Chapter 724: Expert Alchemist
Translator: Halcyon Translations Editor: Halcyon Translations
The plan was quite simple, but it was despicable.
The fact that he didn't manage to poach Fat Monkey was a testament to how reliable he was. However, there were many other talented players out there, and Blood Red War Flag was second only to Glory Capital.
Having a spy in Ruling Sword would be very useful. They could rely information and even sabotage matches.
"How much did Dust Dragon promise to give you?" Lu Li asked. He was quite curious to see how much Blood Red War Flag was willing to pay for their plan to defeat Ruling Sword.
"One million upfront, and I wouldn't have to do anything while in the top 100. After sabotaging a match in the top 16, they were going to pay me another two million…"
"Two million!" Lu Li felt a little dizzy.
Did these big guilds have money printing machines? They were willing to pay three million for the sake of one match in the top 16?
"Yeah, if I did it in the quarter-finals they would pay me three million instead, then four million for the semi-finals and five million for the finals," Fat Monkey said, then paused and shouted out, "Those damned dogs were really generous!"
Lu Li was still in shock.
Even he still didn't have that kind of money. Yet, five million dollars was being offered for sabotaging a single match, which would add up with the initial upfront amount to a total of six million.
As long as nothing happened, a family could comfortably live off this amount of money for the rest of their lives.
"Why didn't you agree? It's 5 million dollars."
Lu Li felt quite distressed. If he was offered this kind of money, he would be willing to do anything for it.
"Boss, please, could you have a bit of faith?" Fat Monkey asked as he looked at him scornfully.
"Sorry, I'm just a little shocked," Lu Li apologized with a wry smile, then raised his glass and continued, "But five million is no small amount. Fat Monkey, aren't you still a college student?"
"It's not about my education – If I did something like that and was found out, my career would be over. I believe that I can make five million over my lifetime. I'm only nineteen this year and if I play for another fifteen years, how much is that per year? I already make quite a bit of money and even if I didn't get found out, I would still be pledging my allegiance to Blood Red War Flag. I don't want to do such a thing," Fat Monkey explained.
"It seems like you have considered betraying the guild…" Lu Li was speechless.
If he had just flatly refused the offer, he wouldn't have made such a nuanced reason for his rejection.
"Hehe, thinking about it is a normal thing to do Boss. If it was you in my place, you might have already agreed, but the way I calculated it was whether this five million was enough to purchase my future," Fat Monkey chided.
"Looking at the way you live, you should be okay. I won't ask any more about it," Lu Li sighed.
In fact, he was only a few years older than Fat Monkey and if he had gone to college, he probably wouldn't have graduated. Even so, his mindset was that of a much older person – he had more in common with Square Root 3, who had graduated many years ago.
"You can rest assured Boss – Fat Monkey wouldn't be tempted so easily," Fat Monkey proudly said puffed out his chest. "I will defeat you sooner or later."
The next few days were spent completing their matches, but after that first round, Moonlight was reluctant to participate.
Lu Li didn't really want to fight those newbies that had gone down after his first few attacks either. As such, Fat Monkey and Carnivorous Cat ended up representing them.
Fat Monkey would take out two or three players and was followed by Carnivorous Cat after he died.
This Warlock really demonstrated her strength here as she would wipe the remaining players without fail.
Carnivorous Cat and Fat Monkey's fighting styles were completely differently. Fat Monkey was like a rash little kid, while Carnivorous Cat was a slow old man.
She took her time and made calculated decisions, which made it seem like she was moving in slow motion.
Of course, her casual movements and her cute expression reinforced the illusion.
There was no doubt that she had been trained very well by her father, who was both a coach and a star player.
Lu Li's rebirth had caused some changes in this timeline. The clubs discovered the strength of Warlocks in these kinds of battles much earlier and quickly poured in more research to devise new strategies.
Meanwhile, the war between Ruling Sword and Gangnam Royals continued.
Both sides were fully engaged in the war and even the professional players were involved. After their matches, they would participate in PVP and would kill up to a dozen players every day. Fat Monkey and Moonlight had killed so many players that they were basically permanently bloodstained.
Even Lu Li couldn't sit still and would occasionally go out to assassinate some important figures of the Gangnam Royals. However, most of the time, he would spend levelling himself.
"My Trade Skill EXP won't go up anymore. Lu Li, how do I get the last point of EXP? Am I almost at Expert level?" Sesame Rice Ball asked in a message that updated Lu Li about his latest development in training his Trade Skill.
Lu Li needed his Alchemy to complete the Worgen Quest.
"Yep, I'll help you complete the quest for it. It's a bit difficult," Lu Li said.
Before reaching Expert level, the Trade Skill tasks were quite easy. However, once you reached Expert level, a lot more was involved in acquiring the new skills.
Alchemy was a popular profession, and its Expert level not only added new potions, but even more branches to specialize into.
Alchemy branched into Potions, Medicine and Items.
The potion specialization allowed the alchemist to make additional kinds of Healing or Mana Potions.
Many Trade Skill Experts chose this specialization as it could make a lot of money. The recipes required for those potions were generally cheaper and made for a quick turnover. While the margins of individual sales were smaller, it was the most profitable of the three branches.
The Medicine specialization allowed the alchemist to create additional products that increased attributes like Agility or Strength.
In addition to upgrading attributes, they could also buff damage, movement speed and defense, among others. This specialization was very popular and in high-demand by most guilds. Almost all guilds would deliberately train this branch.
As for the items specialization, this allowed the alchemist to produce additional bonus items when performing alchemy.
This specialization was also very popular for its luck element. If a player was lucky, they could become rich overnight. But it was hard for something to happen twice, so this branch didn't really make piles of money like the other two.