“Price?” Wu Yao pulled out some gold and silver coins. “Do you use these?”
“Respected Witch, what is it that you require?”
Tiechui's gaze was fixed on the gold coin flipping in Wu Yao's hand. The crisp, pleasant clinking of the coins caused her smile to widen involuntarily.
“Everything. Equipment, materials, seeds... Just show me whatever you have.” Wu Yao tossed the coins up and down. She wasn't clear on the game's economy, nor did she know what could even be traded.
“We have—” Tiechui had barely started speaking when her sister pinched her hard, cutting off her voice into a high-pitched squeak.
Tongque's action caught Wu Yao's attention. Feeling Wu Yao's gaze on her, Tongque's scalp tingled. She squeezed out a stiff smile and asked cautiously, “Excuse me, respected Witch, how should we address you?”
“Just call me Wu Yao.”
“Lady Wu Yao, why are you here?”
“Leveling up. There are monsters to fight, experience to gain, and mana potions to loot. It's a great place.”
Wu Yao had always played games by skipping every bit of dialogue she could, and spacing out during the unskippable parts.
However, she couldn't do that with NPC dialogues in an open-world game like this. Many games hid quest clues in dialogues, so she had to pay some attention.
The two sisters exchanged bewildered glances. What did this witch just say? Why did it feel like they didn't understand a single word?
“Hey, where's the merchandise?” Wu Yao was very dissatisfied with the efficiency of these two NPCs. It was fine to ask questions, but what was the meaning of not opening the shop interface for the player?
“O-Of course we have some!”
A chill ran down Tongque's spine under her gaze. She hastily said, “We are more than willing to show you all of our goods! These items are all alchemical products personally crafted by Master Toru of Black Iron City. We guarantee you will be satisfied!”
She pulled off her backpack and swiftly began rummaging through it to pull out the items. Tiechui, on the other hand, dove back underground to bring up the crates left in the tunnel.
“This is the 【Soil-Binding Mycelium Cultivation Jar】. You just need to mix the soil-binding mycelium inside into the dirt, water it a little, and it will solidify the soil within three hours.” Tongque was the first to present an item—a glass jar with a brass base.
Wu Yao casually took it in her hand. The jar was thick, with a few droplets of water condensed on the sealed inner glass wall. Through the glass, a layer of dark brown substance could be seen spread across the bottom. Looking closely, one could see tiny, thread-like mycelium slowly squirming.
Wu Yao cast an Appraisal on it.
【Soil-Binding Mycelium Cultivation Jar unlocked. Alchemy Compendium entry +1】
【Soil-Binding Mycelium Cultivation Jar (Excellent): A proud masterpiece of goblin bioengineering. Contains dormant soil-binding mycelium spores. Once activated, it can transform ordinary soil into a solidified foundation within 3 hours.】
【Crafting Requirements: Alchemy Lv. 10, Farming Lv. 5】
【Required Materials: Soil-Binding Mycelium × 1, Activation Potion × 3, Brass Container × 1】
Wu Yao's eyes lit up. Realizing this was a golden opportunity, she immediately waved her hand. “Quick, bring out all your alchemical products and let me see them.”
Tongque noticed the elemental fluctuation just now, but she had no idea what spell the witch in front of her had cast. She could only swallow her frustration and continue her introduction.
Tiechui scrambled to spread various alchemical products across a display cloth. Working together with Tongque, they launched into their sales pitch, chiming in one after another.
“This is the 【Automatic Sorting Scales】. Its precision reaches the microgram level, and it can automatically identify material attributes. It also has a synergistic effect with other alchemical products crafted by Master Lutoru. You can take it home for just 10 gold coins, and we even throw in three years of calibration service...”
“This is the 【Portable Purification Filter】. It can turn corrupted water into drinkable clean water. Although it's a bit slow, it is safe and reliable. It doesn't require mana to run and is an essential item for the wilderness. It can be yours for just 1 gold coin, and we'll throw in a spare filter cartridge worth 5 silver coins...”
The sisters talked until their throats were dry, while Wu Yao's hands never stopped moving. She cast Appraisal on every single item. System prompts continuously flooded her screen as her Alchemy Compendium lit up, item by item, rapidly filling the once-empty interface.
Although she didn't meet a single crafting requirement, just looking at these unlocked entries in her Compendium made her feel refreshed and delighted.
“Lady Wu Yao, these are all masterpieces crafted with the blood, sweat, and tears of dwarf masters. Every single alchemical product embodies hundreds of years of craftsmanship heritage.”
Tiechui quietly let out a sigh of relief as she reached the final item. She placed the grand finale product onto the display cloth and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Having introduced so many items, surely there was at least one she liked?
Although this lady hadn't said a word and occasionally emitted elemental fluctuations, she hadn't done anything extreme. She seemed relatively safe.
“Mm, not bad!” Wu Yao was also very satisfied with these alchemical products. Although she had no use for some of them, they were all very valuable anyway. Valuable things were good things.
She tilted her head, looking at the two goblin NPCs in front of her. Her fingers lightly tapped her knee, a pleasant smile playing on her face.
Next, as long as she killed these two NPCs, all of these alchemical products would become her loot.
Oh my god, she would be such a happy player!
Tiechui and Tongque simultaneously felt a bone-chilling cold. Tiechui's sixth sense screamed in alarm, urging her to quickly say something to save herself.
“...Lady Wu Yao, if there are no items here that interest you, we are more than willing to procure and deliver whatever you need!”
“Hmm...” If they offered this kind of service, Wu Yao would have to reconsider.
Her long-shelved main quest was quite lacking in materials. If someone could collect all of them for her, she wouldn't have to waste time. It would be much nicer to spend that saved time farming monsters and leveling up.
Sensing a hint of hesitation on the witch's face, Tiechui struck while the iron was hot.
“Rest assured, Lady Wu Yao! Our Topaz Trading Company is the most honest one among all the goblin chambers of commerce. Our reputation is harder than the Qiutong Stone of Emerald City!”
Tongque chimed in, doing her best to prove their worth.
“Only our Topaz Trading Company still maintains a trade route through the Cursed Forest. This alone proves how powerful we are! You can rest easy and give us a list of the goods you need, and we will do our absolute best to find them for you, Milady!”
Wu Yao frowned and withdrew her hand. Only the Topaz Trading Company had a trade route through the Cursed Forest? Did this NPC mean that if she killed them, there would be no more merchants in the future?
If there was no shop interface later on, wouldn't she lose great opportunities like today to unlock entries in her Compendium?
What was wrong with these merchants? A great place like the Cursed Forest, yet they couldn't recognize its value.
“Is the Cursed Forest that dangerous?”
“Extremely dangerous!” Tongque sensed that Lady Wu Yao in front of her seemed to lack a bit of common sense.
Could she be a reclusive Great Witch?
Rate on N.U.
