Chapter 8: Contaminated beasts, trading market

With the wild boar's painful howl, it was burned alive by the Divine Flame skill in no time, emitting the aroma of roasted meat.

Charles, satisfied with the charred corpse, clicked on "Collect."

[Collection successful. You have obtained Contaminated Beast Skin x1, Sharp Wild Boar Teeth x2, and Contaminated Beast Bones x3.]

"Not bad," Charles nodded slightly, satisfied with the collected items.

Besides being used for synthesis at times, these materials could also be used for equipment forging if he could find a blacksmith or learn the blacksmithing skill himself.

In any case, more was always better.

Charles wouldn't discard them.

He had always been a scavenger when playing other games, particularly enjoying open-world games and picking up "trash" everywhere.

That habit continued in this realistic game as well.

After taking a short break, Charles continued his journey into the mountains.

He became much more cautious from that point on.

The monsters in the mountains were stronger, mostly contaminated beasts, and much more difficult to deal with than the Corroders.

Some of these creatures had thick hides and were impervious to Charles's slashes, forcing him to rely on the Divine Flame skill to fight back.

But Divine Flame could only be cast three times at most, and after that, he would be left defenseless.

There was no other option but to be more cautious.

However, no matter how cautious Charles was, he still ended up being discovered by the monsters.

After a few steps, he encountered a contaminated giant python. It was covered in black scales, just like the wild boar, as if wearing a suit of armor.

Charles controlled his character, wielding the knife, but sparks flew with each strike.

It was truly impervious.

Helpless, Charles had to resort to using Divine Flame once again to kill it.

[Collection successful. You have obtained Contaminated Beast Skin x1.]

Looking at the prompt on his phone screen, Charles let out a deep breath, his face slightly pale.

He was exhausted.

His magical power had been depleted too much.

Helplessly, Charles temporarily exited the game and sat cross-legged on his bed to recover.

In meditation and quiet contemplation, he restored his magical power for about half an hour.

At that moment, Charles also noticed that the sky outside the window had dimmed, and it was already 6 o'clock.

"It's already six? That fast?"

Charles picked up his phone and checked the time, surprised.

He had been so immersed in the game that he hadn't realized how quickly time had passed.

Shaking his head, Charles grabbed his phone and headed out of the door.

After having dinner outside, Charles purchased a large amount of supplies and returned home to stock up.

Items like instant noodles, spicy snacks, canned food, rice, and condiments were among his purchases.

He didn't buy too much at once to avoid suspicion, planning to go shopping for supplies every day from now on.

By the time he returned home, it was already 8 p.m.

Without rushing into the game, Charles lay on his bed, holding his phone, and entered the forum for Nameless Players.

Compared to yesterday, the forum seemed much livelier today.

"Looks like quite a few new players are joining," Charles speculated.

With a glance, he noticed several new threads.

"(Pinned) On July 3rd, the official will open an offline trading market in the Magic City!"

"I just discovered this game today, and it's mind-blowing! I thought I had found my cheat codes, but turns out everyone can play it!"

"I finally found a community! T.T Any game guides? Please!"

"Attention, everyone! We have a special offer! Join the official game and receive a free weapon for a great head start in exploration and leveling up!"

"Hey, guys, are there other races in this game? I stumbled upon a Dogman and I'm not sure if we can communicate."

"Looking to buy equipment with a hefty price or exchange with materials. Interested parties, come quickly!"

"On July 3rd, the official will open an offline trading market in the Magic City!"

"..."

The first post immediately caught Charles's attention.

After clicking on it and reading through it, a glimmer of excitement flashed in his eyes.

"The officials are organizing an offline trading market."

This was good news.

At least for Charles, it was.

Since the offline trading market was organized by the official game developers, he didn't have to worry about shady deals or scams.

After all, in a game like this, where people could gain power, no one knew if the darkness within the players' hearts would be amplified. With the official's involvement, there was at least some assurance of internal security.

Moreover, this meant Charles could engage in in-game transactions with other players.

The event was scheduled for tomorrow.

Charles checked the location, which was in the outskirts, a bit remote.

But that was understandable. After all, this game couldn't be known by ordinary people. Otherwise, it would cause chaos. To prevent any accidents, it was necessary to stay away from areas where ordinary people gathered.

Aside from that, Charles also clicked on the post about encountering a Dogman.

The author of the post was a new player who had just started the game that day. Upon entering the game, they found themselves in a mountain and stumbled upon a Dogman camp.

However, they didn't know if the Dogman was friendly or hostile, so they didn't approach. They coincidentally learned that this forum was a place for player communication, so they decided to ask here.

There were many comments below the post.

Some suggested taking the initiative to approach.

Others suggested observing from a distance.

And some advised avoiding them altogether.

Charles's eyes were filled with envy.

"Dogmen, they are a treasure race."

Dogmen weren't particularly powerful, but they shared the same hobbies as dragons. They enjoyed collecting shiny things and mining.

Moreover, Dogmen had a unique sense of smell that could detect various mineral deposits. So, if one found a Dogman settlement, there might be mineral deposits nearby. Even if there weren't any, they would surely have valuable items in their possession.

Perhaps not precious treasures, but basic resources like iron and copper ores were essential for players.

They would be needed for upgrading shelters in the later stages.

Unfortunately, Charles hadn't encountered any Dogmen yet. Otherwise, he wouldn't have to worry about the resource problem for shelter upgrades in the early stages.

After browsing the forum for a while, Charles felt rested enough. He sat up straight, opened the game, and prepared to continue exploring.

The screen was dim, with only his character emitting a faint glow, dispersing the surrounding darkness.

Occasionally, the sound of wild beast roars echoed through the mountains.

Charles controlled his character, cautiously navigating through the mountains.

The sound of the wind was eerie, giving an inexplicable sense of fear.

This time, he didn't encounter any contaminated beasts, and it was surprisingly calm, which relieved Charles.

With his current abilities, encountering contaminated beasts meant relying on skills as ordinary attacks wouldn't make any difference.

However, skills could only be used two or three times before needing to log off and restore magical power. So, it was best to avoid encountering beasts altogether.

But at that moment, Charles suddenly stopped and listened carefully.

Faintly, he seemed to hear some distant sounds...