Chapter 239: Adventurers' Hall
Because of the sudden gust of wind, passersby hurried along, quickening their pace.
Zhou Ning didn't stop. He headed straight down the main street, trying to get as far away from that whirlwind as possible to avoid harming anyone else. And sure enough, the intensity of his bad luck this time did not "disappoint" him.
At the street corner, a merman — who had apparently escaped from some unknown circus — came charging straight toward him. Unfortunately, a patrol of police officers happened to be coming from the other direction. Though small in stature, the merman was still a bona fide extraordinary creature, and its blood was even corrosive. Without hesitation, the officers drew their guns and shot it dead. One of the guns misfired, hitting Zhou Ning in the arm, while the other two bullets tore through the merman's body. In Zhou Ning's stunned gaze, the creature's blood splattered all over him, eating several holes into his rather expensive black trench coat.
And during all this, his Observation Haki still didn't react at all!
Zhou Ning could already imagine just how bad the next two hours were going to be.
Sure enough, reality proved him right. Over the following stretch of time, misfortune stuck to him like a shadow — guns misfiring, lightning strikes, collapsing brick walls — all sorts of accidents happened one after another. None were fatal, but they left him dusty, disheveled, and utterly fed up.
The earlier incidents were one thing, but what really broke his composure was a plume of thick smoke rising from the direction of the trade district: a gas lamp leak in an alchemy shop had instantly ignited.
Zhou Ning's pupils shrank sharply. He didn't even have to think to know whose shop that was. The loss this time was probably another 1,500 Vecktas. In a sense, he was back to being a poor man again...
Gritting his teeth, his heart aching, he cursed inwardly: Damn you, Lucky Clover! If you've got the guts, come after me directly!
When the three-hour countdown finally ended, Zhou Ning let out a long breath and renewed his resolve to treat the Lucky Clover as his trump card — something he would never use again unless absolutely necessary.
That thing had a knack for targeting what mattered most to him. If it couldn't hurt him directly, it would go after his money instead. If this kept up, Zhou Ning felt he'd be driven to an early grave from sheer frustration.
After briefly calming himself, Zhou Ning took off the pitted, corroded coat and stowed it away in his inventory without looking at it again, then headed for his alchemy shop to see the damage for himself.
Though he had mentally prepared himself, he still couldn't help exhaling when he saw the crowd of players gathered in front of the shop and the smoke still rising from inside. Renovations and restocking materials would probably cost around 2,000 Vecktas, and he didn't have that much on hand anymore.
By this time, the players had noticed his arrival and quickly made way for him.
"Boss, your shop blew up!" they called out one after another.
Way to rub salt in the wound... Zhou Ning tugged at the corner of his mouth, forcing himself not to argue with this bunch of idiotic players. Instead, he calmly swept his gaze over them, increased his item prices by another 10%, and put the newly acquired healing skill up for sale. He chose to update his personal shop.
Sure enough, the players immediately erupted with cries of "What the hell?!" and "Why is it even more expensive now?"
One player immediately questioned him: "Boss, your stuff went up again?"
"That's right." Zhou Ning's face was expressionless as he nodded. "At first, everything was 20% off. Now it's just back to 10% off. Make sure to tell the others — prices might return to the original soon."
"What? Prices are going up again later?" Thanks to the effects of his Deception specialty, the players never suspected that an NPC could bluff them. Their shopping instincts kicked in immediately, and they began lining up to hand over money and experience points. The numbers on his interface kept climbing.
A warrior player was idly browsing the shop when his eyes landed on the skill Quick Heal. His jaw nearly hit the ground, and he trembled with excitement.
Although the skill required Spirit as its main stat, it could still restore 200–300 HP for him right now, and the cooldown was short — about four seconds. A warrior could absolutely sustain himself just by spamming heals!
Plenty of others had the same thought, and Zhou Ning soon saw the shop's inventory dropping across the board. Just as he expected, people had to be pushed — these players wouldn't act until forced, but once prices went up, they started buying like crazy.
Quick Heal sold the fastest, exactly as Zhou Ning had predicted, bringing him astronomical profits.
It wasn't just warriors; even mages and wandering gunslingers were buying it. After all, who didn't need healing?
In a short time, he sold 300 copies. At 15,000 EXP and 10 Vecktas each, that was 4.5 million EXP plus 3,000 Vecktas.
Losses had to be recouped from the players, after all!
Zhou Ning's foul mood lifted almost instantly. Bet you didn't see that coming, Lucky Clover — the money you took from me just came right back in another form.
And that wasn't all he gained. With the influx of new players these past few days, the once slow-moving Wandering Gunslinger job-change scrolls were suddenly selling again, bringing in a nice chunk of income.
In addition, he sold another Devil Fruit for 1,200 Vecktas — this one to a pro player from the Whale Club named Xing Yong. It turned out to be the tall, imposing Giraffe Fruit, just like Kaku's. Xing Yong declared himself "head and shoulders above the rest," and was quite satisfied.
The invitations to the Starry Sky Guild also trickled out, twelve in total, just enough to fill its 60-member cap.
Just wait — I'll bring you in soon, Zhou Ning thought.
When players did quests for the Adventurers' Guild or for him, both earned guild EXP — more for the former, less for the latter. Thanks to the players' hard work these past days, the guild was close to leveling up. Zhou Ning planned to head to the Adventurers' Guild later to take on a bounty quest himself.
Once he finally finished dealing with the players, around two in the afternoon, Zhou Ning closed early. Ignoring their protests, he casually posted a cleanup quest for the fire-damaged shop and left them to it, while he made his way to the Adventurers' Guild in the Seton River district.
Taking a public carriage, he arrived there with ease. Many adventurers were already gathered, most of them are Northlanders — some taking on quests, others chatting loudly, or subtly sizing up those who came and went.
Zhou Ning's gaze swept over the crowd, finally locking onto a rough-looking Northlander sailor with a ruddy-brown face. He recognized him immediately — this was the man who had sold him the Lucky Clover before.
Now, Zhou Ning finally understood why the man looked so haggard...