Chapter 20: A Buying Frenzy

[Animagus] (A+ Rank): You can transform into any animal you have touched within the last seven natural days. This transformation cannot be detected by skills or items below A-rank. The skill is interrupted if you take any damage, and you cannot use any skills other than your Divine Gift while transformed. There is no cooldown, and each use consumes 50 Mana points.

The restrictions are numerous, but it is highly practical. Furthermore, the final clause—"cannot use any skills other than your Divine Gift"—is simply exquisite. This skill was born for her!

3,000 gold; buying it!

[Shadow Manipulation] (A+ Rank): 2,500 gold! You can control your shadow to act independently. The shadow can use all of your original skills, but its attributes are only 20% of your own. A god-tier skill for backstabbing! Buying it!

[Fountain of Light] (A+ Rank): Upon activation, it creates a well that lasts for 3 minutes. The spring water that gushes out restores health, with each milliliter restoring 1 Health point. The skill has a 30-minute cooldown and consumes 1% of your Mana per use.

A life-saving item. Not only can she save herself, but with this skill, she won't be easily abandoned during team battles; even the main characters wouldn't dare attack her lightly. 3,000 gold; buying it.

[Ice Flower Seal] (C Rank): Creates a snowflake that flies toward the target, freezing them within 3 seconds of contact. The freezing effect is influenced by the caster's Intelligence stat. (2-second chant time, 30-second cooldown, 50 Mana points per use.)

An Ice-type control skill. While it can be countered by Fire-type magic, that is unavoidable; most skills have mutual restraints. Plus, it’s only 103 gold. Buying it.

[Magic Missile] (C Rank): Guides a magic missile toward the target. No chant time, no cooldown, consumes 10 Mana points per second.

An instant-cast spell that requires no chanting. 97 gold; buying it!

[God of Food's Saliva Bib] (B Rank): When you wear this item while eating, all status buffs granted by food are doubled.

An item she can use for a lifetime. 700 gold; buying it!

[Percy's Cat Toy] (F Rank): No special effects, but cats go crazy for it and it attracts them.

Perfect for use with her Meow Meow Hostel, and it’s cheap at only 17 gold. Buying it.

[Compass] (E Rank): It allows you to detect ownerless treasures within a 1-kilometer radius and guides you to them.

One kilometer is a bit short, but for 80 gold, it’s hers.

[Magician's Dentures] (B Rank): Contains 1 cubic meter of storage space. It requires taking up the slot of one of your tooth sockets. It can hide anything you don't want others to know about (items or equipment placed inside cannot be detected by any skill or item, but they also cannot be used).

A must-have for the wealthy! Yu Xun'ge felt she had too many good things to carry otherwise. 999 gold; acceptable.

[Alchemy Set] (E Rank): Increases your alchemy success rate and provides a 1% chance to upgrade your potion's rank.

[Alchemy Notes]: When read, there is a chance to comprehend alchemy recipes you have not yet learned (the recipe level can be at most one level higher than your Alchemy level) (effective once every 30 natural days).

[Engineering Notes]: When read, there is a chance to comprehend engineering recipes you have not yet learned (the recipe level can be at most one level higher than your Engineering level) (effective once every 30 natural days).

The alchemy set is inexpensive at only 50 gold, and the two notebooks together cost 2,000 gold.

However, 2,000 gold is not expensive. Her Alchemy and Engineering are both already at an advanced level; reading these notes gives her a chance to learn Master-level recipes. This is practically a mobile treasure vault. Even if it only works once a month, it is worth it!

She also found [Cooking Notes], which were much cheaper at only 350 gold.

Taking them all.

Money is only meaningful when converted into resources; otherwise, it is just waste paper.

From the 20,000 gold exchanged from the goblins, plus the 3,116 gold she had left over from the morning, she had a total of 23,116 gold. After these purchases, only 220 gold remained.

Most skills obtainable in dungeons after the game invasion are C-rank. Since she could buy them, she naturally chose those she couldn't obtain otherwise. Thus, she only bought two C-rank spells—one for control and one for attack—enough for her needs.

She focused on top-tier skills she never touched in her previous life and items with clever utility.

Shopping time truly flies.

After claiming her package and clicking to learn all the skills, Yu Xun'ge left the auction house, still feeling unsatisfied.

12:42. Only 18 minutes until the closed beta ends.

She ran to the herb shop and filled all thirty-plus backpack slots with herbs before leaving.

12:47. Yu Xun'ge stood not far from the Undead Palace, looking at the structure. Ever since she stole the Undead City Lord's Divine Gift last time, the guards outside the palace had increased several hundred-fold. The undead soldiers were practically holding hands to surround the palace.

It didn't matter. Maintaining her goblin disguise, Yu Xun'ge walked to the Undead City's teleportation array, spent her last 5 gold coins, and teleported to one of the elven capitals—Bloodmoon City.

12:57. Yu Xun'ge stood before the Elven capital, telling the elven guard captain—who carried a magnificent bow—that the anchor point had malfunctioned and she needed to see the City Lord. The guard drew his bow and aimed it at her.

In that moment, Yu Xun'ge's mind went blank. Almost the instant the NPC's name turned red, she didn't hesitate and immediately used [Steal of the God of Thieves, also the Steal of a Robber].

[Betting the name of the God of Thieves, you attempt to steal the Divine Gift of Bloodmoon City Guard Captain Elphara.]

[Theft successful.]

[You have died.]

The screen went black.

Soon, it lit up again. Now, only a ghost-form goblin stood in the graveyard on the screen.

In the top right corner, there were two choices: go find her corpse for a weakened resurrection, or wait for automatic resurrection. The countdown was 47:57:36.

Yu Xun'ge held her phone and didn't move, waiting quietly until the time reached 13:06.

The phone turned into black smoke, leaving only two packages on the ground.

She looked at her hands. Very good, she hadn't turned into a ghost. Even though she knew she wouldn't die in the closed beta, seeing her character turn into a ghost still made her heart skip a beat for a moment.

Once relieved, the first thing Yu Xun'ge did was modify her panel information, hiding her newly acquired Divine Gift. Then, she tucked the packages into an inner pocket of her clothes and drank an invisibility potion. The skills she had learned surfaced in her mind; spells, gestures, and techniques on how to circulate and mobilize her magic felt as if they had been etched into her brain.

She could perceive a small area centered on herself, though most of it was shrouded in a thin mist. Only a portion felt extremely clear, and this small section looked crooked, like a jogging route displayed on a fitness app.

As long as she willed it, she could instantly use magic to move to these locations within the area. Clearly, these were places she had once set foot in.