Chapter 9: Gains from the Immortal Manor

“The countdown to teleportation begins: ten, nine, eight, seven…”

As the mechanical countdown started, Ye Rong ignored everything else and quickly grabbed the long sword and talisman in his hands.

Every game character started with a Universe Pouch that had twenty slots. When they reached a slightly higher level, that space would definitely not be enough. This meant players had to find their own ways to improve, usually by upgrading their clothes and equipment.

A white light flashed, and Ye Rong was teleported back to the Starter Village. Only then did he have time to carefully look at the two items in his hand.

The Taixuan Ice Soul Sword was a Third-Grade Immortal Weapon. It was made from cold iron, Water Mother, and elite ice soul essence. It was not afraid of evil or filth, and its cold light was sharp. It required a Level 15 to use. It dealt 60-95 damage, had a flight speed of 120-150, and an attack speed of 80-100. The sword had a frost effect, and there was a certain chance it would freeze the enemy when attacking.

The Water Lord Talisman was a Second-Grade Magic Treasure with no level requirement. It was refined by the Lord of Qiantang and could turn into Water Talismans to attack enemies. It could store up to ten Water Talismans, and one talisman was restored automatically every ten minutes. Each Water Talisman dealt 45-45 damage.

Both items were actually graded treasures. How could Ye Rong not be overjoyed?

The Taixuan Ice Soul Sword was a Third-Grade Immortal Weapon. It was nothing like a Peach Wood Sword, which was not even considered a Flying Sword and was ungraded trash. This Flying Sword could truly perform Sword Flight and soar through the skies.

In Far Shore, there were as many types of Flying Swords as stars in the sky. Based on their Innate Attributes, they could be divided into five categories: Immortal Weapon, Buddhist Weapon, Divine Weapon, Demonic Weapon, and Monstrous Weapon.

Among them, Divine Weapon-type Flying Swords could be used by both righteous and Demonic Path cultivators, unleashing their full power.

However, Immortal Weapons and Buddhist Weapons could only be used by Players who joined Righteous Faction Sects. Demonic Weapons and Monstrous Weapons could only be used by Players who joined Demonic Path Sects.

Furthermore, if a Taoist Sect disciple used a Buddhist Weapon, or a Buddhist Sect disciple used an Immortal Weapon, the power of the Flying Sword in their hands would be reduced by one grade. The same applied when using Demonic Weapons and Monstrous Weapons.

Therefore, Players were often willing to pay a higher price to find a Flying Sword that matched their own path, rather than casually using any Flying Sword just to get by.

Also, because of their widest applicability, among Flying Swords of the same grade, Divine Weapons were often the most expensive.

This Taixuan Ice Soul Sword was ranked as a Third-Grade Immortal Weapon. When attacking, there was a certain probability it could freeze and slow the enemy. Ye Rong only hated that he was not Level 15 yet and could not equip this Flying Sword immediately.

The Water Lord Talisman was a similar Magic Treasure to the Fire Talisman Ye Rong already had, but it was also a Second-Grade Magic Treasure. Although it had a limit on the number of shots, using it did not consume True Qi, and the damage from the Water Talismans was very high.

Before Level 20, Players had two Talisman Slots. He had already equipped one Fire Talisman. Now, equipping this Water Lord Talisman would fill the other slot perfectly.

“Haha, from now on, if I dislike anyone, I’ll hit them with a Fire Talisman in my left hand and a Water Talisman in my right. I’ll let them experience the thrill of ice and fire!”

Ye Rong looked at his fully equipped Talisman Slots and felt happy and proud.

Flying Swords and Magic Treasures were much more valuable than clothes and equipment. They were extremely hard to obtain. Even during the Closed Beta, many Level 70 or 80 Players were still using Level 30-plus Magic Treasures without replacing them, simply because they couldn’t find good substitutes.

Ye Rong was only Level 7, but he already had two Magic Treasures on him. He estimated that, apart from those Closed Beta experts, his current equipment was quite outstanding.

The Immortal Mansion Key was indeed a good thing. The Langhuan Jade Cave was only a Yellow Rank D-Grade Immortal Manor, almost the lowest grade among all Immortal Mansions. But even so, the rewards it brought Ye Rong were unexpectedly generous.

“No wonder everyone knows that Immortal Mansions are full of dangers, and going alone might not yield any gains smoothly. Yet, the trading value of Immortal Mansion Keys remains so high.”

Ye Rong sincerely marveled. This was truly a shortcut to getting rich!

For capable Players, passing through Immortal Mansions could bring returns several times or even dozens of times greater than the cost of buying an Immortal Mansion Key.

After one day since the server opened, the crowdedness of the Starter Village had not eased much. Wherever Ye Rong looked, he could still see many new Players wearing crude cloth clothes appearing with white light in the square of the Starter Village.

The popularity of Far Shore far exceeded Ye Rong’s highest previous estimates.

Star Information Company’s earlier prediction was that Far Shore could reach a maximum of thirty million concurrent online users, with an average concurrent online number maintained above five million. This number was already incredibly impressive, making it undoubtedly the hottest new game of the year.

But looking at the current data, in just one day, the number of registered users for Far Shore had already broken twelve million and was still rising steadily.

By night, the number of new Players entering the game did not decrease. Those office workers who worked during the day also started entering the game at this time. However, Shengfeng Network Co., Ltd. showed no intention of increasing the number of Starter Villages. Instead, they issued a notice saying that the current Starter Villages were sufficient to handle more Players.

Even someone like Haozi, who previously had no interest in fantasy games, threw himself into Far Shore with great enthusiasm this time. This showed how attractive this game was.

Naturally, Ye Rong was happy to see this. The more Players there were and the more popular the game became, the broader his future prospects would be.

Ye Rong had set a goal for himself to move into the city center within three years. At the very least, he wanted to breathe normal, fresh, unpolluted air every day. This was not an easy task.

Even renting the most ordinary room in the central city district cost over three thousand credits per month. Adding property fees, water and electricity bills, and various living expenses, it would definitely require at least four thousand credits per month.

The money left in Ye Rong’s ID was already less than four digits. For someone without a stable income, living in Low-rent Housing and eating synthetic food every day, moving into the central city district seemed like a very distant dream.

The fully functional auction house feature would only be available after reaching the Main City. In the Starter Village, Players could only use the most primitive method of setting up stalls for trading. All kinds of low-level equipment were displayed on the ground.

Ye Rong casually browsed around twice and found that the goods sold at the stalls were really not good. Forget graded Flying Swords or Magic Treasures, even equipment and clothing with attributes were scarce. Several accessories with two attributes each had quite a few people gathered around them, but there were more onlookers than people actually willing to spend money to buy them.

He couldn’t help but think mischievously: if he took out the two Magic Treasures and the Taixuan Ice Soul Sword he had on him for sale, wouldn’t it drive these Players crazy? It was even possible that someone might directly try to kill and rob him.

In Far Shore, someone who initiates an attack and kills another person loses 100 morality points. When morality is negative, being killed by someone else results in double the Lifespan loss, and the number of possible equipment drops becomes two. If morality falls below negative ten thousand, the Player would face a brutal Heavenly Tribulation test. Failing to pass the Heavenly Tribulation would directly reset their Lifespan to zero.

It was important to know that once a Player had no Lifespan value left, each death would directly cause them to lose one level. For high-level Players, this was an unbearable cost. Dying once would mean wasting a month or so of effort.

Of course, this was just a thought. Whether it was the Magic Treasures or the Flying Sword, Ye Rong planned to keep them for his own use. There was no chance he would sell them—even if he did decide to sell, he wouldn’t use the stall method. There were plenty of ways to get a higher price.