This chapter was sponsored by Andrew Soler, Estela Perez, Hannu Hautalampi and William Wang!
At 4am in the morning, I have about 3500+ Indigo Seagrass in my inventory. They are neatly arranged in bundles of 100 and easily fill up 40 boxes of my inventory. The only other items I have space for are the City Scrolls, some Chilling Wind Pills , a stack of seal cards, and a slot for equipment.
"Snap!"
Jade City Sword strikes the head of an Ice Rat, splitting it into two as dark blue blood splatters everywhere. Before it died, it managed to reduce my HP by 300+ with an [Ice Cone]. The damage from these tiny guys is seriously painful.
It"s about time to return and start creating mana potions. What"s more, it"s getting really late and I can"t keep skipping class or the Professor will take note and deduct points off my grades. If I lose too many credits, I"ll get skinned alive by Wang Xin; sending me to Liu Hua University costs a lot and it"s all borne by the Bureau.
......
As I raise my head, the forest in front of me vibrates as a new monster spawns. Dark blue rays of light encircle an Ice Rat as it spawns. Though the sight is beautiful, I only care about the line of words above the Ice Rat"s head. Damn, I"m finally lucky today -
[Ice Rat] (Normal Monster)
Level: 1
Extra: Sealable
......
Hell yeah, after getting chased by bounty hunters, I finally get to meet a Level 1 Ice Rat!
With a 4 Star Magic Attack growth, this magic pet"s attack is certainly not lacking. Especially when it comes to heavy armor classes, these attacks would be super effective. Even a single [Ice Cone] would equal the attack of a high-level magician!
I take a Sealing Card from my inventory and raise my hands to perform the seal lock!
"Shua!"
The seal card appears below the Ice Rat as the little bugger grumbles aloud. It prepares an [Ice Cone] with both arms and tosses it over. Although it hits me, a Level 1 monster has limited attack power and I only lose 40+ HP.
The seal card"s magic ensnares the Ice Rat and pulls it in. The most unexpected thing is that I am successful on the first try even though the seal only has a 21.9% chance of succeeding.
A flash of light appears in one of my pet slots. Great, a Level 1 Ice Rat!
I open the pet info and take a look. I"m overjoyed-
[Ice Rat]
Level: 1
Attack: ★
Defense:★★☆
HP:★★★
Speed:★★★☆
Magic:★★★★
Excellency Rating:90%
......
In the early stages, having a magic type pet is really useful. With an Excellency Rating of 90%, this Ice Rat"s value is unquestionable. Attacks like [Ice Cone] and Frost Magic can continually devastate enemies, so as long as the owner protects it well, this Ice Rat will be able to mow down even the toughest of enemies.
I happily store the Ice Rat into my pet slot and fish out a City Scroll. It"s time to return to Ba Huang City and repair my equipment before planning what to do next.
In a flash of light, I arrive at Ba Huang City. Though it"s still in the wee hours of the morning, there are players about. There"s even quite a few players selling their wares on the street. As I look around, it seems that many of the players are Level 30. Basically, a couple of all-nighters would mean level 30 and more than 40% of all players are at least Level 30 already. The speed that mainstream players raise their levels is indeed scary.
Upon reaching the store, I purchase the necessary ingredients and start to create the Level 5 Indigo Sea (Mana) Pills!
Indigo Seagrass x 3, Chilling Grass x 1, Alchemy Furnace x 2, after placing these ingredients into the combination interface and confirming the procedure, I hear a ring -
"Ding!"
System Notification: You have successfully created [Indigo Sea Pills] using Alchemy. Alchemy Proficiency +1. As the first person to create Indigo Sea Pills, you receive a reward: Charm +1!
......
Yet another point to Charm. It"s already 29 points. Its a pretty useless stat though, I"d rather gain gold coins instead!
I kept training Alchemy for the next hour. The 3500+ Indigo Seagrass in my inventory have now become 1100+ Level 5 Indigo Sea Pills. Its also the first batch of level 5 mana pills in the entire server. Being shrouded in secrecy, it"s main ingredient surrounded by high level monsters with most players busy leveling up instead of going out of their way to face Level 40 monsters, not many players have been able to find out the secret to refining level 5 mana pills. With the game"s current progress, it"s common for players to gather Seven Star Herbs and Chilling Wind Herbs. I"m pretty sure that only a small handful of players have attained a Level 5 in Alchemy at the moment.
Opening my own stall, I display the Indigo Sea Pills for sale at a cut-throat price of 1 gold each! Level 4 pills recover 300 MP but the Level 5 pills recover 500 MP, the efficiency between the two is a really large jump. If you think about it, a team using Level 4 pills could get wiped out while fighting a boss because the Healer may have insufficient mana. However, if they were to use Level 5 pills, they can recover 500 MP every minute, which should be sufficient to stay alive. That"s why Level 4 pills can only command 10 silver per pill but Level 5 pills can get 1 gold each......although selling it for such a high price is equal to robbery in plain daylight!
At the same time, I put the Ice Rat pet up for sale and shout: "Valuable pet with 4 stars in Magic Growth and 90% Excellency for sale! This mythical creature will help you level and PK, interested players please place your bids!"
Within half a minute, my store is swamped with both players who stayed up late to level and merchants. Both the Ice Rat and Indigo Sea Pills are rarely seen treasures and naturally attract lots of interest.
The Indigo Sea Pills start to sell off one at a time as players part 1 gold for each pill. Looks like there are many rich players here!
Looking at the current exchange rate of gold to RMB at 1:11, it seems the opportunity to make quick cash is decreasing as the value of in-game gold drops as most players level up. If I want to make money, I must strike while the iron is hot!
Many players have bid for the Ice Rat, but only for a few gold, so I won"t even consider their offers. After wandering around the Deep Cold Forest, facing off with countless bounty hunters and even fighting extremely skilled people like Jian Feng Han, I finally managed to capture this Ice Rat. If they think that they can get it for a few gold, they are gravely mistaken.
......
"Di!"
I receive a message from my friend Yue Wei Liang, Yue Qing Qian"s younger sister: "Brother Xiao Yao, the person in Ba Huang City square selling the Ice Rat... ... is it you?"
I reply: "Yup, it"s me. What about it?"
Yue Wei Liang: "Elder sister just went to bed, but she did say that she wants a magic pet really badly to help her level because the effectiveness of using a magic pet in killing monsters is unmatched....."
"Hmm? Qing Qian wants it? Should I reserve it for her?"
"Nah it"s okay, I"ll go offline and wake her up so she came come online and speak to you. Don"t sell it before she comes!"
"Sure!"
Immediately, Yue Wei Liang"s picture greys out and within a few minutes, both her and Yue Qing Qian"s pictures light up. A message comes right away: "Heehee, Brother Xiao Yao, can you send over the Ice Rat"s stats for me to take a look?"
I send it over immediately and in seconds, I get a response: "The Excellency is really high......I really want it, Brother Xiao Yao how much are you planning to sell it for?"
I ponder for awhile: "With this Excellency and Magic Growth potential, it"s market rate should be about 500 gold. But since Qing Qian wants it, I"ll let it go for 200 gold......"
Yue Qing Qian laughs: "That"s a good price but my pocket money is almost all used up already so I can"t buy gold. I only have 50 gold on me at the moment......"
"Forget about it, I"ll just sell it to you for 50 gold then."
"That"s not acceptable!"
Yue Qing Qian firmly rejects: "How about this, wait for a couple minutes as I wake up my Mom and ask her to transfer some money to me. It"ll be quick, I only need about 10 minutes!"
"Alright......"
......
I continue selling Indigo Sea Pills and after 15 minutes, Yue Qing Qian finally come back online and appears in front of my store with her dagger in hand: "Brother Xiao Yao, sorry for making you wait......"
"It"s nothing. So I guess it"s settled?"
"Yeah!"
Yue Qing Qian opens her trade window and immediately places 500 gold into the trade.