Li Yao spent two hours wandering through the entire marketplace, having visited the warehouse dozens of times to store items, and his gold coins had dwindled to thirty.
Some items were picked up as bargains, while others couldn't be used at this stage. As long as Li Yao found something worthwhile, he would buy it back.
Even after wandering the marketplace, Li Yao still felt unsatisfied. However, he was just doing this casually; if he wanted to, he could easily spend fifty silver coins to go to another Beginner's Village to continue shopping.
On the way to the blacksmith's shop, Li Yao thought of his sister.
"That girl used to fool me into thinking she joined the game late, but she actually started playing right at the server launch."
The structure of the Beginner's Village was simple, and the blacksmith's shop not only had a blacksmith but also NPCs who made clothes when players hadn't learned how to forge clothing. Basic functionalities were entrusted to NPCs.
The equipment made by NPCs was mostly off-the-shelf standard gear, but at this time, having a full set of equipment was considered extremely luxurious.
"Young tribesperson, is there anything I can help you with?" the leather worker responsible for making equipment asked.
Li Yao performed an elf salute and said, "I would like to craft two sets of equipment."
"I haven't reached intermediate level yet; I can only make equipment from materials below leader level. If you use elite monster materials, it's possible to create equipment with certain set effects," the leather worker explained.
"Hmm, I want a set of Elite Hunter Set and a set of Elite Warlock Set," Li Yao said while handing over a batch of materials along with 20 silver coins.
Li Yao waited patiently for ten minutes and finally received the equipment.
The sets included a helmet, shoulder armor, cloak, chest armor, belt, leg armor, bracers, gloves, boots, and the hunter set included an additional arrow bag.
Each piece only added a few armor points, and the arrow bag was much better than the beginner one, with three extra slots.
The three-piece set effect increased life by 50, and the five-piece set effect increased attack by 10.
At this early stage, this was considered top-tier; with a complete set, his armor already reached fifty, and his life was nearing two hundred. Even a novice wearing this set could become a small-skilled player.
The Warlock Set's three-piece effect increased mana by 50, and the five-piece effect increased intelligence by 10, which was quite potent.
Li Yao, apart from the shoes, switched to the set. The shoulders had protruding spikes, and the helmet resembled a fierce Raptor. Although he found the equipment's appearance quite plain, players envied him, eager to have such flashy gear themselves.
Passing by the mailbox, Li Yao sent the elite warlock set's Raptor headpiece along with 1 gold coin to his sister, then headed to the engineering shop.
Engineering and alchemy were both located within the same building.
The alchemist warmly greeted Li Yao upon his entrance, while the engineering trainer didn't even glance at him and continued drinking.
"I'll take twenty beginner life potions, ten beginner antidote potions, and ten underwater breathing potions."
"Life potions are one silver coin per bottle, antidote potions are three silver coins per bottle, and underwater breathing potions are two silver coins per bottle."
"Thanks."
At this stage, no player would consider buying these luxury items. Ordinary players worked hard all day, earning barely the cost of a bottle of antidote.
Li Yao approached the other side, greeted, "Hello, I would like to learn engineering."
The engineering trainer, without lifting his head, responded, "Okay, first bring me back a thousand pieces of copper ore and we'll talk."
At this stage, not even major guilds could gather a thousand pieces of copper ore, and this was only the first step. To master engineering, completing ten chain quests was necessary; each one more troublesome than the last.
"Here's your old acquaintance, no, Eileen's instructor's letter of recommendation." Li Yao smiled as he placed the envelope on the table.
The engineering trainer quickly picked up the letter, reading it to himself, and after a moment suspiciously inquired, "Uh, you didn't peek at this letter, right?"
"I wouldn't dare," Li Yao quickly replied; he didn't need to look to know what was written.
"Since it's from Eileen, you don't need to run any errands." With a wave of his hand, the trainer taught Li Yao engineering. "Over there are some recipes, and various beginner engineering materials with prices marked. Decide what you want to learn or make and put the money down."
Then, he dashed out of the room without staying even in the shop.
Li Yao was already accustomed to this; in this game, every NPC was an intelligent entity, almost like a real person.
Li Yao went over and learned all the available recipes. As the recipes disappeared, his coin bag also shrunk, having spent three gold coins on a few recipes.
Without hesitation, Li Yao immediately used the engineering table to practice engineering, starting with making some explosive powder, then progressing to making explosives.
He took a break to sleep for three to four hours and ate dinner before continuing online.
By 8 p.m. in reality, the game world also began to brighten.
Li Yao's engineering was at 856/1000, with just over a hundred points of proficiency needed to reach intermediate level, but his coin bag had only twenty-three gold coins left; it was incredibly costly.
Getting the remaining hundred-plus proficiency points was even harder. Either he had to make some useless engineering items, or he could make fire guns, but that required a lot of copper ore. At this stage, hardly any players had mastered secondary professions.
The copper ore on the market was not only exorbitantly priced but wouldn't be enough even if he collected all of it. However, at level ten, he could have a pet; he still had some time.
During this period, he needed to gather enough copper ore and then acquire a mechanical chick crafting blueprint. This was the first mechanical pet blueprint available before level ten.
Although the Eye of the Creator allowed for the free creation of engineering items, it was theoretical at best. To create living creatures, blueprints were essential.
This engineering practice also resulted in many engineering items; the path of the mechanical hunter officially started now. At least leveling up and farming monsters wouldn't be as arduous as today.
Of course, this was just his own thought. If he revealed it, players would likely criticize him. Single-handedly clearing elites and soloing bosses still left you unsatisfied? Did you not realize ordinary players couldn't even kill elite monsters, and facing bosses filled us with bitterness beyond even trying to fight them?
Naturally, Li Yao wasn't content. Having been reborn, if he continued as he did in his previous life, struggling and toiling, then this rebirth would be akin to being reborn as a dog.
If he continued to tirelessly kill monsters, how could he face the legacy equipment for players above level sixty? How could he justify the massive strategies in his mind?
In his previous life, he played as a thief for two years, was chased like a dog, and deleted his account.
Later, when he played as a hunter, he struggled and practiced for eight years, and being reborn only to be the same felt worse than death.
With the engineering knowledge from his past life, Li Yao had already created some good things using basic engineering.
The blueprint for Mechanical Sheep allowed Li Yao to produce hundreds of mechanical sheep.
Meanwhile, Li Yao modified the blue bow he got from a quest into an engineering bow, now a composite bow. Not only did the damage increase, but the range improved a bit too.
Of course, with these alone, Li Yao was far from becoming a Mechanical Hunter and Engineer Hunter. According to the memories of his past life, Li Yao created the Arrow Tower, a powerful tool.
Ordinary hunters had to be at least level twenty to gain an Arrow Tower, but it was a skill and not very damaging, only serving as an alert. For example, when camping in the wild, an Arrow Tower was essential for detecting danger in advance.
Li Yao built his Arrow Tower himself according to memories from his past life; thanks to the Eye of the Creator, the Arrow Tower was like half a pet, enjoying the character's attribute bonuses.
Homemade Arrow Tower
Health: 60 (one-third of the character's)
Armor: 21 (one-third of the character's)
Damage: 9-13 (varies with character level)
Range: 45 yards
Firing speed: 1 shot/second
Quantity: 3/3 (replenishes 1 every 60 seconds)
Item bound
Holding it in hand was like a delicate little tower, with a crossbow at the top, only palm-sized.
This thing was akin to the shaman's totem. After obtaining a totem column, a shaman could release nothing more than the totem's projection.
Li Yao wasn't very satisfied. In his memory, there were turrets, crossbow cannon towers, and he even knew there were many Magic Arrow Towers. But due to current practice and material limitations, he couldn't make them, ending up with a palm-sized little cannon, not qualifying as a turret, just a toy, which left Li Yao slightly disappointed.
However, when Li Yao successfully crafted another item, he felt somewhat relieved.
The Spike Trap wasn't a skill-type trap but an engineering consumable, similar to a grenade.
Once triggered, it would explode, filling an area with spikes and causing sustained damage to any monsters within, effectively causing bleed damage.
"Now I can barely call myself a subpar Mechanical Hunter; a fire gun would make things perfect."
Li Yao packed his belongings and headed out of the Beginner's Village.
In his plan, the identity of Prairie Fire could be used to acquire enviable honors, such as honors that made it to world announcements, under his alias Prairie Fire, even if he showed up he would appear as a legitimate hunter.
As for Li Yao's path as a Mechanical Hunter, in the future he would only use firearms and engineering items. Even if people envied Prairie Fire, they couldn't trace it back to Li Yao. He could quietly make a fortune.
Of course, realizing his plan required equipment and preparation, but for now he hadn't attracted much attention and didn't need to worry.
After half an hour, he reached a level four to five monster spawning area, where no players were present.
He watched from afar as a level four Demon Wolf Elite and two ordinary level four Demon Wolves roamed about. Li Yao set up three Arrow Towers in a triangular formation.
Then he placed an Exploding Sheep on the ground.
The Exploding Sheep ran cheerfully to the Demon Wolf Elite, which saw the lamb dare to approach and couldn't tolerate it, swatting at the Exploding Sheep.
Boom...
A fireball exploded, and the three Demon Wolves let out shrill screams.
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Dazzling damage numbers popped up, causing over a hundred damage to the two ordinary Demon Wolves, but it meant the reimbursement of 50 copper coins, equivalent to one-sixth of an average level-three player's daily income.
The three Demon Wolves roared, their bodies swelling up as they set their sights on Li Yao in the distance, their eyes turning red, and they charged madly.
The three Demon Wolves entered the range of two Arrow Towers, which began shooting arrows steadily.
But their tragedy wasn't over yet, as explosions erupted beneath their feet once more.
Pop pop pop...
The Spike Trap bloomed, leaving the three Demon Wolves riddled with wounds.
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Dense damage numbers appeared over the heads of the three Demon Wolves.
Concussive Shot.
Li Yao's arrow struck the head of the Demon Wolf Elite, instantly slowing its speed by fifty percent.
Having tested the damage, Li Yao didn't dwell and, having slowed the Demon Wolf Elite, began using Charged Arrow.
The two unfortunate ordinary Demon Wolves stepped on spikes throughout the ground and collapsed, drawing their final breath, while the Demon Wolf Elite was in even worse shape.
Bleeding from constant spikes below its feet, it was hit by the concentrated fire of three Arrow Towers, along with Li Yao, the hunter whose every arrow hit its nose. Without stepping out of the Spike Trap's range, the Demon Wolf Elite resentfully collapsed, the entire process was incredibly easy, much faster and with less effort compared to the day before...