Ye Cang more or less understood. It was because the Vivian family had compromised in order to preserve the half-elf community, saving them from extermination. It was a sad story, and when he heard the end, his brows rose in surprise. Pope. You looked meaningfully at Little Mar,
That’s your plan?
Why not?
Little Mar shrugged.
Ye Cang thought for a bit, then made a calm smile and said indifferently,
I’m in.
Of course…
Little Mar looked at Ye Cang’s serious eyes, and confidently replied,
Let’s stop talking about these things. This is the reward for you given by boss Magi. Also, that girl Gina wanted to give you this.
When Little Mar mentioned Gina, he started looking at Ye Cang strangely. Ye Cang didn’t notice, his attention was focussed on the small box and the red embroidered handkerchief. He opened the box, and found a lotus flower medal inside.
Vivian Family’s Sign of Friendship: Obtaining this medal means you’re a friend of the Vivian family, giving you a huge boost in prestige with half-elves.
Gina Vivian’s Handkerchief: Handmade with top quality material.
Ye Cang looked at the second item. What was he going to do with a handkerchief? After thinking about it for a while, since his handkerchief was with Gina, then he would just use this one as a replacement. Who cares how fancy it was. He stuffed it in his pocket, and put away the medal. He bade farewell to Little Mar, then met back up with everyone else.
…
Do I have a class quest? Why haven’t you notified me?
Ye Cang walked in and questioned. The milk overlord Linda told him to just pick a mission or get lost.
All the other associations have class quests or training.
Ye Cang complained to her jugs.
Our association is different from the others. With our current economic troubles, we have no resources for you. Go do more missions and contribute a bit more to the association, then you might get one.
Linda patted Ye Cang’s shoulder and said honestly, speaking her heartfelt wishes.
Ye Cang sighed and left. As he walked away, he looked at the big tree and thought about quitting, but his mind wandered, recalling that magnificent sight, making him feel reluctant, so he just sighed deeply.
He had nothing to do and didn’t really feel like going out to grind levels by himself, so he started wandering around the various associations, enjoying the lively atmosphere. He had to admit that every association was bustling with activity. At the Holy Church, Ye Cang watched Little Ye Tian quickly flipping through books while reciting scriptures, ravaging everyone’s IQ. Zhang ZhengXiong was training his body with an old fellow while chanting a slogan,
We’re very healthy priests! A healthy body is a healthy mind!
With a sigh, he went to the Ritualist Association. NalanPureSoul was there summoning a demon. He noticed Ye Cang’s arrival, and the two began staring at eachother again. After a long time, Ye Cang nodded,
So that’s why…
NalanMoon, who was passing by, broke out in cold sweat. What’s why!? Just how are you communicating!?
At the War God’s Temple, FrozenCloud was bullying the other grappler players. Lin Le was courteously knocking on doors while holding his enormous sword. He used a cute voice to threaten the homeowner:
Give up the money or I’ll blow your house down. I really will! I’m not kidding!
and so on. He even used his pen to draw a sword symbol on the other party’s face.
Finally Ye Cang watched OldWangFromNextDoor learn to do some strangely vulgar actions to his summon. He sighed twice, then left the Elemental Summoner Association. At this time, he recalled the ring on his finger. It seemed to belong to someone called Mary. He asked around all over the place and found Mary’s house. Earl?
He knocked on the door, and a red haired beauty answered. She looked at Ye Cang’s strange outfit and became more vigilant. Then she noticed his medals, and relaxed.
May I ask what business you have here?
I found a ring out in the wilderness. It seems someone named Mary lost it…
Ye Cang took the ring and showed her. This is probably the sister that A’Xiong was talking about, Airy. She really is a beauty.
It really is the ring that Mary lost! Thank you, come in and have a seat. My little sister cried for so many days when she lost this ring. This is the ring mother left her before she died, so she really cherished it, but it got snatched by a bird.
Thump thump thump, a cute little girl ran down the stairs, and quickly grabbed the ring, hugging it tightly to her chest. Ye Cang smiled, ruffling her red hair.
Keep it safe, don’t lose it again.
I know, thanks big brother! When father finds out that it’s been found, he’ll definitely be very happy too…
Mary put a thread through the ring and wore it securely around her neck, then tucked it under her clothes.
Airy gracefully prepared some tea, and brought some dessert for Ye Cang.
Thank you for bringing the ring back to Mary…
Ye Cang removed his wolf head hood, courteously took the tea, and smelled the pleasant scent which warmed his heart. He gave it a sip and discovered that it was warm and rich. He then tried the desert. It was sweet and extremely tasty. He couldn’t hold back and asked her how she made the tea and dessert. Airy smiled, sat beside him, and earnestly taught him the way to make tea, from how to pick the plant, to how to bring out the flavor. It made Ye Cang exceptionally happy, because his art of cooking now included the tea and dessert branch. Mary was very curious of Ye Cang’s wolf cloak, so Ye Cang took it off and let her play with it. The two of them watched little Mary wearing the wolf head and running around very happily. They all laughed together.
It’s about time I left.
Ye Cang slowly got up. Mary returned his wolf head cloak.
Big brother, will you come play again?
Yeah, I will.
Ye Cang smiled and pet Mary’s head, then he put on his wolf head cloak, and turned to leave.
Airy walked Ye Cang to the door, and took out a ring with a smile.
Viscount PaleSnow, take this. Again, thank you for finding Mary’s ring.
Ye Cang didn’t take it. He had already learned two ways to cook, leaving him content. Moreover, this ring was definitely also one that was left by their mother. He couldn’t accept this sort of precious item full of memories. He reached out and held her slim, white hands and pushed them away.
You don’t have to. Isn’t this ring the same as that other one? It’s not just a ring, but a precious memory. You should treasure it…
He then turned, put on his hood, and walked away into the distance.
Airy looked at that strange back and her heart felt warm but she also felt somewhat speechless. He really was a weird person. This ring was something she had bought at the flea market… Who knows who it used to belong to. She closed the door and began to inexplicably smile…
Ye Cang slowly wandered the streets. He thought of the auction house that the Thorns and Roses girls were running, and began walking over. It seemed it was temporarily closed, the members were probably all out training, so he continued to roam. Oh, there’s still Black Rock City’s original auction, it happens to be running now.
He quickly walked over. The guards saw that Ye Cang wanted to go in, and were about to stop him, but saw his viscount medal, so backed off.
Ye Cang found a random spot and looked at the auction items. There were all sorts of things: pearls, jewels, weapons, equipment, antiques, etc. Most of it was useless to him.
The next item to be auctioned is a high quality tambourine drum. It is made of wood from a 10,000 year old tree and leather from a fire qilin, making it worth its weight in gold, even more to collectors. The initial price is 40 gold, start!
The auctioneer took out a 10 or so centimeter, red tambourine drum.
Ye Cang recalled that he was looking for an instrument, so raised his hand.
40 gold.
50.
60!
In the end, Ye Cang won it for 60 gold. It wasn’t a very popular instrument, so there wasn’t much competition. He payed the money, then looked at its stats.
Fire Qilin Tambourine Drum (Gold – Rare – Instrument)
Category: Small Tambourine Drum
Requirements: Bard or Instrument talent
+7 All Stats
Boosting Beat – Tambourine Drum: Play it to activate, giving nearby allies +10 Strength, +10% Damage, and +10% Will for 5 minutes. No cooldown. Doesn’t stack.
Intimidating Beat – Tambourine Drum: Hit it hard to deal 30 sonic damage to surrounding enemies, with a chance to cause them to faint or interrupt magic. Also a chance to break targets out of mind controlling effects. Cooldown: 30 minutes.
Ye Cang hung the drum at his waist, where it would be easy to play, then continued watching the auction. The next item was a black spiky fruit. The auctioneer also didn’t know what it was.
This is an unknown fruit. Truth be told, we don’t know what it’s effects are, but it’s rarity is guaranteed. Starting at 10 gold.
Ye Cang identified it from afar.
Black Titanic Dragon Fruit: Looks unremarkable, but is an extremely rare ingredient. Only grows in places where Black Dragons and Giants fought to mutual defeat. Eating it permanently increases all your resistance by +15, gives a permanent +5% strength, and has a chance to learn a dragon-magic spell or a giant’s martial skill.
10 gold.
Ye Cang raised his hand, acting as if he was just messing around.
Let’s see if it’s any good in a stew.
No one at the auction was interested in it, so didn’t raise the price. Ye Cang managed to buy it for 10 gold. He quickly paid and put it away. Thankfully I have a food identification skill, otherwise I would have missed such a good opportunity. Haha! All I’m missing is a rare spice, then my first super rare cooking will be done!!
As the auction progressed, Ye Cang managed to buy some junk that others had no interest in. They fairly rare food ingredients and materials that others didn’t know about. As for the auctioned dark gold equipment, the price even managed to give Ye Cang a headache. It was too expensive. The initial price was already 200 gold, which was already extremely expensive amongst players, and it had to be paid entirely in gold. Right now, gold was too rare, so players often traded expensive items using half cash and half gold, using real world money as a substitute.