72 Loopholes (1/2)
”A Moon Stone? Why do you need that? Only blacksmiths or enchanters use that thing?” asked Moody Writer. He suspiciously looked at Li Wei. That guy was collecting a lot of materials, but he did not look like someone who was trying to level up his profession. In the end, there were many elements of the game he was not aware of, he might have stumbled onto something special.
Moody Writer was someone who valued information. Hee knew that it was one of the most important things in life. As long as one had the appropriate information, they could take the best course of action.
”It is for the same thing as the Beast Cores! I don't have any crafting professions right now, but I need that Moon Stone!” said Li Wei
”mmm, as I said, alchemists do not use that item. It will be hard for me to obtain it, but I can ask a blacksmith friend! He owes me a favor, I will ask him when I meet him.”
”Thank you! What do you want in exchange?” asked Li Wei.
”Just tell me what you plan to do with these materials. I am very curious, it looks like you are planning something big!” said Moody Writer.
Hearing that, Li Wei froze for a moment. The ring of chaos was his biggest secret; so far, no one knew about it except for some NPCs. He hesitated for a moment before answering: ”I am just preparing for the Time Attacks. These materials will help me craft an equipment. With it, I might have a chance at the records.”
”The Time Attacks? Why are you interested in those?” asked Moody Writer. He could see that Li Wei was not saying everything.
”You don't know? There are rewards associated with the Time Attacks' records. They will be distributed in 2 weeks, so we need to set the record before that,” answered Li Wei. He quickly followed up by explaining whatever he learned from Bright Sun earlier. He explained in detail the rewards and how they were awarded.
”So this is why all these guilds have been so friendly and asked me to refine Explosive Potions. Hmmp, I guess I can slightly increase the prices!” said Moody Writer with a pensive expression. Although he felt that Li Wei did not say everything, the information about the Time Attacks was already valuable.
”Yes, although I am not part of the special teams, I am also trying to find a way to get the records. If I can't get it while I am at level 15, then I'll just give up,” said Li Wei.
”Mmm, I have seen the records, they were all achieved by a single person! It looks like there really is a lot of loopholes...” said Moody Writer.
Li Wei nodded, ”I also thought that, but I could not find any loopholes when I attempted the Time Attacks. Do you have any ideas?”
”Haha, trying to get some answers from me? I don't plan to walk that path, so I don't know much about Time Attacks but if you want a piece of advice, when it comes to looking for loopholes, read between the lines!” answered Moody Writer.
Li Wei was puzzled at the answer, ”What do you mean?”
The alchemist revealed an enigmatic smile, ”I will give you this information for free! This game is full of loopholes, in fact, if you want to grow quickly, it is impossible to do so without using them! Even I used quite a few. Let me give you an example. I don't know about the quests of the Warrior Association since I am a priest but at the Priest Association, there are a lot of quests about collecting herbs.”
”Many players would simply accept them and go to look for them! But the smart players would not simply do that, they would instead ask the receptionist about the origin of the quest! Very often, these herbs would be used to cure some diseases! While in many cases, the herbs are necessary, in others, all they actually need is a priest to cast a [Cure]! This is especially the case for uneducated people.”
”That saves a lot of trouble and you even get the full rewards of the quest just for casting a [Cure]. Naturally, these became less common now that people discovered this trick! But that's just an example. The way you interpret the information you are given is key! So don't limit yourself to just what you are told to!” said Moody Writer.
He did not mind revealing this information to Li Wei. He himself abused that trick before starting to focus on alchemy. Quite a few priests were already aware of this; after one person discovers something, it would be quite hard to keep it a secret.
”Wow, I never thought about it this way!” said Li Wei with an enlightened expression!
”These are just things you will learn naturally. You are still young but after you leave for some time in society, you naturally learn a few tricks! As for the Time Attacks, I cannot help you since I did not attempt them myself but try to look at the maps from a different perspective or even think about all the information you have!”
”mmm think about everything differently?” said Li Wei to himself.
Seeing him in deep thoughts, Moody Writer continued, ”Let me give you another example! From what you just said, about the way the rewards work for the Time Attacks, if I am not wrong, there should be a big loophole in there that can allow a player to obtain several rewards!”
Surprised, Li Wei said: ”That's impossible, the rewards are not cumulative, even if you hold the world record, you won't obtain the reward for being first in your server or city!”
”Precisely! This is where the loophole is. You can't get these rewards, but what if you obtained the reward for the first, second and third place of the world record? If you think carefully about the information given, it does not violate it! As for how to do that? All the team needs to do is to switch one player and they would immediately count as another team and would all be eligible for the rewards again!”
”What? Would that not be even worse than obtaining the rewards for the other categories?”
”Yes, but the game rewards you for finding these kinds of loopholes. Besides, it's not as if it is easy to get these low time records!” answered Moody Writer.
After a brief moment, Li Wei could not help but look at the alchemist with a weird expression: ”Were you a con artist or something in real life?”
Amused by Li Wei's question, Moody Writer answered, ”Haha, don't say something like that, I lived my life honestly. I was a simple botanist! But when you come from a poor family, you are forced to grow up and develop this type of mentality! You learn all the little tricks in life, although they are not always useful, we never know.”
”mmm, thank you for the information. In that case, you can take some gold from the % profit you will deliver at the bank later!” said Li Wei.
Moody Writer nodded. Alchemy was a bottomless pit, one needed to constantly exercise and attempt more difficult recipes and naturally, these had a low probability of success. If he could get some more gold, there was no reason to say no and even if Li Wei did not state a precise amount, Moody Writer was a tactful individual.
”Just buy your potions here in the future! I need to focus on Explosive potions for now but later, I'll resume making health and mana potions too!”
”Sure!”