Little Seven

Although the garbled item was valued at 120 points, it would only be worth that much if it sold.

If it did not sell, it was worthless.

The Swift Rat Dagger was different. It looked excellent, and its compact size made it easy to conceal.

Players with assassination skills or a need to fight in tight spaces would choose it, so it would be easy to sell.

After all, weapons and items were consumables in instances.

No one could guarantee their weapon would survive an entire instance undamaged. That meant carrying a backup, a backup for the backup, and a backup for the backup's backup, just in case.

When it came to items, the more, the better.

After a moment's hesitation, the stallholder agreed to the trade.

With the game maintaining order, once those words were spoken, there was no need to worry about either party backing out.

This was also why players at the market casually laid their items out in front of them without any protective measures, not worrying in the slightest about someone snatching them.

Payment and goods changed hands together.

Zuo Cheng'an lost 100 points and the Swift Rat Dagger, and received the Little Flying Stone and "u0026·#*."

Gripping a section wrapped in nonslip bandages, Zuo Cheng'an gave it a few light swings.

The weapon felt rather heavy in his hand. If he had not just raised his strength to 20, even wielding it smoothly would have been a problem.

Running his fingers over the iron slab's body, Zuo Cheng'an liked it more and more. He could not keep calling it the garbled item or the iron slab, either.

Calling it an iron slab was not really appropriate.

It was more than a finger thick and had no sharpened edge, looking more like a ruler.

It needed a proper name.

Since it came from "7-015 Godmaking," then...

He would call it Little Seven.

After paying Tian Wenliang, who had accompanied him around for most of the day, Zuo Cheng'an returned home.

He diluted the ketchup he had made with water, then poured it into the Thermos.

Adding water was something Zuo Cheng'an had thought of before buying the Thermos.

Since the solid ketchup was difficult to pour out, he could simply thin it down.

He just had to sacrifice some of its healing effect.

To achieve the same effect, he would have to drink more of the diluted ketchup.

It was hard to say whether this was an improvement or a downgrade.

Over the next few days, Zuo Cheng'an stayed in his room, resting and working hard to recover his spirit points.

Occasionally, he went out to buy ingredients for ketchup or browse the market.

However, he only had 90 points left to his name, so at most he could look at consumable items.

For example, Air Capsules with only two capsules left, Mist Spray with only 34% remaining, or a Stamina Drink that had already been half drunk.

These little items, with their varied abilities, could work wonders in certain instances, while in others they were useless things left gathering dust.

Most players therefore only bought what they needed, then sold off any leftovers as soon as they finished an instance.

During this time, Zuo Cheng'an also heard some news about the major guilds from Yu Le.

Apparently, after leaving the Nowhere to Escape instance,

the Dawn Moon Guild and the Wavebreaker Guild, whose relationship had only just begun to improve, had fallen out again.

They had even booked a match at the Arena to settle their personal grievances.

Zuo Cheng'an was not particularly surprised to hear this.

Both sides had entered the instance together hoping to get a share of the spoils and make a fortune, only to suffer a double loss and come away badly battered.

Safe Zone 7 was a new zone, and its players were generally a fair bit weaker than those in other safe zones.

Second- and Third-Tier Ladder Players might be ordinary people in Safe Zone 1, where they were a dime a dozen.

But in Safe Zone 7,

Second Heavenly Ladder players were the elites of the major guilds, while Third-Tier Ladder Players were their core members!

After losing so many in a level-three instance, they would naturally blame the other side for their losses.

The dispute caused quite a stir, but it had little to do with ordinary players.

That day, Zuo Cheng'an had just finished making a bowl of ketchup

when an instance invitation from Li Yueqiu popped up in his friend messages.

Li Yueqiu: {Brother Zuo! Want to run an instance today?}

Zuo Cheng'an glanced at his panel. His spirit had already recovered to 83 points.

Four days had passed since his last instance, so it was about time.

He then checked the current time: eight thirty in the morning. It could also have been evening, since it was not a digital clock.

He replied: {Sure. Meet at the Instance Hall in half an hour.}

Li Yueqiu: {Got it!}

Li Yueqiu: {Oh, right, Brother Zuo. Zheng Ren came out of his instance yesterday. Should we bring him?}

If she was going to ride someone's coattails, she needed to know her place. Li Yueqiu had to consult her powerful backer on every decision.

Zuo Cheng'an considered the players he knew.

Although Zheng Ren had no skills, he had been through two instances, so he ought to have earned more attribute points than Li Yueqiu.

Besides, he knew Zheng Ren's background and could feel comfortable working with him.

Zuo Cheng'an: {Bring him.}

In the small plaza in Safe Zone 7's park,

two figures sat on bedding spread on the ground.

One looked tense as he waited anxiously, while the other stared blankly at her Personal Panel.

Suddenly, the one staring blankly came back to herself and told the other, "He agreed."

Only then did Zheng Ren let out a relieved breath. "Phew! That's great. With a First Heavenly Ladder big shot leading us, a level-one instance should be a lot easier."

Li Yueqiu patted her chest too. "You can say that again."

"We're all newcomers who just entered the game. How did he become a First Heavenly Ladder player in the blink of an eye while we're still stuck where we started?"

The two exchanged a look.

"Sigh..."

"Sigh..."

Envy aside, half an hour was a tight deadline for him.

So he immediately began packing his belongings.

Rolling up the bedding she had slept in these past few days and putting a dust cover over it, Li Yueqiu said to the dozing woman beside her,

"Aunt Xu, we're leaving our bedding in your care."

Li Yueqiu was pretty and sweet-tongued, with sincerity in her eyes no matter whom she looked at-a thoroughly well-behaved girl. She had made friends with the nearby players early on.

She had also helped out Zheng Ren, who had spent all his points on medical treatment and was now penniless.

Zheng Ren still wore the same tattered, bloodstained T-shirt from the beginner instance.

There was no helping it. A player's clothing, food, shelter, and travel all required points.

He had no points, so naturally he did not even have a change of clothes.

If Li Yueqiu had not lent him one point to buy bedding, he would not even have had the means to sleep on the ground.

This five-piece floor bedding set, along with a mini cooking pot and a mixed box of instant noodles in ten flavors, was called the Vagabond Set. Buying them together cost just over one point.

The game panel did not even bother displaying those decimal places, rounding everything down.

Compared to clothing, sorting out food and shelter came first. As for drinking water,

they could get water from the fountain in the middle of the park. The game would not stop them.

On the way to the Instance Hall,

Li Yueqiu still could not understand. "What exactly happened to you in your last instance? How did your treatment cost over forty points?!"

Zheng Ren hemmed and hawed, unable to answer.

Li Yueqiu was baffled. "The system said I had sinusitis, malnutrition, a hormonal imbalance, cavities, mild nearsightedness, and all sorts of other things.

"And treating all of that only cost 15 points. What on earth did you do in your last instance to rack up forty points?!"

Zheng Ren averted his gaze. "It's a long story."

"Ohhh," Li Yueqiu drawled. "Then make a long story short?"

"Still, you really did have it rough. You wanted to earn some extra points, only to end up right back at square one."