Magic Farm 74

Chapter 74: What Are You Babbling About

In the end, following the suggestions of the others in the group, Qi Yu set the price of the Crimson Flame Feather three-piece set at 50 Emerald Crystals.

Qi Yu initially wondered if that was a bit high.

Until he compared it to other items.

Fifty Emerald Crystals—the price of a level-two magic crystal.

Qi Yu: !

Mages, we really do burn through money!

He handed all the Crimson Flame Feather sets over to Brother Tu Mu, then went to pick up the white light scattered throughout his territory.

During the four days he’d been unconscious, not even the Screaming Lily of the Valley could wake him. There had been several attacks during that time, and as expected, all of them were swiftlets.

Qi Yu picked up a lot of swiftlet meat and feathers, as well as more than thirty level-one beast crystals.

Swiftlet meat was useful, but as for all those feathers, he had no idea what they could be used for.

There happened to be an artificer in the group, so he asked Ning Jing Zhi Yuan.

[Ning Jing Zhi Yuan: For now, I haven’t found any special use for these swiftlet feathers. If no other effect is discovered, they can only be used to make warm down products.]

[Ning Jing Zhi Yuan: Like down jackets or down quilts. But the effect definitely won’t compare to your Crimson Flame Feather set.]

Qi Yu only had just under a hundred Crimson Flame Feather sets in total, so most players would still have to find their own solutions.

If there were enough feathers, making a down jacket for warmth wouldn’t be bad either.

Qi Yu pondered this.

As for the swiftlet meat, he’d originally planned to discuss it with Shen Ben Wuxiang.

But after chatting with the 01 Survival Squad, he fully realized that he truly wasn’t very good at this sort of thing.

If he wasn’t good at it, he’d just ask someone who was.

[I Love Survival Games: If I wanted to buy up swiftlet meat, what would be a good price?]

The others in the group: ???

[Brother Tu Mu: Boss, why are you buying that stuff?]

Maybe he was too surprised, because he didn’t even call him “game master” this time—he went straight to “boss.”

After all, the main use of swiftlet meat was as a water substitute.

Although a tiny piece could be used as 500ml of water, which sounded impressive, the one thing Region 01 didn’t lack right now was water.

Players mostly found it novel at first, then just tossed it into their backpacks to gather dust.

Some people couldn’t even be bothered to pick it up—backpack space was limited, and with the endless rain, swiftlets were everywhere, so there was nowhere to put the excess.

[Don’t Dare Open My Eyes: Come check out my latest hydration potion, made with swiftlet meat-infused water. Wow, the effect is exactly the same as adding any other water.]

None of them thought Qi Yu was so kind as to do charity, but they really couldn’t figure out why he wanted to buy up this stuff.

[I Love Survival Games: I have a channel to sell swiftlet meat.]

The other three in the group racked their brains and still couldn’t figure out how their number one game master could possibly be in contact with players from other regions.

Hearing Qi Yu say this, the most they could guess was that, as the first player to trade with the “Wandering Merchant,” he might have gotten some kind of cheat—maybe an extra trading platform or something.

Qi Yu did have a trading platform, but it was the Magician’s Association.

He’d searched for swiftlet meat in the Magician’s Association shop.

And sure enough, he found a result.

[Swiftlet Meat: A completely worthless exotic beast byproduct, with no value for sale.]

Qi Yu: …The Magician’s Shop’s item notes seemed to have even more personality than the survival game’s.

[Ning Jing Zhi Yuan: If you really have a stable, large-scale sales channel, then the players in our region are truly blessed.]

[Don’t Dare Open My Eyes: Seriously, swiftlets are a pain—so many, so annoying, and they never drop anything good.]

[Brother Tu Mu: It’s true. Every player should bow to you.]

The group knew from the last disaster that, while Qi Yu wasn’t some saintly philanthropist, he was happy to help his fellow players within reasonable limits.

[I Love Survival Games: So if I want to buy, what price would be good?]

[Brother Tu Mu: Speaking as a profiteer, I think any price you set would be accepted.]

He tossed out the joke offhandedly.

He hadn’t expected to see this reply a second later:

[I Love Survival Games: You’re not a profiteer, you’re a good person. @Brother Tu Mu.]

Brother Tu Mu: Listen to that! Who says their number one game master is cold and unfeeling?

Anyone who got close would realize just how sweet this kid could be when he spoke plainly.

What a shame the other players would never know.

He was secretly delighted.

[Brother Tu Mu: There’s one problem—if you’re going to buy, what currency will you use?]

Currently, the most unified common resource for player trades was wood. Qi Yu had also used wood as the base currency when selling mutated plants before.

Brother Tu Mu knew the game master’s wood reserves must be staggering.

But if he was buying from tens of thousands of players across the region, and the item was so common that everyone had plenty, even all that wood might not be enough.

And with such large quantities, the transaction fees and calculations would be a huge headache.

As a merchant, Brother Tu Mu had thought about this before: right now, everyone’s just entered the survival game, and resources are limited. But what about later? As players survive longer, resources will pile up, and more “high-end” items will appear. You can’t keep using wood as currency forever.

Region 01 did have Emerald Crystals.

But Emerald Crystals dropped far too rarely. You might get one from a treasure chest, or from killing a mutated beast, but only occasionally.

There just weren’t enough to support such large-scale transactions.

Qi Yu poked Shen Ben Wuxiang.

[Shen Ben Wuxiang: ?]

[I Love Survival Games: What currency do you use for trading in Region 88?]

[Shen Ben Wuxiang: At first it was ore, but now, more and more people use beast crystals.]

[Shen Ben Wuxiang: What, isn’t it the same in your region?]

Beast crystals?

Qi Yu remembered that he’d gotten some beast crystals from killing swiftlets before.

A thought struck him, and he searched “beast crystal” in the Association shop.

[Beast Crystal: Dropped by killing mutated beasts, contains energy. High-level beast crystals can be used as substitutes for magic crystals.]

The Magician’s Association shop sold beast crystals too.

Level 1 beast crystals: 1 gold coin each. Level 2: 10 gold coins each.

From level 3 onward, the price jumped sharply. Level 3 beast crystals were worth 100 gold coins, level 4 were worth 500 gold coins.

No set price for level 5 and above—they were priced individually based on their effects.

The highest-level mutated beast Qi Yu had seen was the level 3 swiftlet leader, which dropped a level 3 beast crystal.

He’d also picked up two level 2 beast crystals from two level 2 mutated dracolizards while following a flock of swiftlets.

If the beast crystal’s level matched the mutated beast’s level, then it made sense for the price to jump at level 3.

A mutated beast like the swiftlet leader was far beyond what an ordinary person could handle.

Qi Yu still didn’t know how a mere level 3 swordsman like Shen Ben Wuxiang had managed to kill a level 5 Riftwing Beast.

Beast crystals.

Qi Yu stared at the dozens of level 1 beast crystals in his backpack.

[I Love Survival Games: These past few days, when killing mutated beasts, aside from materials and treasure chests, have there been a lot of beast crystals dropping?]

[Brother Tu Mu: Actually, treasure chests hardly drop at all anymore. But since there are no other mutated beasts to compare, we don’t know if it’s just a swiftlet thing, or if the survival game is reducing treasure chest drops overall.]

[Ning Jing Zhi Yuan: Killing swiftlets definitely drops beast crystals. Are you thinking of using beast crystals as currency?]

[Brother Tu Mu: But compared to wood, we have even fewer beast crystals on hand.]

Mutated beasts had only started dropping beast crystals in the past few days.

So far, Emerald Crystals seemed to be a specialty of Star Forest, but they dropped rarely. Just as President Sean had said, they could be considered “artifacts.”

Gold, silver, and copper coins were the common currency among the natives, but players had no stable way of obtaining them.

If beast crystals could be dropped steadily in the future, they might be a good option.

After all, the Magician’s Association shop carried them, which showed that beast crystals had some universal value in the outside world.

[I Love Survival Games: I’ll think about it some more.]

After finishing this discussion, Qi Yu began meditating, slowly restoring his mana and mental strength.

Around noon, he opened his eyes.

His mana had recovered significantly, and that weak, powerless feeling had finally disappeared.

His mental strength was back, and his mind was working again.

He carefully felt the flow of magic within him, reminding himself to be more careful next time. Overdrawing mana and mental strength until he passed out was just too dangerous.

Luckily, this time he’d been in the shelter—even unconscious, the shelter could still protect him.

If he’d been anywhere else, four days would have been enough for him to die hundreds of times.

But then again, if he hadn’t been in the shelter, he wouldn’t have dared to immerse himself so deeply in inscribing magic scrolls.

[Your friend Shen Ben Wuxiang has sent you a gift.]

It was the familiar steak rice, along with the familiar soup and a serving of bright green vegetables.

Qi Yu could feel the abundant energy in the food.

[I Love Survival Games: Is all this made from Riftwing Beast meat?]

[Shen Ben Wuxiang: Yeah, this big guy will last us a good while.]

[I Love Survival Games: You’re a swordsman, so meat from such high-level mutated beasts must be really good for you, right?]

Back in Jindong City, Leslie had mentioned that his father, a level 5 swordsman, ate large quantities of exotic beast meat every day to replenish his vitality.

Martial artists needed to temper their bodies, so their energy requirements were high.

[Shen Ben Wuxiang: You even know that? And you say you’re not the survival game’s favored son!]

[I Love Survival Games: I heard it from someone else, not from the survival game itself.]

But Shen Ben Wuxiang’s words made his thoughts drift oddly for a moment. If the survival game really was such a good father, wouldn’t that be a blessing?

[I Love Survival Games: What I mean is, when I eat this kind of high-level exotic beast meat, aside from the energy, I don’t get much else out of it. It’s a bit of a waste.]

[I Love Survival Games: The food you made for me before, I didn’t eat while I was unconscious, so there’s still a lot left. You don’t need to send me more good food for the next few days.]

[Shen Ben Wuxiang: What are you babbling about? With you mages’ skinny little bodies, how much can you even eat?]

[Shen Ben Wuxiang: It’s still good for your health—don’t go banging your head the next time you fall.]