CHAPTER 59: CHAPTER 59: A 500,000 REWARD

[Pain Resistance (Blue-quality)]: Raises the player’s pain tolerance, reduces the negative effects of pain, helps you stay calm and not get distracted by pain. When you’re under severe pain, there’s a 50% chance to gain +1 Defense, +1 Strength, and +1 Speed for three minutes.

Compared to the old [Pain Resistance], Ethan’s talent hasn’t changed much on paper, but it’s a lot stronger now.

A 50% chance to add 1 point to Defense, Strength, and Speed is already pretty good for a Blue-quality talent.

But what Ethan cares about more now is how hard it is to upgrade a talent.

He already has the [Ten-Thousandfold Intelligence Reward] talent, but who wouldn’t want their talents to get even better?

So, Ethan slowly stepped out of the pool, got dressed, and asked Elise:

"Are there any other ways to improve a talent?"

Elise nodded and said, "There are, but it’s very hard. I only know of a few extremely rare and precious potions that can raise a talent."

Potions?

Hearing this, Ethan immediately thought of the [Blue Ice Potion Recipe Intel]. He asked tentatively, "Do you have any potion recipes?"

Elise curled her lip, glanced at Ethan, and said, "Recipes? Of course not. A Blue-quality potion recipe is worth as much as a Purple-quality item."

"And almost no one puts recipes up for sale."

Ethan nodded. It seemed potion recipes wouldn’t just cause fights in the real world, in the game they’re also extremely valuable.

That means the [Blue Ice Potion Recipe Intel] definitely shouldn’t be sold lightly.

But if he keeps the [Blue Ice Potion Recipe Intel] on him, the people threatening Lucas won’t give up easily.

The best way is for Ethan to find someone they can’t trace, and have that person auction off the [Blue Ice Potion Recipe Intel].

That way, not only will it draw their attention away, it will also make them waste time and energy investigating.

Thinking of this, Ethan glanced at Elise.

Noticing his look, Elise asked, puzzled, "What’s wrong?"

Ethan shook his head, then said it was time to talk about payment.

His stance was simple: pay more.

Elise nodded without hesitation and said seriously, "[Windchaser], don’t worry. Besides letting you pick any three Blue-quality items and giving you a permanent 20% discount, I’ll also give you an extra reward."

"But you’ll need to wait two more days for that."

Ethan thought for a moment and agreed. After all, Elise could have just tossed him some random stuff.

Since she said she needed two days to prepare, that means the extra reward should be pretty good.

...

Safe Zone 9527. In Elise’s item shop, Ethan was carefully looking at the items in the display case.

[Basic Potential Boost Potion]

[Quality]: Blue-quality

[Requirement]: Level above 8

[Effect]: Temporarily increases Strength by 3, Speed by 2, and Defense by 1 for 50 seconds.

[Note]: The time is short, but enough to end a fight and leave your opponent flat on the ground.

...

[Purifying Bubble]

[Quality]: Blue-quality

[Requirement]: None

[Effect]: Pop it to clear status effects, including paralysis, slow, stun, fear, and sleep. For the next 30 seconds, it also boosts your resistance to status effects.

[Note]: Take a nice bubble bath and you’ll feel full of energy.

...

[Bloodstained Bracelet]

[Quality]: Blue-quality

[Requirement]: None

[Effect]: Put the bracelet on a target and iron spikes will extend into their body, causing constant, intense pain, but no actual damage.

[Note]: A trinket that can make a masochist feel pleased.

...

[Frost Baseball]

[Quality]: Blue-quality

[Requirement]: None

[Effect]: When it hits something, the baseball explodes. Explosion radius: 3 meters. Targets hit by the blast have their speed reduced by 20% for 3 minutes.

[Note]: Besides boosting yourself, slowing others is also a good way.

...

[Healing Spray]

[Quality]: Blue-quality

[Requirement]: None

[Effect]: Stops bleeding, speeds up wound healing, and also calms and relieves pain.

[Note]: You definitely don’t want to get this stuff in your eyes.

...

Ethan looked at the items in the case. To be honest, he felt an urge to take all the Blue-quality ones. In his eyes, any one of them could be hugely useful at the right moment.

Take the [Bloodstained Bracelet], for example.

It suited him well after his talent upgrade. It could give him intense pain to trigger [Pain Resistance], without lowering his health.

The [Basic Potential Boost Potion] and the [Frost Baseball] were also great—one boosts several stats, the other slows enemies.

Among these, the [Purifying Bubble] was a must-take.

For the other two, after thinking it over, Ethan chose the [Basic Potential Boost Potion] and the [Bloodstained Bracelet].

No special reason. His gear, items, and skills could already spike his stats, so why not push it even further?

In a fight, he could just crush his enemies with overwhelming stats.

When Ethan named the three items he wanted, Elise gave him a strange look. Holding the [Bloodstained Bracelet], she asked:

"You sure you want this?"

Ethan knew what she was thinking. He gave a brief explanation: "Don’t get the wrong idea. I have another use for it."

Elise nodded quickly to show she totally believed him, but still muttered on purpose under her breath, "No wonder you’re so calm and rational—so that’s what you’re into."

Ethan ignored her. He stashed the three Blue-quality items in his storage, walked out of the shop, found a random spot, and logged out of Dawnfall Online.

It was already late. When Ethan opened his eyes in the real world, the sky was almost dark.

Suddenly he remembered something and smacked his forehead. "Right, I was going to get a checkup today to see if I can be discharged tomorrow."

"Forget it. I’ll ask a nurse if Dr. Axel is coming in tomorrow and have him check my condition again."

With that in mind, Ethan pressed the bedside call button.

Soon, the blonde nurse who’d taken a day off before jogged up to his door.

She looked straight at him, swallowed, and asked softly, "Mr. Ethan, what can I do for you?"

Ethan asked if Dr. Axel would be at the hospital tomorrow.

A flicker of disappointment crossed the blonde nurse’s face, then she replied, "Yes. Dr. Axel told me too—he’ll come by tomorrow afternoon."

Ethan nodded and said that was all.

He planned to order some food, wash up early, get some sleep, and be in good shape.

The blonde nurse turned and took a step out, then stopped, as if one word from Ethan would bring her back and she’d close the door.

But Ethan had already taken out his phone and was browsing Dawnfall Online forums, not paying her any attention.

On the game forums, he kept digging for info on players near Safe Zone 9527.

At this stage, not many players had completed their class change. Basically, unless they hid their info like he did, other players would be talking about them.

As he scrolled, Ethan muttered to himself, "Safe Zone 9526—there are three well-known players who finished their class change..."

"Safe Zone 9529—there’s a special class player, a [Curse Warlock]. Someone even posted a fight against him, with lots of useful details."

After finding what he wanted, Ethan had a simple dinner, took a shower, then lay down on the hospital bed and closed his eyes.

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt a bit tired today, so he decided to rest early.

...

Right now, the players near Safe Zone 9527—especially the skilled ones who had already changed classes—couldn’t fall asleep as peacefully as Ethan.

The player with the ID [Don’t Read This Sentence] was still in Dawnfall Online.

He looked at the message on his wristwatch and fell into thought.

After his class change to [Curse Warlock], he often got lots of friend requests—mostly from people he didn’t know and players who wanted him to help them level up.

He would always reject those friend requests without a second thought.

But just now, a stranger tried to add him, and the note attached to the request made [Don’t Read This Sentence] widen his eyes.

He hesitated for a moment, then chose to accept the friend request.

The next second, the other person sent him a new message.

[19110536]: [Tomorrow morning, outside Safe Zone 9527, kill a player. Reward: 500,000.]