Night had fallen. In Su Zhou, the night scene was extremely hazy. Rows of nightlife houses lied in disarray, pink lights shone inside the houses, revealing the attractive women inside.
On the road side, a small stall was open. This kind of small stall was called an ‘open-air restaurant’. It was similar to the stall in the movie of The G.o.d of Cookery, where the chef had cooked dishes from unsanitary ingredients.
(Shiro: one of the tables in the open-air restaurant, three youths were talking loudly happily. That’s right, these youths were Du Shi San, Ghost Valley and I. Delicious dishes, beers and alcohol cups filled the whole table. Drinking and eating with friends in such a beautiful summer night was a kind of enjoyment.
“Today, Boss Broken Spear’s killing move for Shadow Maple was really amazing!” Ghost Valley gulped a cup of alcohol and wiped his mouth, chuckling, “An attack that inflicted over 1400 damage, seems like that kid would be really shocked…”
Du Shi San asked again, “Lu Chen, what’s that attack’s skill name? How can it inflict so much damage?”
I put down my chopsticks and laughed, “It’s called [Vindicate]. The first attack would be a miss, that’s why it is called [Vindicate]. However, the second attack would greatly increase my physical attack and lower my opponent‘s defense at the same time.”
“Haha, no wonder it’s so powerful… Come, let’s toast to [Vindicate]!” Ghost Valley raised his cup and laughed loudly.
We all raised our cups and drunk our beer down.
I wiped the alcohol in the corners of my mouth and smiled, “Today is really not a bad first day. Crimson Mercenaries had gained a total profit of 16 gold on their opening day. That’s more or less around 1000RMB already. Our salary is almost at the level of a gold-collar’s salary, haha!”
Ghost Valley laughed and asked, “Boss, Brother B and I spent a ton of effort just to earn 5 gold, how could you earn 16 gold on your own?”
I laughed, “ I met a foolish and beautiful girl, it’s a pity if I don’t swindle her!”
Du Shi San’s eyes immediately lighted up, “You are talking about Wind Fantasy — Lin Yi Xin right?”
“Yeah.”
“Haha, not bad, not bad…” Du Shi San laughed out, but suddenly, he switched the topic and said, “Lu Chen, did you know Lin Yi Xin had a new nickname in Floating Ice City?”
“What nickname?” I was quite at a loss.
“Fruit Knife G.o.ddess…” Du Shi San guffawed.
“What the h.e.l.l? What kind of nickname is that…?”
“I have no idea.” Du Shi San paused a while, then continued, “In the forums, there are a lot of screenshots of Lin Yi Xin playing the game. A lot of them are pictures of her PKing someone. She always used a dagger to finish her opponents, but n.o.body knows what kind of skill she was using. Furthermore, she always liked to hold a dagger at hand, and she looked beautiful enough to tear heavens apart. I think that was how the name of ‘Fruit Knife G.o.ddess’ came about.”
A look of longing filled Du Shi San’s eyes as he smiled, “Whoever could catch Lin Yi Xin in their hands will definitely have a perfect life… If it was me, I won’t even trade it for an emperor’s position…”
I couldn’t help but to laugh, “Forget it, brother, Lin Yi Xin is definitely not as simple as you think.”
“Why?” Shi San was a little at a loss.
I put down my chopsticks again, and answered, full of a.n.a.lyses, “Firstly, Lin Yi Xin and I fought each other a few days ago and both of us dropped many levels. She didn’t want to have a formidable enemy like me, hence she requested to meet offline. Why did she think that meeting offline would resolve the enmity between us? That was because she was extremely confident with her beautiful looks.”
Pausing a little while, I continued, “Secondly, today, Lin Yi Xin had employed my service to escort her to the Bluestone Valley and gather Dream Gra.s.ses. But when we arrived there, we discovered that the Mad Dragon’s guild members were killing a BOSS monster. At this point, Lin Yi Xin had made use of me to help her kill steal the BOSS. She is a very clever girl, so she is definitely not the beautiful wallflower decoration that you think she is.”
“What…”
Du Shi San put down his chopsticks and chuckled, “Seems like this undercla.s.sman of ours, the beautiful school flower, is really not as simple as she seemed!”
I nodded, “That is correct, that is.”
Du Shi San’s eyes then lighted up as he looked at me with a dubious intention, “Lu Chen, bring that Lin Yi Xin down!”
“What?” I suddenly froze, “d.a.m.n it, don’t joke around. I wouldn’t want that kind of school flower, or rather… Cough, that person wouldn’t even be interested in me…“
“Hey, you must bring her down!” Du Shi San clenched his fists, and put up an appearance of a-strong-will-dominates-all att.i.tude as he continued, “Lin Yi Xin is the most beautiful woman in the Floating Ice City. Controlling her would be equivalent to controlling all the other beauties, and controlling all the other beauties would be equivalent to controlling all the girls in the Floating Ice City. Controlling all the girls in the Floating Ice City would be equivalent to controlling all the guys in the Floating Ice City, and controlling all the guys in the Floating Ice City would be equivalent to controlling the whole of the gaming world, and controlling the whole of gaming world would be equivalent to…”
“Gulp!”
Shi San suddenly gulped down a mouthful of saliva, and finally stopped, as if he knew that saying anything further would be extremely disgraceful.
Shi San looked towards me and laughed, “Let me just ask you. Do you like this Lin Yi Xin, the school flower?”
I really wanted to hit his speaking pressure point so that he could stop talking. Who wouldn’t like such a beautiful and innocent looking girl? I couln’t help but laugh as I remembered her expression when I swindled 15 gold out of her.
“That, that…” Du Shi San immediately pointed at me, just as if he had caught a crime suspect red-handed, “You are laughing like a pervert, yet you still dared to say you are not interested in Lin Yi Xin at all?”
This concerned my reputation and integrity. I immediately denied him, “Stop it, I was laughing so warmly and innocently and you dared to accuse me of laughing like a pervert. You are just saying bulls.h.i.t, you brat… you are paying for the beer money today!”
Shi San immediately kept silent. He and Ghost Valley, the two broke guys, were currently relying on me to pay for their living expenses.
We kept eating until around ten pm, then we went back to our house after drinking and eating our fill. Afterwards, the three of us vigorously went online to level and earn money.
…..
“Shua!”
I went online and appeared at the Floating Ice City’s inn.
I had to do one important thing today, catching pets!
The rule in stated that only players level 30 and above could own a pet. Furthermore, there were still a lot to learn about pets.
Any kind of monsters could be trained as pets, but their growth rate were all different.
There was a profession that exclusively existed to catch pets, and that was the Beastmaster. They relied on Seal Cards to seal pets and tame them. Of course, other players with different professions could also seal pets with the Seal Cards, but the chances of sealing success was only 20% of the Beastmaster’s. Hence, Beastmasters were a profession that was naturally born to catch pets. It couldn’t even be counted as one of the main professions.
I didn’t know any Beastmasters in this game. However, even if I knew one, they would probably not catch a pet for me. Everyone would always think about themselves first, after all. The moment someone caught a high quality pet, they wouldn’t possibly give it to others. With regards to this point, you could only rely on yourself to satisfy your needs, wrap yourself in warm clothes and feed your stomach!
Walking out of the Inn, I went to the Magic Shop to buy something. Sealing Card!
That’s right, we need Sealing Cards in order to tame pets. Entering the shop, I saw a beautiful storekeeper smiling and welcoming me, “This young adventurer, do you need something?”
I nodded, “Sealing Cards!”
“Alright, how many cards do you need? It’s 20 silvers for each Sealing Card!”
“What? That’s so expensive!”
I rounded my eyes and was struck speechless. There was no other way, I took out 5 gold and bought a total of 25 cards. I was not a Beastmaster, so I needed to prepare more. We must be prepared just in case something happens!
Afterwards, I walked out of the Magic Store and came to the main road. However, I suddenly saw a level 30 Beastmaster shouting, “I just caught a level 1 Green Praying Mantis with 3 stars physical attack and 2 stars agility. It has a BN value of 17, an extremely high quality pet! Heroes that are over level 30, please come and take a look. It only costs 50 gold!”
(Shiro: Sorry really have no idea what BN is…)
I was struck speechless when I heard that. 50 gold? Is he selling a pet or his father? How could it be so expensive?
There were three main conditions for capturing pets. 1. The pet must be level 1, 2. The capturer must have a Sealing Card and 3. The capturer must be level 30 and above.
In the wilderness, there would be an extremely low frequency of a level 1 monster sp.a.w.ning. This level 1 monsters were possible to be tamed. Of course, the success rate of taming was also extremely low, otherwise the Beastmaster’s trash of a Green Praying Mantis would also not be able to sell for such a high price.
When I was at the Wildfire Plains before, after killing a few monsters, I saw a level 1 Greedy Wolf. However, at that time, I only fulfilled the requirement of level 30, I had no Sealing Card with me. It was such a pity.
I thought that I shouldn’t be too anxious to catch pets straight away. There would always be time in the future, I should first take a look at various pet’s attributes first. The Beastmaster owned 5 pet slots while normal players only owned 1 pet slot at level 30. I must treasure this 1 pet slot.
Opening the official game database, I found the pet section. Various different pets in Floating Ice City appeared before me —
[Green Praying Mantis]
Attack: ★★★☆
Defense: ★★★
Health: ★★★☆
Agility: ★★
[Slime]
Attack: ★★
Defense: ★★★
Health: ★★★★☆
Agility: ★☆
[Wildfire Greedy Wolf]
Attack: ★★★★
Defense: ★★☆
Health: ★★★
Agility: ★★★☆
[Saber-toothed Tiger]
Attack: ★★★★
Defense: ★★★
Health: ★★★☆
Agility: ★★★★
[Wasp]
Attack: ★★★★☆
Defense: ★★★☆
Health: ★★★☆
Agility: ★★★★☆
Green Praying Mantis was an attack-type pet, but its agility was extremely low. On the other hand, the Slime’s strength was its defense and health, it’s health was actually a shocking 4.5 stars. Wildfire Greedy Wolf and Sabre-tooth Tiger were also good choices, but the one that I was interested the most was actually the Wasp. It actually had 4.5 stars in both attack and agility. Its defense and health was also not that bad. It was most probably the best choice of companion for PK and levelling for players in the early stages!
Alright, I had decided to get a Wasp. It would definitely be an enjoyable thing to have this little Wasp that could fly around and attack bad guys with me.
Searching for some information, I found that Wasps could be found in the south of Floating Ice City. It was not that far from the Bluestone Valley. Its level was around level 35-40, which was extremely high. Ordinary players wouldn’t even be able to defeat them, even if they were players that had their names listed in the Player Ranking Board. The Wasp’s growth for attack was extremely high after all. As a monster, its attack must also be extremely powerful!
Fortunately, I just gotten the Spirit Wind Cloud Armour and the Beast Face Wind Cloud Helmet, these two defensive equipments. My defense had increased a lot, I could definitely have a chance in defeating those wasps.
Hence, I bought an inventory full of potions and another 25 Sealing Cards before I set forth to catch my first precious pet!