Chapter 189: No Shipbuilders Available, but Shipmaster NPCs Exist
Chapter 189: No Shipbuilders Available, but Shipmaster NPCs Exist
Quanzhou, as the southernmost main city, had scenery and features that differed from other main cities, each with its own unique characteristics.
Ye Rong sat in a small roadside stall where an old man moved between the tea tables, refilling water for each guest.
After crafting the second Heavenly One Mystic Ice Banner, he originally intended to team up with Trail-breaking Pony a few more times to produce eight or ten banners in one go. That way, he would save himself the trouble of coming back in a couple of days to do this laborious task again.
However, a sudden Flying Sword Message interrupted his plans. He could only ask Trail-breaking Pony to accept the banner-crafting mission at Bolang Isle while he returned to Chengdu to find his teammates to help hunt Ice-type Spirit Creatures.
The Ice Cranes on Haihe Island would have to wait until he had free time to hunt them properly and collect their Essence Spirits.
The Flying Sword Message came from Long-Legged Lady, detailing her process of constructing high-tier ships. She mentioned she had a crucial mission requiring a sea voyage and asked if Ye Rong had time to accompany her.
Ye Rong naturally agreed happily. Even if it was just to recruit Long-Legged Lady into the Green Emperor Alliance, he would do so. Besides, their relationship was more complicated than that, and they shared many common interests.
His reply was marked as delivered by the System Notification in less than an hour, indicating Long-Legged Lady was already near Quanzhou. He decided to stay in the city.
After all, his reply clearly stated he would wait in Quanzhou City.
This small tea stall also sold various fresh fruits, flavors typically unavailable in Chengdu.
These ordinary fruits naturally didn’t increase any attributes after consumption, but for the sake of satisfying his appetite, Ye Rong spent a few taels of silver and ordered a large pile.
According to Jiuyu Pavilion’s statistics, over sixty percent of Shipbuilders in Far Shore originated from Quanzhou, succeeding in their professions here.
Ye Rong already had two Life Professions—Brewer and Appraiser—at their maximum capacity, so it was impossible for him to become a Shipbuilder. However, that didn’t diminish his strong curiosity about it.
“Although the Brewer profession seems a bit useless, there probably aren’t many players in the game who have already taken on two Life Professions.”
Even though he could only brew first-tier fine wines so far and had no plans to develop it extensively in the short term, he didn’t regret becoming a Brewer.
If he had chosen a popular profession like Shipbuilder or Sword Refiner, he wouldn’t have had enough time to slowly accumulate professional experience. Every high-level professional player had invested countless hours and vast amounts of materials and money.
The Appraiser profession alone was enough to meet his needs, suiting a player like him.
Moreover, leveling up as an Appraiser was different—it only required continuously appraising equipment. He simply used up his daily appraisal count on low-tier Flying Swords and Magic Treasures.
After several experiments, Ye Rong discovered that appraising Flying Swords and Magic Treasures of different tiers gave different amounts of professional experience.
The higher the tier, the more professional experience he gained.
Naturally, this discovery led him to use his daily appraisal count on third-tier Flying Swords and Magic Treasures.
But after a few days of effort, he realized that although leveling up as an Appraiser didn’t consume vast materials or money, it took just as much time—if not more.
Each level required an immense amount of professional experience. Ye Rong had only accumulated a little over half so far; it would take at least three or four more days to reach the second layer of the Liuchen Divine Illumination Technique.
“Old sir, may I ask for directions to the Quanzhou Shipyard?”
When the old tea stall owner came to refill his water, Ye Rong stopped him to ask.
The Quanzhou Shipyard had countless ships and numerous shipmasters, though they were all ordinary people. The highest-tier ships they built were only around Kan-tier two or three, yet they cost hundreds of taels of gold.
In reality, a significant portion of the over sixty percent of Shipbuilders in the entire game became Shipbuilders at the Quanzhou Shipyard.
Unlike these Life-type NPCs, players only needed an opportunity, a starting point. Through self-study and improvement, they could obtain high-tier ship blueprints and construct better, higher-tier ships.
“Go south for forty li after leaving the city, and you’ll find it.”
“Thank you.”
Ye Rong nodded. He maintained a decent attitude toward these Life-type NPCs, a continuation of his real-life demeanor.
He wasn’t thinking of recruiting one or two Shipbuilder players. Although he deeply desired it, he knew it was impossible.
The scarcity of Shipbuilders meant that even a newly minted Shipbuilder, without any Level or ship blueprints, could secure a good position in an official Faction—at least as a mid-level member with excellent benefits.
Ye Rong didn’t believe the Green Emperor Alliance’s benefits could compare to those of official Factions. Moreover, he couldn’t afford to train a new Shipbuilder from scratch—it wasn’t like Alchemist or Civil Engineer.
Every bit of professional experience for a Shipbuilder corresponded to terrifying amounts of money and vast quantities of shipbuilding materials.
Even if the Green Emperor Alliance spent everything, it couldn’t support a Shipbuilder. Besides, it would be who-knows-how-long before a player Shipbuilder could truly contribute—certainly not in the short term.
His idea was: since he couldn’t recruit player Shipbuilders, why not recruit a couple of shipmaster NPCs?
Even if they could only build Kan-tier two or three ships, it was better than nothing. With just a few ships, the Green Emperor Alliance’s control over the Tuojiang River Basin would multiply.
Buying directly from the Quanzhou Shipyard was too expensive and unaffordable. But recruiting them to build ships themselves should keep costs manageable.
This idea had lingered in Ye Rong’s mind for a while, and he thought it had a good chance of success. If he had time, it was worth checking out.
“Young man, you’re going to the Quanzhou Shipyard?”
“That’s right.”
“Then I have a favor to ask. On your way, could you deliver a letter to my son? He works there as a master craftsman. Just ask for Master Craftsman Chen.”
The old tea stall owner pulled out a crumpled letter from his clothes and handed it over.
“A delivery mission… Darn Kung Fu Panda, am I back in the Starter Village? So this is the infamous Life-type NPC mission giveaway everyone talks about on the Forum.”
Delivery missions, finding lost kittens, and similar tasks were the favorites of Life-type NPCs. One mission enthusiast specialized in these, compiling a Life-type NPC Mission Compendium that had already reached over eighteen hundred entries.
They were truly bizarre and fantastical, with pitifully small rewards—mostly a few dozen copper coins or a few hundred Experience Points. Getting a first or second-tier clothing item or a zero-tier weapon was like hitting the jackpot.
Out of that enthusiast’s eighteen hundred Life-type NPC missions, the best reward was actually a first-tier massage wand Magic Treasure that didn’t consume True Qi or require charging to operate automatically…
Ye Rong froze for a moment but still took the envelope and agreed with a nod.
“Ugh, my luck is just too good. My morals are so high I can’t even believe it myself—I’m even accepting Life-type NPC missions. Please, just give me a straightforward reward like Experience Points or copper coins, nothing weird.”
As soon as he accepted, Ye Rong felt a twinge of regret, holding the crumpled envelope awkwardly with a bitter smile.
But when he thought about abandoning the mission and saw the old tea stall owner’s hunched back, he sighed deeply and tossed the envelope into his Universe Pouch.
“Fine, fine. Who asked me to be so noble and kind? I’ll just consider it a good deed.”
Since he was going to the Quanzhou Shipyard anyway, he might as well deliver the letter along the way.
…
A purple butterfly fluttered and danced until it reached Ye Rong, circling around him.
It flew for a while before finally landing on his shoulder. It was indeed an incredibly beautiful butterfly—none of the Flying Swords he owned could compare.
He usually used the Sinking Water Sword for Flying Sword Messages, its Sword Light appearing as plain, clear water.
His other Flying Swords were similar, just with different Sword Light colors. Only the Black Phoenix transformed into a dark phoenix, looking somewhat impressive. But he would never use his main Flying Swords for messaging.
“What’s the use of a fancy Sword Light transformation? Practicality is what matters! Next time I see Dream Butterfly, I must persuade her to give up such flashy but impractical Flying Swords and choose more practical ones. But her five Colorful Butterfly Swords seem to be Fifth-Rank Flying Swords…”
He grabbed the purple butterfly, which obediently landed in his hand and transformed into the Colorful Butterfly Flying Sword. Attached was a letter from Long-Legged Lady.
“She’s already in Quanzhou City… Finally! I’ve drunk seven or eight cups of tea, and my mouth is bitter!”
Ye Rong stood up abruptly and headed toward the coordinates written in the Flying Sword Message—likely near the city gate.
From a distance, he spotted Long-Legged Lady’s figure. However, she didn’t seem to be alone; three others accompanied her—two women and one man.
“Huh? Why are there others? The Flying Sword Message didn’t mention this.”
His heart stirred with various thoughts, but he still quickened his pace to approach them.