Chapter 25: Fruit Forest

Translator: alyschu

I was slightly shocked. I turned to look, and saw a warrior carrying a green blade glaring at me. He shouted coldly, "Fruit Forest is owned by the Shadow Clan. Friend, if you are wise, you will leave. There are many scattered single fruit trees around this map."

Shadow Maple LV-23 Warrior

I glanced and laughed softly. "Are you joking? Fruit Forest is a public map, not your clan’s. Also, there are so many fruit trees, can you gather them all?"

"That's no concern of yours!" Shadow Maple sneered. "Leave in three minutes or I will send you back to town!"

My gaze turned cold. I had not thought that Apples would become a cause for PK. The world had gone crazy. Were people so hard to satisfy? Did they have to step on others to show off their success and strength?

Two other players appeared at this time.

Shadow Volcano LV-22 Wanderer

Shadow Deep Sea LV-24 Archer

These people were obviously together, and bullying a lone player like me using their numbers.

Shadow Deep Sea looked dismissively at me and said with a smile, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Tsk tsk, you seemed to have been in the rankings yesterday. The first choice is to join our clan, the second is death. Make a choice!"

I laughed. "I choose the second then. With a little twist however... the ones dying will be you!"

"Impudent!"

Shadow Volcano, the wanderer, furiously waved a long blade flickering with light and charged over. I thought this blade was Iron-grade equipment as the light was very similar to my Forest Green Blade.

Sha...

With a gust of wind, grass and leaves flew into the air, my figure behind them disappearing from the enemies’ view. As fast as lightning, I blitzed to Shadow Volcano in but an instant. The Weeping Fire Blade burrowed into the other's chest like a poisonous snake. I pushed hard, the blade penetrating his back, the edge of my sword exploding in a ball of green light.

"Slayer Slash!"

With a crack, this Bronze-grade longsword seemed to cut Shadow Volcano in half. A high damage number flew up—375!

Awesome!

"?!" As Shadow Volcano fell down, his expression was one of disbelief. He could not imagine that he, a high-level wanderer, would be instantly killed by someone else!

"Motherfucker, the boy dares to kill Volcano!" Shadow Deep Sea shouted, suddenly raising his head. Precision Shot tore through the air, headed straight for me!

I raised my chest and tanked the arrow, which dealt 71 points of damage. This archer wasn’t weak. He had to be dealt with first. Otherwise, consequences would be fatal.

I lunged, my ferocious attack cutting through the air!

298!

The archer was shocked by the powerful damage number. Before he could react, I had already positioned myself next to him and gave another attack!

Archers did not have enough HP to begin with. I was quite shocked that he didn’t die in that single 298-damage attack. With another swipe of my sword I finished the last vestiges of his HP and saw a flashing set of leather wristguards dropping.

Boom!

I was struck from behind by Shadow Maple. I felt a pain in my back and lost 187 HP. My defense also came as a shock to him. "Damn, so tough? Go die!"

I turned around as I grabbed Shadow Deep Sea's dropped wristguards and downed a health potion.

Swoosh!

Charging murderously toward Shadow Maple, my sword swished through the air with another Slayer Slash. The green hue of my sword illuminated Shadow Maple’s face, accentuating his distorted expression of shock, unwillingness, and fury.

Bam!

Shadow Maple knelt on the ground. Dead. In a flash, this clan that viewed Fruit Forest as their own was exterminated.

I snorted coldly. "I told you not to provoke me. I just wanted some Apples."

......

That wristguard was a common white item, an embarrassment to my brand.

I burrowed into Fruit Forest. Each apple tree could only be gathered once. Each time, I could pluck 1-3 Apples. Honestly speaking, the yield wasn't high!

Nearby, there was another player gathering with a name starting with Shadow. Seeing me nearby, he immediately dashed away. I didn’t give chase. Waste of time.

I spent nearly an hour to empty the forest. I could only wait for the next refresh. My bag was filled with Apples, stacked into bundles of twenty. I had 21 such bundles.

I stopped by the edge of the forest and took out the bottles. I activated my Cooking skill, the synthesis interface appearing in front of me. I put in 5 Apples and 1 Bottle, then proceeded with synthesis!

Ding~!

System Notice: You have created Applesauce x1. Cooking Proficiency +2!

A bottle of Applesauce appeared in my bag. Its stats were Satiety +1, MP +100. This was a general consumable for players in the early stages.

I continued the process, spending ten minutes to make 80 bottles of Applesauce. I immediately felt a great sense of accomplishment.

In this time, many others started coming here to cook. The Shadow Clan’s members were probably afraid and no longer appeared.

I walked out and saw many people on the way that were synthesizing. There was a human female called "Beauty Raises Leg”. Therefore, a line appeared in my message menu—

System Notice: Beauty Raises Leg created Applesauce!

System Notice: Beauty Raises Leg created Applesauce!

System Notice: Beauty Raises Leg created Applesauce!

......

I—damn! This girl looked very gentle. I wonder what she would think of such a notice.

I passed some other fruit trees along the way and gathered a few more dozen Apples. I mass-produced Applesauce. Soon after, with a ding, my Cooking skill reached Rank 2. I could create the Rank 2 Glutinous Rice Balls! As for my Foraging skill, it had reached Rank 2 a long time ago. I was in the earliest group of players, and had beaten my competition by sweeping entire Fruit Forest before masses came, my Foraging skill reaching Rank 3!

I came to Floating Ice City. While I had a red name, I relied on my great equipment and entered the city openly, my red name immediately disappearing. I then went to plaza and shouted, "Freshly made Applesauce. One silver per bottle. Mage friends who need them, come and buy, they are cheap!"

My price was not high, and less than half of the others’ prices. I just wanted to get some money.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Soon, a group of people circled me. Mages above Level 20 only had 300 MP, and a Rank 1 Fire Dragon Spell would use 20 MP per cast. Without magic consumables, there was no way for them to sustain it. As a result, players who teamed up with mages outside would first look at mages’ “supplies” before setting out. For this reason, these things were really easy to sell.

In just ten short minutes, I got a gold coin. When it came to the last few dozen bottles, I was slightly unscrupulous, and raised the price to 2 silver. Regardless, I managed to sell them all.

At this time, someone shouted nearby, "Selling Level 10 no-stat leather armor, Defense 2-8. You're welcome to buy. Also, buying Rank 1 skins, either from Big-eared Rabbits or Goblins. Paying 20 copper each!"

I walked over quickly. This was a Level 17 player called "Dominating Little Tailor" who was clearly specializing in production. Likely a tailor, and from the Domination Clan, the amazing clan that took up half the spots on the Heavenly Ranking.

"Bro, do you want Bear Skins?"

I went forward and asked with a smile. At the same time, I showed a Wild Bear Skin. This was a drop I took using Death Plunder. I had 250 of them lying in my bag.

This player gaped. "Re-really? Rank 2 material..."

"Do you want it or not?" I pretended to be irritated.

"Yes, of course!" The little tailor's eyes regained their focus and he said, "One for 50 copper. Brother, how many do you have?"

I twisted my mouth. "Really, one for 50 copper? Who are you fooling? Rank 1 furs and skins can be sold for 30 copper. And you want to buy Rank 2 one for 50? Never mind, I won't sell. I will find someone else!"

The little tailor hurriedly stopped me and laughed. "Brother, do not leave. How about you set the price?"

I thought for a moment. "Two silver for one..."

The little tailor was immediately stunned. He clearly could not accept this price.

I smiled slightly, and added, "It's fine if you do not want it. I have more than two hundred, I’ll just find another buyer!"

"What? More than 200?"

The little tailor could not keep calm. As a gaming clan, it was very important to monopolize the market in the early stages. If another clan got two hundred Rank 2 skins and trained an super expert tailor, Domination Clan would fall behind.

"Bro, wait a minute, okay?" the little tailor pleaded.

I nodded and stood at the side.

The tailor seemed to be sending a message to his superiors. A moment later, he walked over and said, "2 silver each, we have a deal! How many do you have?"

I calculated. "257. Alright, I’ll sell it as 250."

"Good!"

The little tailor opened the trade window. I provided 250 Rank 2 Bear Skins, he put in 500 silver, or in other words, 5 gold!

The transaction was concluded immediately. I now had 7 gold coins in my bag. At present, I could be said to be very wealthy. This Domination Clan was very rich too. The game hadn’t been open for that long and they already had a production-based player who carried around so much gold.

I waved my hand and laughed. “Brother, hope we’ll be lucky to meet soon!”

In reality, I could use the Bear Skins to make money. The price of gold offline had reached 50 RMB per 1 gold. Just by selling Bear Skins, I could earn more than a thousand in a day!

Pity that my ambitions were not limited to the Bear Skin. I knew that if I continued to roam and break new ground with my present strength, my assets would not be limited to just that!

Behind me, the little tailor whispered, "Bro, may I ask, where... where did you get so many Bear Skins?"

I turned and smiled. "No comment. How could I tell this to you, hahaha..."

I laughed inside. Even if I told them I had gotten them at Wild Forest, they didn’t have Death Plunder. Would they even get them?

......

I came to Floating Ice City's warehouse and requested to open an official warehouse. But the elf manager said, "You are a Night Creature, so the opening fee is doubled. Your opening fee is 2 gold to open a 100 slot warehouse!"

"Damn, so expensive?!"

I glared at her, but this female elf only looked at me silently.

Fine, I would pay. Who let them be the official party anyway?

After opening the warehouse, I ran to the plaza again and shouted loudly, "Selling an Iron-grade weapon, the Forest Green Blade. Melee players, come take a look!"