The next day, Li Wei went back to see Moody Writer in the afternoon. Although he had collected the Goblin Blood he needed, he went to the dungeon to hunt goblins as usual to get some experience. At the end of the day, he was not too far from leveling up again when he received a message from Moody Writer, telling him to come and take his Grade 1 potions.
Li Wei was delighted to hear that and chose to return earlier than usual today. Before going to the Alchemist Association, he went to the Martial Bank at the Trade District to set up and account. All he needed to do was to present his identity crystal and fill in some papers. He needed to make a deposit and chose to put in the minimum amount, that is 10 gold. Now, he was left with only 40 gold but that was not alarming since he would soon have an influx of gold from Moody Writer.
Professions were very lucrative businesses. As long as they had a good reputation, players would naturally buy their products even at high prices. The profit made from alchemy, blacksmithing and such professions exceeded 200% of their original cost and that was after taking into consideration the probability of failure.
The NPC that took the gold from Li Wei displayed a gloomy expression for a moment but politely accepted the deposit and issued a bank card to Li Wei. He was thinking that the customer in front of him was just some poor peasant trying to boast by having a bank account. Or else, why put in only the minimum deposit.
The bank card was similar to the ones in the original world and could be used for transactions. On top of Li Wei's Bronze card, a "10" was displayed showing the amount of money he had in his bank account. It sounded useless to have this card since players could keep their gold through the system's inventory as it did not take any inventory slot but had a separate one allocated to it. But that was only for now! Updates would come in the future that would change everything.
With his bank account settled, Li Wei went to the Alchemist Association and was promptly given access to Moody Writer's room. Today, he was renting a different room. It had the same effect as the one of yesterday. Moody Writer liked to take weekly leases of a room and so, would have to often change room.
As soon as he entered, he was greeted by the alchemist lying on the carpet wearing a tired expression. As he saw Li Wei enter, he quickly adjusted his posture.
"It's good that you came! I just finished this Mind Strengthening Potion," said Moody Writer. He spent most of the day refining the potions he needed to give Li Wei. He was lucky enough to successfully concoct the first two on his first try but the remaining three ones took at least two tries each to complete. Refining this type of potion could take from 30 minutes to one hour but even refining just one was taxing to the body and mind. The potion needed to be kept at a high temperature for the ingredients to dissolve properly; it was like staying in front of a strong kitchen fire for hours.
He quickly took out five bottles from his inventory and placed them in front of him before initiating a trade with Li Wei. The bottles each contained a different potion of different color, namely: Body Strengthening Potion, Body Cleansing Potion, Body Refining Potion, Mind Strengthening Potion and finally Spirit Strengthening Potion. All of them were grade 1 and gave 1 Strength, 1 Vitality, 1 Dexterity, 1 Intelligence and 1 Wisdom respectively.
Li Wei naturally accepted the trade without hesitation and looked at the five potions closely. He quickly placed the Body Strengthening Potion in his inventory; he did not need it since he already consumed one at Elder Jari's place. Its effect would only work once, drinking more of it would only be a waste but he could sell it to someone else for 100 gold later on.
He grabbed the Body Cleansing Potion and took off the cap. Technically, the potion would remove part of the impurities and unwanted residues from his body allowing him to improve his vitality. He quickly downed the bottle and a system prompt came up:
[System prompt: You have consumed a Body Cleansing Potion. Your vitality has increased by 1]
Li Wei smiled. These four potions would boost his power to some extent. He really envied the rich who could easily afford these potions and obtain free stats points.
Seeing Li Wei's action, Moody Writer, who was watching Li Wei carelessly drink, said: "This is just a piece of advice, but you should be careful in the future. Don’t carelessly drink potions like that!"
"What do you mean by that?" asked Li Wei while curiously looking at the alchemist.
"Although most alchemists are honest, some of them might tamper the potions. For example, even if the name looks the same, the effects might actually be slightly different like having some additional negative effects due to the poor manufacture of the product. But the more sinister alchemists might go as far as alter the description of the product or create placebos. This is mainly done by poison masters but there are some alchemists that do so once they unlock a special skill. You should be careful! Some might be harmless and only look for your money, but some might have other intentions so be careful whenever you consume a potion," explained Moody Writer.
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Hearing that, Li Wei froze for a moment. Less than one month went by since the start of the game and people were already finding ways to do shady businesses. He needed to be more careful from now on, "Then, how can I trust people?"
"The best solution is to naturally become an alchemist yourself, but you can go and ask other alchemists and appraisers to examine the products! There is naturally a small risk and fee, but these things are inevitable. You can also write a contract every time so that the alchemist won't actively try to scam you"
Li Wei held a suspicious look and nodded. After a few seconds, he chose to trust Moody Writer and drank the Body Refining Potion. This potion technically tempered and improved his sensory system as well as his nervous system resulting in better body coordination and reaction time.
[System prompt: You have consumed a Body Refining Potion. Your dexterity has increased by 1]
He drank the potions one by one in front of Moody Writer. His Intelligence and Wisdom both increased by one.
...
After leaving the Alchemist Association, Li Wei decided to go to the Colosseum and increase his win streak a little more. He left Moody Writer's room after leaving behind his bank account number and sort code. The two had more trust in each other after Li Wei drank the potions. He was glad to see Li Wei drink his potions even after he warned him about possible scammers.
Over the past few days, Li Wei came back to the Colosseum twice and pushed his winning streak count to ten. For each victory, he climbed up one rank and was now at Silver 5. With a ten-win streak, he was rewarded with 20 gold but that money was quickly used at the Prosperity Hall to lower Li Wei's fatigue level.
Although a ten-win streak sounded impressive, it was not that rare considering the number of players playing the game. At the bronze rank, players only needed to bet 1 gold to fight but now that he was at the silver rank, Li Wei needed to bet 5 gold to fight a ranked battle.
Even for Li Wei who had a certain amount of gold, it was a considerable amount, but it was necessary to bet if he wanted to obtain the Moon Stone. In fact, the Moon Stone would only cost about 50 gold, but the problem was its availability. While big shops owned some and acquired them on the wholesale price, but they would naturally not sell the raw materials; they would rather sell the product and make some profit.
He quickly entered the ranked battle section and appeared in the familiar lobby room. Regardless of what rank the player was at, they would always have to enter the same lobby before fighting a ranked battle. Li Wei took out five gold from his inventory and used them to search for an opponent.
So far, he was always matched with players who were at his level and had the same win-streak as him. He met different kind of players who held different classes but what was surprising was that he met only solo players or players from middle to lower tier guilds. He did not encounter any player from the 3 big guilds. He had to admit that his opponents were getting stronger and stronger, but he did not need to go all out yet and so, was eager to fight against a strong opponent.
The roulette in front of him spun for a moment and eventually, a name was revealed, and a profile was projected in front of Li Wei. The latter smiled, finally someone from the three big guilds and it turned out to be someone from the Fleeting Clouds Sect.
...
In another lobby room of the Colosseum, a young girl and an elder were arguing. Lobbies were generally private spaces to allow the players to prepare themselves for the fight to come. However, it also allowed the players to invite up to five other players inside. This was technically meant for team matches where there would be five players fighting and one coach in the lobby but was not restricted to that case.
"Elder Du, do I really have to keep going? I already won 10 matches in a row! It should already be more than enough," argued the girl.
"Young miss. It's true that the patriarch said that you only needed ten wins, but it is obvious that you are not tired and can continue! Don't you want to test yourself and push your limits?" asked Elder Du. That old man was the elder of the Li family that stayed at Algate City.
The young lady was the selected member of the family that would in two weeks’ time team up with other chosen from the different families and attempt to set a record for the Time Attacks. Her name was Li Yuxin. She was a talented member of the young generation. Her talent did not lose in any way to Li Feng but since the latter was the son of the patriarch of the Li family, he was chosen to represent the face of the family and could not train in secret.
Since the time for setting the records was approaching, the patriarch set up a goal for Li Yuxin to achieve before that; she needed to set a ten-win streak at the Colosseum but that was something Li Yuxin achieved without any difficulty.
In fact, she won all her 10 matches today itself and when Elder Du noticed that she was planning on fighting the ten matches in a row, he came to look after her and support her.
"This is so annoying, Elder Du! While my body is fine, I feel like I am just losing time here. I already wasted more than 4 hours that could have been used to improve my Myriad Sword Dance!" pouted Li Yuxin.
"But precisely! You first need to take out those cannon fodders before fighting the strong one! Didn't you just achieve a ten-win streak? That is a milestone and I can guarantee that your next opponent will be tough to chew," answered Elder Du. In truth, he was very curious about the abilities of Li Yuxin. When they entered the game, everyone's abilities and level were brought back to zero. Although he had his knowledge to help him, when it came to talent, the young girl largely outclassed him.
"Fine elder. Just one last match then!" Li Yuxin activated the roulette and calmly waited for a name to appear.
“You made the right choice! I will advise you to be more serious this time!”
A few seconds later:
"Oh what a surprise! It is someone from our guild!" exclaimed Li Yuxin as she started to browse her opponent's profile.
Behind her, Elder Du frowned upon seeing the profile on the screen. "It turns out to be that guy," thought Elder Du. The profile that came up was naturally Li Wei's. Elder Du quickly recognized the name "Seven". It was one he had to investigate earlier because he succeeded in acquiring the Li Family's core technique.
When he asked for an explanation at the Cai Family, they only responded that their outer member rightfully collected enough Contribution Points to purchase the technique on display. it was all within the restriction of the contract. In the end, the Li Family opted for a soft approach, they would not make things difficult for the Cai Family since they did not want their reputation to be affected but would discreetly poach the player who acquired their technique.
This was why they sent a lot of friend requests to that player, but the latter never responded to any of them. And now, that particular player was right in front of Elder Du. The latter was very curious about Li Wei, he wanted to see if he really had the ability to collect 9000 Contribution Points by himself so quickly.
However, he did not say anything and only stood behind Li Yuxin silently. He did not want to disturb or influence her in any way. He trusted her abilities and quietly watched as the girl was looking at the videos available.