Chapter 147 - 24 The Threat of the World Association

Chapter 147: Chapter 24 The Threat of the World AssociationXiao Jie stood in front of the general store, organizing his backpack, and as he watched his savings increase, he also calculated quietly in his heart. In one day, he had killed more than two hundred merfolk, and the various items they dropped had stuffed his backpack full. The most abundant items were shells, which no shop wanted, and he couldn’t sell for money, but it seemed a waste to throw them out, so he had no choice but to keep them in his backpack for now. According to Xiao Jie’s past game experience, these items might prove useful later on, such as unlocking a special reputation that allows shopping at a special faction. Luckily, these items could be stacked, and over a thousand shells only took up one slot, so they didn’t take up too much space. Although the merfolk he killed were only little monsters that didn’t drop anything too great, there were occasional surprises. What pleased Xiao Jie the most was the pearls that the Merfolk Pearl Seekers dropped at a small chance. He had searched through the bodies over a hundred times that day and found three pearls, which the shop would buy for 500 wen each, while they could sell for 800 to 900 wen at the auction house. Putting the three pearls up for auction would bring in more than two taels of silver. Adding the various other bits of junk equipment and such, he had earned over four taels in total. Plus the reward from Granny Li, it added up to 15 taels of silver. Even after subtracting the costs for potions, arrows, repair fees, and other expenses, he still made a profit of 10 taels of silver. But it still wasn’t enough. He could grind for another day tomorrow, and by then twenty silver taels should be no problem, though he would probably only be able to buy a pack horse with that, which was too slow to evade wolves, though it could avoid mountain bandits. If things don’t work out, he would just have to sell the house deed. On the other side, I Want to Be Immortal had also finished organizing his backpack, and the two found Mr. Ramen, who was still setting up his stall. Seeing the two approach, Mr. Ramen first was stunned, then got a shock, "Damn, you guys are leveling up too fast, aren’t you? One level per day?" If yesterday could still be explained by previously accumulated high experience, then today’s leveling up to 12 couldn’t be explained away that easily. "Haha, just normal, we found a good leveling point. How about it, interested in joining us?" Mr. Ramen was astonished, "Bro, you’re not joking with me, are you?" "I’m not that bored. The monsters at this leveling point spawn quickly, and the two of us find it a bit strained to fight them. It’d be more comfortable with another person. I think you’re quite reliable, which is why I’m asking. If you’re not interested, then never mind." "No, no, no, definitely interested. But, brother, since you’re so open about it, I’ll be frank too. Although I’m level 16, my equipment skills are nothing special, so don’t look down on me." Xiao Jie wasn’t surprised by this. Despite being four levels lower, the purple equipment on the two of them wasn’t something Mr. Ramen could even imagine. If they really got into a fight, even without a pet, Xiao Jie was confident he could take the opponent down. With a pet, it would virtually guarantee a win. "No problem, if you have a horse—that is, you do have a horse, right?" After these two days of experience, Xiao Jie realized that having a horse or not when traversing the wilderness was a completely different concept. If you had a horse, you could run away from monsters you couldn’t beat, but without a horse, it could be lethal. Monsters in the wild usually run faster than humans, especially those quadruped beasts, which almost always outrun people. When Xiao Jie first arrived in Luoyang Town, it was thanks to his Beast Affinity that he managed to avoid monsters on several occasions, or he might have had to fight hard at that time. So it didn’t matter much if Mr. Ramen was weaker. However, if Mr. Ramen didn’t have a horse, Xiao Jie wouldn’t dare take him out. "I have a horse, no worries about that." "Then there’s no problem, but still, tell me about your Martial Artist profession’s talents, so I can arrange our tactics." Mr. Ramen immediately started to introduce his profession. The Martial Artist profession involved fighting monsters with punches and kicks, and its attack type was Hand-to-Hand Combat. The core skill of the Martial Artist was [Southern Fist and Northern Kick], which granted an additional 30% damage bonus from Agility and Strength when using punch and kick techniques, allowing Martial Artist’s hand-to-hand combat damage to be competitive with that of other professions using weapons. Additionally, having completed his profession task, Mr. Ramen possessed the unique professional Skill [Acupoint], which could immobilize humanoid monsters. Beyond that, various punch and kick Combat Skills often included effects like internal injury, shocking, knockdown, and knockback, making it a profession skewed toward controlling single enemies in solo battles. However, it was also clear that it had drawbacks—nearby attack range, reduced damage against Heavy Armor, difficulty handling groups of monsters, and being countered by larger creatures. Xiao Jie nodded. It seemed Mr. Ramen wouldn’t be much help clearing little monsters, but he’d be absolutely useful when dealing with Elite Monsters or bosses. The merfolk were also humanoid creatures, after all. "How about it, can you do it?" Mr. Ramen asked somewhat nervously. "No problem, we’re actually lacking a controller." "Haha, that’s great, when do we go?" "Tomorrow morning." As the three of them were discussing, Xiao Jie suddenly saw someone approaching and coughed loudly, prompting the three to immediately cease their conversation. The newcomer was Cloud Guest, the small-time leader of the World Association. "May I have a word with you, brother?" Cloud Guest asked, seemingly polite. However, having witnessed his dramatic change of face yesterday morning, Xiao Jie was well aware that this was merely a cheap display. "What’s up?" "Brother, you leveled up pretty fast. Are you interested in joining the World Association? We can look out for each other..." "Not interested." Xiao Jie directly interrupted the other person. "Heh, don’t be so quick to refuse. Actually..." "I don’t have time to chat with you, just spit it out." "Ha, brother sure has sharp eyes. Then I’ll just say it, I want to buy your leveling point. Your two little accounts leveled up by two levels in two days, you must have found a special leveling spot, right? Just share it, and from now on we’ll be friends. We in the World Association definitely take good care of our friends." "Heh, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Luoyang Plain is such a big place, it’s full of monsters. It doesn’t really matter where you level up, we don’t have a fixed leveling point, we just fight as we go." "Brother, you’re making this uninteresting. Although there’s no shortage of monsters in this game, rarely do you find places suitable for farming levels. Exploration costs are too high, and you could easily die if you’re not careful. You two, mere Level 10 small fries, can farm, which goes to show that the leveling spot must be really safe, and the fact that you level up once a day means there’s no shortage of monsters either. How about this, I don’t want to profit from you for nothing. Let’s make it a flat fee, 500,000." Xiao Jie sneered internally, not to mention that this leveling point didn’t exist— it would be gone in another two days, and even if it really did exist, did they think they could fool a ghost with 500,000? "Sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about." "Kid, don’t push your luck. Believe it or not, I can take my people and wipe you out outside the city." Cloud Guest’s tone suddenly took on a threatening quality. So it’s this trick again, the standard thuggish behavior, nothing new at all. Xiao Jie was quite familiar with this sort of person—Liu Qiang used to be just like this. These types of people are bullies who are also cowards; the more polite you are, the more arrogant they become. But usually, they were all bark and no bite, the first to fold when facing a real threat. He suddenly let out a cold laugh, "So, are you threatening me? Heh, the youth these days, each one so arrogant. Fine then. If you wish to die, I will accommodate you. Tomorrow at noon, bring your people. I will bring mine too. Outside Luoyang City, we’ll settle this, life or death. Don’t be absent. Of course, if you want to play dirty, that’s fine by me. We can place bounties on each other right now and see who dies first." Although Xiao Jie didn’t like to invite trouble, he wasn’t truly afraid of the other party. The game had its own rules; you couldn’t just do whatever you wanted by virtue of having a higher level or more people. If pushed, he had several ways to kill this guy. It would just come at no small cost. Moreover, the World Association was but a medium-sized guild. Its leader was only Level 28 and wasn’t here, and Cloud Guest’s group had a max level of roughly 20. They could only strut around in Luoyang Town. If push came to shove, he could also ask An Ran for help. The other party owed him a favor, and that was enough to at least show some support. Of course, he didn’t plan on resorting to that unless absolutely necessary. He had calculated that someone like Cloud Guest was a bully who feared the tough, not daring to provoke someone truly formidable. Showing that he was not to be trifled with would most likely scare the other party away. Of course, if they really took the bait and meant business, then he could simply escape earlier, switch to a different map to level up. Being few in number and lower in level, hiding and leveling up was no shame. He could always seek revenge after gaining more strength. However, the situation didn’t exceed his expectations; Cloud Guest really was intimidated by his words. Cloud Guest was just a small leader in the World Association, overseeing a dozen or so small accounts. If the other side really had some high-level big shots backing them, he definitely couldn’t afford to offend them. As for placing bounties on each other, he wasn’t that full. He played the game to earn money and gain power, not to seek out death. "Hahaha, brother, don’t be mad, I was just joking. We in the World Association are law-abiding good citizens; we don’t do all that gangster stuff. No fighting, no fighting, haha. Anyway, since brother doesn’t want to sell, let’s leave it at that. We’ll meet again someday." With that, he left, his tail between his legs. Xiao Jie wasn’t surprised by this reaction; such people are bullies who fear the tough, and they are likely not to provoke someone formidable. But toads may not bite, they are a nuisance. They threatened me and thought they could laugh it off as if nothing happened? Once I gain more power, I’ll definitely take the chance to kill this fool. Mr. Ramen, however, was worried, "Sui Feng, people from the World Association are not easy to deal with. Do you have some powerful friends supporting you?" "I have a few acquaintances." "Haha, no wonder. Then we don’t have to be afraid of them. But we still have to be cautious outside the city in the future. Right, what were we talking about..." Xiao Jie, however, didn’t continue the topic, and instead said, "Let’s find another place to talk." The three of them moved to a private room on the second floor of the inn before continuing their discussion about leveling up the next day. Xiao Jie was about to arrange tomorrow’s tactical strategy for the two, when suddenly, a face peeked out from the wall. Right after, a shadowy, vague humanoid shape emerged through the wall. The figure had a translucent quality, hovering in mid-air, like a 3D black shadow. Upon closer inspection of the shadow’s head. Ghost Soldier (Feng Buping’s Follower): Level 14, Life Value 280.