Moon Blade
Unable to hold in the ecstasy in my heart, I rushed over and collected both the dagger and the skill book. The Golden-scaled Python King was a high-level boss, so its item drops have to be pretty good, right?
The dagger had a silver glow around it, and the blade was streamlined and elegant-looking. The beautiful symbol of a waning moon drifted across the surface of the hilt, but the thing that really astonished me was its stats—
Moon Blade (Steel-grade)
Attack: 40~75
Strength: +9
Passive: Increases the user's attack power by 1%
Level Requirement: 30
A Steel-grade weapon, it's actually a Steel-grade weapon!
If this dagger isn't top-rate then I don't know what is!
I had never seen anything more powerful than this since I entered Heavenblessed. With an attack power of 75, this dagger was almost twice as powerful as my Weeping Fire Blade!
The only shame here was that the dagger didn't benefit from my sword proficiency, meaning that I would lose 35% attack power and speed if I tried to use it. The trade-off wasn't worth it despite the dagger's quality.
Oh well, I guess I'll just sell this after I head back. It should fetch me a fat sum of money!
I tossed the Moon Blade into my bag and checked my second trophy. It was a purple-colored skill book with glowing purple patterns rippling across its surface. It clearly held a tremendous amount of power.
Pardon I: Performs a feint attack on the target. Doesn't do damage, but your next attack will gain 35% attack power and ignore 50% of the target's defense. Level Requirement: 30. Class Requirement: Melee-based class.
For a while, I was frozen like a statue.
Pardon?!
The first attack might fit the skill name, but the second, not so much. With the ability to ignore 50% of the target's defense and boost 35% of the user's attack power, the second attack should really be called "Divine Punishment"!
Swoosh!
Pardon appeared inside my skill window after a flash. Even at Rank 1, the skill already ignored 50% of enemy's defense and boosted attack's power by 35%, so I was expecting it to be quite powerful as its rank increased. Henceforth, it would be my ultimate trump card when fighting against any mob or player. My chances of winning should be very high, even if my opponent was the highest-leveled player of Floating Ice City, Dominating Heaven Blade.
But first, I should find a monster and test out the skill.
I looked around and spotted an unlucky Level 35 Forest Python not far away from me. I immediately strode toward it and swung the Weeping Fire Blade at its head, drawing a purple arc across the air!
Pardon!
Miss!
The attack missed as I expected it to, and a Pardon mark appeared on the python's body. Next, I followed up with the strongest skill I currently possessed—Slayer Slash!
Puchi!
The blade sank deeply into its flesh and caused a shocking amount of damage.
1149!
One more strike was all it took to kill the python, the fight ended almost instantly!
I couldn't help but laugh loudly as I stared at its corpse. Oh man, this skill is such a killer move! I should get it to Rank 3 as soon as possible, it would probably be even scarier then!
Today's venture was definitely a profitable one considering that I had gotten a Steel-grade dagger and an incredibly powerful skill book. My luck was definitely off the charts today!
I moved back to the Golden-scaled Python King happily and stretched open my palm. I yelled, "Death Plunder!"
Swoosh!
System Notice: Congratulations, you have found Python Scale x25!
Twenty-five scales appeared in my bag just like that. The scales were Rank 3 Armorsmithing materials and all of them were of max 100 Quality. It probably meant these materials were extraordinarily good. Metal and leather armors from high-quality materials like this one would probably have special effects like +1% attack power on Moon Blade. One percent may sound inconsequential, but it would become a deciding factor whether the equipment was good or bad in the later stages of the game. A weapon without bonus stats wouldn't draw any attention, even if it had high attack power.
The boss's body was about to despawn, but there were still a couple of shiny stones on the ground. Damn, I had totally forgotten about the magic stones. Considering where they came from they had to be extraordinary!
I bent over to pick up the three stones lying side by side on the ground. They glowed as a mysterious, magical energy flowed into my palms—
Phantasmal Magic Stone: Rank 3 Magic Stone, contains powerful magic. Quality: 97.
Phantasmal Magic Stone: Rank 3 Magic Stone, contains powerful magic. Quality: 100.
Phantasmal Magic Stone: Rank 3 Magic Stone, contains powerful magic. Quality: 99.
I spaced out a little when the details of the magic stones entered my mind. Just look at this quality! I knew that the loot of a king couldn't be ordinary! I was certain that each of these magic stones would fetch at least 5 gold each!
To say that I was feeling enormously proud at today's success would be an understatement. I've struck gold!This was definitely a profitable venture through and through! At the current stage, one in-game gold was worth about 100 RMB in real life. If I were to exchange these three magic stones and all the gold in my bag into real money, it would be about equal to a couple months' worth of a white collar's salary!
After everything was packed and ready, I continued toward Cold Wind Canyon. My strength had entered a whole new level after beating the Golden-scaled Python King, and this Pardon especially was the ultimate trump card for any would-be robber!
I pushed away the tree leaves blocking my sight and squinted a little from the sudden brightness in front of me. I was finally out of Black Forest!
I moved forward a bit longer and suddenly felt like I had wings beneath my feet. It was because a huge canyon—Cold Wind Canyon, the only place in Floating Ice City that produced Green Pepper—had finally entered my view!
Still gripping the Weeping Fire Blade, I charged into the canyon like the wind while taking care to avoid the natives, Level 37 Bloodthirsty Porcupines. At the edges of a forest inside the valley, I soon discovered rows of green plants that were about half a person tall. What else could they be besides the Green Pepper I had been searching for all this time?
"Hahahaha..."
Laughing like a madman, I extended an arm toward the plants and executed the Foraging skill.
Ding~!
System Notice: You have gathered Green Pepper x3, Foraging Proficiency +4!
Ding~!
System Notice: You have gathered Green Pepper x3, Foraging Proficiency +4!
Ding~!
System Notice: You have gathered Green Pepper x3, Foraging Proficiency +4!
This is too much fun! Despite the size of this canyon, there weren't actually as many Green Peppers as one might expect. In fact, they were fairly rare compared to the rest of the plants in this canyon. However, I was lucky enough to stumble upon an area with a high concentration of Green Peppers almost immediately!
I immediately started collecting the ingredients I needed. Four hours later, almost all of Cold Wind Canyon's Green Peppers were sitting snugly inside my bag. My Foraging skill had also ranked up to 4 and 56% experience. As a pioneer with a Foraging skill, I had to say that it wasn't easy to find the resources to rank up my skill at all. For example, if tens of thousands of players with the Foraging skill came here after their rank was sufficient, each of them would only be able to get their hands on a couple of Green Peppers at most before having to wait for them to respawn. It would be an excruciatingly painful process to say the least.
I checked my bag again and noted that I was almost completely out of space. Besides my equipment, Magic Stones and several other necessities, almost every slot was filled up with Green Peppers. Each slot in my bag could fill up to 50 of the same item, and 47 of them were occupied at the moment. I had no doubt that these Green Peppers would last me for a very long time to come. After all, I only needed 10 Green Peppers for each Rank 3 Consumable, an acceptable requirement.
I happily took out my return scroll and got ready to execute my "get rich" plan!
Before that, I opened the top rankings of Floating Ice City. I discovered that I still wasn't the highest-level player despite everything I had gone through. In fact, I was only third—
Name Level Class
Dominating Heaven Blade 32 Warrior
Wind Fantasy 31 Light Wanderer
Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 31 Undead Swordsman
Inconstant 30 Magic Knight
Iron Pardon 30 Warrior
Dominating Knight God 30 Magic Knight
Dominating Mage God 30 Mage
Dominating Warrior God 29 Warrior
Dominating Archer God 29 Archer
Clear Perfume 29 Archer
Whaaat?! Lin Yixin's leveling speed was truly insane. She was able to keep up with me and reach Level 31 in just the blink of an eye. Just like me, she had probably encountered and defeated a boss during the last couple of hours, or there was no way she could have leveled up this quickly.
Done checking the latest top rankings, I crushed the return scroll in my hands!
Swoosh!
The city was as busy as usual. The square was filled with players looking to trade or form parties with one another. As everyone knew, a bustling crowd was the source of most business opportunities!
I walked to the storehouse and stored most of my Green Peppers. Then, I took out some Glutinous Rice, Chicken Meat and Salt before bringing up the cooking window. After selecting 10 Green Peppers, 20 Glutinous Rice, 10 Chicken Meat and 15 Salt, I began synthesizing the goods—
Ding~!
System Notice: Congratulations, you have made Green Pepper Meatball x1, Cooking Proficiency +5!
Ding~!
System Notice: Congratulations, you have made Green Pepper Meatball x1, Cooking Proficiency +5!
Ding~!
System Notice: Congratulations, you have made Green Pepper Meatball x1, Cooking Proficiency +5!
It was incredibly fulfilling to witness these Rank 3 Consumables pop into existence in my hands. As of now, I was probably the only player in Floating Ice City, or even the whole China server who could make them!
A food that could restore 300 MP in 60 seconds was an absolute necessity for high-level mages due to how the cost and rank of skills were designed. Rank 1 required 10 MP, Rank 2 required 20 MP and Rank 3 skills required 30 MP. Assuming a Level 30 Mage could cast their Rank 3 skill, Ice Blade, every 3 seconds, they would use 600 MP in a minute. Therefore, the only way for a Mage to sustain their damage output without pause was to use high-quality consumables. A Mage who couldn't cast spells was deadweight trash that no one needed in a party.
At the current stage, most Mages bought the relatively-cheap Rank 1 Applesauce to replenish their mana. Only high-level Mages would use Rank 2 or 3 Consumables.
Half an hour later, I had 100 Green Pepper Meatballs in my bag. Look at all that money!
I opened my friend list and sought out Iron Pardon. I sent him a message. "I have 100 Rank 3 Magic Cooking Consumables, Green Pepper Meatballs, on me right now. Each one costs 50 silver, so this'll cost you 50 gold in total. Grab your money and meet me at the city square next to the east gate of Floating Ice City. And be quick, I'm only going to wait for you for ten minutes!"
Iron Pardon replied quickly, "I'll be there in five!"
A couple of minutes later, a high-level warrior clad in black heavy armor came over to meet me. It was none other than Iron Pardon himself, the black horse who made it all the way to the Heavenly Ranking!
"Man, you're quick. I didn't think you would be ready in less than half a day!" Iron Pardon laughed. "Brother, you're working for a gaming workshop, aren't you? There's no way you could prepare so many Rank 3 Consumables in such a short time otherwise!"
I gave him a non-committal smile and said, "Let's trade!"
"Okay!"
I opened the trade window and selected 100 Green Pepper Meatballs. On the other side, Iron Pardon generously entered 50 gold to his own trade window. Man, what a pleasant trade this turned out to be!
Once the trade was complete, Iron Pardon nodded and left the area.
I looked around me and stood still at the center of the square. Then, I started shouting, "Selling a Level 30 Steel-grade dagger with 75 Attack and +9 Strength, a must-buy for any Assassin player who wants to PvP and level! Be the highest bidder and grab it now!"
I set up my shop and put the Moon Blade on display without a price tag.
The crowd immediately surrounded me from all directions, shocked and in disbelief. "Fuck! We haven't even gathered a full Iron-grade set, let alone a Bronze-grade item. How is this guy selling a Steel-grade weapon already?"
I had to hide how pleased I was feeling. Considering that I had to fight a boss that was over Level 35 like a dog for half an hour, it was only right that the payout was reasonable.
A Level 29 assassin walked up to me and said sincerely, "Brother, I can offer you 20 gold to buy this, but you'll need to wait for an hour before I can gather the money you need. Is that okay?"
At the current gold-to-RMB exchange, 20 gold was worth about 2000 RMB. It was a lot of money, but it wasn't the price I was looking for. This Steel-grade dagger was top-tier, and I wouldn't be satisfied with any offer that was lower than 50 gold!
For a while, I was surrounded by a bunch of salivating assassins and archers, but no one could offer a price that I was satisfied with. I understood why no one could afford it though. At this stage of the game, a Steel-grade weapon might as well be a divine weapon. It was no wonder that its price would be beyond expectations!
"Fuck, this dagger is so good. If I have it I'll be able to carry my wife so much faster..."
"Well yeah, of course a weapon like this is going to be expensive!"
"I have a feeling that this guy isn't going to sell it for anything less than ten thousand copper..."
While the crowd was discussing spiritedly with one another, a sweet voice suddenly hit me from behind.
"That dagger is mine!"
I turned around in shock when I realized who the voice belonged to. The first thing that entered my view was a beautiful pair of legs covered in elegant heavy armor. The armored beauty standing behind me was none other than Lin Yixin herself.
But why would she want a dagger?