Chapter 289: The Smoking Gun For Cheating
Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Beiqi, Mansion of the Dead.
The 10,000 players who had acquired the new character class of Potion Master were all gathered outside the North Rocks Potion Crafting Society as they waited for the door to be opened.
Contrary to Tong Gua’s style, the Rock Ghost King operated on time every day as he barely strayed from his routine.
As the clock struck eight in the morning, the door of the society opened.
The players who were waiting took turns to enter with anticipation written all over their faces.
The building where the Rock Ghost King occupied was quite different from Tong Gua’s Forge. It had its own interior space with a size equivalent to two football fields where it could easily fit all the players.
It was then that the Rock Ghost King’s silhouette emerged. Facing the players, he spoke, “Today’s mission will be the same as yesterday’s… chapter recitals in the morning and potion crafting practical sessions in the afternoon. I hereby declare that all of the potion crafting materials have to be self-prepared from today onward. But, of course, you guys can go ahead without any preparation, it’s just that my spiritual materials are all sold at market price.”
The players’ expression barely changed as they heard his words.
After all, those Potion Masters who were present mainly had support from the major guilds and the consumption of spiritual materials was not an issue for them at all.
The Rock Ghost King nodded with satisfaction upon seeing the players’ reactions.
Speaking of spiritual materials, nobody had more supply than he did since he owned the Tree Demon Army.
However, he had to earn his daily bread as well!
Now that the Rock Ghost King was just inches away from being upgraded to a Greater Ghost King, he was hard-pressed for soul coins. Hence, why would he let go of such a good opportunity to earn money by offering them free resources? Right now, the Rock Ghost King had his eyes on the players’ soul coins.
Lu Wu was, of course, being informed of this deal and granted his permission under the condition of him taking 80% of the profit.
This somehow gave the Rock Ghost King a considerable heartache. Nevertheless, he was left with no choice since Lu Wu was the one who set all the terms and conditions.
For those who intended to upgrade their realms, Lu Wu’s authorization for the exchange of soul coins to soul power was mandatory. Therefore, he swallowed his reluctance and accepted the unfair agreement.
…
The 10,000 players who were now officially Potion Masters would have an additional 30 crafting books to memorize on top of the three fundamental books.
Such a huge pile of potion crafting books had left the players dumbfounded.
Realizing the value of a Potion Master, they chose to bury themselves in their studies as they were unwilling to give up their hard-earned character class.
In fact, the reason for them being here was one of the rewards of being a Potion Master. This was the first Potion Master Training Course initiated by the Rock Ghost King which allowed them to learn from him for a month.
During this period of time, the Rock Ghost King would coach them on various potion crafting skills. Although the players were gifted, the guidance of an experienced teacher would somehow save them a lot of detours.
The Rock Ghost King spent half of his day briefing them about the things to be done, then left the Potion Crafting Training Society and went for a drink with Tong Gua.
Meanwhile, the players didn’t cause him much trouble as all of them took the initiative to learn with their full heart and soul. This was for their own benefits after all and the effects of their learning were indeed obvious.
The Rock Ghost King reappeared in the Potion Crafting Training Society that afternoon.
The afternoon classes were the highlights of his day where he would supervise the players’ potion crafting processes and point out their mistakes on the spot.
Being granted authorization for this building, the Rock Ghost King was much the same having a full 360-degree overview without blind spots whereby the maneuvers of every single player could be observed thoroughly. This made it easy for him to have his eyes on all of them at the same time.
As the potion crafting class started, the players took their potion cauldrons and hurriedly moved to the right, keeping a distance from the left side of the room.
The reason was simple. There was this player named Nie Feng on the left side and he basically had the entire left side to himself.
Nie Feng was now considered famous among the Potion Master players as they dubbed him the Bomberman.
Despite his great talent as well as his awe-inspiring comprehension and mastering of various spiritual materials, there was one thing that remained unchanged. Without exception, a cauldron blast was almost a certainty during his potion crafting process.
A few sessions of potion crafting classes together with him had successfully left the players traumatized.
The situation basically went on this way for days.
Just as everything went well with everyone crafting their own potions, a sudden deafening bang resounded from Nie Feng’s potion cauldron. This startled the players around him who were concentrating on controlling the heat. Their state of mind wavered, followed by a succession of explosions where all the potion cauldrons were blown up as if a chain reaction was triggered. It was a rather spectacular scene!
The Rock Ghost King was having headaches over this as well. He completely gave up after trying to teach him patiently a few times.
With that, he got back to Lu Wu with the problem. Lu Wu then asked Bei Li to divide the internal space of the North Rocks Potion Crafting Society into two zones after figuring out the root of the problem. The barrier between the two sides was transparent. It only blocked the sound transmission. Subsequently, this solved the issue of Nie Feng being too noisy with all the chaos he created.
For this potion crafting practical session, the Rock Ghost King had picked a book at random and selected three types of first-class potion recipes for the players to try on.
Soon, the players began to get busy with their work.
Moving around the room, the Rock Ghost King pointed out the players’ handling errors from time to time, just like a teacher putting up his stern poker face.
All the players gratefully took his advice without any resentment.
The corner of his mouth twitched as he glanced up at the left zone halfway through the potion crafting class.
He saw nothing but plumes of billowing smoke filling up the room as if it was on fire. The smoke was so dark and thick that it had enshrouded almost everything, including Nie Feng’s figure.
The Rock Ghost King was rather frustrated upon encountering partially-gifted players like Nie Feng. He felt that it was totally beyond his ability to guide him and he was just so burned out from fruitless teaching methods.
He then shifted his gaze to the players on the right side. Seeing them starting to master the skills, he felt a tinge of gratification in his heart.
Just then, the Rock Ghost King felt that something wasn’t right.
He could clearly observe the players’ movements since he was using the granted permission. Among all these players, this time he happened to spot two players with the exact same operating style, which he had missed previously.
The whole process seemed to be resembling a projection mapping. After taking a closer look, the Rock Ghost King was surprised to discover that both of them had even weighed out the same amount of spiritual materials.
He was somewhat freaked out of his wits. There was no way this was a coincidence.
Having that in mind, the Rock Ghost King watched attentively once again.
“I’m such an idiot, Murphy. I ruined the cooking last time and now my clumsiness is going to mess up this whole potion crafting stuff, too!”
“It’s okay. Just do as I do. Everything’s going to be fine!” Murphy answered Little Pomelo in his heart while he was skillfully weighing the materials.
It was then that the Rock Ghost King’s silhouette abruptly appeared in front of Murphy and stared at him with an odd expression on his face.
Murphy was taken aback and he instinctively took a step back.
At the same time, the Rock Ghost King noticed that Little Pomelo, who was also crafting her potion, stepped back as well.
Something fishy is going on!
Being aware of the problem, the Rock Ghost King turned away with a snort. Murphy heaved a sigh of relief and threw himself into his work again.
He didn’t let them off the hook, though. He immediately reported to Lu Wu that something was wrong with these two Potion Master players.
After receiving his feedback, Lu Wu merely mentioned that he was aware of the situation and asked him to brush this aside.
How was it possible for Murphy and Little Pomelo’s tricks during the potion crafting process to escape his eyes?
Apart from this, they had been doing the same thing during the Potion Master Trial as well. They were basically cheating throughout the entire process by taking advantage of their special soul-sharing feature.
The Trial Arena was considered a self-enclosed space to other players, but it did not work for the twins who shared the same soul. They could still feel each other’s presence.
Murphy did most of the process whereas Little Pomelo was just following his steps. Even for the past three days prior to the trial, Murphy was the one who took the effort to study. Little Pomelo, on the other hand, took her own sweet time idling around.
Nevertheless, Lu Wu could only turn a blind eye to them since this was a gift for their souls.