Chapter 13: Asura (2/2)

In the end, I wasn’t able to squeeze any more quests out of him so I decided to farm monsters and level up just like before. There weren’t many quests in Heavenblessed to begin with, and the only reason I got several in a row was because I was the only player in Frost Mound until Gui Guzi showed up. At Floating Ice City, there were probably countless players who, despite being at Level 15, never experienced what it was like to complete a quest in Heavenblessed!

I sold all the magic stones in my bag. After a couple hours of hard work, I had earned a total of 27 silver. I guess I could finally be considered somewhat wealthy?

I checked my equipment. I had a pair of bracers, a pair of legguards, chest armor, and a weapon. All of them were Iron-grade, basic-level equipment. Truly, this was an era of Iron-grade equipment. That being said, I could probably dominate anyone in Floating Ice City with my current set of equipment.

Right now, there were a lot of players who were trading items on the forums. For example, metal armor with only +2 Strength bonus could sell for 100 RMB. It was a testament to how rare the items with stat bonuses truly were during the early stages of the game, not to mention that shops at Floating Ice City only had Common-grade equipment in stock. Of course, all of them were vastly inferior to Iron-grade items.

This meant that my whole equipment set could probably fetch me a sum of 400 RMB and above, and this was me being conservative with my calculations. Judging from how rare it was to get a stat-boosting weapon at this stage, it was entirely possible that my Forest Green Blade alone could sell for 400 RMB!

I thought for a moment and decided to travel to Floating Ice City first before anything else. As someone who had been dropped inside the borders of such a big city, there was no reason for me not to check it out.

I traveled to the Frozen Path again and entered a forest at the path’s end. I avoided any enemies that were over Level 20 along the way. After about twenty or so minutes, I arrived at the forest bordering the walls of Floating Ice City. Unfortunately, my ID was still blood-red in color, and what a vibrant color it was! If anyone saw me right now, I’m sure they would think that I’m a PKer.

Floating Ice City’s proud and majestic appearance entered my view. As if winter was the only season they had, the walls of this city were always covered in snow. The palace looked like it was frozen in ice, and the city itself looked like it was built atop a glacier. It was how the city had gotten its name.

I carefully sneaked my way through the bushes until I was less than a hundred meters away from the gate. Then, I sprinted 100 meters in just 4.5 seconds. The moment my feet stepped on the very first brick that made up the city, my name changed colors and turned healthy green once more. I was very glad that I didn’t need to hide like a mouse anymore.

……

I didn’t see many people at the city square. Everyone looked understandably busy since it was only the second day since the game’s release. Even if they had free time, they would rather spend it on leveling and farming equipment.

I moved to the center of the square and stood as straight as a stake. Then, I took out the Bony Cyan Fan and shouted, “Level 15 Iron-grade fan for sale! Attack 24, Stamina +1, and Tactics +1! This is just the weapon you need to satiate your adventurous and murderous desires! Suitable for tacticians and priests, this is a beautiful and elegant weapon made just for girls! If you have a wife, buy it for her! If you don’t have one, still buy it and gift it to someone else’s wife! Don’t wait until it’s too late!”

My shout drew attention from every direction, and it wasn’t long before I was surrounded by a dozen or so people. Chitter-chatter ensued—

“Damn! Someone dropped a Level 15 weapon already? And what the fuck is this attack power? Amazing, my weapon only has 1~3 Attack…”

“My god, this weapon is amazing. I can’t believe someone found a weapon that boosts Tactics already!”

“Is it just me, or does this seller look a little strange?”

“Not really. His bones grow outside his flesh, that’s all.”

“...”

I shouted again at the crowd, “Is there anyone who wants this? I can sell this immediately if the offer is reasonable. Everyone’s piss-poor at the beginning, so if you miss this chance, you ain’t seeing it again!”

A Level 15 magic knight immediately raised his hand. “2 silver!”

I glared at him and replied, “Not even my ‘shop’ is worth that little!”

The crowd broke out into laughter at the exchange. It was at this moment a young, sincere-looking, Level 16 tactician walked up to me and said, “I only have 11 silver, and this is after me and my two friends pooled our money together. I know it’s still isn’t enough to buy your fan, so I would like to add this as collateral. If you think it’s okay, then let us trade right away. If not, I would still like to make your acquaintance.”

He produced a pair of black boots and stared at my gorgeous, bony feet. His meaning was as clear as day.

I checked out the boots and concluded they were pretty good. They were Iron-grade and their only flaw was their low level.

Porcupine Boots (Iron-grade)

Defense: 12

Stamina: +3

Level Requirement: 10

My eyes lit up. The best part of these boots was the +3 Stamina bonus, which would give me 30 max HP. As someone who dumped all his stats into Strength, HP was exactly the stat I sought to boost.

I stopped to think for a moment. The Bony Cyan Fan was useless to me, and the buyer was willing to trade me 11 silver and Level 10 metal armor boots. It was enough.

And so, I nodded and smiled candidly. “Alright, the fan is yours. Thanks for being so candid, brother!”

“Thank you!”

The buyer was just as happy with the trade as I was. After all, Tactician didn’t do much damage until later in the game, and a 24 Attack weapon mitigated that shortcoming by a lot. At long last, his teammates could no longer tease him and call him a leecher.

When the trade was done, I gained 11 silver and a set of Iron-grade boots. My character was finally fully-clothed.

I put on the Porcupine Boots, my Defense rising to 37, and HP to 310. My survivability had skyrocketed thanks to this!