Chapter 16: The Swindler
“Let Mia get the Vila eagle feathers for you,” Maestro wrote on the paper. “And the Golden-Striped Leeches…”
“I know where to find the Golden-Striped Leeches,” Asker said. “Inside the seventh mountain, there’s an abandoned ‘Sunken Palace’ called Mocius, right?”
“Yes,” Maestro nodded. “That reservoir has long been abandoned by the Empire. They say it’s haunted. The water drawn from it is red, with a faint smell of blood, undrinkable. Our people have explored it before, but most never returned… Are you saying there are Golden-Striped Leeches there?”
“Leeches are found all over the continent, and Golden-Striped Leeches must live where there are many people because they need to consume a large amount of blood,” Asker explained. “Usually, the Golden Leeches in the city are quickly discovered and eliminated by the Church because they prey on victims. However, the underground reservoir in Constantinople is an exception because someone is raising fish there… Have you never counted the number of fish?”
“We did notice that the number of fish each year doesn’t match the number of fry we put in,” Maestro said awkwardly. “But we thought it was because the reservoir was connected to the outside, and some fish escaped through the waterways.”
“So it was actually the Golden-Striped Leeches stealing our fish?” Mia said angrily. “I’m going to kill them all!”
“Then you’ll lose a fortune,” Asker said leisurely. “The spirituality of dead extraordinary creatures dissipates quickly, losing its original value.”
“Ahem, Mia,” Maestro winked. “We can seal off that pool and go in regularly to hunt Golden-Striped Leeches and sell them to rich people like Master Achilles.”
“Good idea.” Mia’s eyes lit up. “Esteemed Master Achilles, since you want Golden-Striped Leeches, you must have collected ways to deal with them, right?”
This girl… As soon as money is mentioned, she changes her tune to “esteemed.” Asker slandered in his heart but smiled on the surface:
“Of course. Golden-Striped Leeches like warm, humid, and dark places. After they are full of blood, they will attach themselves to walls or ceilings, emitting a faint striped golden light, hence their name. Dealing with them is even simpler. A stun grenade and a flashbang can stun their bodies and disrupt their spirituality, then you can just drag them back with a large net.”
“So that’s how it is.” Mia began to rub her fists together. Obviously, military supplies such as stun grenades and flashbangs were not impossible for the Thieves Guild to obtain.
“Then all the items on the list are complete,” Maestro said. “10 pounds of Galya Canyon river water, 30 pounds of Fruit of Eden, and we’ll charge you 70 pounds for the geoduck. These spiritual materials all involve overseas smuggling channels, so the price will be 50%-70% higher than buying locally. Vila eagle feathers, Golden extraordinary leeches, the market price is originally 120 pounds each, but in return for your clues, we will only charge you half the price for each, a total of 230 pounds.”
“I’ll pay a 30% deposit first, which is 69 pounds,” Asker replied readily. At this time, what he needed most was to collect the potion ingredients as soon as possible. For this reason, whether it was providing information on spiritual materials to the other party for free or bearing a little insignificant price premium, it didn’t matter at all. “But it must be delivered tomorrow.”
“No problem.” Before Maestro could speak, Mia had already agreed and then stretched out her hands confidently. Asker twitched the corner of his mouth, counted out 69 pounds of banknotes, and stuffed them into her hand.
“This 69 pounds is my income from the feathers and leeches!” Mia shouted at Maestro. “Consider it an advance!”
Maestro ignored her and just clapped his hands and called another thief over to row Asker out.
Sailing in the waterway corridor, Asker looked at the dark water in the distance and asked casually:
“What is Maestro’s position in the Thieves Guild?”
“He is our Shadow Mentor,” the rowing thief replied respectfully.
…
Leaving the Aspa reservoir, Asker continued to the next location.
There were five people in the team. The bloodline paths and potion formulas of the other four had been determined, but his own had not been revealed at all. No one asked for the time being because everyone subconsciously felt that with Asker’s knowledge, he must have already prepared the most suitable bloodline path and potion combination for himself.
And that was indeed the case.
The bloodline path Asker planned to choose was the same as the one he chose when he played the game in his previous life, called “Weapon Master,” an extraordinary path that was extremely good at combat. Weapon Masters could master the use of sharp weapons, blunt weapons, bows and crossbows, firearms, and shields. They were good at attacking, blocking, and dodging, could observe the surrounding environment and enemy information, design corresponding tactical plans, and also possessed strong combat intuition, able to anticipate upcoming dangers.
The first Sequence of this bloodline path was the cornerstone Sequence, Perfect Physique X. This Sequence potion would greatly improve the conversion efficiency of the extraordinary’s physical strength and mental strength. At the same time, all attributes, including explosive power, endurance, control, reaction speed, intelligence, and willpower, could be developed in a balanced and comprehensive manner.
For extraordinary beings, there were three most troublesome problems: first, figuring out the sequence combination order of the bloodline; second, obtaining the corresponding potion formula; and third, collecting the ingredients in the formula. If one was a member of an extraordinary family or organization, the first two were basically not a problem, and the third could also be exchanged and purchased within the family/organization. If one was a player, then none of that was a problem, as any problem that could be solved with RMB was not a problem.
Asker was not an RMB warrior in his previous life and could not smash through the entire bloodline path by waving red bills. Therefore, he could forget about other potion formulas, but he had to memorize all the Sequences of Weapon Master. The formula for the first potion, “Perfect Physique X,” was:
-Ingredient-
One Humerus of a Gaul Orge
One Tendon of Fenrisulfr Wolf’s Hind leg
One Remnant of Phantom
-Subsidiary-
20ml ethanol
-Processing-
Thoroughly corrode the Humerus of the Gaul Orge and the Tendon of the Fenrisulfr Wolf’s Hind leg with the Remnant of Phantom, add anhydrous ethanol and stir well, let stand for 24 hours before drinking.
The ingredients in this formula were more troublesome. Gaul Orges lived in Inner Gaul and Outer Gaul, Fenrisulfr Wolves were on the northernmost tip of the Scandinavian peninsula in Navia, and Phantoms roamed the northern coast of the Southern Continent (from Cairo to Tunis). If he were to collect them all by himself, he would have to travel all over the world.
However, Asker knew of a shortcut.
The three most common cornerstone potions in the cornerstone Sequence were Strength X (increased explosive power and endurance), Agility X (increased control and reaction speed), and Intelligence X (increased intelligence and willpower). The corresponding main materials were exactly the Humerus of a Gaul Orge, the Tendon of a Fenrisulfr Wolf’s Hind leg, and the Remnant of a Phantom. Therefore, in theory, as long as one could obtain the potions or extraordinary characteristics of Strength X, Agility X, and Intelligence X, they could replace the main materials of Perfect Physique X.
So where could one find the three cornerstone potions? Constantinople. As the Queen of Cities, Constantinople’s advantage lay here – it was the intersection of East and West trade, and it was also located in the intersection of the Northern, Eastern, and Southern Continents. Coupled with its developed commerce and trade, almost everything in the world could be found here.
Asker slowly came to the slums of Constantinople, where most of the residents were poor migrants, such as Anatolians or Thracians, as well as Saxons and Jutes. Of course, there were also local gangs, which was a common problem in all cities with slums.
At the intersection of two nameless streets, Asker stopped in front of a stall, stared at the vendor’s goods for a long time, and suddenly sneered:
“Heh, gene serum?”
“You are right, esteemed sir,” said the vendor, a Jute who looked like a profiteer, with a short mustache and his hands clasped together in a fawning smile. “This is the gene serum from the Solomon Church. Physique I can increase your strength and endurance, Physique II can increase your agility and reaction speed, and Mind I can increase your intelligence and willpower. What’s even more amazing is that after the scientific modulation of the priests of the Solomon Church, all gene serums do not have the risk of losing control that is characteristic of potions, so they can be taken repeatedly. The more you take, the stronger you will become.”
“Hehe.” Asker picked up a small bottle and shook the liquid inside.
He knew that it was not a gene serum at all. This profiteer named Herosoth had somehow obtained the potions of Strength X, Agility X, and Intelligence X. Instead of selling them properly, this guy was selling them by diluting the three cornerstone potions with water, under the guise of “gene serum,” and he didn’t know how many novice players he had deceived.
During the open beta, game guides were relatively scarce. A bottle of “gene serum” probably only contained a drop of potion, and the rest was tap water. After taking such a thing, one could only increase a little bit of extraordinary power and could not cause a qualitative change in extraordinary characteristics. However, novice players didn’t know this, so a large amount of players’ hard-earned money flowed into the pockets of this profiteer.
It wasn’t until a certain player guild killed this guy that the truth of the scam came to light.
“How much?” Asker asked.
“10 pounds a bottle,” the profiteer said.
“Give me a bottle of Physique I.” Asker took out a banknote and gave it to him, then took a bottle of “Physique I” and drank it.
“No reaction.” He asked knowingly.
“The gene serum doesn’t work that fast,” the profiteer said with a chuckle. “It needs to be digested by your stomach…”
Before he finished speaking, Asker had already drawn Aphrodite and pointed it at the profiteer’s forehead:
“Ten times the price if it’s fake, understand?” Asker said coldly. “100 pounds.”
“This…” The profiteer’s eyes rolled. He knew that the other party was not being fooled at all, but deliberately finding fault knowing that there was a problem with the potion. “I keep all my money at home, I didn’t bring it with me…”
Just waiting for you to say that! Asker thought to himself, and said, “Don’t even think about running away, I’ll go back with you to get it.”
Just waiting for you to say that! The profiteer also thought fiercely in his heart, and agreed repeatedly.
There were no police patrols in the slums, so Asker held the profiteer hostage with his gun against his lower back all the way to the profiteer’s house.
Asker opened the door with the key and saw five or six burly tattooed men sitting inside, looking at him with unkind eyes. At this time, the profiteer who was being held hostage skillfully rolled on the spot and shouted:
“Someone’s looking for trouble! Kill him…”
Before he could finish speaking, a blood flower bloomed on his body. Asker actually shot him accurately while he was rolling at high speed. The gangsters in the room immediately erupted, scrambling to draw their guns, but Asker shot and killed two of them first.
The remaining three gangsters finally pulled out their submachine guns and fired a volley of shots towards the door, only to realize that Asker had already flashed out of the door.
“After him!”
A gangster with a gun rushed out of the door first, quickly scanning left and right, but did not find Asker. At this time, another scream came from behind him – it turned out that Asker had gone around to the side of the house and killed two more people through the window. The only remaining gangster was finally terrified and lost all courage to continue fighting, crawling and rolling towards the distant street.
Just as he was about to rush around the corner, a bullet pierced his back of the head.
These gangsters were used to bullying the poor, so Asker had no psychological burden in killing them. He entered the profiteer’s house leisurely, skillfully rummaged through boxes and cabinets, and soon found a hidden compartment behind an oil painting on the wall of the study on the second floor.
There were three bottles of potion inside, the crimson one was Strength X, the dark blue one was Intelligence X, and the light green one was Agility X. Each bottle of potion seemed to have been used up by about one-third.
After the spiritual materials were made into potions, the extraordinary characteristics, once formed, could not be separated again. If a portion of the potion was poured out, as long as it did not exceed one-half, the extraordinary characteristics would remain in the original potion, but the extraordinary power would flow out.
In other words, there was no problem in using these three bottles of potion as the main materials for Perfect Physique X. However, the extraordinary power was estimated to be only two-thirds.
Asker put away the three bottles of potion and left the house, only to see a large group of armed thugs rushing over.
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