novelraw Chapter 102: Trade and Forging
Chapter 102: Trade and Forging
[You step forward and touch the Book of Craftsmen. A resonance forms between your feeble wandering soul and the book.]
[You may now use the Book of Craftsmen’s forging functions.]
The game’s crafting system included forging, enhancing, enchanting, repairing, dismantling, and more.
In Lin Xun’s inventory, both the Heavy Metal Plate Armor and the Nano-Bio Combat Armor were in a damaged state.
He tried clicking Repair to see how much Spirit Essence each would cost.
Result: repairing the Heavy Metal Plate Armor would cost 80 Spirit Essence, quite cheap.
But the Nano-Bio Combat Armor? A jaw-dropping 1,600 Spirit Essence.
“Daylight robbery!”
Lin Xun had no strength left to complain about this cursed game.
If repairing a Rare-grade item already cost that much, how absurd would the selling price be?He then opened the Shell Panel. The Paladin of Discipline Shell had already been reshaped earlier in the day.
Glancing at the time, he saw that his nighttime soul strength had just recovered, so without hesitation, he began reshaping the Blacksmith Shell.
[You have possessed the Corrupted Blacksmith Shell.]
The blacksmith’s forging level wasn’t all-powerful, his Master-Level Forging Skill only worked on Epic-grade gear and below.
Fortunately, the two damaged items were only Common+ and Rare.
He used the blacksmith’s forging ability to attempt repairs on both.
[You used Master-Level Forging Skill on Heavy Metal Plate Armor…]
[Repair failed. Missing required material: Molten Iron Ingot ×2]
[You used Master-Level Forging Skill on Nano-Bio Combat Armor…]
[Repair failed. Missing required materials: Micro Nano Robot Pack ×1, Hive-Structured Tantalum-Titanium Alloy Exoskeleton ×1]
The good news was that the blacksmith somehow had the skills of a scientist, he could repair high-tech equipment.
The bad news was both pieces still required very specific materials.
After thinking it over briefly, Lin Xun walked over and clicked on the Book of Trade.
[You step forward and touch the Book of Trade. A resonance forms between your feeble wandering soul and the book.]
[You may now use the Book of Trade’s trading functions.]
[Because you are currently in Difficulty Tier 3, the Book of Trade will only display items from this tier and below.]
The in-game trading system had strict limits. Since Lin Xun was in a Tier 3 chapter, he couldn’t buy Tier 4 items or equipment.
But rules were dead, people were alive.
This was where being an official Apostle really paid off.
On the Apostle Forum, there was an entire dedicated section called Item Requests & Trades, where players could organize offline trades to bypass the game’s cursed restrictions.
As long as you were a registered Apostle, you could access this benefit.
That said, offline trading came with risks. If Apostles didn’t want to deal with potential danger but still wanted to trade, they could request official mediation.
The Surveillance Division of the Apostle Security Council would act as a middleman. Neither party had to meet in person, the trade would be completed through them.
Of course, that kind of service came with a fee…
However, since Lin Xun was an official Apostle, transaction fees weren’t charged to internal members, he could enjoy the privilege for free.
After clicking on the Book of Trade, a dense wall of text popped up.
There were categories for equipment, items, materials, junk, special items, special Spirit Essence, and so on, a dazzling variety.
This cursed game, in a rare show of kindness, provided search, filter, and sorting functions. A real blessing for compulsive spenders.
Lin Xun browsed through the in-game market prices for equipment.
Ruined-grade equipment was basically worthless scrap.
Common and Fine-grade gear typically ranged from a few hundred to four or five thousand Spirit Essence, which was still reasonable.
But once it came to Rare+ grade, prices skyrocketed.
Lin Xun also noticed that weapons were consistently priced higher than armor.
In the entire trading interface, Rare-grade gear was still fairly abundant. But Epic-grade gear? There were barely a few items listed, and all of them were ridiculously overpriced.
He tried listing the Yellow-Robed Bishop’s Rare+ ceremonial robe on the Book of Trade.
The cursed game suggested a price of 25,000 Spirit Essence, and asked whether he wanted to list it at that price or adjust it.
Lin Xun blinked, feeling like he was on the verge of overnight riches.
Then he clicked ‘No.’
He tried listing his most powerful item, the Thunder Dragon Staff-Spear, and the cursed game immediately spat out a price so outrageous…
Lin Xun had to count the zeroes multiple times to confirm it was 170,000 Spirit Essence, not a bug.
For reference, he currently had only 27,000 Spirit Essence, and that was including the value of all his consumable items.
“Looks like the drop rate for gear in this cursed game is absolutely abysmal.”
Even after clearing a Tier 3 chapter, all the Spirit Essence he’d accumulated was just barely enough to afford a single Rare+ armor piece. If he wanted to buy a weapon, he’d need at least ten to twenty thousand more.
Elite monsters and bosses in the game always dropped Spirit Essence, but rarely dropped equipment. This scarcity was clearly what kept gear prices so high.
Lin Xun searched for the materials he needed, and the game quickly returned results.
All the materials he required were available for purchase, and the cost was slightly lower than what it would’ve taken to repair the gear directly.
Even better, the game provided its own estimated price and item grade beside each listing, so he didn’t have to worry about getting ripped off.
After some thought, Lin Xun decided that the Common+ Heavy Metal Plate Armor was too trashy to bother with. The Nano-Bio Combat Armor could replace it entirely.
So he chose to repair only the Nano Armor.
He spent 1,200 Spirit Essence to purchase the two repair materials.
Then he used the Blacksmith to begin hammering away.
[You successfully repaired Nano-Bio Combat Armor!]
“Excellent. The Book of Craftsmen would’ve charged 1,600, doing it myself only cost 1,200. That’s 400 Spirit Essence saved.”
Lin Xun upheld the fine tradition of being a frugal and resourceful man.
He returned to the Book of Craftsmen and clicked on the Forge option.
[Do you wish to forge equipment for the current Shell?]
The forging process in the Book of Craftsmen worked by first selecting the Shell, then the equipment type, and finally drawing from available materials to generate a random item, like opening a loot box.
Lin Xun selected the Earth Giant Shell, then chose ‘Weapon’ from the list of equipment types.
[Generating crafting blueprint based on your available materials…]
[Giant Branch of the Ancient Primordial Tree + Subspecies Dragon Fang + Fang of the Black Giant Worm + Fang of the Wolfhound + Advanced Calibration Magic Array Blueprint (not yet owned)]
[With the above materials and a crafting cost of 20,000 Spirit Essence, you may forge a weapon suitable for this Shell. Estimated equipment grade: Epic.]
“Twenty thousand just to craft it? That’s robbery!”
At this point, Lin Xun was really hoping the Blacksmith could forge Epic-grade gear.
Since he was missing one required material, he returned to the Book of Trade to check.
Fortunately, the missing item, Advanced Calibration Magic Array Blueprint was available for sale.
But only two were listed. One was priced at 13,000, the other at 12,000.
The game’s estimated value was 11,000, and the item was graded as Epic Material.
Lin Xun considered saving 1,000 by going for the cheaper one, but the Book of Trade didn’t support private messaging to haggle. The consignment price was final.
He felt a major headache coming on. Just to forge this one weapon, he’d need 12,000 for the material, and 20,000 for the crafting fee.
32,000 Spirit Essence total, and he was still 6,000 short.
“Do I need to sell gear to make up the difference?”
Rubbing his temples, Lin Xun continued scrolling through the trade listings.
Suddenly, one particular item caught his eye.
“Forging Skill Enhancement Scroll”