Evernight Sky Forest

"Regional Event: 'Wandering Star Forest'"

"Event Location: (142,857)"

"Event Duration: March 15–March 24 (Participation Period: March 15–March 21)"

"Event Details: Players who enter the mist-shrouded forest during the event period will be teleported into the limited-time dungeon 'Wandering Star Forest.'"

"Recommended Event Level: Level 1–99"

"Event Rewards: All players who clear the limited-time dungeon will receive 1 Treasure Hunting Token."

Treasure Hunting Token?

Yan Qing was somewhat puzzled. He clicked on it, and only then remembered what it was.

"Treasure Hunting Token: A transaction token issued by the Treasure Gathering Pavilion. After the holder's goods are appraised by the Treasure Gathering Pavilion, they may pay a 30% handling fee to list and sell the goods there. Accumulating 10 Treasure Hunting Tokens upgrades them into a Treasure Trove Token."

Even Yan Qing, who did not play "Messenger," knew about this. It was third on the game's Ten Most Infuriating Designs list—a design that made players curse the developers on the forums hundreds of times every day.

In "Messenger," setting up stalls and trading privately were forbidden. The only interaction between players was the unconditional gifting of items, while any transaction involving spirit jades had to be conducted through the Treasure Gathering Pavilion.

Although barter was allowed, this most primitive form of trade clearly could not satisfy the trading needs of the most popular MMORPG of the moment. Players were forced to trade through the Treasure Gathering Pavilion, and anyone who wanted to trade there had to possess a Treasure Hunting Token.

Another name for the Treasure Hunting Token was "the item that everyone in Messenger absolutely needs." In other words, only someone who absolutely needed something would list it for sale using a Treasure Hunting Token, because the token's handling fee was as high as 30%.

Trading with a Treasure Hunting Token was no different from paying the official money to take one's goods away.

To trade through the Treasure Gathering Pavilion, one had to grind out a Treasure Trove Token with its 15% handling fee before there was even a slim chance of making a profit.

But the more crucial issue was that trading, like falling in love, could involve two people or many people. In any case, it was not something one person could complete alone.

As the only player in this world, who could Yan Qing trade with?

The limited-time dungeon 'Wandering Star Forest,' on the other hand, was worth visiting.

Yan Qing did not know the details of 'Wandering Star Forest,' but its recommended level made it clear that this was an entertainment dungeon open to all players. One's strength might be helpful inside, but it was no longer the deciding factor.

He opened the map and checked the coordinates. It did not seem to be very far from Jiangnan Subordinate Newbie Village.

He would make a new account and take a look. But what kind of character should he create?

After a brief moment of thought, Yan Qing decided to make a female character.

A good-looking female character would certainly attract trouble, but Yan Qing was not afraid of trouble. The White Iron Straight Blade in his storage was not for show. A good-looking female character would not be particularly burly or short, and therefore would receive no bonuses to health or agility, but Yan Qing did not care about that little bit of health and agility. Although...

Never mind. In any case, Yan Qing did not want to keep looking at men's butts!

It was said that male players fell into two camps, each calling the other gay. One side argued, "You play a female character and pretend to be a woman, so you're definitely gay." The other side argued, "You play a male character and stare at men's butts all day. That's seriously gay."

Yan Qing was different. He believed that anyone who cared about this sort of thing was gay. Male characters had to be played, and female characters had to be played even more. Only then could one be considered well-rounded.

There was nothing worth mentioning about customizing the face. Yan Qing followed ordinary people's preferences and created an appearance somewhere between Tifa and Mai Shiranui. As for the stat allocation, he planned to take a slightly riskier approach this time and use a 334 allocation—3 points in health, 3 points in agility, and 4 points in insight. That way, the new character would have a little combat power as well as some potential.

Talent inheritance was also important. After all, buying the corresponding talent granted an additional 100% experience bonus. Combined with Martial Arts Genius's "an additional 100% experience when training skills," even a new character with zero insight could gain 300% experience through training and 200% experience in combat, allowing her to quickly pass through the weakest levels, 1 to 10.

But since this was only a scouting character, Yan Qing chose only the Basic Footwork and Basic Saber Technique talents. As for the name, he followed the usual rule: the tenth new character starting from Jiangnan, "Jiang Shi."

"Jiangnan Subordinate Newbie Village." Begin game!

The wind clung here.

The rain tangled itself into threads here.

When Jiang Shi descended, the first scene she saw was the curtain of rain over the Jiangnan water towns. The drizzle joined into lines, pattering onto banana leaves. Even through the screen, Yan Qing could feel the damp air and cool breeze rushing toward him.

Good thing I'm not the one going outside. I hate rainy days, Yan Qing thought.

Unlike Evernight Sky and Chang'an, Jiangnan's newbie village seemed to have been developed into a market. Jiang Shi appeared in a narrow alley between two houses, with puddles of filthy water stretching from the alley to the main street outside.

Jiang Shi walked out of the alley. It seemed a strong gust had blown past, and the sound of the rain suddenly grew louder. The broad, muddy road was covered in hoofprints left by beasts and tracks from cartwheels. Men in straw rain capes and bamboo hats carried shoulder poles through the streets and alleys. Vegetable farmers with roadside stalls covered their soaked vegetables with hemp cloth. Beside them stood butchers whose knives never stopped ringing. Across the street were more than a dozen cages, each containing either chickens or ducks. Farther away, fishmongers simply placed their fish on lotus leaves to sell them, the half-dead fish staring out with an eerie light in their eyes...

The smell of rainwater, chicken droppings, fish, and blood—though Yan Qing was not there in person, he could almost smell the choking stench unique to a farmers' market. Compared with Chang'an's market, this place was undoubtedly filthy, disorderly, and noisy. Yet the vitality that grew vigorously from the soil felt far more real than Chang'an's prosperity.

After all, Chang'an was a protected capital district. It would have been a miracle if it were not prosperous.

But this place before his eyes lay outside the capital, and the market's main customers were the surrounding commoners. That meant not only was there a large flow of people nearby, but the surrounding commoners also had strong household productivity. Exploitation was not too severe, to the point that ordinary people actually had surplus money to exchange for goods.

More importantly, this area was safe.

In a place like Qi Kingdom, where Evil Spirit Knights ran rampant and killed people everywhere, who would willingly leave home if not to earn enough to eat? Merchants who opened shops generally had connections. For safety, suppliers such as woodcutters, vegetable farmers, and embroiderers would sell only to merchants, while commoners could buy what they wanted only from those merchants. Thus, each city had only a few shops that monopolized all business, exploiting both sellers and buyers equally.

Zhou Kingdom was not much better. Outside its capital, village clans all built manors and fortresses for self-defense, where supplies could be exchanged internally, making them kingdoms within the kingdom. Markets were even less likely to appear.

It seemed there was no great danger, but Yan Qing still had Jiang Shi equip the White Iron Straight Blade and controlled her out of the alley. After opening the map and checking that the event location lay to the east, Yan Qing did not bother asking anyone for directions. He simply followed the main road eastward.

The rain quickly soaked her clothes. Jiang Shi wore a coarse linen garment with absolutely no design to speak of, but when it clung tightly to her body and outlined her graceful curves, it instantly became the most beautiful garment on the entire street.

In the game, players would only think, That's it? Players who had already developed unique aesthetic tastes were no longer satisfied with handsome men and beautiful women. Instead, they enjoyed creating ancient gods or even warriors of light to play through the story. But in this world...

In any case, Yan Qing was already prepared to deal with the amorous admirers flocking around her. The White Iron Straight Blade had been equipped for precisely that reason. Some twists and turns along the journey were unavoidable, but for the sake of enjoying the game, this small price was worth paying.