Chapter 619 - Red Dragon Herb (1/2)
Nie Yan’s movements grew more and more fluid as he got accustomed to this new style of combat. By now, he could dispatch ordinary Rank 1 monsters without breaking so much as a sweat. He didn’t even need to rely on skills to dodge their attacks anymore.
After felling another Dark Mammoth, Nie Yan started digging out its Life Core. Suddenly, a thought struck him, “I wonder if I can use Steal on these monsters…”
Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. At Rank 16, Steal had a base success rate of 96. The penalties from attempting to steal from a target above his level were greatly reduced. He could now also steal multiple items at once.
“If I can use Steal on these Rank 1 monsters, one success should be enough to take everything they have!” Nie Yan’s eyes shone brightly.
Nie Yan explored around. Before long, he encountered another Dark Mammoth. It was grinding its tusks against a tree.
He snuck up behind the Dark Mammoth. Carefully placing his feet, he inched closer and closer. When he was within arm’s reach, he slowly guided his hand forward.
Steal!
Steal successful! You have obtained 30 gold and a ‘Master Gatherer’ skill book.
Yes! It worked! Nie Yan’s face lit up with joy.
Before Nie Yan had a chance to look at his bag, the Dark Mammoth let out a furious cry and swung its tusks at him.
Nie Yan leaped several paces back, evading the attack. He dashed back in with an elbow strike. BANG! The Dark Mammoth was stunned.
Once it was CCd, its fate was sealed.
Nie Yan unleashed a flurry of attacks and quickly dispatched the Dark Mammoth. Digging out the Life Core, he then quickly checked his bag. Sitting in the corner was a skill book.
Skill Book: Gathering Master
Description: Gain additional proficiency when harvesting medicinal plants. Reduce gathering requirements by one rank.
This skill book was extremely valuable. It would allow an artisan to quickly raise their Gathering skill. Unfortunately, it was completely useless to Nie Yan. Even if he learned it, he still couldn’t harvest the Red Dragon Herbs. The rank of his Gathering skill was simply too low.
Nie Yan pondered for a moment. “Well, even if it’s useless to me, it’ll be of use to others in the guild.”
He tossed the Gathering Master skill book back into his bag, then resumed his hunt. From then on, every time he encountered a Rank 1 monster, he would use Steal on it until there was nothing left to take.
Most of the time, Nie Yan only stole gold. But every now and then he got lucky and obtained a skill book. Gathering Master, Mining Master, Tailoring Master, Tinkering Master… all these artisan skill books piled up in his bag. These precious items were as common as weeds here!
After spending a whole day grinding, Nie Yan ended up with three Gathering Master, five Mining Master, three Tailoring Master, and two Tinkering Master skill books. He had no complaints with this harvest. Besides this, he had also snagged two 120-slot super bags!
Ordinary 50- to 60-slot bags were already some of the largest you could get at this stage of the game. With two 120-slot bags, Nie Yan suddenly had a whole lot more inventory space to work with.
Nie Yan attended classes in the Top Military Academy during the day, and continued doing his Luminous Dancer class advancement quest in the Ancient World at night.
A week later, Nie Yan finally finished killing 500 Rank 1 or higher monsters.
The second part of the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest line required Nie Yan to kill 500 Rank 2 or higher monsters. Even though they were much stronger than their Rank 1 counterparts, he could still deal with them fairly easily.
After exploring around more and more, Nie Yan gradually familiarized himself with the environment of the Ancient World. He searched the forest for signs of monsters.
The abundance of precious medicinal plants and ores here was enough to drive countless players mad with greed. If only his Gathering and Mining were a little higher, he would’ve harvested them all. Once the opportunity was missed, it would be gone forever. These materials were all extremely rare in the outside world, to the extent that you would only have a miniscule chance of obtaining them in Level 100+ dungeons. With these crafting materials, Asskickers United could nurture numerous Master Blacksmiths and Alchemists!
After passing through a long and narrow patch of forest, Nie Yan arrived at a meadow. He was greeted by the sight of a large field of medicinal plants. His heart shook. “Gold Orchids!”
Gold Orchids were a fairly low rank medicinal plant and a primary material used in concocting Intermediate Mana Potions. Since the demand for Intermediate Mana Potions was currently sky high, the supply of Gold Orchids couldn’t keep up. So, their prices inflated to 5 gold each.