Chapter 7 Explorer

"Could it be that my real cheat code is neither the safe zone NPC nor the 'money-power' player, but my words come true!?"

Zhu Yu muttered to himself as he looked at the new menu that popped up in front of him.

Not to mention the four new hot pot snacks that were suddenly added this time, the hot pot usage instructions that she had been talking about wanting to be included in the game finally appeared under the menu of clear soup hot pot and spicy hot pot.

Great! She no longer has to sneak a peek into the chat channel to see what other players are summarizing.

For example, she can now see the additional effects of spicy beef oil soup base directly on the menu!

The first additional effect of the butter pot base is: [Cold Resistance +5]

"It can improve the player's cold resistance in a short period of time, reduce body temperature loss, and avoid frostbite or the negative effects of low temperature. It takes effect five hours after taking it and lasts for two hours. It cannot be stacked within 24 hours."

Zhu Yu also heard some players mention this feature in the chat channel today. What surprised her was the second additional effect of the spicy beef oil soup base:

The second additional effect is: [Attack power +2, fire attribute bonus]

"The heat from the spicy beef oil pot not only brings warmth, but also inspires the player's strength, slightly increases attack power, and adds a small amount of fire damage. There is a 25% chance of triggering within eight hours after taking it, which lasts for 1 hour and cannot be stacked within 24 hours."

I don’t know if it’s because the triggering probability is not high or if some players didn’t share it after discovering it, but there are almost no topics related to the second additional effect in the group chat. If it weren’t for the update of the hot pot restaurant’s menu, Zhu Yu estimated that it would take a while to fully understand the pattern.

Zhu Yu continued to scroll down the menu and came to the page for hot pot snacks.

"What! Each hot pot snack has an additional effect?"

Zhu Yu was surprised and read the additional effects of these four snacks carefully:

[Small Crispy Pork: Increases player's defense by +1, lasts for 30 minutes, trigger rate: 30%.

Brown Sugar Rice Cake: Increases physical strength recovery speed by +5%, lasts for 35 minutes. Trigger rate: 25%.

Wolf Tooth Potato: +1 intelligence point for the player, lasts for 45 minutes. Trigger rate: 20%.

Crispy Fried Milk: Player's luck value +1, lasts for 10 minutes. Trigger rate: 15%. 】

"996, do you also have a system of KPIs? Is that why you eavesdropped on my suggestions and specially updated and improved the hot pot restaurant?"

Zhu Yu was hit by good news one after another and was a little bit unbelievable.

"No, how is that possible? You're overthinking it."

When System 996 heard this, he immediately jumped out and denied it three times in a row: "This is obviously me... The game system saw that your hot pot restaurant's first day of official offline business was doing well, so it gave you a special reward!"

"Oh, I see—" Zhu Yu stretched out her tone and did not ask any further questions. However, she was secretly thinking that if there was a next time, she would "inadvertently" reveal more of her thoughts on the day of the trial operation.

She hid the smile in her eyes and turned her attention back to the menu.

As luck would have it, the four updated snacks were all her favorites. She had almost finished her meal at Zhu Yu Hotpot, and after the hotpot on the table was automatically cleaned, she took the opportunity to order all four snacks.

The crispy meat in the front is golden and crispy, and the heat is slowly coming out.

When Zhu Yu took a bite, the skin immediately broke apart, revealing the juicy and tender meat inside. The pepper sprinkled on top just neutralized its greasiness.

Then, her attention turned to her favorite brown sugar rice cake.

The rectangular pieces of glutinous rice cake were fried until slightly browned, and the surface was sprinkled with thick red sugar syrup, giving it an attractive luster.

The aroma of glutinous rice mixed with the sweetness of brown sugar is very appetizing.

Zhu Yu picked up a piece and took a light bite. He instantly felt the soft and chewy texture of the glutinous rice cake and the rich sweetness of brown sugar melting on his tongue.

Of course, Zhu Yu also did not forget to take care of the jagged wolf-tooth potatoes and the fried milk with a smooth and rich milky flavor.

"As expected of a game, the taste is amazing."

Each snack was not large in size and was intended to be an appetizer or dessert after a meal. Therefore, Zhu Yu finished them all in a short time.

"belch."

After eating and drinking, Zhu Yu completely relaxed.

She opened her personal panel and was surprised to find that her luck value had increased by 1 point!

She originally thought that she might trigger the effect of defense value or physical strength recovery, but she never expected that the first thing triggered would be the luck value with the lowest probability!

Looking at the eye-catching red “+1” behind her luck value of 7, Zhu Yu announced that crispy fried milk had successfully replaced brown sugar rice cake as the top 1 in her heart.

However, this temporary added luck value can only last for 10 minutes. What can she do in such a short time?

Looking at the countdown behind the luck value, Zhu Yu didn't react for a moment.

Wait, why didn't she think of that!

Such a short time is almost telling players that this is for opening treasure chests!!

"Sure enough, my brain just can't function after I'm full and satisfied."

Zhu Yu sighed, finally freeing himself from the temptation of delicious food. It took him two minutes to figure out the mystery.

Then she opened the silver treasure chest that she had purchased at great expense.

Originally, she had not planned to buy a silver treasure chest so soon, but when she learned from the wandering merchant that the goods would be updated every time and the probability of a treasure chest appearing was the same as the probability of it dropping from killing monsters, she was persuaded to buy the box.

Before opening the box, Zhu Yu washed his hands, put his hands together, and prayed to all the gods in the East and the West.

After doing all this, Zhu Yu took a deep breath, held her breath, slowly stretched out her finger, and gently tapped the silver treasure chest floating in front of her. As she touched it, a dazzling silver light burst out from the gap in the lid of the box.

After the light gradually dissipated, three objects were quietly suspended in front of her.

[Ironwood Bow Blueprint (Blue)]:

“1. Basic damage increased: Normal attack damage +10%, longer range than normal bows, and higher accuracy.

2. Enhanced durability: Ironwood bows are extremely tough and durable, lasting longer than ordinary bows and will not be easily damaged in harsh environments.

[Enhancement Potion (Blue)]:

"A potion that temporarily and randomly increases a certain attribute, such as strength, agility, or intelligence. It lasts for 1 hour and is suitable for use in combat or adventure."

Cooling time: After each use of a potion, a cooling time of 1 hour is required before it can be used again, to prevent over-reliance on potions.

[Mithril Arrow Blueprint (Purple)]:

“1. High penetration: It has extremely high penetration, can penetrate targets with thin armor or light defense, and cause 50% additional penetration damage.

2. Double Critical Hit: When the player uses Mithril Arrows, the critical hit chance is increased by 10%, and the critical hit damage is increased by 30%, which is suitable for a fatal blow at a critical moment. "

Zhu Yu looked at the items one by one in the order in which they appeared. When she saw the blueprint of the purple-quality Mithril Arrow, her heartbeat suddenly quickened.

Any items of purple quality are extremely rare at the beginning of the game. If she can successfully create Mithril Arrows, it will undoubtedly be a trump card in the early stage of the game.

But after a moment of excitement, Zhu Yu calmed down.

Because she saw the materials listed on the two drawings.

Materials required for the Ironwood Bow: 20 iron blocks, 5 ironwood (blue), 1 E-level monster tendon.

Materials required for Mithril Arrows: 35 wood blocks, 50 iron blocks, 3 Mithril Ore (purple), 4 D-level monster feathers or 2 C-level monster feathers.

"What the hell is this?"

As Zhu Yu expected, she might be able to gather all the materials for the blue-quality ironwood bow, but for the purple-quality mithril arrows, apart from the amount of wood and iron blocks she could obtain, the other materials were either something she had never heard of or simply could not be obtained with her current strength.

What a joke! She had just been promoted to an E-rank archer. Challenging D or C-rank monsters now was tantamount to suicide.

Forget it, let’s take it one step at a time.

Zhu Yu decided to try to make a blue quality ironwood bow first. So she opened the player trading hall and typed "ironwood" in the search bar.

She originally just wanted to give it a try, but she didn't expect that rare trading posts posted by several players would actually pop up.

Zhu Yu did not hesitate and took pictures of all the ironwood in one go. But unfortunately, he was still short of one piece of ironwood needed to make the ironwood bow.

Just as she sighed, a new message alert appeared on her friend list.

She clicked on it and saw that it was a message sent by the foundry master.

[Foundry Master]: 996, are you looking for ironwood blocks?

Zhu Yu was a little surprised and puzzled. She hadn't even gone to find the foundry master to forge the bow and arrow yet, so how did the other party know that she needed ironwood blocks?

Soon, new message came from the other side.

[Foundry]: I have a friend who is an "explorer" and she just found an ironwood ore source today. However, this thing is difficult to dig, time-consuming and laborious, so she only got two and put them on the trading hall. Just now, after you took a picture of her transaction, she found out that it was you who bought it, and she was very excited and told me. That's how I know you need ironwood blocks.

Upon learning that the other party controlled the ironwood mine, Zhu Yu quickly responded.

[Player 0996]: You are right. I do need ironwood blocks. If it is convenient, could you tell your explorer friend to dig another block for me tomorrow? The price is negotiable.

[Made by God]: She actually applied to add you as her friend right after you took her deal, but there may be too many players who added you and you didn't notice. You can just go and find player 0086 and get his friend application approved.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yu quickly flipped through the friend application list and found the application of player 0086 among the red dots. After accepting the application, she did not forget to change the note to "Explorer".

However, Zhu Yu did not stop the conversation with the foundry master.

She realized that as a foundry master, she must have a lot of connections, and she could ask them to help her keep an eye out for other materials she needed.

[Player 0996]: By the way, I also need Mithril Ore (purple) and feathers of D or C grade or above to make arrows. If it is convenient for you, can you keep an eye on them for me on weekdays? Thank you.

"What? Purple quality Mithril? And D or C grade feathers?"

On the other side, Li Fenglan couldn't help but exclaimed after seeing the request from player 996. She then carefully confirmed the other party's request.

She glanced at the game time suspiciously. It was indeed only the second day.

[Foundry Master]: Boss, you think too highly of me. Are you sure these materials will appear on the second day after the game starts?

[Player 0996]: There's nothing I can do. I opened a silver treasure chest, and these are the materials needed for the blueprints I got from it. Anyway, please keep an eye out for me. Who knows, just like the news about the iron block, maybe I can find it if I'm lucky.

"What the hell! A silver treasure chest?"

Li Fenglan exclaimed again, is this the strength of the boss? She didn't even see the shadow of the bronze treasure chest, but Boss 996 has already opened the silver treasure chest!

How lucky is Boss 996? How many monsters did she have to kill to get the silver treasure chest?

Li Fenglan didn't know that Zhu Yu had met a wandering merchant. She subconsciously thought that the other party must be constantly killing monsters and leveling up 24 hours a day.

Zhu Yu had no idea that the stereotype of him in the minds of other players had further deepened.

After instructing the forger, she immediately contacted player 0086.

[Player 0996]: Hello, explorer. If it is convenient, can you help me dig another piece of ironwood from the ironwood mine tomorrow? The price is negotiable.

[Explorer]: No problem. But in this case, I have to leave early tomorrow. The mine is near the safe zone. Many players who went to the offline hot pot restaurant today noticed this mine. I have to get there before them.

Near the safe zone?

Zhu Yu was stunned for a moment when he saw the message and subconsciously sent this question.

Before she could withdraw the message, another message came from the other side:

[Yes, I am an explorer. Actually, I found that there are many large and small mineral sources near the safe zone. However, there are many monsters near each mineral source. If you are also nearby, we can cooperate later.]