Font Size:
Chapter 28: No More Talent Boosts?
At the HN Economics Academy, in the girls’ dormitory, a sweet and innocent-looking girl stared at her phone in shock after the call ended. “I didn’t even say anything yet, and you hang up? Besides, do you even know how much money I need? You nasty brother, are you just brushing me off?”
“Zi Yin, does your brother still have money to send you?” A sweet-looking girl walked over and asked.
Wu Zi Yin shook her head. She wasn’t sure either. Her brother’s salary wasn’t high over there, and he had to send her living expenses every month. He probably couldn’t save much. But other than her brother, she didn’t know where else to borrow money.
“I’m telling you, that woman is definitely doing this on purpose. She probably likes the guy who secretly has a crush on you, so she deliberately opposed you. A bottle of lousy cosmetics and it costs eight thousand? Ridiculous!” The girl complained on her behalf.
“Forget it, I’ll just stay away from her from now on. It was my fault for breaking it, can’t blame anyone else. And I checked the cosmetics online, it really costs over eight thousand,” Wu Zi Yin said helplessly. But there was a mist in her eyes as she thought. She knew the other person was doing it on purpose, but what could she do? It was just her carelessness. Over eight thousand was already half a year’s worth of living expenses. She felt wronged.
“You really, with that personality of yours, you’ll get cheated big time sooner or later. Ah, I’m to blame too. If I hadn’t bought the game helmet, I could’ve helped you pay for it,” the girl added.
“Wei Wei, don’t say that. You already lent me all your living expenses. I don’t even know how to thank you, and how are you going to manage this month?” Wu Zi Yin said gratefully. The girl in front of her was her roommate and her best friend, always helping her at school.
“I’m fine. Worst case, I’ll cry and scream to my dad. He won’t let me starve,” Wei Wei said nonchalantly.
Just then, Wu Zi Yin received a text message on her phone. She opened it to find a bank transfer notification, and when she saw the amount—two hundred thousand yuan—she immediately felt a little at a loss.
“Wow, Zi Yin, your brother really has money! My dad only gives me three thousand a month for living expenses. Trying to get one extra penny is hard. But your brother just sent you two hundred thousand with one phone call. What a rich brother! If only I had one like that,” Wei Wei teased.
Wu Zi Yin didn’t respond to her but immediately called her brother back. When the call connected, she asked directly, “Brother, where did you get that much money?”
“I made some money playing games recently,” Wu Shaochen said.
“Games? Can you really make that much money from games?” Wu Zi Yin was skeptical. She didn’t play games much, so she found it hard to understand.
Wei Wei, who was listening to this, quickly chimed in, “Is your brother playing Divine Oracle? If so, it’s not impossible to make several thousand a month if you’re good at it. Some of the experts in our beginner village are selling equipment for thousands of dollars.”
“Ah?” Wu Zi Yin froze for a moment. She knew many classmates were playing this game, including Wei Wei, but she never thought games could make money.
“Yeah, it’s Divine Oracle. I sold some equipment and made some money. Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything bad. If it’s not enough, I can send more,” Wu Shaochen’s voice came from the phone again.
“Thanks, brother, but I don’t need that much. You also need money, I’ll transfer some back to you.” Though she couldn’t understand how the game could earn so much money, she felt relieved knowing her brother wasn’t doing anything wrong. But still, receiving such a large sum of money all at once made her feel uneasy.
“It’s okay. I still have some. Just keep it. Buy some clothes or cosmetics. Girls should look a bit more delicate. In the past, I didn’t have the money, so I couldn’t do that, but now that I have money, you shouldn’t suffer,” Wu Shaochen said.
“Brother…” Wu Zi Yin’s voice choked up.
“Alright, alright. Go take care of your situation.” Wu Shaochen knew that if nothing had happened, Wu Zi Yin wouldn’t have called him for money.
“Okay, I’ll hang up now. I’ll come visit you when summer break starts,” Wu Zi Yin said.
“Okay.”
“Done?” Wei Wei asked as Wu Zi Yin hung up.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Wu Zi Yin asked, puzzled.
“Hey, I was going to ask your brother for his game ID. The game just launched two days ago, and he’s already making several thousand dollars? Your brother must be really good at the game. If he could help me, I’d be thrilled!” Wei Wei said with regret.
“I don’t know if he’s really that good at games. He never played much before. But, Wei Wei, do you really think you can make that much money from games?” Wu Zi Yin still couldn’t believe it.
“Definitely! I don’t know about other games, but in Divine Oracle, if you’re good, it’s not hard to make several thousand in a day. You know the top player in the game, Sealed, right? Yesterday and today, he made nearly a hundred thousand just by selling equipment. And that’s not even counting the gold coins he’s got. I heard he’s got nearly ninety gold coins from system rewards, and one gold coin can sell for ten thousand. So in just one day, he made over a million. And this is still in the early stages of the game. It’s going to get even more lucrative later!” Wei Wei said excitedly.
Wu Zi Yin’s mouth opened wide in disbelief. This was way beyond her understanding.
“Well… Maybe I’ll try playing?” Wu Zi Yin was starting to feel tempted.
“Yeah! Your brother just sent you two hundred thousand. Even if you pay that woman back eight thousand, you’ll still have over a hundred thousand left! You can buy a helmet with the remaining money. It’s settled, then!” Wei Wei said, clapping her hands.
Over at Wu Shaochen’s side, after hanging up, he put on his helmet again and entered the game. He didn’t stop and walked deeper into the game. Ahead was Black Bear Ridge, where there were many level 17 black bears—his next target to farm.
After entering the Black Bear Ridge, Wu Shaochen immediately got serious. He cast Insight on the bears.
[Black Bear]
Level: 17
HP: 23,000
Physical Attack: 350
Physical Defense: 180
Magical Defense: 100
Speed: 40
Skills:
It looked like ordinary monsters weren’t much of a challenge for him. He could start farming in groups. He’d just apply three layers of toxin on each bear, and they would be easy to take down. The 152 points of toxin damage would add up to over two thousand seven hundred damage per minute—enough to take down each bear.
So Wu Shaochen started his farming routine. After a few hits, a group of black bears would be following him, one by one falling to the ground. This style of farming brought him real satisfaction.
However, the satisfaction disappeared after killing the 89th black bear, as he received only two system notifications.
Ding, killed [Black Bear], gained 200 experience. Additional experience of 100 due to higher level kill, with 20% of the experience distributed to the pet. Your pet [Silver Wolf] gains 60 experience.
Ding, Immortal Body activated, maximum HP increased by 1. Your Immortal Body trait increased your maximum HP by 218.
That’s right, there was no talent increase. Wu Shaochen checked the system prompts multiple times, sure that none of his talents had been upgraded. Looking at the talents, the toxin damage was stuck at 240 points. To confirm, Wu Shaochen killed two more black bears. He gained experience and saw the Immortal Body stat increase, but there was no talent increase. This had never crossed his mind.
He thought that as long as he kept farming, his talents would keep improving. Now, it seemed there was a limit. However, it was understandable. If it kept going on like this, it would break the balance of the game.
“Does this mean my toxin damage will stay at 240 points forever?” Wu Shaochen thought dejectedly. While 240 points per second was terrifying at this stage, it would become inadequate as players got stronger. If that’s the case, this talent would have been a waste.