Chapter 75: Monster Potion

“Yes, I need it for something. Can you help me get it?” Chen Mo nodded.

“I can, but Monster Blood isn’t cheap.”

“Is Monster Blood rare?” Chen Mo frowned. It seemed the Blood Refining Art might be more expensive than he had imagined.

“At least for now, yes. From what I know, you need to have a beginner-level Gathering Skill to have a small chance of collecting blood from monsters above Level 14. You might not even get one from hundreds of monster bodies. I’ve traded with Players who had Monster Blood, but they thought it was too rare and didn’t want to sell it for a low price. We didn’t know what it was for, so we didn’t dare to buy it easily,” Lian Hongyu explained.

After hearing this, Chen Mo knew it definitely wouldn’t be cheap.

Monsters above Level 14 were very strong. Killing one already came at a cost, and with hundreds of bodies possibly yielding only one sample, no one would sell it for a low price.

“How much are they asking?” Chen Mo inquired.

“1 Gold Coin per portion. If you’re not in a hurry, I suggest waiting another week. Once more Players have beginner Gathering Skills, the price should drop a lot,” Lian Hongyu advised.

At 1 Gold Coin per portion, the price seemed too high to her. So even though Monster Blood was rare, neither Lian Hongyu nor other merchants were buying it.

Even if Monster Blood became very useful later and the price rose to 2 Gold Coins per portion, no one knew when that would happen. If it took two or three months, even with the increase, they would still lose out in reality.

Buying a little of it was pointless, and buying a lot would tie up funds. It was better to trade popular equipment materials for guaranteed profit.

Besides, no one could guarantee that Monster Blood would definitely go up in price. In many games, there were plenty of rare but worthless items.

Chen Mo was a bit surprised by the high price of Monster Blood. But after spending one hundred Gold Coins to learn the Blood Refining Art, he couldn’t bear to wait another week to see the results.

He had already spent so much money; a few more Gold Coins wouldn’t hurt!

“I need it urgently for a quest. Please collect 10 portions for me as soon as possible. Once you have them, I’ll come trade with you,” Chen Mo said decisively.

“Alright, it will take about half an hour.” Knowing Chen Mo wasn’t short on money, Lian Hongyu didn’t say more.

Since Chen Mo wanted as many as 10 portions, she could negotiate the price down with the sellers. This trade could still earn her a good profit.

Chen Mo could guess the details, but he didn’t comment. Lian Hongyu was a merchant; he couldn’t expect her to work for free. If he handled it himself, the price wouldn’t be much different, and it would waste a lot of time.

Half an hour later, Chen Mo met Lian Hongyu in the Trading Area. Lian Hongyu traded 10 portions of blood to Chen Mo.

Before the trade, Lian Hongyu had contacted Chen Mo once to ask if he needed specific types of Monster Blood. If so, she might not be able to get ten portions.

Chen Mo didn’t mind. The Players selling Monster Blood only had three types available, so Chen Mo took a few portions of each.

System Notification: You obtained 4 portions of “Vampire Zombie Blood”, 4 portions of “Red-Eyed Rabbit Blood”, and 2 portions of “Black Crow Blood”!

The trade was successful. Lian Hongyu originally planned to charge Chen Mo only nine Gold Coins because she successfully talked the seller down to 80 Silver Coins per portion. But after thinking about it, Chen Mo still traded ten Gold Coins to Lian Hongyu at the original price.

Lian Hongyu’s ability to lower the price was her skill; that one Gold Coin was what she deserved. And since he was prepared to spend that one Gold Coin anyway, it greatly increased Lian Hongyu’s motivation to trade with him. The Blood Refining Art likely required Monster Blood that wasn’t easy to get. He would need her help many times in the future, so in the long run, spending that one Gold Coin was definitely not a loss.

Of course, if Lian Hongyu tried any tricks in future trades, Chen Mo wouldn’t go easy on her.

Making a profit of two Gold Coins from one trade made Lian Hongyu very excited. She felt that deciding to deal with Chen Mo today was truly a wise choice.

“Lian Hongyu, could you help me gather some more materials?” But then, Chen Mo privately messaged her again.

“White Mist Grass, Hemolysis Grass, Purple Sunflower… Okay, these materials aren’t rare and won’t cost much. Wait a moment!” Lian Hongyu said quickly.

Chen Mo waited for Lian Hongyu in the Trading Area. He had learned the Blood Refining Art, but he didn’t have the corresponding refining formulas. Chen Mo originally thought that, like the Alchemy Skill, the Blood Refining Art required Potion formulas to refine the corresponding Monster Blood Potions.

He planned to ask Selena for formulas, but when he tried to use the Blood Refining Art to make a Monster Potion, the System notified him that he was missing some materials.

Chen Mo immediately understood that the Blood Refining Art was much simpler than ordinary Alchemy Skills. As long as he had the main Monster Blood, the remaining Potion materials wouldn’t be hard to figure out.

Hearing Lian Hongyu say those materials weren’t rare, Chen Mo breathed a sigh of relief.

If even the supplementary materials were expensive, no matter how powerful the Blood Refining Art was, he couldn’t afford to use it.

Right now, the Blood Refining Art was only at Novice Level. It was fine for refining low-level Monster Blood, but if the monster Level was high and his skill Level didn’t increase, even with Monster Blood, he couldn’t refine it.

Soon, Lian Hongyu obtained the Potion materials Chen Mo needed and traded them to him.

After the trade was done, Chen Mo thanked Lian Hongyu, then ran to a general store in Shadow City to buy some Potion bottles necessary for Potion-making.

In the Game, there were two ways to make Potions. One was to directly use the skill to refine materials into a Potion. This method was simple and straightforward; as long as you had the formula and materials, you could consume Stamina to refine it anywhere.

However, the success rate with this method was very low, and the effects of the Potions made were average. Most Players who aimed to become alchemists would choose to go to special Alchemy Rooms in the Main City for precise refining.

That method took more time, but after gaining experience, the success rate would increase a lot, and the Potion effects could be very powerful.

Chen Mo knew that even if he went to an Alchemy Room now, his success rate wouldn’t improve much without many attempts. So he simply used the Blood Refining Art directly to refine.

System Notification: Refining failed! Blood Refining Art skill proficiency increased by 1 point!

System Notification: Refining successful! You obtained 1 bottle of “Vampire Zombie Potion”! Blood Refining Art skill proficiency increased by 3 points!

Chen Mo first used the four portions of Vampire Zombie Blood for refining. In the end, only one out of the four was successful.

Chen Mo broke out in a slight sweat. It seemed the success rate of the Blood Refining Art was very low. With ordinary Alchemy Skills, you were guaranteed to succeed once every three attempts!

And then, Chen Mo realized that succeeding once with four portions of Vampire Zombie Blood was actually quite good!

Both portions of Black Crow Blood failed entirely!

With the four portions of Red-Eyed Rabbit Blood, the first three failed. Just when Chen Mo thought he would lose them all, the last one finally succeeded!

Wiping his sweat, Chen Mo looked at the two Monster Potions.

Vampire Zombie Potion: After use, the Player’s attacks gain a life steal ability. Each attack converts a portion of the Damage into the Player’s own Health! Potion effect lasts 180 seconds!

Red-Eyed Rabbit Potion: After use, the Player gains the ability to double jump! Potion effect lasts 120 seconds!

The effect of the Vampire Zombie Potion didn’t surprise Chen Mo, but when he saw the Red-Eyed Rabbit Potion, he couldn’t help but feel excited!