Su Shu had a very precise position for her game character:
She wanted to be the most profitable merchant among the players who were best at fighting, and the kid who was best at fighting among the merchants.
To make money meant Su Shu’s equipment had to be above the passing mark; to fight meant Su Shu had to have certain distinct characteristics in terms of character attributes.
Thus, after a moment’s thought, she allocated 5 of her 15 attribute points into Intelligence and dumped the remaining 10 points entirely into Agility.
5 points of Intelligence added 45 Attack and 13 Spell Defense; 10 points of Agility added 12 Evasion points.
Just as she finished allocating the attribute points, Su Shu felt her whole body become light.
She grabbed her dagger and made a light slash in mid-air; her speed was noticeably faster than before.
Following the system’s guidance, Su Shu found the Village Chief.
The Village Chief still wore that calculating expression, but when he looked at Su Shu, he was glaring and stroking his beard angrily.
After all, Su Shu was the woman who had played a trick on the NPC.
“You want to change your class?” asked the Village Chief.
Su Shu nodded.
seasonal The Village Chief sized Su Shu up and down a few times and mused, “I see that young lady has an extraordinary physical structure…”
“Only a melee class can unleash your talent, young lady.”
Su Shu raised an eyebrow.
The class system in *Dreaming of the Rivers and Lakes* was quite developed. A hundred or so classes could dazzle a player’s eyes, so when newcomers chose a class, NPCs would provide a certain degree of guidance.
This was dubbed by players as “the most conscientious career guidance.”
And the basis of this guidance was the operation habits and traits of the player before Level 15 analyzed by the system.
Of course, the NPC’s career guidance was not a rule players had to follow. Besides, there were always pay-to-win players with plenty of money and leisure who were willing to try out their favorite classes one by one.
In short, it was nothing more than a matter of “spending money.”
Su Shu was clearly not the type to spend money on class selection.
A panel floated before her eyes, listing a series of melee classes selected for her by the Village Chief.
Among them, Assassin and Rogue had the highest recommendation indices.
Both were close-combat classes.
The Village Chief said, “I have read fortunes for countless young people here, and countless young people have been deeply grateful to me. There have also been countless young people who did not believe me, only to weep bitterly before me in the end and present vast amounts of gold and silver to ask me to alter their fate against the heavens!”
The Village Chief stroked his beard, his tone filled with indescribable pride.
He looked at Su Shu, expecting a response from this outstanding girl before him.
Su Shu let out an “Oh” and said without much sincerity, “You are really amazing.”
Village Chief: “…”
Although he was praised, he didn’t feel happy at all!
The Village Chief wanted to say something more to prove how amazing he was, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Su Shu keenly noticed his intention and dropped her gaze onto his beard, the tip of which was scorched.
—*What are you boasting to me for, an old man who can’t even dodge fire?*
Village Chief: “…”
Su Shu finally finished reading the class recommendations given to her by the Village Chief in silence.
Then she met the Village Chief’s eager eyes: “Are the classes I recommended particularly suitable for a young lady like you?”
Su Shu smiled warmly and said, “Yes.”
The Village Chief finally felt validated. He stepped forward and patted Su Shu on the back with force: “Young lady! Listen to me! You can’t go wrong! You will definitely have a bright future!”
As if regaining his confidence, the Village Chief stroked his beard and asked Su Shu, “Do you want Assassin or Rogue?”
Su Shu said, “I want Mage.”
At that moment, the Village Chief’s expression looked as if he had been struck by lightning.
The dog game planner who was controlling the Village Chief behind the scenes was currently hugging the neighboring dog game planner next door while weeping bitterly: “Waaah, it wasn’t easy for me to act like an admin with authority to give someone advice for once, and she actually didn’t accept it!!!! This is the first time I’ve been rejected by someone!”
The second dog planner smiled and patted the first dog planner’s head: “It’s okay, there will be a second time.”
Dog planner: “…”
Fuck!
Su Shu was completely unaware of this.
In fact, before the Village Chief gave his advice, she had already decided on her path of development.
Generally, clearing wild map BOSSes required a team or more, which needed the cooperation of at least four major class categories: Physical Attack, Magic Attack, Healer, and the damage-absorbing Tank.
However, Su Shu could already foresee that her money-making journey would rely almost entirely on herself.
Lacking a Tank and a Healer, she could compensate with her own Agility, positioning, and potions, whereas physical output and magic output had to rely on herself.
If she encountered a BOSS she truly couldn’t solo, she would just seek a team then.
Therefore, amid the Village Chief’s glaring and angry breathing once again, Su Shu chose to become a Fire Mage.
—For no other reason than that Fire Mages controlled heat and fire, so she wouldn’t need to carry an alcohol lamp with her to cook and make food anymore =.=
The 20 skill points were allocated by Su Shu without hesitation into basic fire skills: Fire Talisman, Incinerate, and Fireball. With the remaining 10 skill points, Su Shu minored in a water skill, Ice Talisman, and a speed skill, Free and Unfettered Travel.
Under the Village Chief’s disappointed gaze over her lack of ambition, Su Shu selected Planting and Alchemy as her two production and life skills.
In fact, there was another life skill, Cooking, but Su Shu felt the system’s cooking lacked soul, so she disdained it.
—At this point, all of Su Shu’s tasks in the Novice Village for this stage were completed.
The system gave Su Shu new guidance:
[System Prompt] Player Huaishu has obtained the achievement [Fledgling].
[System Prompt] The world is vast and wonderful. Young Hero Huaishu, please go take a walk around Lin’an.
Lin’an was one of the largest main cities in *Dreaming of the Rivers and Lakes*.
Su Shu closed her eyes, and the system automatically teleported her to the entrance of Lin’an City.
There were many players at the Lin’an city entrance.
However, unlike the hurried figures coming and going in the Novice Village, many players at the entrance of Lin’an City were sitting on the ground.
Some were sitting with three or five friends, spreading a large blanket on the ground, drinking wine, drinking tea, and chatting, while the other portion…
…was setting up stalls.
Inside the city, there were naturally system shops. Even if players wished, they could rent a shop from an NPC to run a business for fun.
However, any transaction made through an NPC or the system incurred a hefty handling fee.
Thus, outside the city, some unlicensed stalls were spawned.
Su Shu looked as she walked. Everything was being sold on these stalls, and likely because there were no handling fees, the prices were cheaper than in regular shops.
As for those selling goods, most of their classes were Rogues and Assassins.
In other words, many of them were stolen goods.
Su Shu: =.=
Holographic games did not have the concept of “account hacking” from the era of keyboard online games; the characteristics of the classes gave rise to a series of strange gray industries.
For example, Rogues could obtain equipment on players through theft skills.
Of course, using the skill didn’t guarantee success; it also required a matching set of techniques.
And it depended on the alertness of the person being stolen from.
For another example, Assassins could randomly obtain items dropped when a victim died through silent assassinations.
Although the methods differed, it served the same purpose as killing people for equipment in the keyboard online game era.
Of course, if Rogues and Assassins were inferior in skill and ended up strung up, beaten, or even counter-killed, they would also suffer heavy losses.
However, where there was profit, there would be a group of people taking risks.
That was why there were so many stall-setting Rogues at the entrances of major main cities.
Under normal circumstances, these Rogues and Assassins would not sell the equipment they obtained themselves. Instead, they would hand it over to a trusted broker, who would take a cut.
This was brought about by the overall game environment, so there was actually no concept of “stolen goods.”
To put it plainly, everyone obtained things by their own abilities.
It was just that people engaged in such industries wouldn’t be looked up to by others either.
Meanwhile, Su Shu, who was still completely unaware of this, was squatting on the ground, looking at a long umbrella with a fire attribute.
She had strolled along the way earlier, piecing together a set of equipment from the street stalls that could probably last her until around Level 25, but she was still missing a handy weapon.
When Su Shu initially chose an umbrella, it was for fun and good looks. Only after actual combat with Wuji last time did she discover that besides attacking, the long umbrella also served a defensive function—
For a squishy mage like her, this was a very friendly attribute.
It was just that the operating difficulty of the long umbrella was relatively high, and not many players in the game chose it as a weapon, so there wasn’t much forging for it.
With great difficulty, Su Shu finally took a fancy to this umbrella. Just as she was about to reach out and take it—
It was snatched into someone else’s hands first.
Su Shu raised her head and saw an ordinary man’s face.
Seeing Su Shu look at him, the man let out a snort from his nose and sneered, “I was wondering who it was. Turns out it’s that Huaishu who stole someone’s staff.”
The man’s tone was filled with disdain: “What’s the matter? Can’t stay hot on the forums, can’t snatch good stuff, so you’ve started snatching from street stalls?”