Chapter 7 – Mount

A few months ago, Su Mo's father had borrowed money from a loan shark, hoping to save his company, which was about to go bankrupt. Now, not only was his company gone, but he also owed a large sum of money.

Zhou Xuanji's life had gone from being the son of a rich family to being poverty-stricken in a matter of months. As long as he could stably earn money, he would do all kinds of things.

Security guard, food delivery, postal delivery, personal trainer, lifeguard… he never rested. After New World was released, he used his spare time to become a professional player.

Recently, business in the game had been quite good, so he reduced his time spent at other jobs.

"Brother Iron Steed, you definitely won't find a reliable team with five gold coins. How about this? I have a relatively special request here: Someone wants four pieces of [Blood-Stained Rub Iron] and is willing to pay 50 gold coins or offer their help once. Aren't you quite good at taking requests like this? You were even able to obtain the Violet Wolf Fur that large guilds could not find."

"Just one person? What profession?" Su Mo asked.

"Bishop, they're most likely an expert. A Boss who would normally require a small party will be easily taken care of by the two of you," I Love Luo said confidently.

"Old Luo, my request doesn't cost 50 gold coins; shouldn't you give me some of the money?" Su Mo in his current state pinched every penny.

"I'll ask that person for you, you miser," I Love Luo said as he sighed.

Ordinarily, anyone would want to find an opportunity to get to know an expert like this. Iron Steed not only did not want to curry favor with him, but he was also so meticulous when it came to money. I Love Luo wondered if Su Mo was naturally obsessed with money or did not understand what it meant to get to know a real expert.

After a while, I Love Luo replied, saying that the Bishop would pay the full 50 gold coins and also help with the Bosses.

The condition was that Su Mo would provide the Blood-Stained Rub Irons within one and a half days.

Su Mo had never heard of Blood-Stained Rub Iron before, and he did not even know what kind of item it was. However, he was not afraid—he had some friends who would tell him where he could obtain it.

　　...

Su Mo switched to Lafu's account, and heonce again saw the monsters who had nothing to do but chat every day.

Boar Commander Sam: Big bro tiger, that's a bit excessive of you. Not all pig-type creatures are as weak as me. Don't forget about the Pigmen—a Demigod has come from them before. What do you tigers have? Are there Tigermen in the world? There are only tigers eating men!

Tiger King Angus: I was talking about boars, not Pigmen.

Boar Commander Sam: Pigmen are also pigs. You got a problem with that?

Tiger King Angus: Hoh, Sam, is your skin itching? Let's go to the arena to spar.

...

These monsters were quite bored and were discussing such a topic.

Savage Wolf Lafu: Big brothers, every race has their own experts and every race has the right to live. There's no need to argue over this. Can anyone tell me what Blood-Stained Rub Iron is?

Tiger King Angus: Never heard of it. How did you hear about it?

Savage Wolf Lafu: One day, a group of players came to attack me and I heard them mention it. They talked about it like some kind of incredible treasure.

Boar Commander Sam: Blood-Stained Rub Iron? That sounds a bit familiar, let me think about it. Ah right, @Mutant Stone Golem Boyn should definitely know.

Mutant Stone Golem Boyn: Sam, you tagged me?

Boar Commander Sam: Check the chat log.

Mutant Stone Golem Boyn: Lafu, eh? Brother, you're still too young; didn't anyone teach you before? You shouldn't trust those players, what do they know? Blood-Stained Rub Iron is just an ordinary ore that was stained by the blood of a mutant Kobold.

Savage Wolf Lafu: So it's like that. Thank you for enlightening me, Big brother Boyn. Where can I find this ore?

Mutant Stone Golem Boyn: There are six mines in the mountain at the back of Demon Blood Ridge. There are many Kobolds at the northernmost mine, and among them it is possible to spawn a Berserk Kobold controlled by demon blood. After going crazy, it will attack its own people, and after being killed, the other Kobolds' blood will stain the iron ore there.

Savage Wolf Lafu: Big brother is truly profound!

Mutant Stone Golem Boyn: Heheh, not at all, not at all.

After switching back to his main account, Su Mo contacted the ID that I Love Luo had given him—Omnipresent Brightness.

"I'm Iron Steed; Old Luo introduced me."

"Hai, you finally contacted me. I heard from Old Luo that you have Blood-Stained Rub Iron; is that true?" Seeing Su Mo's ID, Omnipresent Brightness directly got to the point.

"Looks like Old Luo has already told you about the details. However, I don't have any Blood-Stained Rub Iron; I only know where you can find it. If you don't believe me, we can get you your Blood-Stained Rub Iron first before fighting the Bosses. How does that sound?"

"No, no, bro, I believe you. Let's talk about this after killing those two monsters for you." Omnipresent Brightness was a very understanding person.

"Can you come to Purmo Village? Do you know where that is?" Su Mo asked.

"I've never heard of it; what's the town above it?"

"Hargins Town."

"Oh, I know that place. Wait for me for a few minutes; I'll teleport there."

"Rich fellow…"

Teleportation fees were exorbitant, and Su Mo did not know where Omnipresent Brightness was right now. If he was far away, just teleporting here could cost ten or so gold coins. Su Mo would rather spend some silver coins to hire a flying mount.

Soon, Su Mo saw a gold-robed Bishop walk into the Village.

He was quite attention-seeking; the skin he had most likely cost a lot of money to roll in the gacha.

He did not know if he was indeed an expert, but he was definitely very rich.

No matter what age it was in, every game company existed for the sake of profits. The main source of income for New World at the moment was skins. Players could spend $20 on the gacha, and there were all kinds of cosmetic prizes.

Skins were one of them—no matter what equipment one used, if one equipped a skin, one would have the appearance that one wanted.

Su Mo did not have any skins because he did not have the money to roll the gacha. As such, his appearance was covered with the motley colors of his equipment, and anyone could tell that he was quite poor. On the other hand, the golden and sparkling Omnipresent Brightness Bishop was naturally a super rich fellow.

"It's not good to look so handsome; you always get clung onto." Omnipresent Brightness extricated himself from a group of newbies with great difficulty and narcissistically styled his golden-dyed hair.

Dyeing one's hair also required money; this person was truly a symbol of richness.

"The target is Black Bear Chief Dablin. Let's go." Su Mo did not bother talking unnecessarily with people like this; he did not appreciate rich fellows like this who did not cherish life. He had also once been a rich fellow, but after being bathed in the flames of war for a few years, he had completely changed.

"Alrighty." Omnipresent Brightness summoned a golden elk mount.

Su Mo: "..."

"Bro, don't tell me you don't have a mount?"

"It's just a ten or so minute journey; it won't make a big difference. Using my legs to run will be the same."

"That's too slow; isn't there another Boss after this? Look, I have an extra mount. I'll give it to you to play with." Omnipresent Brightness took out a pet egg from his bag and tossed it to Su Mo.