"I found two Scarlet Blaze Rubies here!" Tang Yao cried out as he pulled out two gems from the pile. "It boosts fire damage, not bad. What do you need these for, anyway?"
"For crafting an item!" Nie Yan said. He continued searching and eventually found two for a total of five Scarlet Blaze Rubies. Most likely the maps they explored had an increased drop rate for Scarlet Blaze Rubies. No wonder they found so many!
"Crafting? What kind of item are you crafting?" Tang Yao asked in surprise. This was his first time hearing that gems could be used in crafting. Weren't gems supposed to be exclusively for upgrading or socketing items?
"A Wish Necklace! I need one Azure Fantasy Sapphire, one Scarlet Blaze Ruby, one Life Emerald, and one Magic Silver Necklace."
"Wish Necklace, huh? What does it do?"
"It raises the rank of any crafting profession by one," Nie Yan replied. A Wish Necklace was a priceless treasure.
"Damn, that's amazing. Where did you get the recipe?" Tang Yao asked. Even if he was completely clueless about crafting professions, he still understood the value of this Wish Necklace.
"From Master Jewelcrafter Paget."
Since this information came from a reliable source like Master Jewelcrafter Paget, it couldn't possibly be fake. At first Tang Yao only casually searched through the pile of gems, but now he was doing so in earnest.
With close to 300 gems in the pile, finding a few specific ones truly wasn't easy. The gems had to be inspected individually, since some shared strikingly similar appearances. Nie Yan and Tang Yao could only work their way through the pile slowly.
As Nie Yan searched through the pile of gems, an azure coloured gem caught his interest. It was translucent, lacking the slightest blemish, and emitted a dazzling radiance.
Is this the Azure Fantasy Sapphire? Nie Yan's heart raced, and he immediately grabbed the gem. As he examined the gem, his face darkened in disappointment. This gem was called the Azure Mirage Sapphire. It was only a slightly different name, but it made a world of difference!
At this moment, Tang Yao turned to Nie Yan with a gem slightly bigger than the Azure Mirage Sapphire in his hand. "Is this it?"
Nie Yan looked at the gem. "Yes, this is it! Thanks! I can always count on your luck!"
"Hehe." Tang Yao rubbed his nose. "What are we missing now? Some kind of emerald?"
"Yep, a Life Emerald."
"If we find a Life Emerald, we're set! We'll be able to enjoy Master-rank potions!" Tang Yao exclaimed. Potions usually didn't have level requirements. The higher the rank, the more potent the effect. If they could use Master and Grandmaster-rank potions, levelling and running dungeons would become a cinch. Take for instance Master and Grandmaster Fire Resistance Potions. At this stage of the game, players venturing deep into maps with a high concentration of fire monsters could at best protect themselves with Advanced Fire Resistance Potions. This only slightly protected them from fire damage. However, if these same players were to drink a Master or Grandmaster Fire Resistance Potion, they would be greatly resistant or completely immune to fire damage! They could explore any fire element map under Level 100 without a worry in the world!
Taking advantage of high rank potions to breeze through obstacles at this stage of the game would definitely be satisfying.
Nie Yan and Tang Yao continued looking. After going through the whole pile of gems one by one, they still failed to find a single Life Emerald.
"Dammit, none here..." Tang Yao said. It seemed he had used up all his luck earlier.
They found five Scarlet Blaze Rubies and one Azure Fantasy Sapphire. But without a Life Emerald, crafting the Wish Necklace was impossible.
"Forget it, let's hope our luck is better next time," Nie Yan said. The Life Emerald was probably particularly rare.
"Let's ask if anyone in the guild has it," Tang Yao suggested. He posted up a request in the guild chat for Azure Fantasy Sapphires and Life Emeralds.
Nie Yan thought for a moment before posting up the same request in the Union of Assassins. The reward was 30,000 gold per gem.
"Seems like nobody in the guild has a Life Emerald, but everyone will keep it in mind from now on," Tang Yao said.
The two were in low spirits.
The gems on the table were quite varied. Many were rare gems that Nie Yan had never seen before. If they were anything like the Scarlet Blaze Ruby, Azure Fantasy Sapphire, and Life Emerald, and could be used in crafting other special items, using them right now would be a huge waste.
"I think you should keep these gems in your personal storage. You know, just in case," Tang Yao said.
"Right." Nie Yan nodded. It appeared Tang Yao shared the same thought as him.
Nie Yan put away the gems in his bag. Later on, he would deposit them into his personal storage.
Only the pile of special magic tools remained on the table. Each one had a peculiar and unusual ability. One would have to carefully examine them.
"Nie Yan, look! It's a Crawler Ring!" Tang Yao exclaimed after digging out a ring from the pile.
"Nice, take it," Nie Yan said. The Crawler Ring was definitely a good item.
"Awesome! I've always wanted a Crawler Ring! I've been checking auction houses daily, but nobody ever lists one up for sale. Now I finally have one!" Tang Yao could hardly contain his elation. With a Crawler Ring, he could copy Nie Yan's method of killing monsters far above his level. This curio truly wasn't easy to come by!
Nie Yan glanced at the Special Items. None of them were as good as the ones on him right now. He diverted his attention elsewhere, specifically to what appeared to be scraps of paper. There were around 30 in total, all of them badly damaged.
"What are these?" Tang Yao curiously picked up one of the scraps and read the description out loud, "A scrap of Wandering Bard Blimer's sheet music. The poor bard was attacked by wild beasts while travelling through the Dolan Mountain Range. With the aid of a hunter, he fortunately escaped with his life. However, his sheet music was lost and torn into countless scraps. If someone finds them, please return them to Wandering Bard Blimer."
"It's a Blimer's Sheet Music Scrap?" Nie Yan asked.
"Seems so, why? Is it important or something?" Tang Yao didn't think Nie Yan would get so excited.
Nie Yan examined the scrap. It was indeed a Blimer's Sheet Music Scrap!
"Sweet! We have 36 in total!" Nie Yan said after counting all the scraps. He recalled the quest related to Blimer's sheet music. It was a fairly easy quest. Players could find Wandering Bard Blimer's Sheet Music Scraps from monsters or chests in the Dolan Mountain Range. Returning one scrap to Blimer would trigger a quest called "Blimer's Troubles" which tasked the player to find more scraps. According to the forums, handing over one scrap would give a pretty good reward, handing over a second would give an even better reward, and every sixth scrap would reward a spin on a Fate Wheel!
In the previous timeline, when this quest became public knowledge, players from all over started searching for sheet music scraps. When word reached Heaven Breaker's ears, he began strong-arming others into selling him their scraps. He obtained a total of 25 scraps, with his final reward being a piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment. The previous rewards were also pretty good. They included among other things experience, gold, and gems.
Ordinary players levelling in the Dolan Mountain Range could only open one or two treasure chests at most. Obtaining one or two sheet music scraps was already impressive. Like in the previous timeline, even with his vast wealth and resources, Heaven Breaker only acquired 25 music sheet scraps.
Nie Yan and Tang Yao had unwitingly obtained 36 scraps. They had swept through practically every chest in the Dolan Mountain Range, so this kind of achievement wasn't too surprising.
Nie Yan recalled players had returned at least 100 sheets of music scraps to Blimer in the previous timeline.
"Huh? Why is it sweet? Tell me!" Tang Yao also got excited.
Nie Yan explained Blimer's quest.
"Come on, let's go collect our reward!" Tang Yao exclaimed. How could they pass up on this opportunity?
"Who's going to turn in the quest?" Nie Yan asked. He didn't' care much for the experience rewards. At most he would level up one or two times. It would be great if they received some rare items, though.
"I think it should be you. My luck is pretty good with drops, but it's crappy with stuff like quest rewards," Tang Yao replied. He held Nie Yan's chest opening abilities in high esteem. Nie Yan's luck was higher than his. Luck was a hidden stat, but players could still find it out through indirect ways.
"Alright, I'll turn in the quest." Nie Yan could boost his luck at specific moments with Pandora's Box. He could receive additional rewards when turning in the quest.
Nie Yan and Tang Yao examined the remaining loot. They had no idea what many of these items were used for. In any case, they came out of chests, so they couldn't be useless. Nie Yan planned to store them in the guild treasury, offering a reward to those who could figure out their use.
After tidying everything up, Nie Yan and Tang Yao left the Starry Night Potion Shop. They visited their personal storages, then set off toward Wandering Bard Blimer's residence.