Chapter 23: The Eight-Point Staff

After a long day of hard work killing monsters, Su Ning successfully reached Level 7 and checked her character panel.

Player: Su Ning
ID Number: xxxxxIDxxxxx
Level: 7
Experience: 181/1000
Class: Night Priest
Bloodline: Demon Clan
HP: 220/220
MP: 100/100
Cleanliness: 58/100
Satiety: 45/100
Constitution: 9 (+3)
Intelligence: 10 (+9)
Strength: 4 (+4)
Agility: 4 (+5)
Unspent Points: 1
Bloodline Concentration: 5%
Equipment: —

As expected, each level now required more experience. Luckily, her level was still low, so leveling up remained relatively easy.

Su Ning hadn’t yet worn the long-sleeved hoodie she had prepared for herself, so she was reasonably satisfied with her current stats—except that her Strength and Agility were a bit low. She planned to improve those later and add other accessories when possible.

On the way back, she passed a few bare trees. Thinking about how her wand-making materials were too uniform, she casually examined them—and unexpectedly found a treasure.

Lv.5 Mutated Sweet Osmanthus
Details: Newly mutated sweet osmanthus tree with excellent magical conduction properties.

This was practically a god-sent piece of wood for a wand. Originally, she just wanted some branches to experiment with, but now she felt like taking the entire tree home!

Fortunately, Huoyang’s output was strong, and Ma Shangfei’s large blade was sharp. The two strong men cut the tree in half. Su Ning happily placed the nearly four- to five-meter-tall mutated sweet osmanthus into the crafting system for processing, selecting it as wand material. Her expression looked like a greedy little hamster, filled with pure satisfaction.

Next came waiting for the wood to be processed, after which she could carve and shape it.

Back in the safe zone, it was already dusk. Perhaps due to an unpleasant breakfast, Ma Shangting claimed she was tired and went to rest early, taking Ma Shangfei with her. From that meal onward, the Ma siblings never returned to the Past Events Tavern.

After dinner, Qiao Duoduo stayed to help in the kitchen, while Huoyang waited behind, both for his wife to finish and to see if he could help.

Su Ning went home and organized the rabbit leather she had collected, thinking it was excellent material—perfect for making rabbit leather gloves in the future.

The mutated sweet osmanthus was still being processed, and she planned to deliver it to Big Fat Sheep tomorrow. For now, she took her original wood to craft a simple men’s wand.

She cut it to the proper size, smoothed it, and carved a few simple patterns—otherwise it would look too crude.

“Beep. Congratulations, player. Crafting successful. Item check: Weapon: Wand. Assigning weapon attributes.”
“Beep. Weapon attribute assignment successful. Please name your weapon.”

“Eight-Point Staff.” This was the staff meant to provide at least +8 points.

“Beep. Name successfully assigned. Weapon: Eight-Point Staff. Grade: Green. Required Level: 5. Attributes: Intelligence +4, Agility +3. Crafted by: Su Ning.”

Awkward. Su Ning didn’t want to sell it for less—the “eight points” had to be guaranteed.

There was no choice but to craft again. By now, it was already past 10 PM.

At 2 AM, Su Ning finished the second Eight-Point Staff. Unfortunately, its stats were Intelligence +6, Constitution +1.

Su Ning fell into deep self-doubt. Was the original wood only capable of producing these attributes? Did that mean her dream of an Eight-Point Staff was shattered? Was her shop’s reputation doomed from the start?

“Beep. Crafting system notification: Wand materials have finished processing.”

Just as Su Ning frowned, this notification sounded like heaven to her ears.

She took out the wood, observing neatly cut cylindrical pieces of varying lengths and thicknesses. She carefully selected medium-length, medium-thickness pieces for carving.

This time, Su Ning meticulously worked on each cut until the sky began to lighten.

“Beep. Congratulations, player. Crafting successful. Item check: Weapon: Wand. Assigning weapon attributes.”
“Beep. Weapon attribute assignment successful. Please name your weapon.”

“Sweet Osmanthus Wand.” Named after the wood, hoping it would live up to its magical conduction properties.

“Beep. Name successfully assigned. Weapon: Sweet Osmanthus Wand. Grade: Green. Required Level: 8. Attributes: Intelligence +8, Agility +2. Crafted by: Su Ning.”

Whether it was the quality of the material or Su Ning’s skill, she was extremely satisfied this time.

Though she wished to keep the +10 bonus wand for herself, it didn’t matter. There were plenty of mutated sweet osmanthus materials, and her craftsmanship was improving—better wands would come.

She sent the hoodie and wand attributes to Mr. Fat Sheep and proposed a two-silver-coin price increase.

By the time she finished organizing her tools, dawn had arrived. She messaged Qiao Duoduo: too tired today, no monster hunting. After changing out of her wood-dust-strewn clothes, she just lay down.

But surprises always come suddenly. As she prepared to sleep, frantic knocking at the door disturbed her.

Huoyang’s original intention in messaging Ma Shangfei had been: today the healer wants to rest; bring extra potions yourself.

Who knew Ma Shangfei would come knock in person to check.

Su Ning, clearly startled, answered.

“Something wrong?”
“I heard you weren’t feeling well today, so I wanted to see you.”
“Well, now you see me.”
“Are you sick?”

Su Ning wanted to slap him and ask which eye saw her being sick. But her upbringing prevented such an outburst, and she suppressed her bitterness.

“I’m not sick.”
“Then why aren’t you hunting? Leveling is crucial now. If you’re not sick, you should level with us. Otherwise—”
“I want to rest today.”

She hurriedly interrupted Ma Shangfei’s “moral lecture,” feeling extremely irritated.

In Ma Shangfei’s mind, Su Ning was a naturally privileged lady, ignorant of worldly hardships. Except for being somewhat cold and impatient, she had no flaws.

Though not as pretty as his sister, her healer class was valuable. Being together, she could help care for his sister. He also believed she liked men, assuming her friendliness to Ma Shangting was because of him. So he wanted to explain.

“But—”
“I know you mean well, but you’re really disturbing my rest. Do you understand?”

Su Ning was exhausted—what was Ma Shangfei still rambling about?

“I understand, but you shouldn’t throw a little temper. Girls can be delicate, no problem. But now, with the importance of levels, I’m also considering your future.”

Su Ning realized: Ma Shangfei, the classic straight man, thought she was acting like a spoiled lady, trying to avoid hard work. And as a moralist on a high horse, he was “correcting” her behavior.