Zhan Long

Without thinking about anything, I used up most of the materials that I had gathered. Along with a sharp bell, my wine brewing level had reached level 2. In the interface, the recipe for the level 2 wine appeared.

Barley Wine lv-2: +30 Rage, 60-second cooldown, 15% reduction on special ability cooldown. Ingredients - x30 barley powder, x1 fermentation vase...

……

The recipe was simply too easy: the more pure barley powder, the merrier. When I was young, the old man and I secretly drank the wine of the people in the mountains. It was done from the fermentation of barley juice. It was really simple, which was why it was only a level 2 wine and could not be considered a famous wine. However, it had great effects. One could drink one every sixty seconds and it reduced skill cooldowns by 15%. However, after drinking the Lanling Flower, my skills were at 50% cooldown, and it did not stack. The better effect would be the one used; this was the simple rules of the game.

Thus, I walked around the Forest of Monuments and gathered all the barley powder in the area. I spent close to half an hour before I slashed some bushes to create an empty land and start brewing Barley Wine. The Ancient God Tiger wagged its tail and looked on as I brewed. Its huge eyes flashed, nearly dropping out. Unfortunately, this dumb tiger could not drink and would probably be disappointed at once.

Along with many ringing sounds, one Barley Wine after another was produced. They all stacked in my bag; I would throw them into the guild treasury each time for members to use. After all, there were very few Wine Brewers, and not everyone had the chance to drink wine to raise fury. This level 1 and 2 wine could only raise 20 and 30 Rage points. It was not much, but they might allow one to use one more skill, which could turn the tides of battle.

An hour later, there was finally a notification. I became the first person to reach level 3; the hardworking people were definitely rewarded!

Ding!

System Notification: Congratulations! Your wine brewing has risen up! As you are the first level 3 Wine Brewer, your obtained rewards: +2000 gold and +5 Charm!

……

The 5 Charm naturally could not compare to the 100 Charm that the Country War MVP gave, but it was still decent. Better than nothing at least!

I looked at the recipe for the level 3 wine; it was another type...

Zither Wine lv-3: +40 Rage, 60-second cooldown, 20% reduction on special skill cooldown. Ingredients - x15 malt powder, x5 Juniper, x1 fermentation vase...

……

I still had a lot of malt powder in my bag; it should be enough. As for Juniper—

—let me search Baidu!

Junipers, originated from Europe, came from the north equator and grew on pine trees. How would Tian Ling City have pine tree forests? I thought about it for a few minutes. North of Broken Blade Canyon was Pear Flower Fort and it was really close to the north. It snowed regularly and there were many pine trees there. Snow covered the trees like many pear flowers, which was why it was called Pear Flower Fort. That was the place!

I jumped up and rushed toward Pear Flower Fort. While in the air, I could even sense the sound breaking effect of me stabbing through the air. How fast was I?

In less than ten minutes, I arrived at Pear Flower Fort. As expected, it was snowing all over. Many star lights dotted the surroundings. That was right; they were the Junipers that I was searching for. They grew high on trees. Originally, one needed to climb up to harvest them. [Icy Wings] allowed me to stay in the air at any point, so I floated mid-air and tossed the Junipers collected into my bag. In just a short while, my entire bag was filled with a bunch of Junipers...

I proceeded to brew wine. Zither Wine was a famous strong wine, so each brewing process took slightly longer. I was really patient. Anyway, my level was ahead of everyone else, so there was no need to risk my life for experience. I killed the monsters around me so as to increase skill familiarity.

An hour later, numerous stacks of Zither Wine appeared in my bag. However, when I charged to level 4, I was shocked. I actually was not the first. Which crazy person was competing with me?!

I did not want to lose. Continue, look at the level 4 wine recipe...

Tiger Bone Wine lv-4: +50 Rage, 60 second cooldown, 25% reduction on skill cooldown. Ingredients - x5 tiger bone, x25 malt powder, x1 fermentation vase...

……

Tiger bone, this thing was easy to find. Just kill a tiger-related beast, get its bone, and it would be fine. The next second, I looked at Ancient God Tiger. That thing retreated several steps. If it could speak, it would definitely say, "Master, why do you have such an evil look?"

I searched the map and chose the nearest one, Shending Battlefield. This map was released a long time ago, and it was where [Hero Mound] and [Legend] trained at. However, [Hero Mound] had its main guild destroyed, so it probably could not be bothered to train. As for [Legend], Fang Ge Que led them to the depths of Sea of No Return to train, so they probably would not return.

Thus, when I flew over the area, I confirmed that there was no one around. No one was about to train. Moreover, the mobs that had respawned were not the Ancient Skeleton Soldiers and Whitebone War Tigers of the past; instead, they were rank 6 Hybrid Demons, known as the Soul Swallowing Tigers. These beasts had high offense, but to me, they were totally harmless.

I pulled out Butterfly and charged down, directly using [Strength of a Thousand Men] to deal a trifecta attack. One of them dealt four times the damage of Butterfly, insta-killing one rank 6 Hybrid Demon. I dealt over 2,000,000 damage. If other players saw that, I would definitely become a legend on the forums. No other player could temporarily kill a rank 6 Hybrid Demon in one combo, right?

Actually, I could insta-kill it thanks to the effect of the God Slaying Armor. My damage to monsters doubled. It was the best weapon to raise levels!

I walked up and pulled out the tiger bone. One tiger gave forty sets of bones. Tsk tsk! So many!

I brought the Ancient God Tiger to kill for half an hour. In the end, I arrogantly drew in a bunch of them and allowed them to encircle me. I raised Butterfly, as well as Zhen Yue Blade, and slashed about. I used Lifesteal to recover health. I did not eat pills at all and was able to kill a bunch of tigers before starting to pull out their bones.

After close to an hour, I sat on a pile of corpses and brewed wine. One Tiger Bone Wine after another appeared in front of me. This process was really long, lasting for two hours. My wine brewing technique finally leveled up, and I became the first to level to level 5...

Ding!

System notification: Congratulations! Your wine brewing has risen up! As you are the first to get to level 5, your obtained rewards: +5000 gold and +20 Charm!

……

Di—a message came from my girlfriend, Lin Wan Er: "Piggy, are you going to eat dinner?"

I immediately replied, "Leave some dishes for me; I'm currently leveling my skills, but I'll be offline to eat afterward!"

Lin Wan Er was also a game expert and understood my mood. She giggled. "En, good luck. It seems like another person is competing with you!"

"En!"

I continued. I looked at the level 5 wine brewing recipe. Today, I was set on competing with another madman...

Ginseng Wine lv-5: +60 Rage, 60-second cooldown, 30% reduction on skill cooldown. Ingredients - x3 deer antler, x10 ginseng, x1 fermentation vase...

……

Deer Antler was present in Deer Cry Cave; the spirit deer on the third layer could provide enough deer antlers. As for wild deer, they were rare. There may not be a single one in seven to eight miles of road. Relying on the deer antler to get to level 6 was pretty much impossible.

I confirmed that my next destination was Deer Cry Cave. Herb shops in Tian Ling City sold wild ginseng, for 20 gold a set. I did not know what use it would have before; now, I knew that it was for this wine.

Okay, onward to Deer Cry Cave!

I reached Deer Cry Cave, but who knew that many players would be leveling here? I directly headed down to the third layer. Many players were presently training there, with some of them being [Judgement] as well as [House of Prestige]. It was really chaotic but also really peaceful. A lot of them knew one another, the two guilds might compete against one another but players could still be friends. This was the bright side of human nature.

I joined in the killing of spirit deer but was only able to get some. As such, I could only collect from the corpses of the dead ones. They did not have wine brewing technique and could not collect the antlers. I happily trailed after them to collect my needed materials.

One of the female Healers was shocked as she asked, "Take a look at that person touching the corpses behind... Isn't that Royal Army general, [Zhan Long]'s guild leader, Xiao Yao Zi Zai?"

The other Berserker turned his horse and laughed. "Who knew that Xiao Yao Zi Zai would take the items of others? Pfft!"

"Be softer!" The Archer grinned. "You idiot! If Xiao Yao Zi Zai hears you, we will all die here!"

……

I acted as if I did not hear them. After gathering what I needed, I returned to the city to purchase ginseng in bulk. Then I hid in a corner under the city walls to brew the Ginseng Wine. After forty minutes, when I leveled up, I was disappointed. F*ck! I was not the first person to have reached level 6. That crazy person was first!

Continue my charge, to level 7 next. I refused to believe...