The Apothecary and a New Companion

As they prepared to submit their quest, they received news that the Archmage of the Mage Guild had already departed for various villages to address the demon invasion. Ye Jue mused internally, ‘Just as I expected. The system would never allow these NPCs to prevent the next expansion from arriving.’

Unable to complete their current quest, they were naturally unable to receive new main story quests. With no other option, Ye Jue led Lin Shenyue toward the NPC-run shops in the western district.

Numerous NPC shops dotted the vast city. To facilitate player purchases and prevent high-AI NPCs from arbitrarily inflating prices, this commercial district was segmented into many smaller zones, each specializing in a particular type of item.

At present, they were browsing the apothecary district.

This area exclusively sold various potions, including entry- and intermediate-level potion recipes. However, these recipes were generally quite expensive, often more than twice the price players charged.

While the recipes were costly, the potions themselves were relatively affordable, only about 10% more expensive than those sold by players. This was Ye Jue’s assessment, based on his future knowledge; he knew this area would soon be bustling with players.

Despite the slightly higher price, these shops offered convenience. Players didn’t need to search for specific potions, as virtually every type was available. Bulk purchases were also much easier.

Most players selling potions from stalls offered limited quantities. Lin Shenyue, for instance, despite spending sixteen hours brewing, had produced fewer than a thousand bottles. This was due to her relatively high success rate; an average player would be fortunate to make eight hundred bottles.

Eight hundred bottles might seem substantial, but consider that each player typically consumed two to three hundred potions daily. The ratio of life players to combat players was roughly 1:10.

Even with an influx of more life players later, the ratio would at best reach 1:5, meaning potions would remain critically scarce. More advanced potions were even more complex, time-consuming to craft, and had lower success rates, proving insufficient for daily player consumption.

Though players used fewer high-tier potions, the supply still fell short. Thus, even in the late game, apothecaries enjoyed thriving business.

Lin Shenyue noticed several advanced potions. The basic health recovery potion, restoring 2000 HP over 10 seconds, was quite expensive at 10 silver per bottle. An instant recovery potion, restoring 1500 HP instantly, cost a staggering 50 silver.

Mana potions of the same grade were priced identically to health potions. This suggested that lower-tier players would likely struggle to afford even basic consumables later on.

The apothecary also stocked some top-tier potions. These offered percentage-based HP recovery and were primarily for mid-to-late game players, proving less useful in the early game when player HP rarely exceeded 10,000.

Ye Jue suddenly recalled something important and teleported with Lin Shenyue to the appraisal district. This area was smaller, housing only a few dozen shops.

Choosing a random shop, Ye Jue addressed the appraiser, “Hello, boss. We’d like to learn appraisal skills.”

The appraiser cast a glance at them, stating indifferently, “Five gold per person.” Indeed, appraisal was that costly, requiring five gold coins for each person to learn.

Even then, it only provided basic monster stats like health and attack power. More detailed information necessitated further study of appraisal skills.

Although Ye Jue knew how to trigger the next step, it required specific items he didn’t possess. He simply bid the appraiser farewell and left with Lin Shenyue.

Lin Shenyue, observing Ye Jue leading her aimlessly, asked quizzically, “Where are we going now?”

Ye Jue met her confused gaze with a slight smile. “Just getting you familiar with the terrain…” Mid-sentence, he suddenly remembered something and offered an awkward laugh.

Lin Shenyue’s cheeks flushed slightly as she retorted, “You did that on purpose!”

Ye Jue hastily shook his head. “My apologies, I forgot you…” Seeing Lin Shenyue’s anger escalate, Ye Jue wisely clamped his mouth shut.

Despite her fury, Lin Shenyue felt a sense of helplessness. While she yearned to beat Ye Jue, she clearly couldn’t defeat him, and fighting within city limits would result in a bounty on her head. She merely glared at Ye Jue and stalked forward in exasperation.

Ye Jue timidly interjected, “Um, we need to head back to the Southern District. Plenty of players should be there by now. I contacted Divine Wind; he’s already reached Level 10 and made it to Vermilion Bird City. With him, we can go level up.”

Lin Shenyue shot him another glare. “So?”

Ye Jue sighed helplessly. “So, you’re walking in the wrong direction again. We need to go this way.”

Lin Shenyue’s body stiffened. She lowered her head and returned to Ye Jue’s side, but Ye Jue distinctly felt the temperature around him drop several degrees. He quickly took the lead.

By the time Ye Jue led Lin Shenyue back to the initial teleportation array, Divine Wind had largely familiarized himself with the Southern District. He had also completed his class advancement, becoming a Marksman.

His new skills, ‘Arrow Rain’ and ‘Precise Shot,’ targeted groups and single monsters respectively, significantly boosting his damage output. Divine Wind had also achieved an SSS rating in the Abyss difficulty, which could yield a gold-grade equipment piece for class quests.

Many players chose Hell difficulty, only to receive a C rating or lower and merely one or two silver-grade items, making Abyss a better choice. Sometimes, selecting the correct difficulty was crucial.

Upon seeing the two, Divine Wind teased, “You two are truly inseparable. Every time I see you, you’re together.”

Lin Shenyue was about to retort but found herself unable to. She couldn’t very well admit she had no sense of direction, even if it was true.

Divine Wind, mistaking her flushed face for shyness, chuckled and dropped the subject. Fortunately, Lin Shenyue was unaware of his thoughts, or she might have truly exploded.

Divine Wind then turned to Ye Jue. “Are you two looking for me because you lack DPS?”

Ye Jue gave him the middle finger. “No, I just took pity on you for not having a party and specifically invited you.”

Divine Wind scoffed. “I don’t need a party. I’ll just go on my own.”

Lin Shenyue, watching their exchange, felt a little speechless. She used to joke around with her friends like this, but after her change in identity, she felt a disconnect. “Alright, let’s get going. You two could have already left if you stopped bickering,” she said with resignation.

Ye Jue and Divine Wind immediately fell silent. As the only female member of the group, her word was final.

The trio once again headed into the forest. Ye Jue pondered for a moment, then decided they should return to the teleportation array. While he knew they couldn’t prevent its activation, perhaps they could still gain some benefits before it started?

Divine Wind watched Ye Jue charge in a specific direction with some curiosity. “Where are we going?” he asked.

Lin Shenyue replied, “After Ye Jue and I came out last time, we noticed something unusual here. But at the time, neither of us had much offensive capability, so we had to return. Now that we have you, it’s a good chance to investigate.”

Her words were a mix of truth and fabrication, but she wasn’t very familiar with Divine Wind and didn’t know his character well. Ye Jue, though aware of Divine Wind’s good nature, didn’t contradict Lin Shenyue.

Divine Wind nodded. He understood they were likely withholding some details, but the fact that they were taking him to explore a potentially opportunity-filled area after only two days together indicated their trust in him. He decided not to press further.

Thus, the three silently ventured deeper into the forest.