Shei

I sometimes get map pieces playing Dice-a-Roo as well. 

Food club is also an excellent way to make np.  How much depends on how old your account is, but on average I win about 16:10.

Which lab map piece do you have? Is it the one that looks like a robot with a face? (at least it does to me- LOL).  PM me or neomail me.  You should still have my neomail, I helped you with the orange avatar.  Also, play games that require a lot of refreshing like solitaire, pyramids, and neoquest 2.  You may be lucky and get a map piece, if not, you get some other nice random events, trust me.  Ask any of the veterans here, I am a Neoquest 2 pro.  I have played every level, gotten the trophies, and started over again, because of the great REs.

It looks like that is not quite enough for current values.   Here is JN's estimated values for the map pieces.  You will want to go into them and see when they were last updated and check their trade history for most recent trades, etc, but it's a good starting point.
https://items.jellyneo.net/search/?name=secret+lab

I sometimes mainly do some good restocking on half price day at peoples shops.I also shop at the igloo garage sale sometimes you can get great stuff

I apologise for the delay again! And the winners are:
1st Place

planlysastrata
Scooby Doo

Animation link: http://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1481114
"He hated monsters but with the help of his snacks and his friends around he was willing to face even the scariest ghosts."

2nd Place

teukkie
The Headless Horseman

Animation link: http://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1479254
"Some people say every Halloween the ghost of the Headless Horseman emerges from his grave to seek out his lost head, and revenge on those that killed him. Others say the headless spectre is the Dullahan, bringing death where ever he rides."
3rd Place

Lgator
Nessie - Lock Ness Monster

Animation link: http://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1481921
"In the depths of Loch Ness, Nessie has finally been found."


Calixtis
The Woman in Black

Animation link: http://impress.openneo.net/outfits/1482007
"Haunts halls of a once beautiful home, looking for her children."
Congratulations @planlysastrata, @teukkie, @Lgator and @Calixtis! And thanks for participating, everyone!

The entering period for The Runway's forty-eighth round is about to begin! For more information on how to participate, make sure to read this post carefully.
Current theme: The Runway
Description: In celebration of The Runway's 2nd anniversary, dress up any pet using THIS background (you're free to use any other items you like, but you must use that background).
Entering period: Monday, November 6th - Sunday, November 12th
Voting period: Monday, November 13th - Sunday, November 19th
 Important notice:
We are now back to our old schedule (two contests per month instead of just one), so pay attention to the deadlines! Theme announcement topics (such as this one) will now be posted in The Runway subforum instead of Customization News & Updates, and will remain unlocked during the entering period to allow discussion and questions about the current theme. There will no longer be winner announcement topics, since the winners are already announced on the actual voting topic.

Hey Shei! Wow! You've got a lot of useful replies in a pretty short time. You MIGHT find this article helpful as well, Basic Battledome Sets.
http://www.thedailyneopets.com/battledome/basic-battledome-weapon-sets/
It gives some good guidelines on weapons and shields in different tiers of expense and usefulness. Your Oversized Maractite Sword is still in that article, and the Parasol, because it can block ALL light icons and some extra icons for so cheaply, it's definitely a keeper. Though after looking at Koi Warrior's battle set, it won't help much against him, though some, not the Light icons, but the other icons it can block some of.

Ah! I'm glad you know Kitchen Quests already! Not many people (over the years) I've told about them knew about them. ;)

On the Leaf Shield, sure! I'll NM you.

Regarding Training, it does get expensive in NP. However, you COULD, instead of saving your RED Codestones you win in battle, you could sell the Red ones and use that NP to buy the regular codestones. I don't fully recommend it because the Red Stones will be useful at level 250 for the final training school, and they cost a lot more on average. However, with your present level and stats, it will probably be quite a while before you can train with Red codestones.
Some people prefer to train level, get to 250 and then "catch up" their stats using the 1 red stone course. 1 red stone will cost you between 8k to around 40k. You can cancel a course, but you also have to waste time then too, waiting for the time to end.

However, I would hold off on that until you get to the 7 or 8 codestone training level. Why? Because the more people who need Red Codestones, the higher the price, as the Demand grows the supply will most likely dwindle, especially with hints of a battle plot from TNT. I got to the Red Stone range during the Obelisk War a couple of years ago. I was about more than halfway through the 8 regular codestone course and the time left for the war was shrinking fast. So I decided to train level for about the 8 levels or so I needed to get to level 250.
Basically, it's up to you and what works for you. I'm just not a fan of this training method for the reason I've written.
If you've got any further questions, feel free to ask, as you've probably noticed, there are quite a number of helpful people around to help answer your questions. lol

I'll NM re: the Leaf Shield in just a minute.

I'm not so sure about that. Back in 2013 I've tested it and if it hasn't changed since then the amount of codestones is the same for both Koi and Walein.  This is from the post I made after testing it:
But again, these tests were done in 2013 and I don't know if it has been changed or not since then. I myself fight Koi because I need red codestones for my training and that still goes very well, with codestone drops. I just don't really feel like retesting it at the moment.

If you can, fighting the Giant Spectral Mutant Walien is more profitable than the koi warrior!  It has less unique items so you'll get more codestones generally.

I was also going to recommend the Scroll of Ultranova.  It is a great weapon and is inexpensive.  To go along with it, I use Ultranova.  It deals out as much damage as the scroll, but also heals random amount of hps, and does not use up a healer spot in your battleset. The problem with it, it is considered a single use weapon, but there are times when you can get 2, 3, or even more uses out of it.  I never enter a battle without one though, because its healing ability could be the difference between winning or losing a battle.  The muffins, such as, stone muffin, smelly dung muffin, brain muffin, etc. are also good.  Although they are one use items, they dole out a lot of damage and are inexpensive.  As far as nps go, I don't know what you are doing to earn them, but I assume you are doing Trudy's surprise on a daily basis, playing fashion fever for an easy 900 nps per day, playing solitaire and pyramids which are both easy and usually give a profit more so than a loss (at least for me).  Doing all of your daily battles is a daily 1500 nps.  Good luck.

Oh gosh! SO hoping for some inspiration for this one!
Why's it deadly silence in here? Are you guys all sitting there smugly silent, with your already submitted entries?  
 

Hi @Shei and @jaydeed
Training (to a point) is definitely worth it.I'm probably going too far as I have high hopes for a battle centered event in the future. Once you can one-shot Koi warrior, it may not be that beneficial to train any further unless it's just what you want to do.
One particular thing to note is that the mystery island training school does get rather expensive as you start paying 6,7,8 codestones and time consuming with a whole 24 hours between training. One guide I read however long ago had a side note I followed and particularly liked. At the expensive point, just train level and get it to 250 so you can use the Secret Ninja Training School instead, Once there, you can train the stats up to your level and continue training from there (if you decide to).
 
That being said, it's a game - do what you want and have fun doing it.

You're welcome.  I updated my post above with more info.  If you can find upgrades now that haven't inflated too much, I'd recommend getting them.  When the war actually starts they'll inflate more.  And, the further you get in the plot the more prize points you'll get, so the better prizes.  There will likely be an avatar, I don't know if there will be another site theme beyond the current purple one...

Hey everyone! I am a long-time player of neopets, but have never been active on TND forums.
I am a 26 year old university student studying social work, and have always loved life sim/RPG type games. I love guilds and am currently a proud Hufflepuff in a HP guild. If anyone was around back in the day, I used to be the Hufflepuff HOH in a HP guild called 'Broom'.
Currently I am obsessed with avatar collecting! I look forward to getting to know you all.