Surviving The Fourth Calamity

The next batch of players had already entered. Hill saw a few members of the Baldy Gang head straight for the miscellaneous cabinet as soon as they walked in. Sure enough, several people followed them there.

Chattering sat by the window, chuckling and typing out commands non-stop.

After more than 20 minutes, those people rushed to the puppet handling the reception. By the time they had queued up and sold their items, time was up. When Hill raised his hand to send them out, he heard several curses.

"Haha, they really got muted," Chattering laughed crazily.

Hill sighed with his hand on his forehead. For such matters, being crafty indeed was a player's forte.

Adrian quickly arrived and pushed the door open, asking, "Where did these come from? Are there still some outside?"

Hill stood up and asked Chattering to follow Adrian to the third floor.

Chattering soon came down happily. Hill saw a few people pointing at him and gave him a heads-up.

Chattering turned his head, made a disdainful gesture, and said, "No worries, they're just a rival family. Mr. Adrian gave me a library pass and even allowed me to study Alchemy at the Mage Tower. Just mentioning this would infuriate them!"

He laughed and said to Hill, "I know where Mr. Hill lives now; I'll visit you later."

Hill nodded in agreement, and Chattering walked away proud and satisfied.

Adrian stayed on the third floor and didn't come down, and Hill waited unconcernedly until the shop closed before going upstairs.

Adrian was sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed. A bottle of Crystal Mystery wine sat on the coffee table, and he was holding a crystal cup, swirling the drink and humming a tune.

When Hill entered and saw him, he couldn't help saying, "Don't drink too much. What if Grandfather sees you?"

"Today he wouldn't scold me, he'd even tell me to have another," Adrian leaned on the sofa and smiled, "My life is back in my hands now."

Hill sat beside him and brought out some snacks, "Have something to eat!"

Adrian put down the crystal cup, spoke earnestly, "I really need to thank you! Hill, you truly saved me a great deal."

Hill shook his head, "You were also lucky. I was thinking of letting it go to auction, considering Saral probably couldn't afford it, except for Grandfather and you."

Adrian said, "Hehe, no need to explain. You surely tried to make him think selling to you was the best option."

Hill fell silent. Sure, a little over fifty thousand coupled with a lot of hassle wasn't good, but if it was 500,000, even a bit more would be okay.

Luckily, he had assessed their prices when buying clothes. He had also heard a few players who had sold expensive ores to NPCs grumbling that the tax was ninety percent.

As long as he maintained a fair trade, it was fine, and he almost bought it directly then. But knowing the players, if he directly offered 500,000, they would just look for someone who offered more.

Hill knew that was the ceiling for this price; the item was only useful for Knights. Except for the Royal Family, who could pay more?

But what if the player tried to hold out for more and some troublesome enemies got involved, it was hard to tell what might happen.

If he lost the deal after getting it close, Hill would be furious.

Adrian reached out and ruffled Hill's hair, "Little Hill has grown up. I'll never say you're too gentle and easy to cheat again." Hill irritably brushed his hand away and handed him a sandwich, "Eat this quickly! You're going to get beaten if you go back like this."

Adrian chuckled while munching on the sandwich, "I'll go back and refine the Saintess's Smile. I'll split it into two potions for my father and brother, eh, finally relieved. That big rock in my heart is gone!"

Saintess's Tears turned into a Life Potion and became known as Saintess's Smile; Hill wondered idly who named it.

"You seem very cautious facing these Undead, nearly to the point of abnormal fairness," Adrian said, "Do you also think William will keep using these Undead? My teacher took me to meet quite a few people these past few days, and it seems Saral might start a conflict with Haifasardo soon."

Hill looked up, "That's quite normal! Haven't you seen the Undead's attitude towards the Temple? That's when there's no grudge! Can you imagine how many directly curse using the Rose's Name of God?"

"What? They directly curse? Without divine punishment?"

"An Undead from the first batch asked me who 'Rose' referred to. When he knew, he just mentioned the Name of God very dismissively and directly cursed. Nothing happened."

Adrian slumped back on the sofa, "My god! With Rose's temperament! This is going to be a fight to the death!"

Hill said, "I asked around, and they still have over a million people wanting to come. William will probably allow at least 500,000 in. This Emperor doesn't seem to want to stop."

Adrian jumped up, "My god! No time for mourning the seasons! Little Hill, I have to go now. I need to talk to my teacher first."

He was about to head downstairs when he turned to Hill again, "If you can't sell the item, don't. Go out and meet people with us more. You can't hide forever. Aren't you aware of my teacher's connections? You are a magician; are you worried about affecting me?"

Hill smiled, "You and Grandfather bought all the potions from me. I'm even planning to restock with some that I made myself."

Adrian looked at Hill incredulously and rushed downstairs to check.

Hill rose leisurely and went downstairs to ask the shop core to display the inventory and income statement for Adrian to see.

Adrian looked over it thoroughly and flicked his hand, "The Undead Tribe really has a lot of money! Just when I am out of money, I might sell something too."

"It should be William who has a lot of money! The second floor is the warehouse, Uncle Adrian can go register and place goods there himself, I have opened your access rights."

Just when the medicine cabinet was about to be empty, Hill didn't have enough potions in his hand.

Adrian said disdainfully, "It seems he looted a lot from those expelled from the Rose Family. William himself isn't that wealthy."

Adrian promptly replenished both the medicine cabinet and the warehouse, then cheerfully bid farewell to Hill, "It's a pity that the teacher's stock is kept in the Magic Tower, I will go back and ask if he has any left."

Hill smiled as he watched Adrian leave, then went upstairs to check on the bottle of wine, 'Crystal Mystery' was only left at the bottom of the bottle. This wine, made especially for mages, was expensive and intoxicating. Adrian's reactions today were very direct, it seemed he drank too much. Hill hoped he could control his emotions, otherwise, Fran wouldn't tolerate him for long.

Hill continued to replenish the jewelry. Melanie was someone who loved making jewelry, and the warehouse was full of practice pieces. She was also a very proud person, disliking to sell jewelry of the same design as hers. When Hill first sorted out the Alchemy Jewelry warehouse, he was almost blinded.

Adrian could easily take out 5 million Crystal Stones, while Melanie, who started learning alchemy before Adrian, only had a little over a million because she collected mountains of gemstones and precious metals.

Most of these pieces of jewelry had been engraved with Alchemy Circles that increased magic power and spell intensity, making them very suitable for selling to players.

Hill always felt these items would be stored forever; they couldn't just be sold as ordinary jewelry after all. There were too few low-rank Female Mages who could afford such jewelry.

It was beneficial for the players to come as well. Hill felt that he didn't need to worry about running out of money.

Hill glanced at the miscellany cabinet and noticed that two Alchemy Carriages had been sold. Even those expensive items priced at 200,000 Gold Coins could sell so fast, and the convertible one sold first.

Well, the players didn't need practicality, being flashy was correct.

Hill decided to go up and sleep, as Adrian had saved him a lot of trouble. He expected Adrian would come again tomorrow; having no money was too frightening for an Alchemist, and Fran wouldn't provide him with any money.

When Hill got out of bed, he couldn't help but take a glance outside the window: the queue was still very long. It was already the third day; by now, the merchants should have noticed.

No one knew what the Undead Tribe had done, but the neighbors on Maple Leaf Street knew Hill had become wealthy yet still refused to open their shops.

Hill released a few more Puppets, as today there would certainly be many people coming to sell items.

He took a deep breath and sat upright at the workbench.

Today, Hill specifically wore a black, fitted Mage Robe bought from the players: it was the third day, and the bolder players should come to probe. By wearing this robe and acting more indifferent, they would confirm that the missions were taken by the Baldy Gang.

After all, the chattering had moved upstairs! It must be a hidden task gone!

The players' forum might have discussed it through hundreds of threads already, which wasn't Hill making them take the blame.

They took the benefits, and more benefits were to come, so taking some blame wasn't a big deal!

Hill consoled himself, then opened the door with peace of mind.

Indeed, the first one to rush in wasn't Baldy. It's unknown when these people came to line up.

Facing a player who came up stuttering, Hill pointed coldly at the Alchemy Plate and said, "If it's not listed there, then come find me."

The blocked player, looking at Hill's robe, said to his companion, "That jerk Perfect Bald! Even sending clothes to NPCs, such an idea!"

Hill glanced up at him, and his companion quickly covered his mouth and moved away, "Do you want to get struck by lightning?"

Hill recalled for a moment, and he didn't seem to recognize this one, not from the Doomsday group! Baldy's enemies were indeed numerous.

A few players huddled together for a while, and the others went to buy items.

Only one player named Lu Huayu stood in front of Hill, speaking in an extremely gentle tone, "Respected Mage sir, do you need any materials? We can help you collect them."

Hill felt a shiver run through him.

He quickly shook his head: "No need."

The persistent player continued, "That's a pity! We have many people in our family, so if you need anything, please be sure to contact us."

Hill could only nod silently.

He stood for a while longer, and seeing that Hill still remained silent, the player moved aside to sell his goods.

Hill was always not very good at dealing with these sophisticated scoundrels. It was clear that these people were together, and this one was their leader. Hill felt he could understand why someone as straightforward and rough as Baldy became enemies with this Lu Huayu.