Show-off Bro performed as reliably as ever. Ji Xinghe had gotten used to it in her previous life.
Then Ji Xinghe opened the Trade Market.
At this stage, Wow Coins could only be obtained by killing monsters, completing quests, and claiming production rewards. Even though she had over ten thousand now, it still wouldn't be enough later on.
Upgrading the Island, the Shelter, special items, and talents all required Wow Coins.
There was also the Wandering Merchant. He had plenty of special supplies, which also had to be bought with Wow Coins...
For now, though, upgrading the Island and Shelter was more important. Spending a hundred or so coins on resources for early upgrades was worth it.
After all, the better Ji Xinghe developed in the early game, the more chances she'd have to obtain special resources. Making money from money was the best way to survive.
[Trade Market] Seller: Player 001 [1 Wow Coin] Quantity: 100, exchange for [2 units of Soil/2 Foundation Stones] ...
After putting up these 100 coins, she had 10,997 Wow Coins left in her inventory.
Thinking that food and water were what most people needed at the start of the game, she put some up in exchange for materials she was short on.
[1 Steamed Bun] Remaining quantity: 22, exchange for [1 unit of Soil/1 Foundation Stone] [Mineral Water (500 g)] Remaining quantity: 30, exchange for [1 unit of Soil/1 Foundation Stone] [2 units of Plastic] Remaining quantity: 18, exchange for [1 unit of Soil/1 Foundation Stone]
If all of these trades went through, she'd have no problem upgrading the Island twice more...
But other people were also trading for Soil and Foundation Stones. Everyone could surely understand how important those were. How many she could get would depend on luck.
Fortunately, most of the trades on the Trade Market were fairly normal.
Perhaps because several people had put up Wow Coins this time, everyone was using them as a benchmark. That kept Area 66 from falling into the same market chaos as in her previous life.
After closing the Trade Market, Ji Xinghe opened her personal information and added the 23 Free Attribute Points she'd just earned.
She put 20 points into Spirit, bringing it exactly to the requirement for upgrading her talent.
Of the remaining three, she put two into Strength and one into Constitution.
Her stats now looked like this.
Name: Ji Xinghe Age: 24 Nickname: Player 001 (default nickname can be changed) Talent: Drain Level: Level 0 (7/100) Health: 121/121 Luck: 9 Base Attributes: Constitution: 12 | Spirit: 29/30 | Strength: 12 | Agility: 10 Combat Attributes: Physical Attack: 24+2 | Magic Attack: 60 | Magic Defense: 0 | Physical Defense: 0+1 | Elemental Attributes: Metal 60, Light 99, Dark 61 (First time showing all the stats at once. It looks like a lot, but I won't do this again next time.) ...
The icon for her talent, Drain, glowed faintly. Ji Xinghe looked at the more than ten thousand Wow Coins left in her inventory and sighed.
She'd finally gotten to be rich for once, only to find that upgrading a single talent cost ten thousand!
She really didn't want to spend it, but she still had to. What was the point of earning Wow Coins if she didn't spend them?
Compared with her talent, this amount of Wow Coins was nothing. (??_??)
A cold, mechanical voice sounded in her mind: [Would you like to spend 10,000 Wow Coins to upgrade the talent Drain?]
After she tapped Confirm, the full pile of Wow Coins in her inventory dwindled, leaving the Space Grid empty.
Wow Coins remaining: 997
The next second, a warm energy flowed from her mind into her blood, then through her limbs and organs, leaving a tingling sensation...
[God-Tier Talent: Drain (Level 2) Talent Details: Can drain two monsters killed by the user, with a very high chance of obtaining their attributes. Upgrade Requirements: 1: Spirit reaches 60 2: Constitution reaches 35 3: 100,000 Wow Coins]
This talent was absurdly powerful, and its upgrade requirements were just as absurd. It already cost a hundred thousand Wow Coins to go from level two to level three...
"Can drain twice..."
"One monster, two uses? Heh..."
Watching the Black Shark repeatedly slam into the Protective Shield beside the Island, sending waves splashing in every direction, Ji Xinghe was already thinking about how to deal with it...
It had been making noise and bothering her all this time. Now it was time to pay it back.
She took the crossbow and its bolts out of her inventory. They'd come from the 86 chests she'd opened.
[Star Feather Repeating Crossbow (Blue): Attack +20. Deals one point of bleeding damage per second to enemies when hit. Usage Requirement: Strength reaches 10.] [Star Feather Crossbow Bolt: Attack +10]
She had 100 bolts, more than enough for however she wanted to use them.
Ji Xinghe straightened up and took the star-blue crossbow out of her inventory, loading it.
Holding the Star Feather Repeating Crossbow in both hands, she aimed at the Great Black Shark and fired. Two blue-feathered bolts shot out, passed through the transparent Protective Shield, and struck the Great Black Shark in its right eye and massive body.
[-51 Health, Weak Point Damage: -102 Health]
"Raaagh..." The Great Black Shark whipped its tail in pain. Blood ran from its eyeball down its body, then slowly seeped into the sea.
Now that she'd dealt damage, the Great Black Shark's stats appeared in front of Ji Xinghe.
[First-tier Black Shark Beast (Level 5) Remaining Health: 247 Attack: 20 Defense: 5]
That single attack had hit a major artery. The damage indicators kept appearing over the Great Black Shark: [-1, -2...]
The bleeding damage alone was enough to make it suffer.
The pain from its wounds drove it into a frenzy. Its tail, which had been slowing down, started swinging faster again.
Every so often, it dove underwater, then surfaced and spat a jet of water at her.
"Pfft..." Ji Xinghe dodged to the side, but the Little White Suit, soaked through, left her looking a little disheveled.
Seeing this, the Great Black Shark swung its tail at the obstacle in its way again.
It didn't know it was wasting its time. It only wanted to bring down the Protective Shield, then take revenge on that human.
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