A farming master in Stardew Valley

Chapter 742 Monster Encyclopedia
Watching the hot air balloon fly away, the direction it was heading towards was Pelican Town. Leon immediately lost the desire to catch up on sleep and got on his bike and headed towards Pelican Town.

Riding at full speed to Pelican Town, Leon spotted a hot air balloon on a tree. Low-flying hot air balloons are easy to track, but the strange thing is that although the hot air balloon was so obvious flying overhead, many residents of Pelican Town didn't even look up.

I don’t know if I didn’t see it, or if I’m simply used to this situation and don’t want to see it.

After following the hot air balloon's trail and crossing most of Pelican Town, Leon finally saw the hot air balloon slowly descending, and the location was exactly as shown in the photo, on the hillside behind Joja's supermarket.

This section of the road was not suitable for cycling, so Lyon put away his bicycle and walked instead. He crossed the trail and bypassed a series of bushes. Lyon found that there was a set of stairs on the hillside where he landed on the tree.

Looking at the steps full of traces of time, Lyon knew that this road had been built for a long time, but because not many people set foot on it, most of the stone steps were covered with weeds and dirt.

When Lyon climbed up the hillside along the steps, he saw the flat space on the top of the hill and the stalls that had been set up under a big tree on the north side.

The stall was the base of the hot air balloon. Looking at it from the front, Leon noticed that the base was shaped like a small house, but the roof was arched and made of fabric, with patches of various styles, types and colors on it.

The front was the official business window. Marcello, the bookseller whom Lyon had met once before, was waving at him with a warm smile, and behind him were densely packed books.

"Welcome to my bookstall, farmer. I'm delighted to welcome a new owner to the most fertile land in Stardew Valley. My name is Marcello, a traveling merchant who travels the world, selling all kinds of books and knowledge. You're welcome to buy."

"Hello sir, my name is Leon." Leon responded politely to Marcello's self-introduction, then walked forward, stood in front of the bookstall, and looked curiously at the books piled inside.

"I've heard about your deeds from my friends, so I'm very interested in the books you sell."

"Of course, the books here are all rare treasures. Apart from the high price, there seems to be no other disadvantage. Is there anything I can provide for you?" Marcello smiled and moved a small wooden stake out of the house and placed it in front, indicating that Leon could sit down.

"Of course, you don't have to buy anything. I also welcome knowledge seekers to borrow books here. However, due to time constraints, I will only stay in one place for one day, so if you want to borrow a book, you only have one day to read it. If you want to read it again, you will have to wait until next month."

"I don't need to borrow it. I want to buy it directly. For example, do you have a Monster Manual?"

After sitting down, Leon asked Marcello first.

"Of course. I can see that you seem to have experienced many battles. This book will be of great help to you."

Marcello nodded, then turned around and rummaged through the pile of books for a moment. He took out a book with a pitch-black cover and a strange smiley face on the cover and handed it to Leon.

"Monster Manual: A manual containing information about all monsters. Reading it seems to grant you a special ability. (Unable to absorb without ownership)"

As soon as he bought the book, Leon saw the prompt given by the system.

"How much is this book?" Seeing that a book could actually give him special abilities, Leon immediately became interested.

"20000G." The bookseller uttered an extremely outrageous offer.

"Hiss." The price made Leon gasp. There was nothing he could do about it; it was too expensive. "Like I said, price is the biggest drawback of books, but knowledge is priceless, isn't it?" Marcello was used to Leon's reaction. Every first-time book buyer would react the same way upon hearing the price.

"But if you only need the knowledge above, perhaps the price of this one can give you some peace of mind."

As he spoke, Marcello took out another monster encyclopedia of the same type, but compared to the previous one, this one did not have any system prompts, and the grotesque smiling face on the cover of this one was gone, replaced by the image of a bat.

"This one only costs 200G. The content is the same, but I think you should be able to understand the difference between the two." Marcello looked at Lyon's quote and said.

"I think I understand." Leon nodded and did not deny this statement.

The price difference between the two books is a hundred times, and the main reason for this price difference may be that the 200G one is just a book, while the 20000G one can grant special abilities.

"So, Mr. Lyon, which one do you choose?" Marcello asked Lyon with a smile.

"One copy each." Leon thought for a moment and then decided.

"A wise choice." Marcello handed both books to Leon and then extended his hand, obviously hinting that Leon should pay.

"Is it okay to swipe the card?" Leon took out the gift card and asked Marcello.

"Of course, distinguished guest, it seems that I have met a big client. What a lucky day." Looking at the gift card that Lyon took out, Marcello's eyes lit up, then he took the gift card and returned it to Lyon.

"Done?" Marcello touched the card without taking out the POS machine. Leon felt it was strange.

"Of course, this card has different payment methods for different people. I've already received the money, and the book is now yours, Mr. Lyon." Marcello explained, nodding.

Sure enough, when Leon picked up the monster encyclopedia worth 20000G again, he saw the system asking him whether he needed to absorb this monster encyclopedia.

Without hesitation, he directly selected OK. The next second, the monster encyclopedia was opened and automatically flipped from the first page to the last page at a rapid speed. Then it turned into black spots and merged into Leon's body.

"Monster Guide: All monsters have a small chance to drop double loot, a very small chance to drop triple loot, and damage to monsters increased by 20%."

The disappearance of the book brought about the unlocking of a new ability, which was located on his personal ability panel. The content expressed in simple words made Lyon instantly feel that the 20000G he spent was well worth it.

Not to mention the doubled probability of loot drops, the 20% increase in damage to monsters alone is enough to match the price.

Although Lyon could kill the monsters in the mine with one blow, he knew that was because of the sharpness of the Galaxy weapon and the weakness of the monsters in the mine. The Skeleton Mine he was going to later was full of tough guys, far stronger than the monsters in the Stardew Valley mine. With this gain, Lyon believed that he could at least kill those terrible monsters quickly.

(End of this chapter)