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Zhan Long (eng)

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  Chapter 71 - The Prince of Dark Dwarves
  
  This chapter was sponsored by William Wang, Lucian and Issac Kerr. Thanks!
  
  Three golden hexagons appear on my Jade City Sword, allowing me to confirm that the combo this time would consist of three attacks - the number of hexagonal stars appearing indicates the number of attacks the combo will do, a rule which I have understood with practice.
  
  "Hua!"
  
  "311!"
  
  "327!"
  
  "334!"
  
  ......
  
  
  
  The damage efficiency is still not too bad, with just a combo, I have already removed almost a thousand of his health points. The level 40 dark dwarf, originally possessing over 2000 health points plummets after getting violently stung by Baby Bobo who was dancing at his sides. Then, with a direct stab from my sword, the job is done!
  
  Hmm, the effectiveness of a surprise attack is quite good, the level 40 Dark Dwarf didn"t even get a chance to retaliate and was wiped out in just a few seconds.
  
  
  
  By ending the battle fast, my health potion and mana potion consumption was reduced. Bringing Baby Bobo along, I rushed towards the Dark Dwarf that"s sharpening the edges of the war axe. Unfortunately, at the moment when I closed the distance between him and me, the other two Dark Dwarves immediately got aggro-ed by my actions. 1V3, I guess I"ll have to go all out, otherwise I don"t a chance completing this quest!
  
  "Shua!"
  
  As usual, the combo has a short cooldown time of 6 seconds. I sent a second combo attack towards the second dwarf as soon as the cooldown came off. At the same moment, I lower my body and my iron fist crashes into the ground. Pah, ?Binding Chains? was immediately evoked and rose from the ground, chaining the feet of the third dwarf. At the same time, Baby Bobo went on the offense. I try to finish him off but I was slightly late, the Dark Dwarf had already begun his attack. His battle axe floated with crimson red flames, its the level 40 close-range skill - ?Flame Blade?
  
  "Boom!"
  
  
  
  "397!"
  
  There was a loud ringing sound on the Dawn Breastplate and I felt a surge of pain. the offensive capability of ?Flame Blade? was definitely not just for show. Now I understand why this quest is ranked A.
  
  
  
  Immediately retreating back a step, I send Baby Bobo up to attack, dealing the coup de grace on the second Dark Dwarf. The next moment, weng weng, it flew towards the the third Dark Dwarf to intercept it but got attacked by ?Flame Blade?. Ka cha, the war axe immediately tries to decapitate the head of the Overlord Bee, displaying a damage amount of 474.
  
  
  
  Controlling both my pet and myself, while Baby Bobo retreated, I immediately rush forward to take his place and positioning my sword, I lower my body position and in an instant, a flash of white light surges from my feet, activating my chain combo attack, ?Strength of a Thousand Men?!
  
  A flurry of furious attacks lands on the body of the fourth Dark Dwarf, bringing out a whole string of damage numbers-
  
  "231!"
  
  "244!"
  
  "217!"
  
  "274!"
  
  
  
  "809!"
  
  ......
  
  
  
  As expected, the Dark Dwarves are overwhelmingly powerful in their offensive power. However, their defense is extremely weak. With a 5 hit combo, I was able to remove a big chunk of his health. With another attack from me and Baby Bobo, done! However, at that point, the third Dark Dwarf managed to free himself of my ?Binding Chains? and charges towards me with yet another ?Flame Blade?.
  
  
  
  "778!"
  
  It was a critical hit!
  
  I was stunned for an instant, I had 1 point of Hp left! I had 1176 Hp, how can this be!?
  
  I immediately set my hands moving, ?Heal?!
  
  "+600!"
  
  That was alarmingly dangerous. I definitely should not underestimate the monsters here, the attack power of ?Flame Blade? is pretty powerful and not something most players can endure. Next time, I must make sure to block it or dodge it. If I were to keep taking these attacks, I could be KO-ed within two hits.
  
  
  
  While still in a panic, I coordinate with Baby Bobo to get rid of the last Dark Dwarf. Only when all of the dwarves are lying on the floor did I realize that my heart was thumping out of my chest. However, my experience bar brought me some comfort. After killing 4 of these Dark Dwarves, my experience points immediately increased by 1%. By my calculations, killing 400 of them would allow me to level up once. Looks like if I were to complete the quest by today, getting to level 38 wouldn"t be impossible!
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Picking up the silver coins from the floor, I note that level 40 human-like monsters were actually quite rich. On average, each of these Dark Dwarves drops 3 silver coins each. After killing 2000 dwarves, I would have 60 gold coins. To be honest, even if I were here only to farm for money, it would be quite profitable!
  
  While killing these Dark Dwarves, I browse through the forums and find many guilds or studios, whether big or small, recruiting new members -
  
  ?Recruiting(Posted by:Mischievious Rock)?:Mischievious Rock studio is currently recruiting new personnel, only limited to mages, swordsman and players with strong solo-ing abilities. We provide lodging and food and only request for players to farm at least 5 gold coins each day. Wages are up for discussion!
  
  
  
  ?Recruiting(Posted by:Black Flame)?:In Ba Huang City, the Black Flame Guild is currently recruiting expert players that are above level 32. We will be organizing a hundred-man party to hunt down a level 50 gold-rank boss seven days later to obtain a gold-tier equipment as well as our guild"s Guild Creation Card!
  
  
  
  ?Recruiting(Posted by:Wandering Wolf Spirit)?:The Victorious studio is currently recruiting new players. We require a high level healer possessing at least 30+ heal boosts. The job of the healer would be for treating the wounded and preparing the meals. The wage every month would be at least 5000RMB. We would prefer a female healer and if she has good looks, we can add in bonuses.
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  I frowned, I can tell that this wasn"t a poster to recruit new players, it was a poster to recruit a girlfriend. Quite creative...
  
  "Pa ta!"
  
  While deep in thoughts, suddenly, as a Dark Dwarf was killed, a round metal helmet drops. Picking it up from the grass, it was a green-rank equipment and had decent defense stats. It increases the equipper"s strength by 14 but it doesn"t have any additional effects. It could be considered as a middle-tier equip. In the 3 main cities in the China server, everyone seems to be more concerned with leveling speed and the top players in each of the main cities are going mad from training. When everyone is of high level, there would naturally be more good equipment. Currently, just counting Ba Huang city, there are already at least 20+ gold-rank equipment, 500+ silver-rank equipment and needless to say, the green-tier equipment would be countless. Especially more so, these equipment are not actual end-game equipment, smart gamers would know not to spend too much capital on these equipment. Of course, this is excluding people who are remarkably rich like Tyrant of Western Chu who would guard my corpse for an entire night for a black iron equipment; that isn"t what most people are able to do.
  
  
  
  After killing for a while, I look at my current quest progress, it was already at 87/2000. In general, the Dark Dwarves gather in fours, thus the killing speed is actually quite fast, though it could prove to be quite dangerous as well. Fortunately, I possess a LV-4?Heal?, which is equivalent to having a high level healer by my side. Also, the damage output from Baby Bobo is also quite high, otherwise I really wouldn"t be able to complete this quest.
  
  Time passes quickly and soon, it"s already 4PM. My quest progress was at 741/2000 and I have already reached level 36 with 74% experience. My leveling pace was quite rapid, far beyond my calculations. I estimate that by the end of today, I can probably reach level 38 or perhaps, if Dalin was generous and gave me good rewards, I can reach level 39!
  
  
  
  In my bag, there are 10+ black iron equipment, seven to eight green-tier equipment and five bronze equipment. My 29 charm provided me with rather abundant loots and this mission on the frontlines will definitely reward me with even more charm. I could already imagine, after completing this mission, my strength will rise rapidly! But of course, what I still value most now is still reaching level 40, the two new skills ?Ice Blade? and ?Swordsmanship Specialization? are simply too powerful!
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Accompanying the two beauties for dinner, I didn"t even bother to chat with them, I rushed through my meal and went back online!
  
  All the way until 10PM at night, I kept hammering away at my quest and finally I reached my target of 2000/2000. My level is at 38 with 52% experience, it"s still a long way from reaching level 39 but, what was most exciting is that for the first time, in a very rare case, I"m the top 10 players list in Ba Huang City!
  
  1?Yan Zhao Warrior?Level 40?Job:Swordsman
  
  
  
  2?Jian Feng Han?Level 39?Job:Swordsman
  
  
  
  3?General Li Mu?Level 39?Job:Swordsman
  
  
  
  4?Yue Qing Qian?Level 39?Job:Assassin
  
  
  
  5?General Bai Qi?Level 39?Job:Berserker
  
  
  
  6?Yue Wei Liang?Level 39?Job:Assassin
  
  
  
  7?Soaring Dragon?Level 38?Job:Mage
  
  
  
  8?General Wang Jian?Level 38?Job:Swordsman
  
  
  
  9?Fierce Tiger?Level 38?Job:Berserker
  
  
  
  10?Xiao Yao Zi Zai?Level 38?Job:Scavenger of Dragon City
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  On the top players rank board in Ba Huang City, the most magnificent person has finally appeared. Although he"s currently lagging behind in the tenth place, at least he is now on the board and on top of that, my popularity in Ba Huang City is not too bad. In any case, I"m the man became famous a few days ago after being hunted down by the Wrath of Heroes and yet still coming out alive. A person who"s able to achieve that must be exceptional!
  
  Tightly clinging onto my Jade City Sword, I looked towards the front, the Dark Dwarves" camp that has been largely cleared by me. Moving forward anymore would bring me a blood-red coloured tent on top of a large rock. By the side of the tent, there are two dwarves who are holding metal swords. There"s no doubt that the person in the tent must be one of the leaders behind the Dark Dwarves!
  
  Yup, the quest requires me to kill him!
  
  
  
  Bringing Baby Bobo along, I step on the green rock with my Silver Locked Battle Boots and rush forward. After getting my health back to full, Baby Bobo lures the two guards towards me. Both of them were level 42 guards, but currently, I"ve already reached level 38, the difference in our levels is a mere 4, thus I don"t feel much pressure facing them both. Furthermore, Baby Bobo is also level 38, and his stings are sharper than ever!
  
  In a dizzying confusion, the two guards fell to the ground dead and looking at the faint light in the tent, I grabbed my long sword tightly. Hehe. it"s time for a one-on-one!
  
  ......
  
  
  
  "Shua!"
  
  My blade fiercely cuts through the cloth of the tent. In the night, the interiors of the tent felt warm but the scene that appeared before left me shocked -
  
  
  
  On the bed, there were two female, both in their twenties, being bounded there with their arms tied behind their backs. Their arms were filled with blood red wounds. Both of them are wearing blouses and by their side, there are two magic staffs, indicating that they are probably either mages or healers. Their mouths were stuffed with cotton and upon seeing me, they began to shout agitatedly.
  
  ......
  
  
  
  My heart sunk for a moment, I was completely speechless. Why are there human women in this tent, could they be captured?
  
  Moving forward, I stretch my hand and remove the cotton from the two female NPC"s mouth, and surprisingly, they kept their cool. Looking at the signet on my arm, one of them says, "I really didn"t expect it, to think that there would actually be brave souls coming from Ba Huang City to save us!"
  
  I ask, "Who are you?"
  
  The other lady replies, "We are rangers from Ba Huang City and we were under orders to impart magical skills and healing techniques to the children from the surrounding villages. However, we didn"t expect that we would get lost and ended up getting captured by this bunch of despicable Dark Dwarves in the Fire Stone Canyon."
  
  
  
  "Hurry..." The woman on the left perks her ears and says with an anxious tone, "That demon is coming back. You... you better leave quickly, otherwise he would slaughter you!"
  
  "What demon?"
  
  I hold my sword in front my chest and while looking outside, laugh, "Watch as I get rid of that demon..."
  Chapter 72 - Killing His Highness
  
  This chapter was sponsored by William Wang and Fabio Cunha Cintra! Thanks!
  
  "Shua!"
  With a flash of the Jade City Sword, the ropes binding the two ladies are severed and fall to the ground. In the game, my perception of distance is pretty accurate.
  
  
  
  The two ladies immediately go into action, each of them grabbing their staffs. When one of the ladies grabs her staff, the tip of her staff morphs into a shape of a medicine pot. Indeed, she"s a healer, there is finally hope!
  
  ......
  
  
  
  "Hua!"
  
  The curtains of the tent are forcefully pulled apart. A man with a black skin tone, carrying a war axe, walks in. Jie jie, without even looking, he laughs and says, "And here I was wondering who it was that dared to enter my tent, and it turns out to be nothing more than a timid little mouse! You two beauties over there; your boss has finally returned. Now we can finally get started..."
  
  I look at the two beautiful NPCs, the clothes on their body are torn apart and their skin is bruised. Then I count with my fingers. I"ve been grinding here for ten hours, and in ten hours, he was actually unable to dominate two women, what kind of efficiency is this!?
  
  Holding my sword in front of my chest, while Baby Bobo dances around my shoulders, I take a closer look. The burly dwarf leader who just walked in is indeed different from the rest. He is fully dressed in shining golden armor and his long beard, perhaps afraid that it might shed, is held in place by gold band. In short, the dwarf in front of me must be some kind of royalty within the Dark Dwarves tribe. Looking at his name, it is indeed as I expected -
  
  ?Prince of Dark Dwarves - Ming Jie?(Gold-rank Boss)
  
  
  
  Level:43
  
  
  
  Attack:750-880
  
  
  
  Defense:700
  
  
  
  HP:400000
  
  
  
  Abilities:?Heavy Strike??Flame Blade??Night Dance of the Axes?
  
  
  
  Description: Ming Jie, a prince of the Dark Dwarves in the Far East, is the absolute king of the Dark Dwarves. Ming Jie is brutal and lustful nature and has a special interest towards female humans and night elves. According to legend, in the mountain caves of Prince Ming Jie, there are more than 100 beautiful moon elves hidden...
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Looking at the description, I shout with indignation, "You beast!"
  
  Ming Jie also starts roaring. Holding war axes in both of his hands, he shouts, "Gah! Damn brat, where did you pop up from? To actually dare to steal away my women, prepare to go to hell!"
  
  With a flick of my arms, the Jade City Sword carves out a flower in the air and at the same time, the golden signet on my arm emits a faint light, and on my shoulders, a line of clear words can be seen - 10th Rank in Ba Huang City!
  
  Behind me, the beautiful healer NPC looks at my back and says, "Youngster, you can put your heart at ease and focus on the fight, I will use recovery magic to soothe your wounded body..."
  
  
  
  From the looks of it, I will be able to get healed by the NPC. Good, now my odds of beating him are much higher!
  
  "Shua..."
  
  
  
  Stepping out, I make a preemptive strike. With a flash of my blade, the mark of a flower appears at the boss"s neck with fresh blood gushing out from the wound. The attack reduces the boss of 247 of his health points; the defense of this boss is really pretty impressive. Just a little less offensive power and I wouldn"t be able to break his defense to deal significant damage. In the next instant, I get into the position of a sword stance and three rays of hexagram light appear on my blade. Pah pah pah, light emits from my sword as I do a combo slash on the boss.
  
  
  
  "221!"
  
  "198!"
  
  "207!"
  
  My attacks completely enrage the prince of the Dark Dwarves. He roars and brandishes his war axes, cutting downwards. Crimson red flames appear after his axes, indicating the usage of his level 40 skill - ?Flame Blade?!
  
  
  
  I hastily retreat and try to dodge by moving out of the axe"s trajectory. But, due to my agility being much lower than the boss, there is an intense pain on the back of my shoulders and with the downward cut of the axe, I am almost beheaded-
  
  
  
  "679!"
  
  Looking at those damage numbers, my soul goes into a frenzy, I can feel my heart breaking apart. If the boss attacks me once more, I would most certainly be KO-ed. Waving my arms around, the light of recovery appears on my sword and with a glow of light on me, I recover 600 health points. At the same time, I punch the ground.
  
  "Peng!"
  
  A long metal chain emerges from the ground and entangles around the feet of Ming Jie. A LV-4 Binding Chain lasts for only 2.1 seconds against Ming Jie due to the natural resistance of boss-tier monsters; otherwise it would last for at least 3 seconds.
  
  
  
  Baby Bobo begins an attacking frenzy and continuously stings the boss. At the same time, I swiftly move to the right side of the boss. A white aura emanates from beneath from my feet, and I activate?Strength of a Thousand Men?. A flurry of a five combo hit slashes at the boss in a timeframe of 1.2 seconds. However, the fourth hit doesn"t manage to break the boss"s defense. As for the final strike, ?Wind Blade?, it only deals 409 damage. But it can"t be considered too bad, because no matter what, the monster in front of me is a gold-tier boss.
  
  After 2.1 seconds pass, Prince Ming Jie roars and once again, lifts his war axe and does a ?Heavy Strike? against Baby Bobo!
  
  "709!"
  
  Baby Bobo trembles. Fortunately, Baby Bobo is already at level 38 and his health has risen considerably. Otherwise, it would probably be a one hit KO!
  
  I start to panic and immediately move Baby Bobo backwards while I move myself up to take its place. Pah pah, with a stab and a slash from the Jade City Sword, I remove 400 health points from the boss, angering the Dark Dwarf once again. Holding the war axe, he does a horizontal sweep, causing my health to drop rapidly. Fortunately, the beautiful healer behind me is continuously waving her staff and casting one ?Heal? after another, recovering my health points by 750 each time.
  
  
  
  However, the boss"s attacks continue furiously, and in the blink of an eye, I am still unable to hold my ground.
  
  "Peng!"
  
  The light on the war axe shines brightly and in an instant, the small tent breaks apart. The moonlight scatters on all of our bodies.
  
  "Go to hell!"
  
  Prince Ming Jie, stomping on the rock, continues his flurry of attacks!
  
  "Keng!"
  
  "398!"
  
  With his blows, he knocks back my Jade City Sword and at the same time, deals out high damage. I also notice that whenever the boss does a horizontal sweep, his war axe always glows with a crimson red aura, it seems like his main method of attacking is a horizontal sweep. Maybe that"s the reason why he keeps dealing out horizontal sweeps, causing my health to barely upkeep with his damage output.
  
  
  
  What"s worse is that I have been paying attention to the mana bar of the healer and the longest she can sustain the healings is around 5 minutes or so. If this goes on, once her mana bar drops to zero, I will surely be killed.
  
  
  
  As for the mage, she has been consistently casting ?Icicle Spell?s to control Ming Jie"s attacking speed and movement speed; otherwise I would probably have been dead long ago.
  
  
  
  "Shua!"
  
  "+600!"
  
  After self-healing myself for 600 health points, I look around at my surroundings and while holding my sword, I retreat quickly. Behind me is a narrow pass between the mountains which is about a meter wide. Baiting him there, I decide that it was there that I shall exterminate this level 43 gold-tier boss!
  
  "Darn brat, I shall break all your tendons and skin you alive, and you will feel what hell on earth means!"
  
  Prince Ming Jie, carrying his war axe, rushes into the corridor and carries on with his usual horizontal sweeping attack pattern. However, the one meter long war axe immediately clashes into the mountains at both sides causing sparks to fly everywhere. Due to the lack of space, the war axe is unable to showcase its true prowess, causing his offensive power to take a huge dip, dishing out damage less than 200 with each strike. His methods of attacking with the war axe are either a vertically downwards cut or a horizontal sweep whereas with my Jade City Sword, my greatest expertise lies in stabbing, which also happens to deal the most damage. With the tides turning, my healing gradually starts keeping up with the rate I was losing my health points. To add on, Baby Bobo is flying around and from time to time and deals an excruciating blow to Ming Jie!
  
  
  
  Very soon, I begin to see hope in killing this level 43 boss. Behind the corridor, the two NPC ladies also catch up and the pretty healer begins to heal me using ?Therapy?. It is the situation I want to see, her being able to control her mana output.
  
  
  
  "Damn it. Go to hell, all of you!"
  
  When Ming Jie"s life has only around 10% of his health left, he suddenly lowers his body posture, and his body begins to be surrounded by a dense and dark smoke. He is about to use his final technique - ?Night Dance of the Axes?
  
  
  
  "Peng peng peng..."
  
  The edge of his axe brakes apart the mountain rocks at the side. Prince Ming Jie looks like a black rock rolling towards me.
  
  I don"t dare to let down my guard and immediately place the long sword horizontally in front my chest, entering a defensive state!
  
  "Keng keng keng..."
  
  As the edge of the axe clashes with the blade, it sparks off a series of sparks. It is a way of fighting that places one"s life on the line. The damage numbers continuously appear, giving me no chance to heal myself -
  
  "298!"
  
  "301!"
  
  
  
  "297!"
  
  "344!"
  
  ......
  
  
  
  In an instant, my health reaches rock bottom and in the next moment, I appear in a nearby grave as a wandering soul. Damn it, I was actually killed like that?!
  
  But within the second that I am killed, a system notice appears in front of my eyes -
  
  
  
  "Di!"
  Battle Notice: Healer Katarina used ?Revive?, would you like to revive now?
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Revive?! A level 40 healer skill!
  
  I immediately choose to revive and in a flash of light, I appear at the spot where I died with 50% health and mana. Raising my hands, I use ?Heal? and at the next moment, I am at full health once again. At the same, a white aura emanates from beneath my feet and I immediately activate ?Strength of a Thousand Men? and do a combo hit on the back of the boss!
  
  With only 10% health remaining, the boss has already entered a dying state, its roar gradually get softer and softer. At the same time, being stuck in this corridor, it is unable to use its full power. On top of that, the ?Night Dance of the Axes? has a cooldown time of at least 5 minutes and 5 minutes is sufficient for me to remove that remaining 10% health from him!
  
  
  
  The boss"s life bar gradually gets shorter and shorter, my heart is about to leap out of my throat. Looking at my arm, the "10th Rank in Ba Huang City" signet on my arm has already disappeared. Damn it, losing one level has caused me to go out of the ranking.
  
  
  
  With one slash after another, a sense of satisfaction builds up within my heart. A 43 gold-tier boss, I wonder what treasures this Dark Dwarf Prince would drop for me.
  
  The mystery is unraveled in two minutes. Along with a fierce blow from my ?Wind Blade?, Prince Ming Jie cries in agony, keng, the war axe in his hands brakes into two parts and he kneels on the floor, his eyes filling with indignation, "Brat, if you kill me, my father will definitely lead his great army to seek revenge for me. Just wait and see..."
  
  
  
  "Hua la la..."
  
  At the moment at the boss dies, a few pieces of equipment drop. At the same time, I level back up to level 38, the "10th Rank in Ba Huang City" signet reappears on my shoulders. How magnificent!
  
  Silently moving forward to see the items that Ming Jie drops, I see a crimson red necklace which resembles the movements of a burning flame and a shield that seems to be molded by cold metal. He also drops 10+ gold coins together with a mysterious gemstone. The gemstone is clear without any flaws and shines brightly. Although I have no idea what type of item it is, an item dropped by a gold-tier boss can"t possibly be anything bad!
  Chapter 73 - Shield of the Broken Army
  
  This chapter was sponsored by Zachary Tanmizi, Fnu Mahendran Siddharth, Rick Nelson, Felix Alexy and William Wang. Thanks!
  
  TL: 1 out of 1 Chap Zhan Long today and probs a chap of BTTH tmrw! Tired, sorry about the promise before, I"ll make it up tomorrow.
  
  I hold the necklace in my hand; its end was shaped like a battle axe. The necklace has a blood-red glow and killing intent saturates the air. At the same time scorching energy seeps into my palm. Mm, this necklace isn"t a bad item or else it wouldn"t have such a dense feeling!
  
  
  
  I wave my hand and the stats of the necklace appear in front of me. Indeed they don"t disappoint--
  
  
  
  ?Necklace of the Broken Army?(Gold-Tier Equipment)
  
  
  
  Strength: +27
  
  
  
  Endurance: +25
  
  
  
  Additional: Increases defense by 70 points
  
  
  
  Level Requirement: 38
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Holding this Necklace of the Broken Army I stare at it blankly for 10 seconds. Finally, I remember to breathe. 27 strength and 25 endurance, these are all stats that a swordsman needs! Those 70 points of defense are also very valuable. It can raise my defense to a whole new level! More importantly, 70 points of defense would take at least 60 points in toughness (defense) to reach that. So the real value in this necklace is much more than the 27 strength and 25 endurance!
  
  
  
  With a pop the necklace appears on my neck and replaces the original Necklace of Bravery. The equipment that the General Family "gifted" me has reached its end...
  
  
  
  ?Xiao Yao Zi Zai? (Scavenger of Dragon City)
  
  
  
  Level: 38
  
  
  
  Attack: 639-852
  
  
  
  Defense: 675
  
  
  
  HP: 1356
  
  
  
  MP: 470
  
  
  
  Charm: 29
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  The original necklace increased maximum HP by 50 points, but the new Necklace of the Broken Army increases 25 endurance, which means that my maximum HP increased by 200 points, so obviously it"s way superior. In addition to those 70 points of defense, my tenacity has increased significantly! With my 675 points of defense I can match the average monks and knights.
  
  
  
  Why? First of all my defense equipment is fairly good. My Elite Steel Wrist Guards and Silver Locked Battle Boots are both silver-rank equipment and Dawn"s Chestplate is a gold-rank equipment. With this Necklace of the Broken Army, all my defensive equipment are quite high class. With my strong attack and healing skills, my entire combat ability is at least in the top 10 in Ba Huang City. Of course if you add battle tactics, control, etc., I might not reach the top 100. I am very clear about that. I"m fairly new to these VR games and if I meet anyone on the leaderboard, killing any of them will take quite a bit of work.
  
  
  
  I continue going through my loot. Besides the necklace, the dark prince also dropped a shield for me. I struggle to raise the huge black shield. With a shake of my arms the stats appear in front of my eyes. Damn, nice!
  
  
  
  ?Shield of the Broken Army? (Gold-rank Equipment)
  
  
  
  Defense: 170
  
  
  
  Strength: +25
  
  
  
  Endurance: +20
  
  
  
  Additional: Increases defense by 0.9%
  
  
  
  Level Requirement: 38
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  The moment I laid my eyes on the stats of this shield, I froze. 170 points of defense! Damn, who in this world can take more hits than knights or monks? Out of the 9 main classes, only monks and knights can equip this shield and the defenses on a shield are way more than chest plates of the same level! By this alone, the meat tank positions of the two classes are untouchable.
  
  
  
  I put away the shield and I say no more. Time to get rich. None of my close friends need this shield, so I should sell it. A gold-rank shield will undoubtedly fetch a high price!
  
  
  
  I continue and gather up the gold coins on the ground before finally looking at that faint purple gem. I pick it up and go silent--
  
  
  
  ?Soul Gem?: Strengthens weapons or defensive equipment to improve the quality of the equipment!
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Soul Gem?!
  
  
  
  I pick up this purple rock and think for a while. Then I open the strengthening window and decide to put my sword in it along with the warm Soul Gem. Indeed the percentage of strengthening appeared --90%!
  
  
  
  Whatever, I"ll strengthen it first and then figure it out later. I don"t have any good defensive equipment to strengthen anyways!
  
  
  
  After pressing "Yes" and with a ding...
  
  
  
  System Notification: Congratulations! Your item [Jade City Sword] has been strengthened! Also, since you are the first player to successfully strengthen an equipment, charm +2!
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Good, I have 31 points of charm now, but that"s not the important part. What does my sword look like after it has been strengthened?!
  
  
  
  I quickly open up my bag and hold the sword. I re-equip it and scan over it. The stats really did change--
  
  
  
  ?Jade City Sword +1?(Gold-rank Equipment)
  
  
  
  Attack: 210-300(+21-30)
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Hehe, looking at the stats with +1, it raises 10% of the attack damage?!
  
  
  
  Looking at the stats it really did add 21-30 attack damage. Hehe, looking at the effects of strengthening, soul gems seem pretty good. But I"m the first player to strengthen an equipment, so perhaps it was a waste to use it on my sword...
  
  
  
  Whatever, I"ll return first and hand in the mission!
  
  
  
  I say my goodbyes to the two NPCs and sadly I don"t have any method of communication or else I would leave my Skype or something with them. The two are almost in tears while watching me leave and seem to not want to separate. I almost feel like they want to say something like, "I"m afraid that we won"t be able to meet again. So I have no other request, but only beg that I can sleep with you for one night, so I can understand and ease your pain and suffering..."
  
  
  
  Seeing as those two almost want to cry I quickly take my sword and leave. In the desolate basin I have the prince"s head in one hand. This is proof of my work!
  
  
  
  I rush straight to the Dragon City and find Beast Tamer Dalin carving away at a huge log with a small knife to create a fence to block out deer. This really moves my heart because on one side he needs to hunt and collect food for the winter and on the other side he needs to collect manure. Even the defense work for Dragon City is done by him!
  
  
  
  I walk up to him and say, "Instructor, you work way too hard. Let other people do these small tasks..."
  
  
  
  "Other people?"
  
  
  
  He sneers at me, pats my shoulders, and says, "Boy, you don"t understand. Although there are plenty of talented people in Dragon City, there aren"t many useful ones. There are 100 soldiers, 200 servants, and adding up the supply teams, there are less than 1000 people stationed in Dragon City! If I don"t do these tasks then I"m afraid no one else would."
  
  
  
  I nod and take out the bounty post, "Instructor, I already finished the mission and defeated the Dark Dwarves. Also I brought you this..."
  
  
  
  With a bang the head of the prince rolls to Dalin"s feet. Dalin seems like he got electrocuted and looks at me with a shocked expression, "This...This is the Dark Dwarves" highness...Ming Jie! Gods! What have you done boy? You killed Ming Jie?!"
  
  
  
  "Mm, is there a problem?"
  
  
  
  "No, nothing. Perhaps this is better. Maybe killing Ming Jie is a good thing. It"ll allow the Dark Dwarves to continue hiding in some faraway place and not invade our borders. Or maybe it"s a bad thing...Whatever, it doesn"t matter. Boy, you completed a near impossible mission. Come, this fame and rewards belong to you..."
  
  
  
  Ding!
  
  
  
  System Notification: Congratulations! You finished an A-rank mission?Hunting Dark Dwarves?, and receive 50000 experience points, 100 gold coins, and 3 charm. Your fame in Dragon City has also increased. Also you receive reward item ?Ice Fire Cloak?!
  
  With a ding, I level up to 39!
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  My luck is pretty good and I got an equipment reward! I immediately open my bag and see the cloak lying in the corner of the bag. It has an icy color on one side and a fiery color on the other.
  
  
  
  ?Ice Fire Cloak? (Gold-rank Equipment)
  
  
  
  Defense: 150
  
  
  
  Strength: +28
  
  
  
  Endurance: +24
  
  
  
  Additional: Increases defense by 50 points
  
  
  
  Level Requirement: 39
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Looking at the stats I almost faint. This is godly! This is absolutely godly! As a cloak it brings 150 points of defense to the table! Not only that, it still increases defense by another 50 points and even adds an extra 52 points of strength and endurance!
  
  
  
  Without hesitation, I take out the cloak and immediately wear it. Instantly I feel both warm and cold but it feels really nice as they seep into my body. My defense increased explosively once again--
  
  
  
  ?Xiao Yao Zi Zai? (Scavenger of Dragon City)
  
  
  
  Level: 39
  
  
  
  Attack: 689-916
  
  
  
  Defense: 845
  
  
  
  HP: 1558
  
  
  
  MP: 480
  
  
  
  Charm: 34
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  My attack, defense, and HP are all insanely strong. I am absolutely sure that my stats have at least surpassed Yan Zhao and maybe it even reached Feng Han"s level. Of course I"m just talking about stats. Let"s not talk about the other things...
  
  
  
  Looking at these stats happily. I look at the Necklace of Bravery and the Shield of the Broken Army in my bag. I think it"s time to return to Ba Huang City. I"ll sell these two equipment and convert them into gold coins. Then I"ll convert the gold coins into cash. In the early stages of the game, if I can earn money then I"ll earn them!
  
  
  
  I take out a city return scroll and use it.
  
  
  
  Whoosh!
  
  
  
  I appear in the northern entrance of Ba Huang City because my city return scroll is bought from the stores in the northern plaza.
  
  
  
  I immediately set up shop at the first available space I find. I put Shield of the Broken Army and Necklace of Bravery up and yell at the top of my lungs, "Selling high-class equipment!! Level 38 gold-ranked shield, 170 points of defense and adds strength on top of that. Don"t miss out on this sale! There"s also a necklace that adds 20 strength. Anyone who wants it, come and give me a price!"
  
  
  
  Good items don"t have a bad market! Quickly, my stall fills with players. The Necklace of Bravery was sold for 11 gold coins. That item is already past its prime and there aren"t a lot of players who are willing to buy that. But the stats on the Shield of the Broken Army are incredible and under the short amount of time since I set up shop, no one gave me a fair price that I wanted.
  
  
  
  After a good 10 minutes, finally an extremely well equipped player steps into my view. I know him! Guild master of [Vanguard]--Jian Feng Han!
  
  
  
  "Xiao Yao Zi Zai?!"
  
  
  
  Feng Han saw my ID and my golden leader-board crest on my shoulder. He frowns, "I never would have thought that you would be the one selling the #1 shield in Ba Huang City!"
  
  
  
  I smile, "Are you interested in the shield?"
  
  
  
  He nods, "Yep! How much?"
  
  
  
  "Give me a price!"
  
  
  
  "That"s..."
  
  
  
  Behind Feng Han I see a chain-mail wearing player. ID: Fushen Moren, level 38 monk. He"s holding a bronze-tier shield and says, "Boss, that"s too wasteful. I don"t need that high-leveled shield..."
  
  Feng Han shakes his head and laughs, "Say no more, I"ll buy it!"
  
  After saying that Feng Han looks towards me, "Brother Zi Zai, how about this. I"ll give 500 gold coins for this shield."
  
  "500 gold?" I frown, "That"s too little isn"t it?"
  
  "It"s not worth a lot of money for equipment like that..." Feng Han tries to start a psychological war.
  
  I smile and spread my arms, "We know each other well, so don"t try any tricks. When everyone rises to level 40 and enter high leveled areas on the map this is pretty much essential. Especially, if you want to go and kill level 50 gold-rank and above bosses to get the Guild Creation Tablet. This shield is one of the best to have. Also if [Vanguard] doesn"t want it, then I"m sure [Flying Dragons] or [Prague] would be very interested in it. I"m sure that you don"t want [Prague] to be first to get the tablet right?"
  
  Fang Han widens his eyes, clenches his fists, and says, "1000 gold coins!"
  
  "Deal!"
  Chapter 74 - Duels in the Dueling Ring
  
  This chapter was sponsored by Matthew Potter, Thomas Fuchs, Richard Hu, Jonathen Chim and William Wang!
  
  TL: FIXED! Sorry, bad copy/pasting! Goal for toady: 3 Zhan Long - 1 BTTH (1 Zhan Long down!)
  
  I knew that Feng Han is determined to buy this shield because anyone knows that whoever has the shield can create a top-class tank and have a much easier time against a level 50+ gold-tier boss. In a boss fight, strong monks and knights are irreplaceable. So whoever can create a strong meat shield will have a greater chance at getting the Guild Creation Tablet!
  
  
  
  To be able to create the first guild, the guild won"t possibly be weak. With a wave and a shout the top-class players of Ba Huang City would rush to join them. Feng Han knows this very clearly in his heart.
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  "Xiao Yao Zi Zai, wait a few minutes for me." Feng Han shoots a smile at me, "I"m going to go and collect the gold coins. As you know 1000 gold isn"t a small number. Wait a few minutes for me please..."
  
  
  
  I nod, "Mm, no problem."
  
  
  
  Before long, a total of 7 players came and traded with Feng Han. After finishing the trades, Feng Han turns around and sends me a trade request. I accept and open the trading window. He put in 1000 gold coins, and I put the Shield of the Broken Army in. Both of us confirm the trade and it"s a done deal!
  
  
  
  Pop!
  
  
  
  A heavy bag of coins lands in my hand, 1000 gold coins!
  
  
  
  I couldn"t help but be excited and I immediately put the 1000 gold coins in the online trading center. With a ratio of 1:10 I can earn a good 10 thousand Yuan (~$1600). I"ll just sell all the gold in one go. Currently most guilds are collecting high-level potions, equipment, skill books, etc. and the amount of money they spend on those things is unaccountable. So it is not rare for players to buy 1000 gold in one go.
  
  
  
  "Okay, thanks..."
  
  
  
  After receiving the shield, Feng Han smiles at me and says, "Xiao Yao Zi Zai, you are a pretty interesting person. Would you like to join [Vanguard]?"
  
  
  
  I shake my head, "Thanks for the offer, but I prefer going solo."
  
  
  
  "That"s alright; I"ll see you soon then!"
  
  
  
  Feng Han spins around and gives the shield to the monk called "Fushen Moren". He couldn"t contain his excitement as he equipped the shield and says, "Thank you boss!"
  
  
  
  "We"re family! Just keep on grinding while we prepare to attack a level 50+ boss. You can repay me with hard work!"
  
  
  
  "Understood!"
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Tick!
  
  
  
  A message comes from Qing Qian, "Xiao Yao, you sold off the Shield of the Broken Army?"
  
  
  
  "Mm, Feng Han bought it. Your information network is quite effective..."
  
  
  
  "We have scouts reporting in." Qing Qing opens up a call and laughs, "Yan Zhao saw that the shield was sold to [Vanguard] and he"s hitting his leg in anger. He says that you should have contacted [Prague] first and given priority to [Prague]."
  
  
  
  I purse my lips and ask, "He really said that? He kicked you out of [Prague] because of me, and then later on he killed me. Doing all those things, does he really think I would give priority to [Prague]? Qing Qian, you can tell Yan Zhao clearly, that I swear, sooner or later, I will defeat him personally!"
  
  
  
  "Eh, Xiao Yao, are you sure about that?"
  
  
  
  "Mm, yep."
  
  
  
  "That"s fine, but why?"
  
  
  
  "Because Yan Zhao caused trouble for you and you"re my friend. So I gotta return the favour."
  
  
  
  "But I really don"t want you and Yan Zhao to fight..."
  
  
  
  "Don"t worry, I only want to win in a fight and not to eliminate [Prague]...And I only have myself, it would be impossible for me to go against a huge guild like [Prague]."
  
  
  
  "Okay, then Xiao Yao, keep on level grinding, I..."
  
  
  
  In the chat box Qing Qian"s face suddenly goes red, "I will...wait for you..."
  
  
  
  I smile, "Wait for me for what?"
  
  
  
  Qing Qian bites down on her lips and seemingly made a huge decision and says, "I"ll wait until you get stronger and take me away from [Prague]..."
  
  
  
  I go silent for a few seconds and smile, "Mm, I"ll try my best!"
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  I sold a few other items and got rid of the bronze and green equipment and earned a few more gold coins. I suddenly feel like a skilled player because of the high-leveled equipment I was selling? Of course it"s related to my 30+ charm; the higher the charm, the better my luck is.
  
  
  
  I kept the stall going until 10 o"clock at night and hear anything from Wan Er. Since I have nothing more to do, I open my friend"s list and see Cang Tong"s face. I click on it and I find out she"s already level 41, so I send a message, "Wan Er, have you gone insane with level grinding? Don"t you want to have dinner?"
  
  
  
  Wan Er replies after a few seconds, "I"m killing a boss with Cheng Yue. Talk to me in 10 minutes!"
  
  
  
  "Okay..."
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  After selling all my items I take my sword and wander around the plaza. While wandering, I see a huge crowd rush towards an entrance. It seems they"re not leaving to level grind, but rather there"s something interesting there. So I follow the crowd as well.
  
  
  
  Outside of the Ba Huang City"s entrance in the forest plains, there are players crowded. Even the Vampire Bats were annihilated and in the middle of the plains a player is standing there in full chainmail armor holding a battle axe. He seems like he"s around 27 years or so and his face is full of killing intent. On his shoulder there"s an emblem that says "Ba Huang City"s #7 player" and hovering over his head is a line of words--
  
  ID: Fierce Tiger LV-40 Silver Berserker
  
  ......
  
  Damn it"s a berserker that has been promoted two times!
  
  Fierce Tiger stands in the middle of the crowd and puts his battle axe on his shoulder laughing, "My friends in Ba Huang City. I am Fierce Tiger, a core member of the [Flying Dragons] guild. Today I set up a small dueling ring here, so we can have a friendly duel and form friendships. Anyone can try this out and you are all welcome to join [Flying Dragons]. I will give 100 gold coins to whoever can defeat me. That"s all, anyone who wants to try this out just speak up!"
  
  Instantly the crowd bursts like a frying pan--
  
  "Ah, this is the Fierce Tiger of the leaderboard. Damn setting up a dueling ring here. Isn"t it a bit crazy?"
  
  "Obviously this is for recruiting new members in [Flying Dragon]!"
  
  "If he loses then that"s 100 gold coins right there!"
  
  "Gods...100 gold coins is 1000 Yuan! That"s a week"s worth of wages! Even if you lose there"s no need to be ashamed since the opponent is a player on the leaderboard!"
  
  ......
  
  Before long a mage walks up while holding a staff. It"s a level 37 mage and he says, "Then I"ll give it a try. If I win you will really give me 100 gold coins right?"
  
  Fierce Tiger thumps his chest and says, "Don"t worry, a man keeps his promises!"
  
  "Good!"
  
  The battle starts. The mage starts waving his staff and he starts moving back while casting [Icicle]. Tiger raises his axe and he plows through the icicles. The mage has good control. He casts [Chilling Wind] and [Rock Spikes]. Before half a minute, Tiger"s HP is near empty and he quickly drinks a health potion.
  
  
  
  When everyone thought that Tiger was going to die, he raises his axe and uses [Fire Axe] and with a whoosh he sweeps over the mage"s body! He sacrificed nearly his entire HP for a chance to attack!
  
  
  
  "864!"
  
  
  
  Everyone stares at it blankly, an instant kill!
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  The mage revives with full HP without any losses and looks a bit ashamed, "The leaderboard players really are different, very strong very strong..."
  
  
  
  Fierce Tiger raises his battle axe and laughs, "Anyone else?"
  
  
  
  Within the crowd a level 36 swordsman holds his longsword and walks out smiling, "Let me try!"
  
  
  
  Berserker VS Swordsman, a battle between two heavy armored classes!
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Ding!
  
  
  
  With the sharp sound of casting [Combo], sparks appear on Tiger"s chest. LV 4 [Combo], showing off his ability--
  
  
  
  "174!"
  
  
  
  "149!"
  
  
  
  "167!"
  
  
  
  Sadly the attack of this level 36 swordsman is way too low and he can"t break through Tiger"s defense!
  
  
  
  "Hehe, my turn!"
  
  
  
  Tiger bellows and uses LV 4 [Rage] which increases attack by 8%. At the same time he raises his arms and violently strikes the chest of the little swordsman. Then he uses another ability, LV 4 [Penetration]: the next strike will ignore 20% of the target"s defense!
  
  
  
  Whoosh...
  
  
  
  Flames fly and it"s [Flame Axe], the skill you get from the second promotion of a Berserker!
  
  
  
  Clang!
  
  
  
  The axe sweeps by and the swordsman"s armor breaks along with a huge damage number--
  
  
  
  "918!"
  
  
  
  Quickly afterwards Tiger keeps up his momentum and uses another [Fire Axe], dealing 400 damage and killing the little swordsman!
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  After two continuous rounds, Tiger holds his axe and stands there smiling, "Who else?"
  
  
  
  Everyone is shocked and no one else volunteers.
  
  
  
  At that time a clear voice rings, "A full-strength berserker is indeed strong and the weapon you"re holding is the level 32 gold-tier axe right? I"ll play with you..."
  
  
  
  In the crowd, a player walks out and it"s no other then the monk holding the Shield of the Broken Army--Fushen Moren!
  
  
  
  I"m confused. Although monks have high HP and defense, but they don"t have a lot of attack damage. How can he go against a full-strength berserker? Isn"t he disadvantaged?
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Fierce Tiger squints his eyes, looks at Fushen, and laughs, "Oh, it"s the chief monk of [Vanguard]! Good good, I"ll duel with you!"
  
  
  
  Fushen raises his hands along with his staff smiling, "Then, excuse me..."
  
  
  
  Tiger rapidly rushes towards him while raising his axe.
  
  
  
  The corner of Fushen"s mouth rise and he rapidly backs away. At the same time he raises his arms and casts level 4 [Taunt]!
  
  
  
  Instantly Tiger"s attack damage is lowered by 8%. At the moment before his axe falls on the monk"s head, Fushen casts other buffs like [Regen], [Golden Defense]. The effect of [Golden Defense] is to raises defense by 12%! It"s not something that you can overlook!
  
  
  
  Clang!
  
  
  
  The battle axe falls on his helmet and the clang between gold and stone can be heard. A damage number of 117 appears. [Fire Axe] only did that much damage!
  
  
  
  "Impossible!" Tiger seems shocked and with a wave of his hand he calls out his pet. In the hexagram an Ice Rat appears next to him. Mm smart, magic-based pets can ignore heavy armor defense. It"s the arch nemesis of heavy armor classes!hapter 75 - Battle of the Gold Coins
  
  This chapter was sponsored by William Wang and Hannu Hautalampi!
  
  TL: 1 more ZL and BTTH!
  
  Inside the dueling ring were core players from [Vanguard] and [Flying Dragon]. Although it was said to be just a sparring match, tensions from the two guilds could still be felt by the audience.
  
  
  
  Whoosh!
  
  An ice spear stabs directly into Fushen Moren"s shoulders, dealing 448 damage. Although the defense of those in the monk class is exceptional, their resistance against magic is slightly lacking. Fortunately, Fushen Moren added 5 stat points into endurance every level, causing his health points to reach a staggering 2500, making it impossible for him to be killed in an instant.
  "Damn..."
  
  Looking at the powerful attacks from the Ice Rat, Fushen Moren began to feel anxious and charges forward with his staff. Raising his staff up high, with a pah, he smashes his staff onto the head of the Ice Rat, dealing 229 damage. That wasn"t all, with a flick of his hand, a Killer Bee flies out with incredible speed. At the same time, a golden hexagram appears on its stinger and with a 4 hit combo, it stings the Ice Rat!
  
  Squeal...
  
  The Ice Rat cries in pain and slumps to the ground, dying just like that. The Ice Rat has high magic growth, enabling it to dish out high damage, but in exchange for that, its defense and health were way below average!
  
  Fierce Tiger looks at the carnage of his pet for a moment, then grabbing his battle axe; he makes use of the opportunity to launch an attack. Traversing along the movement of the blade were crimson red flames. [Burning Axe], his level 40, second promotion skill!
  
  
  
  Bang!
  
  "1278!"
  
  
  
  It was a fatal blow and the killer bee was seemingly cut into two halves. Despite being a level 38 pet, it was unable to take a single hit from Fierce Tiger. It wasn"t too surprising though, as berserkers had the title of possessing the greatest brute strength and damage amongst the 9 main classes!
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Fushen Moren panicked. Losing his pet, he could only attack with his staff now. What makes things worse was that with each smash of his staff, he could only deal 100+ damage on his opponents.
  
  "Die!"
  
  Fierce Tiger seemed to have gone into a frenzy and bashes his axe consecutively on Fushen Moren"s Shield of the Broken Army. Damage numbers were popping up left and right-
  
  
  
  "109!"
  
  "97!"
  
  "114!"
  
  Fierce Tiger looks in shock and couldn"t help but mumble under his breath, "Damn it, just how much defense does he have? I have an attack of 872, and yet I"m unable to break his defense?"
  
  Fushen Moren retreats a few steps and propping up his Shield of the Broken Army, he smiles, "1045 defense. I"m very sorry but I am a monk who adds 5 defense each level, with that mere 872 attack of yours, you can just go and take a break!"
  
  Fierce Tiger clenched his teeth and continued to his flurry of attacks with his battle axe. Once the 6 seconds cooldown time is over, he immediately roars and activates his other level 40 skill, [Burning Axe]!
  
  Bang!
  
  "317!"
  
  
  
  As expected, with [Burning Axe]"s greater offensive ability, he was able to break Fushen Moren"s defense.
  
  
  
  "Sha sha sha..."
  
  Fushen Moren took a couple of steps back, and his face flashed with confusion, "Damn it, are the second advancement skills really that much more powerful?!"
  
  Following right after, he continues to attack Fierce Tiger with his staff. When the health points of Fierce Tiger dropped to around 400 points, he drank a health potion and his health immediately recovered by 400 points. Once again, his axe began to flash with crimson flames.
  
  
  
  Clang!
  
  
  
  "588!"
  
  Fushen Moren"s health bar immediately drops to near bottom and he unconsciously retreats, "Damn it, the monk class really has no offensive abilities, how am I supposed to fight like this..."
  
  
  
  "Hah, then just obediently die here!"
  
  Fierce Tiger was merciless; he raises his axe and cuts down on the head of the monk!
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Whoosh!
  
  Light rose from the spot where Fushen Moren respawned. Even though he was weakly kneeling on the floor, his health points were back to full. He had indeed lost in that sparring match. Looking at the Shield of the Broken Army in his hands, he was unable to understand what just happened and mumbles, "Ha, so I really just lost like that..."
  
  
  
  Fierce Tiger, holding his battle axe, stood arrogantly in the center of the battlefield. Hehe, he laughs, "Looks like the top monk in [Vanguard] has a pretty good defense, but he isn"t able to fight over a long period of time. I heard that your shield was bought not long ago by Jian Feng Han at an exorbitant price of 1000 gold coins. I wonder if this golden equipment is being wasted..."
  
  In an instant, Fushen Moren"s face turned purple, but as his abilities were beneath Fierce Tiger"s, he could only clench his teeth and remain quiet.
  
  
  
  Fierce Tiger raises his eyebrows and continues to laugh, "My friends from Ba Huang City, is there still anyone who wants to pit their abilities against mine?"
  
  The crowd fell silent. Everyone has seen the abilities of this Berserker who has been promoted, and who would be willing to lose their dignity in front of such a crowd? Probably even Fushen Moren regrets his actions, challenging Fierce Tiger by himself and losing, causing the reputation of [Vanguard] to take a blow.
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Right at this moment, a man carrying a sword stood out from the crowd and walked leisurely in front of Fierce Tiger, smiling, "Then, let me try sparring with you..."
  
  
  
  Fierce Tiger shots a chilling look, "You... you are... Xiao Yao Zi Zai?!"
  
  Of course, under this kind of situation, if I don"t fight him then who else would still be willing to fight him...
  
  
  
  Looking at Fierce Tiger"s battle axe, I smile faintly, "Yup, that"s me. See, isn"t this proof?"
  
  Pointing to my head, there was a line of small golden words below my name, showing the words "10th Rank in Ba Huang City", identical to the golden mark above of Fierce Tiger.
  
  
  
  Fierce Tiger grinned and says, "Fine. Actually I would also like to understand the prowess of the legendary number 1 close combat healer. Oh, I see you have changed your job. Hmph, that"s also fine, at least strangers won"t say that I am bullying others now. Xiao Yao Zi Zai, I didn"t challenge you, it"s you who challenged me of your own accord. If you are to lose, don"t say that I am taking advantage of my strength to bully others."
  
  
  
  I was stunned, "What do you mean by bullying others? I am only here to claim the 100 gold coins for myself. Do you think I would feel any accomplishment from beating you? You"re wrong; in fact, I don"t even know you..."
  
  "Screw you!"
  
  
  
  Fierce Tiger clenches his fist and bubbles with unquenchable anger.
  
  I secretly laugh. Getting taunted so easily, he indeed lives up to his title as the [Flying Dragon]"s most fierce and most simple-minded player!
  
  I slowly remove my Jade City Sword from its sheath, and the crisp sound of the sword catches the attention of the crowd. At the same time, Turmoil Sword activates, boosting my attack damage by 10%. Going by my current attacking damage standards, my actual current upper limit of my attacking damage should be 1007!
  
  "I heard that you have an extremely powerful pet, having 5 stars in its attack growth and an excellence rating of 97%?" Fierce Tiger looks arrogantly at me, his face filled with disdain.
  
  
  
  I calmly laugh, "Fine, then let"s not use our pets and do a 1v1 battle between players!"
  
  "Just what I wanted!" Fierce Tiger smirks delightedly.
  
  
  
  I then ask, "So, how should we fight? Should we do a Technique Fight or a Brute Fight?"
  
  "What is a Technique Fight, and what is a Brute Fight?" Fierce Tiger asks with widened eyes.
  
  
  
  I slowly explain, "Technique Fight is a fight in which within the time of one skill"s cooldown, you can attack me with three blows and I won"t retaliate. If I were to die, then I would admit defeat. After that, I would deal you three blows and if you die, then you will have to admit defeat. As for Brute Fight, it would be just like an ordinary fight; whoever stands in the end is the winner."
  
  
  
  Fierce Tiger takes a deep breath and says, "Fine, then let"s do a Technique Fight. But, who will go first?"
  
  I smiled and extended my arms, gesturing him to go first, "You can go on the offensive first. I will give you the opportunity to attack me three times. I can dodge and defend and we"ll see whether you are able to cut me down."
  
  "Fine!"
  
  Fierce Tiger shakes his head proudly and carrying his war axes, laughs, "Xiao Yao Zi Zai, here I come!"
  
  "Feel free!"
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Holding my sword vertically in front of my chest, I hold my ground. I slowly swung the Jade City Sword down to my side. Just my standing posture alone exudes power.
  
  
  
  Fierce Tiger, holding his battle axe, rushes straight towards me. He suddenly twists his arms and did a sweeping attack with his battle axe. Rationally speaking, this attack is much harder to dodge as the range of attack is in the shape of a fan.
  
  "Pah..."
  
  With my left palm gently resting on the blade of the sword, I raise the Jade City Sword vertically on my right and used all the strength in my body to block my opponent"s attack. To make things worse, this blow of Fierce Tiger"s was a [Fire Axe]!
  
  Clang!
  
  Sparks flew and a large damage number appeared-
  
  
  
  "279!"
  
  This guy, his attacking abilities are really extraordinary!
  
  
  
  A look of consternation appears briefly in Fierce Tiger"s eyes, "What strong defensive capabilities!"
  
  Stepping hard on the grass, he leaps to my right and did an uppercut with his axe; it was a [Penetration] attack!
  
  However, I was looking at everything clearly and I slide my leg backwards!
  
  "Miss!"
  
  
  
  The Swordsman class has a high agility growth rate and this advantage was very apparent, shown by how easily I dodged his attack. However, the defense ignoring effect was still applied and with his next attack, he would be able to ignore 20% of my defense, making the next blow an extremely painful one!
  
  
  
  Coming right after the second strike was the third strike, [Burning Axe], the most powerful killing technique after the 2nd job advancement!
  I wasn"t so presumptuous as to think that I would live through that easily, I raise my hands and using [Heal], I got myself to full health while at the same time, tried to avoid his attack. But, the enemy"s battle axe, as though creating an invisible force field, suddenly made my movements very slow. This was a game restraint due to my level and techniques; I was unable to dodge the next attack!
  
  
  
  Clang!
  
  My shoulders felt a pain that seemed to dig into my heart. A large damage number appeared-
  
  "1348!"
  
  I stared in shock, [Penetration]+[Burning Axe]. It was indeed an ultimate chain combo killing technique of the Berserkers. That fatal blow almost got one hit KO-ed me. Fortunately, I obtained some equipment before and my total Health jumped to 1558, or else I might really end up kneeling there dead!
  
  "Sha sha sha..."
  
  My Silver Boots glided along the grass. I was knocked back almost a full 5 meters by the last [Burning Axe]. Looking embarrassed, Fierce Tiger opened his eyes widely, flabbergasted, "Damn it, you still won"t die with this. I"ll slaughter you!"
  
  It"s over, this guy was enraged, so he decided to ignore the rules and just kill me first...
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  "Hua!"
  
  Although it was a normal attack, the axe moved with great speed.
  
  
  
  Slightly tilting my body, I dodged his attack. With another twist of my body, I managed to move behind him. Using the opportunity when he was dazed for a moment, I activate my combo!
  
  Bangbangbang!
  
  "357!"
  
  "371!"
  
  "328!"
  
  In an instant, the Berserker who was at full force was dealt a heavy damage. Fierce Tiger"s face turns black, "Damn! What kind of attack power is that, the individual hits of [Combo] are dealing above 300?!"
  
  Quickly gulping down a health potion, Fierce Tiger does a backwards sweep towards me.
  
  Following his attack angle, I slid to his back once again and laughed beneath my breath. At the same time, a surge of white aura came from beneath my feet!
  
  Looking at the animation of my attack, the crowd surrounding us was surprised; some of the pretty ladies even covered their small mouth and widened their round eyes, "God, that is... Isn"t that the starting animation for custom combo attacks? Xiao Yao Zi Zai possesses his own combo attack!"
  
  [Strength of a Thousand Men]!
  
  Pah pah pah, I began on a series of attacks, each landing on Fierce Tiger"s shoulders!
  
  "279!"
  
  "300!"
  
  "264!"
  
  Lowering my body posture, I ram into Fierce Tiger, knocking him back. Although his health points have already reached zero, his body was still there. Before dying, he still has to eat my final [Wind Blade]!
  
  "Ka cha..."
  
  
  
  The sword"s edge tore apart his armor, and a large damage number burst out-
  
  
  
  "877!"
  
  The attack wasn"t a fatal one so it was lower compared to attacks from Fierce Tiger. Fierce Tiger slumps to the floor, blood flowing non-stop from his body. He has lost the sparring match.
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Reappearing outside the dueling ring, Fierce Tiger lowers his battle axe and his original arrogant attitude disappeared. Staring dumbfoundedly at me, he lowers his voice and mummers, "You... Just who are you?!"
  Chapter 76 - An Invitation from Vanguard
  
  This chapter was sponsored by William Wang!
  
  TL: Only BTTH left! Sorry about the double first chaps and the missing chap yesterday!
  
  Looking at Fierce Tiger"s stunned expression, I sheathed my sword and say lightly, "I am the man who is going to take away 100 gold coins from you!"
  
  Stretching out my hand, I stare at him, "You said it yourself, the man who defeats you would get 100 gold coins as reward from you. Don"t tell me that you intend to go back on your words, hurry up and give me the money..."
  
  Fierce Tiger"s face went dark. He probably never expected that the person who was able to defeat him would fuss so much over the 100 gold coins.
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Around 5 seconds later, Fierce Tiger stretches his hands into his inventory and takes out 100 gold coins, and throws them in my direction.
  
  Cling!
  
  Once I felt the heavy weight of the money reaching my hands, I was satisfied and turned around to leave.
  
  
  
  Yet, at this moment, a man carrying a long sword stepped forth from the crowd and stretches his arms to block my way. With a smile on his face, he says, "Xiao Yao Zi Zai, I have something I would like to discuss with you!"
  
  I look at him. It wasn"t anyone else, but the leader of Vanguard - Jian Feng Han. Fushen Moren was beside him. Looks like after he lost, he went to find his leader so that they could regain back Vanguard"s reputation, yet unexpectedly, I beat him to it and defeated Fierce Tiger.
  
  
  
  Licking my lips which were dry due to the intense heat from the [Burning Axe], I laugh, "For Guild Leader Jian Feng Han to find me, what do you want to discuss with me?"
  
  Jian Feng Han, crossing his arm in front of his chest, says, "This isn"t a place for us to talk, come along with me..."
  
  "Okay!"
  
  In the Ba Huang City, there is not a single place which I dare not enter. Following Jian Feng Han, a crowd of stunned and speechless Ba Huang City gamers were left behind standing there. The fight they had just seen was exceedingly exciting, with the victor being decided in a split second!
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Five minutes later, 3 kilometers away from Ba Huang City, we arrived at the Pear Blossom Forest. It was a peaceful area filled with the chirping of the birds and the fragrance of the flowers. Its main resources are herbs and Killer Bees. Currently, as the Killer Bees are the lowest level yet highest damaging pet, most players gather here waiting for Killer Bees to respawn. Once a level 1 Killer Bee appears, it means that a fortune was about to be struck. A Killer Bee with an Excellence rating above 50% was worth at least 10 gold coins.
  
  With pears all over the ground, I follow behind Jian Feng Han. Moving forward, quite a few players appeared in the Pear Blossom Forest, most of them have the title "Vanguard" in front of their names, making it evident that they were players under the Vanguard guild. Jian Feng Han, carrying his long sword, while laughing walks into the crowd and calls out loudly, "Brothers, I have brought the guy here!"
  
  Looking around, there were at least 200 players in the Vanguard guild, were they planning to surround me and get rid of me? Surely not, actually, Jian Feng Han and Fushen Moren were already sufficient to get rid of me...
  
  Lifting my hand, pah, I grab onto the hilt of my sword, keng, I unsheathe my Jade City Sword and [Turmoil Sword] activates. A green ripple appears beneath my feet. I ask, "What is this...?"
  
  Jian Feng Han turns to face me, couldn"t help but laugh, "Brother Xiao Yao, calm down. We mean you no harm... This is only a temporary meeting place for us members of Vanguard."
  
  I nod and sheath my blade. Looking around the map, I laugh, "Quite a few days ago, this Pear Blossom Forest was one of the hotspots of Ba Huang City and PKs often occurred while people competing for level 1 Killer Bees. Looking at the current situation, this map has already come under the control of Vanguard, hasn"t it?"
  
  Jian Feng Han awkwardly smiles, "Killer Bees are currently one of the best pet resources, and thus I took control of this area. Of course, I rarely expel others players from this map using force, we only use persuasion."
  
  "I don"t intend to poke in your business, let"s get back to the main topic. What did you want to ask me here?"
  
  Jian Feng Han nods, "Actually, I want to conduct business with you!"
  
  "Oh, what kind of business?" I was a little surprised.
  
  Hehe, Jian Feng Han laughed, spreading his hands out, said, "Actually, it is nothing much. We only would like to invite you to temporarily join our guild and help us create the first Guild!"
  
  "Hm?"
  
  I couldn"t help but burst into laughter. I leaned against one of the pear trees, crossing my arms and say, "Surely not? Vanguard is one of the top ten guilds of China. For something like killing bosses, I don"t think that you would require an insignificant Swordsman such as myself?"
  
  From behind Jian Feng Han, a beautiful mage walks towards us. She had fiery figure with two large mountains, as though threatening to burst out of her robes. She carries a gold-tier staff and on her head floated a line of words-
  
  ID: Simple LV-38 Mage
  
  ......
  
  
  
  I know this woman. I once checked the records of Vanguard and there was always a guild vice-leader called Simple, but I didn"t expect that Simple would be a woman, and I would grade her at least 8 points!
  
  Her real name was Murong Yun and she is Jian Feng Han"s older sister in real life, this is the only news that I knew.
  
  I look at her while she stares back at me, her eyes devoid of any emotions.
  
  A few seconds later, Simple faintly laughs, "Xiao Yao Zi Zai, I know you. I have watched your battle videos several times, but I always feel as though I don"t understand you sufficiently. Just as you said, our Vanguard is filled with many talents and we would definitely not lack another DPS or MT (Main Tank). But Jian Feng Han and I still felt that we should try to pull you into our guild, do you know why?"
  
  I smile, "Why?"
  
  "Because..." She purses her lips, muses for a moment and then looks up at me, "The reason is quite simple. You aren"t the top healer from Ba Huang City, neither are you the best tank. Even more so, you aren"t the best damage dealer. However, you are the best combination of a healer, a tank and a damage dealer. If I didn"t guess wrongly, after you changed your job, you retained one of the skills of a healer, and furthermore it is the strongest healing technique [Heal]!"
  
  Saying this, she nods and faintly smiles, "We want to try to defeat gold-tier bosses that are level 50 and above, but the main problem is that our MT would be unable to cope with its damage. Even if we could continuously heal him, the healers would then attract a large amount of aggro, causing the boss to change targets and destroying our whole formation. Thus, one of the solutions we came up with is having you, Xiao Yao Zi Zai, as a tank. You are able to deal good damage and at the same time heal yourself, allowing you to pull at least 50% of the boss"s aggro onto yourself, thus reducing the aggro towards the rest of the healers. To add on, you have superb defensive abilities. In the whole Ba Huang City, there is not a single person who is more suited to be a Tank than you!"
  
  I was relieved and losing control of myself, laughed, "So this is the case. Now that you said it, I suddenly feel that I"m more important than I thought myself to be."
  
  I thought for a moment, "However..."
  
  "However what?" Jian Feng Han sounds a little nervous, as though afraid that I would reject his offer.
  
  Thinking for a moment, I say, "I liked the freedom of going solo, and dislike being subjected to other people"s restrictions and even more so, hate being used by other people."
  
  Simple chuckles, "Actually, that isn"t a big problem. We won"t impose any restrictions upon you and in fact, we will welcome you as a VIP in Vanguard. Also, for the boss"s drops, as long as you are able to use it, we are willing to give it you. All we are hoping to accomplish is to create the first Guild."
  
  I cough and speak more directly, "I will not be joining Vanguard, this is the first point. Secondly, I refuse to do favours for free nor will I accept empty promises. So, unless we put ourselves in the relationship as an employer and an employee, I refuse to join in in your battles."
  
  Clang!
  
  Fushen Moren takes out his staff and angrily scolds, "Screw you, you arrogant brat! Our leader is already speaking politely to you; do you think that you are some hotshot? Still saying words like you will absolutely not join Vanguard, what do you take our Vanguard for? Do you think it"s something you can join just because you want to?"
  
  I glance at him and laugh, "Put back your weapons, you sore loser. I don"t want to argue with you over anything. Anyways, I have already stated my position clearly, it is up to Jian Feng Han to decide whether to accept or not."
  
  Simple was about to open her mouth, then hesitantly shut it and turns around to look at Jian Feng Han. After all, the Guild Leader was her little brother, Jian Feng Han, and not her.
  
  Jian Feng Han clenches his fist and after thinking for a moment, says, "Let"s do it this way, we shall follow your wishes and employ you. Every time you help us fight a boss, we will pay you a certain amount. As for the potions and other goods, we will provide them. After killing the boss, we will give you priority in choosing which equipment you want. Now, what I want to confirm is how much do you want every time you fight a boss for us?"
  
  I laughed while raising a finger.
  
  "1000 gold?"
  
  "No, 1000 Yuan... I am not that bad of a person..."
  
  Jian Feng Han clapped his hands and smiled, "Sure, 1000 Yuan per fight, I understand. However, we are still not done preparing and currently, we are collecting information on bosses. We need around 24 hours to prepare, so let"s do this, Zi Zai. I"ll give you 24 hours to level up to level 40 so that after your class promotion, you will have an additional 10% stat boost and you would be entitled to learn [Flame Blade] or whatever to boost your damage output."
  
  I nod my head, "Yes, I understand."
  
  ......
  
  Turning around, I leave the Pear Blossom Forest.
  
  Standing at the borders of Ba Huang City, I felt a little conflicted. Being employed for 1000 Yuan each battle, it should have been a good thing but why do I feel uneasy? Forget it; it is the fault of the 100 gold coins. If I didn"t challenge Fierce Tiger, Jian Feng Han also wouldn"t know about my defensive capabilities and my offensive capabilities and naturally, he also wouldn"t invite me. However, what is done is done; I will just help them fight the bosses. Anyway, this isn"t anything bad to me.
  
  Ding!
  
  There was message coming from the charming assassin Ling Wan Er, "Li Xiao Yao, are you joining Vanguard?"
  
  I was shocked, "Why? Wan Er how did you know about this, who said it?"
  
  "Hehe, Jian Feng Han just posted a Heroes" Notice on China"s server platform, saying [Vanguard] is currently preparing to challenge bosses that were level 50 and above and had invited the supposedly strongest Healer, Xiao Yao Zi Zai to join the alliance..."
  
  "Oh..." I tried to explain, "I was only helping him to fight the bosses, I didn"t agree to join [Vanguard]."
  
  Ling Wan Er giggles, "Okay, I am not concerned on whether you choose to join Vanguard or not, my only concerned is that Dong Cheng and I are hungry now. Come, treat us to supper?"
  
  "Okay, wait for me downstairs!"
  
  "Okay..."
  Chapter 77 - Promotion Preparation
  
  This chapter was sponsored by William Wang and Zachary Tanmizi!
  
  TL: 6 Chapters! Just realized that this was my 100th post too!
  
  We were eating congee late at night outside of the school on a snack street.
  
  Stirring the congee with her spoon, it seems like Wan Er doesn"t have much of an appetite. She raises her head, looks at me, and asks, "Have you really decided to join [Vanguard]?"
  
  
  
  I couldn"t help but laugh, "This is the fourth time I"m saying this. I"m not joining them, but rather I"m being employed and helping [Vanguard] to kill a boss. Feng Han is quite greedy, so I think he wants to get the Guild Creation Tablet as soon as possible."
  
  
  
  On the side, Cheng Yue purses her lips and says, "To get the tablet you need to kill a boss that"s over level 50 and over gold-ranked, moreover the drop rate isn"t high, and it"s not something you can do quickly. I think Feng Han is thinking too wishful, and if Xiao Yao helps [Vanguard] like this, it"s not too appropriate..."
  
  
  
  "Why?"
  
  
  
  Wan Er squints her eyes and says, "Because Cheng Yue and I have decided to join [Hero"s Mound]. The guild master of [Hero Mound] Q-sword has been said to be the #1 fighter, clashing with Feng Han, so those two don"t get along too well. I just hope that we don"t need to clash swords, that wouldn"t be too fun..."
  
  
  
  I purse my lips and say, "Don"t worry. I"m only helping [Vanguard] to kill this boss; anything else has nothing to do with me."
  
  
  
  "Mm, that"s good. Oh yeah, you accepted the employment of [Vanguard], what"s the salary?"
  
  
  
  "Killing one boss will get me 1000 Yuan (~$160), transferred directly into my bank account. Also, if it drops any equipment that can be used by heavy armored classes, then I take priority on it. Those are my conditions."
  
  
  
  "Those conditions are very attractive, what do they see in you..."
  
  
  
  "..."
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Cheng Yue smiles on the side, "Don"t tease him any more Wan Er...That"s right. Xiao Yao, your class right now is Scavenger of Dragon City, and it seems like it"s a swordsman-based hidden class right? You can equip heavy armor and you can also heal. That"s the reason why they employed you right?"
  
  
  
  I nod, "Mm. Outside of Ba Huang City, Fierce Tiger from [Flying Dragons] had a dueling ring arranged, and he said whoever can beat him gets 100 gold, so I took the duel. I used my combo to kill him, and coincidentally Feng Han saw it, so that was the start of this mess."
  
  
  
  "What?!"
  
  
  
  Wan Er suddenly stands up with her skirt fluttering around, and she stares at me in a daze. She seems to have a hard time believing what I said, "You...You already made your own combo?"
  
  
  
  "That"s right..." I smile, "Use your cellphone to look online, and check all the players that have their own combos. You should be able to find my name..."
  
  
  
  "Oh?"
  
  
  
  She sits down, looking shocked. She takes out her cellphone and searches around, then she opens her small mouth and says, "Eh...[Strength of a Thousand Men], S-rank combo, 5 strikes, total time consumed 1.2 seconds... Such a strong combo..."
  
  
  
  I raise my bowl; finish off the congee in my bowl, and smile, "Yeah!"
  
  
  
  Wan Er raises her head, looks at me and asks, "Are you really good at swordsmanship?"
  
  
  
  "What do you think?"
  
  
  
  On the side, Cheng Yue speaks up, "Oh I know. At the beginning of school Xiao Yao had a longsword covered in black cloth on his back, and I thought that he was only carrying around a sword in school to impress the women, but I never would have thought that you actually knew any swordsmanship...This...To make an S-rank combo, you need to be either proficient in reality, or you would have to have some perfect talent in the game to do that..."
  
  
  
  I think for a bit and say, "Actually, making your own combo isn"t as hard as you might think it is. The important thing is beginning from the first strike; every attack must not allow any resistance from the opponent and force the opponent to be unable to control themselves. With that, the chain of attacks won"t be interrupted. The last strike is the killing strike, and any skills that help with increasing damage would increase the strength of that strike."
  
  
  
  After saying that, I look towards Wan Er and smile, "Wan Er, you"re an outstanding, nimble assassin with fast attack speed. If you make a combo, then you can do at least 7 strikes within 2 seconds. Remember to properly find the attacking rhythm. If you can control the rhythm, then you can control the battle!"
  
  
  
  Wan Er widens her eyes, stares at me with those deep, black gem-like eyes, and nods her head, "Mm, I understand..."
  
  
  
  I smile, "That"s good..."
  
  
  
  Wan Er lowers her head to eat the congee, and doesn"t look at me anymore. Cheng Yue though is smiling on the side, "It looks like even our genius young lady has times where she needs to ask for guidance... How rare..."
  
  
  
  "That"s right Xiao Yao!" Cheng Yue asks again, "When is [Vanguard] planning to kill the boss?"
  
  
  
  "24 hours later, so they"re requesting me to get to level 40 within 24 hours. After getting skills for the second promotion, then we"ll go and challenge the level 50+ boss..."
  
  
  
  "Which means you"re not free tomorrow?"
  
  
  
  "Why? You guys are planning to do something?"
  
  
  
  "Wan Er and I were planning to go to Xixi Brook to have a stroll, but since you"re busy, then next time?"
  
  
  
  I put down my spoon, "It"s fine, I"ll go with you two to Xixi Brook tomorrow. I"m Wan Er"s bodyguard, so where she goes I need go as well, this is the requirement for my job. I"ll just rush to level 40 tonight and it"ll be fine."
  
  
  
  "Then that"s good... We"ll meet at 9 o"clock tomorrow morning, and we"ll eat lunch there."
  
  
  
  "Okay!"
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Late at night, I return to the dorms. I need to work hard and rise straight to level 40 this night, so I can go to Xixi Book tomorrow.
  
  
  
  Whoosh!
  
  
  
  I appear in the middle of Ba Huang City, and I look at my experience bar. 11% in level 39. I"m neither close nor far until level 40, so after some thinking, I decide that it"s better to level up around Dragon City. Because, the instant I level up, I can go and ask for a promotion from my instructor. I don"t even know what the second promotion of a Scavenger of Dragon City will bring; I just hope it"ll be a good skill...
  
  
  
  I prepare equipment, refill potions, and after some bits and bobs, I leave!
  
  
  
  After 1 hour of travelling, I reach Dragon City. From afar, I see smoke rising, and find Beast Tamer Dalin starting a barbeque. This guy, he eats every day, but I don"t see him getting fat, and rather his muscles are really admirable. This barbarian"s physique is not something you can easily compare to.
  
  
  
  I take my sword, walk up, and ask respectfully, "Instructor, is there anything I can do for you?"
  
  
  
  The tamer points towards the east and says, "One mile out, there"s a forest, and in there some hot red peppers are grown. Boy, if you gather some of those peppers within 20 minutes, and sprinkle them on my lunch, I would be very thankful for your help..."
  
  
  
  This guy, he wants me to help me with his barbeque?!
  
  
  
  I immediately nod with respect, "As you wish instructor!"
  
  
  
  My left foot steps on the ground, and a hexagram appears. My level 39 Baby Bobo flies out, and circles around my shoulders while flapping his wings. Although his 768 attack damage isn"t as high as mine, there"s still possible growth. Besides, pets are for assisting players, and after players gains a certain amount of levels and equipment, pets are naturally unable to catch up. But, Bobo"s stinger is still here. In the current stage, with the exception of heavy armored monks and knights, he will do quite a bit against others.
  
  
  
  The season around Dragon City is autumn, and I can feel the withering of the living things in the wild. I walk around for a minute, and in front of me, I can see dots of red in the forest ahead. It"s the peppers that Dalin wanted.
  
  
  
  As I was walking up to pick them, suddenly I hear some rustling around me, something"s here!
  
  
  
  Bang!
  
  
  
  The dirt explodes in front of me, and a porcupine that weighs at least 100 kg appears in front of me. A level 42 monster and the spikes around its body returns 20% of all damage dealt to it!
  
  
  
  I step on the soft dirt and attack. A golden hexagram starts to appear on my sword, and I use [Combo] on the porcupine. A chain of damage numbers fly up--
  
  
  
  "401!"
  
  
  
  "397!"
  
  
  
  "408!"
  
  
  
  At the same time, I receive the damage from the spikes, and my HP drops as well--
  
  
  
  "80!"
  
  
  
  "79!"
  
  
  
  "82!"
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Bobo also starts his attack, and I take the chance to rush up. I stand behind the huge porcupine, and I find its most vulnerable and defenseless area, the butt! Using my combo attack here has the best chance of success. This game"s design is so similar to reality and very logical, so every small detail can determine whether you lose or win. As I"m killing monsters, I won"t easily put down my guard. Even if I"m killing a chicken, I will use my full power to kill it!
  
  
  
  The 5 strikes go out screaming, and the porcupine cries out while being attacked. I sweep my feet, and after the 3 strikes, I start my 4th, ram!
  
  
  
  Bang!
  
  
  
  The porcupine wails and screams, but I also wail and scream. My face and chest have holes in them now, and it hurts quite a bit. I can"t ram these kinds of monsters...But, with that one ram I stun the porcupine for a short while, and I use the strongest strike out of the 5--[Wind Blade]!
  
  
  
  "878!"
  
  
  
  Looking at the damage, I get some satisfaction. The damage from [Strength of a Thousand Men] is extremely strong, and it should be the strongest combo at this point, or else Wan Er wouldn"t be that surprised. She is, after all, one of Fan Shu City"s top 3 players, and has seen quite a few battles.
  
  
  
  Blood splashes out, and the huge porcupine is killed and the porcupine drops a few silver coins.
  
  
  
  I kneel and pick up the silver coins. After that, I start picking the peppers, and before long I collected a huge pile. After walking for a bit, another huge porcupine appears, and I quickly kill it off. The 20% return damage doesn"t do much to me, plus I have [Heal]. The current me can both attack and heal, and my dueling strength is top class!
  
  
  
  After collecting quite a bit of peppers, I stand up, and hold one porcupine in one hand and the other porcupine in the other, and drag their corpses back. Porcupine meat is actually pretty tasty, back in my mission days I ate quite a bit of it. Even when we ran out of canned food, me and my 7 other comrades relied on porcupines and mountain chickens to fill our stomachs. After equipping the AWSM gun with silencers, we sniped the pheasants from afar, and the accuracy is way sharper than a hunting rifle. Thinking back, I do miss those flavours...
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Rustle...
  
  
  
  The porcupines" corpse carves a deep ditch along the dirt and sand as I walk back to camp. I arrive at the camp, throw the porcupine on the side, and say, "Instructor, I brought the items back, and two fresh porcupines."
  
  
  
  Dalin"s eyes flashes, and smiles, "Boy, your growth is something that is worth noticing; perhaps I was wrong when I first saw you. You are not the shame of Dragon City, but rather our fresh blood. Captain Frost has good insight, and your growth has proved this. How about this, peel the skin of the porcupine and cook it. I brought some wine here, and since you are my student, will you drink a cup with me?"
  Chapter 78 - Exactly the Same
  
  This chapter was sponsored by Nilesh Goutam, Adam Tracy, Estela Perez, Hannu Hautalampi and William Wang! Let"s all give our thanks!
  
  TL: Conservative estimate for today - 2 chapters.
  
  My heart drops. What does this old guy want? Usually he would tell me to go hunt, drag poop around, find people, but today, today he wants to have a drink with me? Perhaps he also knows that I"m nearing level 40 and going for a promotion soon, so "Scavenger" is no longer the appropriate job for me?
  
  Whoosh!
  
  
  
  "Experience +7000"
  
  
  
  Immediately after I put down the two porcupines, a ray of light appears, and I gained a decent amount of experience. I also take out the peppers from my bag, throw them in the sky, and unsheathe my sword. With a flash of the sword, the peppers get shattered, and the smell of the spicy peppers flood the air as they fall with other spices onto Dalin"s barbeque pig. The flavor gets absorbed, and without a doubt, the pig must be very tasty.
  
  
  
  Whoosh!
  
  
  
  "Experience +5000"
  
  
  
  Another ray of light and my experience rises by another chunk. Hehe, leveling up like this, it"s really a method that is to be liked!
  
  
  
  I give a porcupine to the army officer, and I get another thousand of experience points in return. I drag the other one to a nearby river to skin and discard the dissolving fur. After that, I find some green onions and stick it through the porcupine and return to the camp. I start another campfire and before long, the juices from the porcupine start seeping out. They crack as they fall into the fire and a pleasant aroma starts to spread as well.
  
  
  
  I sit across to Dalin, and respectfully grasp my sword.
  
  
  
  "Come boy..."
  
  
  
  Dalin throws something at me and a water bag made out of a wild goat"s stomach lands on me. Good wine is filled inside it but inside the game drinking wine doesn"t add any stats, and it"s just for taste. Just some virtual stuff.
  
  
  
  I open the cap, and raise my head to take a drink. The sweet taste of the wine spreads around in my mouth. It is indeed good.
  
  
  
  "How"s the taste?" Dalin laughs.
  
  
  
  I nod, "Mm, very strong taste, good wine..."
  
  
  
  Dalin strokes his beard, and smiles, "That"s natural, this is the fine wine brewed by the palace wine masters, and not a lot of people in the world can even drink it. Hmph, if I didn"t have to rush last time, I would have grabbed more from Fire Cloud City"s palace!"
  
  
  
  I"m shocked, "You stole this?"
  
  
  
  "Cough cough, just borrowing!"
  
  
  
  "Okay..." I raise my head to drink some more, then stand up with my sword in hand and say, "Instructor, give some more missions to me, I want to do some more things for you!"
  
  
  
  Dalin bends over, stretches, grabs a pig leg, and takes a huge bite. Drinking the wine, he laughs, "Boy, my [Binding Chains] is an original skill; I hope you won"t put it to waste. I"ve traveled around the continent for my life, but I haven"t learned a huge bunch. I"m most proficient in [Binding Chains], so I can only teach you this..."
  
  
  
  "I understand. Instructor, give me the mission..."
  
  
  
  "Okay!"
  
  
  
  Dalin stands up, looks at me, and says, "First mission, a prehistoric huge bird has taken a crap 5 miles south-west of Dragon City. The poop has a radius of 7 meters, bring it back. Second mission, there"s a small town called "Bysickle" straight south of Dragon City. In the small town, there"s a woman called Heisha that sells tofu. She lost her pet white cat, so you help her find it. Third mission, at the bottom of Dragon City there"s a blind old soldier who has a broken leg and is going to die soon from sickness. He has always been single and his only death wish is to touch a woman"s breast. You are to help him to find a woman. Fourth mission..."
  
  
  
  I quickly hold my hand out, "Wait wait, hold on instructor. 3 missions is enough, let me finish them first..."
  
  
  
  "Okay boy, I"ll be expecting good things..."
  
  
  
  "I got it..."
  
  
  
  "....."
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  After 10 minutes, I arrive at the south-west of Dragon City. It literally looks like a catastrophe happened here. The small trees are burning with flames and the ignition point is a huge pile of bird poop. It"s really huge, having a diameter of around 15 meters or so. It looks just like a meteorite...This bird poop has an abundant of fire attributes in it. Also, the bird seems like it ate something wrong, I see an over 50kg huge pea within the poop, apparently the bird was unable to digest that.
  
  
  
  I walk up and a wave of intense nastiness attacks my nose. It"s so smelly! I wave my sword around, and cut into the feces. My determination doesn"t waver and cutting it like a pizza, I cut it into ten or so pieces and drag piece by piece back. This time the pile is a bit large and trying to bring it all back in one go wouldn"t be a smart idea.
  
  
  
  I drag a piece of the bird poop, excitedly return to the camp and hand the feces to the army officer. I get plenty of experience and I joyfully run back, continuing to pick up the rest of the poop.
  
  
  
  After an hour or so, I"m finally at the last piece. This piece is especially heavy; it"s the section that had the pea!
  
  
  
  After dragging it for a while, I turn around, and unsheathe my sword. Screw it; I"ll just cut the peas off. So annoying and so tiring!
  
  
  
  Clang!
  
  
  
  When my sword contacts with the pea, sparks appear, and my arm also goes numb. Sigh, what is this. What kind of hard object can"t be cut by my sword?
  
  
  
  I go closer, and use my hand to wipe away the poop on the "pea". But this isn"t a pea! I scratch away the feces around it, and use my sword to chisel it a bit, and I find out that this is a 1 meter long stone tablet! On it there"s even small words written on it, but sadly they"re words from ancient times, and I can"t read it!
  
  
  
  "Hup!"
  
  
  
  I hold the tablet, and it"s at least 50 kg. Luckily I am a full-strength warrior, and carrying it doesn"t cause me too many problems. Also, under normal circumstances, I can easily carry 50kg in real life. I wave my hand, and try to get information on this stone tablet, but I only get a vague description--
  
  
  
  ?Ancient Tablet?: This is a tablet that recorded old martial secrets and it"ll collect experience with the player. When it collects enough experience, it will fuse with the player and become a skill. You must sign the contract to bring this around.
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Looking at these words, I don"t even know what to think. This luck. Even when I"m picking up poop I get treasure. What is this madness...?
  
  Whatever, I"ll sign the contract first!
  
  Whoosh!
  
  I slide my finger on the edge of the sword, and drip my blood from my finger onto the tablet. Instantly the area around me shimmers and the tablet suddenly shines and glows. Countless words surround me, and quickly afterwards, a ray of light stabs into my body and a system notification shows, saying that I"ve signed a contract with the tablet and it"s impossible to drop or leave behind.
  
  With a clang, a heavy, dark stone appears on my back and if you look at it, it"s looks like a stone carving of a Chinese piano. It actually makes me look refined and gentlemanly. Next to the stone is the sheath of my sword, so it wouldn"t affect my movements in battle. Although I can feel the weight of it, my moving speed won"t change by much.
  
  I continue and drag the last piece of bird feces to the army officer and hand in the mission. Instantly experience points comes in with a glow of light--
  
  "Experience +5000!"
  
  "[Ancient Tablet] experience +5000"
  
  Indeed, the tablet gets as much experience as I do. Sadly, I can"t see how much experience points the tablet needs in order for it to be completed, but there"s no rush, I can take it slow.
  
  ......
  
  I finished the first mission and my experience bar lands on 49% at level 39. Following that, it"s the second mission; help that tofu women find her cat.
  
  After two hours, at the west part of the small town, I found a barb traveling around with the small cat. I retrieve the cat and also give the barb two knocks on the head. He knows his wrongs, and reflected on it, so I let him go. I carry the white cat back to finish my mission, and happily collect the experience points.
  
  The third mission is kind of difficult. The crippled old soldier under Dragon City wants to touch a woman"s chest and such a shameless request became my mission.
  
  I sit in the forest and I"m almost tearing my hair off.
  
  Should I ask for help? That"s not too great. Although I do know quite a few good women in the game, Wan Er and Cheng Yue etc. If I asked them to let the old soldier touch them, I would probably instantly get killed... As for Qing Qian and Wei Liang those two, I don"t even know if they"re adults or not, how can I bear to do that to them...
  
  Finally, I make a painful decision; I"ll make a woman myself!
  
  I go into the forest, and kill some soft-skinned wild rabbit. I cut off their fur and they"re very soft. After that, I sew together a human-shaped thing, and I use some grasses and such to fill it up. After that, I took some mud from the riverside and drew a face. Actually, I wanted to draw the face of a Lin Zi Ling, but sadly I didn"t draw well enough. Whatever, I"ll just use it.
  
  
  
  TL: ??? If you want to Google it. For the fur, it"s probably because the rabbit isn"t a monster.
  
  Finally, in the Ba Huang City stores I bought two steaming buns, and stuffed them in the chest location. After doing that, I bring this "woman" back out. Ahh...I am just too talented... On the road, countless amounts of players shoot shocked glances at me--
  
  "Brother, your girlfriend is leaking air, run slower!"
  
  ......
  
  Under Dragon City, the old soldier"s eyes can barely be opened. Sleeping in the small wooden house and looking at the woman made by Li Xiao Yao, his old tears start to drop. He reaches and touches these two steaming buns, says to me emotionally, "Oh righteous, young warrior. You are the pride of Dragon City, letting me fill in one of my life"s regrets. This woman, it is really as beautiful as you say she is?!"
  
  I nod, "That I don"t know, who is the most beautiful woman you have ever seen?"
  
  The old soldier says while crying, "When my eyes were still clear, the most beautiful woman I"ve seen is the Leader of the Dragon City Knights-- Captain Frost. Her beauty is just like moonshine, always glowing in my heart..."
  
  I say, "Mm, this woman, she is exactly the same as Frost, trust me..."
  
  "Okay. Thank you!"
  
  Whoosh!
  
  The glow of experience falls on me, and at the same time, golden light shines over me, and I finally rose to level 40!
  
  ......
  
  Finally! As I was carrying my "girlfriend" and preparing to leave, I find Frost behind me; both of her eyes are filled with killing intent while she glares at me, seemingly being able to see through everything. She knows!
  
  I"m done, now I can"t even stay in Dragon City......
  Chapter 79 - Fierce Ice Blade
  
  This chapter was sponsored by William Wang, Joseph Gutierrez, Randall Johnson, William Wilson and Li Xiao Yao! Thanks!
  
  TL: The long awaited chapter 79!
  
  "F...Frost..."
  
  My tongue gets all twisted up, "Why are you here? It"s so warm in Dragon City, why"d you come down here..."
  
  "Dragon City is way colder than here."
  
  
  
  Frost coldly glares at me and says, "Follow me."
  
  
  
  "Okay..."
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  I follow Frost out of the small house and we go into the nearby forest.
  
  
  
  Frost turns around, looks up and says, "Your growth in strength is indeed very frightening; Dalin was right when he said that you are a person that has potential, but..."
  
  
  
  She looks at the "woman" that I"m holding and a bit of pink shows up on her solemn face, "But can you just throw away the fake person that you"re holding?"
  
  
  
  I quickly dispose of it into a nearby ditch, and feel extremely embarrassed, "This...This was just a temporary tactic..."
  
  
  
  Frost lightly hmphs, "So I look exactly that that huh?"
  
  
  
  "No no, you"re a lot more beautiful than that Frost..."
  
  
  
  "Is that so?"
  
  
  
  "It is..."
  
  
  
  "Hmph!"
  
  
  
  She then says no more about it and instead deeply stares at me, "Dragon City"s strength has to be constantly refilled. Now that you"re already strong enough, so you don"t need to follow Dalin anymore. I hereby decide that I will raise your rank to a member of Dragon City, and I"ve also arranged a new instructor for you..."
  
  
  
  "Oh? Who is it?"
  
  
  
  "Just follow me..."
  
  
  
  Frost"s body flashes, and in the next instant she appears close enough to touch me. Her beautiful face is right in front of me. She smiles, grabs my shoulders, and raises me up. Just like that I"m being hauled while facing the sky, and she quickly starts rock climbing. Damn, when can I do this?
  
  
  
  Whoosh!
  
  
  
  Suddenly we pass through the Ice Spine"s peak and the freezing wind pounds mercilessly on me. Snowflakes as big as feathers float in the air and we can see Dragon City"s interior. But we"re not going to Dragon City; rather she"s heading towards the middle of the Ice Spine! There"s a huge cave, and on the map, the area is blood-red. Frost is still hauling me during all this and with a bang, we drop thousands of meters.
  
  
  
  Tick!
  
  
  
  System Notification: You have entered the area--?Dragon Tomb?!
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  I"m pretty surprised and when I raise my head... right in front of me is an upside down enormously bony skeleton sitting in the middle of nowhere. The ribs are at least 10 meters long, and the bones are slightly glowing. The head is lying down on the ground sinisterly, separated from the body. This is the corpse of a huge dragon and an ancient one at that. Looking at the erosion of the bones, it"s at least a thousand years old...
  
  
  
  "Frost, this is..." I say in a shocked voice.
  
  
  
  Frost glances at me and smiles, "You probably guessed correctly. This is a dragon"s tomb, the place where an ancient dragon clan died. Most dragons that are near death will come here, and silently wait for their end. This area is still under our jurisdiction, so whether or not the dragons can return to here depends on us."
  
  
  
  "Okay, what do I need to do?"
  
  
  
  Frost smiles, "It"s simple. From now on, you are one of the guardians of this dragon tomb. You need to guard these precious dragon bones and protect them from bandits or monsters that want to cause trouble. Also..."
  
  
  
  Frost"s smile seemingly brings some ulterior motive, "After every dragon dies, they will leave behind their soul. In dragon"s tomb, we have no lack of dragons" souls and they are dream-like items that every warrior wants. So, you must guarantee the safety of this dragon"s tomb and guard this tomb well to allow the elder dragons to have peace. If anyone intrudes this tomb, you must immediately kill them!"
  
  
  
  I nod, "I understand...Also..."
  
  
  
  Frost appears as if she can read minds and smiles, "Follow me. I"ll show you your new instructor. He will teach new skills to you and also promote you..."
  
  
  
  "Okay! I"ll follow you!"
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  A chilling wind passes through the dragon"s tomb and within the piles of dragon bones, I notice a glow. In the skull of the huge dragon, I see a round and dense colourful spirit. Without a doubt, that"s the soul of a dragon. I wonder if you can eat it.
  
  
  
  "What are you thinking...?"
  
  
  
  Frost suddenly clenches her fists and glares at me.
  
  
  
  I"m faintly startled; does this woman know what I"m thinking?
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  "Hmph, we"re here..."
  
  
  
  In front of me, there"s a house shaped like an oval and carved in rock. It seems very cold and quiet. Next to the house, there"s a martial arts practicing area. With weapons all over the place, this place emits a strong aura. It must be a skilled person!
  
  
  
  "Karl, we"re here. Come see your new disciple!" Frost says.
  
  
  
  "Ouch..."
  
  
  
  Stone doors open, and an old geezer comes out. He"s sitting on a wheelchair since both of his legs have been cut off. A longsword is held behind the wheelchair--
  
  
  
  ?Guardian of the Dragon Tomb - Karl?
  
  
  
  Level: ???
  
  
  
  Description: Karl. An extremely talented swordmaster that has travelled throughout the continent defeating enemies but in one large battle he lost both his legs. Losing his movement he could only research deeper into swords and after becoming dragon"s tomb"s guardian, his strength has increased significantly.
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  "Ah Frost, long time no see..."
  
  
  
  The wrinkles on Karl"s face look like they could fold a person to death...He smiles, "I never would have thought that after all these years, Dragon City would still remember a half-person like me."
  
  
  
  Frost gives him a huge smile, "Karl, how could Dragon City forget you? Look, we found a talented young person to be your disciple and also join you as a guardian."
  
  
  
  I walk up, and cup my fists, "Good evening instructor..."
  
  
  
  Karl stares at me for a while then says, "This little guy doesn"t look like anyone special. Frost, you randomly gave me some trash bronze, and want me to turn him into some gold?"
  
  
  
  Frost covers her mouth while laughing, "Not at all, you just haven"t seen what he can do. How about this...You! Show us some moves!"
  
  
  
  I nod, unsheathed my sword, and perform a few moves. It"s a style where you attack while defending, and you can go forward or retreat. As long as my sword is unsheathed I will be invincible. This is a nameless style that I made myself, and under the stare of Karl I feel that my skills are shameful compared to his....
  
  
  
  "Oh?"
  
  
  
  Karl thinks for a while and says, "Looks like...It"s not bad. You aren"t too bad. Boy, from now on you are my disciple..."
  
  
  
  I proudly say, "I would like to experience your skill, or else how can I call you my master?"
  
  
  
  "Fine!"
  
  
  
  Karl smiles, raises his hand and unsheathes his sword behind him. With a bang it penetrates a huge rock! Damn, using qi to drive the sword, this old guy...That"s a stage that I could never reach, also, even about the qi, I have never seen anyone in reality that can use qi with a sword. That"s really incredible.
  
  
  
  I step up; put one knee on the ground with my sword, and say, "Instructor..."
  
  
  
  Karl puts his dried up old fingers on my shoulder and smiles, "Okay, hand over 100 gold coins, then you"ll become my disciple. Also, in the future you will be a silver-rank warrior!"
  
  
  
  "Okay..."
  
  
  
  I confirm and hand over 100 gold coins to him, and immediately after, I hear a ring--
  
  
  
  Ding!
  
  
  
  System Notification: Congratulations! You"ve been successfully promoted to the next rank and receive the title of "Tomb Guardian of Dragon City". All skills can go beyond the previous maximum level 4 and now the highest they can go up to is level 7. Hidden resistance +10%, hidden attack damage +5%, new skill ?Fencing Specialization?!
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Very nice, I got the second promotion. It was pretty easy, but that promotion fee of 100 gold coins is too high! What a ripoff!
  
  
  
  "Okay, my mission is complete now; I"ll be taking my leave."
  
  
  
  Frost lightly laughs and disappears elegantly out of the dragon"s tomb. Karl looks at Frost"s shadow and sends a cold glare, muttering, "Luo Lin"s dog, hmph..."
  
  
  
  I"m shocked but I still walk up and ask, "Instructor, do you have any new skills you can teach me?"
  
  
  
  All coldness in Karl"s eyes disappears and he smiles, "Of course, but it"ll be a bit expensive..."
  
  
  
  "Sure..."
  
  
  
  With a whoosh, a window appears, and 3 skills are available for me to learn--
  
  
  
  ?Fierce Ice Blade LV-1?(A-rank): Condenses ice on the sword to attack the target, causing large damage and also slows the target down. Level 1 raises attack damage by 2%, ignores target"s defense by 1%, and slows for 1 second. Consumes 30 MP. To learn this you must pay 300 gold coins and 3 points of charm. Cannot be learnt together with Ice Blade.
  
  
  
  ?Flame Blade LV-1?(B-rank):Condenses fire on the sword to attack the target. Level 1 raises attack by 3%. To learn this you must pay 10 gold coins. Cannot be learnt together with Ice Blade or Fierce Ice Blade.
  
  
  
  ?Ice Blade?(B-rank): Condenses ice on the sword to attack the target. Level 1 raises attack damage by 2%, and slows the target for a short amount of time. To learn this you must pay 10 gold coins. Cannot be learnt together with Flame Blade.
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  I think for a while. Even though there seems to be a chance I can learn two of the skills, in reality I can only learn one out of these three skills. [Flame Blade] and [Ice Blade] are both normal skills, you need to pay 10 gold if you want to learn them, but this [Fierce Ice Blade] should be an original by Karl, and the attack effects are quite a bit stronger than [Ice Blade] because of the defense ignoration. It is indeed good...but just a bit expensive!
  
  
  
  I look in my bag; I still have 400+ gold coins. It"s enough, so I"ll learn it. With good skills you can win anything!
  
  
  
  Whoosh!
  
  
  
  After spending 300 gold coins and 3 charm, [Fierce Ice Blade] appears in my skill window. It even consumed charm... Which means that whoever doesn"t have charm won"t be able to learn this skill.
  
  
  
  My sword trembles, and I silently cast [Fierce Ice Blade]. Instantly, ice starts gushing out of my sword, and I stab out. A simple attack but it has plenty of killing power. A level 10 [Fierce Ice Blade] would raise my attack damage by 20%, and ignore 10% defense, so it shouldn"t be too far from the level 10 [Wind Blade] which increases damage by 30%. With this, I have two attacking skills, nice!
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  I wanted to chat a bit more with Karl, but he says no more and goes back into his small house on his wheelchair. Damn, this instructor is so cold!
  
  
  
  Whatever, I"ll find some monsters, and raise [Fierce Ice Blade] to level 4 first!
  
  
  
  Outside of Ba Huang City, Vampire Bats fall one after another under my attack, it seems like with [Fierce Ice Blade], I can instantly kills them...The skill bar slowly fills, because it has a 6 second cooldown. I have plenty of patience, and I"ll slowly grind....
  Chapter 80 - Putting Away Differences
  
  This chapter was sponsored by Eko Haryanto, Piotr Mosko, Estela Perez, Garvin Guan and William Wang! Thanks!
  
  TL: NEW CHAPTER!! Have fun! Sorry about last chapter"s donors list, fixed now! Also, sorry about the messed up postings :P
  
  I stay up until 7am in the morning, and with a ringing sound, [Fierce Ice Blade] reaches level 3. The attack damage buff for [Fierce Ice Blade] increases to an 6%. The defense ignored increases to 3% and the Freeze debuff which slows the enemy down reaches 3 seconds. This is such a divine skill!
  
   ......
  
   When the task was completed, I look over at the time and decide that I should head out now.
  
  In the sunny campus morning, my body aches with each step as a result of staying up so late. After I called the two girls, I walk to their dorm where we proceed to go eat porridge together.
  
  "Beep ......"
  
  While eating, my phone started ringing. It is an unknown number. After connecting, a very deep voice appears on the other end--
  
  "Is this Xiao Yao Zi Zai?"
  
  "Ah, yes and you are?"
  
  "My name is Liu Ren, part of the Vanguard Guild, my gamer ID is Fushen Moren, you should know me."
  
  "Oh ...... it"s Vanguard"s number one monk......"
  
  Fushen Moren chuckles: "Yes, that"s me, we tried everything to find your phone number."
  
  "What"s the emergency?"
  
  
  
  "Well, it"s like this. Both Fan Shu City and Jiu Lu City are currently very chaotic, so our leader, Jian Feng Han, decided that we should try to fight the Boss today. Being that you are our primary tank, you are required to participate. This phone call is to inform you that we will be meeting at 12 o"clock [noon] today. The boss fight will start at 1 o"clock exactly, so you should start preparing....."
  
  
  
  I frown: "Didn"t we agree that the Boss fight would be tomorrow? I"m sorry. I am busy today, so I can"t come."
  
  
  
  "You...."
  
  
  
  Fushen Moren says in a cold voice: " What do you mean? Are you going back on your word? We pay you 1000 RMB for every fight you join. Other people would try desperately to find these kinds of opportunities. We at Vanguard are extending you such a courtesy, do you think what you are doing is right?"
  
  
  
  I shake my head: "This schedule doesn"t really work for me. I"m not trying to be discourteous or anything, but I actually have something to do today...."
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Just then, Lin Wan Er"s phone rings. She listens to the call, blinks a bit, and whispers in my ear: "Li Xiao Yao, today"s plans on going to XiXi Wetland have been canceled."
  
  
  
  I nod. Then on the phone, I say: "Never mind, the meeting time is 12 o"clock noon right? I"ll be sure to be there on time."
  
  
  
  "Humm, alright then, ha ha....."
  
  
  
  Foshen Moren says with a sigh of relief: "We will prepare potions for you. Also, how are you progressing with the skills you learned from your second promotion?"
  
  I say after a bit of thought: "Attack Specialization is a passive skill, so I don"t need to level that. But I already trained my active skill to level three, so it should help quite a bit."
  
  
  
  "Alright, then we will see you at noon!"
  
  "Okay!"
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Hanging up the phone, I see Lin Wan Er. She smiles at me apologetically and says: "That was .... Hero Mound suddenly deciding to assault a level 55 gold tiered boss, so we have to cancel our trip to XiXi Wetland and change it to tomorrow."
  
  
  
  I answer with a nod: "Okay, I understand."
  
  Dong Cheng Yue, a little disappointed, says: "Originally, I had thought we could relax at XiXi Wetland. I didn"t think that our guild events would cause us to cancel it. We are both DPSs classes; we shouldn"t even have to be there. What type of boss can"t Hero Mound kill when they should have about 2000 players online daily?"
  
  
  
  Lin Wan Er nods: "Maybe they are afraid that their losses will be too big, so they are asking the elite players to come? On the phone, he said to gather all the players with a second promotion and try to fighting the level 55 boss with 20 people first...."
  
  
  
  Dong Cheng Ye looks at me: "Xiao Yao, at noon you"ll also be fighting a boss right?"
  
  
  
  I smiled: "Presumably, Jian Feng Han found out that Q Sword is planning on killing a boss, so he moved the Boss fight up. Also Q Sword must have heard that Vanguard will also be moving out. It looks like the fight between Hero Mound and Vanguard is about to get interesting. Let us see who acquires the guild tablet first."
  
  
  
  As Lin Wan Er"s pair of beautiful eyes swept across me, she chuckles: "I am confident that with your bad luck, Vanguard won"t be able to get a Guild Creation Tablet."
  
  
  
  "Wait and see....."
  
  
  
  "Alright....."
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  After breakfast, the two beauties run back to the dorms to prepare. Since Jian Feng Han will have prepared everything for me and I don"t have anything else to do, I decide to take a nap. I set up my phone alarm for 11 o"clock, and proceeded to fall into a deep slumber.
  
  
  
  At 11 o"clock, I immediately wake up.
  
  
  
  After I put on my clothes, I run outside of the school gates, to where a dining truck was parked. I pull out 10 RMB. After looking at the menu, I decided: "Tofu with Cabbage, Seaweed Stipes, Garlic along with beef ribs. Three vegetables and one meat, 10 yuan (2 USD)!"
  
  
  
  The boss packages my food, smiles and says: "Young man, there"s free hot water over there. Help yourself to some."
  
  
  
  Holding the fast food, I sit down on a bench. I put my disposable cup of water aside, proceed to rip my chopsticks apart, and start to have a feast. Sometimes fast food really tastes better than five-star restaurants, especially when one is hungry.
  
  Finishing the food, I look at the time and see it is 11:30 AM. Time to get back online!
  
  
  
  The dorm was filled with the smell of food, looking again, Tang Gu sat at the desk with a dish of pickled fish, and two other dishes, he was also holding a bottle of beer, seeing me come in, he laughs: "Brat, where did you go? I wanted to drink with you!"
  
  
  
  "It"s not too late now..."
  
  
  
  I sat next to him, click off the cap of a beer bottle, grab the chopsticks and start eating with him. The 10 yuan lunchbox from before was far from enough and it"s still quite a bit before the 12 PM gathering time. Even if I went online, I wouldn"t have anything to do.
  
  
  
  Tang Gu is self-employed, his life is pretty well off. Whereas someone like me, earning money from the game, would not give me enough to spend. The reorganization of the studio is going to cost quite a bit and I can"t expect the others to find the money, so I can only rely on myself.
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Quickly, the time approached 12 PM and I put down my chopsticks and tell Tang Gu that I"m going online.
  
  
  
  Shua!
  
  
  
  As soon as I appeared in Ba Huang City, a system message pops up: Please pay attention, Player "Jian Feng Han" has requested to be your friend!
  
  
  
  After saying yes, Jian Feng Han appeared in my friend"s list.
  
  
  
  Ti!
  
  
  
  Jian Feng Han quickly sends a message: "Brother Xiao Yao, come to the place (12282, 98773) outside of the North Gate. We"re all gathered here, come quickly!"
  
  
  
  "Alright!"
  
  
  
  Carrying the ancient tablet and my jade city sword, I run with Baby Bobo to his position. The coordinations that he gave me leads me towards the Pear Blossom Forest. When I got there, I see a lot of players. Looks like Vanguard is going all out today.
  
  
  
  "Xiao Yao Zi Zai"s coming!"
  
  
  
  Simple holds her staff and smiles: "Then we"re all set. All we need to do is just distribute some potions and other things. Oh... someone give Xiao Yao Zi Zai his share of potions."
  
  
  
  "Yes, Vice-guild leader."
  
  
  
  A twenty year old beauty walks up to me and requests to trade. Quickly, the trade window includes 100 Indigo Sea Pills and 50 level 5 health potions, which recovers 600 health instantly. These potions are selling for 1 gold each in Ba Huang City! For this boss, Vanguard is paying a huge price.
  
  
  
  After taking the potions, I look at everyone and smile: "How many players are going? Where do we find the boss?"
  
  
  
  Jian Feng Han sneakily smiles: "200 players. We can"t let the killing of a boss affect the leveling speed of others. These 200 players are our elite and the lowest leveled player here is level 38. As for the boss" location, you"ll know when you get there. Oh right, sister, why aren"t the people from the General"s family here yet?"
  
  
  
  Simple smiles: "15 seconds!"
  
  
  
  With the rustling of a nearby bush, four players suddenly appear within the Li Hua Forest. Its General Li Mu, General Wang Jian, General Lian Po and General Bai Chi! They"re all people on Ba Huang City"s leaderboard. What are they doing at a Vanguard event?
  
  
  
  ......
  
  
  
  Zheng!
  
  
  
  I raise my hand and pull out Jade City Sword. Baby Bobo also sticks out his stinger and goes into attack mode.
  
  
  
  "Xiao Yao Zi Zai!"
  
  
  
  General Wang Jian instinctively jumps back half a step and pulls out his sword: "What do you want?!"
  
  
  
  General Li Mu furrows his brow: "It"s a small world..."
  
  
  
  Jian Feng Han quickly walks up and stands between me and the four from the Generals Family, saying: "Since we"re all here to kill the boss, we"re all friends right now. Let"s put away our differences temporarily. Think of it as a favor for me. After we kill the boss and a Guild Creation Tablet drops, you guys can go back to killing each other and I won"t stop you guys."
  
  
  
  Since Jian Feng Han says it so clearly, the Generals Family could not argue.
  
  
  
  I stick the Jade City Sword into the ground and lightly smile: "Actually, killing me twice is a thing in the past. All I want to do right now is to emphasize that even if a Guild Creation Tablet doesn"t drop with this boss, I"ll be taking any strength adding armor or sword type weapons. As for the other equipments, I won"t be needing them. If you don"t agree, then I"ll be leaving right now!"
  
  
  
  Jian Feng Han nods: "Sure, no problem!"
  
  
  
  The generals family faces turn sullen at the mention of my arrangement. Li Mu says: "This... that"s not too fair. After all, our general family is also helping out with this, so why do swords go to Xiao Yao? If we die and a sword drops, we would have died for nothing?"
  
  
  
  Feng Hans smiles and says: "Brother Li Mu, I don"t think that you understand. I am only paying Xiao Yao 1000 yuan (160 USD) whereas for the generals family, each one of you requested 3000 yuan (480 USD) for your services. Therefore, equipment goes to Xiao Yao first..."
  
  
  
  Li Mu pauses: "What? Only 1000 yuan?"
  
  
  
  I nods: "Mm, was that stupid?"
  
  
  
  "Pretty stupid..."
  
  
  
  "Screw you!"
  
  
  
  "Haha..."
  
  
  
  ......
  
  And thus, we noisily started on our journey. There were a total of 200 players, grouping up into 20, 10 player groups. All that was left was to see if we could defeat the legendary high-level boss.
  
  
   My goal isn"t the Guild Creation Tablet , whether or not it drops doesn"t matter to me. But if a Warrior class equipment or skill books drops, it would be great! I can"t work for free!
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