35 - Mechanical City (IV)

Chapter 35: Mechanical City (IV)

They were immediately slapped in the face. 1

At first, no one noticed anything unusual, but then Mingyue Qingge returned with more pulled mobs. As Xiao Ran continued pushing forward with the fifteen more mechanical puppets toward the four o’clock position, he casually told her, “Go back and pick up the loot.”

Pick up the loot? What loot?

Mingyue Qingge focused her gaze and realized that a trail of glittering items had dropped along the path Xiao Ran had passed, all from the first fifteen mobs they had killed.

It all made sense now. There were exactly forty-five mobs in total. Xiao Ran had calculated it perfectly: after making one full circuit, the first fifteen mechanical puppets were completely wiped out, allowing him to pull another fifteen. At this point, there were still only forty-five mobs in the group, without any increase.

The reason they hadn’t realized this sooner was simply because it happened too quickly. How could Xiao Ran possibly have wiped out fifteen mechanical puppets in such a short time?

This guy’s spell damage was insanely high!

Mingyue Qingge, teary-eyed with gratitude, obediently turned back to pick up all the items that had dropped and put them into her inventory.

Nuannuan Xiao Taiyang and Gu Li were given the same instructions.

At first, no one noticed what was happening. There wasn’t the expected growing mob of monsters, but after watching the three puppeteer teammates run back and forth in the opposite direction to pick up items a few times, even an idiot could figure it out. The entire team couldn’t help but admire Xiao Ran even more, worshipping him as a master strategist.

It had to be said, this new method was way more efficient than their previous approach. Before, when the damage team was dealing damage, the pulling team could only tank the mobs, with no time or energy to do anything else, and when the pulling team went out to gather mobs, the damage dealers were stuck waiting. But now, nearly everyone was in constant motion!

No rest, no wait time — everyone was fully contributing in their roles! The team’s damage output never ceased!

This tactic could only be used because of Xiao Ran! Without his godlike ability to gather mobs, there would be no way to implement this kiting strategy. As they watched their experience points rise bit by bit, they couldn’t help but feel incredibly lucky.

So many teams had tried to invite Xiao Ran, but it was their group that he accepted. Combined with the overwhelming power Xiao Ran displayed, this sense of recognition filled everyone with enthusiasm and energy.

A few hours had passed and it was nearing logout time, but the team was completely unaware until they noticed that players around them in the mechanical stone array were starting to log off one by one, and the number of players in the area suddenly decreased.

The feeling of farming mobs with a pro was just too good! None of them wanted to log off!

“Great god!” Mingyue Qingge called out without hesitation after witnessing Xiao Ran’s strength. She handed over all the agreed-upon charged crystals to him and gave him 80 silver coins, which was one-sixth of the total money the team had earned throughout the afternoon.

“You don’t need to give me anymoney. We had an agreement,” Xiao Ran replied.

“Oh, don’t be polite! This is only what you deserve. You didn’t gather many crystals this afternoon compared to the gear and materials we all got. If you don’t take the money, we’ll feel bad,” Mingyue Qingge quickly said, and the other teammates nodded in agreement.

To be honest, with three puppeteers in the team, charged crystals were always in short supply. When Xiao Ran first joined and asked for the crystals, although no one said it out loud, they were a bit unhappy about it. But after Xiao Ran joined, the team’s efficiency improved so much that the overall benefits far exceeded the value of the charged crystals. By the end of the day, they even felt a bit embarrassed that they only gave him crystals.

Even Taizi Touhou, who had been at odds with Xiao Ran at the beginning, now stood silently to the side as Qingge got so close to Xiao Ran. Though he was still a bit annoyed, he didn’t say anything, keeping his complaints to himself.

Since they insisted, Xiao Ran no longer declined and calmly accepted the 12 charged crystals and the money.

“Great god, let’s meet here again tomorrow, ah?” Mingyue Qingge grinned, speaking naturally as Xiao Ran accepted the payment, trying to create an atmosphere where it felt like the great god was already part of their team and would surely continue farming with them tomorrow. Surely he wouldn’t join another person’s team.

It could be considered quite clever!

Xiao Ran glanced at the young girl, immediately seeing through her little scheme, but he didn’t say anything. He nodded in agreement. After all, he still needed to stay in Mechanical City for a while, so having a stable team wasn’t a bad idea.

They had worked the whole afternoon and only managed to gather 12 charged crystals. He needed 300! How long was he going to have to stay in Mechanical City to collect them all, ah?

After parting ways with the team, Xiao Ran sat down by a stone, feeling a bit down. A nearby freshly respawned mechanical puppet froze for a moment upon spotting him, then fled like a coward.

“God-level boss… best not to provoke him.”

Watching the surrounding mobs scatter like they were fleeing from a plague, Xiao Ran’s mood worsened.

He sighed and stood up, then dusted himself off and started walking toward the teleportation point outside the Mechanical Stone Array.

As it was nearing logout time, many players were setting up stalls near the teleportation point, selling mostly “specialties” from the leveling area in Mechanical City.

Items sold near these leveling zones were typically cheaper than those sold in the city. With that in mind, Xiao Ran decided to browse through the stalls.

Most players were selling charged crystals at a price of 30 to 40 silver coins, while a piece of level 40 rare red gear only went for around 20 silver. This showed just how unreasonably overpriced these crystals, with the same drop rate as red gear, had become.

But there was no helping it—charged crystals were a consumable that everyone needed. While killing mobs wasn’t too difficult, for puppeteer players who needed to level up their skills, the drop rate was far from enough. The prices in this leveling zone were already unfair, but if he were to buy them from the auction house, the price would be even higher—around 50 silver per crystal. That was exactly why Xiao Ran hadn’t planned on collecting charged crystals from stalls in the first place.

Though he wasn’t short on money, he wasn’t keen on spending it so frivolously.

Xiao Ran stood in front of a stall for puppeteers, casually tossing a charged crystal in his hand, and spoke shamelessly: “Brothers, your prices on these crystals are a bit unfair. How about giving me a discount?”

“Unfair? Are you trying to scam me or something?” The puppeteer player shot him a glare. He was clearly an experienced vendor who had had a stall there for quite some time. He wasn’t going to fall for Xiao Ran’s words.

“I need a lot of them, seriously. You’ve got so many crystals here, how about cutting me a deal?” Xiao Ran persisted, shameless as ever. Perhaps hanging around Yiye Feihua had rubbed off on him because he felt completely at ease with such brazen bargaining tactics. He had singled out this stall precisely because it had the most charged crystals, making it the best target for haggling.

“No discounts, no discounts! It’s hard-earned money!” Unfortunately, the vendor remained completely unmoved.

“Alright then……” Xiao Ran, still somewhat inexperienced in bargaining, seeing that the vendor was truly unwilling, put down the crystal and prepared to leave.

But the vendor called after him, “Eh, you really need a lot of charged crystals?”

Xiao Ran turned back. “Yes, ah.”

The vendor hesitated for a moment, glancing at Xiao Ran’s decent gear before saying, “I won’t give you a discount, but we can trade. Do you have any Yanjia Hearts?”

Yanjia Hearts, like charged crystals, were essential materials for making mechanical puppets. If charged crystals were the energy source for the puppets, then Yanjia Hearts were the control center. The difference was that charged crystals were energy-based consumables—different skills consumed different amounts of energy—while Yanjia Hearts were time-based consumables. Different levels of Yanjia Hearts could keep a puppet running for certain periods of time, regardless of whether the puppet was living or dead, or how energy much energy it consumed.

The lowest tier, white Yanjia hearts, could keep a puppet going for about a month. Higher level puppets also needed higher level Yanjia hearts. For example, a flying puppet would need a Yanjia heart of at least purple quality to function.

Moreover, higher level Yanjia hearts could also give different attributes to the puppets.

Naturally, Yanjia hearts were more valuable than charged crystals as a result.

Xiao Ran shook his head. They had spent the entire afternoon farming and had only gotten a single white Yanjia heart, which had gone to Mingyue Qingge after a loot roll.

Seeing that, the puppeteer looked disappointed. Judging my Xiao Ran’s above average gear, he had assumed Xiao Ran was capable, but it turns out that even after an entire day, he hadn’t managed to get a single Yanjia heart.

Xiao Ran pondered for a moment longer, then asked: “So if I did have a Yanjia heart, what would the exchange rate be to get charging crystals from you?”

“It would depend on the quality of the Yanjia heart. White or green ones aren’t worth that much since anyone can put in a bit of effort to farm them by themselves. At most, you could exchange one for two or three crystals. Red is rarer, so you could get about six. As for blue…… I probably don’t need to elaborate; they could exchange for ten or so.” The puppeteer player explained slowly.

Once puppeteer players complete their level 40 breakthrough task, they need to craft higher-level puppets, which naturally requires higher-level Yanjia hearts. Blue-quality or better Yanjia hearts only drop from special elite monsters at high levels, so their value is extremely high. Compared to ordinary blue equipment, it would be considered even more precious.

But killing elites isn’t as simple as it sounds; you need both strength and luck. As a result, just a single blue-quality Yanjia heart can sell for 1 gold coin at auction. Puppeteer players often prefer trading charged crystals for these higher-grade Yan Jia Hearts.

Xiao Ran couldn’t help exclaiming, “Ten or so?!”

The puppeteer player curled his lip and laughed. “Your expression is too funny, like you’re about to score a blue-quality Yanjia heart any minute. Don’t forget you don’t even have a single white Yanjia heart right now, ah. Move aside, move aside, don’t block my business.”

“Are you going to set your stall up here again tomorrow?” Xiao Ran asked.

“What the fuck? Are you serious?”

“Who knows?” Xiao Ran smiled, then under the puppeteer player’s puzzled stare, walked back to the Mechanical Stone Array.

The puppeteer player stared after his retreating figure for a moment before sneering disdainfully: “Alright, I’ll take as many Yanjia hearts as you can bring tomorrow! But remember, I only want the blue ones, ah!”

Xiao Ran raised his fingers in an OK gesture in response.

Tch. What a pretentious show-off.

The puppeteer player smiled indifferently.

Footnotes

proven wrong