Vampire Bats for 4 hours now and not even a single [Vampire Bat Illustration] has dropped! How good is your luck to have one already?”

I was shocked . Were the drop rates for the illustrations really that low? Was my luck really that good?

I took out the illustration and waved it in front of the merchant’s eyes: “Mm, you want this right?”

“Incredible, you really do have it . Brother, how much are you going to sell it for? Please, please sell it to me!”

“Make your offer!”

The merchant nodded and raised 5 fingers: “50 Copper Coins!”

I smirked: “Alright, I’ma go fight some monsters . Bye!”

“Wait, wait…” The merchant hurriedly tugged my sleeve: “Even if we can’t make a deal, we can still be friends right? Don’t be in such a hurry to leave . If you aren’t satisfied with this offer, we can still discuss it right?”

I smiled, the merchant took my bait . I also held up 5 fingers: “This price…”

“You don’t mean… 5 Silver Coins!?”

“Yes, 5 Silver Coins . You have 30+ people killing Blood Sucking Bats right now and each person should be able to get about 1 Silver Coin’s worth of drops in 1 hour . Your people should have made about 30 Silver Coins . Even though you guys have gotten 30 Silver Coins, none of you have a single Illustration . So the real question is, why am I not selling this illustration for 50 Silver Coins? But since this is our first time trading, I’ll leave the price at 5 Silver Coins, take it or leave it . ”

The merchant whose face paled after my speech, immediately said: “Yes yes yes . I’ll take it . 5 Silver Coins right?”

After opening the trade window and trading with the merchant, my inventory was one [Vampire Bat Illustration] lighter and my purse was 5 Silver Coins heavier .

…

After selling the illustration, I immediately headed to the general store . After flipping through a couple pages in the catalog, I finally found what I was looking for before, when I looked through the recipes in [Alchemy] –

LV -1 [Grass Fruit Pill]: Recovers 50 mana .

Needs 3 Grass Fruits, 1 Empty Bottle

LV -2 [Silver Leaf Pill]: Recovers 100 mana .

Needs 4 Silver Leaf Herbs, 2 Refined Water, 1 Alchemy Furnace

LV -3 [Seven Star Pill]: Recovers 200 mana .

Needs 3 blades of Seven Star Herbs, 3 Refined Water, 1 Alchemy Furnace

… . .

Both Alchemy Furnaces and Empty Bottles were single use items, which meant that they would be consumed after I created the pill . So I decided to buy 100 Empty Bottles because after refining 100 Grass Fruit Pills, I should be able to get to level 2 in [Alchemy] and at that point, there wasn’t much meaning in continuing to make Grass Fruit Pills . Each of the Empty Bottles cost 2 Copper Coins so the combined cost of the 100 Empty Bottles was 2 Silver Coins . The Alchemy Furnaces however cost 20 Copper Coins . The price was ten times the price of an Empty Bottle! After buying 10 Alchemy Furnaces, I switched my focus to Monster Seals, they were 1 Silver Coin each . I bought 2… and surprise! I was out money .

This time, I went out of the Eastern gate of Ba Huang City . In front of me was a sunny forest, Clear Rainforest . The rainforest, which surrounded Ba Huang City, had a variety of low level monsters . The majority of the monsters were small animals or bugs that wouldn’t cause much damage . It was the perfect place for level 10-20 players to raise their levels . It was also where I was about to make a lot of money!

I rushed into the rainforest, my feet crushing countless flowers and grass . My first goal was to collect Grass Fruits and raise my [Alchemy] skill to level 2 . A level 1 Grass Fruit Pill can recover 50 mana which footed the mana for 5 uses of [Hemostasis] but the cooldown for the pills was 30 seconds which meant that I wouldn’t be able to use Hemostasis to its full potential (Author never says what the cd is on Hemostasis but from this it’s assumed to be less than 6 seconds) .

Inside the forest, there were plenty of Grass Fruits lying around but before I could pick them, I had to kill the Vampire Bats that “guarded” these precious herbs . Whatever, the bats gave precious experience which was always welcomed .

Ka Cha! (Common sound effect in Chinese for beheadings)

The Vampire Bat that, moments ago, so valiantly rushed at me was now dead at my feet . With its death, a golden light shone over me, I was level 11!

Every time I fought a Vampire Bat, I would carefully check if it was a level 1 bat . If it was a level 1, I would have sealed it without hesitation . After all, no one had a pet at this stage and any pet, even a pet that had stupidly low stats like a Vampire Bat, would’ve sold for huge amounts .

Unfortunately, lady luck didn’t shine on me and no level 1 Vampire Bats appeared .

After an hour of collecting Grass Fruits, I found a quiet spot in the forest and began to refine the Grass Fruits into Grass Fruit Pills . After emptying my stock of Empty Bottles, my [Alchemy] skill had reached level 2!

… . .

I stood up, taking a look at my status, I realized that I was level 12 . Now that my [Alchemy] skill was level 2, the new goal would be to gather Silver Leaf Herbs, so that I could increase my [Alchemy] level even higher .

Even though I could see piles of fully grown Grass Fruits, I didn’t have any interest in the Grass Fruit now that my [Alchemy] skill was level 2 . I slowly moved forward, carefully searching the ground for Silver Leaf Herbs . After searching for about 20 meters, I discovered the first batch of Silver Leaf Herbs . With a silver glow, they hid under shade of the surrounding trees . Unexpectedly, they were actually easier to find than I had imagined!

Without a worry in the world, I walked forward, smiling at my fortune . But right when I was about to collect the Silver Leaf Herbs, a bird’s screech sounded above me, and suddenly a silvery light dived towards me .

Puuu!

Blood sprouted from my forehead, a sneak attack!

“71!”

The treacherous attacker? A bird that was clad in silver . Even though its body was very small, the damage dealt to me was proof that its attacks were exceptionally ferocious . Its beak, which looked like it was plated in silver, made me wince just by looking at it –

[ Silver Feathered Bird ] (Ordinary Monster )

Level: 15

Attack: 55-80

Defense: 19

Health points : 550

Skills: [Silver Feather Strike] Description: The Silver Feathered Bird is one of Clear Rain Forest guardians . These metallic birds have an outlandish speed and extremely strong penetration attacks . Their persistence in guarding the Silver Leaf Herbs make countless herb pickers curse and hate them .

……

Quickly snapping out of my trance, I slashed at the Silver Feathered Bird, striking it in its flight and causing 112 points of damage . I realized that even though the bird’s offensive power was quite high, its defense was insufficient, which meant that while it could kill quickly, it could also get killed quickly .

Jie Jie!

After the Silver Feathered Bird was hit, it chirped angrily and quickly rushed at me twice . The damage and pain from its attacks were on a level that I had never experienced before, even while fighting the Bramble Thorn Bear King . I had to use 3 consecutive [Hemostasis]es for me to barely stay alive . Luckily, I was a sword practicing healer . For a common swordsman with my level and equipment, even having 2 lives would’ve been insufficient for him to kill a Silver Feathered Bird .

Puu!

I thrust my sword . It caught the Silver Feathered Bird’s body squarely and took away the final slivers of its health .

Paa Ta!

A pile of Copper Coins dropped on the ground . Wow, there were 11 Copper Coins . These level 15 monsters were perfect for leveling . They gave a generous amount of money and a decent amount of experience .

……

After placing the Copper Coins in my purse, I squatted down and started to collect the Silver Leaf Herbs . After finishing, I ventured further into the forest .

This time, because of my scary encounter earlier with the Silver Feathered Bird, I searched for Silver Feathered Birds each time I saw a Silver Leaf Herb . If two Silver Feathered Birds attacked me at once, I would’ve died without a doubt . My life was definitely more important than a Silver Leaf Herb .

After half an hour of searching, fighting and collecting, the sky had turned dark . It had become night in the game!

I looked up, appreciating the intricacy of the game when suddenly a silver flash appeared between the trees Oh great, another Silver Feathered Bird . But when I looked at the Silver Feathered Bird’s level, I involuntarily shuddered, it was a level 1 sealable Silver Feathered Bird!

[Silver Feathered Bird] Level: 1

Description: Sealable

… . .