The Level-3 Skill

"The price I have in mind is 500 yuan. But if you think that is not enough, we can still discuss the price further if you'd like," said An Yu. This price was pretty good for a regular professional player, but it was a little cheap for high-level professional players. But An Yu probably didn't want to spend too much on such a game.

Earning 500 yuan by spending 20 or 30 minutes to complete a task was something Xiao Yu hadn't even dreamed about. When he entered the game, he thought that it would be wonderful if he could earn a few thousand yuan to support his family. He didn't expect that he could get so much money from his first business deal. Judging from An Yu's tone, the price seemed to be flexible and had more room to negotiate.

What Xiao Yu didn't know was that those high-level professional players could easily earn hundreds of thousands of yuan each month. In contrast, regular professional players earned only a few thousand yuan a month. As such, earning a few hundred yuan per task was normal.

"One thousand yuan." Xiao Yu offered a steep price. No emotion could be detected in his voice. In fact, Xiao Yu had no idea if the price he suggested was within the acceptable range or not.

This price of 1000 yuan was considered normal, but An Yu was shocked by how calmly Xiao Yu had said it. An Yu had already regarded Xiao Yu as a high-level professional player, and players of this sort wouldn't let buyers haggle after they gave a price. Otherwise, they'll just leave right away.

"Fine, 1000 yuan it is then." Though the price was a bit high, it was something An Yu could accept.

Xiao Yu was surprised at An Yu's response. Maybe, the task was rather important to An Yu and his team, and 1000 yuan was probably not so much in An Yu's eyes.

"Give me your bank account number. I'll pay you 500 yuan as a deposit first, and then we'll meet outside the mercenaries' trade union at six o'clock tomorrow," said An Yu.

"Got it. I'll be there on time," answered Xiao Yu. He sent his bank account number to An Yu. What he would get was the deposit, but he would have to pay it back if he failed to complete the task.

Many cheaters existed in the gaming business, but the vast majority of professional players were quite credible because creditability was the foundation of their livelihood. In order to secure his customer base, Xiao Yu had to behave honestly. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to survive as a professional player.

After hanging up the call system in his helmet, Xiao Yu felt a bit agitated. If he could complete this task, then this would be the first "bucket" of gold that he had found in the game.

"I have to complete it no matter what!" Xiao Yu told himself resolutely. He had to sell the two green-level items as soon as possible to get some gold coins so that he could upgrade his skills, which in turn might be helpful for his mission tomorrow.

He set up a stall on the street as usual. Green-level items could be seen on the street now, but because they were still rare, high-quality items were few in number. As soon as Xiao Yu put down the two green-level items and seven white-level items, many players were immediately drawn to his stall.

"Hey man, it's you again," said a black wizard wearing a black magic robe as he squatted down before the stall.

"Sorry, do I know you?" returned Xiao Yu coldly.

The black wizard gave an awkward smile as he said, "No, sorry. You don't know me, of course, but I know you because you've set up your stall here a few times before. What is the price for this head ornament?"

"Fifteen gold coins," replied Xiao Yu. This head ornament was indeed excellent with +10 healing treatment points. This was a great item for the healing professions: black wizards and shamans. Fifteen gold coins were not too expensive.

"Can you lower your price a bit please?"

"Fifteen gold coins, take it or leave it," answered Xiao Yu while shaking his head. He, in his current situation, had much more confidence now, so he didn't want to spend time on tedious things like haggling because he had the power to set his price.

The black wizard stood up and went back to his team.

"Didn't you say you knew him?"

"Didn't you say you could buy it at a cheaper price?"

Hearing the jeering questions from his teammates, the black wizard felt hot in his face.

"Fifteen gold coins are not expensive because the item has +10 healing treatment points. Where can you find such an excellent item on the market?" the black wizard protested.

His teammates were silent upon hearing this. The feature of +10 healing treatment points was indeed good, and 15 gold coins were acceptable. The healing treatment of a black wizard was well known, and so such an item was hard to come by.

Seeing his teammates remain silent, the black wizard felt more confident now. He said slowly, "What do you guys think, buy it or don't buy it? It's you who will benefit from the boost in healing magic anyway."

"But 15 gold coins are our winnings for the entire day."

"Well, let's buy it."

"I have no idea where this guy gets so many high-quality items. Guys, let's pay up."

The players had earned some gold coins over the past few days. As such, 15 gold coins were something a small team could afford.

Xiao Yu sold the spiritual head ornament for 15 gold coins, the green-level item for fire mages for 12 gold coins, and all the other items for more than one gold coin. In total, Xiao Yu had 41 gold coins in his bag.

"Now, I can go upgrade my skills," thought Xiao Yu. He closed the stall and headed to where Thief Teacher Ode was. He had sold everything he could. As for that mountain kitten, he definitely wouldn't be able to find a buyer in the small town of Tabarka. He had to go to the main city of the spirits, the Underworld Night City, to sell it at the auction house.

"Got enough gold coins?" asked Thief Teacher Ode. He was impressed with the speed at which Xiao Yu improved his skills. In fact, few players had upgraded their skills to level 2 so far. It was rare to upgrade your skills to level 3, like what Xiao Yu intended to do. At least, he was the first one to do so in the small town of Tabarka.

"Yes," replied Xiao Yu. He handed 31 gold coins to Thief Teacher Ode. Checking his bag, Xiao Yu found he had only 10 gold coins left.

He rubbed his nose slightly, wondering when his dire financial conditions would improve.

System: Your reversed backstabbing skill has been upgraded to level 3.

System: Your backstabbing skill has been upgraded to level 3.

…

He felt thrilled upon hearing the notifications from the system. He checked the basic skill damage of the three main fighting skills and found that they had all increased from 50 to 80 points.

"The basic skill damage is so high now," Xiao Yu remarked in bewilderment. Now that his basic skill damage had leveled up, he didn't need to be afraid of those level-11 or level-12 monsters anymore. However, it was regrettable that his own health was too low, so he couldn't withstand the attacks of monsters so well. He would die a terrible death if he were attacked by two level-11 or level-12 monsters at the same time.

The three main fighting skills needed 50 skill proficiency points to upgrade from level 1 to level 2, 300 skill proficiency points to upgrade from level 2 to level 3, and 1800 skill proficiency points to upgrade from level 3 to level 4. Xiao Yu didn't know when he would be able to upgrade these skills to level 4. In comparison to these three main fighting skills, the stealth travel skill was easier to upgrade.