What did Qin Ran lack the most right now?
Time!
There was no doubt about the answer.
Only with time could he grow stronger in the game, obtain more equipment, earn more Points, and then exchange them for money.
Time was money.
Qin Ran strongly agreed with that saying. Even if money could not buy time, whether it was for getting treated when sick, eating, or enjoying life, money was indispensable.
As an orphan, Qin Ran understood that even more deeply.
Just thinking about the fast food he had eaten three times a day for three years without change, Qin Ran's understanding of money had been branded into his soul through his tongue.
Compared to the [Basic Medicine Crafting Station Blueprint], Qin Ran valued the [Solo Instance Cooldown Accelerator Card] more.
However, Qin Ran would never reveal his thoughts during a trade.
So, he did not agree immediately. Instead, he waited a moment before replying.
2567: Not enough! The [Solo Instance Cooldown Accelerator Card] is worthless.
Lawless: I can add at most 2,000 Points and 1 Skill Point! Any more, and I'll find another way!
Did he have no more valuable items to offer?
After seeing the other party directly offer Points and Skill Points, Qin Ran paid no attention to his final remark.
If the other party had another solution, he would not have kept talking to him here.
There definitely was no better way.
Or rather, those other methods would cost even more!
Having worked it out, Qin Ran made another offer.
2567: 5,000 Points, 3 Skill Points!
Lawless: 2,500 Points, 1 Skill Point. No more than that!
Qin Ran had set the price right at Lawless's threshold. It would not scare him away, but it would make him want to give up while still being unwilling to do so.
It was not a particularly clever tactic.
After all, Lawless had already revealed his bottom line.
The other party had at least 6,000 Points and 2 Skill Points!
Or rather, he could at least use that much.
And since he could offer the two items—the [Basic Medicine Crafting Station Blueprint] and the [Solo Instance Cooldown Accelerator Card]—they were clearly not necessities to him, but resources he could use.
Therefore, the outcome of the trade had been decided from the start.
In the end, Lawless completed the trade with Qin Ran for 4,000 Points, 2 Skill Points, the [Basic Medicine Crafting Station Blueprint], and the [Solo Instance Cooldown Accelerator Card], obtaining the [Iron Fist-II] rocket launcher.
Once the trade was complete, Lawless hurriedly said they would talk next time, then vanished.
When Qin Ran tried contacting him again, he received the message: "The other party has entered an instance and cannot be contacted."
Qin Ran could only shrug helplessly. He had wanted to learn more about the game from the other party.
Still, he was not dissatisfied.
They were merely traders. Neither owed the other anything, much less needed to accommodate the other.
Once the trade was done, they naturally went their separate ways.
Of course, Qin Ran did not mind making another trade after the other party came out of the instance—one involving information, even if the other party claimed not to have anything valuable.
What Qin Ran needed was more basic information.
Moreover, the other party's attitude was very good news to Qin Ran. Things with little value usually meant they were cheap.
Good value for money.
No one would mind that.
Qin Ran smiled and checked his gains from the trade.
There was nothing to say about the [Solo Instance Cooldown Accelerator Card]. He could just use it directly.
The [Basic Medicine Crafting Station Blueprint], on the other hand, required more careful study.
Especially after he saw the system's price—
[Spend 8,000 Points to construct the Basic Medicine Crafting Station? Yes/No] [Requirements insufficient. Unable to construct]
"8,000 Points?!"
Qin Ran took several deep breaths before calming his shock.
Although he had guessed that building a Basic Medicine Crafting Station would be expensive, seeing the actual cost still made his heart pound.
[Points: 17000; Skill Points: 10; Gold Skill Points: 1; Gold Attribute Points: 0]
After glancing over his Points and Skill Points, Qin Ran calculated that if he chose to build the Basic Medicine Crafting Station, he would have to raise [Medicine. Pharmaceutical Knowledge] to the Proficient level. Including the construction cost, that would consume 9,200 Points and 1 Skill Point—more than half his current Points.
There was also no accurate information regarding the costs of later production.
If the cost exceeded the prices of player-to-player sales, it would definitely not be worthwhile.
But Qin Ran did not abandon his original plan because of that!
When he accepted the trade with Lawless, he had already planned to build the Basic Medicine Crafting Station. Otherwise, he could have waited until the two guilds' battle reached its most intense stage and sold the [Iron Fist-II] for a higher price.
Qin Ran understood the importance of medicine in the game.
This was especially true when the game's [Store] only sold basic medicine.
The blueprint clearly bore the word "basic." Where there was basic, there would naturally be advanced versions. Once he advanced it and produced medicine unavailable in the [Store], Qin Ran could easily imagine the enormous profits involved.
The prerequisite was that he had to own a Basic Medicine Crafting Station!
Qin Ran did not mind making a long-term investment if it promised enormous returns.
Especially when an item like the [Solo Instance Cooldown Accelerator Card] had appeared, Qin Ran was confident he could turn "long-term" into a short period of time!
However, Qin Ran did not blindly construct it at once.
There was nothing wrong with making higher-level medicine to gain greater profits.
But Qin Ran understood the importance of his own strength even better!
In Qin Ran's view, giving up opportunities to increase his strength faster because of the Basic Medicine Crafting Station before him was no different from killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.
Only by becoming stronger himself could he obtain more equipment from instances and exchange it for more Points.
He knew the difference between priorities.
Qin Ran could distinguish them clearly.
Of course, if this had been an [Intermediate Medicine Crafting Station], Qin Ran would have sold everything he owned to build it and seize the business opportunity.
Unfortunately, it was only a basic one.
Especially when it would consume more than half of Qin Ran's Points, he chose to strengthen himself first.
Because such strengthening was equally expensive.
[Cold Weapons. Dagger (Basic → Beginner) requires 200 Points. Pay? Yes/No] [Dodge (Basic → Beginner) requires 200 Points. Pay? Yes/No] [Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic → Beginner) requires 200 Points. Pay? Yes/No] [Medical. Bandaging (Basic → Beginner) requires 200 Points. Pay? Yes/No] [Medicine. Pharmaceutical Knowledge (Basic → Beginner) requires 200 Points. Pay? Yes/No] [Tracking (Basic → Beginner) requires 800 Points. Pay? Yes/No]
The five skills cost a total of 1,800 Points to advance from Basic to Beginner, with [Tracking] accounting for almost half of that amount.
Qin Ran chose yes for all of them.
Knowledge flooded into him five times in a row, accompanied by his body's coordination.
The four skills—[Cold Weapons. Dagger], [Dodge], [Hand-to-Hand Combat], and [Medical. Bandaging]—rose to the Beginner level. Other than becoming more effective, they did not change Qin Ran's attributes.
They all gave the same prompt: [The current level cap for this type of skill has been reached. Unable to increase!]
This did not surprise Qin Ran.
When [Gunpowder Weapons. Light Firearms] had risen to the Beginner level and his Perception had been unable to increase, he had already suspected this.
What surprised Qin Ran was that the skill [Tracking] had actually changed his Perception.
[Skill Tracking (Basic → Beginner)] [Name: Tracking (Beginner)] [Related Attribute: Perception] [Skill Type: Support] [Effect: You can track targets you wish to pursue by observing all kinds of traces!] [Consumption: Stamina] [Learning Requirement: Perception F+] [Remark: Your comprehensive use of this skill rivals a hunting dog's nose!]
[Skill Tracking level increased. Related attribute increased...] [Perception F+ → E-]
"Raising [Tracking] to Beginner can actually increase Perception. Is that because I learned it from a skill book, or because the skill itself is special?"
Qin Ran guessed.
He leaned toward the latter explanation, but he had no additional information to prove it.
Of course, that confusion did not stop Qin Ran from continuing to strengthen himself.
For a clearer view, Qin Ran listed in detail the costs of raising each skill from Beginner to Proficient.
[Cold Weapons. Dagger]: 1,000 Points and 1 Skill Point. [Gunpowder Weapons. Light Firearms]: 1,000 Points and 1 Skill Point. [Dodge]: 1,500 Points and 1 Skill Point. [Stealth]: 1,500 Points and 1 Skill Point. [Hand-to-Hand Combat]: 1,500 Points and 1 Skill Point. [Medical. Bandaging]: 500 Points and 1 Skill Point. [Medicine. Pharmaceutical Knowledge]: 1,000 Points and 1 Skill Point. [Tracking]: 3,000 Points and 2 Skill Points.
In total, it would cost 11,000 Points and 9 Skill Points.
[Tracking] was the most expensive, costing as much as raising two skills from Beginner to Proficient.
[Medical. Bandaging] was the cheapest, costing only half as much as the other skills.
Qin Ran looked at his eight existing skills and seriously considered his next round of strengthening.
His most familiar combat styles were the assassination-like combination of [Cold Weapons. Dagger] + [Stealth], and the sniping style of [Gunpowder Weapons. Light Firearms] + [Dodge].
Those four skills undoubtedly had to be raised to the Proficient level.
[Hand-to-Hand Combat] was also part of the plan, because Qin Ran could not guarantee that he would never encounter a situation where he suddenly had no weapon at hand.
[Tracking] went without saying. Its special effect would be extremely useful anywhere.
[Medicine. Pharmaceutical Knowledge] was the foundation for constructing the [Basic Medicine Crafting Station], so it had to be improved.
As for [Medical. Bandaging]?
Unless Qin Ran believed he would never get injured, it was best to raise it to a certain level.
At a glance, almost all of them needed to be improved.
Compared to the extreme approach of pushing a single skill to its limit, Qin Ran preferred a more well-rounded build—because what determined whether one was truly strong was not one's strongest point, but one's weakest point.
Especially since the former was easier to counter.
That undoubtedly made Qin Ran favor the latter.
But raising everything would inevitably cost a great deal.
Qin Ran could not help frowning.
However, his frown quickly smoothed out.
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