MMORPG: The Elementalist

He logged off so he could think things through. Redemption Points were universally accepted by all Lost Merchants.

To Qin Ruo, this information was even more valuable than the free dose of Great Tree Sap he had been given! White Wine was appearing more and more like a lucky charm for Qin Ruo.

After that, White Wine had continued to speak through their Party Channel, telling him all kinds of things he had not known before.

Now that there was a wealth of information about the Graveyard of the Gods being shared openly on the official forums, more and more players would simply log off at any point to look up the dangers, hazards, and hidden secrets in their current area.

Although the Graveyard of the Gods had only been open for less than two hours, there were already parties who had made it to the second level, as well as players who’d found all kinds of rewards in each region.

Although the availability of this information greatly improved the chances of survival for players within the Graveyard of the Gods, it also made the competition fiercer!

After chatting for a while, the three of them agreed to remain in a party together. They would split into two groups: because of his chance discovery, Qin Ruo would continue to explore the Emerald Plain, searching for other Lost Merchants, who might possibly offer him better wares or new ways of earning Redemption Points.

Meanwhile, White Wine would stay with Emma as they made their way across the first level of the Graveyard of the Gods, looking for a way to reach the next level.

***

Once they had finished their conversation, Qin Ruo headed directly back to that quaint green cottage, where a smiling Mikel had been awaiting his return.

As Qin Ruo approached, Mikel’s eyes lit up.

“Wow, you have a talent for collecting Soulblood! Seven drops collected in such a short time, heh heh… you’re something else! Here’s seven hundred Redemption Points—is there anything you’d like?”

Before Qin Ruo could even respond, he received a system notification: the seven Soulblood pearls he had collected had already been exchanged for seven hundred Redemption Points, and then Mikel’s inventory was immediately displayed for his perusal.

Qin Ruo chose not to be offended by this liberty Mikel had taken, and began scanning through the items on offer. If he saw anything good, he made a note of it; the stuff he had no use for, he just scrolled past it.

Comprising hundreds of treasures hoarded by a Demigod-tier champion, of course it was all good stuff, but Qin Ruo was disappointed to see that only a scant few were of interest to an Aquamancer.

There were many amazing pieces of equipment which an Aquamancer could not wear, Pet Eggs that Qin Ruo did not care for, and dual- or triple-attribute Mana Cores that were of little practical use. Manuals for skills and spells of other classes…

Even though Qin Ruo could find a few items he could use, they did not provide anything that exciting: incredible HP and MP increases, as well as a high base attribute for Magic Resistance—and of course all Elementalists could equip Gold-quality jewelry… As for the rest, their prices were beyond imagining.

Qin Ruo stood there for a long while, his brows suspended in the air.

In the end, he came back to the Great Tree Sap. All things considered, Qin Ruo felt that the large volume of Great Tree Sap which Mikel produced on his own was not only the cheapest item available—it was also the only one he could afford.

Once the Graveyard of the Gods event was over, there shouldn’t be a comparable Grade 3 attribute-boosting potion (well, wine) like this in all of the Mythical Continent. A potion twice as effective as a Grade 10 Advanced Vitality Potion, there was no telling how much it could be sold for.

Sold for gold, the price should be nothing to sneeze at. However, just to be sure, Qin Ruo asked Mikel whether his Redemption Points would be accepted by any of the Lost Merchants.

Mikel stared at him with wide eyes, then nodded his head, saying, “You can. After meeting us, your person will be marked with a secret sign used by we Lost Merchants, which allows any one of us within the Graveyard of the Gods to clearly see how many Redemption Points you have.”

“Is it possible for you to tell me the locations of the other Lost Merchants within the Great Tree Forest?”

“Sure, it’s no big deal.”

The Lost People truly were a free-spirited, unrestrained bunch. Mikel did not have the slightest reservations towards Qin Ruo’s questions, pulling out a map from his own backpack and handing it over.

“This is a simplified map of the Great Tree Forest. I made it while out on my rounds collecting Soulblood. On the map you’ll find the locations of Bloodthirsty Trees, as well as the other merchants. I hope this helps. I don’t consider this map to be anything precious, so you can just take it. I wouldn’t want the others saying that I simply drew something up and then tried to sell it off as a ‘priceless treasure.'”

As Qin Ruo accepted the map, it disappeared in a flash of light that he somehow absorbed, and then came the system notification:

Received (1) Complete Map of Great Tree Forest, Graveyard of the Gods (Level 1).

You may summon this map anywhere within the Great Tree Forest.

‘Yeah!’

This was a delightful surprise. He silently willed the map to appear, and it immediately floated up in his mind, covered with numerous red dots as well as a few blue ones. There was even a tiny arrow in the middle, currently placed right next to one of the blue dots.

“The blue dots are the Lost Merchants you’re looking for. Red dots are Bloodthirsty Trees. If you come across any fully matured ones along the way, get their Soulblood and bring it back to me.”

At this, Qin Ruo realized that the real reason Mikel had so easily handed over the map was so that he could collect several days’ worth of Soulblood for him. Pure genius.

But it could not be said that Mikel’s plan was not working… with the Graveyard of the Gods open to all, how many players were running around in the Great Tree Forest? If even a few of them somehow managed to fulfill that 180-second drain time, the Soulblood would be there.

With all these Bloodthirsty Trees, surely some of them would have matured!

It was a revelation for Qin Ruo: A single Soulblood pearl could be exchanged for two bottles of Great Tree Sap, each worth a hundred thousand gold coins. It could turn a far more dependable profit than the other rewards in the Graveyard of the Gods, considering the life-and-death struggles it would take to attain them.

What was more, if he was really lucky and managed to amass enough Redemption Points, he might be able to get some amazing Gold or Dark Gold equipment from the Lost Merchants in the area—even Legendary equipment worth fifty thousand points, or Divinity for a hundred thousand points—nothing was out of his reach.

After much thought, Qin Ruo eventually bought just two bottles of Great Tree Sap from Mikel, in case of emergency, and decided to hold on to his remaining six hundred points. Consulting the map, he headed for the nearest blue dot, to the South-West!

With the guidance of the map, Qin Ruo avoided unnecessary detours and dangerous Bloodthirsty Trees—it was a truly reassuring boon to have.

What’s more, there were at least sixty red dots along the way to the nearest Lost Merchant. Deciding to do everything within his power for the sake of this endeavour, he visited each one of the red dots.

Whenever he saw, from a distance, a Bloodthirsty Tree rising out over the Emerald Plain, he knew it had matured and hurried over to harvest it; if instead there was no tree in sight, he’d steer clear of that spot.

In this way, he gathered quite a yield throughout his journey—thirteen Soulblood pearls! It was enough to give him a heart attack. It seemed that quite a few unlucky visitors to the Great Tree Forest had fallen victim to the Bloodthirsty Trees.

However, this also proved to be a rather time-consuming process. By the time he spotted a small green building upon the distant horizon, it had already been more than two hours since he had left Mikel’s place.

This time, the Lost Merchant was a woman named Isabelle.

She was exceptionally delighted to see Qin Ruo, greeting him warmly and chattering away for a bit, before asking for his assistance: go back down to the forest floor, and hunt the Tender Meat of a monster called a Crab Snail.

Isabelle’s great passion and art was making Special Roasted Snails, a unique delicacy which could raise a player’s Intelligence and Affinity.

Special Roasted Snails:

Increases Intelligence by 20, Elemental Affinity by 5%, and Maximum MP by 100 for 180 minutes. Instantly restores all of user’s Intelligence and HP.

When Isabelle showed him her Special Roasted Snails, Qin Ruo began to drool, staring with unconcealed desire until the woman’s temper flared.

Shortly, she informed him that the Crab Snails could be found down in the Great Tree Forest—each snail could yield up to three pieces of good Tender Meat, and each piece of Tender Meat was worth twenty Redemption Points.

‘Ugh!’ Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Qin Ruo immediately turned down Isabelle’s request.

Never mind that the Crab Snails were Tier 5 monsters, even if Qin Ruo could take one down, he no longer had any Sacred Potions left to help him get back up to the Emerald Plain—the Tender Meat was worth nothing if he could not deliver them to Isabelle. It was not sufficient reason to justify returning to the myriad dangers of the Great Tree Forest.

That would just be stupid of him.

After explaining his reasons to Isabelle, Qin Ruo nevertheless took a look through her wares, and was surprised to actually discover an Aquamancer Magic Skill Book:

Lycan Barrage