Mike created traps with different effects.
Currently, the number of traps that the furnace could craft was limited.
[Level 10 Rope Trap: Able to bind Exotic Beasts below Level 10 for 50 seconds, Level 10 Exotic Beasts for 10 seconds, Level 20 Exotic Beasts for 1 second. No effect on Exotic Beasts above Level 30.]
[Level 10 Poison Trap: Able to kill Exotic Beasts below Level 10, deal 500 damage to Exotic Beasts above Level 10, and average Slow effect. Exotic Beasts above Level 20 deal 200 damage, low Slow effect for 5 seconds. No effect on Exotic Beasts above Level 30.]
There was more.
[Level 10 Mud Trap]
[Sharp Blade Trap]
[Frost Trap]
[Fire Trap]
Hold on...
He could use the blueprints to unlock more traps.
He could also synthesize traps.
If Mike could gather the materials needed to create the traps himself, he would. The rest would be obtained from the Trade Market.
The target was to carry around about a hundred traps or so.
A large amount of black-striped grass was uploaded to the Trade Market.
Everyone was in an uproar.
"What's up with this Mike? Does he really have an endless amount of energy?"
"He's too extravagant. I really want to see the world this mogul is living in."
"I collected 30 Special Materials from the wood trade. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to fully recover my energy three times over. After three days, I won't be afraid to go out and explore. Hehe!"
"Are Mike's materials unlimited? Can anyone verify this?"
"I'm struggling here. I found a copper mine, but I've only mined five copper ores before this place was occupied by Exotic Beasts!"
"For now, I can only chop wood, but I haven't even gathered a single one."
"I'll collect more materials. It'll be better for me when I leave the camp three days later."
"God rewards hard work!"
...
The materials in Mike's backpack increased rapidly. He shouldn't have a shortage of materials for the time being.
Mike successfully created 100 traps so he no longer paid attention to the Trade Market. At most, he looked to see if there were any blueprints for sale.
For the rest of his time, Mike buried himself in farming monsters.
Everything else was fake. Only the levels, attributes, and blueprints were real.
If only he encountered another boss...
Or even a Level 20 boss...
The rewards would definitely be generous.
That would be the most promising.
...
Time passed.
The camp's time limit was getting closer and closer to an end. Many players felt a sense of doom.
Although they already had a lot of materials in their hands and had a lot of Black-Striped Grass, it would not be a problem for them to recover their energy two or three times on average.
But...
They were too weak.
So two or three times wasn't enough for them.
"Mike is insane. He has been selling his materials for so long and still hasn't met the end of his supply. Instead, he's selling more and more. This means that the materials mean nothing to him, but yet he's selling them to us at such an expensive price. He's simply a profiteer!"
"Who can find Mike's location? I seriously suspect that he ran into some big treasury."
Many people were complaining. But even though they said so, the purchase of materials had not slowed down.
Due to the large number of materials being purchased from Mike, it was more difficult to gather wood, iron ores, and copper, which is why they felt that the transaction was too expensive.
"I found out that wood can be picked up! I picked up three pieces of wood on the ground and I'm one step closer to energy. Heh!"
...
While the transactions continued, the World Channel messages kept flashing...
Somewhere, a 30-man party gradually noticed the speculation in the World Channel... With an abundance of materials, Mike must be picking up his natural resources somewhere.
It was impossible for an individual to create so many Special Materials.
So where was he picking them from?
The 30-man party, with the highest level member exceeding Level 20, would search a large area and try to find those materials.
They didn't believe that there was only one place that had such materials.
Everyone had a stalk of Black-Striped Grass.
The Black-Striped Grass that had been purified was white and very special.
They used this as reference.
"As long as we find those materials, we won't have to worry about energy anymore! This big problem would be solved." The party leader said, "We have more people, so we can definitely find more of these materials. When the time comes, we'll lower the price, monopolize the market and make a fortune!"
"We could become super merchants. And with this as the foundation, we can become the richest people here and monopolize countless other materials in the future."
"When that time comes, everyone in this party would become pros!"
"Exotic Beasts? Let the poor handle it."
They had a beautiful fantasy that motivated them to search harder.
After a period of time, they really found something. They picked a gray plant on a mountain that looked very much like Black-Striped Grass.
This was a mutated type of Black-Striped Grass. It was slightly white. Not only did its effects not increase, but was also more toxic than ordinary Black-Striped Grass.
Although it was not a white Black-Striped Grass, it was familiar to these people.
Why did it... resemble the Special Material that Mike was selling?
"The Special Material and Black-Striped Grass, besides the color, are almost identical. The patterns on them are exactly the same. Could it be the Black-Striped Grass?" The people in the party guessed.
After repeated comparisons, they found that it really was!
They felt like the Black-Striped Grass was the right answer.
"Let's try eating one." The soldiers let the weakest of them consume it. Even if they died, it would not be a big loss.
Gulp.
The Black-Striped Grass was consumed.
10 points of poison were not fatal. It would be slowly expelled as time passed. Their energy increased by 2-5.
However, this was a situation where only one stalk of Black-Striped Grass was consumed.
If it was consumed in large quantities...
That would be hard to say.
"It's effective!"
This person only consumed one stalk of Black-Striped Grass and did not feel any signs of toxicity. He only felt that his energy was recovering. "I've increased my energy by 3 points! I don't feel that there are any other problems."
"It really works?!"
"Are the ones sold at the Trade Market really Black-Striped Grass?!"
"But why is it white?"
"I think it's because of this... this Mike accidentally consumed the Black-Striped Grass and luckily found a special effect, so he wanted to sell the Black-Striped Grass for money. Because he was worried that people would recognize the Black-Striped Grass and not buy it, he leaked the information and deliberately dyed it white to confuse people," the party leader speculated.
"It makes sense."
"That must be the case!"
"So it was dyed Black-Striped Grass after all this time. I thought it was some kind of treasure."
"But didn't Mike's Black-Striped Grass recover 4-10 energy points? Why does this Black-Striped Grass only increase 3 points of energy?"
"It's just a small difference. Don't overthink it."
"We'll also dye it white and compete with Mike. Our price will be lower than his. Let's squeeze him out of the Trade Market!"
"Right!"
"Let's do it!"
"We invited him to join our party before, but he ignored our private messages. Now we'll make him regret it!"
"We'll monopolize this market!"
They found a way to dye it. Although it was very simple and not as natural as Mike's Black-Striped Grass, it would not fade after drying. It was also effective, so it was barely enough.
Soon it was listed on the Trade Market and was promoted around the world!
"A Special Material with a lower price has been put on the shelves! It's exactly the same as Mike's. The price is twice as low as his and the seller also accepts monetary transactions!"
This news spread and caused a huge uproar.
Countless people who were against Mike were in support of the new product when it appeared.