MMORPG: The Leveling Specialist - Chapter 46

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 Tian Kuang was taken aback. “This quest requires Journeyman rank mining skills.”

 “I can do it,” said Xiao Ling again. He did not know how he should break it to them. If he told them that he was an Artisan rank miner, he was certain that they would be more shocked.

 Tian Kuang gave Xiao Ling a peculiar look. Then, he accepted that quest as well. Tian Kuang said with a wry smile, “I realized that it’s getting more difficult to put a finger on you. Journeyman rank engineering alone would’ve taken a lot of a person’s energy. Even those specializing in engineering might not be able to raise their expertise ratings to the Journeyman rank. I can’t believe that you’re a miner as well.”

 Xiao Ling shrugged. Then, he added, “It’s not just engineering and mining. I’ve even picked up metal crafting and blacksmithing as well.”

 There was a loud spitting sound, followed by fits of coughing. Tian Xin, who was sitting at the table while waiting spit out the mouthful of tea he had been drinking. He was startled by Xiao Ling’s words. ‘Good heavens, what is it with this guy?’

 These four life skills were skills that ordinary players would never pick up, save for those who were making a trade out of them. Ordinary players would only learn life skills related to their classes. Mechanical Alchemists would pick up engineering so that they would be able to fix their mechanical puppets once they malfunctioned, saving them the trouble of traveling to dedicated service centers in the big cities. However, only Apprentice rank engineering was required to fix mechanical puppets. They would not invest time to raise their engineering expertise ratings. Apothecary Alchemists would learn herbalism and potion-making because these were the basic tricks of their trade. Some ordinary players would also learn skinning, gathering, fishing, spring water-making, or baking to earn some side cash while farming monsters or to reduce their expenditures.

 However, it was slightly absurd for a Warlock to learn mining, metal crafting, blacksmithing, and engineering. Did he now know that there were limits to a person’s energy? A single skill was difficult enough to master, and this fellow had learned four. What made him feel more puzzled was that his mining and engineering were both at the Journeyman rank. It was a commendable feat for other players to reach that level of expertise in a single skill.

 Tian Xin and Tian Fei exchanged glances with wry smiles on their faces. “Freak,” they blurted out at the same time. That was the only word they could think of to describe Xiao Ling. He would certainly be the only player who learned skills this way. In their eyes, Xiao Ling was as dumb as could be.

 Tian Kuang opened his mouth to speak. He wanted to tell Xiao Ling that it was wrong to learn skills this way, but he did not know how. After all, Xiao Ling’s expertise ratings in both skills were quite high. He could never ask him to delete them. Since Xiao Ling had learned them, Tian Kuang chose not to comment.

 Tian Kuang could not help but ask, “Were you planning on becoming a life skill player when you joined the game?”

 “No.” Xiao Ling shook his head. He could not tell Tian Kuang that he was a Mechanical Alchemist. However, Xiao Ling was puzzled. Did nobody learn four skills like he did? How did they come about owning their mechanical puppets, then?

 “I don’t know why you’ve chosen to learn four life skills, but it might be better for you to focus on only one or two skills to master. If you learn too many life skills, you might end up being a jack of all trades but master of none. That won’t be beneficial for your progress,” Tian Kuang advised him. He was genuinely worried that Xiao Ling would proceed down the wrong path and spend all his energy and time improving his life skills. If he did that, they would lose a good comrade.

 “Okay,” Xiao Ling responded with a nod.

 Xiao Ling handed in his completed quest and leveled up again. He was now level 14. However, the gold coin reward was too little for Xiao Ling. It was only 80 gold coins. He had a huge debt to pay off. Although the others did not pester him to pay up, he would have to clear his debt sooner or later.

 Xiao Ling looked to the top of the list, where the quest with the highest reward was listed. He wondered when would he be able to kill Oslinland. If he could kill Oslinland, he would have enough money to pay his debt. Xiao Ling was still thinking about the Ellandi’s Necklace.

 After accepting the quests, the five of them came out from the Mercenary Guild. Tian Kuang said, “Let’s go. If we pick up the pace, we might just be able to complete all these quests.”

 The party walked out of Tilia against the throng of players. The others were here to accept quests from the Mercenary Guild.

 “Big Brother, Yue Wen’s in the game as well. She picked the Mechanical Alchemist Class. She wants you to help her complete some class quests,” said a young man in mage robes to a big and tall Barbarian Warrior. Their conversation piqued Xiao Ling’s interest. He wondered what the Mechanical Alchemist’s class quests were.

 The Barbarian Warrior frowned. “Isn’t the first class quest of a Mechanical Alchemist extremely simple? Why can’t she manage it?”

 The young man smiled wryly. “I can’t help it if she’s so clingy. The reward for the quest is a mechanical imp. Without a mechanical imp, it’s impossible for a Mechanical Alchemist to level up. Let’s help her out.”

 The young man’s words stunned Xiao Ling, who did not even remember hearing the remainder of the conversation. The young man’s words resounded in Xiao Ling’s mind. ‘I could’ve obtained a rank 1 mechanical imp from a quest? No wonder all the other Mechanical Alchemists have mechanical gargoyles at their sides! That’s why nobody’s selling rank 1 mechanical imps on the market!’

 After connecting all the dots, Xiao Ling finally realized his mistake. It was an absurd mistake, a downright stupid one.

 Because of this mistake, Xiao Ling had wasted a whole month of leveling! Xiao Ling could not find the words for the complicated emotions he was feeling right now. He would have liked to stab himself with a dagger. How could he make such a basic mistake?

 Xiao Ling recalled his memories of choosing a class. The Mechanical Alchemist tutor had been explaining about the deep history of the class and the various legendary and epic heroes. Back then, Xiao Ling was not in his best condition. He was muddleheaded throughout the entire process. Even when he left the Mechanical Alchemist Hall, he did not even understand a word the tutor had spoken.

 It seemed as if he had missed the Mechanical Alchemist’s class quest at that moment! Then, he saw mechanical puppets on sale in the market, and heard about some engineering student building a quality mechanical puppet. Hence, he naively thought that mechanical puppets were built by Mechanical Alchemists.

 Also, Xiao Ling had been building a cart behind closed doors. Nobody corrected his mistakes.

 Xiao Ling was very annoyed by this. Could there be anything more upsetting than this?

 When Tian Kuang saw Xiao Ling’s extremely upset expression, he could not help but ask, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling ill?” Then, he laughed hysterically at his own words. They sounded silly, even to him. This was a game, there was no way that they could be sick!

 Xiao Ling shook his head. “It’s nothing. Let’s go.”