Jiang Yun had painstakingly saved up some money, so how could he be willing to spend it all at once?
He began to haggle, "Village Chief, isn't this price a bit too high? Could you give me a 'fracture' discount?"
Upon hearing this, the Ghost Village Chief's face changed abruptly, and he shouted angrily, "Hmph! I see you want me to personally 'fracture' you!"
"These three skill books are unique in the world. Once you learn them, no one else can possess such divine skills."
"I've already given you a 'fracture price,' and you still want a further discount? This is an insult to me! I'm not selling anymore, get lost!"
Jiang Yun, after all, was an old ghost who had weathered nearly 180 years of storms. Though he didn't have fiery eyes, he had a decent ability to discern people—or rather, ghosts.
He noticed the Ghost Village Chief's eyes flickering as he spoke, and immediately understood that the old ghost was trying to deceive him.
"Sigh, alright then, I... I don't want them anymore."
Jiang Yun feigned regret, shook his head, sighed, and turned to leave.
Seeing this, the Ghost Village Chief panicked, fearing that the deal would slip away.
He quickly coughed to cover his inner turmoil, then put on a kind and friendly face, "Alright, alright, seeing as you're a rare talent in our clan, I'm willing to take a loss. Four Ghost Silver Coins per book, that's the lowest price, no less."
This old ghost was indeed extorting him!
Jiang Yun chuckled inwardly but kept a straight face. After pondering for a moment, he looked troubled, "Sigh, Village Chief, I... I know you mean well, but I'm really strapped for cash, I can't afford it!"
"I don't have enough money, I can't buy them, I'll have to let down your good intentions."
With that, he turned again and walked out of the courtyard.
Just then, a cold wind arose, and the Ghost Village Chief, moving like lightning, instantly caught up to Jiang Yun and grabbed his wrist, "Alright, alright, I can't let such a great talent go to waste. I'll sell them to you at the 'fracture' price you mentioned, just pay up!"
Jiang Yun's face lit up with joy, but then he looked embarrassed, "But... but I only have 5.87 Ghost Silver Coins. Even with your 'fracture' price, I still can't afford them!"
"Maybe... let's just forget it!" He feigned helplessness, shaking his head and sighing.
The Ghost Village Chief was so angry his mouth twitched, pointing at Jiang Yun's nose, he scolded, "Hmph! You little rascal! You didn't have enough money and still asked for a 'fracture' price, are you just messing with me?"
The Ghost Village Chief was so furious he wanted to slap Jiang Yun to vent his anger.
Jiang Yun looked innocent and said aggrievedly, "If it weren't for being truly helpless, why would I do this? I can't let you take a loss. I'll come back to buy them once I've earned enough money."
The Ghost Village Chief was so angry his face twisted, cursing inwardly: I don't believe you! Once you advance, you'll leave this starter village, and I'll never have the chance to sell these skill books to you again.
"You little rascal, meeting you is my bad luck for eight lifetimes! Fine, fine, I'm afraid of you, okay? I'll sell these three treasured skill books to you for 5.87 Ghost Silver Coins!" The Ghost Village Chief said through gritted teeth.
Hearing this, Jiang Yun immediately put on a grateful expression, tightly gripping the Ghost Village Chief's hand, and said excitedly, "You are truly my benefactor!"
The Ghost Village Chief received the money and tossed the three books into Jiang Yun's arms, cursing, "Get lost! Benefactor my ass! Doing business with you, I'm losing my shirt!"
Jiang Yun took the three skill books and, not daring to linger, quickly prepared to leave.
"Hey! Just a reminder, you're the first in this starter village to reach level 10, you can still ask others in the village for a reward!" The Ghost Village Chief shouted as Jiang Yun hurried away.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yun's eyes lit up, and he turned back gratefully, "Thank you for the reminder!"
Jiang Yun immediately learned—Gravity Shield, Ghost-Piercing Nail, and Summon Maitreya Rock Doll.
At this time, there were 8 minutes and 54 seconds left before entering the Qin Emperor's Underground Palace instance, so he quickly went to find the other four ghost NPCs in the village to claim the rewards the Village Chief mentioned. Get faster updates on g.com.
And sure enough, the Ghost Village Chief hadn't lied.
The weapon shop's ghost owner, seeing Jiang Yun had reached level 10 and taken on the advancement quest, enthusiastically repaired all his equipment for free and even gave him three Low-Level Enhancement Stones.
However, these stones could only enhance weapons above the first advancement, so his Mourning Staff couldn't be enhanced yet, and he had to hold onto them for now.
The potion shop's ghost owner generously gave Jiang Yun two sets of level 1 Health Potions and Mana Potions, worth 20 Ghost Silver Coins, making Jiang Yun grin from ear to ear.
The general store's ghost owner gave Jiang Yun three Inventory Expansion Stones, instantly upgrading his initial small inventory to level 3, increasing from 10 slots to 40 slots, significantly expanding his space.
As for the seamstress shop's ghost owner, she only gave Jiang Yun a pair of basic gloves, each adding 3 points of Defense, a bit stingy.
But with this pair of gloves, Jiang Yun's Defense increased by 6 points.
He secretly complained in his heart: This ghost lady is really stingy! Not nearly as generous as the other ghost NPCs.
However, his current attributes were already quite decent:
[Character]: Grandpa Ghost
[Class]: Ghost Mage - Earth Attribute Specialist
[Level]: 10 (Frail Lesser Ghost)
[Health]: 367
[Mana]: 215
[Attack]: 476
[Defense]: 29
[Movement Speed]: 5
The attributes were alright, and the preparations were almost complete.
In the remaining minutes of the countdown, Jiang Yun tested the effects of the three new skills to become more proficient in using them in combat.
When the countdown ended, a brilliant teleportation light enveloped him, instantly transporting Jiang Yun away.
Moments later, Jiang Yun found himself in a dimly lit underground palace filled with intersecting trenches.
The trenches were lined with various clay figures, exuding an ancient aura, each with unique and lifelike forms.
At the same time, a system prompt sounded in his ear:
"[First Advancement Abyss-Level Instance (Qin Emperor's Underground Palace) Challenge Mission Officially Begins!]"
"[If Player Grandpa Ghost survives in the Qin Emperor's Underground Palace for more than 30 minutes, it will be considered a normal completion, and the original reward will be reduced by 90%!]"
"[Surviving over 30 minutes and killing more than 400 clay figures will be considered a good completion, with rewards reduced by 70%!]"
"[Killing 10 elite-level Clay Cavalry will be considered an excellent completion, with rewards reduced by 50%; if you can kill the Clay General and reach the Qin Emperor's Coffin Hall, it will be considered a perfect completion, with no reward reduction!]"
"[If within 360 minutes you can defeat the final BOSS—Qin Emperor's Corpse, it will be considered an unparalleled completion, doubling the original reward!]"
"[Mission countdown officially begins!]"
As soon as the system prompt ended, Jiang Yun saw a countdown timer appear before him: (First Stage, Survive Over: 29:59!)
At the same time, in the nearest trench, a whole row of Underground Palace Clay Soldiers opened their eyes, their bodies cracking as they began to move.
The mission had begun, and Jiang Yun dared not be careless.
He first consumed 50 Mana to cast the Summon Maitreya Rock Doll skill.
As a brilliant earth-element magic circle appeared before him, a two-meter-tall, round-faced, round-bellied yellow rock Maitreya Rock Doll slowly emerged from the circle.
—[Maitreya Rock Doll]!
(Summoner: Grandpa Ghost! Existence Duration: 09:59!)
[Level]: 10
[Health]: 4000
[Mana]: 200
[Attack]: 342
[Defense]: 68
[Movement Speed]: 7
[Skills]: Active - (Earthshaking Ghost Hand): Summon a rocky ghost hand to burst from the ground, knocking the target into the air and stunning it for 2 seconds. CD: 21 seconds!
Passive - (Stone Skin): Reduces physical damage taken by 20%!
Whether the Ghost Village Chief was exaggerating about these three skills being unique, Jiang Yun didn't know.
But the attributes of this Maitreya Rock Doll were indeed impressive, with an attack power only slightly inferior to his own, and as a tank, it was more than sufficient.
After summoning the Maitreya Rock Doll, Jiang Yun turned his gaze to the eight Underground Palace Clay Soldiers that had just crawled out of the trench and used a level 1 Ghost Eye Insight to investigate.
—[Underground Palace Clay Soldier]!
(Normal Monster)
[Level]: 10
[Health]: 1980
[Attack]: 114
[Defense]: 39
[Speed]: 3.6
[Skills]: Basic Critical Strike Aura (15% chance to trigger a critical hit when attacking.)
[Weakness]: Slow movement speed, stiff actions, like puppets, easily kited; fire attacks deal double damage to them.
[Drop Rate]: 0.06% chance to drop Mundane Grade weapons and special items; 0.09% chance to drop Mundane Grade jewelry; 0.5% chance to drop skill books (Basic Critical Strike Aura) and normal auxiliary skill books; 1.1% chance to drop Basic equipment; 100% chance to drop at least 3 Ghost Copper Coins.
These Underground Palace Clay Soldiers were slow and had no attack skills, making them easy to deal with.
Taking advantage of the fact that the eight Underground Palace Clay Soldiers had just crawled out of the trench and were all gathered closely together, Jiang Yun didn't hesitate to burn 32 Mana to unleash a group attack spell—Ghost-Piercing Nail!