Show Me the Money

Chapter 14 - Purple Bell

"Don't be so hasty. Let me tell you the entire situation," Now that he had Fatty's agreement, the shopkeeper was no longer as anxious.

It all happened ten years ago. Back then, the alchemy shop shopkeeper was still the chief alchemist in the Central Imperial Capital as the Alchemist Grandmaster, and was in charge of alchemy. A subordinate once gave the emperor a Poison Immunity Orb, and claimed that it could cure people of many poisons. The emperor liked it a lot, and kept it by him. As an alchemist, the alchemy shop shopkeeper naturally liked it a lot as well, so he borrowed it for a few days for research purposes. However, on that very day, it disappeared from his home. When the emperor caught wind of it, he was outraged, and stripped the alchemy shop shopkeeper's title, and exiled him out of the Central Imperial Capital. Thus, the alchemy shop shopkeeper could only wander around, eventually ending up where they were.

"Poor you," Fatty looked at the tearful shopkeeper.

"Yes, yes," the shopkeeper nodded.

"What stole the orb?" Fatty asked.

"A damn rat," the shopkeeper gritted his teeth. "I've got no idea how the rat got into my research lab and stole the Poison Immunity Orb, causing me to get scolded by His Majesty. Hero, you have to help me get it back, and teach it a good lesson about greed." The shopkeeper was exactly the same as the farmer. He called Fatty a hero when he needed Fatty, and completely ignored Fatty when he had no use for Fatty.

"Why didn't you go yourself?" Fatty asked.

"I can't beat it," the shopkeeper put on a troubled expression. "I asked along the way, then finally found its tracks here. Although I'm an alchemist grandmaster, my fighting prowess is even less than a puny warrior's. I sought it out a few times, but was nearly killed. Since I finally escaped, I didn't dare to go back."

"Ooh, I see. That sounds pretty amazing. What level is it?" That's the main question.

"It looked to be Level 20," the shopkeeper looked at Fatty in a troubled manner.

"Okay, only level 20. Then I'll accept this mission," Fatty clapped. The more dangerous a mission was, the greater the rewards. Since there was a mission reward of gaining an additional secondary profession, Fatty was very willing to accept. What's more, Fatty understood very well that if he was not the first person to reach level 10, he wouldn't be able to get the mission. After all, a boss that's at least level 20 was still too powerful for the current player base.

Ding.

System Notification: You have accepted the mission "Poison Immunity Orb", please complete it within ten hours. If you fail to do so, your levels will be cleared.

"F*ck, you already waited for ten years, you really care about this ten hours?" Fatty gritted his teeth and looked towards the shopkeeper. It seems like my plan of getting my class enhancement first, then doing the mission is ruined. "Since that's the case, I'll go right now. But I don't have enough potions on me, so…"

"I'll give you 50 large red potions and 50 large blue potions," the shopkeeper immediately showed his sincerity before Fatty even finished speaking.

"Okay, then wait for the good news," Fatty marched out of the shop.

Fatty equipped Frostfang and Python Armor, then went over to the blacksmith to repair all his other equipment before taking a look at his status board. Mm, looking good.

Fatty checked his belongings, and just as he was about to go out and complete the mission, he saw East Gate BlowingWind and co. walk over. Fatty did have a good impression of this player. Not only did he remind Fatty about the people following him, he had also offered to help while Fatty was digging down into the rabbit nest.

"Brother Grubber's equipment is looking rather good," East Gate BlowingWind immediately got jealous when he saw the fully equipped Fatty. There was no helping it, the drop rates in Eternal was too astronomically low. They had farmed for two days already, and even though they did get quite a few gold coins, they were severely lacking in the equipment department. All they got were a few common items, and not even a single bronze one. In comparison, Fatty killed three bosses, and all the drops were either bronze or silver equipment that he could use himself.

Fatty suddenly remembered something when he saw East Gate BlowingWind's look of envy.

"Bro, you got gold coins?" Fatty asked.

"Yeah. How much do you need? I need to see if I got enough." East Gate BlowingWind immediately replied.

"Take a look at how much this is worth?" Fatty brought out Thorn Saber, which dropped from the black wolf.

"A bronze item!" The moment Fatty took the saber out, East Gate BlowingWind immediately leaped over and refused to take his hands off it.

"Ahem. Ahem. Let go first," Fatty didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Haha, I was excited," East Gate BlowingWind smiled coyly and stood up. "Brother Grubber, give me a quote."

"Haha, good friend, I'll give you a twenty-five percent discount. I would have charged you for 8 gold coins, but I'll only ask you for 6," Fatty waved. If any one of Fatty's acquaintances saw this scene, they definitely would praise East Gate BlowingWind as having been a very successful, as he managed to make Fatty proactively give him a discount.

"Mhmm, it really isn't expensive," East Gate BlowingWind took out 6 gold coins to purchase the bronze saber without any hesitation. "Brother Grubber, thanks."

"Haha, it's just business, so no worries. I've got a few more pieces of equipment here. Brother East Gate, take a look and see if you want them," Fatty immediately put out the equipment he had outgrown onto the ground like a street-side stall owner.

"Wow, a bronze dagger. There's also a lance that gives +5 attack. Wow, there are tons of good stuff here," East Gate BlowingWind and co. immediately surrounded Fatty, and started to choose as they exclaimed.

…

"All of them are good stuff," East Gate BlowingWind looked over all the items. All of the bronze and common items were definitely very useful for players of their level.

"I'll take them all. Brother Grubber, how much would it be?"

"Sure. Let's say 20 gold coins for all of them," Fatty swiftly put away the equipment and started to trade with East Gate BlowingWind, who asked his companions for a bit of money, then made an offline call to others to send him some gold coins.

All of the gold coins they had saved with quite a bit of trouble all ended up with Fatty now.

After the transaction, Fatty held more than 190 gold coins in his inventory. He thought about it for a moment, then decided that it wasn't so safe carrying it around. So, he went over to the bank, and spend 10 gold coins to get an account, and stored everything except some necessities on him.

That being said, Fatty didn't want to exchange the gold coins into RMB yet. He believed that there will be a small rise in the value of gold coins after a small proportion of the player base gets their class enhancement. Yet, after that, the exchange rate between gold coins and RMB will gradually drop. Although Fatty hadn't played any games before, he did have his own understanding of how the economy worked.

"Oh yeah. Kill the boss, get the drops!" Fatty wobbled along the street.

When he passed by East Gate BlowingWind, the latter immediately wiped some sweat off his own face, then turned around and pretended to be strangers. It's never good when this fatty mentions a boss. I hope he doesn't get another boss to block us off. Otherwise, everyone from this Beginner's Village would definitely have no face left.

When Fatty left from the village entrance, he walked towards a valley in the west. It was filled with maples trees. It was a place that would serve as a very nice scenery spot if not for the fact that a horde of despicable rats had taken over the place. Rumors also said that some self-proclaimed amazing clan had chased all the players out so that they could use the area to farm, but right after doing that, they were wiped out by the rats.

Fatty hide behind a tree and stealthily used Appraisal on a small rat.

Grey Rat

Level: 15

Attack: 50 - 65

Defense: 20

Health: 500

Its stats weren't really high, but they were just too numerous. The rats could be seen all over the place from the bushes, to the side of the mountains to the holes in the ground. Fatty made a rough estimate. There were at least more than a thousand of them.

Is Lord Fatty supposed to burn the mountain down? I wonder if lighting a wild fire will cause me to get punished by the system. Fatty sat down underneath the tree and pondered.

"Screw off. Screw off, you damn rats!"

A shout sounded out from a distance. Fatty easily climbed up the tree and looked ahead. He saw a female mage on a small tree throw fireballs down below as she cursed. Fatty glanced down to where she was throwing the fireballs. Wow, a beauty's charm is truly amazing. There are several tens of rats circling around the tree.

The mage was in a tight spot. Although killing monsters as she hid on the tree was a decent idea, but it was clear that she was going to be in danger due to the tree already having half of its trunk gnawed away by the rats. That very fact caused the small tree to tremble. It was fortunate that the female mage was petite. If it was a fat rogue like Fatty, the tree would have fallen over without the rats gnawing at it.

Getting bitten to death by rats? Man, that's scary. For some reason, the very thought of that made Fatty think of the unfortunate person who got clawed to death by the rooster.

He used Appraisal on the mage.

Purple Bell

Magic Apprentice

Level: 2

Fatty's hand slipped, causing him to nearly fall off the tree. Level 2? She's level 2 and actually dared to come here to kill Level 15 monsters? Damn, she's even fiercer than Lord Fatty.

"Hey beauty. Do you need some help?" Fatty adjusted himself on the branch, then called towards Purple Bell.

"Yes, yes. Hurry up and help me," Purple Bell quickly answered, most likely due to the rats scaring her.

"My help doesn't come cheap," Fatty answered slowly.

"Huh?" Purple Bell was stunned. She paused for a moment, then finally took out a silver coin from her inventory. "I-I only have one silver coin. Is that okay?"

Ugh!

Fatty thought about it. It isn't bad for a level 2 account to have a silver coin. Since I came to kill monsters anyways, I'll just take it as extra income.

"Deal," Fatty nodded.

"Then hurry. Wahh, the tree is about to fall," Purple Bell's worrisome expression instantly turned to one of joy as she hurried Fatty. Yet, at that very moment, the small tree shook intensely, causing her to scramble and quickly hold onto the tree trunk.

Fatty didn't care about the several tens of rats at all. However, that didn't mean that he was foolish enough to face them head on. While the rats were focused on attacking the small tree, Fatty grabbed one from the very back, then used Frostfang to give it a Combo, before stabbing it randomly a few times, eventually ending it with a kick.

Hmm, 500 Experience. Not bad.

Purple Bell did not stay idle while Fatty killed the rats off. She focused fire on one with her small fireballs. Due to that, she eventually did manage to burn a rat to death, causing two rays of golden light to fall onto her, raising her to Level 4. Damn, it really is a lot of experience for her to kill monsters ten-odd levels above her.

"Wow, I'm Level 4," Purple Bell was clearly new to gaming, so she was really excited when she saw that she finally reached Level 4.

Tsk, so ignorant. Fatty commented silently, then sped up his actions so that they wouldn't attract more rats.

…

"Ahhhhh, i'm going to fall!"

Purple Bell suddenly shouted as they finished clearing up the rats. Fatty quickly looked up, then a small tree fell down from the sky and towards him with a crack.

"F*ck" Fatty cursed, then begun to run.

Yet, what he did not expect was that Purple Bell jumped off the tree in panic and… landed right on top of him.

"Hmm? Why doesn't it hurt? It's actually soft as well," Purple Bell sat up and rocked where she sat. This is strange, why doesn't it hurt when I jumped off such a tall tree?

"F*ck, of course it doesn't hurt for you. I'm right underneath you," Purple Bell had landed right on top of Fatty's tummy, and that had nearly killed him.

"Hehe, thank you, Big Brother Fatty," Purple Bell stood up, then reached out her hand and used a lot of effort to pull Fatty up.

"I'm taking such a loss for this deal," Fatty muttered, and patted away the dirt from his body.

"Here's your payment," Purple Bell took out her only silver coin and handed it to Fatty.

Fatty immediately received it without any hesitation, then played around with it in his hands for a while before he put it away.

"Not bad, you dare to come and kill Level 15 monsters at Level 2," Fatty glanced at Purple Bell.

"No, I only came to take a look at the scenery. I didn't expect there to be so many rats," Purple Bell blushed.