Chapter 106: Forgot to Convert the File, and Forgot the Password Too!

After a grueling week of balancing level grinding with skill training—spending over ten hours a day on the latter—Lin Jia and his friends finally felt a sense of relief. They had come to detest the tedious process of leveling up skills. They couldn't fathom how players like Nangong Cangma managed to raise their skill levels through pure manual labor; perhaps they had a rotation of people guarding the computer, taking turns hitting the F1 key without stopping? Lin Jia and the others lacked that kind of perseverance. Whenever they grew bored, they would inevitably drift back to hunting monsters, only returning to skill training when they were tired or sleepy. As their friend Lao Si, who enjoyed watching their struggle, aptly put it, they were "neglecting their proper work."

With some spare cash on hand, the trio decided to purchase all the skill books they had reached the level to use but had yet to find as loot. It was no longer the time to hoard gold; maximizing their strength was the only guarantee for earning even more wealth in the future.

The eldest brother spent 1 million gold coins on "Invisibility" and "Spirit Shield." "Invisibility" was a mandatory skill for Taoists and thus highly sought after, though it was reasonably priced at 200,000. The level 22 skill "Spirit Shield," however, was considered crucial by Taoist players. Like the "Divine Armor" skill learned at level 25, it was one of the few special abilities in the game that could buff other players' magic resistance and physical defense. As a Taoist’s skill level and Taoist magic stat increased, the duration and effectiveness of these buffs improved.

"Spirit Shield" boosted magic resistance, while "Divine Armor" boosted physical defense. Combined with "Healing," the Taoist class, capable of both combat and support, earned the nickname "Doctor" among players. Female Taoists were affectionately dubbed "Nurse," which likely explained why their numbers far exceeded those of the other two classes. They were versatile—able to fight, tank, solo, or group-PK—while boasting handsome avatars, flashy equipment, practical skills, and a frugal, wealthy lifestyle that made the other classes look pathetic in comparison.

Because Taoists could heal themselves and had a summoned guardian, their resource consumption during grinding was negligible. They were easy to maintain, picking up whatever potions dropped from monsters to use as needed. Consequently, Taoists were generally much wealthier than Mages or Warriors. Their loot was pure profit, and the gold they earned from selling it made them incredibly rich.

It was a common sight to see a Taoist enter a mob of monsters with nothing but a few talismans and blue potions, cast an "Invisibility" spell, summon their bodyguard, and then leisurely hack away at monsters, chat with female players, and loot items. They would return with their bags bursting with rewards.

Mages, by contrast, were the polar opposite. Weak, poorly equipped, and constantly burning through money just to level up, they lived like beggars. Their limited skill sets meant that in parties, they could only watch others loot while they worked hard to provide damage, hoping the Taoist players would be generous enough to share some trash loot to cover their next potion run. Most Mages looked on with envy as Taoists flirted while grinding, unable to replicate the Taoists' ability to stand amidst a swarm of monsters with ease. Aside from fast leveling and high attack power, Mages were essentially useless.

Warriors at least had the advantage of simple controls and high survivability. This disparity led to the tragic reality of many early-game Mages deleting their characters to reroll as Taoists or Warriors. It also explained why Mage equipment was so cheap; Lin Jia bought a level 19 "Fireball" skill book for a mere 50,000 gold without even haggling.

Due to the massive Taoist population and the scarcity of items, fierce competition drove prices for their gear sky-high. Rumor had it that the level 25 "Divine Armor" skill book was being scalped for as much as 2 million gold, yet no one was selling.

Thinking of skill books reminded Lin Jia that back on the Thunder server, he had accidentally looted several high-level skill books from a Taoist named "Little Evil God," including a level 25 Warrior skill, "Assassination Sword." To make up for not buying a skill for Lao Si, Lin Jia planned to secretly transfer it to him as a surprise. He also had copies of the level 28 "Half-Moon Slash" and the level 30 "Savage Charge" on that alt account. He intended to bring them over for his brothers as well.

Warrior skills were few and far between, and with a large player base, they were even more expensive than Taoist books. Due to low drop rates, their prices remained stubbornly high. Lin Jia never imagined that the batch of books he had picked up by chance would save them millions of gold, with plenty left over to sell for extra profit.

However, when Lin Jia secretly logged into his alt account to deliver the surprise, the system displayed: "Account does not exist!" He stared blankly for a long time before remembering that during the server migration, they had all been too busy scouring the world for low-level, non-shop gear. That alt account had been filled with useless items like meat with quality over 20 and quest items like the Prayer Necklace. He had completely forgotten about it.

His brothers had no idea he had ever found those books. At the time, Lin Jia hadn't considered them particularly valuable, assuming they would drop from high-level monsters eventually. He hadn't mentioned it to his brothers, and they hadn't reminded him during the migration. He had forgotten to transfer the account!

Lin Jia broke into a cold sweat. It was fortunate he hadn't told them; if they knew he had once possessed such treasures only to lose them, they would have killed him.

He tried to log back into the Thunder server to check, but as he stared at the ID input box, he realized he couldn't remember the username or password for that randomly created alt. He had only made it to complete a quick quest and never intended to use it again, so he had typed in random letters and used the same string for both the ID and password. Now, his memory was a total blank.