Great Sun Divine Bow Level: 10 Quality: Fine An imitation of the Sakas Empire's Great Sun Divine Bow. Attack +30 Enchantment 1: Attacks inflict burn, dealing 10/s fire damage. Enchantment 2: Insect attraction. Extremely attractive to insects. Enchantment 3: Condenses one physical arrow every 2s. Equipment requirement: Minimum attack of 10.
Zhou Heng looked slightly pleased. This bow had neither a class requirement nor a level requirement. He only needed a minimum attack of 10 to use it.
Without another word, Zhou Heng equipped the Great Sun Divine Bow.
Instantly, his attack soared from 16-32 to 46-92.
Level 1, with a maximum physical attack of 92. What did that even mean?
Zhou Heng did not know, but he knew his leveling journey would be much faster from here on out.
"Next up is that unknown Ceramic Shard."
Ceramic Shard (Unknown) Quality: Unknown It seems to be nothing more than a fragment of an ordinary broken ceramic object? If sold, perhaps a child who knew no better would offer the lofty price of 1 copper coin.
The unknown was what was most worth keeping. That line appeared in textbooks from time to time.
Without another word, Zhou Heng put the Ceramic Shard away, deliberately placing it in the last slot of the Brilliant Backpack.
Once all that was done, Zhou Heng began his grand undertaking of upgrading his skill.
With 1,000 Small Mana Bottles and 5,000 Small Mana Potions, he refused to believe he could not evolve the skill "Burning Rage."
He got straight to work. Zhou Heng downed a Small Mana Potion, cast Flame Gauntlet, and began absorbing Blazing Flame.
[You absorbed Blazing Flame.] [Flame Gauntlet underwent a change.] [Change failed.] [You absorbed Blazing Flame.] [Flame Gauntlet underwent a change.] [Change failed.]
Watching the notifications appear over and over across his vision, Zhou Heng did not lose heart and continued absorbing Blazing Flame.
Soon, daylight fully broke, and Flame Gauntlet finally changed.
[You absorbed Blazing Flame. Flame Gauntlet underwent a change and evolved on its own.] [You obtained "Flame Gauntlet" (Simple++).] Flame Gauntlet Quality: Simple++ Consumes 3 mana to cover both hands in a layer of fiery substance, negating fire damage below 20. Lasts 10s. After 10s, continuously consumes 1 mana/3s. Cooldown: 20s Learning requirements: None
Looking at the strengthened Flame Gauntlet skill, Zhou Heng chose not to continue absorbing flames to evolve it. His health bar had bottomed out, and he needed to return to Little Bird Town to buy enough health potions.
Otherwise, he would probably waste his very first death in the Blazing Flame Spring.
After just under a quarter of an hour, Zhou Heng returned to Little Bird Town. The moment he arrived, he heard the players coming and going discussing something.
"Have you heard? The Black Bear Guild was attacked last night. Apparently, the attackers were from the Sword of Light."
"I've heard my cousin mention that faction. They only suddenly started springing up everywhere recently. They haven't made it into the textbooks yet."
"Your news is out of date. The latest is that Black Bear Ba, the Black Bear Guild's vice guild leader, flew into a rage out of humiliation and ordered an investigation into three stolen valuable items and the Brilliant Backpack."
"Fuck, if I'd known this would happen, I'd have gone stealing last night too. So many guild functions have been lost anyway. There's no way to find out who did it."
"Does that even need investigating? The Sword of Light people obviously took them on their way out~"
"Even though a lot of the guild's authority has been lost, the guild log still has some use. I heard it showed that guild members took those resources. Black Bear Ba kept waiting for them to hand the stuff over voluntarily, but nobody had done so even by now. He got furious, and now he's launching a thorough investigation."
Zhou Heng was heading to the general store. Hearing the players' discussion, the corners of his mouth lifted involuntarily.
There were many theories about the loss of guild authority. Two drew the most attention. The first was that it had been cut away by the Longevity Family, leaving guilds incomplete. The second was that the Guild Heart was the core of every guild. Without it, many guild functions could not be activated, but nobody knew where it had gone.
It was precisely because so much guild authority had been lost that they could not check their guild members' actions through the "guild log," which was why Zhou Heng dared to milk the Black Bear Guild so brazenly. As for tracing it to him through a process of elimination, that was certainly possible, but it would take longer than the Deepwater Glue Bug's dark transformation. How the situation would change by then remained unknown. The Black Bear Guild might not even have time to bother with him. Besides, he still had Fate Hint. If things really reached the point where he was about to be caught, he believed Fate Hint would definitely warn him.
With that in mind, Zhou Heng headed toward the general store.
The general store's owner was a curvaceous, full-figured woman in a low-cut outfit who would often lean on the counter with her chin propped in her hand.
"Young man, what would you like to buy?"
"Blue Potion or Red Potion, or something else? As long as you can afford it, this big sister has any... thing... you... want~"
Seeing Zhou Heng approach, the full-figured woman tempted him with easy familiarity.
Zhou Heng did not spare her a glance, scanning the health potion counter behind her.
"Big sister, give me 100 health potions. Also, I have 3 silver coins. Do you have anything in that price range?"
The full-figured woman gave Zhou Heng a surprised look, then pursed her lips and giggled, making the pale flesh of her chest jiggle.
"Oh my, young man, aren't you impressive~ You even have silver coins~"
"Then I'll have to bring out something good for you~"
As she spoke, the full-figured woman ducked beneath the counter. Before long, she took out 100 health potions and a skill book.
"An Experience Book, a Common-grade skill. You players should all know the going rate. Three silver coins. You won't lose out or get cheated at that price."
An Experience Book was not an item that directly granted experience upon use like those in traditional online games, but a skill that could continuously boost experience gains.
A Common-grade Experience Book capped out at an additional 10,000 experience points.
For this quality, 3 silver coins was the normal market price.
Just as Zhou Heng was about to speak up and buy the skill book outright, lines of text suddenly appeared across his vision.
[Relying on the basic knowledge you learned from textbooks, you thought your price had not fluctuated at all. Little did you know, you had already walked into a scam. These three silver coins will affect your fate from here on.] [Fate offers hints.] [Fate Hint 1: As the Sword of Light raises its longsword of light high in the Sakas Empire, the monetary system is the first to suffer the impact. True, 1,000 copper coins could be exchanged for 1 silver coin, but that was before, not now. Nowadays, copper coins are already difficult to exchange for higher denominations. The black-market rate has reached 100,000 copper coins for 1 silver coin.] [Fate Hint 2: Although the Common-grade Experience Book skill is not rare, it is essential. You might consider pointing out the going rate and exchanging 1 silver coin for a quantity of copper coins to make the purchase. Current market price: 5,000 copper coins.]
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