Chapter 10

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Trading with Novice Mana Potions? Fantastic. I’ll have both items—I have thirty of them here which would make a rebate of six hundred bronze coins, added with these nine hundred bronze coins.”

Even as Warsong spoke, he had quickly sent Nie Fan a trade request because he could see a few familiar faces coming towards them, all of whom were his bitter rivals.

Nie Fan checked to ensure that there really were 30 Novice Mana Potions and 900 bronze coins, before putting up his tow and confirming the trade.

Warsong confirmed the trade too, although he did not expect Nie Fan to agree so easily.

“Good deal. Let’s trade again if there’s a chance—see you.” With those words, Nie Fan turned and left since he did not have the time to waste here.

Warsong himself breathed a sigh in relief after checking his bag that both items were in his possession. He felt tension whenever he talked to Nie Fan, who acted as if he did not want to speak one sentence more than he needed to, and Warsong himself was very afraid to misspeak even a single word in their negotiation in fear that Nie Fan would simply call off the deal. Still, Nie Fan could have at least raised the price of both items beyond 1800 bronze coins if he dug in—many parties are willing to pay high prices to upgrade their Warrior-class items. Warsong had the feeling that Nie Fan simply did not want to waste time on bargaining, and it works as long as someone would take the items off his hands.

“I’m Warsong. Message me privately if you have another item you want to sell,” Warsong sent Nie Fan a message then, and then a friend request.

Receiving the request, Nie Fan groaned for a moment before clicking [confirm].

Warsong was overjoyed with his request accepted. He just might be able to buy even more items from Nie Fan. And being able to tell that Nie Fan disliked idle chatting, he did not send him more messages—there would be more chances to get in touch since they had added each other.

Meanwhile, the leaders of other parties who had hurried over were left fuming and stamping their feet when they heard that Nie Fan had sold his two items. Warsong sneakily enjoyed the looked on their faces for a moment before leaving quietly.

With 900 bronze coins in hand, Nie Fan made a quick dash to the apothecary and bought five hundred pouches of Intermediate Mana Spring Water, spending a thousand bronze coins before checking to see that he had not much money left from his trade with Warsong.

[Intermediate Mana Spring Water: Restores 200 MP over ten seconds]

Nie Fan’s current MP was 160. The effect of Lesser Mana Spring Water would slow and not apparent for him just as it would be wasteful to use Intermediate Mana Spring Water, although he would not care about squandering those mana points. Either way, the truckloads of Mana Springs and fifty Novice Mana Potions would last him a long time.

He then spent another hundred bronze coins on three 8-grid bags. Basic bags would provide 50 grids, and items such as potions and Mana Spring Water require one grid for every 20 items, which was why his bag still has space relatively speaking. That being said, lingering outside of town for a longer time makes it necessary to increase bag space.

Nie Fan also remembered something then: within the ten hours after Blade of Tyranny begins service, he had to register his ID, class information and other details with a Tempest Wings administrator. They would also be assigning fringe players with compulsory quests since that was how he earns his two-thousand-dollar salary from Tempest Wings studios and why he had a VR headgear from work. If he did nothing, Tempest Wings would be wasting all that money.

Tempest Wings had around a hundred fringe players, all of whom were managed by a person called Infernal Left Hand.

Several gamers were registering as Tempest Wings fringe players at Moxxi Village of Kelfield Town. As the admin for the fringe players, Infernal Left Hand was responsible for tasks such as compiling all information and assigning the gamers with quests. He had long hair, looked to be around his mid-twenties and stood tall and imposing. His pitch-black eyes gave him a deep-reaching impression and he also looked as if he looked like he was a piece of art, the kind of person who would leave girls screaming when he is out on the streets.

“Vice president, that Nie Fan whom Miss Xinyan recommended just sent a message—his ID is Dark Night.”

“Got it. You guys proceed.” Infernal Left Hand replied flatly. He really wanted to know what was the deal with that fellow called Nie Fan that he would join Tempest Wings with Lin Xinyan’s recommendation. In fact, the reason Infernal Left Hand himself had joined Tempest Wings was for Lin Xinyan—her father was influential in both politics and commerce, and marrying her would be very useful for his family business.

Nonetheless, he felt a vague threat with Nie Fan’s appearance.

‘Kid, don’t blame me for being ruthless. It would take a miracle if you could stay in Tempest Wings as long as I’m around—if you can’t even complete the task for a fringe member, neither Lin Quan nor Lin Xinyuan would want you around.’

1

After some thought, he assigned Nie Fan his first mission: deposit 50 bronze coins into his account within the first day of the game.

He did not make things too ridiculous that Lin Quan could see through it. Still, it was already not bad for a fringe gamer to get 100 bronze coins on day one, and it would definitely hurt if they had to pay 50 bronze coins on top of purchasing necessary items.

By dealing a slight loss on Nie Fan on the first day and slowly giving him tougher quests later, Nie Fan would be left between a rock and a hard place with his need to level up and to handle the studio-assigned quests. Eventually his level and items would not be able to keep up and he would not be able to accomplish his quests, and Infernal Left Hand would be able to chase off Nie Fan with sufficient reason and pomp as per the studio regulations.

Infernal Left Hand smiled sinisterly at that very thought.

***

Meanwhile, Nie Fan was completely unaware that he had caused someone to resent him. When he received feedback from the studio that his quest was to pay the studio fifty bronze coins before midnight, he found the day one quest quite easy since it was an equivalent of two bottles of Novice Mana Potions. As such, he dumped the fifty bronze coins into the mail without much fuss, although it would take half an hour to reach Moxxi since delivery had certain delays.

With the studio quest for the day easily accomplished, Nie Fan left the village and streaked towards the eastern corner of the Blood Shade Valley. He would now level up his Bloodthirsty Vines skill!

After around twenty minutes, he arrived at the edge of the Blood Shade Valley and looked towards the distance. The border between the mountains and the valleys is grown full of red trees that were a fiery crimson and went as far as the eye could see—those were Grando Redwood Trees, a unique species of tree only found in the Blood Shade Valley. Seemingly affected by the soil here, the tree trunks, leaves, and fruits were all colored like blood, making them a glowing and eye-catching sight.

[System: You have discovered Grando Redwood Trees. 1 Insight point obtained.]

The more places a player visits, they would come across more text and in turn earn more Insight attributes. Insight itself grows in usefulness towards the latter stage of the game, allowing Mages to have an easier time improving spell levels and for Druids to communicate with Nature Force conveniently. Even warriors could learn combat skills effortlessly, Holy Knights comfortably obtaining divine blessing while Bandits could also learn various trap mechanisms. Aside from all that, players with extremely high Insight could gain many titles, including Erudite, Scholar, Wiseman, Philosopher, Sage, and Grand Sage.

Those titles are not easily obtained, however, as it at least required a dozen thousand Insight points to reach Erudite, the lowest title. Still, Nie Fan had some special measures to increase his Insight attribute although his current level was far from enough.

The Redwood Forest was the spawn point of a creature called the Redwood Nymph, a lesser nymph at Level 16. That level was a little high for Nie Fan, but the Redwood Nymphs were also very slow in movement compared to other Level 8 or Level 9 beasts. Couple that with their high defense and rich HP, and Redwood Nymphs become suitable targets for long-range classes to level up.

That was why the Redwood Forest at the edge of the Blood Shade Valley was a sacred place to Mages for leveling up. In comparison, most Druids would not pick such a place since they were a moderate long-range class, but Nie Fan had different plans—he wanted to level up his skill, and it wouldn’t matter if it was a little slower since upgrading Bloodthirsty Vines would become easier at higher levels.

A cold breeze pungent with blood rustled as he entered the Redwood Forest, prompting a chilling sensation.

Each Grando Redwood Tree was three dozen feet tall and stood very straight. There were not many leaves at their tree crowns, but the forest ground was blanketed with thick layers of leaves amidst the flapping of winds. Everything within sigh was red as if one had arrived in a world of blood.

Nie Fan held his breath and looked around with complete concentration. The Redwood Nymphs were good at camouflage and were hard to notice in Redwood Forest, but it was fortunate that they moved slowly. As long as one paid attention so that they did not fool their eyes, they basically could not get too close to anyone.

Nie Fan looked around for any signs of those nymphs, and then at his skill bar. Without accounting for the buff from his Spirit, the basic stats of his Level 1 Bloodthirsty Vines were 3 Tenacity and 30 HP. Still, the higher his Spirit points, the stronger the vines he could summon.

Since two stat points are gained for each level he improved, Nie Fan added 20 points to his Spirit attribute and every other skill point on Agility. As such, the HP of the vines he could summon with the Spirit Buff is 36, and could probably survive two blows from the Redwood Nymphs.

1

Nie Fan’s eyes locked on to a huge Redwood Nymph some distance away then. It was over six feet tall and had camouflaged itself as a smaller Grando Redwood Tree. There was a massive human face at its center, however, that made it looked fearsome and frightening.

He cast a Scout spell on the nymph.

[Redwood Nymph: Level 16, 550 HP]

Nie Fan slowly moved up to ten yards away from the Redwood Nymph, mouthing a spell and preparing an attack with his vines.

The Nature Force around surged and converged upon him.

Feeling something unusual, the Redwood Nymph’s gaze locked on to Nie Fan. It shrieked and started to charge towards him.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Chant complete.

The ground where the Redwood Nymph had been standing split apart for two seconds as a green vine shot out, flailing in the air and trying to coil around something but failed. After five seconds, the Redwood Nymph had already left where it was standing and continued dashing towards Nie Fan.

Missed.

Damn it.

Nie Fan promptly turned and sprinted away, distancing himself from the Redwood Nymph. Still, it was only after more than twenty yards of running that the creature gave up and reverted to its wandering mode.

It was Nie Fan’s first time casting Bloodthirsty Vines and understood its nature. The vines are summoned in a specific position to coil around a target, but there is a five-second gap between chanting the spell and for the vines to appear. In battle, beasts would never remain stationary and that makes the vines hard to hit, although it would be easier if there was someone keeping the beast at bay up front. On the other hand, the vines would also be severely restrained in its binding utility if another player was there to hold it, since using direct damaging spells would do the trick!

As such, only truly skilled players could master the vine spell.

Although Nie Fan had a better understanding of Blade of Tyranny compared to most players with the data his father left him, he was merely above average in skill and still lacking. Be that as it may, that could be improved as no one was skilled on day one.

Nie Fan thought long and hard then. Given that the casting time for the vine spell was so long, he would need the ability to anticipate various aspects such as the terrain, his surroundings, as well as the movement speed and the position at which the Redwood Nymph would arrive. If his anticipation was precise, the vines would have a great chance of hitting the target.

He was not disappointed despite his first and failed casting of the Bloodthirsty Vines. He would keep trying, or he might as well give up if he could not even master that.

Bloodthirsty Vines had an average mana consumption and cost 5 MP for each casting, and had a rather short cooldown time of twenty seconds. It would cost penniless players a lot of time if they were reluctant to drink their potions or mana spring water, instead restoring their MP by sitting on the ground. Nie Fan hence could save time given his stores of MP restoratives, and with the high growth rate of Bloodthirsty Vines, the casting time would shorten dramatically at higher levels. If the casting time was reduced to two seconds, the hit chance would be very high and prove very useful whether it was farming monsters or PK.