"Phew..."

If anyone had seen that, their jaws would have probably dropped.

A Level 2 player soloing a Level 3 Elite? Were they even playing the same game?

Jiang Bai let out a long breath, his heart still pounding dong dong.

“That was thrilling! Exciting enough!”

The reason he hadn't used the health potion was that Jiang Bai had noticed the wild dog's attack speed was just a hair slower than his own. This fractional difference saved him a potion worth 10 copper coins!

“Making money isn't easy!”

“Save where you can.”

Jiang Bai carefully put the potion back before looking at the dog's drops.

“As expected! Elite monsters are awesome!”

Beneath the dog's corpse, a faint white glow was dazzlingly conspicuous. Jiang Bai first picked up the 11 copper coins the dog dropped, then retrieved a piece of equipment from within the white light.

[Wild Dog Dagger] (Common) Attack: +3

“With a piece of equipment like this, it's enough! Truly, heaven rewards the diligent!”

An item like this was sufficient to satisfy Jiang Bai's "boar hunting" plan [by selling it for funds].

Before he could finish smiling, Jiang Bai's heart gave another fierce thump.

“Holy crap! There's actually a skill book too!?”

Overjoyed, Jiang Bai picked up the skill book hidden beneath the equipment.

[Concussive Shot] (D-Rank) Enhancement Level: 0 Skill Description: The next attack deals 110% damage, slows the target's movement speed by 20%, and has a 3% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds. Range: 5-35 yards. Cooldown: 12s.

“Awesome!”

“Godly skill!”

Jiang Bai was so excited tears streamed down his face. He hadn't expected anything, but when something dropped, it was a D-Rank skill!

"Genesis" skills were ranked from SSS down to E, with E being the lowest. The [Basic Shot] seen earlier in the market was a fundamental E-Rank skill.

At this stage of the game, skills were extremely rare, not to mention most were E-Rank. Who would have thought this wild dog would drop a D-Rank skill right off the bat!

“System Daddy, please write this wild dog into my Jiang Bai family tree!”

“This drop really gave me face!”

“It has a slow, range, damage boost, and even a chance to stun!”

Jiang Bai immediately searched the Trading Market for [Concussive Shot]. As expected, there were no results.

There were only a handful of other D-Rank skills listed, none with a buyout price; sellers had set them up for auction starting at 1 Gold Coin!

“1 Gold is ten thousand RMB! Currently, the minimum bids on these D-Rank skills are already over 2 Gold Coins!”

“That's twenty thousand RMB!”

Jiang Bai's eyes burned with desire instantly. This was too crazy.

But after thinking it over, Jiang Bai decided against selling the skill book. Such a godly skill, and for his own class—what was he waiting for if not to learn it?

He knew the starting advantage this skill provided far outweighed the value of a few gold coins.

After quickly learning the skill, Jiang Bai gleefully read the description several more times before reluctantly closing the skill panel and opening the Equipment Trading Market.

The equipment market was heating up; the minimum price for +3 Attack weapons for other classes had already risen above 6000 copper coins. Jiang Bai urgently needed some cash right now, so he didn't aim for a high price, instead listing the dagger sneakily at 5999 copper.

Due to the "Genesis" market rules, the item with the lowest price always appeared first for identical goods.

Sure enough, less than two minutes after listing the dagger, his mailbox icon lit up.

[Wild Dog Dagger] sold successfully. After deducting the 10% handling fee, you received 5399 copper coins.

“Rip-off, such a rip-off!”

“A 10% fee! This fee alone is enough to sink a huge amount of currency!”

By this time, Jiang Bai had returned to the village. Once the copper coins arrived, he set up a small stall and began hawking loudly in the public channel.

“Buying initial system-gifted equipment at high prices! 10 copper coins per piece! Sell 'em quick, this offer won't last forever!”

10 copper was the price Jiang Bai had decided on earlier. It wasn't particularly high or low. At this starting stage, demand for health potions was naturally enormous, and 10 copper for a piece of novice gear was exactly enough to buy one potion.

Those replaced initial novice items were worthless, destined only for destruction. Why not trade them for a potion now?

Jiang Bai's shouting quickly attracted the attention of many.

“Hold on, buddy. You're saying you want to buy the starting novice gear the system gives out? Are you crazy? That stuff has no resale value, can't even vendor it.” “Yep, that's what I'm buying.” Jiang Bai nodded without further explanation. “Is this guy nuts? Got too much money to burn?” “You're really buying?” Some people were still skeptical. “Really buying.” Jiang Bai nodded again. "What's there to be afraid of? You'd just destroy the novice gear anyway. Isn't trading it for 10 copper and a potion a good deal?" “Isn't this probably the newest scam?” A young female player stared suspiciously at Jiang Bai. “Why not try it and see if it's a scam?” “I'll go! Here, one novice weapon, one novice armor, give me twenty copper!” A burly man with a full beard pushed forward and opened the trade window with Jiang Bai. A few seconds later, the man's furrowed brow slowly relaxed. "Whoa damn, you're for real, bro? He really gave me twenty copper!" “Damn, let me try too!”

Where there was one, there were soon two. Gradually, more and more people joined the trading queue.

“He really paid! Twenty copper! Gonna buy potions, gonna buy potions!” But some were filled with regret. “Damn it! If I'd known earlier, I wouldn't have destroyed my replaced gear! I just dropped it outside, wonder if it despawned already!” “What a weirdo. Why is this guy buying so much novice equipment?”

In a corner of the crowd, a few players watched Jiang Bai thoughtfully, their faces full of confusion.

“Could this dude have triggered a hidden quest?” The pretty-boy player with the ID [Yuncheng GuTianle] turned and asked his teammate behind him. “I think it's highly likely. Why else would he spend so much money buying worthless novice gear?” His teammate [Yuncheng WuYanzu] quickly replied. “Keep an eye on him. If there's really a hidden quest, that's a big deal!” ...

Jiang Bai was already grinning so wide he couldn't close his mouth. Having spent 480 copper coins, he had collected about twenty novice weapons and twenty pieces of cloth armor respectively. This was more than enough, along with his two blue items, to fuse a Purple item. However, Jiang Bai didn't plan to discard the extras; what if the Heart of Genesis upgraded later, allowing him to fuse Pink gear beyond Purple?

“Enough, enough! That's all for today!”

Jiang Bai stood up, patted his butt, and closed his stall.

“See you next time, bros! Out of cash, not buying anymore today.” “Don't go, bro! My roommate's heading over right now, buy a few more...” “Yeah, buy some more, bro...” ...

Jiang Bai found an empty corner, took a deep breath, and opened the Fusion interface.

“Purple gear, here I come!”