Chapter 56: Give Players A Shovel And They’ll Really Dig To The Earth’s Core
city of light chasing, outside the obsidian martial arts hall.
“Flo, what were you thinking? You actually promised a 20% share, and they are all beginner apprentices. Aren’t you afraid the old gang leader will have objections? This time the old gang leader invited people from the evil wolf gang, and even then he only promised 10 intermediate apprentices for 10%.” Fischer, walking along the road, asked in puzzlement.
“That Lin Qi is too cunning. I never expected their gray robe gang to actually be hiding thirty apprentice-level experts.” Flo glanced at Fischer’s hands, with muscles torn in many places, and sighed. “But I don’t think I lost out on this deal. If a single beginner apprentice can injure you, then even if the gray robe gang had only one such beginner apprentice, it would not be a loss for me, not to mention we got thirty of them in one go this time.”
“With these thirty people, plus the ten intermediate apprentices from the evil wolf gang, our green sparrow gang only needs to send ten high-end combat forces. That way, if we win, it’s a huge profit, and if we lose, it will not hurt too much.”
“That’s true.” Fischer nodded, a bit regretfully. “It’s just a pity about that Yi Ye Fu Yun from the gray robe gang. After today’s battle, he will probably find it hard to survive.”
Fischer still admired Yi Ye Fu Yun. At least in the green sparrow gang, there was not a single beginner apprentice who could take her scorching moon and survive, while Yi Ye Fu Yun had actually managed to injure her. It was simply unbelievable.
But judging from Yi Ye Fu Yun’s condition, unless the gray robe gang was willing to pay an enormous price, he would likely not be saved. Yet every gang treats its members as consumables, and it was obvious the gray robe gang would never spend that much.
“It is a bit of a pity.” Flo nodded, his gaze heavy. “But this battle also made me realize that this gray robe gang is not simple. If that person were already an intermediate apprentice, you might very well have lost today. I don’t know where the gray robe gang found such talent. If they had a few more experts like that, they might even become a threat to our green sparrow gang.”
“No way. It’s just a few people. How could they threaten our green sparrow gang?” Fischer said in surprise.
As a senior official of the green sparrow gang, she knew their strength very well. It was absolutely not something a few advanced apprentice-level fighters could contend with.
“A few people indeed are not enough, but the martial skill that person used was of a very high level, very likely a quasi-martial artist-level martial skill,” Flo explained. “If the gray robe gang really let a dozen or more intermediate apprentices master quasi-martial artist-level martial skills, that would be equivalent to a dozen or more advanced apprentice-level combat forces. How many wilderness gangs do you think have that many advanced apprentice-level combat forces?”
“Impossible. That’s a quasi-martial artist-level martial skill. It’s not so easy to learn. Just the teaching cost alone is something an ordinary wilderness gang cannot afford.” Fischer did not believe it at all. The higher the level of a martial skill, the higher the price to learn it.
Just reaching proficient in her own apprentice-level martial skill scorching moon had cost her more than two hundred thousand. The cost to learn a quasi-martial artist-level martial skill to proficiency was unimaginable, let alone having more than ten people learn it.
Even if the gang leader of the gray robe gang was the instructor and did not charge tuition, there was no way to teach that many. The more advanced the martial skill, the higher the precision required for every detail. The instructor has to teach hand in hand and cannot divide their attention among many people, or it is easy to train them into disaster, causing irreparable consequences.
“Maybe I’m overthinking it.” Flo smiled, also feeling that he was thinking too much.
If the gang leader of the gray robe gang really had that ability, he would have gone to live comfortably in the city center long ago instead of running to the abandoned area to run a wilderness gang.
…
Inside the obsidian martial arts hall.
After Flo and the others left, the training room became incomparably lively, with people lining up one after another waiting for instructor one’s guidance.
Previously, if they wanted to become inner disciples, they could only accumulate contribution. But now there was another path: as long as their skill level reached rank five, they could become honored inner disciples.
And for inner disciples, it was not just a change in status. There was also the one-star obsidian badge issued by hall master Lin Qi, symbolizing the identity of an inner disciple.
Once everyone saw that one-star obsidian badge with the shape of a black dragon, they could no longer hold back. Even though the badge was something Lin Qi had bought online for five bits, it was enough to drive all the players crazy.
“Boss Yi Ye, is this the badge of an inner disciple? It’s just too cool!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s just a bit too conspicuous to wear. If not for this badge allowing me to receive 100 grams of rice cooked with blood essence rice from master of the pavilion every week, I really wouldn’t be willing to wear it.”
“Rice cooked from blood essence rice? Can you really eat blood essence rice in this game? Boss Yi Ye, does that blood essence rice taste good?”
“The taste is average, just like the rice we normally eat at home. But compared to the synthetic food we eat every day, the texture is way better. And I heard master of the pavilion say that eating this blood essence rice can help improve physical fitness. It’s like having a small training buff added.”
“Damn, this game has that kind of function? Doesn’t that mean life professions are going to rise? I’ve been eating synthetic food so much lately that I’m about to puke. If I couldn’t order takeout in the mornings to change things up, I wouldn’t be able to swallow a single bite of the synthetic stuff.”
“Can any of you cook? After becoming an inner disciple, I can spend points directly with master of the pavilion to buy blood essence rice meals. The price is only 70% of what we get from selling blood essence rice, and it’s already cooked. I want to make fried rice with it, then make rice balls, so when we’re tired, we can eat at the mine.”
“Fried rice? That’s easy, I can do it. Do you have a pan, oil, salt, and eggs? Oh, and fire.”
“Oil, salt, and eggs? I’ll go ask if the master has any oil, salt, or eggs to sell. As for a pan, I’ll look around the ruined buildings, maybe I can find one.”
After Yi Ye Fu Yun became an inner disciple and could eat rice made from blood essence rice more cheaply, the players who had been eating synthetic food every day were all stunned.
They did not expect the game to actually have a life system, where not only could the blood essence rice they grew be eaten, it could also be turned into fried rice, and most importantly, it provided a training buff. Even if the buff effect was very weak, it was still a bit of improvement.
Especially since the blood essence rice tasted pretty good, making it into fried rice to eat in high martial arts descend, particularly at the mine, was simply too satisfying.
“You want eggs?” Lin Qi rolled his eyes at Yi Ye Fu Yun. Why don’t you ask for lobster? “The things you want might exist, but don’t think about them for now. As for oil and salt, I can get those. They require points. One liter of cooking oil is five thousand points, and three hundred grams of salt is five thousand points.”
In the city of light chasing, oil and salt were indeed sold, but the prices were very high. They were usually sold in shops in the city center. But since the players needed them, Lin Qi planned to raise the price fivefold, which should still count as quite generous.
For vagrants living day to day in the abandoned area, and even residents in the suburbs, surviving was already difficult. Being able to eat synthetic food at all was good enough. And these players were actually planning to eat fried rice, such a luxurious food. This trend had to be firmly suppressed.
“So expensive?” Yi Ye Fu Yun was stunned.
That serving of fried rice would end up more expensive than a full imperial banquet in reality.
Just as Lin Qi was about to properly explain why it was so expensive, a dark-skinned burly man carrying an alloy shovel ran in.
“Master of the pavilion! Take a look at this. Is it useful for the martial arts hall?” The dark-skinned burly man, covered in dirt, excitedly took a fist-sized blue-green ore from his pants and almost pressed it against Lin Qi’s face, afraid that Lin Qi would not see clearly.
“Ancient bronze ore?” Lin Qi had been a bit displeased, but when he saw that luster, he abruptly stood up. “Where did you get this?”
Ancient bronze ore was not an ordinary ore. Weapons and equipment made purely from ancient bronze ore were all A6 grade. If mixed with some other metal ores, they could be forged into B2 grade alloy weapons and equipment.
“I dug it up more than five hundred meters underground.” The dark-skinned burly man rubbed his bald head and asked expectantly, “Master of the pavilion, can this ore be exchanged for points?”
Happy second day of the month! Please vote with monthly tickets! Please support with follow-up reading!!!
