Chapter 361: Chapter 361: The Wandering Merchant
Li Yao couldn’t figure out on the way whether Unparalleled Enchantress had initially intended to join Starfire, or if it was his plan to establish a main city that had persuaded her.
After all, the elders had done a lot of work to get Unparalleled Enchantress to join, but she had always been noncommittal. Li Yao had even started considering other candidates in his heart.
He had stopped bothering to persuade her, but her joining was indeed something that lifted people’s spirits. With her onboard, plans to form the Starfire Guild’s war squad were now being put on the agenda.
Despite having some time till the trial matches, assembling a team wasn’t a simple matter. The selection of members and their coordination required a lot of time to organize and polish.
Now, because of his continuous exposure and rising fame, the morale of the entire guild was high, and the guild had become more cohesive.
As the Guild Master, his sister led the guild to operate in a steady and orderly manner.
With Unparalleled Enchantress starting to assemble the war squad, a core and two pillars had been established.
Combined with Feng Yi’s appeal, external propaganda, and forum battles, Starfire Guild always remained within players’ sight and was never forgotten.
Elder players like Fruit Knight took on the responsibility of organizing team activities, leading groups to take on dungeons or group quests.
Under these multifaceted efforts, all players in Starfire Guild were becoming increasingly engaged. The vast majority of players now considered themselves part of Starfire, and the guild was flourishing.
Amidst these mixed thoughts, Li Yao arrived at the coastal hills of East Continent.
Ten thousand years ago, after the earth-shattering catastrophe, every race suffered heavy losses.
The fertile continent was torn apart, with the East and West Continents becoming the main divisions.
A narrow strait formed from a tear right through the middle of East Continent.
The Exiled High Elves and Trolls occupied the north, continuing their ancient war for the prosperous Storm Rain Forest.
Thousands of years later, the ancestors of humans migrated to the north of East Continent. After flourishing, humans also got into territorial disputes with Trolls.
The High Elves allied with humans and taught humans magic. The two races became allies and finally defeated the Forest Trolls after a tough battle.
The Forest Trolls had already suffered heavy losses in the ancient catastrophe. Many of their people had been drowned, and even their venerated demigod couldn’t withstand this power.
But they refused to accept reality and continued to soak in the past glory of ruling the world. After being hit by the two alliances, they were on the verge of extinction and finally retreated to their city.
Afterwards, humans continued to proliferate. The human population ballooned into many kingdoms. One kingdom migrated to the southern part of the East Continent. Due to the Dwarfs being busy with civil strife, and the Gnomes immersed in researching mechanics and facing a racial crisis, they let this human kingdom pass through their borders.
And this kingdom was relatively weak, without any intentions to wage war, so they moved to the even more southern region of East Continent.
Thousands of years passed, and this human kingdom unexpectedly became the leader of the Light Faction.
As for the northern human kingdoms, various unexpected incidents happened. Some were cursed by werewolves, and some faced internal and external turmoil.
The most unfortunate was the once strongest human kingdom which had now been destroyed and converted into a territory of the Forgotten Ones.
The coastal hills, a vast area connecting the north and south straits of East Continent.
There are large areas suitable for farming here, which used to be one of East Continent’s major granaries.
This is a gathering spot for wild horses. Large herds can frequently be seen here, ideal for taming into war steeds.
More importantly, there are many Gryphon nests here. Humans’ most intimate air steeds and battle partners are Gryphons.
The Light Faction considers this one of its most important areas, assigning a large number of armed forces to fortify cities here.
However, this area is also quite close to the main city of the Forgotten Ones, who also do not want to give it up.
Both sides had stationed heavy troops in the hilly area for defensive purposes. Although the two camps were temporarily in a honeymoon phase, minor frictions never stopped, with both sides constantly testing the other’s bottom line.
Li Yao was now in the Forgotten Ones’ city in the north of the hills.
This area was suitable for players above level 15 to level up. It was a contested territory, so there were very few players here now.
However, the number of players in the city’s arena was not few.
Li Yao didn’t wander around the city. He directly mounted his steed and sprinted towards the outskirts of the city. His goal this time was very clear: the blueprints. He didn’t even take on any of the accompanying quests.
Li Yao had become a celebrity and he was the only one in the entire server with a mount. The few players he encountered all recognized him, but they all kept their distance.
After all, anyone at this stage who could come to this map was an expert. Nobody wanted to look for trouble or get to know him.
In Li Yao’s plan, he could get at least two mechanical blueprints here, one of which was key and was held by a nomadic merchant.
The so-called nomadic merchants were simply Goblins that led a cargo-carrying robot around, selling their commodities wherever they went.
Many players adored these kind of merchants because they could always refresh their inventory with some good and rare items. Unfortunately, these merchants were difficult to encounter due to their unpredictable movements.
Li Yao was sure, however, that there was one special Goblin merchant on this map who only wandered around the hills. But their movements were also uncertain, requiring some time to find.
Although Li Yao’s engineering skills were not yet high, he had performed some simple transformations on his mechanical car.
He beautified some parts of it and modified the seat, making it look magnificent, comfortable yet robust.
Li Yao drove his mechanical car on the ground, while his Firehawk circled in the sky, looking for the Goblin merchant.
Searching for a person was a very boring and tedious task, especially in this vast area, it was like finding a needle out in an open field. It was even more difficult to find a person in the hills, especially when you couldn’t fly.
Fortunately, he had Firehawk. With its swift flight and wide range of vision, all Li Yao needed to do was dash along the road, while the Firehawk would scan the surrounding large area.
However, even with that, Li Yao couldn’t find the merchant after spending a whole day.
But what Li Yao had the most was patience. On the second day, he continued to search with Firehawk. Maybe it was a matter of luck, but he didn’t find the merchant even after searching every corner of the Dark Camp’s territory.
On the third day, Li Yao entered the Light Faction’s territory and finally spotted a little Goblin roasting meat by a bonfire with a transportation robot in the evening.
Li Yao let out a small smile, walked up and said: “Friend, may I sit by the bonfire?”
“When did damn elves become so friendly?” The Goblin merchant muttered, but seeing the money bag in Li Yao’s hand and hearing the crisp, pleasant sound of gold coins clinking, he immediately revealed a smile and said: “Oh, my friend, come and have a taste of my honey-roasted meat.”
Ps: Damn, I fell asleep at 11 something last night and ended up sleeping till midday. I have been tired as hell recently. However, I will push myself to update more, starting from today.
Also, continue to ask for monthly ticket support…