Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Blazing Prairie

Following the massive earthquake in the capital, many officials were ousted, and numerous members of the so-called "Crown Prince Party" simply vanished. Anyone even remotely connected to the young lady’s incident suffered a miserable fate. For a time, corrupt officials lived in constant fear, while the honest ones sat back like spectators, watching the drama unfold. As long as things didn't get too out of hand, they didn't intervene; after all, the fewer parasites in the country, the better. Yet, who would have thought that such a massive upheaval was triggered simply because someone saw a girl who couldn't afford a decent outfit? In a sense, Lilith was truly a femme fatale.

Of course, none of this concerned Lin Zheng. He had no interest in getting involved in such turmoil. Nowadays, he spent his days slaying monsters and earning a bit of gold—a fulfilling life, indeed. Why get entangled in such treacherous, backstabbing affairs?

Returning home, he found Yang Qi already back. After a quick bathroom break, he dove into his gaming pod and logged in.

In the plaza of Tianshuang City, Lin Zheng, who had been "resting" with his eyes closed to manage his stall, suddenly opened them and canceled the hosting mode. He checked his inventory; his items had sold out completely. With a grin, he checked his gold balance—a fantastic 356 gold coins added to his coffers. Oh, the satisfaction of earning money with his own hands! After closing the stall, he immediately listed the gold on the trading platform. With someone clearly buying up gold in bulk, it was snapped up almost instantly, netting him another nearly 30,000 in cash. In high spirits, Lin Zheng whistled as he walked to the warehouse to deposit his weapon, "Flying Swallow," and retrieved another bow-blade, "Moon Shatterer." Once equipped, his stats saw a significant shift:

Yi Ping (Combat Swordsman)
Level: 35
Strength: 148
Intelligence: 11
Constitution: 107
Agility: 16
Spirit: 11
Physical Attack: 1278-1894
Magic Attack: 602-780
Physical Defense: 308
Magic Defense: 211
HP: 6575
MP: 1650
...

His attack power had risen significantly, but his defense was truly dismal. There was no helping it; his attack was boosted by his golden-grade weapon and dark-gold ring, while his armor remained a set of trashy bronze gear. The base defense was already limited, and after the weapon and ring penalties, only a pitiful 308 remained. Fortunately, his HP was high enough to take a beating. At level 35, he was among the top players, only one level behind Yang Qi. The current Tianshuang City leaderboard stood as follows:

Zhangsun Youxi, Level 37, Mage
Hongchen Yanyu, Level 36, Heavy Sword Knight
Yi Ping, Level 35, Combat Swordsman
Chongchong, Level 34, Swordsman
Lilith, Level 34, Priest
Cute Guardian, Level 33, Swordsman
Glorious God-Slayer, Level 33, Armored Warrior
Glorious Magic-God, Level 33, Mage
Glorious Heavy Cavalry, Level 32, Heavy Sword Knight
Moonlight Chill, Level 32, Ranger
...

After reviewing the leaderboard, Lin Zheng couldn't help but sigh. There were indeed many leveling fanatics. The five of them had only climbed so quickly thanks to an A-rank medium-difficulty quest. Looking at Chongchong, she was truly formidable to be holding steady at level 34; perhaps she had also taken on a high-experience quest? As for the three with the "Glorious" prefix, it was clear they belonged to a single guild. Pushing so hard, they were likely planning to make a big splash in Tianshuang City. That meant they would be future competitors for establishing a guild. "Enemies!" Lin Zheng labeled them immediately. Just then, a "beep" signaled a communication request. He connected, and a voice rang out:

"Big Brother Shengun, what are you doing? Come help us level up!" Xiaomeng shouted.

"You guys go find Bawang and the others first. I want to go learn some life skills," Lin Zheng replied. The memory of being ripped off when buying potions was still fresh in his mind; he decided it was better to be self-sufficient!

"Learn life skills? Awesome! Awesome! Then we won't need to buy potions anymore; we'll just get them from you!" The girl was determined to exploit his future labor. Lin Zheng felt a bit dejected; Yang Qi had mentioned that materials for life skills were hard to come by and production was strictly limited. He didn't know how much would be left for himself after being exploited, but he decided to go learn them anyway.

"Phantom Spirit II" placed no restrictions on the number of life skills one could learn, but mastering them all was incredibly difficult. Most players chose two: one for gathering/production and one for crafting.

Lin Zheng wanted to learn potion crafting, which came in two forms: alchemy and cooking. Potions provided instant recovery with fast replenishment but lower total amounts, while cooking offered gradual recovery but with higher total quantities. Considering he spent most of his time grinding monsters, Lin Zheng decided on cooking. The gathering skill allowed him to harvest materials from wild plants or specific monsters.

After learning the skills from an NPC, Lin Zheng curiously opened the crafting interface. Level 1 cooking allowed for two items: bread and yogurt. Bread required wheat, which spawned in the wild but was scarce and highly contested. Yogurt required milk, which had a chance to drop from bovine monsters. This was also difficult, as the only low-level bovine monster near Tianshuang City was the level 18 wild ox, and with so many players hunting them, milk was rare.

Lin Zheng had researched the ingredients beforehand. Harvesting wheat while competing with so many others was a dead end. Milk, however, was a better prospect. The low supply was simply because there weren't enough cows. But Lin Zheng had the ability to kill stronger cows! He searched the forums and found a post mentioning the Blazing Grasslands beyond the Breeze Forest. There were "Three-Eyed Cows" there that dropped milk, but they were level 42 and difficult to kill—unsuitable for current life-skill players. Lin Zheng’s eyes lit up. Level 42 monsters were insurmountable for most, but not for him. With his attack power, he could easily take them down. Not only could he get milk, but he could also level up!

He rushed toward his destination, crossing the Breeze Forest in ten minutes to arrive at the Blazing Grasslands. The land looked like a burning landscape, with fiery-red vegetation swaying in the wind. Amidst this, the sturdy Three-Eyed Cows roamed.

Three-Eyed Cow: Level 41, Physical Attack 589-821, Physical Defense 550, Magic Defense 440, HP 5400. A mutant with the bloodline of a wild ox, capable of a weakened version of "Death Gaze," which instantly reduces the target's HP by 50%.

Seeing the stats, Lin Zheng was stunned. These monsters were truly powerful—high attack, high defense, and high HP! And with that "Death Gaze," one hit would cost him half his life! "A 40+ level nightmare map right after a 30-level map—who are they trying to trap?" Thankfully, his attack and HP were sufficient. He readied "Moon Shatterer," drew his dagger, and fired. "Crack!" A hit dealt 2910 damage. Impressive! He fired again, and the half-dead cow let out a low bellow before collapsing. Lin Zheng triumphantly approached the carcass and used his gathering skill. "Ding—Gathering successful, obtained 3 units of milk! Two more uses remaining."

He harvested 6 units from the first cow—a great start! He spent the afternoon hunting. Thanks to his high attack and his dagger's "Self-Taught" attribute, he could kill each cow in two shots. Even with a low drop rate, he managed to collect over 1200 units of milk. The other players would be green with envy if they knew, especially since his gathering skill had already hit level 3.

The reason his skill leveled up so fast was his dagger. The "Self-Taught" attribute wasn't just for show; it boosted his experience gain significantly. Satisfied, Lin Zheng finally stopped to make yogurt. The process was simple: open the menu, input materials, and click craft. 100 units per stack—he had over 12 stacks. Based on yesterday's prices, this batch was worth 240 gold coins. At 80 RMB per gold coin, he had made nearly 19,000 RMB in one afternoon!

He was shocked by how easy it was to make money, though he realized it was only because he had the strength to monopolize a high-level area that others couldn't touch. He was essentially earning the share of dozens of players. That was the benefit of being a high-end player. Just as he prepared to leave to gather level 3 materials, a hunter holding a bow caught his attention.