Chapter 47: Return to the Shop

The next day, Qin Yuan woke up early. After finishing most of the matters on the Sky Island, he planned to focus his main energy on the Tranquil Forest.

His primary goal was to visit the one-eyed giant, Dagon. Last time, he had promised to come and visit whenever he had time. However, recently, too much of his energy had been tied up with the Sky Island, so that promise had yet to be fulfilled.

Including the Magic Spring he had brought up from underground last time—he had sold part of it and kept some for himself. After intense use recently, the remaining amount was running low. He needed to go back to that underground space to replenish his supplies.

Another matter was the beast-taming collar he had acquired, which had shown no response so far. Qin Yuan intended to try finding a suitable mount in the forest to make traveling easier.

Besides that, during his last conversation with the one-eyed giant Dagon, he learned that there were monsters of level seven or eight living deep within the forest. This would also be an excellent new spot for farming monsters.

Of course, he had also been keeping an eye on the situation in the village. In the beginning, almost every day brought new players, forming several small groups hunting monsters in the forest. As time passed and players around had mostly leveled up, things had entered a stable phase.

After wandering around the village, Qin Yuan arrived at the entrance of the alchemy shop.

“Long time no see, dear customer~”
“Recently, the shop has received a new batch of goods!”
“Feel free to take a look~”

A familiar elf appeared from the mirror.

“Long time no see,” Qin Yuan greeted politely before turning his attention to the items in the shop.

When he had chatted with the Mirror Elf before, it had mentioned that every Saturday night, a specialist would come to replace all the shop’s goods. Now looking around, indeed, both the potions on the shelves and the magical rune papers displayed many brand-new items.

Unlike usual, there was a player browsing the shop at this moment.

He appeared to be about twenty years old, with a thin, refined face, looking quite scholarly.

A system notification also caught the player’s attention, making him turn and notice Qin Yuan nearby. After nodding in acknowledgment, he continued browsing the shelves.

Qin Yuan first approached the wall shelves. Scanning the items, he noticed that the Warmth Potion and Swift Potion had been completely removed.

In their place were two new potions:

[Underwater Potion★: A potion made from magical herbs that allows you to breathe underwater for thirty minutes. Price: 20 silver coins.]
[Cold Potion★: A potion made from magical herbs that induces a feeling of cold. During its effect, it slightly enhances the strength of ice attribute spells cast. Duration: thirty minutes. Price: 25 silver coins.]

Qin Yuan had seen these two potions in the Whispering Magic Tome before. At present, they seemed useless, but he bought one bottle of each anyway. Even if they just gathered dust in his backpack, it was better to be prepared in case he needed them in the future.

He also bought two bottles of Forgetfulness Potion.

This was the main reason for his visit this time.

As his level increased, all five skill slots on the magical rune papers were filled. If he wanted to replace a skill with a better one, he would need this potion.

At first, Qin Yuan thought about brewing it himself to save money, but it seemed the primary ingredients were scarce. At least, he couldn’t find the materials on the trading market.

So, he had no choice but to buy directly from the alchemy shop.

Two bottles cost exactly one gold coin, roughly the price of one magical rune paper—not cheap.

Then, he turned his gaze to another shelf—the shelf with magical rune papers.

“Hm? Why are there so many more this time?” Qin Yuan was surprised to find that the rune paper shelf had doubled, from three slots to six.

Four remained in stock, with two slots empty—likely bought by others.

“That’s because a few days ago, many people kept asking. So, when the Mage Association staff came to restock this time, I asked them to bring more. They said the demand in the surrounding area has been rising recently,” the Mirror Elf explained.

“I see...” Qin Yuan recalled that the last batch had three magical rune papers, which he had swept clean. It was no wonder some players, even after saving up, had no chance to buy any.

The rising demand in the area was undoubtedly related to the players.

His eyes scanned for any rare or higher-quality runes and indeed found one.

...

[Magical Rune Paper (Summoning Spell: Screaming Monster★Rare): A wondrous paper dropped by monsters. Using it activates the corresponding magical rune.]
[Summoning Spell: Screaming Monster★: An active skill that summons a screaming monster capable of emitting a terrifying shriek. It causes continuous mental damage, affecting all creatures within a certain radius, including the caster.]
[Price: 4 gold coins 50 silver coins]

...

“Another summoning type...” Qin Yuan muttered.

In fact, if it were another type of rune paper, even if the skill matching was not perfect, he would consider buying it to replace one of his few ordinary spells.

But summoning skills were another matter. From the records in the Whispering Magic Tome about job classes, he knew that summoning skills could not coexist simultaneously.

For example, if he had summoned a bear spirit and then used the Screaming Monster summon, the previously summoned bear spirit would immediately dissipate.

Only by switching to the regular class of “Summoner” and activating the passive skill “Child of Summoning” could the number of summoned creatures exceed the limit; otherwise, it was always one.

The Owl Whistle was a special item and not subject to this restriction.

After some thought, Qin Yuan felt there was no need to force a replacement.

His current skill setup was reasonable, with each skill serving its purpose.

Moreover, the summoning spell was indiscriminate, affecting friend and foe alike.

“I’d like to ask, when the next restock happens, could you speak with the Mage Association staff? I’m interested in some higher-level magical rune papers. What would the price of epic quality be?”

Qin Yuan suddenly looked at the Mirror Elf on the counter.

“No can do~” The doll-like Mirror Elf shook its head decisively.

“The production of epic-quality magical rune papers is extremely limited. Even within the Association, there aren’t many. The outpost in Blackstone Town only sells rare-quality ones.”

“If you want them, you’d probably have to check the outpost in Sol City, but even they might not have any.”

“I see...” Qin Yuan was somewhat disappointed.

The area he was in was called the Kingdom of Sol, with Sol City as the capital. Even there, these runes might be unavailable.

It seemed this idea would have to be shelved for now.

Qin Yuan took the potions to the counter to pay.

“That’ll be one gold coin and forty-five silver coins in total~” The Mirror Elf glanced and said.

After giving another positive review, Qin Yuan turned and left.

Stepping out of Ironstone Village, he entered the forest.

The monsters at the forest’s edge now posed no threat to him; a single small fireball could instantly kill them.

It was reminiscent of how Feather’s wind blade used to cut through monsters back in the day.

This change made Qin Yuan quietly amazed.

Along the way, he occasionally spotted uniquely shaped small animals wandering the forest.

These creatures were often level zero.

Level zero creatures didn’t drop items upon death, but their corpses didn’t disappear either.

They would often become food for creatures like the Black-Striped Demon Wolves.

He also tried using the beast-taming collar on some monsters he saw.

[Cannot be used on this creature.]
[Cannot be used on this creature.]

Repeated prompts like these appeared, leaving Qin Yuan speechless.

“This special item of yours... seems to have mutated,” the Whispering Magic Tome pondered for a moment.

“I checked some old memories these days and recalled seeing relevant records in a magic book. If my guess is correct, this item’s original name should be ‘Beast-Taming Collar’.”

“Karl was probably the previous owner. Why the item mutated after passing through his hands—even the name changed to ‘Karl’s Beast-Taming Collar’—could have many possible reasons. I can’t say for sure.”

From this, it was clear the item wouldn’t be reliable in the short term. Qin Yuan would have to consider other methods.

After all, there were so many slimes on the Sky Island; finding one as a mount was also a good choice.

At least riding one would be very comfortable, and their movement speed wasn’t too slow—definitely faster than walking on foot.

As long as his wages were high enough, finding one would be easy.

The only drawback was that these creatures had nearly zero combat ability. In battle, he had to recall them promptly; otherwise, a stray attack could easily kill them outright.