Chapter 7 (1/2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It took him two hours to finish shopping in the entire square. Li Yao made a few dozen trips back to the warehouse to store the items he had bought, and he noticed that the gold coins in his backpack were starting to decrease. He had thirty gold coins left.

Some of the items bought were a bargain, and some were items unable to be used at his current level. He would buy anything that was deemed useful by him.

After his shopping spree, Li Yao still felt as though it was not enough for him. He could have easily spent another fifty silver coins to enter another novice village and continue his splurge there.

While he was on his way to the blacksmith shop, he thought of his little sister.

“Silly girl used to lie about starting the game late, when in reality she started playing as soon as the server had started running.”

The layout of the novice village was quite simple. The blacksmith shop not only had blacksmiths, but also NPCs that made clothes. At the time where no players knew how to make clothing, most people would look for these NPCs.

Basically, NPCs could only make standard equipment, but at such an early stage it was considered a luxury to own a whole set of equipment.

“Young man, how may I help you?” asked the tanner in charge of making equipment.

Li Yao gave an elven salute. “I would like to make two sets of equipment.”

“I have yet to reach the intermediate level, hence I can only make equipment using materials below Leader-tier. If materials from elite creatures were used, the equipment will carry a certain set effect,” the tanner replied.

Li Yao handed the tanner twenty silver coins and a batch of materials. “Yeah, I want two sets of elite equipment, one for Warlock and another for Hunter.”

After ten minutes of patiently waiting, he finally got the equipment he wanted.

In each set, there were a helmet, shoulder plates, cloak, breast armor, belt, pair of cuisses, bracers, gloves, boots and an extra quiver for the Hunter’s set.

Each equipment only added a few Armor stats. The new quiver was much better than the beginner’s quiver, with three additional slots for more arrows.

With a 3-piece set equipment an additional +50 was added to the player’s overall Health, whereas a 5-piece set would have an additional +10 Attack effect.

For beginners, the full set equipment was considered a high-quality set. Now with the equipment equipped, his Armor stat was at 50, and his Health was almost at 200. Even for a rookie player, this set of equipment would have made him a pro player.

For the Warlock’s 3-piece set equipment, the effect was a +50 Mana; for 5-piece set, the effect was a +10 Intellect, which was also quite overpowered.

Li Yao changed into the full set of armor except for his shoes. His shoulder plates were barbed, and his head looked like a ferocious Velociraptor. To him, the entire set looked simple and ugly, but other players would think otherwise. They were super envious and how they wished that they could look as cool as him.

Li Yao came across a mailbox and posted the Elite Velociraptor Warlock equipment set with a piece of gold coin to his sister. He then proceeded to find his way to the engineering shop.

Lessons for alchemy and engineering were in the same building.

As Li Yao stepped inside the building, the alchemist gave him a hearty welcome. On the other hand, the engineering tutor did not even bat an eye and proceeded to drink his liquor.

“I would like to buy twenty beginner’s health potions, ten beginner’s antidotes and ten underwater breathing potions.”

“One silver coin for one health potion, three silver coins for one antidote, and two silver coins for one underwater breathing potion.”

“Thanks.”

At the current stage, no player would splurge on such luxurious goods. A bottle of antidote was worth the income of any ordinary player who had been fighting monsters for an entire day.

Li Yao walked to the other side and greeted, “Hello, I would like to learn engineering.”

The engineering mentor did not bother to look at Li Yao. “Sure, first bring me a thousand copper ores.”

At this point, no major guild could even acquire a thousand copper ores. Moreover, this was just the first task. One would have to finish ten series of tasks to learn engineering, with each task becoming more and more troublesome as the player progressed.

“This is from your old friend, no, this recommendation letter is from Mentor Irene,” Li Yao smiled as he placed the letter on the table.

The mentor quickly picked up the letter and read it. Moments later, he asked suspiciously, “Ahem, you did not read this letter did you?”

“I wouldn’t dare,” replied Li Yao anxiously. He had already understood the letter’s contents without the need to peek into it.

“On Irene’s behalf, you don’t need to run the errands.” The moment the mentor flicked his wrist, Li Yao instantly learned engineering. “You will find a list of formulas and some materials for beginner-level engineering over there. Each material is priced accordingly. Whatever you want to learn, just insert the required amount and that would be it.”

Like a wisp of smoke, he disappeared from the building after saying so. He did not bother to stay in the shop.

Li Yao was not surprised at all. In the game, each NPC was programmed by artificial intelligence, hence the human-like behavior.

Li Yao walked over to the other side and learned all of the formulas he could get his hands on. With each disappearing formula, his coin pouch got lighter and lighter. He had spent three gold coins for several formulas.

Later, he began practicing building items at the work station. He started by making some explosive powder, then he made some explosives.

Halfway through, he went offline and took a three to four hours nap. He went online again after having his dinner.

At 8pm, the sky turned dark in the game.

Li Yao’s engineering proficiency progress was already at 856/1000, with just a little more than 100 proficiency skill points away from reaching the intermediate level. Now, he had only twenty-three gold coins left and did not wish to spend more money.

The remaining proficiency skill points were difficult to obtain. It required him to create some useless items, or rifles, but to make a rifle he required big amounts of copper ores. At the current stage, no player had a sub-class.

Copper ores sold at the market were crazy expensive, even if he were to buy all that were on sale there would still not be enough for him. Since players could only bring pets at Level 10, Li Yao still had some time.

In the meantime, he would have to collect enough copper ores and make a Mecha-chick blueprint, one of the Mecha-pet blueprints obtainable before Level 10.

Although he could create any engineering item with the Eye of the Creator, theoretically speaking, he must have a blueprint to create a living creature.

During his proficiency practice he had created quite a number of items. This marked the first step to his goal in becoming a Mech Hunter. Now, killing monsters to level up would not be as difficult as it was the day before.

Of course, these were all just his inner thoughts. If he were to say it out loud, he would be bombarded by other players. Unlike Li Yao who had soloed elite monsters and a Boss, other average players were already having problems killing elite monsters, imagine them having to face a Boss. These players would not even have the heart to face a Boss yet.

Li Yao could never be satisfied. His rebirth would be useless if he were to relive his previous life, exhausting himself with the hardships faced in the game.