Chapter Fifty-Five: You Have Come Too Late

At the entrance to a private house stood a wooden sign, visible to all who passed by.

This was a place Murong Xun had rented for himself, and it would serve as their base for the time being.

The equipment inside had also been borrowed little by little through his thin connection with Noya.

For now, the urgent priority was to exchange enough merit to buy Shadow of Slaughter, so naturally he had to make full use of his strengths.

A dish made from vampire hearts could permanently increase maximum health, and it was not subject to attribute limits. Because of that, items of this kind commanded an exorbitant price.

Murong Xun sold a serving for five hundred merit points. Though it made many people wince, there were still those who gritted their teeth and bought it.

After all, vampire hearts were of little use to them. The natives did buy them as well, but their offered price was not high.

Now that Murong Xun was offering a high-price purchase, not only players but even transcendent beings from this world were stirred into action, bringing him a great many vampire hearts at once.

More than that, the hunting order that had once dampened everyone’s enthusiasm was now reignited by profit, and some people began taking action again.

Killing a true vampire was no easy matter, but the reward was enough to make anyone reckless.

And most importantly, the reward could now be claimed in double. Opportunity favored the swift, and so, naturally, they had to move at once.

“You really know how to do business,” Noya said.

Now that she had some free time, she sometimes came to help. When Murong Xun was too busy to manage alone, she would help buy hearts so he could focus on cooking with peace of mind.

“It can’t be helped. One has to live.”

Without looking up, Murong Xun kept stir-frying the hearts in the pan.

“Rallying so many experts to gather ingredients for you isn’t an easy thing. Still, whatever the reason, I should thank you. If it weren’t for you, far more people would have been driven to hunt vampires on their own, and their numbers would never have been kept in check.”

Noya thanked him sincerely.

Without these people’s help, vampires would have spread even more wildly by now, and who knew how many would have suffered.

“I’m only doing it for myself,” Murong Xun said lightly as he plated the freshly cooked dish.

Because demand was so strong, he had accumulated quite a few orders that now had to be filled.

At first he had thought there would not be many buyers, and that he would mainly rely on selling potions. Unexpectedly, the stir-fried heart dish had become so popular that in a very short time not only had every portion he made been sold out, but orders had also piled up.

There were still many players lingering here, and many of them wanted more than one serving. He naturally accepted them all. Whatever their thoughts, as long as they paid, he sold.

During this time, he had also purchased a great many vampire hearts, enough to make the alchemists’ guild in the city dissatisfied, as they felt he had taken their business.

A single vampire heart was plainly not worth that much, yet he ignored market prices and offered such a high amount, which was practically a violation of the principles of trade.

But Murong Xun did as he pleased and paid them no mind at all.

He was not a person of this world. Once the mission was complete, he would leave, so naturally he had no fear of offending the local circles.

The kingdom’s higher authorities also supported this attitude, which made some people dare not act carelessly.

After all, it was precisely because of Murong Xun that so many people had gone forth to hunt vampires. Without him, and without that incentive, only the Night Watchers and the Night Walkers would have had to bear the burden, with all losses falling upon the kingdom itself.

Noya showed no expression at his words. Whatever his original purpose had been, the fact remained that because of him, the harm caused by vampires had now been greatly reduced, and that alone was enough.

Again and again, Murong Xun prepared the stir-fried heart dish at impressive speed, though his energy recovery was starting to fall short.

With all his buffs gone, his energy had returned to its original state, leaving him with only three hundred and eighty points. His natural recovery was just seven point six per hour, which was certainly not enough.

“How many servings are you short now?” Noya asked casually as she sealed away the hearts she had just purchased.

“Forty-two more.”

After giving that reply, Murong Xun continued busily at work.

He had already sold more than thirty servings. With forty-two left, that meant he had sold over seventy servings in total. He already had more than enough merit on hand, with plenty to spare, but since conditions were like this now, of course he would make more to sell.

Although merit and paradise coins had a ratio of one to three, paradise coins could still be earned later, whereas merit was not so easy to obtain.

After his energy ran out, Murong Xun simply used a mana-restoration potion and continued cooking, first paying off what he owed before anything else.

In truth, this number was already close to his limit. He only wanted to accumulate a little more.

Stockpiling more vampire hearts could never be wrong.

The reason he could sell so smoothly now was mainly because he was in a war world. If he returned to the Tower of Paradise, the available directions would be far more varied. He would not have to worry about selling them, but the price would naturally never remain as high as it was now.

The reason this dark cuisine sold so well was mainly because it could break the limit. Otherwise, a hundred points of health would only amount to one attribute’s worth, not nearly as much as people imagined.

But precisely because it could surpass the cap, its value had soared.

Before entering the interior of the tower after pushing open the door, the highest attribute value in the beginner zone had only been five points, meaning maximum health could only reach five hundred. Without special circumstances, there was no way to exceed that number, but this dish could break that restriction, and so its value naturally rose.

If someone like Tang Ao, who was about to take an advancement quest, came across it, they would truly spare no expense to buy it.

The countdown began to enter its final phase, and Murong Xun ultimately finished repaying everything he owed before the war-world timer expired. He successfully bought Shadow of Slaughter, and used the surplus merit to purchase other things he needed.

This war world had been richly rewarding for Murong Xun. Although it was a pity that he had not found Tang Ao and the others, thus failing to eliminate that future threat, he had no means of tracking them down. Once they escaped, there was nothing more he could do.

What he did not know was that by then, Wen Feng, Yi Shisan, and the others were wandering all over the world according to the map’s guidance, trying to find that golden piece of equipment worth five million.

Yet to their astonishment, after enduring countless dangers and defeating one monster after another, when they finally found the last treasure site, all that remained for them was a note.

“You’re too late!”