Trapped Inside the Beta Test World for 1000 Years-Chapter 65 – Get out, Jerk Seal!

"Everything I said is true, you can take a look at this."
Xia Ya pulled out a gold coin.
It wasn't the standard currency minted by the United Holy Nation, lacking the image of the first Holy Seat Archbishop and the emblem symbolizing the Seven Sacred Spirits. It was a whole size larger than official coins, with a high gold content, and featured a minimalist engraving of Maka's head, the red-headed mushroom sporting a sly smile.
This was Maka's token, symbolizing his verbal agreement with Xia Ya.
Every Mushroom Person had one of these. They were extremely greedy, feeling pain at giving up even a single gold coin, let alone such a high-quality piece. But often, this also represented the friendship of the Mushroom People... or their life, which they would rather die than surrender.
The Dark Elves of Andarheim, at their most avaricious, would demand these tokens from the Mushroom People in exchange for their lives, often soaked in blood.
Andrew, well-versed and experienced in dealing with Mushroom People, naturally understood what this meant.
Therefore, Xia Ya's words made him think twice.
Carrying a large amount of gold across the Red Earth Prairie was a foolish idea, as the Barbarians there were too "hospitable." Andrew, having traveled far and wide, would never make such a rookie mistake, so he carried another specialty from Allendale, a plant the Barbarians couldn't appreciate and wouldn't plunder—Soulbinding Grass.
This was a white plant commonly found under the great snow-capped mountains of Obergen. Allendale's mages used its thick leaves as chewing gum, or dried them to make tea, incense, and so on. After death, they would use its sap to seal bodies as a preservative... In short, it had a wide range of uses.
Apart from them, no other place on the continent had such a high yield of Soulbinding Grass, but there was another group of people who desperately needed it...
The Goblins.
Those green-skinned dwarfs were extremely addicted to Soulbinding Grass, so Andrew brought it to Astan City to sell at the Fight Club for a good price—he knew the dealings of the Gold Only Society, and Maka would certainly pay a high price for these goods, then resell them at an even higher price to his green-skinned allies.
But now that path was blocked!
The Fight Club was closed for reorganization, and he had no way to sell the Soulbinding Grass.
Not everyone was willing to buy this stuff and then trade with the Mushroom People. After all, they were evil creatures from Andarheim, and such actions could easily attract the attention of the Church of Judgment. Only someone like him, from Allendale—a city beyond the church's reach—would be so unrestrained.
If what Xia Ya said was true, then he was stuck with it...
"Why would it be closed for reorganization?"
Andrew muttered to himself.
Xia Ya couldn't bear to tell him that he was the cause.
In fact, even without Apulu Pie's involvement, he would have sought out Andrew in Astan City—provided he wasn't dead. Of course, if he were dead, other merchants with changed names would take his place. But no matter what, Andrew was an old acquaintance, and dealing with him was more comfortable.
Not to mention he had a cute beast-eared daughter...
Ahem, that's not within Xia Ya's strategy range, so don't overthink it.
The reason for targeting Andrew was simply to obtain the Soulbinding Grass he had, which was a crucial item for the next steps.
After some thought, Andrew roughly figured things out. He decisively took out ten Cold Crystals.
"I hope you won't disappoint me."
"How could I? Rest assured... Hey, you, yes, you, come over here."
Xia Ya waved to Apulu Pie.
"Big guy! What do you want me to do?"
"Giving you a chance for a ten-draw."
"What, what, what!? How do I draw, how do I draw, tell me quickly! Do I need to shout something or perform some mystical ritual?"
The female rogue, holding the ten Cold Crystals she received, was as excited as a monkey.
"It's simple, just smash them on the ground."
Xia Ya originally wanted to say that the outcome of these things had been determined from the moment they were mined, and luck was already set. But facing this Lucky One who could loot boots and a secondary weapon from someone as poor as Corian, he was unsure.
What if... some people really put all their points into luck?
After all, this was someone who accidentally fell into a well on the first day of the server opening, successfully changed class to Rogue, and received a dagger personally passed down by Drill Sergeant Doom.
Oh well, let it be. The previous successes might not have been due to luck; this was a three-person difficulty...
Yes. He thought this as he watched the girl smash the crystal heavily on the ground.
Smack.
The first crystal shattered loudly, and a dazzling rainbow light accompanied by the melodious sound of a flute spun and bloomed, as if a powerful slap left Xia Ya disoriented.
Damn it...
A miracle on a single draw???
Xia Ya recalled sitting on the tower top of the Allendale Palace with Queen Elsa, holding a thousand crystals, from sunset to moonlit night without seeing a single rainbow light, and suddenly felt like crying. He wanted to ponder the topic of "whether he was an NPC or a human" to see which was more toxic.
"Oh, insignificant being,
"Does anyone yearn for a fierce snowstorm,
"Or a warm breeze that revives life?"
The rainbow light contracted and vanished, revealing a small fairy dressed as a witch in a crimson-purple robe and pointed wizard hat. Her pupils were vermilion, her expression as cold as thousand-year-old snow, and she held a short wand no longer than 2 centimeters.
Her voice was light and ethereal, like a gentle stream flowing over crystal, tinkling melodiously.
"Ah, ah, ah, you're so cute!!"
Apulu Pie held the palm-sized fairy, rubbing her cheek against the fairy's robe, startling the fairy who clung to her skirt, afraid of being rubbed off.
"Rude, rude behavior!"
Xia Ya silently put away the remaining Cold Crystals and handed them back to Andrew.
Andrew, initially stunned and full of disbelief, now shared the same complex expression as Xia Ya.
The two exchanged a glance, each sighing, everything understood without words.
Once you got to know the round-faced merchant, he'd tell you himself that finding a pretty beast-eared girl to marry with his looks had used up all his luck in this lifetime.
This wasn't sweet talk; it was damn true.
This buddy really had bad luck, the kind who'd buy scratch-off tickets all his life and never win even ten bucks.
"Big guy, aren't you letting me draw anymore? You promised ten draws! There are still 9 left!"
Apulu Pie looked at him pitifully.
"Since you've already won, drawing more would be a waste. Besides, your luck might be exhausted, so save it."
"What, what, what! A statement from The Unfortunate One! That's not right, big guy! I'm the chosen one, good luck never ends, you guys lack this awareness, so..."
"Shut up!" Xia Ya interrupted this seal-like speech, righteously saying, "Use the remaining ones to extend her time. She can only last for an hour, and each remaining crystal can extend it by 30 minutes."
"I see, but there's only... limited time, big guy, big guy, is there a way to keep her around permanently? Oh, do you want to see her stats! They're amazing! I'll show you!"
"Get out!"
Xia Ya took the lead, walking ahead.
He didn't need to look to know, because he once had one, and it was the permanent kind.
Of course, it wasn't drawn. He couldn't draw it.
This ice fairy's true form was the godmother of the Ice Queen Elsa. After conquering the Queen of Allendale, she'd grant you a blessing. Those blessed could enter the deepest part of the Obergen Snow Mountain Ice Cavern to become an Ice Summoner and White Knight.
Although in Illusory Realm, there was no concept of job advancement, for example, a Rogue, which sounded common, and a Shadow Dancer, which sounded mysterious, were essentially the same job, just with different skill names and slightly different stats. Skills came from NPCs, and no one said a Shadow Dancer's "Phantom Thousand Strikes" couldn't be called a Rogue's "Clone and Attack Together."
Other settings were similar, mostly using simple names as templates, with data modified for changes.
However, Xia Ya had to admit, the Ice Summoner + White Knight combo was definitely a favored system, once you experienced it, you couldn't stop.
If it weren't for the United Holy Nation's stubbornness in not recognizing Allendale's faith and Synlos's lair being a high-temperature environment where ice was greatly weakened, perhaps Allendale's native VIP professions could have swept through the demon lair.
And the fairy before him was the founder of these two professions.