Chapter 38: 37: So brittle and easy to kill, it dies upon touch.
Sitting by the window on the bus, Chen Miao glanced at the watch on Hungry Monkey's wrist and suddenly remembered he was still unregistered, without even a watch of his own. This was something that needed to be put on the agenda too.
Feeling even more exhausted, he opened the window, letting the breeze in, and leaned against the seat back, gazing out the window, zoning out.
Where there's a hill, there's a way.
He wondered if he could find a new way to make money. Earning from secret realms was just too slow. He could only make 200 Star Coins for a perfect run through an F-grade secret realm, hardly enough to be worth his while.
As for who was calling Hungry Monkey, he didn't care at all. It was probably a former coworker.
But soon—
A crisp female voice came through from the watch.
"Teacher, I feel a bit under the weather and I would like to take a week off, is that okay?"
"Oh, that."
Realization dawned on Hungry Monkey, and he nodded in agreement, "Sure, go ahead."
"Take care of your health and rest well. You can come back whenever you want."
"I approve this leave."
"Okay, thank you, Teacher!"
The excitement in the girl's voice was evident, clearly not expecting to get the leave approved so easily.
The call ended.
Chen Miao, a bit dazed, turned to Hungry Monkey and blurted out, "Do you have some secret identity as a teacher? You don't seem like someone who could pass as a teacher."
"No way, I've never been a teacher,"
Scratching his head, Hungry Monkey replied.
"Then what was that call about?"
"I don't know. Maybe she got it wrong, but since she asked for leave, I just granted it. It's no big deal, just a trivial matter."
"..."
Chen Miao fell silent, his face expressionless for a moment before he turned his head back to the window, saying no more. He knew he should never have had any expectations of Hungry Monkey.
He began to think about how to make money again.
His current advantage was that he could produce bullets at an extremely low cost, and these bullets were also sellable, but the problem was... the market had vanished.
Hardly anyone was choosing the Supernatural Occupation of a gunman anymore.
Who would buy them?
All that was left were disadvantages, no advantages.
Maybe he should just go to secret realms to make some money first, though the earnings were meager, it was better than nothing and at least he could have a temporary income, avoiding a complete income gap.
The rewards of the F-grade secret realm were indeed not that high.
To aim for higher rewards, he would have to enter higher-level secret realms, but without protective items, he wouldn't venture into any realms other than the F-grade ones.
However, his plans for making money were slowly starting to take form.
If there's no demand, then create the demand.
In a market as big as Fengtian City, even if just ten thousand people gave him 100 credit points each, it would be enough for his swift rise. And the only thing he needed to consider was how to convince ten thousand people to willingly give him 100 credit points.
After a while,
The bus reached its destination, stopping at the end of route 13 in the center of Fengtian City.
And Chen Miao, who had been silent throughout the journey, suddenly smiled, his look of irritation vanishing from his face.
He had figured out how to make his first pot of gold.
Compared to the heart-racing entry into each new secret realm, he preferred to be armed to the teeth, sweeping through secret realms. Instead of making money inside the realms, he liked making money outside of them, and then entering the realms fully armed.
Although his firepower was not weak, he didn't have a single protective item.
They are like brittle sharks.
Crisp and easy to kill, they die upon a single touch.
...
Meanwhile—
In another part of Fengtian City, a girl with an excited expression turned to her butler and said, "Did you hear that? I got my leave approved, I don't have to go to classes this week, I'm going to have fun."
"This..."
The elderly butler, who was well into his seventies, showed a troubled look and hesitated for a long while before finally sighing, "Very well."
The young lady's teachers were usually very strict, criticizing for even one minute of tardiness, never allowing absences; yet how could they approve a week's leave for the young lady?
But he had indeed heard the phone call, and although he hadn't expected the typically stern teacher's voice to sound quite amiable, the leave had indeed been granted, and he had no reason to prevent it.
"Miss, the major event in Fengtian City will start in three days."
"This event, all Supernatural Occupation workers over the age of 18 and below lv.3, are required to participate, and you meet the requirements, Miss. Plus, this is a combat-type major event."
"The mortality rate for each combat-type major event is never low, I hope you will focus more on this matter in the coming days."
"Alright, alright."
The girl replied impatiently, "I had already reached lv.8 as a Magician, yet they made me change my class to a lv.0 archer and then switch back to a Magician and level up to lv.3."
"All this trouble just to participate in this event?"
"Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to get to lv.8?"
"..."
The butler was momentarily at a loss for words, but after a while, he spoke up, "This event is different. Not just you, Miss, many talented youths have repeatedly changed classes and wasted their levels just to participate in this event."
"Compared to other lv.3 Supernatural Occupation workers, you have more combat experience, skills with higher proficiency, and smoother combined use of equipment sets with a high proficiency."
"For people of higher levels, it's a great loss to degrade themselves through multiple changes of classes just to participate in this event."
"But it's just right for you young people."
"There are many strong young talents who will participate in this event. Miss, you will also have the chance to see the young generation of your peers then."
"Of course, the master mainly hopes that you can gain some worldly experience and doesn't expect you to win the final reward; you don't need to feel too much pressure, Miss."
A lv.8 Magician, who, by changing classes multiple times, wasted experience and returned to being a lv.3 Magician.
Although Attribute Points wouldn't return.
But the proficiency of past skills returned intact.
This could result in a lv.3 Magician possessing a skill with level 9 proficiency, completely overpowering another lv.3 Supernatural Profession Player, almost like cheating in a fight.
Generally speaking,
Whenever there's a major event with high rewards but a level cap, major forces would use this method to send in people and secure the rewards.
And this also means that the true newcomers who meet the conditions of the event would basically have no chance at touching the highest prize.
Social hierarchy would still gradually form.
Even the opportunities meant for the ordinary people would be forcefully taken away.
...
At this moment, in a noodle shop in Fengtian City, Chen Miao, who was eating zhajiang noodles with his head down, was seriously contemplating an issue.
The major event happening in three days was only for lv.3 and below Supernatural Occupation workers, compulsory entry.
And he was only 500 Experience Points away from leveling up to lv.4, did this mean that if he leveled up quickly enough in these few days, he could avoid this major event?
It was said that many people died in combat-type major events.
He was somewhat scared.