Chapter Forty-Two: The Deal with Wang Dachui

“Brother Wang, do you like this low-grade Eternal Crystal?” Huang Yunshuo asked.

Strictly speaking, although low-grade Eternal Crystals were precious, there were plenty of players holding fragments of them. As materials piled up with no immediate use, their price would only drop further. Yet, the system shop didn’t stock such items; if Wang Dazui truly wanted one, he could only collect them from players.

“That’s right. Eternal Crystals are one of the wonders of our Dimix Continent, brimming with incredible energy. If I could embed one into my hammer and forge, I can’t even imagine how much my crafting efficiency would soar!” Wang Dazui said, then sighed. “It’s just too rare. It must have been hard for you to gather these, right?”

Huang Yunshuo pondered. Even at current prices, collecting eighty-one fragments would only cost about 4,050 copper coins. Once he had the rocket launcher, his damage output would be through the roof—it should be easy enough to earn more copper coins.

“How about I try to get you one?” he offered.

Wang Dazui’s eyes lit up. “Are you serious? If you can bring me another Eternal Crystal like this before tomorrow night, I’ll be deeply grateful.”

“You said it.” Huang Yunshuo nodded. Their conversation hadn’t triggered a quest, so it was hard to say what reward Wang Dazui might give him.

“Forging the rocket launcher will take about two hours—don’t worry, I won’t fail!” Wang Dazui assured him as he busied himself.

“All right.” Thanks to his friends’ support and the 800 copper coins from Yida, Huang Yunshuo still had 2,200 copper coins left. He left the blacksmith’s and went straight to the pharmacy, buying a hundred small health recovery sprays in one go.

“Wait, Wang Dazui didn’t charge me for forging the weapon?” Huang Yunshuo paused, glancing at his 1,200 copper balance. Honestly, the total cost to make this rocket launcher was nearly 10,000 copper coins—even if Wang Dazui charged him 1,000 for the work, it would be more than fair.

“Looks like this was his way of giving me part of the reward.” Understanding dawned on him, and Huang Yunshuo dashed out of town, eyes blazing as he made for the field of white rabbits outside the gate.

“That maniac is at it again!”

“That last poor guy was utterly miserable—lost all his gear and nearly everything in his bag. Whatever advantage he’d built up in the early days is probably gone now!”

“Who’s to blame? Those idiots ganged up on him for a full minute—if it were me, I’d have wiped all five of them out too.”

Other players grinding nearby pointed and whispered about Huang Yunshuo—some wary, some impressed, some dismissive.

“Morning, boss!” Heqi Shengcai (Prosperity Through Harmony) and Xinyu Gaoxi (Credible High-Interest) waved and called out, teaming up in the distance.

“Damn those two clowns, didn’t they see that I’ve hidden my ID?” Huang Yunshuo cursed inwardly. Plunging headlong into the monsters’ midst, he started hacking at the nearest white rabbit.

The disparity in attack and defense: Huang Yunshuo had 23 points; the white rabbits, about 35. As for health, Huang Yunshuo had 180, while the rabbits only had 100. Even if he just stood like a dummy, three swings would fell a rabbit, and with dodging factored in, he’d lose 50–60 health per kill.

Of course, Huang Yunshuo wasn’t about to stand still. His combo skill had a two-minute cooldown, so he used it whenever ready, relying on his high agility to always strike first. His Wyvern skill only took thirty seconds to recharge. If only it didn’t take less than thirty seconds to kill a rabbit—and if Wyvern didn’t consume mana—he could stun every rabbit with it and finish them off with a slash. Killing at full health would be almost too easy.

Even so, this pace felt too slow for him. He’d bought so many sprays—no reason to be stingy. Sacrificing copper coins for more kills was totally worth it.

-23!
-23!
Miss!

Those were the last three attacks Huang Yunshuo had received. On average, each rabbit only got a chance to hit back less than once before dying, and Huang Yunshuo’s miss chance was about one in three. All in all, it took two rabbits to chip away 23 health, so he only needed to heal after every five kills.

The white rabbit fields teemed with monsters. After killing one, he could immediately find another, burning through a bottle of healing spray every minute—his slaying efficiency was staggering.

Heqi Shengcai and Xinyu Gaoxi twitched at the sight. Not just their party—every nearby group had stopped fighting, staring in shock and despair as the “idiot” soloed the rabbits. Their team of five could only manage two or three kills a minute; this guy was racking up five or six solo.

They only had one question in mind:
How is anyone supposed to play like this?

“Ding! Current use failed. You need to replenish your health recovery sprays.”

The system notification snapped Huang Yunshuo back to reality. Instinctively, he finished off the rabbit in front of him, picked up a carrot and six copper coins, and left the monster zone, flopping down on the soft grass.

Leaning back on his arms, he panted, completely exhausted. An hour and a half of mechanical grinding had burned through all hundred sprays, and the ten small mana recovery sprays he’d bought earlier were long gone. His mana was empty, and his hunger was near max.

But the rewards were staggering.
First, experience: about five hundred white rabbits had netted him a full ten thousand experience points. Even though the experience requirement rose geometrically after level eleven, it was enough to bring him smoothly to level fourteen.

He allocated all fifteen free attribute points to Intelligence.
Intelligence had terrible growth—at level eleven he only had thirteen Intelligence, giving him sixty-five mana. Wyvern had a thirty-second cooldown and cost five mana per use, making it a real mana hog. A hundred mana could be used up in ten minutes.

The only place to buy mana potions was the pvp shop—an absolute pain—so he had no choice but to boost his mana pool first.

“Should I try to buy mana sprays from other players?” he wondered. The pvp event ran all day, and players brought out pvp points every moment, so the supply was huge. But there were many items in the pvp shop, and everyone was short on points. If he tried to buy mana sprays now, he’d just get ripped off.

Forget it—better not use mana skills for now.

He rubbed his aching forehead, feeling a strong urge to curse. This damn “Reforged Era” was definitely out to make things difficult. The novice village gave out defensive gear but no weapons; the pharmacy only sold health sprays and not mana ones. Who knew what other bizarre settings lay ahead?

“Maybe they’ll only start offering mana sprays through other means once spellcasters start changing classes en masse.”

Idiot, Level 14
Class: Frost Hawk
Human, Blood Value 53 (White List 53, Black List 0)
Constitution: 39
Strength: 104
Agility: 66
Intelligence: 31
Health: 195
Mana: 155
Attack: 35–41
Defense: 27
Copper balance: 4,542
Giant Carrot Batons x29!