Chapitre 6: Opening a Treasure Chest

Éditeur: Halcyon Translation

After entering the water, a grey bar appeared before Lu Li. This represented how long he could stay underwater, which was roughly 30 seconds. After this period, he would start to lose HP.

Seal Transformation!

After casting the skill, Lu Li instantly transformed into a small seal. His body was very smooth and he continued diving towards the bottom of the lake.

There were different kinds of monsters within the lake; like variations of fish, shrimps, crabs and snails. While the transformation reduced aggro, none of the monsters were higher than LV5 so they did not target him.

After about 2 minutes, Lu Li reached the bottom of the lake that was over 100 yards deep.

Amongst the aquatic plants, there were fish swimming through them. Lu Li looked around and found the object that he had come here for.

A treasure chest!

This was the kind of advantage he had. The game had only started about 4 hours ago; who else would be able to find a treasure chest like this?

Loot that was found in treasure chests was like the loot awarded for killing elite monsters. In the previous world, Thieves who opened treasure chests were all very wealthy.

So he approached the chest and cast his Unlock spell.

[Unlock]: 10 second cast time, 2 minute cooldown, opens locked chests and doors. Skill Proficiency 1/1000

Unlock was not an offensive skill, so even in seal form it could be used. Lu Li got lucky and the chest was opened on his first try.

The chest slowly opened, and he reached into it and felt around, pulling two items out with his seal claws.

One of them was a piece of equipment.

Crab Claw Band (Bronze): 8 Armor, Agility +2, Level Requirement LV3, Durability 9/20

An attribute equipment!

It was even armor suitable for Thieves!

The bronze equipment before him was great – it completely suited the Agility Thief playstyle that Lu Li had taken up. Once he reached level 3, his skills would be even more synergized.

The other item, was a skill book.

Even though it was easier to find these low grade skill books, right now it was still early in the game. As such, the value of these skill books were much higher than bronze equipment.

[Frost Nova]: Instant Cast, 50 second cooldown, affects all targets within 12 yards, dealing 9-11 ice damage and freezing them. The freeze can last a maximum of 8 seconds. This freeze effect can be cancelled by dealing damage to the target. Level requirement LV5. Upgradable.

Oh my!

Lu Li couldn’t contain himself; he felt the rush of 10,000 galloping horses.

He just gave Square Root 3 a common Magic Staff that dealt 5-7 damage for a skill book. A skill that could deal 9-11 damage was already incredibly good, but this Frost Nova, the damage was a secondary effect with the primary effect being a freeze!

All targets… in 12 yards… for 8 seconds… all these aspects together, made Frost Nova the best attainable skill!

Even after 2 years of this game, not all Magicians would have owned this skill.

You couldn’t farm it in the LV5 Spider Lair Instance Dungeon, the LV10 Death Mines, the LV15 Howling Caves nor the LV25 Scarlet Monastery…

Hmm, in the LV25 Scarlet Monastery, the boss might have a small chance of dropping it, a very small chance.

So if a grade were to be given to it…

Bronze?

What a joke!

Iron?

Definitely higher!

Silver?

Take any piece of silver equipment and it wouldn’t compare to this skill book!

……

Lu Li was completely shocked; he did not expect at all to get Frost Nova from this low grade treasure chest. He thought he was dreaming… or maybe it was a bug.

This book alone could be sold for 20 gold.

With 20 gold you could match the entire earnings of a large union down to their last copper coin.

Only after a while did he finally calm down and put the skill book in his bag to continue looking for treasure.

Moon Reflection Lake had 3 treasure chests, placed randomly at the bottom of the lake.

If he could get 3 Frost Nova skill books…

Pah, Lu Li slapped himself – to find another Frost Nova would just be wishful thinking.

There were many aquatic plants around and elite monsters that could appear, so he had to search very slowly. It was only after 10 minutes did he managed to find the second treasure chest.

His heart started beating faster!

The life of a Thief was so exciting; so far he had no regrets with this occupation.

Montreal’s Sickle (Bronze): Damage 15-23, Strength +1, Level requirement 4, Durability 12/18.

It was another bronze equipment, this time a long two handed weapon. It could be used by Hunters, Druids, Paladins and Warriors. The attributes were also good, boasting significant damage and one of the best stats in the additional strength.

Small Black Bag (Common): Container, 6 Spaces.

This was also a good item. In Dawn, players first started with only 10 bag spaces. It was not clear now, but when the levels were a little higher and with various drops to collect, everyone would find that there would be enough inventory spaces.

A 6 space bag would be sold by the universal shop at the Beginners Village for the price of 80 silver when it was renovated. Lu Li could sell this bag for 50 silver or more, depending on whether people could afford it.

After opening 2 treasure chests, Lu Li started to swim towards the surface of the water because the 20 minute duration of Seal Transformation was about to end. If he didn’t leave now he could drown here.

After breaking through the surface, Lu Li quickly returned to his original Thief form. He climbed onto shore to find a few Grells to kill.

When the Seal Transformation cooldown had reset, he quietly dived in once again.

The third treasure chest contained a silk cloth, which was material for a tailor. It wasn’t worth much money.

However, there was also a ring.

Sturdy Ring (Bronze): Damage 2-6, Constitution +3, Level Requirement 5, Durability 20/20.

Tutut, he was salivating over this ring.

Not only did this ring increase his damage, it also gave 3 points of Constitution.

Every player, when they levelled up, would gain some additional max HP depending on their occupation but also on their Constitution stat.

Thieves and Magicians both gained 7 max HP for every point of Constitution. Paladins and Warriors on the other hand gained roughly 10 max HP for every point. This was known as growth potential.

If he kept this ring for himself it would be a bit of a waste, but he believed that Azure Sea Breeze would really like it.

He would have to wait 24 hours before he could farm these treasure chests again. In the meantime, he could only train. He didn’t farm any more Grells, instead going to farm some Shadowmaw Panthers and hoping to find ‘Cheetah Transformation’.

Unfortunately, he kept farming till level 3, and it was now 6pm in game. In real life it was already 12am, and he still hadn’t found a skill book. Other than the furs that he had found, there was only a common piece of armor.

The colour of in game sky started to dim. According to government regulations, this was the daily 8 hour period where the game would be dark - from 12 am to 8am. In the open field, visibility was reduced to half and the training areas would randomly spawn Night Crawlers

Night Crawlers were especially strange; their level was highest level player in the area + 10. They had high attack, high defence and high HP, as well as strong regenerative abilities. Only after an attribute decreasing weapon was found could the players stand a chance against them.

These were put in place for the sake of the player’s bodies.

Virtual technology was truly well developed but it was unable to resolve the problem of rest for the players.

At this time, death was very costly, and if you were killed by the Night Crawlers, you would lose 40% of your current exp: 2 times the penalty of normal death.

Of course, there were advantages and disadvantages to these measures. A rich person could just hire a bunch of players as cannon fodder, and use them to draw away the Night Crawlers when travelling by night.

Lu Li had no reason to oppose the system; he returned to the village, and like the numerous other players, set up a stall in the open area in front of the inn.

Before long, the first player came to look at Lu Li’s shop. This little Night Elf girl squealed so loudly that the whole valley could probably have heard her.

“Heavens, am I seeing things? There are 2… 2 bronze equipment, and even a skill book!”

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Chapitre 7: The first pot of gold

Éditeur: Halcyon Translation

“Where? Where is the bronze equipment?” This reaction was made by more than one person.

Just because a stall had been set up didn’t mean that it was selling something of value. If you had an extra piece of common equipment to sell, you could already be proud of that. Most players could only sell some dried meats that could be used to replenish some HP.

“Scoff, it’s just an exaggeration. Our union has 18 people and we only have 3 spare common equipment to sell. We have only found 1 bronze equipment which was dropped by an elite monster. Our leader is currently wearing it…”

“Woah, it really is bronze equipment and a skill book. I’m going to find out what kind of skill book it is…” Not everyone was skeptical; there were some bored people who also came by to have a look. After looking through the stall they were speechless.

Then, more and more people came.

How did this happen? Lu Li was left equally speechless.

When he played this game previously, it had already been running for a while. At that time, the newbie village was busy and there were many stalls around, but it had never been so… noisy.

It wasn’t because of the bronze equipment, nor was it because of the skill book. It was because they had not yet seen the world!

“Brother”, a surprised union member went over, calmed down a little and started talking business. “I’m very interested in this Montreal’s Sickle, but 1 gold and 50 silver is a little too much don’t you think?”

“Sturdy Ring for 2 gold, dammit, if there’s someone out there who has 2 gold right now, I’ll do a live broadcast of myself eating grass!”

“Frost Nova, this skill is overpowered. Brother, we the Grand Hegemony union can’t afford 20 gold. How about we trade with actual money. We’ll send the money to you first, and you can give us the skill book when you receive it…”

Grand Hegemony!

That was the union that rules over the ‘Shadow Realm’; they weren’t much different from Star Moon Union.

Who would have thought that a person from such a large union would be so polite? It was completely unlike the aggressive stories that were told about them.

This proposal of first sending the money before receiving the skill book showed a genuine sincerity. Lu Li couldn’t help but be interested by the offer.

The in-game name, Drinking Alone, was a famous one. Amongst the 4 owners of the Grand Hegemony, there would come a day when he would lead a group of 800 players to the Shadow City of the Evil Faction, destroying many villages in the process.

20 gold was incredibly difficult to come by. Even though Grand Hegemony was one of the top ten unions, they were still unable to gather 20 gold. Their members were all dispersed into different regions, and at this time, they were unable to gather this kind of strength.

Lu Li considered it for a few seconds, before taking out his communication device from his waist and inputting the Star Moon Union number.

“Calling for assistance, calling for assistance…”

“Okay stop calling, we’re on our way” Square Root 3’s response was quick; there must have been someone who had made an announcement to the Star Moon Union.

“Oh”, Lu Li didn’t say a word after that, and continued to work on his stall.

Not long after, Square Root 3 arrived, and this time he wasn’t alone. There were 7-8 people following him, each one with a look of excitement on their face.

“Okay, time to pack up, the union wants everything you are selling. Give accounting some time, and the funds will be directly sent to your card.” Ao Jian was here, so naturally it wasn’t Square Root 3 speaking. His tone was so natural, but the people surrounding were shocked to hear what he said.

“Hey, isn’t this Ao Jian? Brother Ao Jian is so insincere; there is a process to doing business, especially when dealing with items of such high value” Drinking Alone was trying to stick to Lu Li. This was no joke; this skill book was very hard to come by and anyone with ambition would not want to let it go.

“Haha, Drinking Alone, this is none of your business” Ao Jian made a faint smile while looking at him. “Lu Li is one of our Gold Collection unit, and has signed an official contract. You say I don’t have the capacity to make a decision like this?”

“Gold Collection Unit?” Drinking Alone was shocked, “this master is one of your Gold Collection Unit people?”

The audience nearby erupted with noise.

This was insane, someone who was capable for getting 2 bronze equipment and a high quality skill book to sell was a member of the Gold Collection Unit?

Were the members of Star Moon Union all this talented?

I am Richy Rich jumped out and sneered: “You inexperienced imbecile, you see his level and you call him a master? I don’t know what kind of luck he had to get this kind of item, but as a member of the union he didn’t even do what he was supposed to. He secretly tried to sell these items…”

“I just didn’t get to tell you yet” Lu Li tried to respond.

“What do you mean you didn’t get to tell us? You have signed a contract to the union, of course everything you get belongs to the union.” I am Richy rich was fierce and stern. “You set up a stall, but you knew that this was illegal behavior. If you did manage to sell the items, we are fully capable of pursuing you for your legal liability.”

Everyone’s fuse is only a certain length and Lu Li already didn’t really like Richy Rich. After hearing him say that, he immediately put the skill book in his bag: “The contract I signed with you is not an ordinary Gold Collection contract, so I will keep this skill book.”

Finding Frost Nova was a complete accident. According to Lu Li’s plans, opening a treasure chest every 24 hours should result in at least 3 bronze equipment. In a week, it should be possible to attain at least 20 bronze equipment which was more than enough for 20 gold.

At the time that the contract was signed, the basic agreement was to deliver 20 gold a week for a 3 month period. There were no other limitations.

After 3 months, Lu Li’s contract with the Star Moon union would expire. If Lu Li wanted to continue using the helmet, he needed to pay Star Moon Union 10,000 in real life money. During this period, the gold that was delivered was not for free. Star Moon Union would need to give a 20% discount of the market price as a reward.

Ao Jian thought of all this, and his expression went cold. Due to his arrogance, he was unable to face the words that had been said.

Seeing Ao Jian’s expression, everyone knew that Lu Li’s words weren’t empty. I am Richy Rich also couldn’t say anything. It was like he was choking; he opened his mouth but no words came out.

“Haha, that’s just fine. We, the Grand Hegemony, know the high value of this book; 20,000 real life money. But I don’t know if Lu Li is willing to part with his treasures.”

Drinking Alone looked ecstatic, seizing this opportunity to name a price that left people dumbfounded.

20,000, Lu Li’s heart beat with excitement.

“How about this” With the surrounding people enjoying the misfortune of what was happening, Square Root 3 quickly spoke up: “this book can be counted as the 20 gold, your weekly duty has been accomplished and you can now play the game at ease…”

The lack of human compassion that was being shown through Square Root 3’s words stopped Lu Li from maintaining his composure.

To live for someone else, how would that ever be a good feeling?

Honestly speaking, was Frost Nova really worth 20 gold? It was hard to say.

But simply looking at its attributes and effects, no one dared say it wasn’t.

Right now any union in the game was incapable of paying 20 gold for anything. Moreover, even after 3 to 5 days no one would be able to pay that kind of money.

In a time when everyone was working to contribute money to the unions, the value of gold was greater than anything else.

That’s why it’s said that Square Root 3 knows how to deal with people!

In the previous game, Star Moon Union developed and became a big union. Square Root 3’s way of working obviously outclassed that of the I am Richy Rich kind.

“If there isn’t a problem, we’ll count it as 20 gold” Ao Jian stared intently, but he wasn’t an idiot. Knowing that this was the best way to take advantage of the situation, he still nodded his head even though he did not completely agree.

As for I am Richy Rich, he stayed completely silent, afraid that Lu Li might remember the boastful words that he said before.

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