Chapter 195: The Undead Core Quest
Though it appeared clear outside, the moment they stepped onto the road, a torrential downpour began. Thankfully, thanks to Edwin's earlier reminder, Zhou Ning had already opened his umbrella and now followed Edwin through the winding paths.
After a few minutes, the view ahead suddenly opened up, revealing a quaint, ancient-looking structure.
Atop the stone building was a single-eye symbol representing knowledge and culture. Zhou Ning, who had a solid foundation in occultism, recognized it immediately—it was the emblem of Middels, the God of Knowledge.
"Come on in."
Flanking the building were two gargoyles crouched on either side. These were extraordinary alchemical constructs—golems with formidable combat capabilities.
Edwin stepped forward and knocked on the door three times—dong dong dong. A middle-aged man with graying beard and a cold, somber expression opened the door. Upon seeing Edwin, he silently stepped aside to let them in.
As expected of the Vice Principal—what presence… Zhou Ning followed Edwin into the building, which resembled a library inside. A few unfamiliar-looking professors sat at their stations, immersed in books.
"This lower level is the public library. If you choose to stay on as faculty, or spend 120 credit points, you can read here freely. With your capabilities, it wouldn't be hard to qualify for a faculty position. Interested?" Edwin asked.
"Not at the moment," Zhou Ning answered honestly.
"What a shame." Edwin shook his head, then led Zhou Ning to the second floor of the library and pointed to a central row of bookshelves. "These shelves contain rare formulas. You may choose any three, including but not limited to expert-level ones."
Zhou Ning nodded in understanding and approached the shelves.
"Alchemy, engineering, enchanting… even tailoring designs…"
Zhou Ning scanned the shelves briefly and found that most formulas were only "relatively rare"—many he had already learned. They were only uncommon outside of this place.
For example, the recipes for [Fortune Elixir] and [Flight Elixir].
But when he circled to the other side of the shelf, his eyes lit up—he found what he had been hoping for.
"Gargoyle Transmutation Method," "Truth Serum," "Mongoose Elixir," "Treasure-Seeking Potion"...
Zhou Ning stared longingly at the titles on the spines. If only he could say, I'll take them all.
After a careful selection, he finally picked three formulas:
"Mongoose Elixir," "Treasure-Seeking Potion," and one called "Petrification Potion."
The [Treasure-Seeking Potion] had a similar effect to the [Fortune Elixir], providing a mysterious boost to luck. The [Petrification Potion] could temporarily turn the user to stone for 30 seconds, during which they would recover a large amount of health and stamina—very practical.
As for the [Mongoose Elixir], it was an extremely rare potion that boosted attributes—specifically agility, which Zhou Ning lacked most. Truly a top-tier item.
Zhou Ning handed his chosen formulas to Edwin for review. Edwin gave them a quick glance and nodded in approval, but then looked seriously at Zhou Ning and warned, "Remember, under no circumstances should you leak these formulas to outsiders. That's my advice to you."
Zhou Ning shivered slightly, sensing the power of a binding contract descending upon him.
After a moment's thought, he nodded solemnly.
"Very good. I trust your word. You have 15 minutes to transcribe the formulas," Edwin said with a smile. He had a good impression of Zhou Ning. It was just a pity the young man didn't seem interested in academia or an official career. Otherwise, Edwin would have gladly offered him more support.
…
After copying the three formulas, Zhou Ning left the inner library. He hesitated for a moment and decided not to return to his dorm. Instead, he exited the campus and made his way to his alchemy shop.
It was still working hours, so his two assistants should be around.
Sure enough, upon seeing Zhou Ning, both Jinse and XB lit up with joy and rushed over.
"Boss!" Their voices were full of excitement—and a bit of frustration.
Zhou Ning smirked, feeling he understood their mood. Though honestly, XB, do you have to act like that?
As usual, he gave them a well-crafted, experience-rich errand quest—an effort to lift their disappointed spirits.
Watching their experience bars jump significantly, both Jinse and XB had mixed feelings. After all their grinding and questing, it still didn't compare to just tagging along with Zhou Ning.
Thanks to the past few days of accumulated experience, Jinse had already reached level 14, ranking first on the leaderboard, while XB was now level 12 and also near the top.
And once Zhou Ning unlocked their access to the personal shop, the two of them wasted no time in purchasing the legendary Starry Sky Guild Invitation. They also immediately redeemed a Dungeon Summoning Stone. Having seen others brag about it on the forums, they'd long been drooling over the Gnomeregan dungeon.
At this time, several players spotted Zhou Ning and started gathering in groups. Zhou Ning had no choice but to remain idle in place, becoming a temporary shopkeeper NPC.
After a few days of supply drought, players from Darkland had pent-up purchasing urges. Though the cheap firearms in West Lin Town were already sold out and hadn't yet been restocked, even the revolvers obtained through the system's random draws—each worth 15 Vecktas—were being snapped up.
What surprised Zhou Ning most was that another player spent 1000 Vecktas on a Devil Fruit—a meteorologist known as Wrath of Thunder-Chasing Winds, a professional player from the Deep Blue Club like Jinse. He was considered a top-tier meteorologist in the country. His username said it all.
However, the fruit he ate didn't seem particularly fitting—it turned him into a spotted dog, which caused quite a stir among the players.
"This is a Zoan-type—Dog-Dog Fruit—Common Breed—Spotted Dog Form. It once belonged to a formidable warrior. It grants a strong body, agile speed, and powerful claws and teeth capable of rending anything. Pretty impressive," Zhou Ning explained with a smile.
He wasn't lying. If memory served, this was the same fruit once wielded by Vice Admiral Dalmatian of the Marine Headquarters, who had even seriously injured the protagonist Luffy.
Wrath of Thunder-Chasing Winds seemed quite satisfied. He'd gotten insider info that the game company would likely hold a Pro League Tournament soon. In these early stages of the game, the Devil Fruit had boosted his power by at least 25%—a significant edge.
Aside from unexpectedly selling that Devil Fruit, the Starry Sky Guild Invitations that Zhou Ning had brought were also sold out. The Starry Sky Guild now had 28 members—32 short of its temporary cap. Spending was ferocious.
Zhou Ning stayed there until around 4 PM. Once his experience pool climbed back up to 1.4 million, he said his goodbyes, promising to return tomorrow.
The ingredients for the [Treasure-Seeking Potion] and [Petrification Potion] weren't too expensive. The priciest one was an herb called Stone Heather, but even that wouldn't push the cost beyond 3 Vecktas per bottle—quite cheap and practical for expert-level potions.
However, the [Mongoose Elixir] he urgently needed was extremely costly, and according to its description, it also had a high failure rate. He'd need to buy multiple sets of materials just to be safe.
He took a public carriage to the Trade District, where he purchased a large batch of necessary ingredients from the West family's herb and engineering shops. After instructing them to deliver the goods to 117 Gibbon Street, he made his way to the location of the Undead Core Quest—an alchemy shop on the west side of the Trade District.
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