Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

In the following two weeks, time passed as usual.

Zhang Yingfei, the femme fatale had been bursting into tears, and she had even started to pretend cute and pitiful. As a result, more than ten guys, who had been obsessed with her, had dashed into Lin Jie’s room. However, they had been bashed by Zheng Ziliang’s bodyguards and chauffeurs—who had been sent by Zheng Ziliang’s relatives to supply him with things like foldable beds, portable wardrobes, and griller. Even Zhang Yingfei had been threatened, so the matter had been resolved.

Zhou Xiao had not joined the class which Lin Jie, Zheng Ziliang, Zhang Qiong, and Yan Li had been in. He had restrained himself and become a low-profile senior.

The following training was excruciating, on top of the basic running and physical training, there was also a military boxing training. The so-called military boxing was the most fundamental type of combat; however, it was challenging to do it in the standard way. As the fittest student amongst the freshmen, Lin Jie would be called up to the stage for a demonstration. Every time he was asked to do so by the drillmaster with a square face, he would be impressed by the strength of the soldiers because not only was it far greater than that of Sun Kai but also more than his own.

Under such challenges, Lin Jie was training three to four times more intensive than the other students. Other than the necessary gaming time, he spent most of his time sleeping because he did not even have a tiny bit of energy for other things.

It was worth mentioning that the year 1 freshmen were not prohibited from bringing gaming gadgets into the school, and the school had deliberately blocked the students’ access to the games. However, with Zheng Ziliang’s generous and aggressive donations, the team from the gaming companies rushed to the school to install the ports for the students to play games and as a result, a huge group of gamers was gathered.

Zhang Qiong was also a gamer, but he would play the game very late. Fortunately, he enjoyed writing poems; hence, he became a Minstrel at Sakura’s Pub under Lin Jie’s recommendations. His life was quite relaxing and comfortable because he would play some instruments and write a few poems every day.

As for Yan Li, he would spend his whole day training, working part-time, training, and working part-time!

Until the night before the training ended, Lin Jie asked him to come to the corridor.

“Yan Li, you know that these drillmasters are not ordinary people right?” asked Lin Jie as he took a deep breath.

Yan Li nodded. “Of course, I heard that they are selected from the army and they are awesome. If there is an opportunity, I would like to join the army as well.”

“Some time ago, the drillmaster told me about you, and he said that there was something abnormal about your body, it seems to be the symptom of cellular atrophy. He gave me this and asked me to pass it to you,” said Lin Jie as he took out a note which he had prepared in advance—something which he had wanted to pass to Yan Li since the first time they had met. Now, Lin Jie was making use of the mysterious instructors as a valid excuse to pass Yan Li the prescription.

Yan Li received the note and trembled. “Is this the treatment for cellular atrophy…”

“Yes, this is prepared specially for you. Cellular atrophy is a blood-related heredity disease, and different families will have different medications suited for them,” said Lin Jie as he tapped Yan Li’s shoulders. Even if Lin Jie did not mention his family, Yan Li was bright enough to understand what Lin Jie was trying to say. Lin Jie added, “These medicines are not cheap, honestly speaking, you cannot afford it now. Zheng Ziliang is willing to lend you some money, but I doubt that you will accept it.”

Yan Li gave a resigned smile and folded the note and placed it in the pocket on his chest carefully as he said, “I don’t have a choice, even the poor have some pride. I am very grateful for the prescription if I can also accept Zheng Ziliang’s help… I want to make some money, but have no connections.”

“I have.” Lin Jie looked at Yan Li and added, “Join The New Age, I’ll make sure that you will get enough money for your treatment.”

“The New Age…” murmured Yan Li and his eyes glimmered.

—————

The last day for the military training.

“The first move of the military boxing, step forward, and punch straight!”

“Ha!”

“The second move, aim left with all your strength.”

“Ha!”

Lin Jie led the military boxing grudgingly in the field in front of a large crowd of seniors and school students. Behind him were the freshmen, who were shouting along with his movement, and their performance was rather presentable. His job was known as the “drill leader”, in other words, the freshmen representative who led all the freshmen in the drills.

When the training finally ended, Lin Jie received a certificate for being an “Outstanding Role Model” and eight sidekicks. Kill In Ten Steps and his friends had entered the game at that time, and Seven Ears had allocated the job scopes. Yan Li worked with Zhang Qiong in Sakura’s bar, and he became one of the few bartenders among the players, and the drinks he made were more mellow than those made by the NPCs; thereby, attracting many players to patronize his bar.

“Drill complete! Salute!” shouted Lin Jie as they completed the last set of training. All the freshmen stood up straight and saluted.

“Very good, the grand and spectacular university military training has ended. Let us welcome our principal to deliver his speech…”

“Let us invite our vice principal to give a speech…”

“Let us welcome the secretary of the Youth League Committee to deliver his speech…”

The school leaders’ speech lasted about an hour, and the students were sick and tired of standing, and they started complaining. When the last speaker finished his presentation, the principal finally waved his hand and said, “Dismissed!”

The students cheered and were scattered like birds and beasts immediately. Some went to eat their meals while others went to bed.

——

In the dorm.

Zhang Qiong, Yan Li, and Zheng Ziliang had entered the game. Lin Jie relaxed his weary body and put on his gaming set.

Ding~

—”Welcome back, you are now in the city of Light.”

“Buying over Aqua Grass and Sky Blue at high prices! Buying over superior-grade magic potions at high prices, fast trade.”

“The three big alliances are buying high-quality magic potions, mana recovery scrolls, and accessories aggressively! Money is not a problem as long as you have what they want!”

As soon as they stepped into the game, they could hear overwhelming sounds of hawking.

It had been 24 days since the Epidemic Pond in the second main dungeon had opened. In the battle that had lasted for more than three weeks, the players had leveled down rather than up with an average of two levels each. Was it all because of Venom Lei Zhika? That perverted Lei Zhika.

The ranking of the progress of completion: The Three Alliances was the first with a completion rate of 70%.

The second was Kingdom of Glory with the progress of 65%.

In the third position was Steel Allies which had completed 60%… whereas Savage Blade, which received much attention, had merely reached 15%.

The speed of completion of the Three Alliances surprised Lin Jie. However, it made total sense to Lin Jie when they were stuck at a particular point. To clear the Epidemic Pond, they not only required equipment, skills, and true support of the dispel scrolls but more importantly, the sustenance of the players!

Not only did the mages need mana for damage output, the priests needed it for healing while the paladins also needed it for the Divine Shield! Other than the potions, there were limited and costly ways to restore mana. One of the main reasons why Kingdom of Glory and Three Alliances could top the chart was because they were rich. They used a lot of money to purchase items such as the “Strong Mana Recovery Scroll” and “Temporary Magical Runes” to increase the recovery speed of the players temporarily.

However, such methods were not feasible in the long run because it was as good as drinking poison to quench one’s thirst. It was more important to increase the capability of the players. Therefore, the progress of many alliances or teams would stagnate at a certain point in time. As for the Steel Allies, they had saved a sizable sum of money with the prior knowledge of the dispel scrolls, but they still struggled to cope with the great exhaustion in terms of magic. In addition, there was no high-grade potioneer in the entire game at that point in time! The number of high-grade potions, which the high-grade NPC potioneers created, was limited—less than 2,000 potions could be made each day.

In addition, there was a low probability for high-grade potions to be produced when players battled with bosses, the total production of potions was less than 3,000 per day.

Although the figure looked sizable, do not forget the great number of players in the Epidemic Pond. Over time, the price of superior-grade magic potion had soared. Once there was available stock, countless players would fall over each other in eagerness to buy.

All these were due to one factor: The cooldown time of the potions. The health potions of the players and the magic potions both had a cooldown time of two minutes. For instance, regardless of which magic potion a priest with a mana of 2,000 drank, the cooldown time would be fixed at two minutes. Within the two minutes, any other potion that the priest drank would be useless. Hence, the priest who drank a superior-grade magic potion would still have some mana points left for healing, while the one who drank an inferior-grade magic potion would use up all his mana points quickly.

The player could not heal or create any damage output without mana, and being defeated was the only outcome.

Not to mention the exorbitant prices of the Poison-Antidote potions and the Poison-Proof equipment. Throughout the course of the game, only the major alliances were able to afford such items. All the alliances competing to be the first to conquer the dungeon intended to prepare sufficient recovery potions at once and complete the quest in one shot! Just imagine the benefit the alliance would receive if they were the first in the world to take down the dungeon.

Lin Jie went to the auction to check the prices. Wow! A strong magic potion which could recover 1,300 mana points was worth one gold coin, were these people crazy? The scary thing was that, despite the high cost, the magic potions remained out of stock!

Although the price of one gold coin had decreased to around 100 yuan, it was still ridiculous… each mouthful of the potion cost one hundred yuan!

“Hehehe… but I like this situation! After waiting for so long, it’s finally time for harvest!” Lin Jie smirked. Then, he opened the warehouse inside the Sky Provisions Shop, and the glistening potions were simply too eye-catching!

The warehouse had 50 pages, and every page was filled with Middle-Grade Natural Recovery potion, and 100 of them formed a group!

It was finally time for harvest after Potion Maniac and Seven Ears’ intensive effort in making these potions all along!

Middle-Grade Natural Recovery Potion: Helps you restore 1,000 Health Points and 450 Mana points. This potion has a cooldown time of the Health Potions’ cooldown time.

Middle-Grade Natural Recovery Potion, 1,000 health points was significant for Cloth Armor jobs, which healed and attacked at great distances, but the most important thing was the cooldown time of the 450 mana points, its existence was like a bug in the game! If an item could allow you to drink the magic potion while the cooldown equaled that of a health potion, the craze over it would be unimaginable. The price of it would skyrocket without a doubt! Furthermore, it was such a critical time in the game!

The middle-grade natural recovery potion had such properties! You could use it as a middle-grade magic potion that occupied the cooldown time of a health potion.

Lin Jie took out 10,000 bottles of middle-grade natural recovery potion and entered the Auction House. He put 100 bottles for sale, and the starting price was 10 silver coins and the sold price at 20 silver coins.

Within ten minutes, observant headhunters in many alliances discovered the recovery potions and started auctioning quietly. Prices increased gradually, and the first set of potions was sold at a price of 16 silver coins.

In the second time, Lin Jie threw out 2,000 bottles of potions! He thought about it and picked up the call from Heaven Plume. Maybe it would be better if he found a big and trustworthy alliance to publicize for him.

“Chairman Heaven, the progress of the Steel Allies is pretty outstanding.”

“Don’t talk about it, thanks for your reminder to replace most of the antidotes with the dispel scrolls. Otherwise, we would not be able to progress this much. But in terms of sustenance… sigh, there aren’t sufficient high-grade magic potions available in the market, and most of high-grade restoring mana scrolls cost more than 100 dollars, this is daylight robbery.”

Lin Jie smiled. “I found some good stuff in the auction house.” Then, he sent the picture of the middle-grade natural recovery potions to Heaven Plume.

“Oh?” said Heaven Plume as he received the picture. He exclaimed instantly, “Good stuff! Good stuff! This is simply the most suitable potion for the Epidemic Pond, where did you get it from?”

Lin Jie smiled silently.

Heaven Plume had a sudden realization, and he laughed. “I get it! I will send people to the auction house right away! I hope brother Lone Wolf can sponsor my Steel Allies with some potions when the plan succeeds.”

“Chairman Heaven is so perceptive, I look forward to a smooth cooperation.” Lin Jie hung the phone and awaited.

In less than ten minutes, a bunch of desperate men scrambled around the auction racks and laughed. “Finally found it! Brother Four and Brother Six let’s buy all the middle-grade natural recovery potions immediately! It’s time for my Steel Allies to rise!”

“Middle-grade natural recovery potion? What’s that?”

“Even the Steel Allies is fighting to buy it, is it some high-grade magic potion?”

…

After researching, everyone was astonished. This was literally the most perfect potion for the Epidemic Pond! How could the price of it be low? The price of the middle-grade natural recovery potion soared.

The name Middle-Grade Natural Recovery Potion spread across the entire game! It was something that was able to replace the high-grade magic potions.

Alliances, studios, and some casual adventurers and merchants started to buy the potions crazily. The price of each bottle reached 21 silver coins! Lin Jie decided to bring the price up to 25 silver coins and continued to supply another 1,000 bottles.

However, there was no competition this time round because all of the potions were purchased immediately. The buyer did not hide her identity, and she was “All for Love.”

Lin Jie smiled and took out another 1,000 bottles, and again they were sold out immediately.