Chapter 050: Picking Up Things

The Legend of the Mage – Chapter 050: Picking Up Things

After slaying a monster, Lin Jia would carve out its meat, discarding any chicken meat with quality below 5/10 and any meat below 12/10. By the time Lin Jia had eliminated all the adorable animals in the small ranch, his backpack was laden with twenty-seven or twenty-eight pieces of chicken meat above quality five and over a dozen pieces of meat above quality twelve. He had even unexpectedly scored two pieces of meat above quality twenty. Upon exiting, his boss had already been pacing around the room for quite some time, claiming the NPC had hinted that only one person could enter at a time, so she waited. The moment Lin Jia stepped out, she eagerly rushed in.

Perhaps due to it being an isolated map, Lin Jia felt that his speed inside the ranch was a bit faster than outside. Once he left, every three steps lagged again. With his backpack filled with prime meat, Lin Jia slipped and dodged his way back to the safe zone in Bicheng City, wary of the troubled times—who knew if some desperate brother might rob him? If he ran into a few fellows like those who used to kill for loot and sell it, the whole trip would have been pointless!

He found the bookstore owner in Bicheng City again, handed in the quest, losing five pieces of chicken meat and five pieces of meat from his pack but gaining an item called the “Blessing Necklace.” Lin Jia examined it—sure enough, it had no attributes. After equipping it and checking the status panel, he found no hidden stat boosts. Aside from being a novelty, it was utterly useless, and it looked like a shrunken, battered gong—old and unattractive.

Lin Jia didn’t mind its practical value, since it was the first item he’d earned from a quest. Peering into his pack, he saw twenty-some pieces of chicken meat and eleven pieces of meat remaining. He tried clicking the bookstore owner again and discovered the option to exchange for another Blessing Necklace was still available. Without hesitation, Lin Jia traded for another one—after all, the chicken meat served no purpose, so he might as well collect more quirky gear to show off or give away.

Altogether, Lin Jia traded for three Blessing Necklaces. Lined up in his pack, they looked quite satisfying. Excited, he stashed the leftover meat and necklaces in the warehouse, then hurried off to the Advanced Warrior’s House—the monster hunting quest could be repeated up to level eleven.

At the Warrior’s House, he waited until his boss finished slaying the monsters. She grinned and said, “Hey, Second Brother! I carved out over twenty pieces of meat above twelve quality! And twenty-some chicken meat—how many necklaces can I get for these? Look! I even got meat above quality twenty! I’ve never seen meat this good before! I’ll keep it in my collection!”

As Lin Jia entered the quest area, he turned and laughed, “What’s the use of keeping the meat—” He stopped mid-sentence, switched out of the game while still chasing a rare deer with his alt, and checked the quest thread on the forum. He howled aloud, “Oh my gosh! Meat above quality twenty is needed for the third quest! And you need twenty pieces!!”

Earlier, when Lin Jia traded for necklaces, he had three pieces of meat above quality twenty in his pack. But, since he hadn’t stored them in the warehouse first, the bookstore owner took them as quest items as well, leaving Lin Jia with only one piece. Now, thinking about it, his heart ached—the meat above quality twenty was far harder to obtain than meat above twelve, and those rare deer weren’t guaranteed to yield meat every time.

Fuming, Lin Jia switched back to the game screen and controlled his warrior alt with renewed vigor, determined to finish off the nearly dead rare deer he’d been chasing before switching out, intent on making up for his loss.

After learning Lin Jia’s lesson, his boss’s first action upon returning to the city was to check each piece of meat in her pack individually, pulling out any above quality twenty to store in the warehouse before exchanging necklaces. By then, the siblings were essentially doing the quest just for the rare deer meat above quality twenty. The Blessing Necklaces nearly filled two alt accounts’ warehouses.

Lin Jia’s alt soon surpassed level seven and could no longer trade for necklaces, so he simply registered a new account dedicated to questing. His boss’s alt would stop hunting at level six, saving it exclusively for trading necklaces.

While other players were suffering from server lag, these two bored souls were happily slaying deer and carving meat, content in their own world. Where others might have grown weary, the two competed to see who could collect more necklaces, neither willing to concede—utterly childish!

When the newly registered alt reached level eleven, both his boss and Lin Jia had filled their accounts with meat above quality twenty and Blessing Necklaces, even the alt’s backpack was stuffed full. Finally, Lin Jia couldn’t endure it anymore—he counted the meat in his pack, and with what was already stored, it was enough for the third quest’s twenty pieces. Stretching his numb legs from hours curled in his chair, he grinned at his boss, “Shall we call it quits? No more space! I’ve got enough meat, a few extras even—how about you?”

His boss checked her warehouse and pack, nodding, “I’ve got a few extras too, let’s call it quits! I’m done with this!”

“What about all these Blessing Necklaces? Should we sell them?” Lin Jia eyed his boss’s pack, stuffed with useless necklaces.

“Let’s leave them on the alt for now! If we sell them, the money won’t transfer to the main account anyway. We’ll deal with them when the third quest opens!” She shut down her alt and switched back to her main.

Lin Jia had already closed his main and created a new alt; now at level eleven, he glanced at the alt’s junk-filled backpack—five pieces of chicken meat and seven pieces of deer meat. He ran into the safe zone, ready to log off and switch to his main.

Controlling his character heading for the safe zone, Lin Jia turned to his boss, “Looks like the server isn’t lagging anymore, huh? Should we go level up?”

His boss was already logged in on her main, replying without looking back, “Go wake that lazy pig! Time to get to work!”

Lin Jia responded with an “Okay!” and prepared to shut down his hastily registered quest alt. As he ran near the safe zone, he remembered the five chicken meat left in his pack and, by habit, clicked the bookstore owner again to try exchanging. The rejection message popped up: “You are already a qualified adventurer…” Lin Jia sighed in disappointment, “So it’s true, you can’t trade necklaces after level eleven!”

Just as he was about to log out, a pile of coins worth over two thousand gold caught his eye on the ground. He instinctively rushed over and stomped on it. The screen flashed, “10,000 gold coins added,” in green letters in the upper left corner, leaving Lin Jia stunned. How could there be 10,000 gold coins lying on the ground?

While he was still bewildered, a level nineteen or higher Taoist wearing medium armor and wielding a Windblade was frantically tossing a heap of random gear and items from his pack. At the same time, he shouted in yellow text, “Garbage game with server lag! Deleting my account, giving away my gear!”

Driven mad by slow internet—a poor soul! Lin Jia didn’t waste a second. With sharp eyes and quick hands, he swooped in and grabbed several pieces of equipment and a dozen skill books, even managing to snatch two huge piles of 10,000 gold coins!

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[Trouble: Rumor has it there’s a mysterious ‘game’ launching its open beta today?]