Physician’s Friend

“Fatty, let’s go, there’s this special quest I want you to do with me!” said Zhang Yang to Fatty Han after leaving the dungeon.

“What’s the reward?”

“Increase the effect of using Bandage by 100%!”

“Psh, pointless!” Fatty Han said impatiently, “Fatty here is a Hunter. My baby will block attacks for me, I need no bandages! Little Yang, the pretty babe came to chat with me again. You’re on your own, I’m not following you!”

“D*mn!” Zhang Yang made a disdainful gesture.

Since Fatty Han had refused to join him, Zhang Yang could only go on his own. After Zhang Yang left the dungeon, he made his way out of the valley and proceeded eastward. He went through several forests and finally arrived at a small village.

He went ahead to meet the Village Elder and accepted the quest “Missing Livestock”. Zhang Yang then left the village and arrived at a huge lake. The monsters here were all Level 15 and above while players were generally around Level 10 so they were either raiding Bangar Crypt or grinding on Level 11 or 12 Wild Boars at the Wild Boar Mountain. The site had remained empty with no players present aside from him.

Under the shade of an obscure big tree, Zhang Yang found an old man wearing a white medical coat, his eyebrows and beard were snow-white. He had “Deckard the Head Physician” in a tag above his head.

“Old man, why are you here?” Zhang Yang started a conversation with the NPC.

“Adventurer, I’m the physician of White Jade Castle! I’m currently developing an antidote and need a large amount of [Python Gall]. Can you collect some for me?” said Deckard.

“Ding! Deckard the Head Physician has a quest for you: Collect [Python Gall]. Will you accept it?”

Of course he would!

“Adventurer, those pythons are venomous. It is very dangerous, you must be cautious!” Deckard voiced his concern.

Zhang Yang remembered very clearly that this NPC would send a follow-up quest with an ultimate reward of the title “Physician’s Friend”. When <First Aid> was used, the Bandage healing effect would increase by 100%!

<First Aid> was categorized as a supportive skill that has no relation with class skills. Any player could learn it from the First Aid Trainer when they had achieved Level 20. <First Aid> would allow a player to create a variety of bandages, different kinds healing different amounts of HP. This was an alternative recovery skill aside from potions for non-healer professions.

In order to trigger the follow-up quest, 2 conditions were to be fulfilled: first, the player must not have learnt <First Aid> in the Capital. Second, the player must repeatedly complete the prerequisite quest “Collect Python Gall”. According to a player who had completed the quest in Zhang Yang’s previous life, he had to complete this repetitive prerequisite quest for 99 times!

After the follow-up quest had been completed, Deckard would return to the Capital one day later, which theoretically meant that there was a possibility that all players could obtain the reward.

Of course, Zhang Yang had not only come for the reward alone! A Gray-Silver chest would randomly spawn around this lake and there was a very small chance that the chest would contain the [Recipe: Beginner Anti-Shadow Potion]. This was his main purpose!

[Collect Python Gall] (Difficulty: C)

Quest Description: Deckard the Head Physician needs your help to collect 20 [Python Gall]s to develop an antidote. Those monsters should be in the Tranquil Lake.

Progress: Collect [Python Gall] 0/20

[Missing Livestock] (Difficulty: C)

Quest Description: Those pythons in Tranquil Lake were dreadful. They have eaten a lot of the livestock in the village. Go, kill them!

Progress: Kill Gold Venomous Python 0/40

These 2 quests could be done at the same time coincidentally!

“Take this. This should aid you in your quest!” Deckard handed over a bottle of potion to Zhang Yang.

“Ding! You have obtained item [Diving Potion]!”

[Diving Potion] (Consumable)

Use: Allows you to breathe underwater for 1 hour.

Level Requirement: 10

Zhang Yang consumed the potion and a buff icon appeared on his head, enabling him to breathe underwater.

“Toong!” He dived into the lake.

A dark golden flash sparked on Zhang Yang’s left and a “-14” damage text floated across his head at the same time.

Zhang Yang dived in the water, gaining an underwater vision of the lake.

A 2-meter long golden-lined snake as thick as an arm had stretched its mouth wide and glided towards Zhang Yang.

If it had been on land, Zhang Yang was sure he could dodge this attack. However, his movements were restricted while underwater, so how could he have kept up with the python’s agility?!

‘Ding! You are affected by <Gold Python Venom> (Stack 1). Reduces 10 HP every 3 seconds. Lasts for 15 seconds!’

Zhang Yang’s face turned dark as a debuff icon appeared on his avatar.

[Gold Venomous Python] (Normal)

Level: 15

HP: 750

Zhang Yang’s defense was high so the physical damage received was very minimal. However, the python’s venom was magic damage so it would be troublesome if he stacked too much of them!

Zhang Yang grabbed his sword and began attacking these monsters as fast as he could.

His damage output had already been high since the beginning and with the 4 new Green-Copper equipment that he had gotten today, his HP increased to 950 points while his attack damage had reached 115 – 123. Truly remarkable!

Only 3 – 4 strikes were enough to kill the python. Zhang Yang stretched his hand and easily looted the gall and with luck, 2 [Venomous Python Fangs]. They were White-tiered ‘Etc’1 items that were to be sold for money.

The lake was full of Gold Venomous Pythons. Zhang Yang had no idea where the chest could have spawned so he could only make rounds to explore the whole lake.

An hour later, he had collected 23 [Python Gall]s while the quest “Missing Livestock” had long since been completed. He had already killed over 100 pythons!

Since the [Diving Potion]’s buff had worn off, Zhang Yang could only go back to Deckard to complete the quest.

“Brave adventurer, citizens of White Jade Castle will never forget your good deed!” Deckard praised Zhang Yang generously but did not reward him with any actual item. “Adventurer, are you willing to help me again?”

Could he not ‘willingly’ accept it? Zhang Yang sighed and accepted the same quest once again.

He went back to where he had come out from the lake and jumped in again, hunting for [Python Gall]s while searching for the chest.

Zhang Yang had already forgotten how many times he had completed the quest and how many times he had taken the [Diving Potion] for he had been killing pythons to the point of sickening monotony when his eyes suddenly gleamed as he spotted a silver chest on a rock at the bottom of the lake!

He had finally found it! This f*cking lake was ridiculously huge! He had swam for so long only to have searched two-thirds of the place.

However, there were 4 pythons guarding the chest but they were all normal mobs, not bosses or even elites.

Zhang Yang took aim at one of the pythons and launched <Charge>, dashing towards it.

“-105!”

The other 3 venomous pythons immediately swam over in attempt to attack Zhang Yang with their bloodied fangs.

“<Block>!”

“-84!”

“-84!”

“-84!” <Block> reflected damage.

“-183!” <Shield Bash>!

“-224!”

“-215!”

“-231!”

“-222!”

“-20!”

<Horizontal Sweep> had caused 4 damage texts and had simultaneously triggered the necklace’s <Shadow Wrath>.

2 seconds later, all 4 pythons charged towards Zhang Yang again.

‘Ding! You are affected by <Gold Python Venom> (Stack 1). Reduces 10 HP every 3 seconds. Lasts for 15 seconds!’

‘Ding! You are affected by <Gold Python Venom> (Stack 2). Reduces 20 HP every 3 seconds. Lasts for 15 seconds!’

‘Ding! You are affected by <Gold Python Venom> (Stack 3). Reduces 30 HP every 3 seconds. Lasts for 15 seconds!’

‘Ding! You are affected by <Gold Python Venom> (Stack 4). Reduces 40 HP every 3 seconds. Lasts for 15 seconds!’

These pythons were truly cumbersome!

Zhang Yang focused his attacks on a python and killed one instantly, the second following.

Zhang Yang had already stacked 5 stacks of <Gold Python Venom> by the time he had cleared all 4 pythons. His HP had reduced to 358 points when the python’s venom effect had disappeared. That was more than half of his HP!

Monsters with DoT effects are not something you could just ignore! Zhang Yang sighed as he opened the chest.

DoT, Damage over Time, a continuous damage effect over a fixed duration such as the python’s venom as described above and <Curse of Water and Fire> by the second boss in Bangar Crypt.

10%, 20%, 30%, … 100%!

‘Tsst’. The chest opened.

Zhang Yang looted and –

[Undine’s Lungs]: Special Item. Allows you to breathe underwater without equipment. A must-have for leisure travel and killing people!

Meh, even though it had taken a slot in the inventory, at least he would not have to find Deckard after every one hour.

[Treasure Map Piece (2)] (Gray-Silver)

Use: Put together all 3 pieces of the treasure map and obtain a [Complete Treasure Map].

A [Treasure Map Piece]!

Zhang Yang’s eyes glinted. There were numerous treasure spots in ‘God’s Miracle’ but it could only be dug when a [Complete Treasure Map] had been obtained. Naturally, different grades of treasure maps would lead to corresponding treasure spots!

What a pity, there was only one piece, another 2 more to go!

Again!

[Recipe: Silk Belt] (Leather Work Recipe)

Use: You learn how to craft [Silk Belt].

Requirement: Beginner Leather Work

“Ding! You have obtained 50 silver coins!”

The chest became transparent and eventually disappeared.

“No more?” Zhang Yang sighed, the obtained recipe was not the one he had wanted!

Continue grinding!

Zhang Yang began to grind non-stop. With [Undine’s Lungs], he did not need to leave the lake for air so he grinded until all 40 slots of his inventory were filled. He then got out from the water and completed the quest for [Python Gall]s.

At the end of the day, Zhang Yang logged out at 12 am. He had completed “Collect Python Gall” quest for a total of 14 times. It was still a long way to go compared to the 99 times the player had mentioned! However, Zhang Yang had gained a level but he was still not enlisted on the Player Level Ranking. He wondered if those ranked lunatics had ever logged off to actually sleep!

Fortunately, he was still motivated because the [Beginner Anti-Shadow Potion] recipe had still not been found. Otherwise, he would definitely lose his patience grinding on those crappy snake again and again!

Gray-Silver Chests would only be spawned once every 3 days, and that meant that he could only spiritlessly grind mobs tomorrow.

Translator Notes:

1 Etc/Misc. – A category which stands of etcetera or miscellaneous loot. These are loot that have no other purpose in the game (not for crafting/quests/equipment) and can only be sold off to NPCs for a small amount of money.