novelraw Chapter 105-1: Regenerating Scale Armor of the Dragon Rider (1)
Chapter 105-1: Regenerating Scale Armor of the Dragon Rider (1)
Early the next morning.
Several pieces of equipment in the game had already been sold, leaving only the damaged Heavy Metal Plated Armor still listed on the Book of Trade.
Lin Xun lowered the price by 100, adjusting it to 250 Spirit Essence, and left it up for sale.
From selling a few items, he made a total of 9,500 Spirit Essence, with the Chieftain’s Scepter of the Beastmen Giants accounting for the bulk, a full 8,000 Spirit Essence.
After deducting nearly 500 in transaction fees, he was left with 9,000 Spirit Essence in earnings.
His balance suddenly shot up to 22,000 Spirit Essence.
Feeling that his savings were sufficient, Lin Xun went straight to the Book of Craftsmen.
While blacksmiths could craft weapons directly, their forging process was as follows, select the type of equipment to forge, then manually insert materials, followed by the forging stage.
It gave off the same vibe as a clueless chef’s apprentice randomly throwing ingredients and seasonings into a pot.
By comparison, the blueprint-generating function of the Book of Craftsmen was incredibly practical. It let Lin Xun know in advance which materials he should use.He decided to freeload the blueprint function first, then have a blacksmith craft the exact same gear afterward.
It was just like trying on clothes at a mall, jotting down the tag info, and then buying them cheaper online when you got home.
Moreover, this cursed game supported dual wielding.
He wanted to forge another powerful weapon for the Earth Giant, pushing the full-strength build to the extreme.
“Dual-wielding whirlwind barbarian? Just thinking about it gets me hyped!”
But as soon as he clicked the ‘craft weapon’ option, a message from the Book of Craftsmen popped up.
[Generating blueprint based on your available materials…]
[The materials you currently possess are not suitable for weapon crafting. Forcing the process will result in reduced weapon quality.]
[Based on your available materials, crafting armor is recommended.]
[Would you like to proceed with generating a weapon blueprint anyway?]
Lin Xun frowned and opened his Inventory.
The current materials included: Wolfhound Hide, Subspecies Dragon Scales, and Source of Crystal.
The two materials capable of generating special traits were: Sapling of the Corrupted Tree of Life (Special Material) and Multicolored Poison Powder Gland (Special Material).
After thinking it over, he followed the Book of Craftsmen’s recommendation and generated a blueprint for armor instead.
[Generating blueprint based on your available materials…]
[Subspecies Dragon Scales + Wolfhound Hide + Sapling of the Corrupted Tree of Life + Astrological Meteorite Alloy (Not Owned) + Advanced Tuning Magic Diagram (Not Owned)]
[With the above materials, and by spending 18,000 Spirit Essence, you can craft armor suited for this Shell. The resulting armor will be of Epic quality.]
“…Why are two materials missing?”
Lin Xun reviewed the blueprint and found that Source of Crystal hadn’t been included, it was probably due to low compatibility with the equipment type.
He quickly ran over to the Book of Trade to check the required crafting materials.
There was only one Advanced Tuning Magic Diagram left, priced at 13,000.
As for Astrological Meteorite Alloy, it was more commonly listed on the market.
However, the prices were sky-high, with the cheapest one going for 25,000.
Lin Xun winced. The two materials totaled 38,000, but he only had 22,000. He was short by 16,000.
The only idle item left in his Inventory was the Military Crossbow (Common+ Grade Weapon).
Even if he sold it, it wouldn’t fetch much, it was better saved for quickly pulling aggro in a pinch.
Everything else was practical gear already equipped on his Shells.
Thanks to the Visage of the Leader level-boost, all of his Shells had seen a dramatic increase in combat power. Each one could now serve as a main Shell, so Lin Xun didn’t want to part with any of their gear.
“Well, since it’s armor for the Earth Giant, I guess I’ll sell the Rare-tier ragged skirt…”
The Earth Giant was wearing a piece of armor, a leather skirt dropped by the Beastmen Giant Chieftain, classified as Rare gear.
He listed the Beastmen Chieftain’s Leather Skirt on the Book of Trade. The cursed game recommended a retail price of 6,000.
“All right, just 10,000 more to go.”
Suddenly, a special item in his Inventory caught Lin Xun’s eye.
[Summoning Horn – Turkoman Bloodhorse (Special Item)]
Ever since he got the Three-Headed Lion, the warhorse had drastically fallen out of favor, it had essentially been sent to the cold palace.
Given that, he might as well squeeze out its last bit of value by selling it for cash.
Upon checking the panel, Lin Xun found no listings for Summoning Items, suggesting they were quite rare.
He tried listing the Summoning Horn.
This cursed game not only gave it a whopping suggested price of 22,000 Spirit Essence, but even provided a summon evaluation.
[Turkoman Bloodhorse: A massive warhorse over three meters tall. Sturdy and powerful, it possesses ferocious charging momentum. Can synergize with Shell charge-type skills to unleash unexpectedly devastating effects. Summon Type: Mount. Summon Rating: 113]
Lin Xun blinked. If a horse was worth that much, wouldn’t the Three-Headed Lion be priced to the heavens?
Driven by curiosity, he listed the Brass Whistle.
[Corrupted Three-Headed Lion: A massive beast over four meters tall. Extremely fierce and violent. Even when it loses two heads in battle, it continues to fight without weakening. Summon Type: Mount / Combat. Summon Rating: 387]
[Suggested Spirit Essence Price: 195,000]
Lin Xun was dumbfounded. The Three-Headed Lion was worth significantly more than even Epic-tier weapons.
This made him realize just how rare Summoning Items were.
No wonder most independent Apostles on the forum didn’t have summoning items. Only a select few within organizations possessed them.
With this realization, Lin Xun decided not to sell the Summoning Horn directly. Instead, he clicked on another function in the Book of Trade: Auction!
[You have set ‘Summoning Horn – Turkoman Bloodhorse’ to auction status.]
[Please set a starting bid and minimum increment.]
After a moment’s thought, Lin Xun set the starting bid at 25,000 and the minimum increment at 1,000.
[This item is now in auction status. All Apostles browsing the auction section of the Book of Trade can now see it.]
[If no one places a bid within one hour, the auction fails and the item is returned to you.]
[If no new bids are placed for an hour after the last one, the item is sold to the final bidder.]
[Default auction time is 12 hours. To extend, you must pay a certain amount of Spirit Essence.]
With the horn listed, it didn’t take long for text to pop up from the Book of Trade.
[Apostle has placed a bid of 25,000 Spirit Essence on your auction item ‘Summoning Horn – Turkoman Bloodhorse’!]
Before he could catch his breath, more updates appeared:
[Bid raised to 26,000 Spirit Essence!]
[Bid raised to 27,000 Spirit Essence!]
[Bid raised to 28,000 Spirit Essence!]
[…]
Lin Xun blinked, watching the price soar to 30,000 before the climb finally slowed.
Staring at the trade notifications gave him the illusion that Spirit Essence was flying straight into his wallet.
While waiting, he immediately bought the Advanced Tuning Magic Diagram for 13,000, fearing someone else might grab the last one.
Later, checking back on the auction, the horn’s price had stabilized at 34,000.
Lin Xun quietly waited for another bidder, but after an hour passed with no changes, he accepted that 34,000 was likely the final price.
Sure enough, the auction ended, and the game text displayed:
[Your auction item ‘Summoning Horn – Turkoman Bloodhorse’ has been sold for 34,000 Spirit Essence.]
[After deducting 3,400 in transaction fees, you received 30,600 Spirit Essence!]
“Auction fees are kinda steep…”
The 10% fee made Lin Xun wince a little.
Still, his balance had now surged to 39,600 Spirit Essence, and he felt like he was flush with cash.
Without hesitation, he bought the Astrological Meteorite Alloy for 25,000.
His funds shrank to 14,600. Just as he was about to sigh that money came and went too fast.
[Your consigned item ‘Beastmen Chieftain’s Leather Skirt’ has been sold.]
[After a 300-point transaction fee, you received 5,700 Spirit Essence!]
His balance climbed back over the 20,000 mark, hitting 20,300 Spirit Essence.
“This library zone’s cursed. My wallet keeps expanding and shrinking, again and again…”
He suddenly felt like a kid playing Monopoly again.
Finally, Lin Xun had gathered all the materials needed to forge the gear. He decisively possessed the blacksmith’s Shell.
He clicked Grandmaster Forging Art and selected all five materials from the free blueprint…
Then hit Forge!
As a master of thrift, Lin Xun saved another 18,000 Spirit Essence on forging fees.
[Forging equipment…]
As usual, the game text froze.
Presumably, the blacksmith was hammering away, sparks flying in a fiery blur.
Lin Xun waited eagerly until noon, when the game text finally changed.
[Forging successful!]
[You have obtained Regenerating Scale Armor of the Dragon Rider (Epic-tier equipment)!]