Chapter 75: Cute Orange
The battle situation was one-sided. Under the concentrated fire of several mages, Mingxiao Youhun still had half health left.
The two assassins were looking for the right moment to strike.
All the teammates fell one after another.
The coordination was too poor, Zane shook his head.
Combined with the gap in equipment levels, Yuhua’s defeat was also destined.
As Lian Lian made her last dagger swing, Yuhua Xuanlong fell to the ground, wearing a resentful expression as he died.
Due to being the first to act, he dropped a ring upon dying in red name status.
The group cleaned up the battlefield, trading the equipment to Mingxiao Youhun.
“Thank you, Vice President of Mingxiao,” Zane said gratefully.
“No need to be so polite, just call me Youhun,” Mingxiao Youhun waved his hand. “By the way, Fengchen, are you interested in joining Mingxiao?”
“You’ve seen our strength; after you join us, I guarantee the people from Yuhua won’t dare to bother you again!” He patted his chest earnestly.
“… No thanks. At least for now, I still prefer playing the game without constraints.”
“What a pity… By the way, if I’m not mistaken, you must have taken down the boss, right?”
Zane nodded.
“Sigh, I knew it. We’re leaving now, take care! If you find good stuff, be sure to find me first!”
“Sure thing!”
…
“Hey, I said… can you please stop following me!” Zane said, speechless, looking at Cute Orange trailing behind.
She had been following him for the past hour, gathering herbs wherever he did.
“Following you is safe! I didn’t expect Mingxiao would help you take care of Yuhua, so gathering herbs with you means I won’t have to worry! I’m not afraid of tree spirits anymore!”
“Damn, if you keep stealing my Blood Grass, you won’t need to wait for Yuhua to come; I’ll take you out first!”
“Um… then I won’t gather Blood Grass anymore; I’ll gather something else, okay?” Cute Orange said aggrievedly.
“Aren’t you leveling up?”
She shook her head. “It’s too hard without equipment; I can’t even earn back the potion money.”
That’s true. Without equipment, soloing was nearly impossible.
“Don’t you know anyone? You could form a team to fight together.”
“No… I’m secretly playing this without my family’s knowledge.”
“…”
About half an hour later, Yuhua’s people hadn’t returned.
He had gathered over 100 Blood Grass; that should be enough to make quite a few.
Not wanting to waste time, he started alchemy on the spot!
Opening the alchemy furnace, one portion of plain water… toss it in, one portion of red dates… done, and then one portion of Blood Grass.
Okay, light it up!
The temperature suddenly soared, and flames flickered beneath the cauldron.
Suddenly, the furnace stopped rotating, and upon opening the lid, he saw.
“Ding”
System Notification: Alchemy failed, received ‘Residue’ *1.
All that was left was a pile of black residue.
Failed? What the hell? Do it again!
Seeing Zane waste materials like this, Cute Orange cried out, “Wait!”
“What’s wrong?”
“You don’t do alchemy like that! Do you think just watching is enough?”
“Ah, isn’t it like that?”
“… According to current market prices, one portion of Blood Grass is 16 dollars! Failing once costs a meal!”
What! She hadn’t pointed it out, but thinking about it, he had already lost the cost of a lunch… so careless.
“So what’s the correct way to perform alchemy?”
“First, you need to process the materials! You haven’t even crushed and scattered them, how can that work?”
“That makes sense.”
“…”
After crushing and mixing the materials together, he activated it!
“Ding”
System Notification: Alchemy successful, received ‘Blood Potion’ *1, Alchemist experience +1.
Nice, finally able to self-sustain in potions!
However, he was still 499 experience points away from becoming a Level 3 Alchemist.
He was only at Level 2; it suddenly jumped five times, no wonder Blood Grass was so expensive.
“Cute Orange.”
“What? No, you’re the cute one!”
“You haven’t changed your class yet, right?”
“… Yeah, becoming an Alchemist took me a long time; I haven’t even had a chance to look at combat classes yet,” Cute Orange sighed, then noticed a system message.
System Notification: ‘Fengchen Yanhua’ invites you to join his party, do you accept?
Declined.
She gritted her teeth. “I told you, I haven’t changed classes yet, and I don’t like leveling up without involvement.”
“While I appreciate you coming to my rescue, I know… girls who always rely on others to level up don’t have a good ending.”
“What do you take me for?!” Zane retorted.
“Would a normal person just watch a stunning girl get killed by a tree spirit with indifference?!”
Zane met her gaze. Stunning girl? Are you serious?
“…” Her cheeks flushed, “Anyway, after I gather herbs here, I’m going back to the city soon!”
“Sigh, what a pity, the herbs in high-level maps are too abundant; I can’t gather them all by myself.” Zane turned away, pretending to leave sadly.
A minute later, hurried footsteps sounded.
“Wait for me!”
…
And so another clumsy… ahem, powerful Alchemist added Zane as a friend.
According to her, she had already reached Level 3 Alchemist, placing her among the first tier of Alchemists.
As for why, until now, there hadn’t been a Level 4 Alchemist mentioned in the forums; of course, perhaps experienced players were more low-key, but it also indicated that most players were stuck at Level 3.
She revealed the items that could be crafted at Level 3.
Mind-Recalling Dan recipe: Sour Jujube Seed *1, Dan Sha *1, Vinegar *1, Essence Stone *1.
Mind-Recalling Dan: Restores 7% of magic power after use, cooldown time 1 minute.
Calming Pill recipe: Codonopsis *1, Huangjing *1, Sanqi *1, Essence Stone *1.
Calming Pill: Restores 7% health after use, cooldown time 1 minute.
7% instant recovery; given the Wishcaster’s state of having over 7000+ health, the effect surpassed high-level HP recovery by a lot, one being 490+, the other 400.
However, it still felt minor; its true value would likely show in the mid-to-late stages.
Aside from the Essence Stone, the other materials could be bought in stores, although they were a bit pricey, they seemed average compared to the auction house.
The problem lay with the Essence Stone.
Cute Orange had clearly done her homework; she had already found out that the shopkeeper, Jeno, had once mentioned that Essence Stones might drop from certain special stone creatures.
Unfortunately, he wouldn’t say another word when asked afterward.
So… there were still unexplored maps…
“Cute Orange, what’s past the northern edge of Maple Blossom Forest?”
“Don’t know… I’ve never successfully run past it; there are too many tree spirits here. And, don’t call me Cute Orange!”
“And…” Cute Orange finally couldn’t hold back and said, “Isn’t there a girl who’s been following us? Don’t you find that strange?”
“Haven’t you been there… well, today is just right to go check out that place; we might find an Essence Stone!”
“Are you even listening to me?!”
“I’m listening, I’m listening,” Zane replied perfunctorily.
