Chapter 142 - 20: PK within the City

Chapter 142: Chapter 20: PK within the CityFinally safe! Looking at the towering walls of Luoyang Town, Xiao Jie felt an inexplicable sense of security. At this moment, as the setting sun slanted down, its light spilling on the ancient stone walls of Luoyang Town, in the midst of the barren and lonely wilderness, it seemed so reassuring. "Giddyup!" he shouted loudly. Luobo: "What?" "Speed up!" Only then did Luobo accelerate and gallop forward. The two entered the city and finally each breathed a sigh of relief. There was still a little time before nightfall, and they took this time to split up and get busy with their own things. Sell whatever they got today that should be thrown into shops to the shops, store what should be stored in the warehouse. They also needed to purchase supplies they would require the next day. Xiao Jie first went to the auction house to check the earnings from today’s Dog Food sales, which were pretty good; eight Secret Dog Food sold in one day, which was nice, adding another 1,600 Wen to his account. After deducting the costs, the profit was still over 1,200. Together with the bounties from killing the merfolk today, the savings in his bag once again broke through 10 silver taels. Although he had learned a lot about the past through investigation today, in order to restore the whole story, those bodies were still needed to provide answers, meaning the Corpse Language Skill was indispensable, as was 18 points of comprehension. Xiao Jie went to the auction house and searched for the keyword "comprehension," and immediately a bunch of comprehension-related items popped up. Huh, there are quite a few of them. The first category is the most expensive—books. They are mostly Taoist Scriptures that, after reading and comprehending, can permanently increase comprehension by one or two points if the test is passed. These are the most expensive. A single book can cost hundreds, or even several hundred silver taels, and there are not many for sale. The key is that there’s a cap on these items; some scriptures become useless when a certain level of comprehension is reached. The second category is a bit cheaper—Equipment. Spirit Communication Jade: Comprehension +3. Wisdom Jade Crown: Comprehension +2... Basically, it’s either a helmet or a jade pendant. But the prices are still not cheap, and Xiao Jie can’t afford them. The third category is much cheaper, the elixirs that increase comprehension. Tongming Treasure Pill: Comprehension +5, lasts 1 hour, 15 silver taels. Ti Hu Pill: Comprehension +3, lasts one hour, 5 silver taels. Awakening Pill: Comprehension +1, lasts one hour, 1 silver tael... However, such items can’t be stacked; only one can be consumed at a time, and they last for a short duration, suitable only for emergencies. Clicking his tongue, they’re really damn expensive, aren’t they? Alchemy players must be raking in crazy profits. It’s not hard to imagine how many elixirs those tycoons have to pop each day to achieve Satori. But that was the only choice for Xiao Jie now. He currently has 14 comprehension, and the Old Man’s Bamboo Hat can add one more point. With a Ti Hu Pill, he would be able to learn the Corpse Language Skill. For the River God’s perfect reward—he was all in! Xiao Jie decisively clicked to purchase a Ti Hu Pill and watched as half of his silver vanished from his bag, the pain in his heart was indescribable. This money really doesn’t last. After consuming the Ti Hu Pill, seeing his comprehension reach 18 points, Xiao Jie didn’t hesitate, double-clicked the Corpse Language Skill scroll, and successfully learned the skill. This way, he could inquire the corpses for information tomorrow. The remaining five silver taels didn’t even get warm before Xiao Jie rushed to the martial arts school and learned two more Basic Combat Skills. [Combat Skill: Thrust Learning requirements: 2000 Wen, Agility 20. Skill Effect: Align the blade parallel to the ground and make a sudden forward thrust attack, inflicting 200% piercing damage. This skill cannot be Deflected.] [Combat Skill: Counterattack Learning requirements: 2000 Wen, Agility 25. Skill Effect: Can be used after a successful Deflection, immediately launching a counterattack, causing 100% weapon damage and suppressing the opponent.] Both skills are basic Combat Skills that are common to both swords and sabers. The Gale Saber Technique is fine for little monsters, but if the target has high resilience or can Deflect or Block, it’s not very effective, especially against players, so it’s necessary to increase the number of Combat Skills. The number and types of merfolk they faced this afternoon have increased quite a bit; if they continued like this, sooner or later the two of them wouldn’t be able to hold on, thus, increasing his strength was essential. One Combat Skill for 2000 Wen, two for 4000 Wen. As a result, he only had a little over 1,000 cents left in his bag. Then, Xiao Jie bought another 200 rough Feathered Arrows, spending another 1,000 cents. He had wanted to buy a few oil bottles for emergencies, feeling that the merfolk seemed highly inflammable, but now, he simply gave up on that idea. Looking at the few hundred cents left in his bag, Xiao Jie nearly wanted to cry without tears—this money didn’t last at all. Even though his strength had been enhanced, it wasn’t enough. Hesitating for a moment, Xiao Jie nevertheless sent a private message to Ye Luo. The best way to enhance one’s strength was to increase the number of teammates. Hidden Moon Following Wind: Ye Luo, are you there? Ye Luo: Yes. Hidden Moon Following Wind: We’ve arrived at Luoyang Town, where are you? Ye Luo: I’m still doing a Profession quest, it might take a few more days before I can join you guys, just level up slowly, oh right, the World Association outside Luoyang Town is a bit annoying, it’s better not to provoke them. Hidden Moon Following Wind: We’ve already learned that the hard way, don’t worry, we’ve found another leveling point. After closing the private message, Xiao Jie sighed, it seems they could only do the task as a duo. At that moment, dusk was gradually turning to darkness. Xiao Jie habitually planned to log off when he suddenly found something amiss, eh, why isn’t anyone else logging off? When he walked onto the street, he saw that those players who were setting up stalls were still there, and even their numbers had grown. After walking around for a while, he saw Mr. Ramen also had a stall set up and decisively went over to inquire. "Mr. Ramen, what’s happening? Why isn’t anyone logging off?" "Logging off? Oh, you mean hiding from Night Ghosts, haha, you must not know, Luoyang Town has a City God, so we’re not afraid of Night Ghosts causing trouble. As long as you stay in the town, you’re safe. Most players go out to level up during the day and return to the town at night to set up stalls for trade and exchange information. If you want to get by in Luoyang Town, you can’t miss the night market." Xiao Jie suddenly realized, feeling inexplicably happy, as if he had moved from the countryside to a big city, and it would be convenient in the future. Checking Mr. Ramen’s stall, Xiao Jie couldn’t help laughing, it was still those same two items, only the prices had dropped a bit. "Are you planning to keep selling like this?" "How else could I do it? I can’t level up, and those damn World Association guys have taken over all the monsters outside the town, and I don’t dare go too far alone." "Speaking of the World Association, I ran into that bunch today." "I’d advise you to avoid provoking them, those guys have no bottom line and are capable of anything." Xiao Jie asked, "Would they kill people?" "They generally won’t kill someone directly, but there are... many ways to cause a person’s death, like—" "Beat someone to a Near Death state and then toss them in front of wild monsters?" Xiao Jie interrupted with the answer. Mr. Ramen was surprised, "Right, how did you know?" Xiao Jie sneered inwardly, damn it, wasn’t this Ximen Wuhen’s trick? "Do you know a guy named Ximen Wuhen?" "Ximen Wuhen? Uh, I have a bit of an impression, he should be from the World Association too, that guild takes in anyone, a mixed bag of sorts, what about it?" Just as I thought... Xiao Jie mused, perhaps Ximen Wuhen’s experiences were learned from this World Association. Now he had some understanding of the World Association. "Is the World Association that strong? Doesn’t anyone deal with them?" "They’re not that strong, but they’re local tyrants around Luoyang Town. Their boss is named Xiong Batian, and he’s currently in Beiming State working under the Azure Dragon Association, which is a big guild, so the World Association has some face here. Other top guilds find it inconvenient to deal with them. As long as it’s a newbie area like Luoyang Town, top guilds generally don’t pay much attention." No wonder, they turned out to be local bullies. "Which big guilds are there in this game?" "I’m not very clear on that either, after all, I’m only level 16, I can’t interact with the really high-level ones. I only know a few, like the Azure Dragon Association—they’re said to be backed by big capital, the guild operates in a closed management system, and their members are said to be professional players who never deal with outsiders, very mysterious. Dragon Soaring Knights—a guild rumored to have official backing, considered friendly to newcomers, they often help newbies and like to maintain order, they have people in Luoyang Town too. If it weren’t for them, the World Association would probably be even more unrestrained. Pantheon—a guild formed by elite gamers, not many members but each is said to be an expert, I haven’t had much contact, I’ve just heard these people are really awesome. Oh right, there’s also the Aoao Niubi Empire, which has recently gained a lot of traction, it seems a few wealthy players created it as a playground, they’re all about spending money. Ordinary people who join are given money and Equipment, but the higher-ups in that guild seem to be rather childish, always with phrases like ’Brothers, come and Chop me’...not the brightest bulbs." Aoao Niubi Empire... Xiao Jie thought who on earth had such taste to come up with such a name. Suddenly he remembered something, "Ah, I haven’t even given you a consulting fee." "Hahaha, forget it, setting up my stall here every day is rather dull, it’s good to have someone to chat with. Consider it a buy three, get one free deal. Hey, I just noticed, you’re level 11 already? Leveling up so quickly?" "Hehe, not bad, I had a lot of Experience Points to start with." Xiao Jie answered casually while chatting, when suddenly, screams and the sound of weapons clashing echoed from not far away. Players hurried towards the square, causing quite a stir. "What’s going on?" Xiao Jie asked loudly to a player passing by. "Someone’s PKing! And they’re experts at that! It seems like it’s a duel to the death, hurry and go pick up Equipment." After saying that, the player ran off like the wind. PK? In the city? Xiao Jie was surprised, "Mr. Ramen, is this kind of thing common?" "Common my arse, I’ve never seen anyone bold enough to PK in town." Mr. Ramen was also quite astonished. Packing up his stall, he said, "Let’s go, let’s check it out." The two headed toward the square and from a distance, they could already see that the area was surrounded by players, with every rooftop and wall packed with onlookers. It seemed like all the players from the Luoyang Plain area were there, probably a couple hundred of them. They saw two people chasing each other in the middle of the square, fighting while running.