Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
“These are called runewords?”
“These things exist?”
Runewords were empowerments to items. In most cases, it required white normal items that had the exact number of sockets that matched the number of runes needed. Then, the players could place the runes into the sockets in the correct order and give the item exceptional properties.
With runewords, even the most common white normal items could be comparable to gold unique items.
Fang Qi was now standing before Deckard Cain.
After passing Act I, Deckard Cain would teach the player some basic runeword knowledge.
There weren’t official Diablo sites that displayed runewords, so this responsibility landed on this old scholar.
“Why does this seem more powerful than the different array formations on spiritual artifacts?” As a professional artifact forger, he felt like he could better understand runewords when comparing them with the array formations on the artifacts in the real world.
“Placing different runewords in order can create powerful properties?” An Cheng suddenly asked, “Do they have to be white normal items? What about white normal items that already have some properties? Will the original properties be kept?”
He remembered that he got a two-hole grey staff before.
Grey items were white normal items with sockets on them, and sometimes they came with unique properties.
The staff he picked up allowed him to cast level 2 Fire Bolt and level 2 Frozen Armor!
If he could keep those properties, he would obtain more properties with a normal runeword!
“They will be kept.”
Based on the selection of basic items, the item, in the end, may vary drastically. This was a hot topic of discussion amongst Diablo fans!
“Who has a rune #8?” After An Cheng received a positive answer from Fang Qi, his eyes lit up with desire!
Since his staff had two sockets, it was perfect for a basic runeword.
If the four level increases in skills were kept, his weapon might be even more powerful that Fang Qi’s weapon!
Even though runes weren’t hard to obtain later on in the game, it wasn’t so easy to obtain in Act I. They were rarer than set items at the moment!
After completing his runeword, Fang Qi had none left.
No one responded to An Cheng for a while.
Suddenly, Song Qingfeng and the others shut in excitement!
“We killed her!”
“We passed!”
“One gold unique item and three yellow rare items!”
“There’s a rune?”
“So many high-quality items!” An Cheng and the others’ expressions changed. “Are they fighting Andariel too?”
As soon as An Cheng heard the word ‘rune’, he immediately hurried over to Song Qingfeng and the others who had just defeated Andariel.
When Song Qingfeng and his friends turned around, they saw a group of players huddled behind them. There were at least 20 people!
“What’s going on?”
“You defeated Andariel too?” An Cheng was surprised. Song Qingfeng and his friends’ progress were significantly slower than his before.
Then, An Cheng saw some gold words flash before Song Qingfeng’s screen that said, “Rune, Ral.”
“Let’s exchange, or you can sell it to me!” An Cheng’s breathing became rapid.It’s rune #8!
He reached out a hand. “I’ll give you five crystals!”
As soon as An Cheng said that, the people behind him gasped, dumbstruck by what they just heard!
But at the same time, they all wanted to see the runes being used in action. They were curious as to the possible power of runewords.
Song Qingfeng and his friends looked at An Cheng, confused and bewildered. “You want to buy something from the game?”
Sure, they could buy spiritual artifacts and materials in real life, but they had never seen anyone spend money on a virtual item in the games!
Moreover, it was just a rune that needed to be placed into a socket and wasn’t even an item that could be used right away!
It was understandable to spend money to play games. After all, the games in this internet café helped with cultivation, and the magic spells and combat techniques were worth studying.
However, what could they do with virtual items? Why would someone buy them with crystals?
The only thing a virtual item was capable of doing was to help the player to level up faster and play smoother.
They were happy to obtain rare items in the game, but they found it hard to believe that someone wanted to spend money to buy it in real life.
To them, it was equivalent to spending money on a counterfeit. Even a rich young master like An Cheng wouldn’t spend money like so!
An Cheng froze for a second. Was I too impulsive just now?
After all, they just started playing this game, so they had never even tried to buy a virtual item with money!
After some thought, he decided to keep his offer since five crystals were just a small amount of money to him.
Therefore, he waved his hand and said, “Are you going to sell or not? I want to try it out, that’s all.”
He really wanted to see what the runeword and the staff that offered him four additional skill levels could create! Moreover, he didn’t lack money; even his meals cost more than five crystals!
Song Qingfeng was confused. “You’re willing to spend this much money on a rune? Do runes have other powers?”
An Cheng told him about runewords. They heard Fang Qi mentioning it, so there was no point in trying to keep it a secret.
“What? You’re serious?” Song Qingfeng and the others were left in shock.Different runes can give exceptional properties to items?
They glanced at each other and asked each other, “What do you think?”
Lin Shao said, “If he wants it, just give it to him. None of us are sorcerers or sorceresses, and we don’t need rune #8 at the moment.”
Xu Luo chimed in, “Plus, we can take a look at the abilities of a runeword and see if it is really that powerful!”
They didn’t even have to ask for Wang Tai’s permission since the latter was a necromancer and would never use a rune like this.
“Sure.” Song Qingfeng nodded. “I’ll add you to our room.”
They were surprised that they could make money out of playing this game. Although five crystals wasn’t a lot to Song Qingfeng and his friends, it was certainly a pleasant surprise.
Soon, An Cheng joined Song Qingfeng’s team, and the latter handed the rune to An Cheng who gave him five crystals in exchange.
“First #3 and then #8, right?” An Cheng reconfirmed the sequence before taking out his staff with two sockets on it.
“#3… #8…” An Cheng muttered to himself as he placed the runes onto his weapon.
The people around him all stared at the staff in An Cheng’s hand, waiting for something magical to happen.
As soon as the runes were in, something magical really happened!
An Cheng looked at the newly-updated properties of the staff in his hand:
[Leaf ‘TirRal’
+3 To Fire Skills
+15 To Damage
+ 5-30 Fire Damage
+3 To Fire Mastery
+3 Fire Enchanted
+3 To Fire Bolt
+3 To Inferno
+3 To Warmth]
…
“It really transformed?” Everyone felt like they had just seen the doors to a new era open!
The rows and rows of properties, in addition to the level 4 skills that the staff already had, left all the players in awe!
Then, everyone exclaimed in shock!
“It’s awesome!”
“This item is so powerful!”
“The sorceress if going to be unbeatable with this staff!”
“Go try out its powers!”
All the players looked at An Cheng with jealousy and envy!
“Haha, I’ll show you all!” An Cheng laughed hysterically after he switched to this high-level staff, leaving Song Qingfeng a little dumbfounded.
He looked at Lin Shao and the others before slapping his leg. “I feel like we sold it for too little!”
The people who were excited that they had sold a virtual item for five crystals were all regretting their decision now after seeing the actual effects.