Chapter 110 – CBN Leaderboard
This chapter is sponsored by William Wang, Akasch Ghotra, M. R., Michael Oragwu and Bee Cha! Thanks!
After killing a dozen or so Flaming Cat Spirits, I finally got to the mouth of the cave in the Green Qilin Abyss. Here, piles of black limestone were stacked into a precipitous, jagged slope. My heart raced anxiously; I had high expectations and would hate to be disappointed. If I can find some Green Qilin Grass here, there’s a good chance that I could make a lot of money. If I go back empty-handed then I will have no way to fund my studio.
……
Rustle…
As I made my way through the grass, I caught a glimpse of a Flaming Cat Spirit in the distance. It hasn’t seen me yet, so I continued on cautiously. I clambered over the pile of black limestone at the edge of the cave and became sorely disappointed. There wasn’t even a single blade of Green Qilin Grass. Damn, is it possible that the legendary Green Qilin Grass really doesn’t grow in the Green Qilin Valley? Or perhaps my method of searching is flawed?
I reached out with my hands to feel the wet stone walls and let the cool feeling spread in my palm. I clenched my teeth in frustration. I just can’t figure it out! Why can I not find the Green Qilin Herb? Even if it is a Lv 6 herb, I should be far enough in the map for Lv 6 herbs to spawn. Maybe the system is intentionally preventing players from crafting Lv 6 pills at this stage of the game?
No, that’s not right. The system is controlled by the main computer; even the company can’t interfere with it. There has to be something I’m missing here.
I silently stood and my eyes wandered over the terrain for a long time. Suddenly, I saw something out of the corner of my eye; something poking out of a piece of limestone. I kicked the rock, cracking its surface to reveal a seed-like object breaking through the rock. My heart sunk. My first impression was that some kind of monkey would jump out at me but of course that’s impossible. With the help of a little poking and prodding, the rock gradually broke open with a few crackling noises, and there, before my eyes, was a dark green seed —— the Green Qilin Grass!
TL: The monkey is a reference to Journey to the East, a classic in Chinese literature.
Great!
I am so excited! I was finally able to find the Green Qilin Herb. Although it’s extremely small and looked like any other old bean sprout, a dark green light shone from its tiny leaves, a sign of its power. Lv 6 herbs are really special!
I needed to collect the Green Qilin Herb without damaging the roots, so I carefully tried to scoop out the top of the limestone using my trowel. However, upon failing to make even a dent to the stone after many attempts with the trowel, I realized that this rock is abnormally strong!
Out of anger, I stabbed at the rock with my sword, breaking it to reveal herb inside. I then used the trowel to collect it——
Ding!
System Notification: You have collected [Green Qilin Herb] x 2, [Herb Collecting] proficiency +5. Since you are the first player to collect the Green Qilin Herb, you received +1 charm!
……
Not bad, I even got a point in charm…
Continuing my search, I carefully examined each rock for bumps on their surfaces while killing some more Flaming Cat Spirits to clear the area. Not long after, I had 100 Green Qilin Grasses in my inventory. However, having already spent 2 hours or so in the area, I felt a premonition telling me to get moving. Danger is coming. The Tyrant of Western Chu I know would not just leave matters the way they are right now.
I gripped my sword tightly as I scanned the area, seeing that there were still many Flaming Cat Spirits around me. Although they give a lot of experience, it is tough to take one down, let alone a whole group of them. Their [Flame Fan Dance] ability is particularly dangerous, since it deals up to 1000 damage, which is more HP than I can afford to lose. They also seem to be very sensitive to my chain skill and can sense where my chains appear from. Once they see my chains, all of the surrounding Flaming Cat Spirits immediately lock on to them and destroy them using the [Flame Fan Dance] skill. They must hate being restrained.
I cracked open the last black rock and carefully harvested another Green Qilin Herb.
After collecting all of the herbs in the area, I continued searching for more Green Qilin Grasses. As I headed deeper into the Green Qilin Abyss, in search of more grasses, I came across an enormous stone wall, which was carved with the ancient etchings of a mighty beast. It stood, like a totem, towering over everything in the vicinity. This beast must have something to do with the name of the area I’m in, the Green Qilin Abyss. It did, in fact, resemble the figure of the legendary Qilin.
I sat down to take a quick breather, contemplating whether or not I should wait and go back to check if the Green Qilin Herbs have respawned. I can only craft 30 Green Qilin Pills with the 100 Green Qilin Herbs I have in my inventory and that is nowhere near enough to make the amount of money I need.
Giving up, I checked my friend list to find that Song Han and his party were already Lv 30. Those guys are amazing; they grinded to Lv 30 in only 3 days, an incredible feat.
I sent a message to Song Han, “Little Wolf, how are you guys doing?”
He replied, “Everything is going according to plan. We recently recruited a Healer for our party. He runs a small shop selling shoes and hats so he has a lot of free time on his hands. He’s been online a lot and grinding is so much easier with a Lv 33 Healer.”
“Mm, nice. Don’t be afraid to give him any equips that he needs and make sure not to chase him away. It would be extremely beneficial to have a Healer on Zhan Long as well since the four of us isn’t going to be enough.”
“I understand. Don’t worry, with Fox here, he’s not going anywhere.”
“Ah, okay. How much money did you guys make while grinding?”
“Eh…It’s been almost 5 hours and we’ve since collected a total of 34 gold coins. Convert that into 340 Yuan (~$55) and dividing among us nets me, Fox, and Old K 110 Yuan per day. That’s currently more than enough to pay for our game card and groceries… But don’t worry, just wait until we hit the higher levels and get to the high leveled mobs. Coins will literally be dropping from the sky, and making 100 gold coins in a day should be easy as finding them on the ground.”
I chuckled. “Don’t forget that the gold coins’ value is still dropping due to the inflation in game while the number of coins dropped by a mob doesn’t change. To keep things short, making money like this can only be a temporary plan, the methods of a noob studio. You need to hurry up and grind to Lv 40, so we can go and do the higher level missions. Your list of priorities should be helping others, killing bosses, making money, and guaranteeing that the studio functions normally!”