My talent is 1.

Zhong Wuyai was not in a hurry to turn in the task, but instead looked at other tasks.

One of the B-level missions was in the same location as another A-level mission, so he accepted it as well.

Wait until the talent cooldown...

Zhong Wuyai adjusted the reward for the "Uneasy Spirits" quest on the quest panel, and then turned in the quest.

[Ding! Quest complete. You have received 1 gold coin and 31000 experience points.]

"Yes, that's right... Next place, the mine!"

Azure Dragon Empire National Channel...

"Buying equipment level 10 and above: 5 silver for white equipment, 1 gold for iron equipment, 5 gold for bronze equipment, 20 gold for silver equipment, price negotiable for gold equipment!"

"Buying blue crystals for 50 silver each, no quantity limit..."

Hongyuan Group is recruiting professional gamers specializing in casual gameplay; compensation is on par with elite gamers!

"The Axe Gang is recruiting blacksmiths; the border town's iron mines will be given priority."

"The Illusionary Sea Guild is recruiting alchemist players. We have already identified a medicinal herb spawn point."

Zhong Wuyai still greatly underestimated the scarcity of equipment.

The equipment in the NPC shop was limited, and in just a short while, almost all the weapons and equipment were sold out.

Even the pharmacist's medicine was sold out.

The scarcity of medicines is even greater.

Players could only gather herbs and other materials to have alchemists concoct medicines. Secondary professions became highly sought after, and even those with low-level secondary professions received the same treatment as elite players. There were even teams that specialized in helping players with secondary professions level up.

With the introduction of an easier difficulty level for the Wolf's Den in the beginner village, the first batch of players who leveled up quickly reached level 10 and began to rapidly seize resources.

The Wolf Fang set has been hyped up to an astronomical price. In the world chat, some people are even offering 100 gold coins to buy a set of Wolf Fang set for 500 gold coins, with no limit on the quantity.

Zhong Wuyai immediately felt like he had missed out on a fortune.

However, once they entered the main city, they could no longer return to the starting village or send messages to the people in the starting village, which caused some distress for everyone.

However, the impact was not significant. Most of those who came to the main city in the early stages were quite strong, and they quickly went to the quest hall to accept quests.

Zhong Wuyai was the only person in the mining area outside Yunhai City for the time being, but he knew that it wouldn't be long before someone came to occupy it.

"Forget it, let's wait until those two bastards Xiang Yang arrive before we talk about it."

We'll secure the mine first, then we'll worry about other things later. There will be many other places where we need to spend money, so we need to have our own industry.

Moreover, I can acquire money and equipment much faster than them. Besides, with my current strength, few people can refuse me. Defending a mine is a piece of cake.

[Hard-skinned zombie]

ordinary monsters

Rating: 15

Health: 15000/15000

Physical attack: 200

Physical defense: 70

Power: 160

Agility: 12

Physical condition: 300

Skill [Stiff Body]

Passive skill

Slow movement, at the cost of agility, but with an additional 40 points of physical attack and 10 points of physical defense.

Lacking intelligence and spirit, its attributes are somewhat extreme.

For mages, these kinds of monsters are the easiest to fight.

Flying kites from beginning to end, it's actually the warriors and assassins who have some trouble encountering this monster.

Assassins can only hit once and then run away, while archers, though slower, also have a chance.

It made things much easier for Zhong Wuyai to tidy up.

Fireball! ... -7642-282!

Two damage attacks occurred, causing the tough-skinned zombie to lose nearly 8,000 HP and its physical defense to decrease by 7 points.

The main point is that Zhong Wuyai gave the tough-skinned zombie an additional attribute.

Magic Defense: -7

Zhong Wuyai almost laughed.

"I'm such a nice person, I even added an attribute for you."

Fireball! ...

[Ding! You have defeated a normal monster, the Hard-skinned Zombie, and gained 220 experience points. Defeating a monster of a higher level grants an additional 88 experience points.]

Two copper coins fell to the ground.

Sure enough, those who own mines are rich, even zombies are no exception.

Fireballs were cast one after another without stopping. Zhong Wuyai was the first to arrive at the mine, where the monsters were relatively densely packed.

There were more than twenty monsters even at the entrance of the mine.

After finishing the task, Zhong Wuyai entered the mine.

Looking around, there were iron ore, black iron ore, and even copper ore everywhere.

Zhong Wuyai's eyes turned green with envy.

That's all money... It's a pity I don't have any life skills.

I don't know how the secondary profession was unlocked, but at least I got one. With my talent, improving the secondary profession shouldn't be difficult at all.

The monsters in the mine are rotting corpses. They are similar to hard-skinned zombies, but the rotting corpses have a passive ability that reduces physical defense when attacked.

The monsters in the entire mine seem to be specifically designed to counter warriors; they are all high in attack, high in defense, and high in health, and there are currently no monsters with ranged attacks.

Zhong Wuyai found the fight quite easy.

The B-level mission is to clear the rotting corpses on the first floor of the mine, which requires killing 100 of them.

The A-level mission is to collect the venom from 50 rotting corpses.

Although the corpse is a common monster, its venom is made of bronze.

Adding some during forging has a chance to increase armor penetration or magic penetration attributes.

Of course, the rewards are also very generous, including gold coins, experience points, and equipment.

There weren't many rotting corpses on the first floor; Zhong Wuyai only managed to kill about ten of them with corrosive venom.

Once you enter the second floor, things change.

The corpses were densely packed together, and Zhong Wuyai regretted not having developed an area-of-effect attack skill first.

Damn, there are so many monsters! Killing them all will make leveling up a breeze.

Two fireballs per monster, Zhong Wuyai calmly and methodically cleared them.

The mission was completed quickly, but most of the rotting corpses remained unresolved.

Moreover, the BOSS is located at the very back. Its enormous size is already discernible in outline.

"Coo coo~..."

Damn, I'm actually hungry.

Zhong Wuyai had no choice but to leave.

After leaving the starting village, you need to drink water, eat, and sleep normally, otherwise you will become weak, your attributes will be reduced, and you may even be unable to use skills.

There's a resurrection fountain in the starting village; if you're near it, you'll be fully restored in less than a minute. But this doesn't work outside the starting village.

The resurrection point in the main city is just a resurrection stone, there is no fountain. Even if you die and resurrect, you will only have a little bit of health and mana, and you will have to drink potions or slowly recover on your own.

This is frustrating for many players...

Money was never enough to begin with, and then there was the need to spend money on food and drink, and also on accommodation in the main city.

Or buy a tent and camp in the wild.

Camping in the wild is very dangerous; tents simply cannot withstand much damage.

Most people camped in the main city.

This time, Zhong Wuyai did not use his talent to modify the mission rewards.

It won't have much effect; the most important thing is to develop your skills first.

What kind of mage is a mage without area-of-effect (AoE) skills?

"Brother, where are you? We've arrived in the main city!"

Ah, you've finally arrived.

Zhong Wuyai was eager to know what expressions Xiang Yang and the others would have after leaving the starting village...

"Come to the restaurant and buy some food."

"No?...Why do you need more food?"

"You'll starve if you don't eat. Also, you'd better buy a tent, otherwise you'll have nowhere to sleep."

"Can't I just lie down and sleep at the respawn point?"

"If you don't want to be trampled on, then lie down on the ground!"

"What a hassle, I don't have to worry about anything in the starting village."...

Upon learning that equipment would no longer drop, Xiang Yang wore a bitter expression...

"I gave away all three of my Wolf Fang armor sets!"

"I had such a stupid hand... I just gave away over a dozen pieces of basic equipment!"

"So what if I give it away? It doesn't matter. In the main city, apart from the difficulty in obtaining equipment, money isn't a problem. I can easily earn gold coins by taking on a few quests."

"But this is too expensive. According to you, crafting a bronze piece of equipment costs at least 30 gold coins."

"Alright, instead of wasting time, hurry up and change your job, then do some quests. There's a mine over there, how many of you are there? Claim it as soon as possible."

"A mine?...Are you serious?"

"Of course, but I want 30% of the profits."

"No problem. We only have seven people now, but we'll have about ten more tomorrow. By the latest, all seven hundred of us will be in the main city within a week."

"Okay, I'll send you the coordinates of the mine. Just let me know if you need anything."

Zhong Wuyai wasn't afraid that they would take advantage of him and then deny it. At this stage, there weren't many players that he couldn't handle with one fireball. If he really couldn't handle it, he would just use another one.

At the Yunhai City bookstore, Zhong Wuyai only saw some basic skill books.

Fireball costs 10 gold coins per book, Cleave costs 15 gold coins per book, and Shield Bash costs 20 gold coins per book.

I flipped all the way to the bottom and found a book called Chain Lightning.

"100 gold coins? Why don't you just rob someone?!"

Zhong Wuyai could only leave dejectedly.

Rank B missions are turned in at the mission lobby, while Corpse Venom missions are turned in at the weapon shop.

However, after seeing the mission rewards, Zhong Wuyai's mind started to wander.

5000 experience points and 2 gold coins were nothing to him, but the option of [Choose 1 piece of class equipment] was somewhat tempting to Zhong Wuyai.

Zhong Wuyai waited until the talent cooldown was over before turning in the quest.

Choose any 11 pieces of professional equipment...

"Hahaha, it's done!"

Although it's class-specific equipment, it's only for mages.

Clothes, staff, bracelet, ring, helmet—there are no other options.

Zhong Wuyai chose two of each item, and finally selected a staff.

The weapon has the highest attribute bonus, so whether you sell it to Xiang Yang or list it on a consignment shop, you're guaranteed to get a good price.

【Glennail Wand】

Durability: 21/21

Grade: Black Iron

Wearing level: 10

Class Requirements: Mage, Warlock, Priest, Cleric

Magic Attack +25

Intelligence +10

Spell critical strike chance +5%

It's not very useful; we still need to use the ox bone staff.

The nature of the clothing surprised Zhong Wuyai.

Exquisite Demon Robe

Durability: 28/28

Grade: Black Iron

Wearing level: 10

Health +500

Physical defense +10

Magic Defense +10

Magic Vampirism +5%

It's the best of the best, it even has magical blood-sucking properties.

It may not be of much use to you for the time being, but it is a rare attribute for others, even better than bronze equipment.

And once I level up, I'll probably need to get equipment that grants magic life steal.

The monsters get harder to defeat as you progress, and when you're fighting alone, there will always be times when you have to tough it out.

After looking through all the equipment, Zhong Wuyai found that they all had much higher stats than the Wolf Fang set. However, the stats of the Wolf Fang set were more important at the moment, so he didn't plan to switch for the time being.

Moreover, unsurprisingly, the other exquisite magic robe lacked the 5% magic life steal, but gained +10 intelligence.

Well, if there were an item that could replace mana regeneration, Zhong Wuyai would immediately put on the exquisite magic robe.

Each person can only accept an A-level mission once, and the number of B-level missions is also limited.

Moreover, all of them have reputation restrictions, meaning countless people can only watch the quests but cannot accept them.

You can only accept F, E, and D level missions, and even those are difficult to get. D level missions rely on luck, E level missions are daily missions, and most of them are F level missions, which only give you a few hundred experience points, a few silver coins, or even a few dozen copper coins.

Seeing that he still had A-level missions, Zhong Wuyai stopped accepting B-level missions.

All he wants right now is money. Without money, everything is meaningless; he can't even buy a skill book.

When Zhong Wuyai thought of money, a flash of inspiration struck him.

After waiting for an hour, I used my talent on increasing the number of Rigling Staffs in my inventory.

Zhong Wuyai was immediately annoyed by the sight of 31 Grudge Staffs. If he had chosen all of them before, he would now have 110. Even at 2 gold coins each, that would still cost him 220 gold coins!

Fortunately, 31 Gringer's Staffs should fetch a good price.

"Xiang Yang, take a look at this, are you interested?"

"Did you... rob the weapons shop?"

"So, are you interested or not?"

"Yes, of course, but staffs are extremely rare. They cost at least 5 gold coins each, and I'm currently short on funds, so I can't afford one right now!"

Although the Gringer's Staff is only a Black Iron item, the 5% spell critical strike chance is really not expensive at this stage, even for 5 gold coins.

Zhong Wuyai's quantity is quite frightening—31 staves, and the screenshot also shows bracers and rings. He's incredibly wealthy...

5 gold coins, I could sell these staves for over a hundred?

How much can you eat?

"I've given you almost all my money since I started in the newbie village. I've only just recovered and have about ten gold coins left. But once there are more people around in a few days, there won't be any problems."

"But I urgently need the money!"

The book "Chain Lightning" in the bookstore was bought by someone else sometime ago.

"I do know someone who can handle all of this. If you trust him, I'll contact him right now."

Tell me about it!

"Zhang Haitao!"

"Zhang Haitao? Who is he?"

"Never mind that. Before entering the fantasy world, he was close to officials from the Dragon Kingdom."

Government officials? Won't that be troublesome...?

Screw it, this is a fantasy world, the previous rules don't apply anymore, I'm not afraid of anything.

"Contact me, the staff is 5 gold coins each, no bargaining, and I'm also selling these other equipment."

Although the other equipment in the quest has average stats, it's quite expensive given how scarce it is right now. Moreover, Zhong Wuyai plans to auction off the exquisite magic robe with magical life steal.

The teleportation fee of 10 gold coins from other cities to Cloudsea City is not low, but for major powers, this amount of money is nothing.

The numerous news reports of equipment acquisitions on the national channel naturally indicate that these are companies with deep pockets.

Zhang Haitao didn't take Xiang Yang seriously at first, but after seeing the screenshot of 31 staffs, he immediately became restless.

"Give me 500 gold coins, I need them!"

Although these are all level 10 black iron equipment, given the current scarcity of such equipment, their prices will only rise and not fall for a long time to come.

Yunhai City has indeed produced a remarkable figure.

Zhang Haitao assumed that Xiang Yang had met a highly talented player and was planning to recruit him for his own use.

They were stunned when they saw Zhong Wuyai's ID.

Good grief, you didn't even explain clearly. As the number one player in the game, I wasn't even prepared.

However, judging from his appearance, he does not belong to any faction, otherwise the person he was in contact with would definitely not be Zhong Wuyai.

This kind of trivial matter of trading equipment can be handled by just anyone.

In other words, Zhong Wuyai does not yet have his own power, so I still have a chance.

First befriend them, then win them over. As for subjugating them? ...Forget it. You need to know your own limitations.

Is this the kind of person I can subdue?

"Xiang Yang said, 'You have a batch of equipment to sell!'"

Zhang Haitao got straight to the point; it's best to avoid unnecessary chatter.

"That's it, 39 pieces of equipment in total, 300 gold coins. What do you think?"

Since Xiang Yang said that this Zhang Haitao is capable of eating, and is also a businessman who is close to government officials,

There's absolutely no shortage of money. In the early stages, the gold coins come entirely from having a large number of people. There are plenty of people from the government and the Chamber of Commerce. Although the price is a bit high, it's not that expensive.

Zhang Haitao didn't react in time; he was already prepared for Zhong Wuyai to make exorbitant demands.

The situation in Cloudsea City is unclear, but in Lake City, black iron equipment can be sold for 20 gold coins a piece.

After seeing the attributes, Zhang Haitao doubted that the 500 gold coins he brought were even enough.

All these pieces of equipment had pretty good stats, and there was even a top-quality exquisite magic robe for only 300 gold coins, which greatly exceeded his expectations.

Putting everything else aside, this exquisite magic robe alone would be in high demand even if I sold it for 50 gold coins.

As expected of the number one player in the game, he deals with these items like they're scrap metal, he doesn't care about the small amount at all.

"Sure, no problem, let's proceed with the transaction."

Zhong Wuyai was also a little stunned. So straightforward, what a sucker!

And so, one person was unaware of how rich they were, and the other was unaware of how much money the other person needed.

The other person is unaware of how good their own things are, or how wealthy the other person is.

Both were afraid the other would back out, so they completed the transaction.

"Can we be friends? You can contact me directly for things like this in the future. Money is no object."

"Okay, I'll add you."

Zhong Wuyai rejected all of his friend requests; there were just too many, so he simply blocked them and set a "no friend requests" option.

After Zhong Wuyai left, Zhang Haitao found Xiang Yang and inquired about Zhong Wuyai's other situation.

Xiang Yang isn't stupid. If he hadn't had no other choice, would he have given up his best opportunity to someone else?

However, due to Zhang Haitao's status, Xiang Yang only talked about some things that happened in the newbie village and didn't say anything else.

Zhong Wuyai rushed to the bookstore and bought the Lightning chain.

Two of the books are chain lightning; the other one can be resold later.

"Hey, another sum of money. I've got a knack for business, you know!"

They learned the Chain Lightning technique directly.

[Chain Lightning Lv.1]

Active skills

Unleashes a bolt of lightning at the target, dealing Electro DMG and paralyzing them for 5 seconds. When hitting multiple targets, the lightning will bounce back and forth, up to 4 times, with the damage of each bounce decreasing gradually.

Mana cost: 200

Damage bonus: 80 + 50% magic attack

Catapult damage reduction: 8%

Release distance: 70

Cooldown: 60 seconds.

Damage range: Single target damage.

Zhong Wuyai was somewhat excited.

Although it only provides a 50% magic attack bonus, the number of attacks is much higher.

When encountering a monster, Fireball still deals the highest damage, so it's obviously not worthwhile to increase the damage.

But what if the number of launches is increased?

41 times... Although the damage decreases with each hit, 41 hits... and each of my talent skills also has the effect of a normal attack.

Ugh... I can't even think about it~ I can't even think about it~...

Just as Zhong Wuyai was daydreaming, a server-wide announcement rang out.

[Congratulations to player Sikong Shen for achieving the first kill of the level 20 Bronze BOSS, the Two-Headed Serpent. Reward: 3000 Reputation, Bronze Gift Box*1]

Damn it, the first kill of the level 20 bronze boss is gone. The bronze gift box looks like a treasure chest, with a very high chance of getting equipment, or even skill books.

I was so stupid. Even though I'm only level 11, my combat power is more than enough to take on high-level monsters. Why did I have to stare at the quests like that...?

Zhong Wuyai felt a pang of regret; these should have all been his!

No, I don't know about the boss on the second floor of the mine, but the boss on the third floor must be at least level 20. If it's a silver boss, I need to get the first kill as soon as possible.

The reward for the first kill is sometimes free attribute points, and sometimes skill points; either way, they are extremely useful.

Fourteen skill points—not a lot, but not a little either.

Zhong Wuyai made a decision that went against his original intentions, using some skill points on Chain Lightning.

Chain Lightning instantly upgrades to Lv.2; upgrading to Lv.3 requires two skill points.

Zhong Wuyai was reluctant to level up any further; he was extremely reluctant to spend even one skill point, as he would need 10 points later when using his talents.

The chain lightning's launch count has increased to 5.

The damage has also changed to 100+55%, the diminishing returns have changed to 6%, and the cooldown has been reduced to 55 seconds.

Without a second thought, Zhong Wuyai used his talent to increase the number of times he could launch himself.

The number of ejections increased to 51, which was worth it!

After doing all this, Zhong Wuyai bought a tent; if he didn't go to sleep soon, he would be exhausted. ...

After waking up, Zhong Wuyai ate some steamed buns and drank some water before heading straight to the mine.