After spending two hours, Li Yao had finished walking through the entire plaza. He had visited the warehouse dozens of times to store items, and his gold coins had dwindled to thirty.
Some were bargains, and some were items that he couldn't use at the current stage. Li Yao sold anything he found valuable.
Even after wandering around the plaza, Li Yao was still not content. But all this was just what he did casually. If he wanted to, he could spend fifty silver coins to go to another Beginner's Village and continue scouting for items.
On the way to the blacksmith's shop, Li Yao thought of his sister.
"This girl tricked me into thinking she started playing the game later than she actually did. She actually started playing as soon as the server opened."
The structure of the Beginner's Village is simple. The blacksmith shop not only has a blacksmith but also an NPC that makes clothes. When no players can forge or make clothes, they usually go to the NPC.
The NPC basically makes standard equipment that's common. But at this stage, having even one set of equipment is already extremely luxurious.
"Young clansman, is there anything I can help you with?" the equipper in charge of making equipment asked.
Li Yao performed an elf ritual and said, "I want to make two sets of equipment."
"I'm not yet intermediate level, I can only make equipment with materials from bosses and underneath. If you use materials from elite monsters, you can have some set effects." the equipper said.
"Hmm, I want an Elite Hunter Set and an Elite Warlock Set." Li Yao said, handing over a batch of materials and twenty silver coins.
After waiting patiently for ten minutes, Li Yao finally got his equipment.
Each set consisted of a helmet, shoulder armor, a cloak, chest armor, a belt, leg armor, armguards, gloves, and boots. The hunter set even had an extra Arrow Bag.
Each piece only added a few points of armor value. The Arrow Bag is quite a bit better than the newcomer's, adding three more slots.
The three-piece set effect was to increase 50 life points, and the five-piece set effect was to increase 10 attack points.
This was top-of-the-line for the early game. With a full set, his armor was almost fifty, and his life was almost two hundred. Even a newbie who put on this set could become a decent player.
The Warlock Set's three-piece effect was to increase 50 mana points, and the five-piece set was to increase 10 intelligence. It was equally overpowered.
Li Yao changed into the new set of equipment except for his shoes, the spiky shoulders, the headgear that looked like a fearsome velociraptor face, to him, the equipment looked simple and crude. But other players looked enviously at him, wishing they could have such a cool set.
As Li Yao passed by the mailbox, he mailed the Elite Warlock Set's "Elite Velociraptor Crown" and 1 gold coin to his sister. Then, he headed to the engineering shop.
Engineering and Alchemy were both in the same building.
As Li Yao entered, the Alchemist warmly greeted him, while the Engineering Trainer didn't even glance at him, continuing to drink his alcohol.
"I want to buy twenty beginner life potions, ten bottles of beginner antidote potions, and ten bottles of underwater breathing potions."
"Each bottle of Life Potion is one silver coin, the Antidote Potion is three silver coins per bottle, and the Underwater Breathing Potion is two silver coins per bottle."
"Thanks."
At this stage, absolutely no player would buy these luxury goods. Ordinary players worked hard to kill monsters all day for just the income of a bottle of antidote potion.
Li Yao went to the other side and greeted, "Hello, I want to learn Engineering."
The Engineering Trainer didn't even lift his head and said, "Okay, first bring me a thousand pieces of copper ore."
Even the major guilds couldn't get a thousand pieces of copper ore at this stage, and this was just the first step. If you want to learn engineering, you need to complete ten linked tasks, each one more troublesome than the last.
"This is your old sweetheart, no, it's a letter of introduction from Instructor Eileen." Li Yao put the envelope on the table with a smirk.
The Engineering Trainer quickly picked up the letter and started reading it himself. After a moment, he asked doubtfully, "Ahem, you didn't peek at this letter, did you?"
"How would I dare?" Li Yao quickly replied, even without looking, he already knew what was written inside.
"On account of Eileen, you don't need to run errands." With a wave of the trainer's hand, Li Yao had learned Engineering. "There are some recipes over there, and some basic engineering materials are priced. If you want to learn something or make something, just leave the money."
After finishing speaking, he rushed out of the room as if smoke, not even staying in the shop.
Li Yao was no longer surprised. Every NPC in this game was a sentient being, just like a real person.
Li Yao went over there, learned all the recipes he could, and as the recipes disappeared, his money bag also began to shrivel. Several recipes cost three gold coins.
Li Yao didn't hold back and immediately started practicing Engineering on the engineering table. At first, he could only make some explosive powder and then make explosives.
He logged off in the middle to sleep for three to four hours, had dinner, and then logged on again.
By eight o'clock in the real world, the sky in the game also started to light up.
Li Yao's engineering skill was now 856/1000, just over a hundred points short of intermediate level, but he only had twenty-three gold coins left in his money bag. It couldn't burn any more money.
The remaining hundred or more proficiency points were even harder to practice. Either make some useless engineering items, or make fire guns. But making fire guns requires a lot of copper ore, and hardly any players have learned auxiliary professions at this stage.
The copper ore on the market is not only expensive to death, but even if all collected, it's not enough for him to use. However, he will be able to get a pet at level ten, so he still has some time.
In this period, he needed to gather enough copper ore and get a blueprint for a mechanical chick. This is the first mechanical pet blueprint that can be obtained before level ten.
Although he has the Eye of the Creator which allows him to make engineering items at will, this is only in theory. If he wants to make a living thing, blueprints are essential.
But after this practice of engineering proficiency, he made a lot of engineering items. The journey of the Mechanical Hunter truly began now. At least the level grinding monster hunting won't be as exhausting as today.
Of course, this is just what he thinks to himself. If he were to say it out loud, he would probably get flamed by the players. You, a single player, soloed an elite monster and even bossed, and still not contented? Do you know how heartbroken our ordinary players are when we can't even kill elite monsters, let alone face a boss?
Li Yao will, of course, not be satisfied. Having reincarnated once, if he has to struggle like he did in his past life, then this reincarnation is a joke. If it's still that hard to kill monsters, how can he justify the legacy equipment prepared for players above level sixty, and how can he justify the massive amount of strategies in his mind?
In the last world, I had played as a thief for two years, getting chased around like a dog, so I quit that character.
Later, playing as a Hunter for eight painstaking years was just as miserable. Reincarnation allowed me to keep my skills, but it still felt like banging my head against a wall.
With the engineering expertise from my past life, Li Yao was able to create everything a novice engineer could make.
Blueprints for the Mechanical Sheep allowed Li Yao to create hundreds of them.
At the same time, Li Yao transformed the blue bow he got from missions into an engineering bow which resembles a compound bow. Not only did its damage improve, but the range also increased a bit.
Of course, these accomplishments alone didn't earn Li Yao the title of either a mechanical hunter or an engineering hunter. Based on his memories from the previous world, Li Yao also built an invaluable weapon, the Arrow Tower.
Ordinary hunters would need to be at least level 20 to obtain an Arrow Tower through skills. However, it doesn't inflict much damage and is only used for security purposes, such as alerting the player of dangers during camping. The Arrow Tower is indispensable as it allows you to spot dangers in advance.
Li Yao's Arrow Tower was self-made based on his previous life's knowledge. Due to the Eye of the Creator, the Arrow Tower can also be considered as his pet, thus benefiting from the character's attribute bonuses.
Self-made Arrow Tower
Health: 60 (One-third of the character)
Armor: 21 (One-third of the character)
Damage: 9-13 (Varies with the character's level)
Range: 45 yards
Firing Rate: 1 shot per second
Quantity: 3/3 (Recovers quantity 1 every 60 seconds)
Item is bound
When held in hand, it resembles a small but elegant tower with a crossbow on top, about the size of a palm.
This item is similar to a Shaman's totem. When a Shaman obtains a totem column, it can only project the image of the totem.
Li Yao wasn't entirely satisfied. He remembered towers armed with cannons, crossbow cannons, and even magic arrow towers. However, he was limited by his current proficiency and the available materials, so he could only make a toy-sized cannon, which was far from becoming a tower. This slight disappointment made him work harder.
When Li Yao successfully created another type of inventor's item, his spirits rose again.
The Spike Trap, not a skill-based trap, but an engineering consumable, similar to a hand grenade.
Once triggered, the trap explodes, filling a certain area with spikes that inflict continuous damage or a "bleeding" effect on monsters in the area.
"At last, I can be considered as a mediocre mechanical hunter. It will be perfect if I had a fire gun," said Li Yao, packing his stuff and heading towards the outskirts of Beginner's Village.
As per his plan, he could earn some enviable honors as a Star Fire, and to be on the world's honor list, he needed to use his identity as Star Fire and act as a traditional Hunter when appearing in public.
As for Prairie Fire, he would follow the path of the mechanical hunter, only using fire guns and engineering items in the future. Even if people envied Star Fire, they wouldn't find anything noteworthy about Prairie Fire, allowing him to accumulate wealth quietly.
Of course, to realize these plans, he needed to prepare and make some equipment. However, he hadn't attracted much attention so far, so there was nothing to worry about.
After half an hour of travel, he arrived at a respawning area for level four to five monsters, where no other players were present.
Looking at a level four Demon Wolf Elite accompanied by two ordinary level four Demon Wolves in the distance, Li Yao clacked his tongue and set up his three Arrow Towers in the form of a triangle.
Then, he placed an Exploding Sheep on the ground.
The Exploding Sheep trotted up to the Demon Wolf Elite. The Demon Wolf Elite found it unforgivable for a harmless lamb daring to approach it, and clawed at the Exploding Sheep.
Boom...
A bright explosion ensued. The three Demon Wolves let out tragic screams.
-85-108-110
Visibly damaging figures popped up, indicating that the damage on the two ordinary Demon Wolves had exceeded a hundred. However, this also meant that he just spent 50 copper coins. This basically amounted to one-sixth of a normal level three player's daily income.
The three Demon Wolves roared, their eyes turning red as they rushed towards Li Yao.
The two Arrow Towers biubiu-biu would start to shoot relentlessly as soon as the Demon Wolves came within range.
However, their tragedy was not over yet. Another explosion occurred beneath their feet.
Thud thud thud...
The Spike Trap exploded into action, leaving the three Demon Wolves full of holes.
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A whole bunch of damage numbers popped up above the heads of the three Demon Wolves.
Concussive Shot.
Li Yao's arrow hit the Demon Wolf Elite's head which slowed down its speed by fifty percent.
After testing the damage, Li Yao didn't waste time. He slowed down the Demon Wolf Elite and started using Charged Arrow.
The two ordinary Demon Wolves, miserably stepping on the spikes, fell to the ground and took their last breath, while the Demon Wolf Elite was even more tragic.
With spikes continuously making it bleed from its legs, three arrow towers firing at it, and Li Yao, whose arrows always hit its nose, it barely managed to move out of the Spike Trap's range before it unwillingly fell to the ground. The whole process was effortless, much faster and expended less effort than yesterday...
"Still not good enough, there's still a slight gap from standing till dawn." Li Yao sighed while taking back the arrow tower.
Li Yao shook his head, no longer tangled, and now the main task was to get copper ore and blueprints.
Li Yao knew of a place where he could get a contract for a mine as long as he completed the task. Once he got the contract, the mine would belong to him personally. As for making him spend time learning mining, please don't tease him. Being a miner in a rebirth is simply too humiliating.
Even in the real world, a single mine only needs three or four people to manage it, and mining is set up with a computer program. No one cares what you do in your spare time.
After the rebirth, he naturally wants to proceed in the most efficient and speedy way. Once he owns the mine, he could get 30 percent of the income from players and NPCs mining in it. How cool is that?
However, the mine is currently occupied by monsters and needs him to complete tasks in order to acquire it.
"Bro, run!" Just as Li Yao was considering the quickest way to get the mine, he heard a player shouting in the distance.
Li Yao turned towards the direction of the sound and his face instantly changed. He saw a big fat man running towards him at a speed that did not match his size. Behind him, dozens of Demon Wolves were chasing the fat man.
"Damn." Li Yao cursed under his breath at the shameless fat man, and also started running quickly.
"Don't run towards me."
"Bro, there's nowhere else to go." The muscular man panted as he ran and shouted.
"Bro, you're hurting me." Li Yao was helpless, but his pace was not slow, and he never let the fat man overtake him.
The two ran wildly for ten minutes before they finally shook off the Demon Wolf Army. They panted under a large tree, and the fat man was already sweating profusely.
"Bro, you're good. You're actually faster than me. You must have speed-boosting equipment." The muscular man extended his greasy hand and said, "Let's get to know each other, I'm Muscles."
"Shouldn't that be 'Flabby' instead? Also, please wipe your muddy and sweaty hands before shaking hands with me." Li Yao took a few steps back and said, "Prairie Fire, just an unknown soldier."
Li Yao also knew this guy in his previous life. He was a thief in the Beacon War Team, ranked in the top fifty among thieves. Don't underestimate the top fifty, you have to know that ten years later almost two hundred billion players entered the game, among which there were twenty to thirty billion thief players. Being in the top fifty out of twenty billion players is almost godlike.
Later, he was known as the fattest High Elf in history. His appearance was completely at odds with the High Elf's beautiful and thin image. Though infamous for his lecherous behavior, his character was decent and he had interacted with Li Yao before.
"Which team are you from, bro? Your equipment is so luxurious, much stronger than mine." The fat man, looking embarrassingly sweaty, leaned against the tree and continued to pant.
"I don't belong to any team. But you, you're too damaging. You deliberately attracted so many monsters. If I didn't have speed-boosting equipment, I would have been killed by you."
"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, bro." The muscular man looked aggrieved: "You don't know, our team leader was stimulated by some 'Spark of Stars'. He heard that 'Spark of the Star' could solo bosses and got impatient. So, this morning, he decided to lead us to kill level 4 elites. Not willing to be outdone."
"So, you guys ended up tragedy?" Li Yao asked curiously.
"Sigh." The muscular man sighed: "More than a tragedy, it was too miserable. At the beginning, we killed a level four elite, but in the process of killing the second one, our MT died, and then we bloodbathed. We ran, but as we ran, there were fewer and fewer people, and more and more monsters. In the end, I was the only one left."
Li Yao also burst out laughing, saying: "It seems like you're enjoying this tragedy."
"Ha ha, you've found me out. Do you think I can't be happy? Now I'm the highest level in our team. And, you know, it's not just our team, from the news I got, all of the large guilds and clubs suffered terrible losses this morning. It's dreadful, ha ha ha. That 'Spark of the Star' really messed everyone up."
The fat man laughed loudly, and continued: "But I like it, I like it. I really want to get to know this 'Spark of the Star' guy. He's so bad, ha ha ha."
Li Yao's mouth twitched slightly. He didn't expect this outcome. It was easier to kill a two or three level elite, why do they need to challenge higher levels?
"Sigh, let's stop yapping. The team leader has revived. I'm leaving now. Bro, we can chat later." The muscular man sent a friend request.
Li Yao accepted it. The fat man waved his hand, went into stealth and walked away. His name appeared on Prairie Fire's list.
Li Yao shook his head slightly, not caring at all how severe the large guilds' losses were, and headed towards his destination, lamenting not having a mount.
The Mogul Mountain Range is located north of the Tower of the Sun. It's necessary to bypass two areas of level four or five monsters. Li Yao took the safest route and bypassed the areas of mutated seedlings and lynx. If he couldn't bypass an area, he'd release the arrow tower to clear them off. As long as he didn't foolishly take a bunch of monsters, there were no safety issues. He didn't need to take the main road, saving a lot of time.
The Mogul Mountain Range is shrouded in a light poison fog all year round. Players without anti-poison equipment or antidote potions will continuously lose blood, so it's very quiet here. Li Yao looked from outside the mountain range and didn't see a single player.
The outer area of the mountain range is populated with level four golden arrow poison frogs. This incredibly poisonous creature on earth is just a low-level poison monster in the game.
After drinking a low-level antidote potion, he's already ignored the poison fog. Of course, the antidote potion only lasts for fifteen minutes, and he's drunk a day's worth of a normal player's income.
Ordinary monsters around the periphery aren't any threat to Li Yao. Poison arrows essentially do no damage due to the antidote potion. Li Yao proceeds smoothly into the mountain valley and finally finds a cave with the help of his memory.
There are no monsters in the cave, only a pile of ashes and a skeleton. As soon as Li Yao touched the skeleton, it turned into ash.
Li Yao held his breath, cleared the ashes with a branch, and finally saw a ring with a green light.
Li Yao carefully lifted the ring, blew the ashes off and saw tiny words engraved on the inside of the ring, "To my beloved Ai Li - Dalkhan."
Dalkhan was the greatest traitor of the High Elves. He was the one who revealed the weakness of the Sunwell barrier to the Lich King, allowing the undead army to penetrate the unprepared kingdom.
After this battle, the King of the High Elves and the leaders of the Silver Moon Council were almost all killed or injured. The Ranger General at the time, Sylvanas, now the queen of the Undead Clan, died defending the kingdom and was controlled by the Demon Artifact Frost Mourne to become a Banshee. The Sunwell was then contaminated.
The population of the High Elves dropped by 60% instantaneously. The High Elves, who had recovered from their previous injuries over millennia, suffered unprecedented damage.
Li Yao filled an empty bottle with ashes. These ashes could help him complete a high-difficulty high-reward task.
Dalkhan's Engagement Ring
Quality: Exceptional Blue
Strength: 8
Agility: 6
Enchantment: Resistant to low-level toxin damage
Equipment level: 4
Explanation: This is the betrothal token Great Mage Dalkhan gave to his lover when he was young
Just based on the attributes of the ring, it's an extraordinary item. Furthermore, Dalkhan imbued it with poison resistance. It's even superior to a piece of purple equipment.
Without any hesitation, Li Yao put the ring on and his attributes immediately increased. Even the ring alone was equivalent to the stats he would gain from two level increases.
"Indeed, good equipment is the real game-changer."
Li Yao casually made this remark before he left the cave,
To complete the mine contract quest, he had to finish the prerequisite quest first. Li Yao found an NPC lying on the ground on the northeastern side of the Mogul Mountain Range.
Seeing Li Yao, the male High Elf lying on the ground struggled to speak: "Young clan member, I need your help."
Li Yao helped the High Elf, Freyr, to his feet and asked, "How can I help you?"
Freyr strained to speak: "I encountered a Corruptionist in the Mogul Mountain Range. I am severely injured and have no supplies. I need to restore my health and remove the toxins from my body. Are you willing to help me? I'll reward you when I'm free."
"System: Freyr has issued a mission, Rescue in Danger, do you accept?"
Rescue in Danger
Mission difficulty: a
Mission description: Freyr has lost his mobility and hopes to be rescued.
Mission objective: Bring Freyr a bottle of beginner's life potion and a bottle of beginner's antidote potion.
Reward: Freyr's Friendship, 5% of current level experience.
Considering this mission would cost about four or five silver coins, regular players wouldn't accept it. In his past life, this special mission was completely overlooked.
Not until years later, when a player who had re-rolled their character had enough free time to accept the mission. After spending two days completing the follow-up, they revealed the truth about the mine. Only then did players understand the value of Freyr's friendship.
Li Yao handed the two potions to Freyr without a second thought. Freyr's eyes sparkled; he didn't hesitate to drink the two potions immediately.
A moment later, Freyr stood up, full of spirit, saluted Li Yao and said, "From now on, young clan member, you are my friend."
"Prairie Fire, I'm glad to be your friend." Li Yao paused before he continued, "My dear friend, I plan to continue my training on this mountain range. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
Freyr started laughing and said, "My friend, you really are kind. Actually, yes, I am in need of a batch of Golden Dart Frog's poison glands for research. Would you be willing to help?"
"System: Freyr has issued a mission, Collect Toxic Glands, do you accept?"
Collect Toxic Glands
Mission difficulty: a++
Mission description: Freyr needs a large quantity of toxic glands for research; the more and the higher the quality the better.
Reward: +3000 Favor with Freyr, one piece of blue equipment.
At this point, Freyr's generosity starts to show. Li Yao accepted the mission and started hunting Golden Dart Frogs. The gland of an elite Dart Frog equals the glands of ten normal ones and gives a lot of experience. With the Spike Traps and Arrow Towers, plus his extraordinary archery, Li Yao was nearly invincible.
A normal Dart Frog would be mercilessly killed just by Li Yao installing one Arrow Tower. While for the elite ones, three Arrow Towers, a bleed trap, the Exploding Sheep, and Li Yao's powerful output would still be more than enough.
While collecting materials his experience also increased substantially. Li Yao continued sweeping the area of the mountain range, and time quickly went by.
*Bang*...
Having just slain an elite frog, Li Yao suddenly heard the sound of a fireball exploding and a Dart Frog shrieking.
Li Yao was shocked, he had not expected to encounter another player here. He cautiously moved towards the source of the sound.
In the faint green fog, he saw a dwarf being chased by three Dart Frogs. Before Li Yao could make sense of why a Goblin would appear in the High Elf's Beginner Village, he noticed the special Dart Frog chasing the Goblin player.
Silver Elite. Li Yao's heart skipped a beat…
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