MMORPG: The Elementalist

Returning to his rented apartment, Qin Ruo lay in the bathtub filled with bubbles.

*Huff!*

What’s Brother Da’s deal? He kept lamenting about the past, reminding me about the problem I’ve been setting aside. As such, when I visited Xin Yu I was completely distracted… I don’t even know how I got home…

He started reminiscing about the time when he first left his hometown and arrived in this city. If it was not for this kind-hearted girl Xin Yu who let out a place to him for a cheap price, he would have had to spend his nights with a homeless person under the bridge. Without her help, it was impossible to find this good job within half a month.

Zheng Xiaoxiao was just as kind. Without her help, he would probably still be browsing the job market sending resume after resume through email. All he could have done was helplessly stare at the moon and wait. Even after he joined the company, she helped him further. At that time, she even helped him with his personal life problems and helped him quickly integrate into the face-paced lifestyle of a big city.

If not for Xin Yu being diagnosed with leukemia in his second month of work, his relationship with Xiaoxiao would have possibly deepened, leading to them being a couple.

*Splash*

Qin Ruo slapped the surface of the water.

“Why I am still thinking about this? That’s no longer possible,” he murmured before laughing bitterly.

Qin Ruo then forcefully brushed aside the thought, held his breath, and quickly submerged into the bathtub.

…

Not long after logging in to the game, Qin Ruo received a message. A stranger named Black Market Trader informed him that he would like to trade his MP Potion in exchange for the high tier material in Qin Ruo’s possession. The message also stated that Qin Ruo could find him regardless of the quantity he has. As for the price, it could be appropriately 10% to 15% higher than the market price.

Qin Ruo immediately recalled that this person was the repulsive man who failed to buy the Frost Lotus from him last time and smiled coldly.

“15%… Hmph. Now we’re talking sense.”

He could get more than a hundred gold coins by selling it, and this was worth one day of Qin Ruo’s salary. Qin Ruo was not a person who aimed high—he just wanted to seize every opportunity to make money and try to get the operation cost needed for Xin Yu in the shortest possible time.

That was why he was not quite bothered with Black Market Trader’s previous ridicule and immediately sent him a voice message.

“Give me a real offer this time. How many MP Potion (L) for one Frost Lotus?”

Coincidentally, Black Market Trader was online at the time and swiftly replied Qin Ruo. This time, he did not speak in a condescending tone.

“Eleven bottles… Ah… Forget it. I’ll give you a discount. A whole set for one Frost Lotus. If you are still not satisfied with that let’s just drop it. Deal?”

“Deal!”

Of course, Qin Ruo was not as greedy as a wolf to bargain further since the Frost Lotus’s market price was almost the same as the Earth Essence, and it could be exchanged for ten MP Potion (L). Therefore, two extra bottles of MP Potion (L) meant he received 20% more, and this exceeded the amount he was expecting previously.

After agreeing on the trade, the wretched-looking “Black Market Trader” unexpectedly came out of the inner room of the shop, along with the shopkeeper. The moment Qin Ruo caught the shopkeeper’s eye, his jaw dropped. With a strange expression on his face, he pulled Black Market Trader aside and asked, “He’s the guy you were waiting for?”

“Yup,” Black Market Trader nodded and answered. “You both know each other?”

The shopkeeper rolled his eyes, shook his head, then went back to the inner room.

This time, a puzzled Qin Ruo stared at Black Market Trader who was approaching him for the trade.

Since he’s friends with the shopkeeper, why did he stop me from selling the Frost Lotus to this shop? Why did he not wait for me to sell the Frost Lotus then ask the shopkeeper for it? In any case, it’s not an issue for him since it’s a fair trade for his MP Potions.

Qin Ruo then voiced these thoughts to Black Market Trader. This man then curled his mustache and told Qin Ruo the details.

Truthfully, he did not know the shopkeeper. It was only yesterday that he heard of a well-known merchant in Savis Town who had a wide variety of raw materials. Hence, he decided to cooperate with this shopkeeper.

When the two of them got in touch, they hit it off instantly! They came to an agreement—one of them was responsible for providing high-grade materials while the other was responsible for concocting potions. Then after, the shopkeeper would sell the potions and they would share the profit.

Regardless, he did not expect for Qin Ruo to message him just when he secured the deal. It gave a chance for Qin Ruo to grab the opportunity from him. In future, if Qin Ruo managed to get the high-grade herb like this, Qin Ruo could directly exchange them with him…

After that realization, Black Market Trader seemed very regretful.

However, since the deal was already agreed upon, he could not go back on his word.

…

When Qin Ruo saw the other party’s reluctance, he knew that it would be impossible for him to get such a good offer from Black Market Trader in the future anymore. Additionally, with this shop backing him up, would he be enticed by the small amount of Qin Ruo’s herb afterward?

Suddenly, he had an epiphany—to arouse Black Market Trader’s interest by mentioning the Grade 3 herb, Violetjade Fruit.

Black Market Trader was indeed a high-tier Chemist. The moment he heard “Violetjade Fruit,” his beady eyes looked excited!

As if he just saw a beautiful naked woman, he hurriedly asked, “How do you know about such herb?! Where did you come across it? Does a friend of yours have it? Hmm?”

Only those that had seen an identified Violetjade Herb could recognize that Grade 3 Herb at a single glance. Although Black Market Trader was a high-tier Chemist, he did not know what the Violetjade Fruit looked like. He only heard of it from another high-tier Chemist that someone once used a Grade 3 herb to concoct a potion. As a result, that person’s mastery increased by 50 points.

50 mastery points!

For Chemists, what they need was not only money, but time.

For instance, a Grade 5 herb like the Frost Lotus only provides 1 mastery point when crafted. Herbs below Grade 5 need to be crafted ten or more times in order to get an increase of 1 mastery points. To upgrade from Advanced Potion Crafting to the Master tier, one would require 3000 mastery points… In other words, in order to level up this skill, 3000 Grade 5 herbs were needed, or countless low-grade herbs. However, if a Grade 3 Herb was used, sixty Herbs could achieve the goal.

It was no wonder that Black Market Trader was so excited about it.

In the whole of H&G these days, there were only a few people who had the Potion Crafting Skill at Master tier. Once Potion Crafting reached Master tier, it would not only increase the number of concocted potions and the success rate of the skill, but also the ability to concoct higher level MP potions.

The knowledge that Brother Da grilled into his head was finally fruitful. Qin Ruo smiled covertly and said, “I have one with me right now. Name your price if you want it. However… If it’s not satisfactory, you’ll know what I’ll do.”

Black Market Trader was thrilled after hearing the first half of the sentence. However, when he heard the rest of it, he immediately recalled Qin Ruo’s previous action of going offline. It was unknown whether Black Market Trader was angry or excited, however, his little beard was shaking as if there was an earthquake.