inspire-indiana Chapter 10 Creeping Strange Roots
Chapter 10 Creeping Strange Roots
Ronan looked away from the book in the woman's hands and asked, "How much?"
"10 gold coins," the female Typhoon replied.
Compared to magical items, this book is indeed inexpensive.
However, for Ronan, who was just an ordinary citizen not long ago, 10 gold coins was an outrageously high price.
After all, this is just a book, while 10 gold coins is the income a farmer earns in three to five months of work.
Since it was Ronan's first time here, he didn't know the prices of the items, so he decided to check prices at other counters to find out the market before deciding whether to buy.
He also learned that such books were for sale at a dwarf's counter and a middle-aged man's counter, and inquired about the prices: 13 gold coins for one book and 11 gold coins for the other.
It seems that the price of that female Tiflin was reasonable.
Ronan immediately took out 10 gold coins and bought the herb compendium from the female Typhlin.
The 45 gold coins earned from completing the quest, after deducting the 27 gold coins spent on buying the longsword and dagger, the 10 gold coins, and the gold coins spent on food during this period, left very little.
It has to be said that being a professional really burns through money.
After receiving the herbal plant guide, Ronan immediately began to look through it.
It contains a list of many medicinal plants, with their medicinal effects and uses described next to each plant.
Ronan found a medicinal plant—the rhizome of a creeping plant—which could accelerate wound healing and enhance vitality.
The effects of this medicine are quite similar to those of ginseng. Moreover, the creeping monster, if he remembers correctly, is a monster with an average challenge level of 5. It contains a lot of energy, and consuming it will save him the effort of drawing energy into his body.
He immediately browsed the counter, wanting to know the price of the creeping vine's root.
Upon asking, I learned that a piece the size of a thumb costs 200 gold coins—almost half a year's income for a skilled worker.
However, upon closer reflection, the price is indeed reasonable considering that an adventure party with an average level of 5 would risk their lives to venture deep into the Shadow Cursed Lands east of Baldur's Gate in order to hunt creeping monsters and obtain roots.
Right now, he can only afford a small fraction of it.
However, he did want to know if consuming the roots and stems of the creeping monster could really increase his cultivation speed.
Immediately, he asked the dwarf beside the counter, "Can I buy just a little of these creeping, strange roots?"
He now possesses 16 points of charm.
His influence extends beyond his own race and gender; it can potentially extend to other races and genders.
He only wanted to keep a month's worth of food money, and used the rest of his money to buy the creeping strange roots, just to test their effects and explore the possibility of using otherworldly medicinal plants to increase cultivation speed.
"No!" The dwarf refused without hesitation, immediately throwing his hand away.
Dwarves are arguably the most old-fashioned and stubborn race in the world.
Moreover, dwarves have almost no physical attraction to other races.
This world has half-elves and dragonborn, but I have never heard of dwarves or hybrids of other races.
In the witchcraft general store, this isn't the only one that sells medicinal plants.
Ronan ignored him and walked to the next counter.
After walking past three more counters, I saw a strange, creeping root, also about the size of a thumb, in a yellow glass jar on a shelf behind one of the counters.
The merchant behind the counter was a woman who looked to be over 40 years old, with deep-set eyes, a high nose, and brown skin, like someone from Latin America in a past life.
Her wavy black hair was styled in an updo, and her pear-shaped figure was slightly plump. Her deep red dress revealed the skin on her chest, which, when gazed upon, seemed to lead to an abyss.
Ronan asked about the price of the creeping monster's root, and it was almost the same as what he had asked the dwarf: 220 gold coins.
This section of root is longer than the one from the dwarfs.
Ronan then asked if he could buy just a small piece.
"Of course." The woman gazed at Ronan with her watery eyes. "Consider it making friends."
Ronan took out 5 gold coins and gave them to the woman.
The woman saw this and said nothing more. She took the 5 gold coins from Ronan, turned around gracefully, poured out the creeping monster's roots, cut a small piece for Ronan, and put it in a small cloth bag.
The two then exchanged names and addresses before parting ways.
Ronan left the witchcraft general store and returned home.
He sat cross-legged on the bed, put the creeping, strange root in his mouth, chewed it a few times, and then swallowed it.
As the gastric juices digested the creeping monster's roots, a rich burst of energy erupted from them.
Ronan, with his five hearts facing upwards, circulated the Qi-guiding technique, guiding this rich energy into his meridians.
After eating the root, he felt a slight warmth throughout his body.
He discovered that the energy flowed much faster in the meridians, and the conversion into true qi also accelerated.
It seems that the creeping rhizomes did indeed work.
[With the help of medicinal plants, your Qi circulation accelerates, your body, acupoints, and meridians are nourished by Qi, and you are more in harmony with this world. Your affinity has increased - your charm has increased by 1 point.]
[Charm 16 → Charm 17]
The enhanced charm, besides making one more attractive, also means a greater ability to wield raging energy.
This means that he will be able to perform Taoist arts more easily.
With this increase in cultivation speed, he could no longer tolerate the previous cultivation speed.
After all, this is the continent of Faerûn, fraught with danger, and he must first raise his strength to a level sufficient to deal with most crises.
Instead of the current situation where even fighting low-level monsters like the Sawamura requires a team.
He needs to raise money to buy medicinal plants to help him improve his cultivation.
Of course, thinking further ahead, he also wanted to build a pill furnace to use pills to aid in cultivation.
With this in mind, he considered taking on the mission again.
If it's a quest involving easy monsters like the Sawa fishmen, he might as well take on a few more.
Now that he has the lightness technique [Rock Leap] and the object manipulation technique, he can adopt a "kiting" fighting style. As long as he is in an open area, he can kill a group of Shahua fishmen by himself.
If there are still simple tasks like this, he can not only earn money, but also accumulate experience to level up.
So he left home and headed towards the Flower Ridge Park.
Standing in front of the notice board at the Flower Ridge Park, I paused to look—
[Task Type]: Bounty
[Bounty]: 10 gold coins
[Task Summary]:
My beloved Pore is gone.
Pore is a 6-year-old foxhound with white fur except for its ears and eyes, which are covered in dark brown markings.
[Mission Contact Person]:
Please go to the Winters House in the crowded side block and look for Mrs. Daphne Winters.
Upon taking one look, Ronan felt that this mission was not suitable for him.
This task is not dangerous, but it is a waste of time.
Because he is not a sorcerer of the prophetic school, and his current Xuan Guang technique does not have the ability to locate objects over long distances, he can only spend time asking around to complete this task.
Ronan then looked away and turned to other requests.