“…Master Yu— Bro Que, you still research gunpowder at your age?”

“Nonsense — I’m the most remarkable pharmacist there is, so of course I research every kind of medicine. If you’re buying, buy quick; if you’ve no money, then scram while you’re at it — want Bro to just give it to you for free? Not a chance.” Yuan Que sniffed and said impatiently.

Gunpowder counts as medicine too? Ye Tianxie looked with a face full of admiration at this old man who kicked common sense around like a ball. And when he looked at the next item, that chestful of admiration nearly turned into a chestful of murderous intent…

Lighter — A lighter Yuan Que made using engineering principles picked up from who knows where. Not for sale. However, if you buy all of Yuan Que’s Double-Bang Firecrackers and Great Firecracker Strings in one go, this lighter will be generously thrown in by Yuan Que as a free gift.

Not for sale… buy everything… free gift… Without a lighter, can you even light the firecrackers? Can you?! This old man was plainly saying: either you buy them all, or you buy none, because buying any is buying them for nothing… unless you happen to be a fire-element mage.

Vexed as he was by Yuan Que’s firecracker research, Ye Tianxie had to admit deep down just how powerful these two hidden items were. They were practically great killing tools born to help him pass the Abyss trial!

Ye Tianxie felt at his backpack, glanced up at Yuan Que, and silently walked out the door, leaving a hope-faced Yuan Que staring blankly after him. But after a little while, Ye Tianxie silently came back… He stood in the wind wrestling with himself for a long time, but in the end still couldn’t bring himself to set up a street stall. At present, counting the 100 gold he’d extorted from the Red Leaf Pact that day, he had 183 gold coins on him in all — a sum that would count as downright astronomical for an ordinary player living hand to mouth. And in his backpack… thanks to his lofty Luck of 10, over this past week and more — from tormenting fierce wolves to tormenting blood wolves to tormenting the demon wolves in the deepest reaches of Fierce Wolf Valley — the equipment in his backpack had piled up higher and higher, now reaching as many as thirty pieces. And most of them weren’t the ordinary plain-stat gear sold in shops: there were a dozen-odd Steel pieces carrying a single attribute, plus a full four Bronze pieces the sight of which could make a person envious enough to turn robber. And in this current gold-starved novice village, a Level 10-ish Bronze item, even the worst of them, went for over 100 gold — and even then, priced without any sellers to be found.

All Ye Tianxie had to do was run to the village entrance and shout, “Level 10 Bronze gear for sale!” and in the blink of an eye he’d be mobbed. Those fat sheep who poured themselves into guild-power or personal development and regarded money as dirt would drive the price up in a bidding frenzy; four Bronze items could turn him into Novice Village No. 60001’s number-one tycoon in an instant — but like every vegetable vendor at the market for the very first time, Ye Tianxie stood at the village entrance holding it in for the longest while and couldn’t squeeze out so much as a single word.

Then again, given his temperament, this sort of thing really didn’t suit him.

Ye Tianxie walked back up before Yuan Que, took a Guardian’s Bronze hammer out of his backpack, and set it on the counter with a thunk. It was no ordinary hammer — the round head was covered in little spikes, and the consequences of carelessly bumping into it could well be imagined.

Yuan Que, whose face had been full of swagger all this while, went ghastly pale, the whole of him nearly toppling off his chair. He hastily backed away and said, trembling, “L-let’s t-talk this out nicely… I-I’m warning you, I’ll have you know I was a Level 100 Grand Magus in my day — I wouldn’t fear a hundred of the likes of y-you…”

Ye Tianxie’s forehead filled with black lines… Did this creature really not know that players can’t attack stationary NPCs?!

“Don’t get worked up, you’ve misunderstood. It’s like this — I don’t have enough gold on me, and I was afraid I couldn’t afford this much of your stock, so I was wondering if I could trade some things I’ve got for it… Take a look at this hammer, how about it? This is a Bronze hammer with a full 20 points of attack added, perfect for plundering homes and killing folk for their loot…”

“Stop!” Yuan Que’s complexion finally eased. He hurriedly gave two dry coughs to cover his earlier panic, patted the dust off himself, and his expression turned solemn again in an instant. He gave the Bronze hammer a pat, cast a careful glance at Ye Tianxie, and said, “Bro never sells on credit, never takes collateral… but seeing as that old codger of a chief sent you, this hammer… mm, this hammer’s not bad. Let’s call it 50 gold for you.”

50 gold… at least three or four times lower than the player market, where such things were priced without sellers to be found. But at the thought that selling it to the blacksmith shop would fetch a mere 10 gold, Ye Tianxie let it go. He tallied up the total price of these odd items, weighed the coins in his backpack once more, then gritted his teeth again and took out a pair of gleaming bronze boots. Two savage wolf heads were stamped on them. These were the Demon Wolf Boots dropped by the Level 10 demon wolves — carrying not only flashy attributes but a flashy look besides. Anyone who could walk out wearing a pair of boots like these would, without a doubt, draw no end of envious and resentful stares.

“Take another look at these boots, sir… these are no ordinary boots. Look at these attributes, this design — if you put them on your feet, that added 5 points of Movement Speed would absolutely have you walking with a spring in your step. From now on, whether heading up the mountain to gather herbs or turning tail to flee when things go south, you’d…”

“70 gold!”

“Take another look at this flashy helmet, sir…”

“50 gold!”

“And here’s a top-grade pair of vambraces you couldn’t buy on an ordinary day, sir…”

“60 gold…”

The four Bronze pieces — all he had — were pawned off to Yuan Que like so much junk, and when the total of the pawned gold reached 230, Ye Tianxie finally let out a long breath. He took another 170 gold out of his backpack and piled it before Yuan Que. “That’s 170 gold, plus these makes 400 gold in all. I’ll take all of your special recovery potions, plus the Double-Bang Firecrackers and the Great Firecracker Strings.”

Looking at the four Bronze pieces he’d landed and the heap of glittering gold, Yuan Que’s old eyes narrowed to a thin slit. Stuffing the gold into his arms without a moment’s delay, he said with a beaming smile, “Kid, refreshingly decisive indeed… there, these are all yours now. Next time you come to Bro’s shop, Bro’ll give you a full nine-point-nine-seven discount.”

“Ding… You have lost 170 gold and obtained the special items: 10 Unnamed Special Recovery Potions, 20 Double-Bang Firecrackers, 5 Great Firecracker Strings… with a Lighter thrown in.”

Lighter — An item that can be used to make fire; craftable by a Basic Engineer. Uses remaining: 200/200.

(End of Chapter 36)