Chapter 209: Poisonous Fireland
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Fortunately for Fatty Han, he continued to explain, unaware of the danger he was in moments ago, "The girl brother Yang fell in love with in high school is about to marry to someone else in this coming May! Would anyone feel good about this?"
Sun Xin Yu relaxed and sheathed her daggers.
Wei Yan Er was curiously agitated, so she tried to pry for more, "Fatty, please be more specific about it!"
Daffodil Daydream had also become mightily curious, and she begged for more information, "Say it! Say it!"
"Fatty, stop saying sh*t!" Zhang Yang hacked a monster to death and turned to Fatty Han to issue a warning.
Fatty Han threw both of his hands up, pretending to be helpless and said, "Little Yang, you know that my will is weak, especially against these sex bombs right here!"
"F*ck!" but after giving it some thought, Zhang Yang realized that Fatty Han did not know anything that he should not know, so he just left him be.
Fatty Han smiled broadly and told the gang about what that had transpired during the night of the gathering. Coming out from his mouth, it was natural that he turned Zhou Kang Ming even more insidious in his story, using money to lure Zhao Hui Shan step after step closer into his arms, implicitly trying to humiliate Zhang Yang by the table, completely shaping the two into the image of a pair of adulterers, describing the guy as the Xi Men Qing1 and the girl as Pan Jin Lian2.
Zhang Yang felt more uneasy as he listened further, if he’s describing them as Xi Men Qing and Pan Jin Lian, wouldn’t he be the Wu Da Lang in the story?
"Wah! That’s just so disgusting!" Wei Yan Er immediately soared with a sense of justice, "If I’d known about this earlier, I would have gone there and given that shameless pair of adults some serious slapping!"
"Zhan Yu, how pitiful!" passionate Daffodil Daydream was already wiping her tears, her eyes red and puffy.
"Wu Da --- erm, brother Zhan Yu, the world is full of colorful flowers, there’s no need to shower your love on one flower only! Look at our small party, full of ladies as pretty as flowers and jades, why would you reject what is near at hand and seek so far away instead!" Endless Starlight spoke his voice out without fearing death.
This bunch of people! Zhang Yang let out a breath of sigh, "I’m not broken-hearted, alright! My relationship with her was like hundreds of years ago, please stop making assumptions about my past!"
"No can do!" Wei Yan Er pulled up her sleeves relentlessly and said, "There is only one person in the world can bully noob tank, only me! Hmph! Xi Men Qing and Pan Jin Lian, just wait till I turn up to them and tear down their house!"
As it seemed, the little girl was really into her character!
Han Ying Xue laughed and made a proposal, "Silly Yu, if there is another classmate gathering around, I shall go and make a good impression of you! Just give me a hundred and eighty pieces of Gray-Silver equipment and I shall allow you to pretend to be my boyfriend for the night!"
"That is not the righteous path, my sister!" Wei Yan Er gave a few taps on Zhang Yang’s shoulder and said, "We are out here to mix into society, and the number one rule we always put in our heart is to have loyalty. Noob tank, I will help you!"
Zhang Yang stared at Han Ying Xue incredulously and asked, ""Young and Dangerous"?"
"Sigh, I have absolutely no idea on where she downloaded it from!" Han Ying Xue sighed in surrender.
After clearing up the dungeon, the party was for everyone to have their own free time.
Zhang Yang went back to the Little Merchandize Shop. Excited by his previous announcement on the Yellow-Gold auction, the shop was crowded with people, making the whole atmosphere very lively! He pulled up the sales record to see, and he was instantly stunned by what he saw, his profit margin had actually reached up to 400,000 gold coins!
He could not believe his own eyes at first, but as he thought about it, he realized: Currently, the eight main cities in China region have all been connected, players can travel to any one of the main cities by the Teleportation Points, and the cost for traveling between these cities was free! Therefore, when players knew that the Little Merchandize Shop was in possession of level 60 Yellow-Gold equipment pieces, players from other main cities will deliberately crowd up the little shop. Once it’s crowded, there will always be people making purchases, one purchase after another, raising the number of sales in the shop.
It was the only private property in the entirety of China, if not globally. To add on to the history of The Little Merchandize Shop also auctioning out a guild upgrade order, the level 60 Yellow-Gold equipment pieces only made it even more popular. With such success in raising the shop’s popularity, it would not be that surprising if the business of the shop wasn’t good!
Exchanging the 270,000 gold pieces earned from yesterday and 400,000 gold pieces earned from today into cash, with the addition of Zhang Yang’s savings of 700,000 in his account, there should be around 3,000,000 in total. With this amount of money transferred to Yu Li’s account, it should already be enough for her to treat her mother.
In just awhile, Yu Li messaged back with four words, saying that, "Money has been received!"
She did not express any gratitude, it was most probably because she felt like she was trading her own body for the money. It was a business transaction, nothing else. She would not owe Zhang Yang anything else.
The night of the following day, the Little Merchandize Shop begun its second, highly popular auction, pushing 3 pieces of Yellow-Gold equipment onto the table. It was already very rare to see players with a full set of level 40 Gray-Silver equipment. With players knowing that there would be a sale on level 60 Yellow-Gold equipment, and armor set pieces to add on to that, the shop was instantly clogged up to capacity!
Zhang Yang had no choice but to implement a measure, 500,000 gold pieces had to be handed over as deposit upon entering the shop, eliminating a large number of players who went there as bystanders. Players would be able to reclaim their deposits when they leave, or they can also place bids by using the deposits as part of the payment.
After half an hour of auctioning, all three pieces of Yellow-Gold pieces had been purchased. Among the pieces, the [Spiritual Boots] was auctioned out at the high price of 760,000 gold pieces, while the [Hunt of the Sniping Giant] was auctioned at a more inferior price of 480,000 gold pieces! The weapon, being the most valuable of all pieces as always, was auctioned out at the extreme price of 970,000 gold pieces!
"It seems that Spellcasters tend to be richer!" Zhang Yang sighed.
The profit of 2,000,000 gold pieces was equally divided among the eight party members, with each person getting their cut of 250,000 gold pieces. The profit was so handsome that Fatty Han and the others were smiling to the point that their eyes were narrowed into a straight line! The remaining 210,000 gold pieces were kept in the guild’s account to carry out some regular expenses.
Another two days had passed, the Lone Desert Smoke had finally obtained a total of 20 level 50 players. Zhang Yang put Endless Starlight and Hundred Shots in charge of the parties, first off to clear the normal mode and the hard mode of the Poison Fireland. The first reason was to accumulate equipment, and the second reason was to familiarize themselves with the patterns and skills of the boss, building a firm ground for them in exploring the Death Mode of the dungeon.
Meanwhile, Zhang Yang, Fatty Han, Wei Yan Er, Sun Xin Yu, Han Ying Xue and Daffodil Daydream departed for the Centaur’s Palace. It was still alright to forego the other bosses, but Zac is a level 50 Yellow-Gold boss, they wouldn’t miss it at any chance they got whenever it respawned! Following the advancement of their levels and equipment, they were strong enough to completely crush the monsters and the bosses of the Centaur’s Palace. Previously, it took them about five to 6 days to complete the dungeon, but now, one night was all it took for them to handle everything.
Lone Desert Smoke spent only half a day to reclaim the dungeon in Normal Mode, while Hard Mode took two days. Even then, they had to rely on Zhang Yang to provide [Fire resistance Potions] before they managed to slaughter the final boss Roshan - Copper Hammer.
Within these two days, as the large guilds sent their main forces to the Poison Fireland, the cost for [Iron Ores], [Iron Bars] and [Solid Iron Bars] were rising quietly without alerting anyone. The [Iron bar]s, initially sold for the price of 2 gold pieces per set was not questioned by anyone, so they slowly increased the price to 6 gold pieces per set. Even so, the iron bars were in such short supply that even the auction house ran out of [Iron Bar]s!
Every crooked profiteer had already gotten the news that players had to pay a [Solid Iron Bar] to the NPC stationed by the entrance of the dungeon in exchange for an immunity against the erosion effect of the poison fire! Ever since then, they had been mining competitively for [Iron Ore], [Iron Bars] and [Solid Iron Bars], waiting for more people to reach level 50, where they planned to further increase the price of iron bars.
Although the iron ores were the most common mineral raw materials, but they simply could not accommodate the sheer numbers of miners. Furthermore, only regions of level 30 or below will produce an infinite supply of the ore. A sophisticated miner can mine up to 80-100 pieces of iron ores in an hour, but if the same region is full of miners competing for ores, their yield would be greatly diminished.
Although the number of miners knew about the appreciateing price of the iron bars, ores could only refresh by so much in a day, so they quickly reached maximum output, which wasn’t enough!
The demand was lower than the supply!
Therefore, although the mainstream players were still around level 45 or so, the crazy season of [Solid Iron Bar] sales had already begun! After all, they would be needing 100 [Iron Bar]s to craft one [Solid Iron Bar]!
It was definitely exceeded Zhang Yang’s expectation, as he believed that one Solid iron bar could only be sold at 5 gold pieces each. But, judging from the currently increasing price of the item, many Solid iron bars were quickly sold at 20 gold each, which got him sighing with mixed feelings.
It was also true, the price of 5 gold pieces for each, that was the price quotation in his previous life, and it was about two and a half years after the open server!
Zhang Yang no longer hesitated, immediately commanding Natalia to begin selling solid iron bars. He didn’t want to be too greedy, and decided to follow mainstream price of 12 gold coins. That would suffice.
In just two days, the Little Merchandize Shop had sold a total of 130,000 solid iron bars. The number of sales for the first day was 50,000, while the number had increased up to 80,000 on the second day. The total profit was 1,300,000 gold pieces for the Little Merchandize Shop --- excluding the auctioning of the Guild Upgrade Order and some Yellow-Gold equipment which were special occasions, this profit of 1,300,000 gold pieces were totally belonged to Zhang Yang alone!
Instantly exchanging the gold pieces to some cash, the numerical value in Zhang Yang’s saving account was increased from a pitiful 7,000 dollars to 3,000,000, and then to a total of 6,900,000 -- it was just like riding a roller coaster!
Following the uninterrupted sales of the [Solid Iron Bar], the space of the warehouse was slowly cleared out, allowing Zhang Yang to store more of the [Fire Resistance Potion].
On the night of 15th October, Zhang Yang selected 20 players according to the suitability of their professions, before leading the party over to the Poison Fireland dungeon.
‘Ding! You have entered Poison Fireland (Hardcore Mode)!’
Stepping over the entrance of the dungeon, a land of red flames appeared right in front of everyone. Every then and now, larva would spring up from the ground, spitting terrifying beams of light into the sky. The whole space was enshrouded in red mist, giving them poor visibility.
At the entrance, stood a stout, 1 meter tall Dwarf whose beard flowed freely to his chest, with braided long hair. The name: ‘Dwarven Prophet Ankla - The Ale’ hovered right above his head.
[Ankla - The Ale] (Normal, Humanoid creature)
Level: 1
HP: 50
Defense: 10
A yellow named NPC, a non-aggressive type.
"Hey there, travelers, what are you guys up to? Passing this area full of fire and poison? Oh god, how can there be such stupid people in the world, to actually traverse this land, do you want to return to the embrace of the great god Titan in such a hurry? "Ankla immediately starting whining strangely after seeing everyone in sight.
"How many times have these brains of yours been stomped on by donkeys, in order to attain this level of stupidity? Even the most stupid Tupala Beast is so much brighter than you are!" Ankla was spraying his saliva like twinkling stars at everyone, with both of his hands on his hips, in a ‘know-it-all’ posture.
Endless Starlight and the others had completed the Normal Mode and the Hard Mode, so they were expecting some rather mean words from this NPC, and took it in stride. But Wei Yan Er is like a firecracker, once lit, guaranteed to explode! Instantly, she was provoked, and she took out her axe and snarled at that NPC, "Stinky shorty, I shall smash you flat with my axe if you insist on speaking like that!"
Ankla instantly exploded in anger, pointing his finger at Wei Yan Er’s nose, shouting, "Little b*tch! How dare you show such disrespect towards the great Ankla?"
Seeing how furious the little girl was as she shouted back at him, Zhang Yang smiled lightly and informed her, "Little girl, if I were you, I wouldn’t touch this NPC!"
Wei Yan Er curled up her lips in a battle-like snarl before saying, "What is there to be afraid of? It’s just a level 1 shorty!" Although she spoke in that manner, she slung her axe over her back anyway.
On such a rare occasion was she wiling enough to calm down at Zhang Yang’s advice, but Ankla was not willing to let it go just like that, and with a loud ‘Pui!’, he spat on the little girl’s shoe.
"Argh --- you short piece of shit! I’m mad now!" How could Wei Yan Er endure such a humiliation? So she pulled out her axe from her back and cleaved the NPC into two.
‘Pak!’
The level 1 NPC only had 50 health points, with just a gentle touch, he fell straight down to the ground. Wei Yan Er was full of herself as she said, "Noob tank, this stinky NPC was nothing after all, slaughtered like a ---"
Boom!
A huge claw suddenly descended from the sky, flattening the little girl's body with a damage value of ‘-100,000’, and she was reduced to a flattened corpse, half sunken in the ground.
The body of Ankla had disappeared completely, replaced by a gigantic dragon. Its whole body was covered in deep blue scales, looking just like a gigantic lizard with a pair of wings. The gang that stood in front of the dragon were completely dwarfed by its size.
[Deez Twork the Blue Dragon] (Ethereal boss, Dragon type)
Level: ???
HP: ???
Defense: ???
"So, your brain was really damaged by the kicks of donkeys, to actually dare to attack the great blue dragon!" The blue dragon shook it’s head, with an expression saying ‘This person is stupid beyond cure’.
Shoof, a blue light flashed, this gigantic dragon had returned back into a dwarf.
Han Ying Xue quickly rescued Wei Yan Er. She got up, with tears in her eyes, "Stinky noob tank, why didn’t you warn me about his ability to transform!"
"I did not even have to chance to say it before you already started swinging your weapon at him!" Zhang Yang was trying to resist himself from laughing.
Wei Yan Er stood at one side, pouting as she stared relentlessly at Ankla, but her face suddenly lit up and she made a suggestion, "If we kill him, then the will be drops of Ethereal equipment?!"
Zhang Yang burst into laughter and replied, "Didn’t you see the attack that got you with ‘100,000’ damage? Do you really think we can kill them?"
Wei Yan Er sighed in despair, went to one side and started drawing circles in the ground while cursing the gigantic dragon that disguised itself as a dwarf.
Actually, even if players managed to take down an NPC, there would be no spoils, whatsoever. In his previous life, some Level 150+ players had traveled all the way back to take down this blue dragon, but they did not even get a single fart! Still, it wasn’t like he could tell her that.
Zhang Yang went up to Ankla and asked, "O great Blue Dragon, may I consult your great wisdom for ways to aid us across this vast land of poison fire?"
Ankla raised his frowned face and spoke in pride, "It is indeed your luck to come across me! It’s such a coincidence that I have some of these potions, they can aid on protecting you from the corrosion of the poison fire damage!"
"However, you’ll need to hand over some [Solid Iron Bar] for them!" the gigantic dragon, disguised as a dwarf expressed a face of greed as he spoke.
Zhang Yang turned around and smiled, then he said, "The dragon race is definitely very fond of glittering shinny things. They’re stingy, the attitude in which there is only taking and no giving is quite similar to two certain members of our party, stingy and petty!"
Wei Yan Er was instantly provoked, putting herself in the shoe that fit, snapping at Zhang Yang with rage, "Noob tank, who are you talking about!"
Everyone traded a solid iron bar to Ankla respectively while the dwarf buffed them in turn, having collected the solid iron bar from each of them.
[Ankla’s Blessing]: Allows you to resist against the corrosion of poison fire, the effect will remain even after death, last for 5 hours.
Translator Notes:
1. Xi Men Qing - describing a man in ‘The Reincarnation of Golden Lotus’ who is lustful and rich, used money to sleep with another man’s wife (Pan Jin Lian).
2. Pan Jin Lian - describing a woman in ‘The Reincarnation of Golden Lotus’ who is full of lust and unfaithful. Wife of Wu Da Lang.
3. Wu Da Lang - describing a man in ‘The Reincarnation of Golden Lotus’ who is betrayed by his wife (Pan Jin Lian) while he was working hard to earn money out there.
4. Young and Dangerous - A 1996, notoriously popular, crime-action-thriller film in Hong Kong.