Chapter 171
Swhoosh!
I appeared in Floating Ice City's inn. Immediately, as I came online, there was a series of bells ringing above Floating Ice City—
Ding~!
System Announcement: Guild “Flower Room” has officially declared war on “Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls”!
……
Ah, it appears that Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, and Night Sorrow had reached the nest of Flower Room after leaving our guild.
From when virtual games started to develop to now, there were so many gaming workshops, large and small, good and bad. For example, people like Li Le, had weak battle sense, mechanics, tactics, and game knowledge. But he had money, so he had no problems recruiting experts and starting his own gaming workshop.
Most of the gaming workshops relied on teamwork to make some money, but some workshops were bound to incur losses and be used for some young master to have fun. Flower Room was undoubtedly one of the latter. That I was certain of.
I didn’t say anything, and moved Flower Room into the enemy list. With our two guilds at war, our players would see each other as red in the wild. There would be no spoken words, just instant slaughter upon meeting!
I walked out of the inn and found Li Le and the others on the plaza by the eastern gate. There were about 40 players of them grouped together. Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, and Night Sorrow were standing proudly next to Li Le with respect and reverent expressions.
Li Le held a sword as he proudly walked forward and laughed. "Today, Flower Room welcomes Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, and Night Sorrow into our midst. They have performed spectacularly in the Who Will Fight Me tournament. Now, the four of us are our brothers. How can we not get revenge for our brothers? Hmph, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have done them wrong, so they can’t call our actions injustice!"
Spring Mud said, "Leader, don't worry. We will turn Flower Room into an iron lion, we won’t disappoint you!"
Li Le nodded. "The three of you managed to prop up Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Hmph, if not for you, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would not have reached their current heights. As the saying goes, “After the cunning rabbit is dead, the dog is cooked”. From Water went overboard this time. Starting today, the three of you are elders of Flower Room. We will work together to create the legend of Flower Room and slaughter Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to the last!”
"Alright!"
Having a parade was a glorious action. But having a parade on the eastern gate plaza looked like a monkey circus.
……
I repaired my armor, and then toured around the nearby stalls.
I looked inside my bag. I didn't have many potions and needed some more!
But after searching around, there were only people selling Rank 4 Health Potions. They could recover 800 HP, but my total HP was 2350. Clearly, Rank 4 potions were just not enough!
"Young hero, buy my potions! Our Lin's Shop is reputable. If you buy my potions, I’ll pay you ten for one fake!" a middle-aged man shouted at me.
I was helpless. "Rank 4 potions are too weak. If I encounter a boss, I will die...”
"Damn, don't you know to put two into your mouth at the same time?" the man shouted.
I also spat blood. Two? I wasn't a GM, could I ignore the potion cooldown?
At this time, a sweet voice came from behind me—
"Hey, Lu Chen...”
I turned around and found Clear Perfume standing by the wall at a stall filled with all kinds of potions, including Rank 6 Health Potions! Everyone knew that these pots could restore 1500 HP in one gulp. They were even better than priests, and were absolutely necessary for fighting bosses or leveling up!
"Qingqing!"
I smiled and said, "You are also selling here?"
"Yes, to get living expenses...”
I glanced at the Rank 6 Health Potions at the stall and said with a smile, "It doesn't appear as simple as just for living expenses? Tsk tsk, more than three hundred bottles… Is Lin Yixin crazy? She likely hasn't leveled up and has been gathering herbs all this time. Otherwise, where could she have found so many high-rank herbs to make these potions?”
Clear Perfume smiled and nodded. "Yes, Yiyi worked hard these days. She has been gathering herbs the entire night, and only went to sleep about an hour ago.”
I was slightly moved and said, "Why is Yiyi working so hard? She needs money?"
"Yes, it appears so. Yiyi and I are splitting this fifty-fifty. She provides the herbs, I make potions and sell them. We each get half of the money...”
I smiled. "Lin Yixin is a money miser, a gold fanatic...”
Clear Perfume burst into laughter. "Yes, Yiyi is like you say!"
"Oh..” I stuck out my lips. "Such a pity. Yiyi is awake at night and sleeps during the day. It’s hard to even meet her...”
Clear Perfume looked meaningfully at me and laughed softly, "Stop that. It’s too easy if you really sincerely want to see Yiyi. I can make an appointment for you, and you can invite her to eat. She’ll be very happy~~!"
"Never mind. Money's been tight recently. I’ll ask her when I have money...”
"I look down at you!" Clear Perfume laughed. "You don’t understand the feeling of holding the phone and waiting for a call.”
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing, are you going to buy potions? I’ll give you a discount since we’re buds, only 120% of the price!"
"...”
I looked at the potions at the stall and said, "How much are you selling these potions for?"
"10 gold for 1! With my special discount, only 12 gold each!" Clear Perfume looked seriously at me and said clearly.
My facial muscles twitched. "Qingqing, are you trying to cheat your friends?"
"Yes, I cheat people like you!"
Forget it. 12 gold. Based on the present market exchange rate, one gold was about 1 RMB. It would really reach this price in the future. Eventually, the game company would adjust prices of item repairs and NPC shops to maintain this rate. After all, it made for really easy accounting...
Rank 6 Health Potion, restores 1500 HP. One gulp is 12 RMB. It was more expensive than Nutri-Express! [1]
With a face of disdain I raised two fingers. "Gimme twenty!"
"Okay!"
Clear Perfume threw the packaged potions to me. "Thank you for your patronage. 240 gold. Anything else I can help you with?"
I swallowed. I had been scammed. I looked at the other items in the stall. These 20 Rank 6 Health Potions could only be used when fighting bosses. I had to have something else when killing ordinary monsters. My HP was too high. Low-rank pots and recovery powders the NPC potion shops sold were of no use to me.
"How much for Rank 5 pots?" I asked.
Clear Perfume laughed. "4 gold for one, 36 gold for a stack. 324 for 10 stacks since you’re buying in bulk. But with your discount, 388 gold and 80 silver!"
I took out the gold and looked deeply at her. "Qingqing, I hate you...”
Clear Perfume laughed. "Oh Lu Chen, but I love you...r gold, hahaha~~"
It appeared that Lin Yixin's friends were not easy to get along with. In the future, I had to reduce our interactions. Otherwise, I would be robbed out of my skin!
Immediately, 628 gold left my pockets. I only had 200 gold left in my bag. This was also the remainder of the money I had gotten selling Rank 6 Magic Consumables.
I waved at Clear Perfume and said, "I'm going!"
"Hey, Lu Chen ~~"
Clear Perfume suddenly called me and then stopped speaking.
"What is it?" I turned around.
She pursed her lips and whispered, "Recently, Yiyi hasn't been in a good mood. If you have time, could you meet her? Every time she teases you her mood gets better for a while...
I was shocked. "Fuck, this is building one's pleasure on someone else's pain. How about no?"
"You have to!"
"Alright, 500 gold!"
"You!"
Sun Qingqing stomped her foot. "Stupid Lu Chen, Yiyi was right about you. You are a gold fanatic!"
I laughed and turned to leave. I raised my right arm. "I’ll contact her when I’m free. Qingqing, don't worry for nothing!"
"Oh... ooh!"
……
I passed the city gates and found three Flower Room players nearby. Their names were red and they were looking warily at me. My name was hidden. Unless they actually knew me, they should not recognize me. There were many warriors in Floating Ice City dressed in a blood-red cloak and black armor.
"Look, he’s from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and their vice leader at that!" An ugly assassin snickered. "Brothers, go get him. If we record, we can trade for a lot of gold from Young Master Le. Quick, if we miss this, we won't have another chance!"
And so the other two players followed, entering Frost Forest along with me.
I turned my camera angle and quickly saw their info—
A Level 54 assassin, a Level 59 magic knight, and a Level 60 mage!
The only threat would be Ice Dragon Howl from the mage, but his items didn’t seem particularly powerful. He probably wouldn’t do more than 300 damage to me. In the face of my 2350 HP, it was nothing.
After entering the forest, I opened one of my hands. A magic hexagram formation flashed on the ground. The Dark Wasp leapt out, its buzzing sound was like a requiem.
Behind me, the three Flower Room players followed closely. I immediately discovered the assassin was already attacking!
His dagger shone with a cold gleam. Cold Blade!
Clang!
I had already drawn Ghost Ice Soul and let him get close. I used my precise judgement and parried his attack. The damage was minimal—21!
Heavenblessed put much emphasis on individual skill. If a player used their weapon to precisely block their opponent’s attack, the damage would be decreased by 20–90%. Of course, it also depended on the Strength stat. If you had 1000 Attack and your opponent had 100, parrying with your blade wouldn’t really do much.
……
Rustle...
The difference in power was great. The assassin was driven back by my sword blow and left behind a long mark on the grass. His pupils contracted and he shouted, "This isn't good. He’s the leader of Bloody Mercenaries—Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!"
1. A soft drink