Zhou Heng's pupils contracted.
He finally understood why the Black Bear Guild only offered Copper Coins for resources worth 150,000 Copper Coins, without giving any Silver Coins. There was clearly something more to it.
Zhou Heng was certain that the Black Bear Guild was aware of this information.
This also meant that the Ceramic Shard among the three items he had scavenged was definitely not simple.
His gaze fell on the plump woman, and Zhou Heng smiled as he spoke.
"Sister, the current market price isn't like that!"
"For this Basic-grade Experience Tome, I'll offer at most 5,000 Copper Coins."
Zhou Heng believed the woman was smart enough to understand his implication with this price.
The plump woman was stunned for a moment upon hearing Zhou Heng's offer.
After a long pause, she gave Zhou Heng a deep look.
"5,000 is indeed the market price, but our Little Bird Town is remote, and transporting goods costs money."
"Final price, 7,000 Copper Coins, fair and square."
Zhou Heng didn't haggle further, taking out a Silver Coin and handing it over.
"I know the current black market price is 100,000 Copper Coins, so please exchange it for Copper Coins."
The plump woman rolled her eyes at Zhou Heng, speaking in a sweet voice.
"Little brother, that's not right."
"The black market is the black market; I'm running a legitimate business here."
"Besides, we don't have a black market in Little Bird Town."
"If you're sincere about selling, the most I can offer is 50,000 Copper Coins, no more."
Although 50,000 Copper Coins wasn't as much as 100,000, since Little Bird Town had no black market and he couldn't leave this 'beginner village,' the exchange rate of 50,000 met Zhou Heng's expectations. He agreed without further argument.
"Alright, deal."
[Silver Coin -1]
[Copper Coins +50,000]
[Acquired Skill "Experience Tome"]
[Copper Coins -7,000]
[Acquired Health Potion x100]
[Copper Coins -5,000]
With the Experience Tome in hand, Zhou Heng didn't linger, turning to leave with his resources.
"Quite an unusual little guy."
The plump woman watched Zhou Heng walk away, stretching lazily without turning her head.
"Old lady, the badge he's wearing, did you give it to him?"
"Judging by his demeanor, he doesn't seem in a rush to complete it before nightfall tomorrow."
A raspy, aged voice sounded from the back of the general store.
"Isn't that better? It means he understood the implication in my words."
The plump woman propped her chin on her hand, leaning against the counter as usual, showcasing her beauty to outsiders.
"Old lady, how often do the textbooks for those Blue Star players update?"
"Captain, they update every three years."
"What a greedy bunch, despite achieving immortality, they still refuse to empower the common player base. Perhaps that's why they haven't completed the first expansion pack yet."
"Greed is indeed the original sin at times."
"Go prepare, I want to see what exactly is hidden behind the scenes. A bunch of worthless things, daring to covet the glory of our Sword of Light!"
...
Zhou Heng returned to the Blazefire Spring, beginning a new round of collection and evolution.
Compared to yesterday, there were more players at the Blazefire Spring today, all there to collect Blazefire like Zhou Heng.
"So this is Blazefire? Not bad, not bad, it's not hard to collect."
"Too bad we don't have enough Health Potions, otherwise we could go deeper."
"I've been there, the health drops faster inside, unless you're a rich young master, you can't withstand it."
"Forget it, let's just collect here. We have to submit 1,000 units by tomorrow night."
...
Zhou Heng glanced around briefly, noticing that the players were all between levels 3 and 5, with hardly anyone like him who entered at level 1.
However, no one paid him any attention, since players were there to gather resources and complete tasks, not to show off or cause trouble.
Zhou Heng bypassed the crowd, heading deeper into the spring.
[You are affected by the Blazefire Spring]
[Health -1]
The temperature was higher in the depths compared to the outer area.
But Zhou Heng wasn't concerned. While monitoring his health changes, he activated the Flame Gloves and began absorbing Blazefire.
[You absorb Blazefire]
[Flame Gloves undergo change]
To read the uncut version, go to [p𝘢wread.com].
[Change failed]
[You absorb Blazefire]
[Flame Gloves undergo change]
[Change failed]
...
[You absorb Blazefire, Flame Gloves undergo change, they evolve on their own]
[You acquire "Flame Gloves" (Simple+++)]
Flame Gloves
Quality: Simple+++
Consumes 3 mana points, covers both hands with a layer of flame material, negating fire element damage less than 25 points.
Duration: 10s, after 10s continuously consumes 1/4s.
Cooldown: 20s
Learning Requirement: None
Each skill suffix can have a maximum of three plus signs, meaning the Flame Gloves only need to evolve once more to become a Basic-grade skill.
"Keep going, at this rate, I should complete the evolution tonight."
Zhou Heng took a deep breath, suppressing the irritation of repeating the same action, and continued absorbing Blazefire...
As night fell, around three in the morning, Zhou Heng successfully absorbed enough Blazefire to evolve the Flame Gloves into the Basic-grade skill "Burning Fury."
Burning Fury
Quality: Common
Upon activation, the entire body is engulfed in burning fury.
Consumes 30 mana points, attack speed +1.0/s, movement speed +2.0m/s, attack +5
Consumes 300 mana points, attack speed +2.0/s, movement speed +4.0m/s, attack +20
Debuff: After the skill duration ends, deducts 100 or 1000 health per second for 20s. If health falls below 100 or 1000, 1 point is forcibly retained.
Duration: 15s
Cooldown: 30s
Learning Requirement: Upgrade through "Flame Gloves" absorbing Blazefire
"A very impressive skill."
A smile appeared on Zhou Heng's lips.
This skill was undoubtedly among the most powerful of the Basic-grade skills he knew.
It was so powerful that the user could ignore the 20-second debuff that followed.
After all, the 1.0/s attack speed and 2.0m/s movement speed were too tempting.
The textbooks recorded the five hardest attributes to enhance in the "Infinite Expanse" world.
Attack speed, movement speed, and real damage reduction, holy damage reduction, chaos damage reduction.
To be listed alongside real damage reduction, holy damage reduction, and chaos damage reduction, the difficulty of enhancement was evident.
Imagine two players dueling in the wild, one with an attack speed of 1.0/s, the other with 2.0/s. The latter would likely strike before the former could even react.
And that strike could be lethal.
After learning "Burning Fury," Zhou Heng took out the skill book "Experience Tome."
Experience Tome
Quality: Common
Each defeated creature grants an additional 10% experience, up to a maximum of 10,000 experience points.
(0/10,000)
Learning Requirement: None
To level up from level 1 to level 11, a total of 100+200+300+1,000+2,000+3,000+10,000+20,000+30,000+100,000, totaling 166,600. This algorithm applies to every ten levels, meaning in the "Infinite Expanse" world, the maximum experience coefficient he knew was 166,600.
This experience might seem like a lot, but it's not much in reality. With a bit of diligence, one could quickly reach level 11.
Closing the attribute panel, Zhou Heng was filled with anticipation.
He wanted to see how long it would take to reach level 10 using the skills and techniques he learned in school, combined with the Great Sun Divine Bow (Replica).
If possible, it would be best to reach level 10 before the Black Bear Guild corrupted the Deepwater Floodwyrm.