The two of them arrived at a nearby restaurant and found a seat. Wu Shaochen was about to order when the young boy quickly stopped him and said, "No need to spend money. Do you need my help with something?"
"Smart," Wu Shaochen thought to himself, but he still ordered some dishes, mainly because he wanted to eat them himself. After ordering, he asked the boy, "What's your name? I mean your game ID." The boy's ID was hidden, and Wu Shaochen could only see that he was a warrior.
"I go by the name Astro Boy in the game. If there's anything you need help with, just let me know. I'll do my best if I can help," Astro Boy replied.
"I do have something. I need a certain medicinal herb now, and only your master has it. I originally planned to buy it from him, but I was kicked out," Wu Shaochen said helplessly.
"Is that so? Let me think of a solution for you. My master has a peculiar temperament, and no matter how much money you offer, he won't sell it to you," Astro Boy said.
"Well, how did you become his apprentice?" Wu Shaochen asked curiously.
"Just a couple of days ago, when I arrived in the main city, I chose the alchemist life profession due to my talent. It happened that he stumbled upon me while I was practicing alchemy. He said my talent for alchemy was excellent and asked me to learn from him," Astro Boy explained.
"Your talent must be related to alchemy," Wu Shaochen exclaimed.
"Yes, it increases the success rate of alchemy by 50%," Astro Boy replied honestly.
...
Originally, Wu Shaochen thought that only combat professions had talents, but he didn't expect that life professions also had talents. Looking at the clear gaze of the young boy in front of him, an idea sprouted in Wu Shaochen's mind.
"What medicinal herb do you need? I'll see if I can help you get it from my master, but if you have to buy it, you'll have to pay for it yourself. I don't have much money," Astro Boy said somewhat embarrassed.
"Naturally, don't worry. I won't let you help for nothing. If you can really get the medicinal herb for me, I'll give you 100 gold coins. How does that sound?" Wu Shaochen proposed.
"Oh, there's no need for that. It's just a small favor. No need to pay," Astro Boy quickly declined.
Seeing Astro Boy's reaction, Wu Shaochen became even more certain of his idea. Young people like him were rare in today's society.
"It's alright. Alchemy is expensive, and you won't be able to progress without investing in the early stages. Don't rush to refuse. This thing isn't easy to obtain," Wu Shaochen said.
"What exactly is it?" Astro Boy asked curiously.
"It's the Ghostly Spirit Fruit! I accepted a mission that requires this item, but if you directly ask my master for it, he definitely won't give it to you. So, you'll have to think of another way," Wu Shaochen explained.
"Oh, how can I get it then? You're not suggesting I steal, right?" Astro Boy exclaimed in surprise.
"No, no need for that. Look around and see if there are any medicines that require this item for their synthesis. When the time comes, you can tell him that you need to synthesize that medicine and ask him for it. Maybe he'll give it to you. It's probably of no use to him," Wu Shaochen suggested uncertainly.
"Um, is that really going to work?" Astro Boy asked hesitantly, clearly not fully convinced.
"Let's do what we can. Let's add each other as friends first. If there's any progress, let me know," Wu Shaochen said. He could only rely on Astro Boy now; he himself had no chance. He was kicked out after just a few words.
"Okay," Astro Boy nodded. Then he heard a system prompt.
"Ding, player Dust Seal has requested to add you as a friend. Do you accept?"
"Ah," Astro Boy looked at Wu Shaochen in shock. "You... you're Dust Seal, the great god?"
"Well, I'm Dust Seal, but I wouldn't dare claim to be a great god. I'm counting on you for this matter," Wu Shaochen said.
"Yes, I'll definitely handle it well," Astro Boy suddenly became excited.
"Alright, let's eat first. We ordered so much food, let's not waste it."
After finishing their meal, the two of them went their separate ways. Before parting, Wu Shaochen forcefully traded 20 gold coins to Astro Boy. Being an alchemist in the early stages required a lot of money. Even with Astro Boy's exceptional talent, without materials for practice, his alchemist level wouldn't increase. Astro Boy was currently an intermediate alchemist, and he had only used the herbs he dug up himself, not willing to buy any. If he had a lot of money to buy materials, with his talent and the guidance of Old Sun, he would probably have already reached the advanced alchemist level.
Giving him 20 gold coins was not only a test but also to ensure that he would genuinely help. There's no free lunch in this society, even for someone as pure-minded as him. You can't expect someone to sincerely help you just because you make empty promises.
After parting ways with Astro Boy, Wu Shaochen thought for a moment. It was time to focus on leveling up; otherwise, he would be caught up by others. He originally wanted to go and farm Blood Hell Lions since they respawned quickly and didn't have any crowd-control skills. However, in the end, he decided to head towards the abandoned mine area. He always believed that there must be a boss lurking beneath the abandoned mine area. Leveling up by fighting a boss would be more satisfying.
Wu Shaochen arrived at the abandoned mine area and as soon as he entered, he heard voices coming from inside.
"Someone's here?" Wu Shaochen whispered.
He activated stealth and quietly moved forward. The monsters in the abandoned mine area had already respawned. As Wu Shaochen walked into the first mining area, he indeed saw a team of people fighting level 20 skeletons. They were pulling mobs in groups. Four shield guards stood in front, holding their shields to protect the party, while two priests provided healing support, and the last one, a mage, was casting Firestorm, burning the skeletons. The level 20 skeletons didn't have long-range attacks, so only a few of them could reach the shield guards, while the rest just ran around in the firestorm. The mage's damage was very high, and the skeletons' health dropped rapidly.
吴少辰 looked at a face full of envy. "It's really fun for the mage to brush monsters," he thought. Adhering to the principle of "If they don't provoke me, I won't provoke them," Wu Shaochen did not disturb them, but instead bypassed them and continued forward. Since someone has come here, more people should come soon. If there is really a boss below, it would be a pity if someone else kills it before me.
Along the way, due to the dense monsters, Wu Shaochen could only clear a path. However, fighting these lower-level skeleton monsters, besides gaining some experience, it couldn't trigger the activation of the Immortal Body, so Wu Shaochen didn't have the intention to clear them all.
After a long time, he finally cleared to the second floor where there were fewer monsters. Wu Shaochen continued to walk inside, ignoring A Piao. It was too slow to brush ghosts here, and the light was too dim. Wu Shaochen just wanted to know how many levels there were in this abandoned mining area and if there was a boss below.
As he went deeper, A Piao became more and more numerous, but fortunately, it didn't block the way like the previous mining area. After walking for a while, another type of monster appeared, "Level 29 ghosts." Wu Shaochen continued to walk without paying attention to them. Finally, after more than twenty minutes of walking with Wu Shaochen's movement speed of over a thousand, he finally saw a stone door. This should lead to the next level, and the mechanism for the stone door was right next to it.
Fearless, Wu Shaochen directly pressed the mechanism. With a creaking sound, the stone door slowly opened. Wu Shaochen looked inside, but it was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything.
Since he had come this far, there was no reason to retreat. Wu Shaochen cautiously walked in, but as soon as he entered, the stone door behind him suddenly closed. Then, one by one, oil lamps lit up, and the scene inside appeared before Wu Shaochen's eyes.
Inside was a huge hall with eight giant pillars standing in the middle. Each pillar was carved with a lifelike dragon, and each pillar had an iron chain connecting a huge coffin at its center. There were also hundreds of stone sculptures around, with expressions that were indistinguishable from real people, as if they had been directly petrified.
Wu Shaochen felt a little creepy looking at it. When he turned around, he realized that this stone door seemed to only be opened from the outside. There was no switch inside. Wu Shaochen pushed hard on the stone door, but it didn't budge. He took out a Town Portal Scroll and tried to use it, but as he expected, it prompted that it couldn't be used in a special map.