Chapter 054: To Sell or Not to Sell?

The early levels before Lin Jia reached level 21 weren’t worth dwelling on. From level 21 onward, the experience required for each level increased significantly. To reach level 35 from 21, Lin Jia would need a total of 20.7 million experience points. Using a red wild boar, which gave 320 experience points, as the standard, Lin Jia would need to kill 64,687.5 red wild boars to reach level 35. Even if he didn’t eat, drink, sleep, or rest, and the monsters lined up passively to be electrocuted by him—if he could kill 200 per hour—it would still take him 324 hours, or thirteen and a half days, to reach level 35!

But was that possible? Obviously not. Under normal circumstances, given his current level and equipment, earning 30,000 experience per hour was already impressive. After he leveled up and upgraded his gear, achieving around 50,000 per hour might be feasible. If he trained for twelve hours a day, that would be 600,000 experience daily. To reach the required 20.7 million experience, Lin Jia would need to train persistently for thirty-five days to level up!

Of course, as his level and equipment improved, and as he started fighting higher-level monsters that awarded more experience, the time needed would shrink. But the higher his level, the less experience he would get from weaker monsters. Besides, there was no way Lin Jia could devote twelve hours every single day to mechanical grinding. So, realistically, he estimated that reaching the current level cap would take at least two months.

Lin Jia, still unfamiliar with the game’s details and mechanics, could only make such an uncertain estimate. If he got busy and missed some days, it’d take even longer.

Lin Jia guessed that when players reached level 30 or even 35, there was no way the game would just cap out there. After all, every skill in the game had three stages: 0–1, 1–2, and 2–3, and each stage could only be learned after leveling up once or twice. The level 35 skill book he’d just found was a clear hint: you couldn’t just learn a skill at its highest tier right away.

Among the skill books Lin Jia had gathered, the lowest was for level 28. Other than the two skill books—“Explosive Flame” and “Assassination Sword”—the Evil God had discarded by the bookstore at the beginning, there were almost no skill books for levels 22–27 across the three classes. This struck Lin Jia as odd. There was no reason for the Evil God to buy skill books that wouldn’t be needed for months but skip those he’d need soon. Even if the Evil God didn’t need them himself, wasn’t he looking for a Summon Skeleton book? It would’ve made more sense to trade or sell the level 22–27 books for a quick profit. Who would spend a fortune on books they wouldn’t need for ages, especially when funds were tight?

Lin Jia counted:
“Hell Lightning” at level 30, “Magic Shield” at 31, “Holy Word” at 33, “Blizzard” at 35;
“Crescent Blade” at 28, “Savage Charge” at 30, “Flame Sword” at 35;
“Binding Curse” at 28, “Group Healing” at 33, “Summon Divine Beast” at 35.
All told, nearly eighty books covering the three classes. Including the dozen or so snatched by the sudden warrior, over a hundred books in total. Why would the Evil God spend over a million in-game currency in the early days just to hoard these books?

Lin Jia couldn’t figure it out, and hadn’t had a chance to ask the Evil God where he’d found those high-level skill books. Surely, if even the lower-level books were rare, the higher-level ones couldn’t be as common as trash. In any case, Lin Jia hadn’t seen any skill books above level 20 in the bookstores of Bicheng or Tucheng.

To confirm, he went back to the bookstore just above the safe zone in Bicheng and opened the purchase menu. Only a dozen or so low-level skill books for the three classes were available, and among them, a lone “Summon Divine Beast” lay quietly on the shelf. On a whim, Lin Jia bought the only copy for the steep price of 20,000 gold coins. Luckily, he’d just picked up 30,000 earlier—otherwise, as a newly created side character, he’d have never been able to afford such a pricey skill book!

This only remaining high-level skill book was likely one that Love Angel had dropped at the bookstore entrance during the recent confusion, picked up and resold by a newbie, while others might have been refreshed in the chaos, or tucked away by players who’d found them.

Looking at the expensive new skill book in his inventory, Lin Jia finally understood why it had sat unsold for so long: Bicheng was now a gathering place for newbies, players’ levels were generally low, and with little money to spare, no one was going to tie up their scant resources on a book they wouldn’t need for ages.

Back in the safe zone, Lin Jia considered whether to cash in the high-level skill books for a quick windfall or hold onto them in hopes that they’d soar in value later, like the mid-level books were doing.

As he hesitated, the boss suddenly called out beside him, “Why haven’t you switched characters yet? What are you doing? Are we grinding or not? The lag’s gone now!”

Urged by the boss, Lin Jia simply closed the game client and glanced at the time—it was already nearly one o’clock. “Another all-nighter?” he wondered. After a moment’s hesitation, he remembered he’d already told his father he’d be out. Though it was rather irresponsible to be away from home for several days in a row, at least he wouldn’t get a beating when he returned. Relieved, he logged back in to his main account.

The boss got up and went over to the sofa, giving Old Four a flurry of kicks and punches to wake him up. Groggy, Old Four was dragged back into the fray. After a few hours of sleep, his drunkenness had mostly worn off. Hearing that the servers were no longer lagging, he perked up, grabbed the half-finished glass of Pepsi left from earlier, downed it to soothe his parched throat, cleared his throat with a couple of coughs, and rejoined the leveling crew.

From midnight to ten in the morning was the smoothest period for internet connections. The three brothers stocked up on potions in Shabak City; the boss packed Old Four’s and Lin Jia’s bags to bursting. She clearly intended to grind for an hour or two straight without returning, so she’d rather see her brothers crawl along at a snail’s pace, laden with supplies, clearing monsters as they went, while advancing toward the third floor of the Incense Stone Catacombs.

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[Author’s note: Last night I read some other “Legend” stories and suddenly realized I’d forgotten a lot of details—like the Skeleton Ring from the Skeleton Set. Originally, it wasn’t called that, but “Wrath Ring.” It only became Skeleton Ring after the first revision. But changing it now would be too messy, so let’s just pretend it’s always been called that! Hardcore fans, please don’t nitpick. It’s been over two years since I left “Legend,” and many things have faded into memory. Plus, each server and region had small differences, so if some things in the story seem odd, don’t be surprised. The version you’re reading has been heavily modified by Shanda, so differences are to be expected!

PS: Another chapter tonight! I really admire myself—woke up at midnight!? Back to sleep! At 8 PM, the “Essence Collection Ceremony” hosted by yours truly will be held at the top of the book review section. Those wishing to contribute, don’t be late!]