Starting from Zero #1-100
Author: 雷云风暴
Date: 2025-07-06T15:17:52+00:00

Chapter 0: Red Moon

After reading the book reviews, I simply couldn’t help but say a few words about Red Moon. Perhaps many readers haven’t truly understood her as a character?

Red Moon is a rich girl who grew up in an environment devoid of familial affection and friendship. From a young age, the only people she interacted with were maids or bodyguards. In other words, she never encountered anyone she needed to care for; everyone around her only ever placated and obeyed her. Don’t just focus on her actions; you must look deeper, beyond the surface! In fact, from many angles, everyone should be able to see that Red Moon is actually a very open-minded woman. She is not just some empty vase who knows nothing.

In many places throughout the story, Red Moon demonstrates the air of a heroine and the talents of a leader. If you look closely, you’ll notice that her spoiled and willful behavior is directed solely at Purple Sun. She rarely throws tantrums at others. This is actually a manifestation of a burgeoning, indistinct love.

Think back to your own childhoods. Many young girls often like to tease certain boys. This is, in fact, the same as Red Moon’s behavior—it’s a form of love, still in its nebulous stage. Red Moon’s harshness toward Purple Sun isn’t because she’s willful or unreasonable; it’s because she simply doesn’t know how to interact with him.

Strictly speaking, Red Moon is one of the most tragic characters in this book. Although, due to the nature of this story, I didn’t turn her into a tragic figure like Juliet, everyone should still view her with a sympathetic eye. On the surface, Red Moon seems to be surrounded by halos—she is intelligent and beautiful, her family background is illustrious, and her status is lofty. In reality, she has nothing. She has no close friends to confide in, no parents to behave like a pampered child with, and she even has to face internal family struggles. Consequently, after meeting Purple Sun, she admires him, she is infatuated with him, yet she doesn’t know how to get close to him. Every time she tries to draw nearer, her efforts backfire.

I hope everyone understands that no person is that simple. You cannot understand someone on a superficial level; besides yourself, you can never truly understand anyone else. Perhaps two people who have lived together their entire lives might only come to truly understand one another after death, but by then, it would be meaningless. Therefore, don’t try to understand Red Moon so simplistically. She is not as shallow as you all might think.

Finally, I’d like to say one more thing. Although this is a work of entertainment literature, this book is truly not suited for skimming. There are many details you won’t grasp unless you think about them carefully. I suggest everyone slow down your reading pace; you might make some unexpected discoveries!

Chapter 1: Shopping Spree

“Are you kidding me! We’ve been waiting for so long!” a young man complained.

“What’s that to you! I came here without even having breakfast. You at least got to eat a hamburger!” Ah Wei grumbled.

Ah Wei, full name Liang Wei, is my best friend and roommate. We’ve known each other since we were very young. We were in the same class in middle school, went to the same high school, and now in college, we’re in the same class again and even share a dorm room. We started playing games together back in middle school; Ah Wei’s game room was our favorite place back then! Now that we’re in college, Ah Wei and I are in a two-person room, mainly because I’m a rather solitary person. Besides Ah Wei, I have almost no friends! We’re freshmen, and summer vacation just ended. It’ll be a long time before classes start, so spending this time playing games in the dorm isn’t a bad idea!

Ah Wei’s family is quite wealthy; they’re in real estate, but I don’t know the specifics, just that they’re not as rich as my family. Next to his own bedroom is his exclusive game room, filled with over a hundred different consoles, all bought for him by his family! My family is a bit more complicated. My father runs a multinational conglomerate called the Dragon’s Fate Group. The group doesn’t have a main line of business; basically, if a venture can make money, we’re in it. In truth, the largest source of income for Dragon’s Fate is specialized armaments. What? You don’t know what specialized armaments are? It’s the military industry that produces special weapons, like biological, electronic, energy, and space-based weaponry—all highly technical and not for widespread use. If it weren’t for my status as the Young Master, I would have never known Dragon’s Fate was involved in this stuff! The Dragon’s Fate Group was passed down to my father from my grandfather. It’s now the second most powerful corporation in the world, and my father owns fifty-one percent of the company’s shares. I’m not sure what that stake is worth, but I know it surpassed last year’s national GDP. My mother is the chairwoman of the Zhonghua Company. Unlike my father, she built the Zhonghua Company from the ground up. Because she did it all on her own, she controls seventy-eight percent of the shares. Although the Zhonghua Company isn’t that large yet, my mother’s shares are still worth over a hundred million, but of course, compared to my father’s Dragon’s Fate Group, it’s just a drop in the ocean! Because my family is so rich, I never had the normal childhood a kid is supposed to have. No matter what I did, I was followed by a three-digit number of bodyguards. Even when I went to the bathroom, a dozen or so people would form a circle around me with their backs turned. My parents were always busy with work. They even closed a business deal each during my tenth birthday party! Since I had bodyguards following me everywhere, it was incredibly hard to make friends. On top of that, almost everyone who approached me was after my family’s money, which made me trust people even less. The result is that Ah Wei is my one and only friend (in reality, my parents hoped that being with Ah Wei would make me a little happier). Since then, my family has also tried their best to give me an environment more like that of an ordinary person, so I wouldn’t think of myself as part of a privileged class. To this end, my identity was deliberately hidden. Dad even used his connections to alter records in many departments. Now, most people don’t even know if my dad has any children, let alone who I am. The most obvious benefit of this is that the hundred-plus bodyguards behind me have been replaced by a few hidden guards, and I can attend a normal school just like everyone else (I was homeschooled at Ah Wei’s house for elementary school by specially hired teachers, and Ah Wei studied with me). It’s because of this strange childhood that I find it so hard to make friends, which led to my reclusive personality!

Actually, there’s another major obstacle to my making friends: my looks and my voice. I’m not ugly at all; on the contrary, I’m very beautiful. Yes, beautiful. I could probably place in any beauty pageant in the world. The problem is, as a man of iron and blood, I was born with a body that looks nothing like a man’s. Note, I’m not a pervert; from a medical standpoint, I’m completely male. I have everything I’m supposed to have and nothing I’m not, and my sexual orientation is also perfectly normal. But! Ninety-nine point nine-nine percent of people can’t guess my gender correctly without prior knowledge (the frustration is real!). Every time guests come over, the first thing they say upon seeing me is always: “Chairman, your esteemed daughter is so beautiful!” Indeed, most people’s first impression of me is of a beautiful, innocent girl bubbling with charm. Moreover, for some reason, my voice has always been a sweet, childlike tone from before puberty, making it even harder to confirm my gender! Just think, how am I supposed to become friends with a group of guys who are drooling over me! Because of these looks, I haven’t had a moment of peace even at school. Throughout my childhood and adolescence, there have been no fewer than one hundred incidents where I’ve scared a group of boys into running out of the men’s restroom! So, for the longest time, the only person my age who could treat me as a man has been Ah Wei, my most loyal friend (the main reason he can withstand my beauty is that we grew up together. When we were little, he didn’t have those kinds of thoughts, and by the time we grew up, he was used to it. Actually, Ah Wei is quite a lecher himself; he even complains that because I’m so beautiful, it’ll be hard for him to pick a girlfriend, saying that an average-looking girl wouldn’t be able to handle being next to me! In my opinion, he seems to react to any woman he sees!).

Today, Ah Wei and I are in line waiting for the latest online game, Zero. Today is the game’s initial release, and the first ten thousand accounts received will have special rewards. The prize is a dedicated virtual reality helmet for Zero and a random hidden reward in the game. The helmet isn’t a big deal; it’s 2062 now, and this kind of helmet only costs about three hundred RMB on the market, so it’s not that precious. On the other hand, the random hidden reward is much more appealing. Actually, this game, Zero, is a joint product of my father’s company and the world’s number one enterprise, the EU Parity Trade Group, with my mother’s Zhonghua Company as the main distributor. But my father said I couldn’t get any special treatment and that if I wanted an account, I had to queue for it myself. And so, here I am!

I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Shen Lin, a native of New Nanjing. I should explain “New Nanjing.” In 2012, China and Japan had a large-scale armed conflict over maritime borders that later escalated into a full-blown war. During the war, Japan launched thirty-seven giant fuel-air bombs at our country. Fortunately, thirty-six were successfully intercepted by the space-based directed-energy interception system (this system was the Dragon’s Fate Group’s first successful arms deal, back when my grandfather was still in control). However, the last fuel-air bomb still landed on Nanjing, and the entire Nanjing area was razed to the ground. The direct death toll exceeded four times the total number of victims of the Nanjing Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War, reaching a staggering one point three five million. In a retaliatory strike, China dropped a crustal bomb on Japan’s Honshu Island, sending one of Japan’s four main islands directly into the Pacific Ocean (Japan now has only three main islands left). The resulting tsunami also severely affected neighboring countries, for which China paid five trillion, two hundred twenty billion RMB in compensation to both South Korea and North Korea. This New Nanjing was rebuilt on the original ruins of Nanjing.

“Look, the doors are open!” Ah Wei pulled me back from my reverie.

I squeezed forward with all my might. It was utter chaos. The previously orderly line dissolved the moment the doors opened. I was practically lifted off my feet and carried into the distribution hall by the tide of people. Inside, the scene was even more chaotic. The hall, which wasn’t very large to begin with, was now packed with over three thousand people, and there were at least another ten thousand outside trying to get in. Ah Wei, who had been behind me, was swept away by the crowd to who knows where.

Seeing that the counters up ahead had started distributing accounts, I had no choice but to squeeze desperately toward a window. The security guards were doing their best to maintain order, but it seemed futile. “Help!” I heard a very faint cry for help, seemingly from under my feet. I managed to look down and saw that someone was on the ground, unable to get up as people trampled over them. If this continued, the person on the ground would surely be crushed to death. I pushed against the dense crowd around me with a sudden burst of strength. Bracing myself with my shoulders to keep the people from closing in again, I reached out a hand and pulled the person up from the floor.

I was completely stunned. The person I had saved was a girl so beautiful she seemed like a fairy banished to the mortal world. Her beauty completely surpassed my own. To this day, there aren’t many people like that, which is why most women don’t dare to walk with me—who wants to be the foliage to the flower, after all! But right now, she was covered in footprints and looked utterly disheveled, though even that couldn’t hide her beauty.

“Thank you, big sister!” Her voice was incredibly pleasant, but to me, it was like a bucket of cold water had been thrown over me. Another one who got it wrong!

“It’s nothing. In a situation like this, I couldn’t just stand by and watch you get trampled to death! Do you want me to help you out of the hall?” The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them. If she really wanted me to escort her out, I couldn’t guarantee I’d be able to squeeze back in and get one of the first ten thousand accounts. Besides, this game was having a global simultaneous release. Even if New Nanjing was the headquarters of the distributing Zhonghua Company, we would probably get three to five hundred special accounts at most.

“No! I want to get an account!” The girl’s words brought me a sigh of relief.

“Alright, stick close to me!”

I resumed my charge toward the counter, desperately clearing a path. Half-dead from exhaustion, I finally swam to the window. Yes, “swam” is the right word, because my feet rarely touched the ground. “I want one account!” I yelled at the sales lady.

“I want an account, too!” The girl had also reached the counter.

The sales lady quickly handed over two helmets. “The account number is in the helmet. You can read the manual if you’re unclear about anything.”

There was no other choice but to squeeze back into the crowd and move toward the exit. It took a great effort to reach the entrance again. Looking at the sea of people outside, I couldn’t even imagine how I had managed to push my way in. I heard panting behind me and turned to see the girl.

“Thank you! My name is Lijia, Lin Lijia. If it weren’t for you today, sister, I wouldn’t just have lost my chance at an account, I probably would have lost my life!” She extended her hand generously.

Clasping that soft, now grimy (it was originally very fair) little hand, I decided not to explain myself. The chances of us meeting again were negligible anyway. “It’s nothing! Since we both got our accounts, I’ll jot yours down and message you in the game.”

“Okay!” Lijia copied the account number from her helmet and handed it to me. “I’ll get going then. Let’s keep in touch!”

“Okay!” Watching her figure recede into the distance, I glanced back at the crowd. I figured finding Ah Wei was impossible, so I decided to head back to the dorm first.

I was finally back at the dorm, but Ah Wei hadn’t returned yet. I took out the breakfast I had brought back with me and ate while studying the manual. The game wouldn’t officially open until eight o’clock tonight anyway.

The manual was thin, only seventeen pages in total. It turned out that the first ten thousand accounts were related to the helmets. The account number itself didn’t mean much; the key was the helmet. The first time a helmet was used to log into the game, the system would automatically recognize the account used as a reward account and perform a random prize calculation. Of course, each account could only receive the reward once. Even if you had two special helmets and logged in with the same account on both, it would be useless. The system would only acknowledge the first reward and ignore the second. The manual also mentioned that each person could only use one account. Upon entering the game for the first time, the helmet would automatically scan the user’s brainwaves and irises to bind them. Once the binding was complete, the account could absolutely not be used by anyone else. This completely eliminated the possibility of account sharing for power-leveling or theft. Additionally, each person’s identity would be bound to the account; once a person had used one account, they could never apply for a second one. Other instructions were omitted; the manual only said that players could ask system NPCs for information after entering the game.

Just as I put down the manual, I saw Ah Wei return. “How’d it go?”

Ah Wei looked dejected. “Don’t even mention it. I was pushed out as soon as I got in. I didn’t even get close! You got one!” Ah Wei had spotted my helmet. “But it’s no big deal. I’m not a professional gamer anyway, so it doesn’t matter if my account is just a regular one.”

“It’s fine. Once I’ve leveled up, I’ll carry you. You’ll definitely level up faster than others,” I comforted him.

“That’d be great! You better not go back on your word!”

After an early lunch, I took a nap in the afternoon to gather my energy for an all-nighter. I got up at seven, ate dinner, and started waiting for the game to officially open. After a long wait (which was actually less than half an hour), it was finally eight o’clock!

Chapter 2: Character Creation (Part 1)

Putting on the Helmet, my vision went black. The next moment, I found myself in a pale blue room. A highly mechanical voice sounded out. “Iris lock confirmed. Attempting neural interface.” It paused for two seconds. “Interface successful. Biometric scan normal. Identity locked. Setup complete. Welcome to the system. Transferring to the main AI for guidance!” After another two-second pause, a female voice spoke in my ear. It wasn’t particularly magnetic, but it was quite pleasant to listen to.

“Hello! Welcome to the world of Zero. You are using a Reward Account. Please begin spinning for your reward items.”

A giant wheel suddenly materialized in the room. I looked at it dubiously and asked, “Excuse me, what does this ‘reward items’ thing mean?”

“The number of rewards each Reward Account receives is random. After you spin the wheel, the result will determine the number of rewards you get. The maximum is four, and the minimum is zero.”

“What? Zero? Wouldn’t that just make it a normal Account with no rewards?” How could this damned system be so cruel! I fought tooth and nail to get this Reward Account; I’d cry my eyes out if it all came to nothing!

“Please begin spinning the wheel,” the system urged.

Resigned, I figured there were five numbers in total, so the probability of landing on zero was only twenty percent. I walked over and gave the wheel a hard spin, and it immediately started turning. Watching it slow down, my heart leaped into my throat. The pointer was on three. The wheel was still turning slowly, but it looked like it was about to stop! I prayed silently that it wouldn’t stop on zero. But the pointer kept moving, and now it had reached one. Please, I prayed, even stopping on one would be fine!

The pointer reached zero. The wheel was still creeping along, but it didn’t look like it had enough momentum to leave the ‘zero’ section. I closed my eyes in disappointment. Ding! After the crisp sound, the system notification chimed. “Congratulations! You have received the maximum of four rewards!”

“What!” I opened my eyes in disbelief. The pointer seemed to have stopped right on the line between zero and four. But in any case, the system’s precision was higher than the human eye, so it had to be right.

The system confirmed again, “You did indeed get four. Please decide on your character. This Account can create two characters. Would you like to apply the rewards to two separate characters or concentrate them on one?”

Are you kidding me? Is that even a question? “One!” When you play a game, you only need one main character. Splitting them between two would just be a waste!

“Please create a character first. The rewards will be applied to this character.”

“Okay, but how do I create one?”

“First, please state the character’s name. This name will be permanent and cannot be changed after creation unless you ‘commit suicide’ to create a new character. Please use Chinese characters for the name, if possible.”

“Purple Sun!” I’ve always used this cool name. It’s the name I use for my character in every game.

“Character Purple Sun has been created. Commencing reward calculation.” The system paused for two seconds. “Your first reward has been determined. It is the ability to choose a hidden race. Please select a race for your character now.”

“Races? What races are there to choose from?”

A flash of white light, and two rows of people appeared before me. The first row stood directly on the ground, while the second floated in mid-air. Looking closely, these figures seemed a little familiar. Wait! Aren’t these… me? How come they all look a bit like me!

The system seemed to notice my confusion. “These are the models for each race, configured to your appearance. You must first choose a race, after which you can make modifications of up to ten percent based on your own features. The bottom row consists of races anyone can choose. The top row consists of races that can only be created by Accounts that have received the hidden race reward. The standard races include twelve types: Orc, Human, Elf, Dwarf, Goblin, Fire Elemental, Water Elemental, Earth Elemental, Undead, Air Elemental, Fairy, and Monster. The special races include seven types: Angel, Demon, Half-elf, Spirit Elemental, Half-orc, Half-angel, and Celestial Demon.”

Since the top row was part of a special reward, they had to be stronger than the bottom row. “Could you give me a detailed introduction to the characteristics of the races in the top row?”

The system immediately made the bottom row disappear, and the races from the top row flew automatically in front of me. “You can see their appearances for yourself, so I will mainly introduce their attributes. First, the Angel. For the same attribute points, this race has relatively high attack power and defense power, as well as a lot of HP. They also have an innate self-healing spell, ‘Holy Light.’ Second is the Demon. They have very high defense and magic attack, and their health regeneration is quite fast. Third is the Half-elf. This race possesses the high agility and night vision of Elves, but with more HP—usually on par with a Human. Fourth is the Spirit Elemental. This race is a natural-born mage. All their cast spells have a five percent attack power bonus, and their SP recovery rate is very fast. Fifth is the Half-orc. This race’s attack and defense are as high as an Orc’s, while retaining Human-level agility and intelligence. They can even become mages, a class absolutely unheard of among Orcs. Sixth is the Half-angel. This race’s attack and defense are close to that of the Angel race but usually a bit lower. However, Half-angels do not share the Angels’ restriction on learning attack-type magic, and their resistance to dark magic is also higher than an Angel’s. The last one is the Celestial Demon, a very peculiar race. The Celestial Demon is a hybrid of Angel and Demon, possessing high physical attack power and magical attack power. They do not have the Angel’s fifty percent damage absorption for light magic, nor the Demon’s fifty percent damage absorption for dark magic. At the same time, they do not have the Angel’s zero defense against dark magic or the Demon’s zero defense against light magic. In short, it is an intermediate race. Furthermore, the system is limiting the number of Celestial Demons. Only the first ten Accounts to choose this race will have the opportunity. In the future, only the other six special races will appear as rewards.”

Haha! Now I get it. But it’s still hard to choose. They’re all so good, it’s really hard to pick one! “Excuse me, can you remove the races as I eliminate them?”

“You wish to use the process of elimination? Of course!”

Damn! What kind of system is this? The AI is so advanced! Whatever, I’ll just choose. “I’m definitely not picking Spirit Elemental, it’s too ugly!” The Spirit Elemental in front of me immediately dissolved into motes of starlight and vanished, leaving six figures. “Half-orcs are too barbaric, no thanks.” Another flash, and there were five races left. “Half-angels and Half-elves don’t have clear enough advantages, get rid of them!” Three left! How am I supposed to decide now? “My character is named Purple Sun, and Angel doesn’t seem to fit that name. Get rid of it!” Now there were only two left! The Demon race is clearly meant for mages, and I prefer knights. “I’ve decided. I choose the Celestial Demon race!”

The system replied immediately, “Race successfully selected as Celestial Demon. Congratulations, you are the first person to choose the Celestial Demon race. The system rewards you with one base attribute point. Now, please begin configuring your character’s appearance.”

Only the Celestial Demon figure remained before me. I examined it carefully. The height was unchanged, one hundred and seventy-two centimeters, just like in real life. It seemed the Celestial Demon race had no height bonus. Well-proportioned limbs, a face that was slightly bewitching, and other than the pair of black wings on its back, it was almost identical to my real self. “Excuse me, can I get rid of these wings?”

“I’m sorry! The wings are a characteristic of the Celestial Demon race, just as you cannot request a Dwarf player to grow taller than one point six meters. However, you can rest assured that the wings are retractable. If you don’t display them, no one will see them.”

“That’s a relief! In that case, I want to make the lines of the face straighter, not so many curves. Make the bridge of the nose more angular and defined, yes, and make the eyes sharper, too!” Watching my character gradually change before my eyes, I was quite satisfied with my modifications.

“You have reached the modification limit. Please confirm if you wish to use this appearance.”

I took a look. Even though I had tried my best to make it uglier and more masculine, no matter how I looked at it, it still had a feminine appearance! Ah well, forget it. I’ll just have to make do. “Confirm this appearance!”

“Confirmation successful! Character generation complete!”

Chapter 3: Creating a Character (Part 2)

The system prompt sounded again. “Beginning calculation for the second reward.” Another two seconds of silence. “The result of the second reward is an additional main profession and an additional auxiliary profession. A normal account can have one main profession and two auxiliary professions, so you may have two main professions and three auxiliary professions. Please select your main professions. Because your race is Celestial Demon, there are some professions you cannot choose. Your available options are the following six: Warrior, Magic Swordsman, Dark Magic Swordsman, Dark Warrior, Beast Tamer, and Assassin. Among these, Beast Tamer is a hidden profession not available to everyone.”

“Could you give me an introduction to them?” I decided to stick to my cautious approach, listening first before deciding.

“The Warrior is a pure physical attack profession, with attribute bonuses to attack power, defense, and health regeneration speed. A Warrior can be promoted to a Knight, then a Paladin, and finally a Dragon Knight. The Magic Swordsman is a hybrid physical and magical attack profession, with minor bonuses to attack power, defense, magical attack, magical defense, health regeneration, and mana regeneration. A Magic Swordsman can be promoted to a Magic Virtuoso, then a Divine Fighter, and finally a Demigod. The Dark Magic Swordsman has bonuses similar to the Magic Swordsman and can be promoted to a Demonic Musician, then a Demonic Warrior, and finally an Archdemon. The Dark Warrior’s attribute bonuses are similar to the Warrior’s, with a promotion path to Black Knight, then Undead Knight, and finally Dark Templar. The Beast Tamer fights primarily using tamed magical pets and demon servants, and can also use magical attacks. They have attribute bonuses to magical attack, magical defense, mana regeneration speed, number of magical pets, and demon servant control limit. They can be promoted to a Beastmaster, then a Spirit Herald, and finally a Beast God. The Assassin is also a physical attack profession, with attribute bonuses to attack power, agility, and demon servant control limit. An Assassin can be promoted to a Slayer, then a Killer, and finally a Top Assassin. That is a brief introduction to these professions. Have you decided which to choose?”

My character’s name is Purple Sun, so I should follow a dark path. That means Warrior and Magic Swordsman are out. Although the Dark Magic Swordsman has both magic and martial skills, they end up being a jack of all trades and master of none, so I’ll pass on that one too. A sneaky profession like Assassin doesn’t suit my personality, so that’s also out. “Can I choose two main professions, is that right?” This time, I didn’t dare to fool around with the system and used my most polite tone.

“Yes!”

“Then I’ll set my main professions as Dark Warrior and Beast Tamer.”

“Main professions confirmed. Now, please select your auxiliary professions. Your available auxiliary professions include: Blacksmith, Alchemist, Appraiser, Breeder, Stonemason, Porter, and Postman. Among these, Breeder is also a hidden profession. Which three would you like to choose?”

Same old routine, gather information first. “Could you tell me the features of each profession?”

“A Blacksmith can learn the Gathering Skill to obtain many special items and can be promoted to a Master Craftsman. An Alchemist can gather their own herbs to create potions and can be promoted to a Mystic Alchemist. An Appraiser can identify items and monsters on their own and can be promoted to an Appraisal Expert. A Breeder can capture their own pets and demon servants and receives a bonus to their control limit; they can be promoted to a Magical Beast Expert. A Stonemason can build their own houses and mine for gems and can be promoted to an Architect. A Porter has no special skills but increases max HP and max stamina; they can be promoted to a Strongman. A Postman also has no special skills but receives bonuses to both stamina and agility; they can be promoted to an Intelligence Agent. Those are the features of these professions. Have you decided on your auxiliary professions?”

“I’ll use the process of elimination to get rid of the ones I don’t want.”

“Very well!”

“The Stonemason can build houses, but the opportunity to do so probably won’t come up often. Get rid of it.”

“Six professions remain. you must eliminate three more!”

“An Alchemist can make their own potions, but I don’t have the leisure to go searching all over the mountains for herbs. Get rid of it.”

“Five remaining!”

“The Porter and Postman have bonuses, but they probably aren’t very large and won’t be of much use. Get rid of them.”

“Only Blacksmith, Appraiser, and Breeder are left. Are you certain you want to choose these three professions?”

“Yes. Confirm!”

“Profession selection confirmed. Proceeding to the third reward calculation.” Another two-second silence. “The third reward has been determined. You have received four random, automatically-assigned attribute points.”

“What do you mean, ‘random, automatically-assigned’?”

“‘Random, automatically-assigned’ means these four points will be added randomly by the system after you have finished allocating your own points. Therefore, you will not know which attributes they will be added to beforehand.”

“Damn! Doesn’t that mean I basically have to pretend they don’t exist? Oh well, better to have them than not.”

“Then please begin allocating your character’s points!” A stat window suddenly flashed in front of me. “The attributes you need to allocate points to are: Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Charisma, Spirit, and Constitution, for a total of six. A standard character has a base of thirty points. As a Celestial Demon, you receive a three-point bonus. You were also the first player to choose the Celestial Demon race, so you receive one bonus point. Therefore, your total distributable points are thirty-four. Additionally, be advised that your base point allocation will directly affect your future attribute growth. You will not be able to modify this allocation later on. Future points will be automatically distributed according to this initial ratio without consulting the player. Are you ready to distribute your points?”

“Excuse me, what does ‘according to the ratio’ mean?”

“For every level you gain in the future, you will receive thirty-four base points. These points will be directly added to your attributes based on the numbers you allocate now. For example, if you allocate thirty points to Strength, your Strength will increase by thirty points with every level up. Alternatively, if you allocate zero points to Strength, your Strength will remain at zero no matter how many levels you gain.”

“Understood! So what effect do these base points have on my character’s displayed stats? What are the specific conversion rates?”

“I’m sorry, the specific conversion formulas in this game must be deduced by the players themselves. The company only permits revealing the relationship between attributes and their effects.”

“Then tell me about their effects!”

“Strength points will affect your carrying capacity, physical attack power, physical defense, and stamina. Agility affects your movement speed, casting speed, physical defense, magical defense, physical attack accuracy, and magical attack accuracy. Intelligence affects your maximum mana and the types of spells you can learn; each spell has an Intelligence requirement that must be met. Charisma primarily affects the number of magical pets you can keep, the number of demon servants you can recruit, and NPCs’ attitude toward you. Characters with high charisma can often receive special hidden quests from NPCs. It is important to note that Charisma is a one-time investment. Even if your Charisma increases later, it will only affect your relationship with NPCs. The control limit for magical pets and demon servants, as well as your appearance, are only affected by your initial Charisma points and will not increase with future Charisma gains. Spirit affects your magical attack power, mana regeneration speed, physical attack accuracy, and magical attack accuracy. Constitution affects your maximum health, health regeneration speed, stamina while moving, and maximum mana.”

“This is so complicated! Good heavens!” I plunged into a frantic storm of calculations—twenty minutes later. “I’ve decided. I have thirty-four base attribute points, right?”

“That’s correct. Thirty base points plus four bonus points, for a total of thirty-four.”

“First, I want to add two points to Charisma. This attribute doesn’t seem very useful, so I’ll just put a few points into it.”

“You have thirty-two base points remaining.”

“I don’t plan to major in magic. Three points in Spirit should be enough.”

“You have twenty-nine points remaining.”

“As a warrior-type character, I have to have high attack and high health. I’ll add thirteen points to Strength and eight to Constitution.”

“You have eight base points remaining. Agility and Intelligence have not been allocated yet.”

“Low agility might lead to frequent misses, so I’ll put six points into Agility. Put all the rest into Intelligence.”

“Point allocation complete. Beginning random attribute distribution.” The attribute panel flashed, and the system prompt sounded again. “Random result: attribute point bonus applied to Charisma.”

“Ah! My luck can’t be this bad, can it? How did it get added to the most useless stat!” Although I was annoyed, it was still acceptable—they were free points, after all! “Is there anything else to set up?”

“Your character setup is complete. Your data is displayed as follows.”

Strength: 13, Agility: 6, Intelligence: 2, Charisma: 6, Spirit: 3, Constitution: 8

Attack: 11-16, Defense: 11, Speed: 7, HP: 230, MP: 30, Magical Pets: 3, Demon Servants: 4

“Seems alright! It’s not totally game-breaking, but it’s not bad either.”

As I was looking at my stats, the system prompt suddenly sounded again. “Applying attribute bonuses based on main and auxiliary professions. The data after bonuses is as follows.” Another flash of white light. I felt like my head was spinning!

I opened my eyes and took a look! How could you call this a character? It’s practically a freakish monster! My primary stats now were:

Attack: 16-26, Defense: 14, Speed: 9, HP: 305, MP: 40

The most frightening part was the next two stats. The number of magical pets had somehow become 7, and the number of demon servants had become an incredible 10. I was afraid it was a system error. “Excuse me, why do I have so many magical pets and demon servants? Was there a calculation error?”

“The calculation is correct! You added six points to Charisma, which results in 3 magical pets based on the formula of 50% of your Charisma. Because you have Beast Tamer as a main profession, you receive a bonus of one magical pet. Your auxiliary professions happen to include Breeder, so you gain another bonus pet. And since your race is Celestial Demon, you inherently have a base capacity of two pets. Therefore, your actual magical pet count is 7. As for the number of demon servants, it is calculated as 150% of your magical pet count, with fractions dropped, which results in 10. By the way, magical pets can level up by accumulating combat experience, but demon servants will remain at the level they were captured. Once chosen, magical pets cannot be replaced, so please choose carefully. Demon servants can be released at any time, so you can always swap out your current ones if you find better ones.”

“Thank you! I understand. Can I start the game now?”

“Please wait, you have one more reward you have not received. Beginning calculation now.” This time, the calculation took a full half-minute, making me think the system had crashed! “Your final reward is a hidden bonus of +5 to your Luck attribute.”

“+5 Luck?”

“Yes. The Luck attribute is not visible on your stat sheet. However, each point of Luck affects all probability calculations. Each point increases favorable probabilities by ten percent. This means your equipment drop rate is 50% higher than other players’, and the probability of you dropping equipment upon being killed by a monster is 50% lower. Moreover, your aphysical attacks will more easily deal maximum damage and will frequently trigger critical hits for double damage. If you wield a shield, your probability of blocking an enemy’s attack will also be very high.”

“Wow! That’s incredible! After all that random stuff, this is the most OP attribute! Haha! Haha!”

Chapter 4: Profession Certification

My vision suddenly brightened, and I was teleported into a quaint, ancient-style village in the midst of a fit of laughter. Damn! There were people everywhere, all staring at me like I was an idiot. I hastily scurried to the next street and summoned the clock. It was almost ten. I actually spent nearly two hours on character creation! But as the old saying goes, time spent sharpening the axe is never wasted. Those two hours were worth it!

Perhaps because I took so long creating my character, the Novice Village was already teeming with people. According to the system rules, anyone under level twenty is a novice and cannot leave the village or its surrounding five-kilometer training area. I estimated there were at least five thousand players crammed into this small region. I’m not a fan of crowds, so I’d rather find a quiet place to level up. I decided to get familiar with my surroundings first. I called up my status and item window (the system in Zero automatically senses these commands; the player just has to think it). I was wearing nothing but a linen shirt and linen pants, which added up to a pathetic two points of defense. In my hand was a one-handed longsword called a Novice Sword, with an attack power of 1-1! I figured this must be the so-called novice equipment!

Although my gear was depressing, seeing everyone on the street dressed just like me brought a small sense of balance. The first thing to do now was kill Monsters and level up.

It took me about ten minutes of running to reach the training area outside the Novice Village. It couldn’t be helped; a novice’s low agility meant my speed was naturally slow! The moment I left the village, I realized the situation was dire. The area outside was swarming with players in groups of three to five ganging up on a poor little Sika deer, or a dozen people chasing a single wild boar! Although the Monsters respawned quickly, there were simply too many players. It was clearly a case of more people than Monsters—several times more, in fact! If I joined them now, I definitely wouldn’t get much out of it. Besides, I’ve always hated crowds.

Because a novice’s level doesn’t appear on the leaderboards in Zero, I had no idea what level the fastest players had reached. Even though I couldn’t see, I estimated that the top players were probably around level sixteen or seventeen. No way! I refuse to fall behind others; I have to be ahead of the curve, both in the game and out. I had to hurry up and level.

I ran far out from the village. Although there were still many players here, it was basically one person per Monster. Haha! A small Sika deer ran over. I immediately drew my sword and struck. A system notification chimed: “Killed one Sika Deer, experience gained: 20 points.”

Damn! A one-hit kill! Wasn’t that a bit much? My character was overpowered, sure, but the truly insane part was my Magical Pet capacity. My attack power shouldn’t have been that ridiculous! But I had just seen a “60” float up from the Sika deer’s head, which I guessed was the damage display. Did I land a critical hit? That seemed about right.

I found another Sika deer and swung my sword. A red “30” floated up, and the deer was still running. It seemed the last one was a lucky hit. I struck the injured deer again, a “35” floated up, and it collapsed and vanished. Based on this, a Sika deer’s health was only about fifty points, maybe even less.

After felling three more Sika deer, I hit level two. My attributes were now:

Attack: 24-32 Defense: 20 Speed: 10 Health: 200 Mana: 41 (These are the values including equipment)

Basically, my normal attacks could now one-shot a Sika deer. I killed them nonstop for half an hour and, unbelievably, I was already level 12. My attributes had become:

Attack: 68-98 Defense: 65 Speed: 23 Health: 440 Mana: 51

I looked around and saw many people still killing Sika deer, and their numbers were growing. Based on past experience, it was time to change locations. After an exhausting run, I finally reached the edge of the village’s training area. From here I could see the world beyond, but I couldn’t get out, as if an invisible wall was blocking the way. I had no choice but to keep looking for Monsters. Not far away, a new target appeared—a wild boar. I charged and struck it down with a single slash. A one-hit kill. Because my base stats were high, I had put a lot into Strength. The higher my level, the greater the disparity, so my current attack power was monstrous. I later learned that for a level twelve player, an attack of 44-70 was considered very high. A level 20 Warrior’s attack was generally only around 60-90.

I was very lucky to have stumbled upon a wild boar den. The boars spawned incredibly fast here, so fast that even with my one-hit kills, I couldn’t keep up with the respawn rate. Fortunately, wild boars were the type of Monster that would retaliate but not attack first. I killed them one by one for over an hour and was now level 18. I called up the leaderboard and saw that over thirty people had already appeared on it. Being on the leaderboard meant they had broken past level 20. This was no joke. If I didn’t break through level 20 soon, my chances would be slim.

Level 20 wasn’t just a simple distinction between a novice and an official player. You see, all Main and Auxiliary Professions get their first skill at level 20. With skills, their leveling speed would be beyond compare! The top player on the leaderboard was already level 25. Although higher levels required more experience, they had skills, and the world outside the Novice Village was different—fewer people and more Monsters, no need to fight over them!

I had to hurry. I pushed on for another twenty minutes until a beautiful system notification chimed. “Congratulations, player Purple Sun, you have reached level twenty. You are the seventy-ninth player to pass through the novice barrier. You have now become a true warrior. Please report to the Profession Guild Hall immediately to acquire your professional skills.”

I felt the scenery around me suddenly shift, and I found myself on a teleportation array in a massive plaza. I opened the map information and saw that this city was called Cold Emerald. This huge plaza was Cold Emerald’s teleportation and resurrection point. It was empty right now; I figured those who arrived earlier had all gone off to level up. In truth, even if they were all here, there wouldn’t be many people. Think about it! I was the seventy-ninth person to leave the Novice Village, which meant that in the entire world of Zero, there were only 79 people outside the novice areas, scattered all over the world. The map of Zero was based on a world map, and the Novice Village was like an illusionary realm where only those who met the condition (i.e., being under level 20) would appear. Once you reached the required level, you were automatically teleported out. The other city maps just had some of their names changed and were built in an ancient architectural style. So, having only 79 people on this enormous map meant an incredibly low player density. For all I knew, I might even be the first person to arrive in this city!

Putting that aside for now, I followed the map and quickly rushed into the Profession Guild Hall. The massive hall was paved with marble tiles, feeling like a bank lobby. Along the walls were over thirty marble counters, each with a brass plaque. The several counters in the middle were all labeled “Main Profession Services,” while the ones to the side were “Auxiliary Profession Services.”

Whatever, I’d get my Main Profession certified first and get my skills. With that decided, I immediately walked up to one of the central counters. “Hello! I’d like to undergo profession certification.”

A pretty Elf girl behind the counter greeted me warmly. “Hello, sir! (I was touched; someone finally recognized I was a man!) Welcome to Profession Certification. Which profession would you like to certify?”

“I have two Main Professions. One is Dark Warrior, the other is Beast Tamer.”

“Oh! You’re a player with a reward! Dark Warrior certification costs one gold coin, and Beast Tamer costs two. That will be three gold coins in total. Please pay first.”

“Ah! So expensive!” I reluctantly opened my item pouch. I had exactly three hundred and seven copper coins! (The conversion rate here is: 1 Crystal Coin = 10 Gold Coins = 100 Silver Coins = 1000 Copper Coins.) After paying, I was left with only seven coppers! I was so poor!

The Elf girl took the money and said briskly, “Congratulations, you have become a Dark Warrior and a Beast Tamer. Skill books for Main Professions are sold in shops, but they are extremely rare. The truly useful skills are learned by players through exploration and practice, so please do your research from now on.”

“What? Learn them myself? You’ve got to be kidding!” Frustrated, I turned to leave. My two Main Professions had drained all my money. I’d have to forget about buying skills for now! As for my Auxiliary Profession, I might as well forget that too. I’d come back after I made some money!

I had only taken two steps when the Elf girl behind me called out again. “Please wait a moment!”

“Is there something else?” My heart started pounding. Don’t tell me she wants more money!

“You are the first player in this game to be certified as a Beast Tamer. According to the rules, you will receive a reward.”

“A reward?” Haha, I hit the jackpot! A shame it was only for being the first Beast Tamer. It seemed someone had already certified as a Dark Warrior! I felt so greedy! Heh heh! But it made sense. Beast Tamer was a Hidden Profession, so there wouldn’t be many people with it. Being the first was pretty normal. In any case, a reward was a reward. I quickly asked, “What is the reward?”

“The reward is random. Please come over, and I’ll draw it for you.”

I walked up to the counter, and the Elf girl immediately began to draw the prize for me. She reached into a black hole that appeared out of thin air and pulled out a slip of red paper. The Elf girl took it and read it. “Congratulations, the reward you’ve drawn is a special piece of equipment, the Guardian Collar. Since you can control seven Magical Pets, you will receive seven collars.”

“Collars? What do I need collars for? I’ve only got one neck. It’s not like I’m the ultimate nine-headed hydra! How am I supposed to wear seven?” Was this system messing with me?

“Hee hee!” The Elf girl giggled, covering her mouth. “They’re not for you to wear. The collars are for your Magical Pets.”

“Magical Pets? Can Magical Pets in Zero equip items?” This was big news!

The Elf girl quickly explained. “No, under normal circumstances, Magical Pets cannot equip items. However, some special items can be equipped on them. Your Guardian Collars are this type of special item.”

“So what do these collars do?”

“The Guardian Collar links your life force to that of your Magical Pets. For example, if you are attacked and have only three health points left, and then you take another attack that deals seven points of damage, you will only lose two health points. The remaining five points will be randomly deducted from one of your Magical Pets that has more than five health points remaining. But please note that the protection is one-way; if a Magical Pet runs out of health, it will not be deducted from you.”

“That’s so good! Doesn’t that mean that as long as my Magical Pets don’t run out of health, my life will never be in danger?”

“Basically, yes. Unless every one of your Magical Pets has insufficient health to cover the excess damage, in which case you will die immediately.”

“Wow! What a great attribute! Looks like I’ll have to find some high-health Magical Pets in the future. Haha! Haha!”

The Elf girl quickly interrupted me. “Magical Pets can’t be chosen lightly. Once you select a Magical Pet, you can never replace it.”

“Oh! So that’s how it is! Thanks!” I held out my hand for the collars.

The Elf girl looked at me with a strange expression. After she stared blankly for a moment, I couldn’t help but say, “The collars, hurry up and give them to me!”

“Oh!” She finally understood. “The collars are not issued here. Once you capture and tame a Magical Pet, a collar will naturally appear on its neck.”

“I see! Alright, thank you. I have to go now. Goodbye.”

The Elf girl waved goodbye to me as well.

Chapter 5: Auxiliary Professions

After walking out of the Profession Guild Hall, I started thinking about how to level up. First, I went to a pharmacy called “Cloud Mountain Pharmacy” and, with a heavy heart, spent six copper coins on a small health potion. Ah! I only have one copper coin left! No other choice, I’ll have to slowly grind monsters to save up!

It took me about twenty minutes of running just to leave Cold Emerald City. A big city like this really is different from the Novice Village; it’s so damn much bigger. Right outside the city was a vast grassland filled with yaks. I remembered the official guide saying that yaks were level twenty-seven monsters. They were also passive and wouldn’t swarm you, making them perfect for new players to level up with.

I found a lone yak on the outskirts of the herd, rushed over, and immediately slashed it. A red “200” floated above the yak’s head. Enraged, the yak pawed the ground twice with its front hooves and charged at me. I sidestepped to dodge its attack, got behind it, and landed a cleaving blow on its hind leg.

“Ding!” A system prompt appeared. “Yak’s leg injured. Mobility decreased by three points.”

So attacking different body parts has different effects! It seems I’ll have to do some more research. And it just so happens I have plenty of test subjects right here. Whatever, I’ll just take down the one in front of me first. The yak quickly turned and charged back, and I dodged it just as before. When I was right at its side, I buried my sword into its torso. I successfully dealt 500 points of damage. It looked like in Zero, different parts of a monster’s body took different amounts of damage.

I followed up with a normal attack for another 150 damage, and the yak immediately collapsed. After felling four or five yaks one after another, I finally estimated that a yak’s HP was around one thousand. It seemed this creature was the low-defense, high-health type.

Once I found a rhythm, I started power-leveling. In less than an hour, I was already level 24. I checked the leaderboards. Damn, are these guys even human?! The top spot on the leaderboard was currently held by a Warrior named SlayerBlade, who was at level 32. Right behind him was a level 31 Warrior, followed by two or three people at every level below that. It was still the early days of the game, and everyone was already this neck and neck. Wouldn’t it be even more terrifying later on? I really have no idea how these guys are leveling. I level up fast because my attack is abnormally high, but how on earth are they climbing the ranks so quickly?

This won’t do! I have to surpass them. I need to find a shortcut. That’s it! I’ll check inside the forest. Maybe I can find a high-level boss, which would be great for leveling! Then I glanced at the single health potion I had. No good, I need to buy a few more to carry with me. I checked my inventory—hehe, I’d already saved up 79 copper coins. Hey, that might even be enough for my auxiliary profession certifications. I’ll go try my luck.

By the time I ran back to the Profession Guild Hall, I was already level 25. This time, I went to the auxiliary profession counter. And again, a pretty Elf maiden was behind it. “Hello, I’d like to get my auxiliary profession certifications.”

“Certainly. Which professions would you like to be certified in?”

“I want to be certified as a Blacksmith, a Breeder, and an Appraiser.”

“Oh! You’re one of the rewarded players! To become a Blacksmith, the fee is twenty copper coins, a Breeder is thirty copper coins, and an Appraiser is thirty copper coins.”

“Huh? That much?” I blushed as I took out my meager 79 copper coins. To think that I, a proper young master, would see the day when a single coin could fell a hero! “I only have 79, I’m one short! Can I just get certified for two of them for now?”

The Elf maiden covered her mouth, stifling a giggle. “You’re quite amusing. 79 will do!”

“What? You mean 79 copper coins is enough?”

“Yes!” She laughed even harder.

I hurriedly handed the coins over. I watched as she filled out a few documents on the counter and filed them away. Suddenly, a system notification chimed: “Player Purple Sun has become a Blacksmith and acquired the Blacksmith skills: Gathering Skill, Forging, and Processing. Player Purple Sun has become a Breeder and acquired the Breeder skills: Capture and Rearing. Player Purple Sun has become an Appraiser and acquired the Appraiser skills: Identify and Comprehend.”

“New skills! Hehe, I wonder what they do!”

Seeing that I seemed completely clueless, the Elf maiden took the initiative to explain. “A Blacksmith’s Gathering Skill allows you to spot minable ores while traveling and fighting monsters, or to find materials needed for smelting directly from monster drops. The Forging skill lets you process raw materials into weapons or armor, but since your Forging skill is at level 0, the success rate will be very low. If forging fails, both the equipment and the materials will disappear, so you’d be better off finding some worthless materials to practice and level up the skill first. The Processing skill is for upgrading equipment. When you find gems or other special materials, you can process them onto your gear to improve its attributes. But be warned, if processing fails, you will lose all the materials, and the piece of equipment being processed will have its attributes randomly lowered or may even shatter completely. A Breeder’s Capture skill is for catching Magical Pets. Beast Tamers, as a Main Profession, cannot capture Magical Pets themselves. Although they rely on Magical Pets for combat, their only way of obtaining them is by purchasing them. Of course, if they have both professions like you, they won’t need to buy them. The Capture skill can’t be used carelessly. While in theory, all monsters in Zero can become Magical Pets, you’ll just get yourself killed if you try to capture a monster whose level is too high. I should also remind you that what you catch is a Magical Pet. The Demon Servants controlled by Beast Tamers are the souls of dead Magical Pets, not the pets themselves. If you want to obtain a Demon Servant, you must kill your Magical Pet and then use the Capture skill on it. But you have to be quick; after a Magical Pet dies, its soul will despawn after thirty seconds, and you won’t be able to capture it as a Demon Servant anymore. Rearing is a more long-term skill, which mainly involves finding the right combination of food and training to make your Magical Pet stronger. An Appraiser’s Identify skill is quite practical. With this skill, you can directly see the attributes of weapons and equipment. It can also be used on monsters and other players, with a certain probability of revealing their names and various attributes. The Comprehend skill is quite special; it’s used to enhance a weapon’s combat effectiveness. For example, if a weapon has a hidden attribute that doubles its attack power, someone with the Comprehend skill wielding that weapon will receive that bonus, while someone without the skill will not. Alright, that’s everything. If you have any more questions in the future, you can always come and ask me.”

“Thank you! I’ll definitely be back. I’ll bring you a box of cosmetics next time.”

The Elf maiden’s smile grew even more brilliant. “Really? You better not be lying to me!”

I finally managed to leave the hall. That Elf was clearly overly enthusiastic. Could this be the effect of high Charisma?

Haha! I can’t let all these new skills go to waste. I’m off to the mountains for some treasure hunting!

Chapter 1: The Golden Holy Dragon

This chapter is free.

“Oh, god! Why are you doing this to me! I’ve been wandering in this damned forest for a whole day! I just got my Auxiliary Profession certification yesterday, and on a whim, I ran into this cursed forest to mine ore. To my horror, I realized I hadn’t prepared a Return Scroll. Now, I either have to find my way back or find a monster to kill me and send me back. But in Zero, you lose a level every time you die. I don’t want to lose a level!”

”

”

Just as I was thinking this, I suddenly noticed that the trees up ahead weren’t as dense anymore. This usually happens at the edge of a forest. Could it be… I’m out?! I burst out excitedly. I’m saved!

”

”

Thud! The moment I rushed out of the forest, I smashed headfirst into something. Even though the pain sensation in Zero only registers at fifty percent unless your life is in danger, I still felt like I’d been hit by a freight truck. I was seeing so many stars! Why was the ground so uneven? I tried to stand up, only to fall right back down!

”

”

Hiss! A tremendous sound, like a locomotive letting off steam, pulled me out of the daze from the collision. Shaking my head, I realized I was facing the forest—I’d unintentionally turned around while I was dizzy. I quickly spun back, drawing my side sword to teach a lesson to whatever had just hit me.

”

”

Clang! Don’t be surprised, everyone. That was the sound of my Novice Sword falling to the ground. Want to know why a warrior like me would drop his sword? You’ll know why when you see what I saw.

”

”

“A dragon!” I screamed, stumbling backward. The creature before me was at least as long as a public bus. As it moved, its blue-and-white scales shimmered with a light like ripples on water. “D-don’t come any closer! I’m a warrior! I’m… I’m not afraid of you!” I muttered a lie that even I didn’t believe as I picked up my Novice Sword, even though I knew the thing was a bit too flimsy to deal with a dragon!

”

”

Whimper! Whimper! The creature in front of me was actually making a sound like a frightened puppy.

”

”

I kept backing away until my back hit a large tree. The creature hadn’t attacked me; it just kept watching me and whimpering. Gradually, my mind recovered enough to think clearly. I thought about it. Although there were over ten billion types of Monsters in Zero, the most powerful ones were detailed on the official website. I seemed to recall reading about dragons.

”

”

I carefully recalled the information about dragons. Dragons are the strongest creatures in Zero, the only type of level one thousand boss. Adult dragons are generally over one hundred meters long and are fluent in the languages of Humans and various monsters. Every adult dragon can use all the magic of its own element, as well as all non-ultimate magic from other elements. Their physical attack power generally exceeds ten thousand points, and they have a seventy-five percent chance to ignore defense. Even a newly hatched whelp has a physical attack of at least three hundred!

”

”

At this thought, I was both happy and sad. I was happy because the ten-meter-long creature before me that could only whimper was clearly a young dragon. I was sad because even if a young dragon couldn’t use magic, its normal attack was still over three hundred. Forget me, even a level one hundred HP tank in top-tier gear would definitely be finished off in a few hits, without even a chance to heal!

”

”

Looks like I’m definitely going to die today! Sigh! How could I be so unlucky? The top player on the Leaderboard is already level fifty-four. I was hoping to catch up to him, but now, after getting lost and getting killed once, my dream of becoming number one is hopeless!

”

”

Whatever. I’m lost anyway. If I have to die to get back to the city, does it really matter who kills me? With this realization, I was no longer afraid. “Brother Dragon, I don’t have much. These are two Fire Thunder Beasts (level eighteen small monsters) that I just killed. I was going to save them for a late-night snack tonight (you don’t starve in Zero, but eating can speed up health and mana regeneration for a while, making it a form of potion). They’re yours. In return, when you kill me, please make it quick and painless. Don’t fail to kill me in one bite and leave me in agony for ages!”

”

”

I forcefully tossed the two Fire Thunder Beasts over. The little dragon opened its mouth and swallowed both of them in one gulp. I closed my eyes, preparing for death, when I suddenly felt something cool and wet on my face. Opening my eyes, I saw it was actually licking my cheek. Hehe, it seems this guy doesn’t plan on killing me. Maybe I can even get it to lead me out of here! Just as I was thinking this, the little dragon’s head suddenly jerked back. “Achoo!” The scenery before my eyes suddenly blurred, and the powerful impact sent me flying backward into a large tree, feeling like every bone in my body was about to shatter. This thing actually sneezed at me! Which bastard designed this program! Ouch, my back! Damn it, out of my nine hundred thirty health, I was left with a sliver of three HP! This is just too insane! A single sneeze nearly one-shotted me. Dragons are strong, but do they have to be this insanely strong? I was about to stand up when I realized I was frozen. Oh god, not like this!

”

”

I obediently waited for seven seconds until the freeze finally ended. This was just a young dragon, and it was already so overpowered. What would it be like when it grew up? Whoever had a Magical Pet like this would die of joy! Right, a flash of inspiration struck me. There was no point in just waiting around. Why not try to Capture it? Hehe! I carefully walked up to the “little guy.” “Be a good boy!” I suddenly used the Breeder’s skill on it—Capture.

”

”

The little dragon’s body shuddered, and it leaped back a fair distance, looking at me with hostility. No wonder that Elf girl said you can’t capture high-level bosses, because the Capture skill infuriates them! Well, I wasn’t planning on living anyway, so I used the Capture skill again. Ding! A system notification rang out. “Player Purple Sun has successfully captured the Super Boss, the Ice-Blood Black Dragon King! As the first player in the game to capture a Magical Pet, Player Purple Sun is randomly awarded one treasure.” With a ding, a ring dropped to the ground. It was pitch black, displaying only the word “Ring,” and its design looked a bit like the One Ring from the movies. The system voice sounded again. “Player Purple Sun has become the first player to defeat a level one thousand boss. Reward: five skill points and one treasure.” Ding, another ring fell. This one, however, had a more unique design: a black bat perched on a black gemstone. The bat’s eyes were inlaid with red gems that twinkled with a bewitching power.

”

”

These skill points were truly amazing. They were different from attribute points, which increase basic attack and defense; skill points were for upgrading skills. Normally, to level up a skill, a player had to use it frequently, and the skill would upgrade as it accumulated experience. Each skill could be upgraded to a maximum of level one hundred. Additionally, after a player’s character surpasses a certain level, they also gain one skill point for every ten levels they advance. One skill point could raise any skill by one level. Getting five skill points all at once, I felt so blessed! Considering how precious these five skill points were, I’d better save them for skills that are harder to level up later!

”

”

The system notifications continued. “Player Purple Sun’s Capture skill has leveled up to Level Two. Player Purple Sun’s Capture skill has leveled up to Level Three… Player Purple Sun’s Capture skill has leveled up to Level Thirteen.”

”

”

Haha! Hahaha! I’ve struck it rich! I was laughing maniacally when I suddenly realized my precious dragon was gone. I frantically looked around and found only a white ball! Wait, could this be a dragon egg? I held the egg and studied it for a long time but came up with nothing. Finally, I gave up and put the dragon egg back in my inventory.

”

”

Sitting around was incredibly boring, so I started to inspect my surroundings. This was a clearing with a cliff face behind it. When I ran over, I discovered a large cave in the cliff. This must be a dragon’s lair! Hehe! Legend has it that dragons have a habit of collecting treasure, so maybe in here…! I ran like a madman deep into the dragon’s lair. Haha, there really was stuff in here. Heavens, what is all this?! Damn, it’s all trash, barely better than my novice equipment. The game has probably only been out for a short time, so the treasures haven’t accumulated yet! After rummaging for a while, I found a white one-handed heavy sword with 5-10 attack (in Zero, equipment is graded in ascending order: White Equipment, Attributed Equipment, Gold Equipment, Elite Equipment, Holy Spirit Equipment, and Divine Artifacts); a black iron armor with 9 defense, also White Equipment; one piece of Attributed Equipment, Legguards of Honor with 4 defense and an attribute of +5% movement speed; a pair of leather boots with +1 defense and +1 speed, which was pretty good; a pair of gauntlets with 2 defense and an attribute of +5% attack speed; and a shield with 7 defense and a 25% block chance. Although the stats weren’t great, at a time when everyone was still wearing novice gear, this was already quite impressive.

”

”

After leaving the dragon’s lair, I suddenly remembered that the system seemed to have a help function. I quickly opened the chat interface, and “Help” was the very first option. After selecting it, a voice immediately sounded in my ear, just like a phone call. “Hello! This is the Customer Service Help System. Operator 2237 at your service!”

”

”

“Hello! I’d like to ask, I just captured a pet, but it suddenly disappeared!”

”

”

“Sir, did you happen to see a white egg nearby?”

”

”

“An egg? Oh! Yes! I found a white ball right where it disappeared!”

”

”

“That would be the Pet Egg! In this game, once any Magical Pet is captured, it immediately reverts to level zero and becomes a Pet Egg. A player only needs to drip their blood onto the Pet Egg to complete the ownership ritual. Of course, you can also sell it. A bonded Pet Egg will hatch immediately, and the Magical Pet will automatically level up to level one upon birth. Afterward, the player and the Magical Pet can fight together to level up the pet until it reaches its level cap. Additionally, each Magical Pet’s level cap is different, and there’s a certain probability that some Magical Pets may undergo a super-evolution and surpass their original level cap, but this possibility is very low. The success rate depends on the player’s Luck stat. Please note one thing: once a Magical Pet has bonded with an owner, it cannot be replaced. So please don’t think you can just find one to use for now and replace it with a better one later. After a Magical Pet dies in battle, it will automatically resurrect, but it cannot be summoned again for twenty minutes. And Magical Pets also lose a level upon death.”

”

”

“I understand, thank you!” So now I knew it was an unowned Pet Egg, which I could either sell or use myself. But was there even a choice? Selling it would be a one-time deal, but if I kept it to help me level up, wouldn’t the Gold Coins just come flying in? “I want to confirm it as my Magical Pet.”

”

”

I cut my finger with my Novice Sword and dripped the blood onto the Pet Egg. A system notification immediately rang out. “Player Purple Sun has confirmed claiming the Magical Pet. Please give it a name.”

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“A name?” I thought for a moment. He had brought me so much good fortune in an instant, a true invincible lucky star. “Lucky! Let’s call him Lucky!” I hope he’ll bring me more surprises in the future.

”

”

“Player confirmation successful. Player Purple Sun is now the owner of the Magical Pet, Lucky, the Dark Demonic Dragon King.”

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Crack! The eggshell in my hands split open, and a little, all-black creature crawled out. As soon as it saw me, it immediately scrambled onto me and affectionately rubbed against my face.

”

”

Haha! In the future, walking around with a dragon will definitely have a one hundred percent head-turning rate! Haha! Hahaha! The more I thought about it, the happier I got. But wait, why is it black? Wasn’t it blue when we were outside? Did it turn black because of my profession? Whatever, black is pretty cool too! Right, I don’t think I’ve checked Lucky’s stats yet! I called up Lucky’s stat window. Physical Attack 100-150, Defense 150, Speed 50, Health 1500, Mana ∞. There was also a notes section below. Ignores Defense, Health Regeneration +10 points/second, 25% chance on attack to cause a seven-second freeze, 75% Magic Resistance. Holy shit, what insane stats! Even though I got absurdly lucky and captured one, from now on, my best bet is to steer clear of any other dragons I see! High attack, high defense, magic resistance, and such fast health regen. I’d better establish the following formula in my mind from now on: Dragon = Dangerous Creature = Death = Lose Level + Drop Equipment. Still, looking at Lucky, who was less than a foot long, his size really didn’t quite match his stats!

”

”

As I was looking, I noticed that Lucky actually had equipment slots too. Could he have equipment? I called out to the sky, “Lucky’s equipment inventory.”

”

”

Sure enough, an interface floated out. He actually had a headdress and a collar. I quickly checked their stats. The collar was the Guardian Collar I had received as a reward. The headdress was named the Dragon King Headdress, and it had only one attribute: Doubles attack and defense against dragons. No way, is Lucky a Dragon King? Looking further down, Lucky actually had a three-hundred-slot storage space with no weight limit. My storage space only has one hundred slots! Hehe! From now on, Lucky will be my mobile transport vehicle!

”

”

I suddenly remembered my two reward rings and quickly took one out to examine it. The black ring was just a plain iron band with no decorative design whatsoever. I used Identify on it countless times until my mana ran out. My Identify skill leveled up to four, but the ring remained unidentified. There was nothing I could do. First, I’d have Lucky lead me out of the forest. Though he was smaller, his intelligence didn’t seem to have regressed. I let my mana recover as we walked, using Identify once every time I had enough.

”

”

Finally, right after we successfully left the forest, I identified the ring. It immediately turned from black to a dark red. The ring was called the Hermit’s Ring. It gave +1 Luck and had two other attributes. One was a special skill, Heart-to-Heart Understanding. Since it was a skill from equipment, this Heart-to-Heart Understanding couldn’t be leveled up. I checked the description—so-called Heart-to-Heart Understanding was a 5% increase in experience gained. A top-tier item! (My eyes turned into dollar signs.) The other attribute was to remove the player’s ranking from the Level Leaderboard and the player’s equipment from the Weapon Leaderboard. It also removed the player’s Magical Pet from the Beast Leaderboard. No wonder it was called the Hermit’s Ring; it hid you so well. Lastly, as long as I wore this ring, other players would be unable to inspect my stats, no matter how high their Identify skill was. And this ring had no requirements—any level or profession could wear it. Hehe! I really felt like a reclusive master now! Unfortunately, I was never able to successfully identify the other ring.

Chapter 2: The Lost City

Walking out of the forest, I felt like I’d just cheated death.

I took a few deep breaths and decided to head back to Cold Emerald to restock on supplies. I looked around… Wait! What is this! Where did Cold Emerald go?

Before me was not the beautiful, vast grassland in front of Cold Emerald, but a massive burial ground stretching for more than ten kilometers.

Under the gray sky were dilapidated tombstones and scattered weeds everywhere. What the hell is this place! Fortunately, I could see a majestic… I don’t know whether to call it a fortress or a city. If it was a fortress, it was far too large. Although I couldn’t see its entirety from a distance, I estimated it was more than three times the size of Cold Emerald. If it was a city, it was built on a huge island in the middle of a lake, with the only connection to the outside world being a stone bridge over three kilometers long.

I shook my head hard to pull myself out of my confusion. Mustering my courage, I started walking towards the city. Whatever it is, I’ll find out once I get a closer look!

This burial ground was enormous. If there were actually people buried here, there would have to be over a million of them. Thankfully, this was a game, so fatigue wasn’t an issue, and the open terrain meant I wouldn’t get lost. As I walked, I saw bones of some unknown creatures scattered everywhere among the broken tombstones, and occasionally, I could even spot a human skull. The whole area reminded me of the Necropolis town from Heroes of Might and Magic, a game I used to play. What is Zhonghua Company trying to do, creating such a massive graveyard?!

I finally reached the long bridge outside the city, only to discover it was much longer than it appeared from a distance—over five kilometers long. Looking at the lake, it seemed problematic too. The vast surface of the water was eerily calm and waveless, looking almost viscous. The entire lake was pitch-black, with bubbles occasionally rising to the surface. Thankfully, there was no strange smell.

Just as I was staring at the water, wondering if I should cross, Lucky suddenly flew out of my arms and snorted at the lake’s surface. It looked like it wanted to use Dragon’s Breath, but unfortunately, it was still too small and didn’t have that skill yet.

Following Lucky’s gaze, I saw a string of huge bubbles suddenly churn the distant lake surface. Then, a fin covered in a thin membrane and full of spikes emerged from the water. The part of the fin above the water was over eight meters tall; one could only imagine the size of its owner. Luckily, it didn’t seem to be coming for me! Not far from it, an even larger fin broke the surface. It looked like the two creatures were about to fight.

Sure enough, the two fins suddenly accelerated and charged at each other. Boom! A colossal pillar of water shot into the sky, carrying all sorts of debris with it. Terrified, I covered my head and fled. Panicking, I tripped on something and fell flat on my face. Just as I raised my head, shing, a sword landed squarely in my arm. I couldn’t help but let out a pained scream as blood immediately gushed out. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I quickly pulled out the sword. The wound was still bleeding. Watching my HP drop rapidly, I frantically drank my last red potion. A red glow flashed over the wound, and the bleeding finally stopped.

Dammit, how am I so unlucky! I get hit by shrapnel just from watching monsters fight! I had just scrambled to my feet when, with a clang, a heavy shield smashed right into my head, making me stagger and almost fall again. Heavens! Who did I piss off! I quickly picked up the shield from the ground, held it over my head, and sprinted towards the forest. All along the way, unidentified objects kept clattering against the shield, making my hands go numb from the vibrations.

Just as I was about to reach the edge of the woods, I suddenly found myself covered by a massive shadow. What is that! I cautiously peeked out from under the shield and glanced at the sky. I wish I hadn’t. The sight nearly scared me to death. A gigantic eel, over a hundred meters long, was plummeting from the sky. And of all the rotten luck, it was heading right for where I was standing.

Almost instinctively, I fell on my butt and thrust my longsword towards the sky. I felt a heavy weight on my hand, and then… I knew no more.

A cold sensation on my face woke me up. It was Lucky, licking my cheek. I felt myself over—I seemed to be fine. After a careful check, I realized I was buried. As for what was pinning me down, I didn’t even have to think to know it was that damn giant eel. But thankfully, my sword was propped between the ground and the creature, creating a small space for me.

Just as I was wondering how to get out, a white light flashed overhead, and the eel suddenly vanished. With a clang, my sword snapped in two. The system notification chimed: “Player Purple Sun has leveled up to 25. Player Purple Sun has leveled up to 26. Player Purple Sun has leveled up to 27. Player Purple Sun has leveled up to 28. Player Purple Sun has leveled up to 29.”

“What? That works too?!” Is this system bugged? Still, free experience is free experience. Too bad this monster was apparently just high-level and not a boss, otherwise there would have been some rewards or something!

My excitement was cut short when I suddenly remembered my sword. I quickly picked up its remains. Ah! It snapped in two! Even though it wasn’t very good, it was my only weapon. How am I supposed to grind levels now! I started to regret throwing away my Novice Sword!

Suddenly, my hand touched something cold. Wasn’t this the heavy sword that had struck me earlier! Heh heh! When one door closes, another opens! My mood had been on a roller coaster, because I had just discovered that I couldn’t equip this blasted sword. My stats were: Level 29, Strength 377, Agility 174, Intelligence 58, Spirit 87, Constitution 232. However, this damn sword required Level 30, Strength 300, Agility 160, Constitution 150. Argh! Why! Why can’t I equip it!

I rummaged around on the ground nearby. The eel had dropped something that was either a pearl or an eyeball—unfortunately, I couldn’t identify it—and seventeen Gold Coins. There were also many weapons scattered around that had been washed ashore, but most were broken. I only managed to salvage three items. One was the shield that had hit me earlier. After identifying it, it turned out to be called a Rampart Shield. It was a large shield, and I could just barely equip it. Its stats were: Defense 75, Block Chance 35%, 10% Damage Reflection. Another was a pair of leg guards called Dark Guard. The stats were: Defense 80, 10% Lightning Absorption, 10% Dark Damage Absorption, 5% Increased Movement Speed. Unfortunately, it required Level 37, so I couldn’t use it yet. The last item was that sword I couldn’t even wield! I threw the unusable items into my backpack for now. I can probably get something for them if I sell them!

Keeping in mind the terrifying monster in the water, I crossed the bridge hunched over. Who knew if that creature would suddenly leap out of the water and finish me off! I ran to the end of the bridge with my heart in my throat. The city gate loomed before me, a massive, imposing structure of solid stone, eighteen meters high and seven meters wide. Above the gate were four large black characters: “The Lost City.” The sight sent a shiver down my spine.

I hurried into the city, only to find the inside even more unsettling. The whole city was desolate. It wasn’t that the buildings were in disrepair; on the contrary, the architecture was exceptionally grand. All the buildings were constructed from black stone and looked incredibly sturdy. It was just that the vast expanse of black structures under the gloomy sky was truly terrifying!

“Is… is anyone here?” I yelled at the top of my lungs, but my voice trembled violently with fear.

Shlick! In an instant, two black longswords were crossed at my neck, one from the left and one from the right. “The realm of the Undead. The living are not welcome! Leave at once!” The speaker was a knight clad entirely in black armor. He was surrounded by four attendants, also in full black armor, even their mounts were completely encased in black plate. The speaking knight was clearly the leader, because a long, red plume was stuck in his helmet.

I thought it was strange for a player to have gotten such flashy gear so early on. I used an appraisal skill on them and nearly died of shock. The leader was a ‘Labyrinthine Guard Knight Captain,’ a level 250 Black Knight. I couldn’t appraise anything else about him. His four followers were ‘Labyrinthine Guard Knights,’ level 180. Their special skills were ‘Group Charge’ and ‘Overawe.’ I couldn’t appraise anything else about them either! So they were NPC monsters, no wonder they were so fierce!

Seeing I wasn’t responding, one of the knights raised his sword to strike. I squeezed my eyes shut in terror, but the expected blow never fell. I opened my eyes to see Lucky flapping its little wings, hovering in front of me and screeching at the knights. To my surprise, all five knights immediately dismounted. The leader spoke again. “We did not realize it was Lord Black Dragon King. We have offended you!”

Lucky continued to flap its little wings and screech at the knights. The captain, however, replied respectfully, “Yes! We understand!” Then, the five knights remounted and rode off into the city. Lucky turned back to me and chirped happily, and I patted it to show my relief.

Having gotten rid of the five knights, I started walking into the city. In any case, it seemed Lucky was quite respected around here!

Chapter 3: Company Announcement

I wandered around for a full three hours. The sky was getting dark, but I couldn’t buy a single potion or piece of equipment. It wasn’t that I couldn’t find any shops, but that they were all closed. Ever since those five Knights left, I hadn’t seen another soul. The city was huge, and its countless intersecting streets left a directionally-challenged person like me completely dizzy.

I couldn’t take it anymore, so I found a small alley and logged off. Taking off the Helmet, I saw Ah Wei sitting at the computer. “What are you looking at?”

Seeing I was awake, Ah Wei waved me over excitedly. “Come and look! It’s the official website for Zero!”

“Oh? What’s on it?”

“It’s got the game Leaderboard, some announcements, and stuff,” Ah Wei explained while scrolling through the main menu.

“Any important information?”

“Hang on, I think I just saw a few. Oh, found it!” I quickly ran behind Ah Wei to look at the announcement he’d pulled up. “Zhonghua Company says they actually sent out ten thousand one hundred accounts today. The players who got these accounts are the first batch of closed beta testers. All ten thousand one hundred of these accounts had a chance to draw for random rewards, with a maximum of four and a minimum of zero.” Reading this, Ah Wei turned to look at me in surprise. “So you could get nothing? I thought everyone got a prize! How many did you get?”

I flashed him a V-sign with my hand and grinned. “Your big bro here is a born superstar of luck—I got all four! Hahaha! Impressive, right?”

“So awesome! Alright, once I get my account, I’ll be counting on you for all my equipment!”

At this, my face immediately fell. “I’ll do my best.”

Noticing my expression, Ah Wei asked nervously, “What’s wrong? Did someone kill you and take your stuff?”

“I wish I’d just been killed!” I plopped down on the edge of the bed. “I don’t know what kind of bad luck it was, but I ran into two NPC Monsters fighting. And what are the odds? One of the Monsters got knocked into the air and landed right on my head. In the heat of the moment, I used my sword to block, and it broke!”

“What? You didn’t break your only starter weapon, did you?”

“Sigh! Don’t even mention it! I’d picked up a White Equipment sword in a forest. Its attack power was average, but it was better than the system’s starter weapon. Besides, the system only gives you one copper coin if you sell the starter weapon back, and it takes up space, so I just tossed it. Who’d have thought my only weapon would be gone now!”

“Boss! How are you going to level up without a weapon?”

“That’s what I’m worried about. Before I logged off, I ran to a city intending to find a shop and buy the cheapest one to make do, but every single shop in that strange city was closed!”

“Forget it! It’s nothing to be upset about, you’ll just have to spend a little more time finding a shop! That’s all.” Ah Wei turned his gaze back to the webpage and started reading again. “Boss, you’re so lucky! It says here that out of all the accounts today, 5,307 people got zero rewards. So there are only 4,793 actual Reward Accounts.”

“No way! That many people got zero?”

“Yep, Zhonghua Company said the success rate for the draw was scaled. The probability of getting zero was the highest, and the more rewards, the harder it was to get!”

“Did it say how many people got the other numbers?”

“It did! 3,797 people got one reward, 792 got two rewards, 3 got three, and the number who got four is only… what! You’re the only person who got four rewards! Boss, that’s insane! Out of the entire world, only one person won, and it was you! My admiration for you is like a surging river, endless and unceasing!”

“For real?!” Even I was shocked. I’d thought at least a few hundred people would have gotten four rewards! “What else does it say?”

Ah Wei continued reading. “Right now, the number one player in the game is a Warrior named SlayerBlade, who’s already level 68.” Ah Wei paused.

“What’s wrong?”

“I see something interesting.”

“What’s so interesting?”

“The second-ranked player is a woman named Red Moon. She’s a Dark Mage and is already level 67! I can’t figure out how she’s leveling so fast. Aren’t mages supposed to be hard to level up at the start?”

Hearing the levels of these power players, my confidence plummeted even further. “Sigh! I’m only level 1, and they’re already in their sixties. They’re so far ahead! How am I supposed to catch up?!”

“Don’t lose heart, Boss. You’ll catch up eventually!” Ah Wei said, trying to cheer me up while searching for more useful or interesting info. “It says here that a total of seven Magical Pets have appeared in the entire game so far! The one ranked first belongs to that Dark Mage. Its name is ‘Mist’, and it was originally a level 800 boss, the Mutated Night Spirit King. It’s currently level 38. No wonder that mage is leveling so fast, she’s got a super-pet!”

This is strange! My Lucky was a level 1000 boss, why isn’t he ranked first? Even though he’s only level one, there’s no way he shouldn’t be number one! Could it be the Hermit’s Ring? “What are the other Magical Pets?”

“Let’s see!” Ah Wei looked. “The rest are all junk. The second-ranked one is just a level 80 boss, the Wild Stallion King, and it’s only level 21 right now.”

It seems it really is because of the ring! Seeing Ah Wei looking at me, I waved a hand. “Keep going!”

Ah Wei continued. “The game is now entering a fully autonomous state. All control is being handed over to the system. The generation of all quests, the occurrence of events, and the behavior of NPCs will not be interfered with by the company. All of this will be handled by Zhonghua Company’s supercomputer, Nebula. The company will not be setting up any GMs or similar personnel in the game; it will be fully automated.”

“Are you kidding me? Isn’t that too much? What on earth are they trying to do?”

“It says here it’s to test the emergency response capabilities of their artificial intelligence system!”

“That I can understand!” While listening to Ah Wei, I got some instant food from the fridge and started eating. “Any other important info?”

“Zhonghua Company says that starting tomorrow at 8:00 AM, they will release the second batch of accounts, one hundred thousand in total. The day after that, they will completely lift the account restrictions. You won’t need to apply for an account then; everyone in the world’s ID number will be their account (Global IDs are now standardized, with the first three digits indicating the country and the rest arranged according to each country’s own system. No matter where you go, as long as you have your ID, you don’t have to worry about a thing, because it’s linked to your bank card.). It’s just that the ID numbers are a bit long, which is slightly inconvenient. That’s about it. The site says any new information will be updated on the webpage promptly, and will also be announced in-game.”

“Alright. Got it. I’m going to rest for a bit.”

Chapter 4: NPC Friends

Waking up, I glanced at the time. It was exactly midnight. I grabbed a bite to eat, used the restroom, and prepared to log on. A flash of white light, and I was back in the alley. Strange, when did it get so noisy? I looked around. You’ve got to be kidding me!

You have no idea what I saw! “A ghost!” Before me was a kind-looking old man with a full head of white hair, but his body was translucent. What’s more, he had no legs; everything below his waist was a cloud-like mass, floating in the air.

“Eh? Child, how did you end up here?” The old man—no, the old ghost—drifted toward me.

I shook my head, calming down slightly. This is a game; ghosts should be a normal occurrence. With that thought, my fear subsided. “I got ‘lost’ and ended up here. I came this morning, but there was nothing here, so I logged off. I just got back on.”

The old man floated right in front of me. “A rare visitor indeed! It’s been a long time since one of the living came here.”

The old man seemed quite friendly, which put me more at ease. “Why does no one come here?”

“Alas!” The old man let out a long sigh. “You’ve seen for yourself that I am a departed soul. You’ve probably already guessed what kind of place this is.”

“This must be a place of rest for departed souls, right?” I asked tentatively.

“Not quite, but close enough!” The old man turned and led me out of the alley. The streets outside were now teeming with people… oh… no, they were all ghosts. The place now looked like a bustling metropolis. “This is indeed a gathering place for the Undead, but it is not a place of rest. You must have seen the city’s name on the gate!”

“It’s called the City of the Lost, right?”

“Correct! This is a gathering place for souls like us who have died but, for various reasons, are unwilling to find peace. We are ‘lost’ souls!” At this, the old man seemed very sad.

I hurried to console him. “Don’t be sad, this place isn’t so bad!”

The old man’s expression suddenly changed. “Forget it, let’s not talk about such sad things! Follow me.” He flew off in one direction, and I had no choice but to follow. Despite looking old enough to be my grandfather, he was surprisingly fast. I had to sprint to keep up, nearly running myself out of breath. The place he stopped was a massive plaza. He ran up onto a platform and beckoned me to join him. Once I climbed up, he began to shout to the crowd below, “Everyone, come over here! We have a friend from the world of the living!”

Good grief, this old man was way too excited! What was worse, I was soon surrounded by a massive crowd of monsters and ghouls. A few quick uses of Inspect revealed a Level 130 Wraith, a Level 80 Demonic Soul, a Level 38 Spirit Herald, a Level 210 Death Knight, a Level 150 Undead Warrior, and a Level 350 Death Mage—a haphazard menagerie of everything imaginable. It was a veritable monster paradise! Even more terrifying, many dark creatures had also gathered around. From what I could see, there were Three-Headed Hellhounds and a large number of Ghouls!

The old man shouted to the crowd, “As you can all see, this friend beside me is one of the living. It’s been so long since we’ve hosted a living being. Let’s celebrate!”

“Hooray! Welcome! Welcome!” Wow! These monsters and ghouls were actually really enthusiastic! This wasn’t what I imagined at all! Seeing the monsters below break into a wild celebration, I was at a loss for what to do.

As I stood there stunned, a tall warrior in black armor walked up to me. “Hello, my name is Clark. I’m the owner of the weapon shop here. If you need any equipment in the future, be sure to give me your business first!”

“Aren’t the shops here closed? I walked around the city for a long time this morning and not a single shop was open.”

The black-armored warrior let out a hearty, booming laugh. “Of course no one was here when you came during the day! This is the City of the Lost. Between 8 AM and 6 PM, there’s no one around except for the guards!”

“How did I not think of that? You can’t be out in the sun, can you?”

“It’s not that we can’t see the sun, we just don’t want to. See that tall tower over there?” A tall, thin man in a black robe walked up behind me. This guy was really tall! Although I’m of average height at 170 centimeters, I shouldn’t be this much shorter, only reaching his shoulder!

I followed his hand and saw that there was indeed a tall tower there. It was a square tower, somewhat resembling an obelisk. Though its exterior wasn’t black, it had a very gloomy look. From a visual estimate, it had to be at least 300 meters high, while the surrounding buildings were no taller than 100 meters, making it stand out dramatically. At the very top was a massive, diamond-shaped frame, and within it rested an orange-red pupil that exuded a suffocating pressure. But right now, that pupil was contracted into a closed, vertical slit. I couldn’t imagine what would happen when it opened.

“That is the Dark Tower of the City of the Lost, and the thing at the top is the Eye of Hell. It is awakened when the city is under attack or when we are about to attack a neighboring city. As long as the Eye of Hell is open, the dark creatures in the city no longer have to abide by the rule of resting during the day and being active at night. Moreover, once the Eye of Hell is open, all dark creatures will receive a 50% bonus to their attack and defense.”

“No way! That powerful? Wouldn’t that make you invincible?”

The robed man smiled grimly. “Invincible might be a stretch, but it will indeed be very powerful. I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m the owner of the city’s potion shop. You can call me the Medicine King!”

“Do the Undead use potions?” This system was truly strange. Every race needed potions!

“Why wouldn’t we! Let me tell you, my potions are custom-made and can’t be bought anywhere else on the continent. They’re not only miraculously effective but also high quality and affordable! If you come by, I’ll give you a twenty percent discount!”

Soon, I was surrounded by a whole crowd of NPCs, almost all of whom were shop owners. Every single one of them offered me a twenty percent discount and begged me to visit their stores. I had no choice but to promise to visit them one by one. Following the order, I was first dragged off by Clark to his weapon shop. After a few turns through the streets, we quickly arrived at Clark’s shop. I had been here this morning, but it had been closed then.

“So? My shop’s pretty nice, right?” Clark said proudly from inside the shop.

I looked around. It was a large weapon shop with wooden decorations on the walls and floor. There were quite a few NPCs buying and selling things by the counter. It really had the feel of a major establishment. “Nice! It’s beautiful!”

Hearing my praise, Clark became even more pleased with himself. “So! See anything you want to buy?”

“I definitely need to buy something! My weapon broke yesterday, and now I can’t equip most of my gear, so I have to buy a suitable weapon!”

Clark noticed the troubled look on my face and immediately said, “No problem. If you don’t have enough money, you can owe me for now.”

“How could I! How about this!” I emptied my entire inventory onto the counter. “You take these, and I have three Gold Coins. I’ll owe you the rest. I’ll pay you back!”

Clark looked at the equipment I’d taken out. “These things are worth about thirteen Gold Coins. With the three you have, that’s sixteen in total. Tell you what, come with me!”

Chapter 5: Shopping

”

”

I followed Clark to the second floor of his shop, which turned out to be a small parlor. He gestured for me to sit down in a chair before running off into another room. He returned a moment later, holding a long, blood-red sword. He placed it down in front of me. “This is a longsword I forged right after I completed my apprenticeship. See if you can use it.”

”

”

I quickly took the sword and examined it closely. It was a standard-looking longsword, a very conventional design with no ornamentation. For some reason, however, the blade pulsed with a shimmering red light. I checked its stats. Soul Guardian’s Vampiric Longsword. Attack Power 25-40, Attack Speed—Fast, 15% Lifesteal, +1 Agility, 1% chance for knockback effect. What a find! Especially the fast attack speed and the lifesteal. In Zero, weapon attack speeds were divided into five tiers: the best was Extremely Fast, followed by Fast, then Normal, Slow, and Extremely Slow. Most short weapons had a Normal attack speed, while long weapons were usually Slow. It was rare to find one with a Fast rating, let alone an Extremely Fast one! Not only was this sword fast, but it also had lifesteal, and an unusually high amount at that. It was a true treasure for any Warrior-type class! Afraid I wouldn’t be able to use it, I quickly checked the requirements. Requirements: Level 50, Strength 370, Agility 170. Haha! I can use it perfectly. I’m Level 50, and my Strength is 377, while my Agility is 174. I meet all the requirements exactly. This is so lucky!

”

”

Seeing me quiet for so long, Clark thought I couldn’t equip it and tried to console me. “Brother Purple Sun (we’d gotten friendly while we were outside—what can I say, my Charisma is high), don’t be too upset if you can’t equip it! I accidentally forged this sword a long time ago. Its stats are good, but the Strength requirement is too high for low-level players. High-level players, on the other hand, are all equipped with high-attack weapons and wouldn’t bother with this one. So this sword became a bit of a white elephant. I just kept it as a memento. After all, it was my first successful creation!”

”

”

I realized I’d been too engrossed and had forgotten to reply to Clark. “Oh! No, that’s not it! I can use it. This is great! How much for the sword?” I quickly said.

”

”

Hearing that I could use it, Clark said happily, “It’s not doing any good just sitting here. I’ll just charge you the cost of materials, seven Gold Coins. Here are the six Gold Coins left over for you.”

”

”

I didn’t refuse. For one, I was truly poor and still needed to buy potions. Besides, Clark wasn’t the kind of person to haggle over small things. At worst, I’d just make sure to give him more business in the future.

”

”

I equipped the longsword, took out the shield I’d found outside the city, and looked myself over. Although my clothes were a chaotic jumble of mismatched pieces, I was more or less fully equipped. I was feeling pretty good about myself when Clark said, “What is all this junk you’re wearing? Black, white, and red… what a sight!”

”

”

“What’s wrong with it? I think it’s pretty good! At least I have a full set of gear!”

”

”

“You call this a full set? Do you have a Helmet? What about Pauldrons? No Vambraces either! You’re also missing a Belt, Tassets, and a Cloak! You only have one ring out of six! (In Zero, a character can theoretically wear ten rings, but only the six on the index, middle, and ring fingers of both hands provide stat bonuses. Any others are purely for decoration!)”

”

”

I quickly interrupted him. “I have another ring, it just hasn’t been identified yet!”

”

”

“Fine, even if you have two rings, you’re still missing four! And what about an Amulet? Or Bracelets? You don’t have those either. Two bracelets can add a ton of stats! And a Headpiece? You don’t have one of those either, right?”

”

”

Ugh! I had been so proud, thinking my equipment was impressive. After his lecture, he made me sound like a beggar!

”

”

“Forget it! I’m going to outfit you properly today, even if I have to take a loss. If another Undead sees you walking out of my shop dressed like this, it’ll ruin my reputation! Come on, take off all your gear. Let me see it so I can decide how to modify it!” Clark said, moving as if to help me change.

”

”

I quickly dodged away! “No, no, no! I couldn’t possibly let you take another loss. I’ll just level up some more and come back for new gear then!”

”

”

Clark thought for a moment and nodded. “You’re right. You’re at a low level, so you’ll level up quickly. It’s too much trouble to get new gear just to replace it again soon. How about this? Tell me your base stats, and I’ll start preparing a Level 80 Black Knight Set for you. Although the max level here is one thousand, leveling becomes steadier and slower after Level 80. You should focus on power-leveling for now!”

”

”

“Thank you so much,” I said, thanking him as I jotted down my base stats for him.

”

”

The moment I left Clark’s shop, I was swept away like a whirlwind by the Potion King, who had been lying in wait by the door. I never would have guessed someone so skinny could be so strong! When we arrived at the Potion King’s shop, I realized it was just a few storefronts down from Clark’s.

”

”

The Potion King approached me with a sly grin, holding a pile of potions. “Hehe! Let me introduce you to these fine medicines.” He took out a dark, black pill. “This is a Necro-Pill. Don’t let its dark color fool you, its effects are miraculous!”

”

”

“So what does it do?”

”

”

“Its main purpose is to restore health. Each pill restores 500 health, and it works twice as fast as the red potions from other cities. How about that? Good stuff, right?”

”

”

“Is it very expensive?” I was a firm believer in the principle that you get what you pay for.

”

”

“Expensive? Of course not! Why else would I call it a great value? These are sold by the pack, one Gold Coin per pack.”

”

”

“What? This is highway robbery!” I leaped toward the shop’s entrance.

”

”

But the Potion King, moving even faster, pulled me back again. “Don’t be so hasty! Let me finish, and then you’ll see it’s not expensive at all!”

”

”

“Fine, then talk!”

”

”

“Alright! First, I should tell you that one pack contains ten pills. That means each pill is only one Silver Coin. A Large Health Potion from any other shop costs one Silver Coin, and it only restores 300 health and is slower than my pills. Now do you think it’s expensive?”

”

”

When he put it that way, it wasn’t just not expensive; it was actually a great deal! “Not expensive, not expensive at all!”

”

”

Hearing me say that, the Potion King became even more enthusiastic. He immediately pulled out a huge pile of Necro-Pills and said, “If you buy ten packs at once right now, you’ll get one pack free. How about it?”

”

”

“But I only have nine Gold Coins left in total!”

”

”

“No problem! I told you I’d give you a twenty percent discount. You give me eight Gold Coins, and I’ll give you eleven packs!”

”

”

“Thank you so much!” I was so happy I almost jumped for joy.

Chapter 6: Leveling! Leveling!

After getting the medicine I wanted from the Medicine King’s shop, I headed straight for the city gates. Monsters, here I come! I first checked the Leaderboard, which had changed its style a bit, adding a few new columns.

Rank | Name | Race | Gender | Level | Class | Pet

1 | SlayerBlade | Half-orc | Male | Lv. 71 | Warrior | Lv. 11 Wild Stallion King

2 | Ruthless Autumn Wind | Angel | Male | Lv. 70 | Warrior | None

3 | Red Moon | Celestial Demon | Female | Lv. 70 | Dark Mage | Lv. 38 Night Spirit King

4 | ILoveMoney | Demon | Female | Lv. 69 | Priest | None

5 | Skyfire | Human | Male | Lv. 69 | Magic Swordsman | None

6 | NoRomance | Goblin | Male | Lv. 69 | Thief + Dark Mage | None

7 | Descending Deity | Angel | Male | Lv. 69 | Warrior | None

8 | Sunshine | Half-elf | Male | Lv. 68 | Archer | None

9 | GentleAsWater | Half-elf | Female | Lv. 68 | Archer | None

10 | Tyrant Dragon | Half-orc | Male | Lv. 68 | Warrior | None

Looking at their levels, then at my own paltry level 29, was truly depressing! I fished out the leveling map the Medicine King had stuffed into my hands before I left. This thing was a real treasure! It wasn’t just an ordinary map. Besides showing the terrain around the Lost City, it also detailed the levels and characteristics of the monsters in every leveling spot.

Following the route marked on the map, I arrived at a valley behind the Lost City. It took me nearly a whole morning to reach the valley entrance, and along the way, I cursed every female relative of the Lost City’s designer! A perfectly good city with only one exit, and they built it on a lake! It meant that after leaving the city, I had to run halfway around the lake just to get here. When I get back, I’m definitely going to have Mom chew out that designer!

According to the map, this place was called Dark Canyon. It was said that the evil spirits who refused to settle in the Lost City made their home here instead. The Medicine King had told me that monsters were plentiful here and respawned quickly. Most importantly, their levels increased progressively from the entrance inwards. The clear level zones made it a perfect spot for leveling.

I tentatively walked into the canyon. I’d gone for more than half a kilometer without seeing a thing! Was that jinx, the Medicine King, messing with me?

After a bit more, I finally spotted a figure flickering up ahead. As I got closer, I could finally see the creature’s true face. It was a zombie. Its severely decomposed body emitted a stench that made me want to gag. Seriously, why did they have to make it so realistic! But, adhering to the professional ethics of a leveling fanatic, I charged forward despite the acrid smell. It’s a bit strange, really. I’m someone who’s quite interested in leveling. Many people who play online games dislike the grind, but for me, leveling itself is a form of enjoyment.

I took aim at a zombie and slashed down. A one-shot kill? How could it be so weak? Another one shuffled over from nearby. This time, I used my Identify skill first. It succeeded on the first try; after all, my Identify was already level 4. The attributes read: Rotting Zombie, level 30 monster, attacks have a chance to poison the target, slow movement speed, weak point is the head. So it was only a level 30 monster. No wonder it was so easy to kill. My character’s attack power was ridiculously high, so one-shotting monsters of the same level was to be expected.

I swung my blade at the newly arrived Rotting Zombie. It faltered but didn’t die. I quickly followed up with another slash and finished it off. Looks like even my attack can’t guarantee a one-shot every single time!

After killing two Rotting Zombies, I quickly spotted a third. Just as the Medicine King’s map had indicated, the monster density here was high, and they were all of a single type, making it perfect for leveling (if you ignored the stench!). I could one-shot almost all the surrounding zombies; only one or two out of every ten required a second hit. About two hours later, I had smoothly leveled up to 35. The leveling speed here was amazing!

Considering my frighteningly high attack power, I started heading deeper into the canyon, cutting my way through Rotting Zombies. Another zombie appeared beside me. Same old trick, one slash—it didn’t die? Another slash, and it was still moving! I immediately realized this wasn’t an ordinary Rotting Zombie. An Identify revealed the difference. Name: Zombie (without the word ‘Rotting’), level 40 monster, claws carry a potent poison, slow movement, weak point is the head. So it was a higher-grade one, no wonder it survived two hits! I circled behind it and slashed again, then continued to circle and hack at it while it turned as if in slow motion. After seven or eight slashes, I finally took it down! Clink! Two Silver Coins dropped to the ground! Haha! This one was much richer than the rotting ones!

After pushing a bit further, I started to feel pretty tired. I found a rock wall to lean against and logged off. Taking off my helmet, I checked the time. It was already 3 PM. I looked around and saw that Ah Wei wasn’t here. I grabbed a quick bite, used the restroom, and got back on. The moment I logged in, I found myself surrounded by a horde of zombies—at least thirty of them! Luckily, some had their backs to me and others were just staring blankly into space. I easily weaved my way through the gaps between them. Their reaction time was laughably slow; they let me escape just like that.

In the middle of the slaughter, I suddenly remembered that I should level up Lucky too. When he grew up, he could help me with PvP and leveling! With a thought, Lucky instantly appeared before me, flew into my arms, and nuzzled affectionately against my clothes. “Lucky! You need to train hard and level up now, okay? Once you’re a high level, no one will be able to bully you! Come on, let’s use these ugly things for practice!”

Seemingly understanding my words, Lucky flew onto my shoulder, rubbed his little claws together, and a tiny fireball shot towards the nearest zombie. Bang! A scorched zombie appeared before me, but it didn’t seem to have taken much damage. Seeing that his fireball had little effect, Lucky hung his head sadly. I patted his little head. “Don’t be sad. It may be ugly, but it’s still a level 40 monster. It’s normal that your fireball can’t hurt it much. You might be a dragon, but you’re still only level 1!”

As if encouraged by my words, Lucky was fired up again. This time, he faced the same zombie, but it wasn’t just one fireball—it was a whole row of them! I almost fainted! The speed at which dragons cast magic was terrifying! Lucky’s fireballs flew out one after another with almost no pause, at a speed that could rival a machine gun. Within ten seconds, that unlucky zombie was hit at least twenty-something times before it turned into a pile of ash, leaving three Silver Coins behind as it vanished!

Seeing that he had finally dealt with the zombie, Lucky danced happily on my shoulder. Immediately after, a system notification popped up: “Congratulations! Your Magical Pet has reached level 5!” Before I could even react, I felt a weight on my shoulder. Lucky had suddenly grown much larger. Originally less than a foot long from head to tail, he was now almost a meter long! Heavens, if he keeps growing at this rate, won’t he become as big as a small mountain?!

While I was lost in thought, a zombie shambled towards me. Lucky immediately pounced, and with a single swipe of his claw, the zombie was one-shot! The system notification sounded again. “Congratulations! Your pet has reached level 8!” And just like that, Lucky grew to about one and a half meters long!

While I was still stunned, Lucky displayed his incredible speed. He weaved through the zombie horde, and my ears were filled with the system’s endless congratulations! By the time I snapped out of it, I hurriedly shouted, “Stop! Lucky! Come back!”

Lucky spread his massive wings, now over five meters wide, and leaped in front of me in a single bound. He seemed to be showing off, constantly displaying his enormous body. Heavens, in that short time, Lucky had already reached level 36! And since I was just standing here sharing the experience, I had also reached level 36. The Lucky before me was now as big as when we first met, his body the size of a small bus, covered in scales that glinted with a black light!

“You’re so strong!” I said, stroking Lucky’s head. “Leveling up with you will definitely be fast from now on, but we have to keep this a secret! If anyone finds out I have such a powerful Magical Pet, they’ll surely try to steal you! (In Zero, even owned Magical Pets can be captured by other players. However, the probability of capturing a pet with over 80 loyalty is less than one in ten thousand, and it is completely impossible to capture a pet with loyalty over 95.)”

Hearing this, Lucky immediately wrapped his front claws around me and whimpered. “Ah! Let go! Are you trying to kill me?!” Lucky quickly released me. I sat on the ground, gasping for air. “It’s one thing to be huge, but you’re this strong too! You can’t do that again!”

Lucky hastily nodded his head.

Chapter 7: Catching Up

I led Lucky deeper into the gorge. Along the way, Lucky cleared out everything in our path as usual. The strange thing was, Lucky’s leveling speed seemed to have slowed down a lot, always staying an even match with mine.

Finally, a new type of Monster appeared up ahead. These were Zombies with prominent fangs and enormous claws. The Identify result: Mutated Zombie, a level 60 Monster. Its attacks caused a paralysis effect and carried a potent poison. It was quite agile, had high damage resistance, was afraid of fire, and its weak point was its heart.

I quickly closed in, letting Lucky clear out the surrounding targets while I took this Monster on one-on-one. I was level 38, after all. I charged forward, and just as I was about to bring my blade down, the creature’s claws were already in my face. I had to pull my blade back in mid-air and flip backward to retreat. Damn, that almost ruined my looks! I tried to circle around behind it and swing my sword, but the thing spun around instantly, parrying my sword with one claw and swiping with the other. Ouch! A solid hit landed on my body, taking out 600 of my health in one go. Damn, its attack power is so high! A few more hits like that and I’d be dead! But just as I was planning to fall back, a claw struck my back. I turned to see that a new Mutated Zombie had just spawned behind me.

I had no choice but to do a side flip to create some distance. But the two creatures just swung their massive claws and leaped directly at me. Damn, they’re so fast! Just when I thought I was done for, a stream of Fireballs flew over and blasted the two of them away. I quickly scrambled to my feet, ready to dodge the follow-up attack, only to find that not only had the two Mutated Zombies been sent flying, but they were also on fire. No wonder the Identify skill said they were afraid of fire!

I suddenly remembered that my secondary class, Beast Tamer, could also use some magic. I quickly started tossing small firebolts, but I had put so few points into Intelligence that my magic attack was very low and did almost no damage. Thankfully, Lucky’s Fireballs were incredibly powerful. After killing the Mutated Zombies, we continued deeper until we finally found an alcove in the cliff face, just big enough for Lucky and me to hide in. We stood at the entrance of the little cave, with Lucky blocking the way and me standing on his back (Lucky was over fifteen meters long now; if he still sat on my shoulder, how was I supposed to live?!), occasionally tossing out a few small fireballs. The Monsters here respawned incredibly fast; even at our pace, we couldn’t kill them all! Since we were fighting higher-level Monsters, we were leveling up very quickly. By around 8 PM, I had reached level 58, and Lucky was level 58 as well. During this time, I came to a conclusion: in Zero, a Magical Pet’s level is capped by the player’s level. No matter how much experience a Magical Pet earns, it will never surpass its master’s level. That’s why every time I leveled up this afternoon, Lucky immediately followed suit.

Although it was already 8 PM (the time in Zero is synced with real-world time), the area was still brightly lit because we were constantly setting things on fire. Outside, the Zombies, with their glowing green eyes, bared their fangs and brandished their claws as they charged us, but they could never break through. My stomach started to feel a little empty, so I had no choice but to recall Lucky and log off first.

As soon as I took off the Helmet, I saw Ah Wei setting food on the table. “Hehe! Looks like I logged off at just the right time!”

“Get lost! This is mine, none for you!”

I immediately put on a straight face and pretended to be deep in thought. “Sigh! I finally found a secret spot to level up and was planning on taking someone with me, but alas, no one seems interested. I guess I’ll have to…”

“Big Brother, you are truly wise and heroic! This little brother has long admired you. I hope Big Brother will take this little brother to level up and further burnish your glorious image. Here, this is your little brother’s dinner offering for you, Boss!” Ah Wei rushed over, laying on the flattery.

“Hehe! That’s more like it! I’m just messing with you. Seriously though, are you going to get your Account tomorrow morning?”

“Of course!” Ah Wei said, handing me a bowl of rice. “What level are you now?”

“58.”

“That fast? Just yesterday, weren’t you only…?”

“Hehe! It’s a secret! But I’ll tell you this, that leveling spot is pretty amazing, a real treasure for new players. The air quality is just a bit poor! Do you have the latest system announcements?”

Ah Wei put down his bowl, ran to get his laptop, and pushed it in front of me. “Not much new, and only a couple of important announcements! Mainly two things. First, that female player named Red Moon I told you about yesterday got a piece of Holy Spirit Equipment as a system reward. The other is that the system has entered a fully autonomous mode, and all NPCs have gained artificial intelligence! Zhonghua Company will no longer intervene in in-game affairs to ensure absolute fairness!”

“Holy Spirit Equipment? What’s that?”

“Can’t you look for yourself?” Ah Wei said indistinctly, his mouth full of food.

I looked at the page, and sure enough, there was an announcement. The player had received a Dark Bracelet. It gave -30 Magic Attack, +1 Luck, and its function was to control one Monster under level 100 at a time. Although it was a good item, it didn’t seem very useful for now. When I thought about it, my Hermit’s Ring seemed much, much better than this.

After dinner, I rested for a bit. When I woke up from my nap, it was already 5 AM. Crap, I overslept! I glanced at Ah Wei’s bed; he had long since gone to wait in line! I grabbed a bite to eat, took care of my… physiological needs, and got back online.

I appeared back in the cliff-side alcove. It was pitch black all around, and I couldn’t seem to spot the green light-bulb-like eyes of the Zombies. I summoned Lucky. The moment the little guy appeared, he let out a dragon’s roar that could be heard for fifty kilometers. Now I understood what it meant to be the King of Kings!

Although the roar was impressive, its immediate effect seemed to be attracting a huge swarm of Zombies. I could already see a cluster of green dots in the distance! In no time, we were surrounded by Zombies again. Lucky, relying on his infinite mana, sent Fireballs flying everywhere. Standing on his back was incredibly boring. At first, I could manage to toss a few small fireballs for fun, but my mana was pathetically low and ran out in a flash. Thinking that wasting mana like this was pointless, I suddenly remembered I still had an unidentified Ring. I quickly took it out and began to Identify it.

I had no idea what attributes this Ring had. I must have tried to Identify it hundreds of times, but it still wouldn’t work. My Identification skill was level seven now, so the success rate should be decent, but it just wouldn’t be identified. Meanwhile, Lucky was making rapid progress. By the time the sky began to lighten in the east, both Lucky and I had reached level 67. I checked the Leaderboard. The order hadn’t changed, but the player at the top was already level 74! Truly impressive!

Because we were now level 67, the level 60 Mutated Zombies here were starting to give reduced experience, so we began to move deeper into the gorge.

Chapter 8: Hunted Down

I forged deeper into the canyon, dealing with the Mutated Zombies along the way. Before long, I noticed the density of Mutated Zombies dropping off, which seemed to indicate I was approaching the next monster encampment. Sure enough, we soon spotted a figure nearly two meters tall, clad from head to toe in black armor with not a single gap to be seen.

From a distance, I used Identify on the creature. Undead Warrior, a level one hundred monster. Its attacks had a life-leeching effect, allowing it to heal itself. It possessed astonishing defense, was skilled at using combos, had fifty percent resistance to dark magic, and no particular weakness.

Damn, this guy seems tough! I ordered Lucky to scout the surroundings for threats while I tested the waters with this lone one. As Lucky began his patrol, I charged straight at the Undead Warrior. It spotted me quickly, and with a flick of its wrist, a black, jagged sword appeared in its hand. It closed the distance in a few steps and leaped, bringing its sword down in an overhand chop. The Undead Warrior was surprisingly agile, twisting to the side to dodge the blow. Relying on my high Strength, I forced the momentum of my sword into a horizontal sweep as I landed, scoring a direct hit. Clang! The massive recoil sent me stumbling back three steps. Damn, this thing’s defense is absurd. That last strike only dealt 113 points of damage!

As soon as my attack ended, the Undead Warrior rushed me. Its speed was incredible; it was on me in a flash, too fast to dodge. It swung its sword in a wide arc. I retreated as fast as I could, but it still struck me squarely. I felt a jarring impact and coughed up a mouthful of blood, as if I’d been run over by a truck. But the assault wasn’t over. Using the recoil from the blow, the Undead Warrior spun a full 360 degrees and struck again from the opposite direction. That second strike was followed by a rapid three-hit combo. I was completely overwhelmed; all three slashes found their mark! My health plummeted to just 19 points. Damn, a single combo could one-shot me! If I weren’t so durable, any normal person would have died right there. But I’m not a normal person. Good thing I have the Guardian Collar!

Just as I was silently celebrating, the Undead Warrior charged again. Shit, are you even going to let me live? “Lucky! Help!” Hearing my cry for help, Lucky tore in like a hurricane. The Undead Warrior’s attack posture was broken by the force of Lucky’s gale, sending it spinning in place. I seized the opportunity, rushing in to land several blows of my own. Even if I couldn’t kill it, it felt good to vent my frustration!

Seemingly realizing that Lucky was the tougher opponent, the Undead Warrior very decisively turned to flee. But its short legs were no match for Lucky’s wings. It hadn’t taken two steps before Lucky caught it, sending it flying into a cliffside with a swipe of his dragon claw. With a flash of white light, it died. I hurried over. I’m rich, I’m rich! Two Gold Coins had dropped on the ground! Haha! Looks like high-level monsters are wealthier after all. It’s a shame its armor didn’t drop. A set of armor that cool would make people die of a envy!

As I was daydreaming, a tremendous sound echoed from within the valley. It sounded like troops on the march. A moment later, I understood what it was. A line of eight Undead Warriors appeared around the bend ahead, running in a neat formation. What was worse, rank after rank kept appearing behind them. I only killed one gatekeeper Undead Warrior, was it really necessary to send an entire army after me?!

Lucky truly was a high-level Magical Pet, with intelligence far beyond the norm. Seeing the formation, he spun around, grabbed me, and took off. I had no idea how many tens of thousands of Undead Warriors were chasing me; all I knew was that from my perch on Lucky’s back, I couldn’t see the end of the massive army behind us! Lucky was usually fast, but at only level 67, flying with me on his back was a real strain. The army of Undead Warriors was closing in, and the sporadic, piddling Magic Missiles I was tossing did nothing to help the situation. Lucky, however, got an idea. He turned his head and started lobbing Violent Fireballs as he flew. His magic was nothing like my feeble attempts; each Fireball effortlessly took down a whole swathe of them.

Honestly, if I wasn’t so exasperated from being hounded like a dog, this would be a great way to level up. The Undead Warriors chased us all the way to the Gorge entrance. After flying a good distance out of the mouth of the valley, we turned to look back at them, praying they would stop at the entrance. We were past their territory, after all!

Unfortunately, it seemed God hadn’t heard our prayers. (I’m a Dark Warrior, am I praying to the wrong god? I should probably be praying to Satan!) The army of Undead Warriors charged out of the valley without a moment’s hesitation, heading straight for us. Terrified, Lucky and I turned and fled. I patted Lucky, signaling for him to fly directly into the City of the Lost. The Gorge exit was behind the city where there was no entrance. I’d like to see you chase us now. If you’ve got the guts, jump in the lake and swim across. I refuse to believe that monster in the water will just stand by and watch.

As soon as we cleared the city walls and landed, we collapsed—Lucky from exhaustion, me from terror! Damn, those things are terrifying. Better to stay away from them in the future! But all that running and blasting had actually gotten us to level 70. Haha, the experience from level 100 monsters really is high! Too bad I couldn’t go back to pick up all that gold!

While we were catching our breath, a familiar voice came from above. “Brother Purple Sun? What happened to you?” Clark asked, looking at the cracks the sword had left on my armor.

I looked up and saw it was Clark. “Ah! I went to the Dark Canyon to level up,” I said, “and ran into some Undead Warriors. I’d only killed one before a whole army came after me. They chased me all the way to the city walls before turning back!”

“You killed an Undead Warrior from the Dark Canyon?” Clark’s voice suddenly grew loud.

“Yeah! What’s wrong?”

“You’re a brave one!”

“What’s going on?”

Clark smiled. “I can’t explain it clearly. Come with me, I’ll find someone who knows!”

I followed Clark to an appraisal shop. Once inside, Clark introduced me to the owner—the President of the City of the Lost’s Appraiser’s Guild. Upon hearing that I’d killed an Undead Warrior from the Dark Canyon, the old man laughed so hard he nearly passed out—though it didn’t seem like he was breathing in the first place!

“What is it?” I asked, getting a little angry as they kept laughing.

Seeing my irritation, the old man finally managed to stop. “You really don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“You took a wrong turn in the canyon. You encountered the guards of the Dark Temple—and thankfully, just the grunts on the outer perimeter!”

“What? Grunts? Those were level one hundred Undead Warriors! And tens of thousands of them spawn at once. How can anything be so ridiculous?”

The old man chuckled. “That temple is a forbidden land for our Dark Race. All of us have sworn to defend it with our very lives.”

“Is it really that serious?”

“Of course. It is the fount of all dark power; all dark power emanates from there. Legend has it that the Star of Creation, which forged the world, split into two halves. One of those halves fell into the forbidden land and became the Source of Darkness!”

“Will I get some kind of reward for getting that Source of Darkness? It’s not a quest, is it?”

“Get it?” The President and Clark stared at me in astonishment. The President said, “Obtaining the Source of Darkness is absolutely impossible! There are far too many guards! What you saw today was the outermost layer, outside the forbidden land. Behind those Undead Warriors are countless level 250 Undead Knight guards. Deeper still is a garrison of the level 350 Night Mage Corps. Even if you could slip past all those guards and reach the forbidden land itself, you still couldn’t get the Source of Darkness. Inside the forbidden land, there are said to be eight identical Dark Halls. Each hall has seven floors, and every floor is protected by innumerable guards ranging from level 400 to level 800. Do you really think you can pull it off?”

Unconvinced, I retorted, “I still have Lucky. Once Lucky reaches level 800, what would dare challenge a top-tier Magical Pet, a dragon?”

“Let’s not even talk about whether you can reach level 800. Even if you reached level 900, it would be useless. The final guardians of the Source of Darkness are two level 1000 Dark Demonic Dragons!”

“Ah! I guess it’s hopeless then!”

Chapter 9: The Starfall Ring

“Of course!” the President said mischievously. “Did you think you knew someone from the Demon Palace and wanted to pull some strings?”

“Sigh! When will a lowly warrior like me ever make a name for himself?” I grumbled, pulling out the ring that I had never been able to get appraised. “The system says I have high Luck, but I’ve tried appraising this ring a hundred times with no result!”

“Wait!” The President’s eyes suddenly glinted as he stared at the ring in my hand. “Where did you get this?”

“This?” I held the ring up. “It was a system reward. I have no idea what it’s for since I can never get it appraised! Hey, aren’t you an Appraiser? Can you help me out?”

The President took the ring very carefully. “The appraisal fee is ten thousand Gold Coins!”

“What?” I thought I’d heard him wrong!

“For ten thousand Gold Coins, I’ll appraise it for you. Don’t think it’s too expensive. Once you have this ring, I guarantee everything will go your way and all your wishes will come true!”

“Is it that amazing?” I desperately wanted to, but… I checked my pockets and only had thirty-two Gold Coins in total. “I don’t have enough money!”

Clark immediately said, “Just appraise it for him! I’ll cover the cost!”

I quickly said gratefully, “I couldn’t possibly! I’ll consider it a loan. I’ll definitely pay you back when I have the money!”

The President, with great solemnity and care, lifted a painting on the wall behind him, revealing a safe. The old man fished out three keys from different places on his body, opened the safe, and took out an exquisitely crafted metal box. “This is my treasure. There’s no piece of equipment it can’t appraise!” he said, placing my ring on the table. He then aimed the box at the ring and opened the lid. A ray of golden light shot from the gap in the box onto the ring. The ring flashed with a brilliant light and turned completely black. The bat decoration on it vanished in an instant, leaving only a very large ruby.

After putting the box away, the President handed the ring back to me. “This is a ring that triggers a quest. Seeing as you’re so familiar with the blacksmith,” (the President’s nickname for Clark; Clark calls the President ‘the swindler’), “I’ll tell you directly. If you take this ring to the Earth Mother Temple in the permanently neutral land of Osk, you’ll trigger a quest. However, I don’t know the specific details or the rewards. I imagine the quest that comes with a Superior-grade Divine Artifact won’t be trash! But given how high-level this ring is, I suggest you wait until you’re level 500 before you do this quest!”

I nodded vigorously as I took the ring and looked at its attributes. The moment I saw them, I was completely stunned. Clark asked anxiously, “What are the attributes? I helped you out so much, don’t keep me in suspense!”

I swallowed hard and said, “This ring is called the Starfall Ring. All basic attributes are scaled to the current maximum value—in other words, all my stats become as high as my highest one. It also increases Magic Attack Power by a percentage, increases Magic Casting Speed by a percentage, lets me learn all Dark Magic, gives me percentage resistance to all magic, increases my maximum Mana by a percentage, converts a percentage of damage into Mana, gives +2 to all skills, and +7 to Luck.”

“Little brother! You’ve really hit the jackpot! I never even knew a Divine Artifact this powerful existed! With that basic attribute boost, you’re practically a superman! Are all your basic attributes 13 now?”

I quickly put it on and looked. They all really had become 13. I now kind of regretted not putting all my points into a single attribute from the start! “Yeah, they’re all 13!”

“What?” The old man seemed skeptical. “How are your basic attributes so high? Even with extra points, it shouldn’t be that much!”

I scratched my head and said, “Well, to be honest, I’m actually that one player who drew the four rewards! Plus, I chose the Celestial Demon race, so my base points were already quite high!”

“What?” The old man was even more astonished. “A true master doesn’t show off his skills! A pleasure, a pleasure! But…” The old man paused. “You’d best not let anyone else know about this. It won’t be good for you if too many people find out.”

“Yes! I understand!” I thought to myself, If only the number of Magical Pets wasn’t fixed from the start. With my Charisma now, wouldn’t I have a whole legion of them!

Clark suddenly asked, “What level are you now?”

“Level 70. Why?”

“That’s still pretty low. You need to work harder! With the Dark Dragon King helping you, your leveling speed should be even faster!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll do my best!”

After chatting with the old man for a while longer, I once again set off on my journey to level up. This time, I bought four packs of Necro-Pills from the Apothecary King’s shop; I’d used up the last batch! Before leaving, I also made a point to sell the equipment I’d picked up while leveling up recently and bought three City of the Lost Return Scrolls. (Each city has its own exclusive Return Scroll. Unlike normal ones, these scrolls teleport you to a specific city rather than the nearest one.)

Once outside the city gates, I started considering which direction to go. The Dark Canyon was no longer a viable place to level up. The low-level Zombies gave no experience, and the high-level Undead Warriors would attack in hordes of ten thousand at a time—who could possibly withstand that! I looked at my map and saw a place called Demonwood, which was marked as suitable for leveling from 50 to 150 and produced monsters that ignored defense.

Once I’d chosen my destination, I set off. Now that Lucky was so big, he could be used as transportation outside the city. With his help, I reached Demonwood in no time. The place was truly terrifying. Standing at the edge of the forest, I could see a white mist drifting between the trees, completely obscuring what lay within! Anyway, according to the map, the outer areas shouldn’t have any dangerous monsters, so I gathered my courage and walked in.

The forest floor was incredibly slippery, covered with a tangled web of tree roots coated in moss, which made me scramble on all fours and still look quite pathetic. Right, doesn’t the Starfall Ring let me learn all Dark Magic? I quickly searched through my skills for a long time. Apart from a Death Mist spell that could alleviate the surrounding damp air and make me a bit more comfortable, there was nothing useful at all! The total number of Dark Magic spells exceeded three hundred, but aside from two healing-type spells, a few support-type spells, and a dozen or so semi-offensive, semi-defensive spells like the Death Mist, all the rest were attack spells! I was about to die from frustration. No wonder Dark Mages have such insane attack power; it turns out that pretty much everything in the Dark Magic school has an offensive component!

Just as I was complaining, Lucky, who was beside me, suddenly alerted me. I quickly got into a battle stance. My first prey was about to appear!

Chapter 10: Phantom

Startled, I looked around, but nothing appeared. Suddenly, my right hand lifted on its own, swinging the sword towards my neck. In a panic, I quickly used my left hand to block the blade. Since both hands were mine, to an observer, it must have looked like I was performing some clumsy dance. Lucky seemed to sense something nearby but just couldn’t see it. Furious, he swept his tail, snapping a nearby tree trunk as thick as a man.

As the tree broke, the ambusher seemed to be distracted. The strength in my right hand suddenly vanished, and I regained control. It seems the enemy is in the trees. I glanced at Lucky. “Clear the area!”

Lucky let out a dragon’s roar that shook the leaves down like snowflakes. A single Divine Dragon’s Tail Sweep toppled a whole swath of trees as thick as a man’s waist. As the trees fell one after another, a black shadow flashed in the air and vanished. An unnatural silence fell, so quiet I could almost hear my own heartbeat. Lucky was panting heavily beside me, enraged. For a young dragon, that level of exertion was a bit much. If only he were over level 100 and could use Dragon Flame, things would be much easier!

The enemy was clearly nearby; I could still feel the killing intent, but it was obviously proficient in stealth. I began to gather my Mana to cast a very useful support-type dark magic—Overawe. This was a spell that intimidated enemies with sheer presence, its effect being to lower the attack power of all enemies within a certain range while also reducing their movement, health regeneration, and Mana regeneration speeds. But the mental pressure it created was also an excellent way to force a hidden enemy out. The greatest feature of this support magic was that it was non-directional and had an enormous area of effect. My level-two Overawe (thanks to the skill-boosting Ring) quickly took effect. The leaves by Lucky’s feet stirred, and he immediately unleashed a Super Lightning bolt, blasting the spot and leaving scorched earth smoking. But it seemed to have missed!

A small black whirlwind suddenly appeared in front of me. It came and went bizarrely fast, lasting less than two seconds. Where the whirlwind had been, a translucent white thing appeared. I instinctively swung my sword at it, but it cut through empty air. The white shadow suddenly rushed towards me and, like a drop of water into a sponge, vanished into my body. Immediately after, my hands involuntarily gripped my sword and charged towards Lucky. Despite struggling with all my might, I couldn’t control my own body and could only shout to Lucky: “Get back! This thing has taken control of my body!”

Lucky cleverly flapped his wings and flew into the air, putting himself out of my reach! Just as I was feeling happy for Lucky’s escape, I was the one in trouble. The creature controlling my body made me run headfirst into a tree. Thud! My head slammed into the trunk, and I saw stars. It hurt like hell! The creature wasn’t done yet; it directed me to raise my sword and attempt to slit my own throat. In a panic, I yelled at Lucky: “Quick! Stun me with lightning!”

Lucky immediately sent a bolt of lightning crashing down on my head. I could feel that he had carefully controlled its power. The lightning left my entire body numb and tingling, and I felt like I was going to throw up. Dammit, I’m never getting struck by lightning again if I can help it. The moment the lightning hit me, a white figure, crackling with electricity, shot out of my body.

Fighting through the paralysis, I managed to force my severely tangled tongue to work and yelled at Lucky: “Quick! Attack with lightning! It’s afraid of electricity!”

As expected of a top-tier boss, Lucky didn’t disappoint. Row after row of lightning bolts crashed down almost without pause. I wanted to join the fight, but my hands and feet were too numb to move.

The white mist was zapped until it was rolling all over the ground (in reality, it had no fixed form). Finally, just as it had appeared, it vanished in a flash with a small whirlwind. I quickly shouted: “Hurry! It’s trying to escape!”

A massive Chain Lightning bolt crashed down, centered on the spot where the white shadow had just disappeared. The first pillar of lightning struck the ground directly, and my heart sank, thinking we had missed. But an arc of electricity immediately shot out from where the lightning had landed, latching onto a patch of empty air. The air instantly solidified into the white shadow, arcs of electricity still coursing over its body. It looked like it had taken a miserable beating. Just as I was feeling smug, the arc of lightning suddenly forked again and shot straight towards me. Caught completely off guard, I was electrified once more. The shock made me so furious my hair stood on end!

I was so zapped I lost my senses, screaming at Lucky: “Unleash a non-stop Lightning Fire Purgatory and fry it to death for me!”

As if wanting to vent my anger for me, Lucky sent a lightning bolt as thick as a bowl crashing down on the white shadow, which was still crackling with electricity. The creature jumped. “Wait! Wait! I give up! I surrender! Stop with the lightning!” The white shadow actually started to speak.

Lucky seemed to hesitate and looked at me. I said hatefully, “Don’t spare it. Keep zapping it!”

The lightning immediately continued to fall like rain. The white shadow dodged all over the place, yelling, “Wait! Wait! Stop zapping me! I’ll give you… Ouch! I’ll be your Magical Pet! Ouch… Have mercy! Ow-ow-ouch!” The shocks were making its voice tremble!

“Stop!” I waved my hand, and the lightning ceased. The white shadow collapsed on the ground like a puddle of water, its edges still rippling and flowing. “You want to be my Magical Pet?”

“Yes!” the white shadow replied, panting heavily.

“What on earth are you?”

“I’m a mutated magical beast.”

“Mutated? Does that mean you’re the only monster with that power to control others?” I was worried there might be more of these things. That ability was terrifying!

“There are no others! I’m the only one. The rest of my kin can only turn invisible; they don’t have a powerful skill like mine!” The white shadow seemed to have calmed down a bit. Beside it, Lucky had another Super Lightning bolt ready, just in case it tried to flee.

“What level are the creatures of your kind?”

“They are all level-177, but after I mutated, I became a level-600 magical beast.”

“You’re level 600? Why don’t I feel it?” It was strong, but it didn’t seem level 600 strong.

“My rank is 600, but I’m not in my complete form yet. I’m only level 197 right now. It’s like Lord Dragon over there. Although he’s a level-1000 magical beast, his current level is probably not over 100, right?”

“How did you know?”

“I was just struck by lightning hundreds of times and didn’t die, which is enough to prove that Lord Dragon’s level is still very low. A level-100 dragon should be able to kill me in one hit. Why would it take so long?!”

“That’s true! You want to be my Magical Pet, but you need to have the corresponding abilities! You know that once a Magical Pet is bound, it can’t be replaced!”

“Of course! My greatest specialties are merging and teleporting!” The white shadow quickly demonstrated, teleporting three consecutive times to appear behind me.

“This teleportation is indeed impressive! But what benefit do your skills bring me?”

“Of course there are benefits! As long as I merge with you, Master will gain my skills, which means Master can use teleportation too! And my teleportation is an innate ability; it doesn’t consume SP!”

“It’s that good?” I was starting to be swayed. “Lucky?”

Lucky looked at me and nodded. It seemed he agreed too. In any case, I have so many pet slots, one more doesn’t matter! “Alright!” I began to use the Capture skill on the white shadow. After more than ten attempts, I finally succeeded. The white shadow immediately turned into a white Magical Pet egg and dropped to the ground. A system notification also chimed: “Congratulations to player Purple Sun for being the first player in this game to capture a level-600 boss, the Mutant Spirit Body. System reward: 3 Skill Points.”

“Huh? So this thing is called a Mutant Spirit Body! And it’s actually a boss! Why is the reward Skill Points and not equipment!” I performed the Ownership Ritual, named it Phantom, and the egg in my hand cracked open. A puddle of white liquid flowed out and vanished the moment it touched my body. A voice suddenly appeared in my mind, feeling like I was talking to myself. “Master, I am Phantom! Now demonstrating skills! Please look at a spot within one meter and imagine yourself moving there.”

“One meter?”

“Yes! I’m only level one right now, so I can’t perform long-distance movements.”

“Then what’s the teleportation distance in your final form?”

“My ultimate form can teleport anywhere within 10 kilometers, and the cooldown is so short it’s negligible. But right now, there’s a 30-second cooldown between each teleport!”

“Whatever! I’ve already taken you in, and it’s not like I can return you!” I began to look at a spot one meter away. The moment the thought formed, a whirlwind flashed around me, and I appeared in the spot I had just been looking at. It’s pretty useful!

“Master! Next, I will teach you how to use the Invisibility ability. After merging, Master only needs to think about becoming invisible to erase your presence!”

I did as Phantom said. With just a thought, my form vanished into thin air. Phantom said excitedly, “A complete success! But be careful, Invisibility isn’t infinite. At my current level, it can only last for one minute, and you can’t attack or move while invisible, or the effect will immediately break. Also, you need to wait 15 seconds between uses, or it won’t work! And, Invisibility is ineffective against players and monsters 50 levels higher than you and can be easily uncovered by detection skills!”

“So many restrictions!” I was beginning to suspect if this Phantom was just tricking me from the start!

“The restrictions are due to my current low level. It’ll get better when my level is higher. The ultimate Invisibility can be maintained for 12 continuous hours, and you can move slowly while invisible. As long as your movements aren’t too large, you won’t be discovered. Also, the ultimate Invisibility has no cooldown; if you’re discovered, you can use it again immediately. Furthermore, the ultimate Invisibility can confuse enemies up to 100 levels higher than you and reduces the probability of being found by detection skills.”

“Now that’s more like it! What other abilities do you have?” I needed to squeeze every last drop of value out of this guy. If he was going to take up one of my Magical Pet slots, he had to be useful!

“I can absorb a certain amount of damage. Right now, I can absorb 1%, but in the future, I can absorb up to 50%! What do you think, pretty amazing, right? Just think, when someone slashes you, you only lose half the normal amount of health, how great is that!” Phantom was already getting lost in his state of self-aggrandizing bragging! “Oh! That’s right! I can also perform Mind Control. The effect of the control depends on the level difference between me and the target!”

“Is that the move you used to make me run into a tree and try to cut myself with my sword?” That move was truly terrifying; it still scared me a little just thinking about it!

“Yes! Master is only level 70, and I was level 197. That’s a difference of 127 levels, which is why the control was so powerful. It was almost complete control! But even if I can’t achieve full control, slowing down a target and disrupting their normal actions like before is still very easy! Actually, this move is best used in PK against non-melee classes, especially high-agility Archers!”

“Best against Archers? Really?” When I played other games, I was bullied by Archers pretty badly!

“Of course! Think about it! What’s the most important thing for an Archer? Accuracy, right? With my interference, it’d be a miracle if they could shoot straight! And all those mages, when they’re not paying attention, I can manipulate them into throwing a super-massive magic spell at an empty spot, drain all their SP, and see how they fight then!”

As Phantom described it, I started getting a little carried away. It seems this kid’s most powerful skill is actually the divine art of flattery!

Chapter 11: The Swamp

After taming Phantom, I started to level up in Demonwood. With Phantom, a “local,” helping me, we quickly found a large group of Forest Demonwoods. The appraisal result showed that Forest Demonwoods were level 100 monsters that attacked enemies with mutated vines. They had super high defense, no mobility, and their only weakness was fire. These things looked no different from ordinary trees, the only issue being the several long vines on their bodies. As soon as you got near them, the vines would attack. Thankfully, they couldn’t move. Same old routine: Lucky charged ahead to clear the path, while Phantom and I merged, then I cast Hellfire everywhere. Thanks to the Starfall Ring, my base Intelligence had now reached 13, so my Magic Attack had become quite formidable. This large-scale sea of fire was extremely effective. These rotten branches caught fire instantly, and the small flames quickly grew into a forest fire. I watched as my experience bar shot upwards like a speedometer!

Since Lucky’s attacks were clearly more effective than mine, I didn’t keep casting fire spells. Instead, I started to study the Blacksmith’s Gathering Skill. I started using the skill on the fallen tree demons, and soon enough, I had a huge pile of wood. I had no idea what wood was used for here. However, since nearly every tree I gathered dropped this wood, it probably wasn’t very valuable. So I only kept ten pieces of wood and threw the rest on the ground, not bothering to pick them up.

As I was boredly practicing the Gathering Skill, I suddenly ‘looted’ a pitch-black block of wood from a tree demon, looking just like a piece of burnt charcoal. I took a look; it was called Black Ironwood. Judging by its appearance, it should be quite valuable. I decided to store it for now, since I had no idea what it could be used for anyway.

I’ve always enjoyed leveling up, so before I knew it, it was noon. The system time showed it was already 11:30. I checked my level; I was already level 78. Lucky was the same, also level 78. Phantom had even risen to level 66. Low-level Magical Pets probably level up faster! After grinding for a while longer, I discovered a pattern: the larger Demonwoods with higher attack power were more likely to drop that Black Ironwood. In any case, something this rare must be good, so I stuffed it all into my backpack. By two in the afternoon, I had crammed more than fifty pieces of this Black Ironwood into my bag.

Feeling a bit hungry, I recalled Lucky and Phantom and logged off. Taking off the Helmet, I saw Ah Wei also lying on his own bed wearing a helmet. It seemed that guy had already started playing. I ignored him for the moment, went downstairs, bought a big pile of food, and carried it back up. After solving my food crisis, I put the rest in the fridge and went back online.

Just as I was about to put on my helmet, Ah Wei suddenly woke up and called out to me. “Why’d you stop playing?”

“I’ve been playing all morning, of course I have to log off to eat. What about you? You just got your account, you should be leveling up. Once you’re level 10, I can power-level you!”

“I just created a character and went in to test out the environment. I’m logging off now to get something to eat. I haven’t eaten anything since this morning.”

“You created a character?”

“Yeah! The name’s Soulless, an Undead. Main Profession is Dark Mage, Auxiliary Professions are Postman and Alchemist.”

“What kind of name is that? Soulless? Sounds awful!”

“That’s because you don’t know how to appreciate it. It took me a long time to come up with this name!”

“Hey? What level are you?”

“Level 3! I’d forgotten if you hadn’t mentioned it. Leveling in this game is so hard! There are people everywhere. Even though there are a lot of monsters, there are even more people. I tried to find a higher-level grinding area, but the monsters there had insanely high attack. I got one-shotted twice. Good thing new players don’t lose levels when they die before level 10.”

“Is it really that exaggerated? I killed my way through just fine! Especially that Wild Boar cave! Haha! What a great spot for leveling!”

“Wild Boar cave? I was one-shotted by a Wild Boar! Forget it, you can’t go back anyway. Just get to level 10 and leave the Novice Village, then you can come save me from this sea of suffering! Oh, and help me find some gear! The starter gear from the system not only looks like a beggar’s outfit, but all its stats are 1-1.”

“Forget it! Power-leveling you is one thing, but don’t ask me for gear. I haven’t even gotten all my own equipment yet! At most, I can help you find some shoes and robes, and that’s already pretty good!”

“That’s good enough!”

“Alright! I’ll log off to eat at 8 p.m. tonight. Try to reach level 10 before then. I’ll go find some gear for you! I’m going online now!”

“Okay!”

I put on my helmet and entered the game, first summoning Lucky and Phantom. “Phantom, do you know any places around here that drop gear for Dark Mages? These tree demons don’t drop anything but money!”

“For a male or a female?”

“Is there a difference?”

“Of course! Didn’t you know? Other than jewelry, weapons, and shields, equipment is gender-specific. But you don’t have to worry too much. You can just find a Blacksmith in a city to change the equipment’s gender attribute. Of course, you have to pay a fee, and I hear it’s quite expensive!”

“Then I need male mage equipment!”

“Alright! I know a place not far from here that drops male mage gear, but there’s no guarantee. It’s just that places said to drop male mage gear simply have a higher proportion of it among their drops.”

“Good!”

Phantom merged with me and began to guide me deeper into the forest, with Lucky keeping watch from the air. Soon, we reached the edge of the woods. Along the way, we encountered many lone monsters, all of which were instantly killed by Lucky’s aerial strikes. Outside the forest was a swamp. Puddles bubbled everywhere, with blue will-o’-the-wisps burning above them.

“We’re here! This is the Death Swamp. The monsters inside are Swamp Poisonflies and Tailless Crocodiles. Watch out for those pits. Whatever you do, don’t fall in, or you’ll die instantly! The crocodiles are the ones that drop the Elf gear!”

I saw a crocodile crawl out of a pool not far away. I used my Identify skill on it. Swamp Tailless Crocodile, level 125, slow-moving, with very high attack and defense, but relatively poor magic defense! Level 125! That’s pretty high! Lucky and I were only level 83! Phantom was only level 80. this was going to be a bit difficult.

Lucky flew over and raked a claw at a crocodile, but it only dealt 100 damage. In return, Lucky was bitten by the crocodile and lost 50 health. Damn, its defense really was super high. It was barely even hurt after being clawed by a dragon!

Phantom said, “You can’t use physical attacks. These guys have skin that’s too thick. You have to blast them with magic!”

I cast a black flame at that crocodile, and red damage numbers immediately started popping up above its head! Lucky immediately flew into the air and began its lightning attack. In just a few hits, we took care of the ugly creature, which exploded into a floor of copper coins. Dammit, can’t you drop some larger denomination currency? Picking all this up is making my back hurt!

Just as we finished off that one, two or three crocodiles crawled out of nearly every surrounding pit. I had no choice but to start teleporting around while casting fire spells. I set a large area around me ablaze. It seemed the flames from dark magic weren’t afraid of water; even the pools of water started to burn!

Under the combined assault of myself and Lucky, a large number of crocodiles soon fell, dropping a floor full of equipment. It was truly a case of: stumbled deep into the swamp, and found endless equipment! I quickly started to sort through it, tossing aside anything worthless. Hehe, the haul was pretty good. In total, I picked up money worth over seventeen Crystal Coins. For Ah Wei, I got an exceptional little staff with 2-7 attack, a 10% increase to Magic Attack, and +1 to all magic skill levels; a cloak that added 3 Agility and 1 Luck; and a piece of Wickerwood Battle Armor with 13 defense. That kid was really lucky; the armor I was wearing only had 9 defense! But my efforts weren’t for nothing. I got a pair of Pauldrons for myself. Pseudo-dragon Pauldrons, 5 defense and +1 Agility. I also got a Bracelet that increased attack speed by one. Although it was a bit trashy, I’d wear it for now. Better than nothing!

I checked the time. It was just past five. This place wasn’t great for leveling up, so it was time to move on. As I walked, I unexpectedly came across another patch of forest, but this time it wasn’t an ordinary one. The woods were shrouded in darkness, and I couldn’t see a thing.

Phantom explained for me, “This is the Death Forest, the border of the City of the Lost. The entire region around the City of the Lost is surrounded by this forest. Passing through here will take you to the lands of the living!”

“Let’s go take a look!” I stepped into the forest.

Chapter 12: Crossing the Death Line

The darkness in the forest wasn’t just any kind of dark; it was the pitch-black kind where you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. We could only make our way forward by the light of Lucky’s Illumination spell.

“Phantom? Does this forest really surround the entire City of the Lost region?”

“Yes!”

“But I don’t think I came across a similar forest on my way here!”

“But did you pass through a forest?”

“I did!”

“That’s it, then! The Death Forest isn’t this dark everywhere. A few paths are brighter, while the other areas are dark and have more monsters. But this place has a type of monster that’s perfect for leveling up.”

“Where? What is it?”

“It’s right ahead; we’re almost there. There are lots of Death Skeletons, all level 90 monsters, and they like to swarm together! Their attack and defense are pretty average, making them especially good for leveling up!”

“Then what are we waiting for!” I continuously used Blink to charge toward the target. Phantom’s Blink could now cover over two meters in a single use, and its speed had increased quite a bit. It only needed a one-second interval between casts, which was pretty good for aiding movement!

Sure enough, we soon saw a huge crowd of Death Skeletons shambling about. There wasn’t just a lot of them; they were packed together in a dense mass. “Lucky! Use a large area-of-effect spell!”

I cast Hellfire. The best thing about this spell is that it burns a huge area and lasts for a really long time. The only problem is its attack power isn’t that great! Luckily, these skeletons clearly had low magic defense and moved incredibly slowly. Lucky’s Lightning Fire Purgatory, on the other hand, was ridiculous. It smashed the skeletons down in droves, like reaping wheat.

Just as Phantom had said, this place was perfect for leveling up. Although level 90 skeletons weren’t high-level and didn’t give much experience individually, their high density and low defense allowed for an extremely fast slaughter rate. As a result, the amount of experience gained over time was still quite substantial.

We fought our way through without finding any gaps. The number of skeletons was terrifying; they filled every open space in the forest. We had killed at least a hundred thousand of them along the way. In reality, we were basically carving a path forward through a mountain of skeletons. We fought until nightfall before we finally broke out of the forest. Even though the sky outside was full of stars, having just emerged from the even deeper darkness of the forest, our surroundings suddenly felt brighter. I checked my level. Lucky and I had actually reached level 90. Phantom was now just level 89; he’d probably catch up to us by the next time we logged off. It suddenly occurred to me that after leveling up so much, I must have surpassed those guys on the Level Leaderboard. I quickly opened it up and saw that I was right. The Level Leaderboard now looked like this:

Rank  Name       Race    Gender  Level  Class       Pet

1   SlayerBlade   Half-orc  Male   Level 87  Warrior      Level 80 Wild Stallion King

2   Red Moon     Celestial Demon Female  Level 87  Dark Mage    Level 85 Night Spirit King

3   Ruthless Autumn Wind Angel   Male   Level 86  Warrior      None

4   Skyfire      Human   Male   Level 85  Magic Swordsman None

5   NoRomance    Goblin   Male   Level 84  Thief + Dark Mage None

6   Tyrant Dragon   Half-orc  Male   Level 82  Warrior      None

7   Descending Deity  Angel   Male   Level 79  Warrior      None

8   Sunshine     Half-elf   Male   Level 79  Archer       None

9   GentleAsWater  Half-elf   Female  Level 78  Archer       None

10   ILoveMoney    Demon   Female  Level 76  Priest        None

It didn’t seem to have changed much, but what excited me the most was that I really had reached first place. Right, Ah Wei was still waiting for me to log off and discuss power-leveling him! I checked the time—it was already 8 o’clock! Time to log off!

“You’re finally off! I thought you forgot!” Ah Wei was already at the table, eating.

“Sorry! I really did forget, but good thing I remembered! Next time, just press the wake-up button.” (The wake-up button was a button on the forehead of the helmet. Pressing it once would send a doorbell-like sound to the player in-game, alerting them that someone was looking for them. Holding it for five seconds would force a log-out.)

“I was afraid you were busy with something, so I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Did you reach level 20?”

“I did! I’m level 21 now. But I didn’t change my class because I ran out of money! Do you have any money I can borrow? It’s so annoying. If Zhonghua Company hadn’t forbidden converting real money into game currency for the first six months, only allowing game currency to be exchanged for cash, I’d have definitely cashed in for tens of thousands of diamond coins! Now I’m so poor I have to count my pennies just to buy a health potion! Oh, right, Boss!” Ah Wei looked at me with a fawning expression. “Do you have the equipment?”

“Hehe!” I chuckled and said, “You’re in luck, kid. I got you an exceptional little staff. Attack 2-7, Magic Attack +10%, all spell levels +1. How about that?”

“Hahaha! Boss, I could just die for you! Your radiance is our guiding light!” Ah Wei was starting to lose control.

“And that’s not all. There’s also a cloak that adds 3 Agility and 1 Luck, plus a piece of Wickerwood Battle Armor with 13 defense. Your boss takes good care of you, right?”

“Very good, very good!” Ah Wei was grinning so wide it looked like his jaw was about to dislocate.

“Let’s be serious. Where are you right now? After leaving the Novice Village, character spawn points are random. How am I supposed to give you the equipment if I can’t find you?”

“Oh, that’s true! Right, Boss, hurry up and finish eating. We’ll go online and use the private chat to figure it out as we search!”

“Okay!” I devoured my food like a whirlwind and then went online with Ah Wei.

Entering the game, I opened the chat function and started to message Ah Wei. An avatar immediately popped up, Ah Wei’s face floating in the air. “Boss! I’m in Water Cloud City right now. I’ll send you my coordinates. Where are you?”

I sent him my coordinates and said, “No way! We’re so far apart!”

“It’s fine! Boss, find the nearest city. There’s a teleportation array in the city. As long as you’re level 90 and pay a certain fee, you can teleport to a designated town!”

“Alright! You can level up near the city for a bit. I’m coming now! I’ll message you when I get there!” I cut off the chat and summoned Lucky and Phantom. “Phantom! Which way to the nearest city?”

“This way!” I relaxed my body and let Phantom control me, running in the direction of the city. We ran into a lot of wild bulls on the way, but they couldn’t do any damage to me anymore. I completely ignored them and charged straight to the side of a city. The city was called Destiny City. It was larger than Cold Emerald but seemed a bit smaller than the City of the Lost. Once inside, I started looking everywhere for the teleportation array. It was a pity that in such a huge city, there wasn’t a single soul besides NPCs. I couldn’t even ask for directions since the NPCs didn’t care about anything outside of their own quests.

After wandering around for a good half hour, I finally found that damned teleportation array. I asked the NPC guarding it and learned that one teleport cost two Crystal Coins, the price didn’t change with distance. I reluctantly paid the fee and stepped into the teleportation array. I immediately heard a system notification: “Congratulations to player Purple Sun for being the first player in this game to use a teleportation array. The system rewards you with one Divine Artifact: the Teleportation Ring! Where would you like to teleport to now?”

There was a reward for this too! And a Teleportation Ring! What luck! I suddenly remembered I hadn’t teleported yet and called out my destination. “Water Cloud City!”

A white light flashed around me, and I appeared in Water Cloud City. That was fast! Walking out of the teleportation array, I looked at the Teleportation Ring in my hand. It was a very ordinary-looking ring with a black gemstone set in it. If you looked closely, you could see a nebula slowly spinning inside the gem. The ring was already appraised, which saved me a lot of trouble. I checked its properties. Unlimited teleports to any town’s teleportation array, and limited to three teleports per day to any specified coordinates.

“This is amazing! I’ve struck gold! I can save a fortune in transportation fees running between cities from now on. It even saves on Return Scrolls!” In my excitement, I had forgotten my purpose. I quickly messaged Ah Wei. “Ah Wei, I’m here. Come meet me at the teleportation array!”

Chapter 13: The Death of Ah Wei

“Boss! Over here!” Ah Wei came running up to me. “Boss, you were pretty fast!”

“Fast?” I asked, bewildered. “I got ‘lost’ in the city. I was getting dizzy just trying to find that damned Teleportation Array!”

“Boss, hurry and give me the equipment!” Ah Wei said, an eager look on his face.

I traded the equipment to Ah Wei, and then we went to the Profession Guild Hall for him to change his profession. Damn it, they scammed another two Crystal Coins out of me! Ah Wei, on the other hand, was ecstatic. It wasn’t his money being spent, so it’d be strange if he wasn’t happy!

“Let’s go, I’ll take you to level up! Once the accounts are fully opened tomorrow morning, the low-level grinding zones around the city will definitely be packed. If we level you up now, you won’t have to compete with others for monsters!”

“You’ve got a point! Let’s go!” Ah Wei dragged me out of the city. Unlike the city, which was brightly lit by torches, the outside was pitch-black with only the faint glimmer of starlight. “Boss, let’s kill some bulls first! Their level is low, so it’ll be harder for me to die!”

“Killing bulls? How long would that take to level up? Come on, follow me!”

“Wait up!” I led Ah Wei in a single dash to a hill far from the city. Here, there were many level-fifty Frenzied Wild Bulls, their eyes glowing red in the darkness. Ah Wei was so scared he hid the moment he saw them. Mages like him had low health and defense to begin with, and now he was facing monsters many levels higher than him. They could kill him in a single hit with absolute ease.

I wanted to show off in front of Ah Wei, so I walked to a relatively open area. Raising my longsword, I declared, “Heed my summons! Come forth, Black Dragon King of Hell!” In truth, I didn’t need any incantation to summon Lucky; a simple thought was enough. Lucky seemed to cooperate with my theatrics. A huge black hole suddenly appeared above my head, with flashes of lightning inside. Lucky arduously crawled out, first its head, then its claws. Finally, after its wings emerged, it spread its massive, ten-meter-plus wingspan and soared into the air. The scene was as if Lucky had climbed right out of hell. I sneaked a peek at Ah Wei. The kid was already sitting on the ground, his mouth wide open, completely dumbfounded.

As usual, Lucky first let out a tremendous dragon’s roar, louder than a giant ocean liner’s horn, sending the surrounding Frenzied Wild Bulls stumbling. I pointed at the herd. “Kill!” Lucky didn’t say a word (he couldn’t speak yet, as dragons don’t gain the ability to talk before level 100) and charged into the bulls. The scene was like a weasel in a henhouse. In a word—chaos! Lucky used every part of his body he could. A single swipe of his claw killed a dozen of them, and a sweep of his tail sent another group flying. With a single bite, another herd vanished. Although the scene was spectacular, it was basically useless for me. At level ninety, killing level-fifty bulls gave me almost no experience. Ah Wei, on the other hand, was probably leveling up at lightning speed.

At some point, Ah Wei snapped out of his daze. “Boss! Is… is this your Magical Pet?”

“Yeah! What do you think? Cool, right?”

“Fess up! Did your mom rig this for you?”

“Get lost! The entire game is hosted externally now. Even if I wanted to cheat, I couldn’t!”

“But! You’re just too lucky! Who has a dragon for a pet? How are we supposed to fight you?!”

“You’ve got a point! If even you suspect my dragon’s origins are shady, what if other people find out? Will they report me for cheating?”

“Don’t worry about it! Anyway, Boss, you walk the straight and narrow. As long as your conscience is clear, it’s fine!”

“I don’t care personally, but having people constantly making a fuss about it would be bad for me,” I sank into thought.

“How about this!” Ah Wei suggested. “From now on, just kill anyone who sees your dragon to silence them!”

I jumped up and smacked him on the head. “Are you out of your mind? Dead players just revive back in the city. You think this is the real world? Forget it, I’ve decided. From now on, I’ll find a place to level up secretly by myself. I won’t summon Lucky any other time.”

“Isn’t that a bit of a waste?” Ah Wei said, full of regret.

“That’s final! It’s no big waste. I don’t like crowds anyway. Didn’t we always find a quiet spot to train by ourselves in other games?”

“Alright then! But Boss, you have to help me level up a lot tonight!”

“Piece of cake! What level are you now?”

“I forgot to check! Hold on!” Ah Wei froze again. “Boss! I’m level 37!”

“With my Lucky here, are you still worried you won’t level up?”

“No, no, no! Boss, you’re just too awesome!”

Chatting as we went, Ah Wei and I ran away from the city. According to the game’s rules, the farther you were from a city, the higher the monster levels. After finishing off the wild bulls, we started tackling Steel-Toothed Lions, which were level-100 monsters. Ah Wei stuck to me like glue, terrified of being one-shotted by a lion. Luckily, since he didn’t attack them, the lions focused their energy on me and Lucky.

The Steel-Toothed Lions were a higher level than both me and Lucky, so we couldn’t mow them down in droves like the wild bulls. At first, Lucky would handle a few while I took on one. Later, as my level got higher and higher, I started one-shotting the lions with a single slash. Just as I hit level one hundred, something unfortunate happened. Maybe he got too excited watching us fight, or maybe he felt bad for leeching experience without doing anything, but Ah Wei actually tried to throw a fireball at one of the lions. The result was predictable. The lion nimbly leaped in front of him, opened its massive jaws, and sent Ah Wei back to the city!

When Lucky and I noticed, all we saw was a flash of white light!

“Boss!”

“Ah Wei! Sorry about that, we got so into the fight that we forgot about you!”

“It’s fine, it’s not your fault. I was the one who attacked first and drew the lion over! Besides, I already got to level 53! I couldn’t have leveled up this fast without you!”

“So you should have been level 54, then?”

“Yeah! I died just now and dropped back to 53!”

“So where are you now? I’ll come and get you!”

“What? Boss, stop joking! I’m right in front of you!”

“What? In front of me? I can’t see anything! Aren’t you using the private chat channel?” I looked around but couldn’t see a thing. “Try hitting me with your staff!”

“Oh!” After a moment, Ah Wei exclaimed in surprise, “Boss! I can pass right through your body!”

“Don’t tell me you turned into a ghost! Try casting a spell!”

Ah Wei’s panicked voice came again. “I can’t! The system says, ‘Cannot activate attack skills while in wandering soul state’!”

“Are you kidding me? Instead of returning to the city, you become a wandering soul? What are we supposed to do in the future? It’s impossible to guarantee you’ll never die!”

“Why don’t we call customer service and ask?” Ah Wei suggested.

“Alright! You wait, I’ll make the call.” With that, I connected to customer service.

“Hello! This is the Customer Service System. Operator 1701 speaking. How may I help you?”

“Hello! My friend was just killed by a monster, but instead of returning to the city, he turned into some kind of ‘wandering soul’! I’d like to know why. Didn’t players just return to the city normally when they died in the Novice Village?”

“This is a normal situation. The game’s rules state that novices who die do not lose a level and are directly resurrected in the city. However, players above level ten who die will lose a level and become a wandering soul instead of returning to the city!”

“So what do we do now? My friend is completely invisible. He can see me, but I can’t see him, and it seems monsters can’t see him either! He has no attack power and can’t use magic. How is he supposed to play like this?”

“Please do not worry, this is normal. You just need to have your friend return to the city and find a Resurrection Mage at the Mage’s Guild for help with resurrection. However, this requires a certain fee. Alternatively, you can find a player whose Auxiliary Profession is a Resurrection Mage to revive him. Do you understand now?”

“Okay! I understand! Thank you!” After hanging up, I quickly told Ah Wei the situation. The two of us had no choice but to head back to the city.

Chapter 14: A Strange Quest

After returning to the city, I took Ah Wei and hurried to the Mage’s Guild. The Mage’s Guild in Water Cloud City was easy to find because it was right in the city center. To be honest, it would be quite difficult to wander around Water Cloud City without spotting the Guild’s super-tall tower, which was in no way inferior to the Eiffel Tower!

Arriving before the Guild’s main gate, I was struck by its grandeur. The towering stone doors were nearly as tall as the city gates! An old mage stood at the entrance. “Young adventurers, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Yes!” I quickly scurried over. “My friend was killed by a monster today. Could you please help resurrect him?”

“That I cannot do!” The old mage wore a guilty expression. “I am a Battle Mage. Go inside and find a Holy Word Mage. He will be able to help you!”

“Thank you!” I pulled Ah Wei and ran into the Guild. The interior decor was just as lavish as the exterior. Marble reliefs, crystal glass chandeliers, and plush carpets all screamed luxury!

“May I ask what I can help you with?” An old mage with a white beard over a meter long appeared before us.

“I’m looking for a Holy Word Mage!”

The old mage glanced beside me. “Oh! So it’s a Wandering Soul! You’re looking for me for a resurrection, is that right?”

“Yes!”

“That’s simple!” The old mage held out his left hand, clearly asking for money.

“We understand! But may I ask how much it will cost?”

“Not much! Fifty-five Crystal Coins!”

“What?” I leaped up. “You might as well just rob me, it’d be faster!”

“To be honest, I’d love to! But I’m not a Battle Mage, so I don’t have the skills for it!” From the look on his face, it seemed he was actually considering pulling a heist! “How about you help me? I see your levels aren’t low. How about you help me with a robbery?”

“Are you a person or an NPC?” My jaw nearly hit the floor. “A robbery? Are you kidding me? Forget it! Here’s the money, just resurrect my friend quickly. We don’t want to stay here with a lunatic like you!”

“Don’t get so worked up now.” The old fellow explained while deftly stuffing the money into his pocket. “How about this! I have a few Hidden Profession advancement quests here. Help me rob for a batch of goods, and I’ll sell them to you. How about it?”

“We can talk about other things later! Resurrect my friend first!”

“Alright!” With a wave of the old man’s hand, Ah Wei appeared beside me. “Can we talk now?”

Ah Wei leaned in. “You should at least tell us what the Hidden Professions are and what their specializations are, right? We can only decide whether to do it or not after weighing the pros and cons!”

Seeing our apparent interest, the old man quickly pulled us into a room to the side of the main hall. It was a small room with a large workbench in the center, surrounded by a ring of bookshelves, but with nowhere to sit! “First, let’s talk about how to get the money.” The old man took a scroll from a bookshelf and unrolled it on the table. We gathered around and saw that it was just a map. “This is a map of the area surrounding Water Cloud City. Pay attention to this spot!” The old man pointed to a location on the map. “This is a valley. The entrance is extremely narrow, allowing at most three people to pass through at once. Every month, a shipment of tribute goods from various places passes through here. At 8 AM tomorrow morning, a shipment will be passing through. All you need to do is attack this convoy, and you can gather all the necessary funds in one go! As long as you seize the tribute, I will sell you all of my Hidden Profession advancement quests and pay each of you an additional fifty thousand Crystal Coins. How about it?”

“The money is a lot, but are your Hidden Professions any good? If they’re some useless professions, wouldn’t we be working for nothing?”

“How could that be!” The old fellow suddenly became very agitated. “I have a total of five Main Hidden Professions and seven Auxiliary Hidden Professions here. The five Main Professions are ‘Demonic Phantom,’ ‘Spirit Herald Mage,’ ‘Soul-Reaping Mage,’ ‘Divine Punisher,’ and ‘Fallen Angel.’ The Auxiliary Professions include ‘Creator,’ ‘Soul Alchemist,’ ‘Seer,’ ‘Soul-Suppressing Mage,’ and ‘Iceflame Mage.’”

“So, what are the abilities of the Main Professions?”

“Don’t be in such a hurry, let me explain slowly. This Demonic Phantom is an evolution of the Black Warrior, basically a Warrior-type class. But the most important thing is that all of the Demonic Phantom’s stat gains are in attack and defense. So, as long as you become a Demonic Phantom, I guarantee that any PK with someone of the same level will be decided in under a minute! However, this profession has restrictions: 1. The player’s previous profession must be Black Warrior; 2. The player must be over level 80; 3. The player must have at least two dark-type Magical Pets. As for the Spirit Herald Mage, you can basically consider it an upgraded version of the Dark Mage. All its stats are added to Mana, and it seems to increase Magic Attack and Magic Defense by 50%. The requirements are also quite troublesome: 1. The player must be over level 150; 2. All of the player’s skills must be maxed out; 3. The player’s race must be Wraith. The Soul-Reaping Mage is the most absurd profession, you know? It actually adds two to your Magical Pet capacity! And you can learn the ultimate forbidden spell, Experience Drain. This skill can absorb the opponent’s experience points at a rate of 1% per second during PK. (Yes, it recalculates 1% of their current experience every second, you can’t just turn someone into level 0 in 100 seconds!) How about that, pretty awesome, right?”

“What? Two?” I started calculating. I already had a capacity for seven Magical Pets. Adding two more would make it nine. In the future, I wouldn’t even have to lift a finger to level up!

“Don’t interrupt! But the requirements for this Soul-Reaping Mage are also super weird. It actually requires the player’s base Charisma to be over 100, and they must be a Celestial Demon! The problem is, what kind of idiot would raise their Charisma to 100! But this is understandable. After all, such a powerful profession having simple requirements would affect the game’s balance! The next profession is Divine Punisher. This class can use all light magic below the advanced tier and can also use the special skill, Fist of Divine Punishment. This move ignores defense and deals double damage to dark-type players and creatures. The requirement is that the player must have originally been a Priest of Light and be over level 80. The last Main Profession is Fallen Angel. This class gets a three-fold bonus to health and mana regeneration speed, and a 10% bonus to both physical and magic attack! There’s only one requirement: the player must be of the Angel race! So? Not too bad, right?”

“What about the Auxiliary Professions?” Ah Wei’s interest was piqued, as if those professions were already his!

“Auxiliary Professions? Those are a secret for now! You can see for yourselves after you complete the quest. So? Are you in or not?” Seeing the two of us drooling, the old man knew we were hooked!

“One last question!” My sense of reason told me that safety came first. “Will completing this quest have any negative side effects?”

“Side effects?” The old man didn’t react for a moment.

“Yes! Side effects. You want us to rob tribute goods. What if we become wanted criminals afterward? What are we supposed to do when the sword-wielding guards at every city gate attack us on sight? We’d have the money but not the life to spend it!”

“Don’t worry about that!” The old man had a sly look on his face. “Actually, I’ve already spoken with the escorts. When the time comes, you just have to give a few token shouts and the guards will all run away. You just need to gather all the boxes marked as ‘Tribute’ and take them away!”

“So it’s an inside job!” Ah Wei also had a mischievous grin. “Just you wait!”

Ah Wei pulled me and started running outside. I don’t know if it was the allure of the fifty thousand Crystal Coins or the temptation of those Hidden Professions, but he was incredibly excited! He ran so wildly that I was about to lose health! (In Zero, running consumes stamina, and if you run out and don’t stop, you start to slowly lose health!) “Ah Wei! Are we there yet? Let’s take a break!”

Ah Wei kept his head down and charged forward, an impressive sight as he chugged health potions while running. “Can’t stop! It’s already past 4 AM. If we miss it, we’ll have to wait another month, and by then, a lot more people might be competing with us!”

“That’s a good point! Let’s keep going then!” I reluctantly took a potion too! My heart ached! A potion I wouldn’t even bear to use while fighting monsters was now being used for a long-distance run!

Thanks to our efforts, we finally reached the mountain pass in the Gorge on the map around 6 AM. Although we were practically foaming at the mouth from running, we made it just in time! The dense, upright weeds on the ground indicated that the convoy had not yet passed; otherwise, the grass would have been flattened. Finding a hidden spot, we began to lie in ambush. Although we were a bit sleepy, we didn’t log off, sitting quietly in a patch of grass, waiting for our prey to appear.

At a few minutes to 7:50, a convoy appeared at the entrance of the Gorge. The old man’s timetable was pretty accurate!

Chapter 15: A Divine Artifact from a Robbery

“Stop right there!” Ah Wei was the first to leap out, and I followed right behind him. “This is a robbery! Men to the left, women to the right! If you don’t know which you are, stand in the middle! Get on the ground with your hands on your head!”

Ah Wei’s speech nearly made me trip and fall. The convoy guards clearly had no idea what he meant and just stared at us, dumbfounded. It was hopeless. I had to step in myself. “Listen up! This is a robbery! All of you, scram! We only want your valuables, not your lives!”

My words were easier to understand, and it seemed they finally got it. However, their reaction deviated somewhat from the Old Mage’s plan. The leader, a golden-armored Warrior, drew his sword, lowered his helmet’s visor, and charged at us, brandishing his longsword. The whole group followed their leader’s charge.

Ah Wei was so frightened he started to stammer. “B-Boss! What do we do?”

“Do? We do what we have to!” I grabbed Ah Wei, turned, and bolted. While running, I didn’t forget to cast a few Identify spells on them. The leader was the Transport Team Captain, a level 300 boss who excelled in melee combat with high attack and defense, and was skilled in group healing spells. Beside him were some transport team members and Guard Mages. The transport members were level 200 humanoid mobs with low defense but a joint attack skill. The Guard Mages were level 250 humanoid mobs, skilled in all sorts of low-level magic, especially lightning bolts. Dammit, that old man tricked us!

Just as I was thinking this, a scream sounded beside me. Ah Wei had been struck by lightning and was instantly killed. Without Ah Wei, I was much more mobile, but it was still dangerous. Were these damn guards out of their minds? I’d run so far already, why were they still chasing me? It was a shame there were only two of us. Otherwise, we could have used a few people to lure these morons away, and the rest would have been ours for the picking!

After a mad dash, I noticed something was wrong behind me. Everyone except the captain had disappeared. Could it be that their different speeds had separated them? I decided not to overthink it. Since the captain was alone now, hehehe! I summoned Lucky and Phantom, first merging with Phantom, then hopping onto Lucky’s back. I ordered Lucky not to fly too fast, just to maintain a certain distance from the guy. I began to carefully study my various spells and tossed out an Explosive Fireball. Boom! The captain was blasted black. Not bad! Next, I tried a Fission Bolt. A small black dot instantly hit the captain’s body. Thud! Another explosion. The captain’s once-majestic golden armor lost several plates, making him look like he was wearing a beggar’s rags! Running and fighting like this, I tested almost every spell I had, even setting shortcut commands for a few of the more practical ones.

Just as I was getting into the swing of things, Ah Wei called me on the chat channel. “What’s up?”

“Boss, where are you?”

“Me?” I looked around. All I could see were trees; there were no landmarks. “I have no idea where I am. I just know I was chased a long, long way!”

“Incredible! And you’re still alive! Where are those idiots?”

“Their boss is still on my tail. I’m currently riding my dragon and bullying him! I reckon he’ll be dead in a bit. As for the grunts, I have no idea! Where are you?”

“I’m with the Old Mage. The guy said he didn’t recognize today’s captain, figured he was a last-minute replacement. As an apology, he resurrected me for free and promised to let us both change our professions to Hidden Professions. All things considered, it was worth it!”

“No way! Making me run until I was about to drop dead—we can’t let it go that easily! Since you’re resurrected, go make yourself useful!”

“Doing what?”

“Head to the entrance of that Gorge right now. If I’m not mistaken, the entire escort team chased after me, so they must have left the carts on the road. Go link all the carts together and bring them back to the city.”

“You can even do that! Fine! I’m on my way. You be careful!”

“Got it!” I cut the chat and continued to torment the captain. I picked the most powerful single-target attack spell and spammed it. After merging with Phantom, my mana regeneration was super fast, so I didn’t have to worry about running out. After a while, I estimated he didn’t have much health left. I jumped off Lucky’s back and engaged him in melee combat. Lucky hovered in the air, using lightning to help me paralyze the golden-armored captain’s body, while Phantom used Mind Control to interfere with his actions, making every sword swing go wildly off-course. I just unleashed my strongest moves on him. After slashing him a few dozen times, I carelessly got hit by his sword. My health and mana both plummeted by a huge chunk. Terrified, I quickly swallowed a potion and leaped back. A level 300 boss really wasn’t someone a level 100 like me could mess with casually. He was still standing after all this time. If it weren’t for the Starfall Ring’s attribute that transferred damage to my mana, I would have been instantly killed just now. It’s a good thing it was me, with my overpowered stats. A normal person facing something 200 levels higher would have died a horrible death! Just as my mind was wandering, he charged over and swung his sword at me again. I closed my eyes, ready to accept death. The last hit had taken most of my health, and even though I’d taken a potion, it hadn’t had time to replenish. There was no way I could survive this blow!

Just when I thought I was dead for sure, I heard a miserable dragon’s cry. Lucky came tumbling out of the sky. I was shocked to see he had lost nearly a third of his health, while I was left with only 1 HP. Strange, I was the one who got hit! Right, the Guardian Collar! It must have been the one to transfer the damage to Lucky. Looking back now, it was a close call. If the damage had been transferred to Phantom, he would have been at death’s door too. Thank goodness it was Lucky, the HP tank!

I didn’t dare to delay this time. I hit the golden-armored captain with a Triple Strike. Lucky, seemingly angered by his own injury, rushed over and smacked him with his tail. Under our combined assault, the poor captain quickly died, exploding into a pile of loot. After picking everything up, it seemed to be all potions, with twenty-three Crystal Coins left over. (Quite a lot of money!)

After finishing off the captain, both Phantom and I leveled up to 102, but Lucky only reached 101. The experience from the fighting I did while riding him probably didn’t count for him, so he leveled up a little slower.

Just as I finished collecting the loot, the pursuers arrived. Although these guys were only level 200, there were too many of them. I couldn’t use the same tactic of paralyzing and using Mind Control to interfere with them. So, I wisely chose to avoid them. I jumped onto Lucky’s back and immediately bolted down a side path. After shaking off the pursuers, I circled back to the Gorge entrance where we had started the robbery.

When I arrived, Ah Wei had already linked up the carts. Unfortunately, to chase us, the guards had unhitched all the draft horses to use as mounts. Now, with many carts and few horses, there was no way to transport everything. “Boss! You made it back! You’re really something! There’s too much stuff here, we can’t move it all!”

“Alright! Open all the chests. We’ll take the good stuff and leave the junk behind!”

“It’s a shame, but I guess that’s the only way!” Ah Wei reluctantly pushed the chests over one by one, and their contents immediately spilled all over the ground.

Ah Wei and I started picking things up. First, the money. Coins took up space in chests, but when carried, they didn’t consume inventory space or add to our weight. So, we cleaned out all the money first. In the end, I had a full three million Diamond Coins, and Ah Wei had about the same. Robbing for money was so profitable; if we just robbed NPCs in the game, we’d get rich. Unfortunately, this was clearly a quest, so it was a one-time thing. Otherwise, a few more heists and we’d be set!

Next, we started sorting through the equipment. I looked for a long time but didn’t see anything I liked, until I suddenly spotted a uniquely shaped crossbow. The body of the crossbow was much longer than normal, shaped like the body of a bird of prey, with its two wings spread out to form the bow’s arms. I checked the attribute panel. Its name was the Avenger, and its category was Sniper Crossbow. The equipment level shocked me—it was actually a Divine Artifact! I looked at its stats. Attack Power: 650-800, Attack Speed: 1 shot per 4 seconds (firing speed increases with player level), Durability: ∞, 100% Enhanced Damage, Ignores Defense, 300% Increased Hit Rate, Cursed Attack (players killed by a weapon with this attribute lose two levels instead of the normal one, making this attribute quite terrifying), on-hit causes the target to suffer 20 points of continuous blood loss per second for 1000 seconds, on-hit reduces target’s speed by 50% for 100 seconds, 75% chance of dealing double damage, on-hit reduces target’s Luck by 3 until next login, comes with two dedicated Soul-Chasing Arrows (normal bolts can also be used), which automatically return 3600 seconds after being fired. Soul-Chasing Arrow Attack Power: 100-120, on-hit causes an explosion with a blast radius in meters equal to one-tenth of the player’s level, explosion deals 150 damage, ignores defense, and has a 5-second stun effect. Requirements: Base Strength 110, Current Agility over 200. This was top-tier! Absolutely top-tier, but the Agility requirement was too high. 200 divided by my Agility of 13 meant I had to reach level 154 to use it. It was a good thing my stats were so abnormal; if it were any other character, with Agility probably not exceeding 90, who knows when they’d be able to use it!

“Boss! I found a treasure!” Ah Wei ran over excitedly, clutching a mage robe and shaking it in front of me. “Look! It’s a top-tier robe! Guess what grade it is?”

“Don’t tell me it’s a Divine Artifact,” I said casually.

Ah Wei said dramatically, “You guessed it! It is a Divine Artifact! It has a damage transfer attribute, transferring 75% of damage to mana, and also has 10% damage reflection! From now on, I won’t be afraid to go head-to-head with Warrior-class players! My mana is over a thousand; he can try his best, but he’ll never one-shot me! Hahahaha!” Ah Wei’s lecherous laugh made it clear he was already lost in his fantasies of dueling with a Warrior! Suddenly, Ah Wei noticed the crossbow in my hands. “Hey? Boss, what’s that?”

I handed him the crossbow. Ah Wei took one look. “Ah! A Divine Artifact! Damn, its stats are through the roof! This is the perfect tool for home, travel, murder, and dirty tricks! If I’d known I could get something this good, I would have chosen Assassin back then!”

“Why?”

“You don’t know? Assassins get a 25% attack bonus with crossbows and daggers!”

“Then you might as well have picked an Archer!”

“Archers get a bonus to accuracy!”

“Keep dreaming!”

“Dammit, why can’t I ever find something this good!”

“Nonsense! For something this powerful to have a firing rate like a machine gun, having even one is already ridiculous!”

“That’s true!” Ah Wei handed the crossbow back to me. “Boss, besides these two items, everything else seems to be junk!”

“Don’t feel bad about it! Since it’s all junk, let’s go. The main force could be back any minute!” I grabbed Ah Wei and activated the Teleportation Ring. It was quite convenient; we were both sent back to the Teleportation Array in the city. I was worried it could only teleport one person! “Let’s go, time to go shake down that old man!”

When we arrived at the Mage’s Guild, I felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange as soon as we entered the main gate. The Old Mage walked over. Although his appearance hadn’t changed much, he didn’t seem like the same old guy we saw before! “Follow me!” The Old Mage led us directly towards a secret room. After entering the room and closing the door, the Old Mage began to look at us seriously. I finally knew why he felt different. The lewd expression on his face was gone. The old fellow now seemed significantly more solemn and dignified!

“You must be wondering why I feel different from before.”

“Yeah! What’s wrong with you?” Ah Wei didn’t seem to have noticed anything yet.

“In fact, I am not the Holy Word Mage you first met!”

“Huh?” Ah Wei and I cried out at the same time.

“The one you saw last time was the system NPC, the Holy Word Mage. I am the manager of Zhonghua Company’s Technical Incident Department. I believe you know that all NPCs in this game are now controlled by artificial intelligence, but have you noticed that some NPCs are rather dim-witted while others are very sharp?”

“Yes! That captain this morning was a complete blockhead! But this Holy Word Mage is a genius!”

“There’s a reason for that. Our company is testing a new artificial intelligence system. The old system is reliable, but all the NPCs are lifeless and have no personality. The new artificial intelligence, however, is extremely smart and has emotions and personality traits. Take this Holy Word Mage, for example—he’s a complete money-grubber. However, this particular Holy Word Mage had a problem and leaked a lot of system secrets to you. But it’s fortunate that you were the ones to discover this bug. I heard you’re the Young Master of Zhonghua Company, right? If I hadn’t asked beforehand, I would’ve really thought the chairman had a daughter!”

“Huh? Oh! But… but…!”

“Because the Holy Word Mage’s bug wasn’t your fault, your compensation will be given as promised. The money on you will be deducted, but you can keep the equipment. Also, how about we change both of your main professions to Hidden Professions? This is special treatment. If it were anyone else, we would have confiscated everything!”

“Alright! It’s not like we lost anything! Oh! I also met a lot of intelligent NPCs in the City of the Lost. They even lent me money! Those aren’t bugs, are they?”

“Those are normal. They lent you money purely because your Charisma is too high. Also, let me tell you something: the City of the Lost is actually an experimental base we chose for intelligent NPCs. All the NPCs there have personality traits. Alright, let’s get down to business. Which professions do you want to choose?”

“I want to be a Spirit Herald Mage!” Ah Wei was the first to jump in.

“Here! This is a Quest Scroll. Once you meet the requirements, you can follow the instructions on the scroll to start the quest. Upon completion, your profession will automatically change!”

“I have two Main Professions, you know!” I was afraid he’d only give me one.

“I already know. Take your pick!”

“I want the Demonic Phantom and the Soul-Reaping Mage!”

“Alright! Here are your scrolls!” The manager then added, “I’ll be leaving this place soon. The resurrection duties will be transferred to the Old Mage at the entrance, and in the future, Resurrection Mages will appear among players with Auxiliary Professions, so you won’t necessarily have to find a system NPC. But there’s one thing to note. Right now, you lose one level upon death. Resurrecting with an NPC carries a 10% chance of losing another level. As for players, due to their level difference, the chance of dropping a level might be even higher. However, if a player learns an advanced resurrection spell, there’s a certain chance they can get half a level back, meaning you only lose half a level per death.”

“Wow! That’s risky! Good thing I wasn’t in that 10% when I resurrected!” Ah Wei thought about how he had just died twice in a row and was relieved he hadn’t lost any extra levels upon resurrection!

Chapter 16: You Can Get Rich Selling Coal, Too

We logged off right after leaving the Mage’s Guild. It was almost noon, and we had been playing since last night—way too long! We rested until eight o’clock in the evening, when our alarm clock woke us on the dot. Ah Wei and I grabbed a quick bite and went back online.

The moment we appeared in the city, we noticed the change around us. There were so many more people! It was only then that we remembered that account registration had been fully opened up this morning. After a full day of leveling, most people should have surpassed level twenty by now. The bustling streets were quite a sight to behold!

As the two of us were staring blankly, a syrupy-sweet female voice suddenly came from our side. “Big Bro, your gear is so cool! Is this lovely lady next to you your wife? Your equipment is almost a full set! How about carrying little me for a bit?”

“Sure!” Before I could even correct her mistake, Ah Wei had already jumped in and agreed. Seeing that the female player beside us was quite a looker, Ah Wei was practically drooling. “You just hit level twenty, right? No problem, I’ll take you under my wing. It won’t take long to get you a bunch of levels!”

“Oh, thank you!” The beauty beamed, her smile full of charm. “Then you surely won’t mind carrying one more person, right? Honey, come over here!” A burly, broad-shouldered man appeared before us. “Ah! You’re going to help us level up? Thank you so much!”

I, on the other hand, am not particularly moved by beautiful women. Having to look at my own reflection in the mirror every morning while brushing my teeth and getting dressed since I was a child has given me an extremely high resistance to beauties! “Not ‘we’! Just him! I have some business to attend to, so I’m off!” Without giving them a chance to object, I twisted the Teleportation Ring on my hand and vanished from the street amidst a wave of gasps.

The beauty’s eyes went wide, and she covered her mouth in shock. “W-w-was that your friend? H-he… He can teleport instantly?” A crowd of new players swarmed around Ah Wei, eager for an answer.

This time, I had teleported directly back to the City of the Lost. The moment I stepped out of the Teleportation Array, I made a beeline for Clark’s weapon shop. Clark was as enthusiastic as ever to see me. “Old friend, where did you run off to? I was just looking for you!”

“You were looking for me?” I was quite surprised. Why would an NPC be looking for me? “Well, that’s perfect! I was looking for you, too!”

“Then let’s head up to the second-floor reception room to talk!” Clark led the way upstairs. “I was looking for you mainly to discuss some business!”

“Business? I’m not a merchant! And even though I have the Blacksmith profession, I barely use it.”

“No, that’s not it! I mean I want you to help me get some materials and help with transportation and such!” Clark explained his idea excitedly.

“Materials? What kind of stuff?”

“They’re things that can be used to craft equipment. They’re rather troublesome to obtain, so my gathering teams can’t collect them! Your level is quite high, so it should be easy for you to get them.”

“That’s easy enough. As long as I’m capable, I’ll definitely help. So, what exactly do you need?”

“Here’s the list!” Clark handed over a piece of paper. “As long as you’re willing to help, I’ll give you a Divine Artifact, and we’ll call the money you owe me even!”

“Let’s just say the canceled debt is my payment for the job, but forget about the Divine Artifact! That would be too much; I’d feel bad.”

“Hehe! Actually, I’m the one who should feel bad!” Clark scratched his head. “What I’m giving you is this!”

Clark handed over a Bracelet. I took it and looked. Its name was Spatial Bracelet, and its properties were—Grants a super storage space with no spatial or weight limitations. Grants the skill ‘Telekinesis.’ Range: [X] meters. Cannot be upgraded.

“I’m actually giving you this bracelet to make it easier for you to transport goods for me. Otherwise, how would you carry so many materials!”

“Hahaha! So that’s how it is. In that case, I’ll accept it!”

“Huh? Didn’t you have something you wanted to see me about too?”

“Oh! I almost forgot!” I took out the Black Ironwood I’d collected earlier. “Could you please take a look and tell me what this stuff is for?”

Clark carefully took it and looked, his eyes immediately lighting up. “Where did you get this?”

“It dropped from Treants I killed in the forest! Is it very valuable?” Although I had long suspected this stuff was useful for something, I hadn’t expected Clark to react so strongly!

“Valuable? This is practically priceless!”

“Is it really that amazing?” I took out another piece and, imitating Clark, examined it closely, trying to figure out what exactly made it so valuable.

“You have another one?” Clark was startled when he saw me take out another piece.

“Yeah! What’s wrong? I have over fifty of them!”

“What?!” Thud! Clark fell to the floor.

I hurried to help him up. “You don’t have to be so dramatic just because you’re surprised! Hurry up and tell me, what makes this stuff so valuable? What’s the use of something so pitch-black?”

“Don’t underestimate this stuff! This is a fantastic fuel!”

“Fuel? No wonder it looks so much like coal!” I never thought this treasure would actually be fuel!

“This Black Ironwood can burn to release Netherflame. Equipment forged using it as a base flame will all carry the Netherflame effect. In particular, weapons forged with it have a fifty percent chance of gaining a lifesteal effect! Moreover, using Netherflame to forge equipment increases the success rate by ten percent!”

“It’s that amazing? What a great item!” I really didn’t expect this stuff to be so precious. Looks like those rotten branches are pretty useful after all! I’ll have to go back there more often! “Does this stuff burn up quickly? How much Black Ironwood does it take to forge one piece of equipment?”

“The consumption rate is quite high! If you rely solely on Black Ironwood, a single piece of equipment requires ten pieces to complete. However, we usually just use one piece of Black Ironwood mixed with some ordinary wood. Although the effect is greatly diminished, the success rate is still much higher than with a normal fire, and there’s a certain chance of imbuing some properties. Of course, it’s not as good as using only Black Ironwood!”

“So, are you buying? I can go get some more Black Ironwood.” Getting more of such a great item to sell for money would be a fantastic deal!

“Buying! Of course, I’m buying! The market price for this stuff is three thousand Gold Coins a piece, but it’s one of those things that has a price but no supply!”

“No way! Does it need to be that expensive?” I never would have imagined this stuff was so pricey! “In that case, I’ll sell you all fifty-three pieces I have on me!”

“Wait! This stuff is so expensive, and I just opened my shop. Where would I get that much liquid capital?” Clark grew anxious.

“We’re friends, how could I let you buy it at market price!” Although I was also short on cash, I couldn’t be too ruthless. “How about this? I’ll sell them to you for one thousand Gold Coins a piece. How many can you take right now?”

“Really?” Clark’s eyes started to gleam with a green light. “Then I’ll take forty pieces at once!”

I thought for a moment. “How about this! I’ll give you all fifty-three pieces. You give me forty thousand Gold Coins and help me switch out my current set of gear! What do you think?”

“Deal! Here’s the money! From now on, whenever you come to buy anything, it’s half price!” Clark was a straightforward guy. He handed over the money on the spot and called for an assistant to move all the Black Ironwood into the warehouse. “Come on, brother, let me show you what you can get. What level are you now?”

“Exactly level one hundred!”

“So fast! But it’s no wonder, with how powerful your dragon friend is! Wait here, I’ll go pick some things out for you.” Clark shot off like a wisp of smoke and disappeared, then returned just as quickly like a whirlwind, a huge pile of things in his arms. “Try these on first. This is the best level-one-hundred equipment my shop has to offer!”

Chapter 17: The Cloak Quest

I tossed my old tattered gear aside and started trying on the new equipment.

Clark picked up a pair of metal boots. “I picked all of these based on your stats, so you can wear every piece. These are the Windwing Boots: Defense 28, +1 Agility, +10% movement speed, and +5% chance to dodge projectile weapons.”

“Great stuff!” I quickly put them on. They were quite comfortable. I took a few steps and felt as light as a feather.

“These are the Stormwind Greaves: Defense 35, +10% movement speed, +5% successful dodge rate.”

“These are the Tassets of Wind’s Entanglement: Defense 33, 5% chance to retaliate against an attacker with a lightning strike.”

“Whirlwind Armor: Defense 45, 10% lightning damage absorption, reduces poison effects by 50%, 5% damage reflection.”

“Windclaw Vambraces: Defense 25, +15% attack speed, 5% damage absorption.”

“Gale Pauldrons: Defense 25, +3 Agility, 5% damage reflection.”

“Heavy Gauntlets, Fist of Wind: Defense 20, +5% attack power, +3 Strength, +5% increased attack and casting speed, adds 5-6 poison damage over 10 seconds, adds 3-7 fire damage.”

“Wind Shadow Helmet: Defense 30, +10% casting speed, +1 to all magic skill levels.”

“Shield of Iron: Defense 100, 37% block chance, 15% damage reflection, 25% chance to paralyze the attacker for two seconds.”

“That’s everything! The sword you’re carrying is basically the best in the shop for your current level, so I won’t be replacing it. For a quiver, cloak, belt, and accessories, you’ll have to visit a jewelry or clothing store!”

I put on the full set of gear and admired myself in the mirror. I looked truly imposing, which boosted my manly confidence! “The whole set has a faint golden glow! It’s so flashy!”

“Of course! I brought out the best level 100 set I have!” Clark was also pleased with the results.

“Well, I won’t disturb you any longer. I’ll go see if I can find the missing pieces, and then I’ll get those materials for you!”

“I won’t keep you then. Make sure you get those materials quickly, I’m waiting for them!”

“Got it!” my voice drifted back from outside the shop. Taking the stairs was too much trouble, so I used Phantom’s Teleport to get out. On the way, I asked a few NPCs for the location of a clothing store and discovered that all the NPCs here actually recognized me.

I finally found the clothing store on a street corner. As I entered, I saw a woman in her thirties sewing. When she saw me come in, she immediately put down her work. “Aren’t you Purple Sun? What can I get for you?”

“You know me?”

“Didn’t Uncle Wuzi introduce you to everyone in the city the other day?”

“No wonder! I was wondering why everyone in the city knew me!”

“So, what are you looking for?”

“A cloak and a belt!”

“The belt’s easy! What level are you?”

“100!”

“Just a moment!” The Shopkeeper ran into the back room and came out a moment later with a glittering belt in her hand. “Try this! It’s the Belt of Spring: Defense 10, +20% health regeneration speed, +50% more gold coins dropped from monsters. How about it? The stats are pretty good, right?”

“Not bad, not bad!” I examined the belt in my hands. The stats were indeed great! “How much?”

“50 Gold Coins!”

“Not expensive! Here’s the money!” I was rich now; my poor days were long gone! Hahahaha! “Hey, why haven’t you shown me any cloaks?”

The Shopkeeper said sheepishly, “Cloaks are special equipment, and I can’t craft them yet. You have to go to the Dark Canyon and challenge the Dark Templar Captain. Defeating him might drop a cloak. If you’re lucky and get a good one, you can use it yourself. If not, you can bring it to me, and I can use it as a model to make a high-quality one for you. But no matter what kind of cloak drops, I hope you can bring it to me as a sample!”

“Dark Canyon again! I was nearly buried by Undead Warriors last time!”

“Don’t be scared!” The Shopkeeper could see I was reluctant. “I’ll give you something. With it, you can bypass the Undead Warriors and face the Dark Templar Captain directly. That way, you won’t be in too much danger!”

“That sounds much safer, but even a single Dark Templar Captain will be tough to handle! Besides, I don’t even know what level that guy is!”

“He’s level 600! See? Not that high, right?” The Shopkeeper’s innocent expression almost made one believe that level 600 really wasn’t that high, but I wasn’t an idiot!

“Level 600?” I sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh, beautiful Shopkeeper, I’m sure with your looks, there are plenty of eager heroes willing to undertake this glorious and arduous quest for you. But I’m just a powerless nobody, so I’ll pass!” I turned and ran. Only a fool would take that quest!

The scene changed, and I was already on my way to the Dark Canyon.

Two days ago, after leaving the clothing store, I had run right into Clark. It was then I learned that the Shopkeeper was Clark’s sweetheart. After some tender persuasion from my “sister-in-law,” Clark had switched sides. I logged off and thought about it for two days. Today, I finally gave in. Driven by both friendship and personal gain, I found myself on this road of no return. I was muttering to myself, clutching the Demon’s Eye the Shopkeeper had given me. The item was a piece of amethyst, and Identifying it revealed it was the “Demon’s Eye,” an item that triggered a chain quest. Just having it in my inventory space could trigger an event. I really couldn’t figure out why the Shopkeeper gave it to me!

Riding on Lucky’s back, I figured that after being offline for two days, many people must have leveled up quite a bit. I checked the Leaderboard.

Rank | Name | Race | Gender | Level | Class | Pet

—|—|—|—|—|—|—

1 | SlayerBlade | Half-orc | Male | 112 | Warrior | Level 80 Wild Stallion King

2 | Red Moon | Celestial Demon | Female | 110 | Dark Mage | Level 109 Night Spirit King

3 | Ruthless Autumn Wind | Angel | Male | 108 | Warrior | None

4 | Sunshine | Half-elf | Male | 107 | Archer | None

5 | NoRomance | Goblin | Male | 107 | Thief + Dark Mage | None

6 | Cloud Fairy | Half-elf | Female | 107 | Priest | None

7 | Descending Deity | Angel | Male | 100 | Warrior | None

8 | Skyfire | Human | Male | 97 | Magic Swordsman | None

9 | GentleAsWater | Half-elf | Female | 96 | Archer | None

10 | TheBestInTheWorld | Demon | Male | 96 | Black Warrior | None

It seemed not much had changed. A few new names on the board, and a few had dropped off. But these guys were leveling up incredibly fast. I’d been offline for only two days and had been overtaken by so many!

“Master! Target spotted ahead!” Phantom alerted me.

I looked up and saw a few Zombies shambling about. These small fries were not my target; at level 100, using them to level up would be a waste of time. I had Lucky fly higher, skimming right over the Zombies’ heads. Since Lucky’s flight speed was considerable and we weren’t here to grind on small monsters, we advanced with exceptional speed. Soon, we arrived at the spot where I had been chased out last time.

The place was as gloomy and terrifying as before, with a few Undead Warriors on patrol. I was still traumatized from being chased last time and now had a psychological block; seeing these guys made me want to run. But thinking of Clark’s request and the Shopkeeper’s promise, I mustered my courage and walked over. Two Undead Warriors spotted me immediately. “Halt!”

“My apologies! I mean no harm, I’m just here to discuss something with your leader!” It was best not to fight; I didn’t want to get buried by the Undead Warriors here!

“You want to see our leader?” one of the Undead Warriors walked over.

“Yes!” Seeing a chance, I nodded vigorously!

The Undead Warrior hesitated for a moment. “Do you have anything that would make it necessary for me to report this?”

“I do!” I quickly took out the Demon’s Eye.

When the two Undead Warriors saw the Demon’s Eye, they quickly dropped to one knee. “Your subordinate was unaware of Lord Demon Marshal’s arrival! I will take you to see the Chieftain at once!” This worked out well, I didn’t even need to be announced!

Chapter 18: The Invisibility Cloak

Following the Undead Warrior, I walked deeper into the Gorge. The sights along the way made me extremely thankful that I hadn’t chosen to fight my way in! Just past the post guarded by the Undead Warriors was a vast legion of Undead Warriors arranged in neat phalanxes. They were all standing within a recessed cavern on the side of the Gorge. Judging by the size of its opening, the cavern was man-made. As for how deep it was, I had no idea, but based on my last experience being hunted down, there had to be over one hundred thousand Undead Warriors inside. In fact, it wasn’t until much later that I learned there were actually a full ten million Undead Warriors in this cavern.

Passing through the area guarded by the Undead Warriors, we came to the territory of the Undead Knights. The Undead Warrior guiding me handed me over to an Undead Knight, exchanged a few words with him, and then left. I had no choice but to follow this Undead Knight deeper inside. Along the way, I saw caverns similar to the barracks cavern outside, only these were filled with Undead Knights mounted on skeletal horses. I used Appraise on my guide along the way—good heavens, a level one hundred-fifty monster!

Soon, I was handed over to the guards of the next layer. This time, it was level two-hundred Dark Warriors. I was then led deeper, level by level, and was received by level three-hundred Dark Knights, level four-hundred Shadow Warriors, level five-hundred Phantom Knights, level six-hundred Dark Hall Warriors, and finally level seven-hundred Dark Templars. At last, I came face to face with the Dark Templar Captain the Shopkeeper had mentioned. Damn it, I was tricked. This guy was a full seven hundred fifty levels. The moment I saw the Dark Hall Warriors outside, I knew something was wrong. If even the minions were level six hundred, how could their leader also be level six hundred!

“You’re the one who wanted to see me?” the Dark Templar Captain asked in a resonant voice. He was dressed in imposing, all-black battle armor, looking majestic atop a Spirit Herald horse that was also clad in full black armor.

“Ah? Ah! Yes! That’s me!” I was so intimidated by his presence that I stammered a little.

“What business do you have with me? I hear you carry a keepsake from the former Demon Marshal?”

“Huh? What? A keepsake?” I didn’t have anything like that! Could it be the Demon’s Eye the Shopkeeper gave me?

“The purple crystal,” he said. My guess was right!

“Oh! The shopkeeper of the clothing store in the City of the Lost gave it to me. She told me to ask you for a cloak so she could make a copy of it.”

“Is she well?” The Dark Templar Captain’s voice trembled. I guessed he was crying, but his helmet concealed his entire face, so I couldn’t see. Even if it didn’t, I had no idea if the Undead could even produce tears.

“She’s doing very well! She’s with Clark from the blacksmith shop now, and they seem very happy!”

“What did you say? Marshal Clark? So, the two of them are together!” The Dark Templar Captain became extremely agitated; I could see him trembling. After a moment, he seemed to have a revelation. “Hahahaha! They should be together! …Clark was willing to give up his position as Marshal for her. That’s something I could never do! But it seems I’m not suited to be a Marshal either!” The Dark Templar Captain suddenly looked at me. “Young man, what is your relationship with them?”

“Clark and I are good brothers. As for the Shopkeeper, I only just met her, but considering my relationship with Clark, I suppose she would be my Sister-in-law!”

“The fact that they sent you here means they see something in you. The Marshal’s judgment is surely not mistaken! Let me give you something. Use it to build a great future for yourself!” As he spoke, he snapped his fingers. Immediately, a Dark Templar came forward carrying a box. The Dark Templar Captain took it and handed it to me. “This was one of the Marshal’s favorite possessions. It seems he no longer has a use for it, so I shall pass it on to you!”

“Then I won’t be polite!” Only a fool would refuse a gift! I quickly took the box but didn’t open it immediately. Eagerly inspecting a gift in front of the giver makes one seem crass! “I’ll take my leave now!”

Just as I was about to go, he suddenly called me back. “You did not refuse my gift, which shows you are not a hypocrite who feigns magnanimity. You also did not open my gift immediately upon receiving it, which shows you are indifferent to fame and fortune. You are truly worthy of the Marshal’s high regard. If you wouldn’t mind, would you be willing to become my sworn brother?”

“Of course! This little brother couldn’t ask for more!” Making a level seven hundred-fifty boss my Big Bro? I could do whatever I wanted from now on!

After becoming sworn brothers, the Dark Templar Captain told me his name was Domingle. If anyone ever dared to bully me in the future, I just had to come find him, and he would send his minions to help me get revenge! I had absolute faith in his ability to do so. He had so many minions, not only were they high-level, but there were also a ton of them. A swarm of ants can kill an elephant, and in this case, it was more like a herd of elephants!

After the ceremony, I clutched the box and bolted out of the Dark Canyon. It wasn’t until the City of the Lost came into view that I suddenly realized there was a problem. Wait a minute! I was supposed to ask for a cloak, but instead, I received a gift and gained a Big Bro, completely forgetting my actual purpose! Sigh! This is what greed gets you! Oh well, I’m already out now. It would be awkward to go back and ask for it. Worst case, I just won’t use a cloak. It’s not like I’m missing out on that many defense points!

First, I found a quiet place and opened the box. A brilliant light instantly filled my vision. The item inside looked like a piece of clothing, black and clearly made of some kind of fabric. I carefully reached out and touched it. It felt incredible, exceptionally soft and smooth—indeed, it was made of high-grade material. When I took it out and shook it open, I was dumbstruck. It was a cloak! The all-black cloak was edged with gold thread, and in the center was an embroidered, strange-looking magical symbol.

I took a look at its properties and was shocked yet again! Phantom Cloak, Divine Artifact grade, Durability 1000/1000, Defense determined by user’s level (currently 150), Movement Speed +50%, 50% chance to paralyze attacker for 3 seconds, complete invisibility when stationary, partial invisibility while moving, attributes change with user’s level and stats. There was only one requirement: the player must be a Dark-type class. Haha, another Divine Artifact. I’m practically a Divine Artifact specialist! I wondered what “partial invisibility while moving” meant. I’d have to try it on first. I put on the cloak and indeed looked quite imposing. The black cloak billowed in the wind, looking incredibly majestic! I also discovered that it was one of those large cloaks, not a simple square of cloth on one’s back. It looked a lot like a European-style mage’s robe, with supports at the shoulders that could spread it out wide. It also had a clasp in the front; when fastened, it could conceal my entire body so no one could see what I was wearing underneath. When unclasped, it became a cloak draped over my back again. Attached to the cloak was a hood, the kind a priest might wear. All in all, it looked a lot like the legendary Grim Reaper’s cowl, except this one was luxurious and new, not tattered and torn like the Reaper’s!

After trying for a long time, I still couldn’t figure out the invisibility function. I had no way of seeing if I was invisible myself; even if I was, I’d still appear normal to my own eyes! In the end, I just wore it and ran back to the City of the Lost. When I arrived at the Shopkeeper’s store, Clark happened to be there too. Seeing my cloak, Clark clearly paused. It seemed he really was the Demon Marshal that Domingle had mentioned. You really can’t judge a book by its cover! But since Clark didn’t say anything, I wouldn’t expose him either. A true gentleman doesn’t stand in the way of others’ happiness. I had Clark put it on to test the invisibility effect. This time, I saw it clearly. After putting on the Phantom Cloak, as long as Clark stood still, he became completely invisible, not a trace to be seen. Even though he had vanished right in front of us, we couldn’t spot a thing. But as soon as he moved, a transparent human figure would appear, looking a bit like the Predator from the movie. As Clark ran back and forth in front of me, all I could see was a slight distortion in the light and nothing else. Damn, with an invisibility function this powerful, I should just become a Killer in the future!

After the experiment, as agreed, I left the cloak with the Shopkeeper for a day so she could make a copy. As for the Demon’s Eye, the Shopkeeper said she would keep it as payment. Since I had to get the cloak back before logging off for the night, I had no choice but to focus on leveling up in the forest outside the city. Soon, night fell. I was already level one hundred-three, and Lucky and Phantom were the same. I went back to the city, got my cloak from the Shopkeeper, and logged off.

I took off the Helmet. Ah Wei was still playing. I didn’t bother him and just got something to eat myself before going to sleep. Early the next morning, as soon as I woke up, I saw Ah Wei was already playing. I really didn’t know if the kid woke up early or had just pulled an all-nighter. I looked at the time; it was already past nine o’clock. It seemed it wasn’t that he got up early, but that I had woken up late. I hastily ate some breakfast and jumped into the game as well.

It was time to resume my grand undertaking of leveling up. Clashing with monsters was when I felt the most invigorated. It’s not that I’m bloodthirsty; it’s mainly because it bolsters my confidence in myself as a man. I’m very fragile in that regard!

Chapter 1: PK

I was in the middle of an intense leveling session when Ah Wei’s voice suddenly came through the chat channel. “Boss! Are you there?”

“What’s up?” I let Phantom take control of my body to fight while I started talking to Ah Wei. This was a new leveling method I’d just thought of; I could level up and chat at the same time without worrying about getting distracted.

“I got PKed! That mage robe we looted together dropped!”

“What? I’ve been power-leveling you for so long, your level should be pretty high. Plus, you had that top-tier robe. Who’s badass enough to kill you and make it drop?”

“The guy’s name is SlayerBlade, a Barbarian Warrior. He killed me in two hits!”

“What? You don’t mean the number one guy on the Level Leaderboard, do you? How did you manage to piss him off?”

“I didn’t piss him off. His wife saw my robe, decided she wanted it for her little brother, so SlayerBlade PKed me for her. Fucking terrible luck, I died once and the robe dropped!”

“Where are you? I’ll head over from the teleportation point!”

“I’m not in the city. The city is full of their people. They want to kill me back to level 0, so I don’t dare go inside! Could you go to Water Cloud City and bring me some ‘potions’ out here?”

“Alright, hang tight! Be careful!” After cutting off communication, I immediately recalled Lucky and used the Teleportation Ring on my hand to return to the City of the Lost. I rushed into the Potion King’s shop and bought dozens of packs of Necro-Pills. I have plenty of money now and a spatial bracelet, so I might as well stock up. After buying the ‘potions,’ I contacted Ah Wei again. “What are your exact coordinates?”

“I’m at longitude XXX, latitude XXX, altitude XXX. (In Zero, some places have caves, so two coordinates aren’t enough to mark every location).”

I closed the chat window, specified the coordinates in my ring, and teleported. I appeared before Ah Wei amidst his cry of surprise. He was in tattered clothes, his face covered in black mud. “How did you end up in this state!”

“I was killed three times! I barely managed to escape!”

“Are you an idiot? You could have just stayed in your wandering soul state after dying and not revived!”

Ah Wei looked aggrieved. “You think I don’t know that? Someone on their team is a Resurrection Mage, an Auxiliary Profession. When I died, they just revived me on the spot and killed me again! The only reason I got away was because their last resurrection attempt failed. Good thing I’m a fast runner!” Ah Wei was still shaken. “You have no idea! Getting hacked to death really hurts!”

“So what level are you now?”

“I was level 73. I lost three levels from being killed three times, then another two from the revivals. Now I’m only level 68!”

“You’ve got some seriously bad luck! But I’m here now, so don’t worry! Here are the ‘potions’ I brought for you. Tell me where they are. I’ll get revenge for you!”

“Wuwuwu~ Boss, you’re the best! They’re in the Water Spring Woods outside the city, fighting a boss. I was actually the one fighting that mini-boss, but then they showed up, stole the monster, and then stole my robe!”

“Come with me. Point them out!”

Ah Wei led me toward the woods, and we arrived there a short while later. It was a small forest, not very large, with a small pond in the middle. In the center of the pond was a spring. From a distance, I could see them across the pond, ganging up on a brown bear. There were seven of them in total. The one in the lead was SlayerBlade. His name was still yellow (killing other players changes your name color and you can’t hide it). Next to him was a woman who looked like a vixen, seductive to the bone—that must be his wife. There were also two other Warriors, a Dark Mage, and two female Priests.

I pulled up the hood of my cloak, its wide brim concealing my face. I pulled the still-trembling Ah Wei along and walked over. I didn’t want to launch a sneak attack just yet, so I hadn’t activated my cloak’s Invisibility function. SlayerBlade’s wife, the Elf White Mage, was the first to spot us. “Oh! Look who it is! It’s that unlucky little guy from before, and he’s back! Did you bring a helper?”

Just then, the others finished off the brown bear and surrounded us. I stepped in front of Ah Wei. “Everyone! My friend here is a bit straightforward. It was his fault for trying to compete with you for the monster. But killing him and taking his equipment is going a bit too far! How about this? We’re all reasonable people. You’ve already made him lose five levels, so just give him back his equipment!”

“Give it back just because you say so? How would that make us look?” an Angel Warrior named I Am Great said arrogantly. “If you want the gear, fine. Kill us and take it yourself when it drops!”

The people around them laughed wildly. It was clear these guys were not good people; negotiations were hopeless. I turned and handed Ah Wei a City of the Lost Return Scroll. “Use this to go back. If anyone stops you, just tell them my name. Wait for me at the weapon shop in the city. I’ll be there soon.”

As I watched Ah Wei disappear in a flash of blue light (death is a white flash, returning to the city is a blue flash, and my teleportation is a black whirlwind), I turned to face SlayerBlade. “Are you planning to gang up on me or fight one-on-one?”

SlayerBlade laughed arrogantly. “You’ve got a big mouth, kid. Haven’t you seen the Level Leaderboard? I’m the number one player in the world; do you think I need my group to take you on? Come on, a duel it is! Let’s see me take you down in two hits!”

“In that case, I won’t hold back!” As I spoke, I had already summoned Phantom, not beside me this time, but directly merged with me. All of my stats shot up. SlayerBlade was clearly a seasoned fighter; he immediately came at me with a Leap Attack. I didn’t react in time, but Phantom quickly executed a Teleport, allowing me to dodge the blow.

“Not bad! You dodged my Leap Attack!” SlayerBlade pulled his blade back and unleashed a Sweeping Strike, frightening me into a series of seven backflips to create distance. They all stared at me as if I were a monster. I never thought the self-defense techniques my dad forced me to learn as a kid would be useful in a game! “Kid, you’ve got some skills. Too bad you only know how to run.”

I didn’t bother arguing with him. I Teleported behind him. The vixen next to him let out a shriek, shattering my beautiful dream of a sneak attack, but the sword I instantly thrust out wasn’t easy to dodge. He twisted to the side, and my sword took off his left arm. He rolled on the ground, screaming like a pig being slaughtered!

I was feeling pleased with myself when a Hellfire Ball suddenly struck my back, making me stumble. System prompt: “You have been maliciously attacked by ‘Refuses to Duel’!” The Dark Mage’s shocked cry came from behind me: “Damn it, this kid’s magic defense is maxed out! That hit only did 1 point of damage. Can’t even break his defense!” Are you kidding me? I’m a Celestial Demon, a Dark profession, and I have the Starfall Ring. It’d be a problem if dark magic could hurt me!

Before his voice faded, I was hit by a powerful strike from the Warrior named I Am Great. The force nearly knocked me unconscious. “Don’t worry, physical attacks can break his defense, but it’s really high. My one hit took off 300 of his health. Everyone, let’s attack together and finish him!”

I didn’t have time to let them use me for attack practice. I switched my sword to my left hand, took out my Avenger with my right, and fired an arrow straight at SlayerBlade’s wife. Not just any arrow, but the cursed Soul-Chasing Arrow. Haha, that’s for killing my brother! A high-accuracy crossbow really is different. The bolt flew true and hit her right between the eyes, passing clean through. The arrowhead stuck out halfway from the back of her head! And now I finally know what that bitch’s name is. The system just announced that I killed the player I Want It. Now I’m being warned by the system; if I kill again within two hours, my name will turn red.

As I Want It was skewered through the head by my arrow, the two female Priests beside her screamed in terror. One of them actually fainted. Unfortunately for them, I’m not the type to go easy on women. I’ve always despised women who use the banner of gender equality to actually just play men for fools. That said, I’m not without a gentleman’s grace. My principle is: if you show me an inch of respect, I’ll show you a foot. If you cross me once, I’ll pay you back tenfold. I mercilessly dodged the approaching Warriors, bent over to evade the Dark Mage’s fireball, and appeared before the two pretty ladies. “Pardon me, beautiful young misses. I seem to have frightened you! Will you be returning to the city on your own, or shall I send you on your way?”

One of the ladies decisively unfurled a Return Scroll; she must have just joined their group and felt no need to die for them. The other was even more direct, swinging her magic staff at my head. I never go easy when dealing with women. With a single swing of my sword, a beautiful head went flying. This was a new discovery I’d made in the last few days: regardless of an opponent’s defense, a direct hit to a vital spot is an instant kill.

At the same moment I finished off the Priestess, SlayerBlade charged over and slashed me in the back. But simultaneously, a white light flashed around me, and an arc of electricity traveled up his blade to his body. I heard him scream like a pig being slaughtered as he was thrown backward. “Heh heh, I didn’t expect Thunderous Flash Strike to be this powerful. You’re really unlucky, hitting a five percent probability!”

SlayerBlade, unwilling to accept defeat, charged again. I Teleported behind him once more and drove my longsword through his back until it emerged from his chest. So much for being so badass! In a flash of white light, SlayerBlade turned into a ghost to await revival. The two remaining Warriors were stunned. They never imagined the number one player on the Level Leaderboard would be killed just like that. I Am Great shouted to the other one, “Run! This guy is too strong at PK!”

Trying to run? Not so easy! I Teleported again, appearing behind the stunned Warrior, and sliced his neck with my sword. A clean instant kill. Meanwhile, the other two had already taken out their Return Scrolls. In my haste, I threw my longsword like a dart, hitting Refuses to Duel square in the chest. Mages have low defense and health, so even though I didn’t hit a vital spot, I still managed to one-shot him. I saw that the scroll in I Am Great’s hands had already begun to glow. My Teleport was still on cooldown, so I couldn’t get to him in time. Even if I could, it would be useless—I’d already thrown my weapon, what would I fight with? In my panic, I suddenly remembered I had one Soul-Chasing Arrow left and quickly fired it. Unfortunately, I was too late. The sharp arrow embedded itself deep in the tree trunk right behind where I Am Great had been standing.

On the other side, I Am Great materialized at the teleportation point, drenched in a cold sweat. Seeing the arrow flying toward his eye just as the teleport finished, his heart was still pounding like a drum. He thought to himself that from now on, he should probably lower the game’s realism setting for PK. A few more scares like that and his heart wouldn’t be able to take it!

Back on my end, I was a bit frustrated. I can’t believe I missed! Still, at least only one of them got away. I looked at the ground. A magic staff was stuck in the dirt next to my sword, probably dropped by that poor Dark Mage. Its stats were decent; it should be perfect for Ah Wei. I searched a bit more, but it was all junk. That mage robe didn’t drop!

I opened the chat channel. “Ah Wei! Sorry man! The robe didn’t drop!”

“If it didn’t drop, it didn’t drop! As long as you killed them and got revenge, that’s enough!” Ah Wei’s voice was weak and listless, which made my heart ache.

“Ah Wei, don’t lose heart. You go level up on your own for now. I’m going to find him again and keep killing him until it drops!”

Ah Wei said anxiously, “Boss, don’t be rash! What if…”

I cut off the communication before he could finish. Ah Wei and I have been friends for so many years. If I didn’t help him with something like this, could we still call ourselves brothers? I looked around to make sure no one was there, then summoned Lucky to fly me toward the city gate. Soon, we were just outside the city. To avoid being seen with Lucky, I recalled him in advance and walked toward the city. Since SlayerBlade was leveling here, he would definitely revive in the nearest city. He must be reviving in the Mage Guild in Water Cloud City right now! With so many of them dead, reviving would take some time. If I went into the city now, I might be able to catch him.

My mind raced with my plan as I ran toward the city. When I was still four or five hundred meters from the gate, a white light suddenly flashed in front of me, and an arrow embedded itself in my thigh. Man, that hurt! System prompt: “Player Purple Sun has been penalized with a red name for maliciously killing other players and is now being attacked by the Gate Guard Archers.” Shit, I forgot! I killed so many of them just now, and I initiated the attack on a few of them, so my name turned red! I looked at my health—exactly five points left. That was close!

While I was still dazed, another arrow flew from the distant city gate. Dammit, are they trying to kill me for real?! I Teleported backward a short distance, and the arrow struck the spot where I had been standing. The archer’s aim was pretty good! Just then, I heard people talking nearby. It turned out to be a few passing players who had just seen me get attacked by the guards. Everyone was staring at me, the great red-named player. I was probably the first red-named player in this game to be attacked by a guard!

The surrounding players began to slowly close in on me. I didn’t even have to think about it; they definitely wanted to kill me for my drops. They could all see the arrow still stuck in my leg and probably figured that even if the guard’s attack hadn’t killed me, I couldn’t have much health left.

Chapter 2: Red-Named!

I quickly swallowed two Necro-Pills and pulled the arrow from my leg, trying to stand up. The people around me knew I’d figured out their intentions. I don’t know who shouted it, but a cry went up: “Kill the red name for his gear!” Instantly, everyone charged at me. I quickly Teleported out of the encirclement, activated the Invisibility on my Phantom Cloak, and made a mad dash out of the city. A few players noticed the distorted light but didn’t realize it was me. After running a short distance, I stood completely still. Now, no one could see me.

“

“

The crowd searched for a while, but when they couldn’t find me, they assumed I’d used a Return Scroll to leave. (In Zero, red-named players can still use city teleportation scrolls and Return Scrolls, but they don’t appear at the city’s Teleportation Array. Instead, they land at a random spot five hundred meters outside the city.) Unable to find me, they dispersed.

“

“

Just as I was feeling frustrated, I suddenly saw a group of people walk out of the distant city gate. The one in the lead was none other than SlayerBlade. Heh heh! Been waiting for you!

“

“

I slowly moved toward them. The light distortion caused by the Phantom Cloak varies with movement speed; at my current pace, it was very difficult to detect. I stopped more than five hundred meters from the city gate. If I got any closer, the Archers would shoot at me again, and I had no idea if Invisibility worked on NPC guards!

“

“

SlayerBlade and his wife were talking as they approached. I could already hear her voice.

“

“

“Husband! You have to bring more people to help me get revenge! I lost three levels in an instant!” Heh heh! Score!

“

“

“Of course! That kid just got lucky! Don’t worry, we already know his name. From now on, I’ll kill him until he’s forced to delete his account!”

“

“

Refuses to Duel chimed in. “Boss, you’ve got to take him out! My staff dropped, too. This is a huge loss!”

“

“

“Calm down! Aren’t we looking for him right now?”

“

“

As they spoke, they arrived right next to me. I slowly drew my longsword, ready to strike at any moment. SlayerBlade suddenly glanced in my direction, scaring me so much that I froze. But he quickly looked away. Thank goodness, I hadn’t been discovered!

“

“

I watched SlayerBlade walk toward me, gripping my sword tightly, ready to finish him in an instant! The moment I was about to attack, SlayerBlade suddenly slashed at me. I dodged frantically, but was still clipped. My health plummeted, and I quickly swallowed two more Necro-Pills. Damn it, how did he see me?!

“

“

Just as I was reeling, he charged again. I had no choice but to keep dodging. This maneuvering instantly exposed my silhouette, and the others around him attacked all at once. I wasn’t afraid of Refuses to Duel’s dark magic, but the other attacks had me scrambling. I’d just dodged a slash when a sword thrust came. By the time I managed to create some distance, I was down to a sliver of health! I quickly stood still, and the others immediately lost their target. But SlayerBlade charged straight at me, unleashing a flurry of heavy blows. His movements were wide, intentionally forcing me to make large motions so the others could see me! I had no choice; if I didn’t move, I’d get chopped to pieces. I had to dodge again, but the moment I moved, his cronies swarmed me once more.

“

“

I was in a truly miserable state. This time, SlayerBlade had brought a full squad of eight warriors. There was no way I could take on so many of them. In no time, my own health was gone, and their attacks were now depleting Lucky’s and Phantom’s health. It pained me to see them get hurt, but there was nothing I could do!

“

“

It was the Angel warrior, I Am Great, who noticed the problem. “Boss, this guy must have some item that restores his health. We’ve dealt at least four or five thousand damage by now. Even if he were a top-tier HP tank, he should be out of health!”

“

“

SlayerBlade’s next words nearly made me choke with rage. “Even better. If an item that top-tier drops, we’ll be rich!”

“

“

“Drop your mother’s—” Before I could finish my sentence, the system muted me. I scrambled out of the encirclement with a series of undignified donkey rolls. Thank goodness they couldn’t see me clearly in this state, or I’d have been utterly embarrassed! By the time I jumped up, I was on the perimeter. I turned and ran toward I Want It. SlayerBlade shouted at her, “Wife, run! The kid is heading your way! Get in the city, he’s red-named, the guards will take care of him!”

“

“

Just as I suspected. It seemed SlayerBlade had some piece of equipment that let him see me. Seeing ‘I Want It’ turn to run, I used my old trick and threw my weapon. (It was my longsword; I’ve gotten used to throwing it lately). Heh heh! My throws are always so accurate. Another one-shot! Mages really can’t let warriors get close.

“

“

SlayerBlade charged, furious and desperate. I did a few quick side flips to create distance and swallowed three more Necro-Pills. My health was almost completely gone, and Phantom was out of health too. Lucky was still okay, with about a thousand HP left, thanks to the fast health regeneration of the Dragon race!

“

“

Out of options, I quickly commanded Phantom to detach from our merged state and possess Refuses to Duel’s body. Refuses to Duel suddenly and senselessly unleashed a massive sea of fire around him. All of SlayerBlade’s men cried out at once, “Refuses, what are you doing? Why did you leave the party? Why are you casting such a huge fire spell? Put it out, I’m almost dead!”

“

“

“I… I don’t know! My body… it’s not under my control!” Refuses to Duel said, all while performing a bizarre dance.

“

“

Without Phantom merged with me, my attack and defense dropped significantly. I had to be even more careful now! SlayerBlade completely ignored the sea of fire and charged straight for me. I immediately turned and ran, leading him in circles around the blaze. Although he was a higher level than me, our attack and defense were about the same, and when it came to speed, he couldn’t compare to me! The surrounding warriors quickly recovered from the distraction of the fire and closed in to pincer me.

“

“

Seeing that Refuses to Duel was no longer useful, Phantom made him use a Return Scroll. The guy was teleported away, cursing the system the whole time. Haha! Serves him right! From the beginning, SlayerBlade had been able to see through my Invisibility, so he must have something special. I commanded Phantom to possess SlayerBlade, but this time, he didn’t interfere with his actions right away. We were setting a trap. I suddenly stopped running, turned, and prepared to face SlayerBlade head-on. He thought I was making a last stand and charged even more frantically. Just as we clashed, he suddenly felt his movements being interfered with by something. His all-out slash inexplicably veered to the side, while my sword accurately pierced through his shoulder.

“

“

SlayerBlade was an experienced PKer, after all. He came to an abrupt stop and tried to turn and slash me, but something strange happened again. His left leg somehow tangled with his right, and instead of turning, he fell flat on his back. After hitting the ground, he found his left hand uncontrollably starting to choke his own neck, and he had to use his right hand to pull it away. By then, I had already turned around and was unleashing a flurry of stabs on the downed SlayerBlade. The poor guy inexplicably dissolved into a flash of white light and went to respawn. A mage robe dropped on the ground—it looked just like Ah Wei’s. After picking it up, I noticed something else underneath it, flashing with a red light. I quickly snatched it and stored it in my Spatial Bracelet. The guys behind me had already caught up, but I had long since stood still. The entire group stood where SlayerBlade had died, looking around in confusion, but no one moved. Heh heh, looks like SlayerBlade was the only one who could see through my Invisibility!

“

“

I Am Great walked over, his eyes wide with tension, randomly swinging his sword through the air, apparently trying to force me out of hiding. Unfortunately for him, his swings were completely off direction; there was no way he could hit me. When he was just a step away, I cleanly took off his head. I love vital point attacks! Something else dropped on the ground. I swiftly picked it up and fled again. The others locked onto my fleeting silhouette and gave chase. I deliberately slowed down, and when they got close, I used Phantom’s merging ability to Teleport and vanish before their eyes. In reality, I hadn’t gone far—Phantom’s skill doesn’t have a long range. I had simply appeared behind them.

“

“

The idiots immediately stood their ground, forming a back-to-back circle. Watching them, tense as could be, was hilarious! I didn’t have time to waste on them. I made a quick dash to the nearest guy and swiped at his neck with my sword. The kid was pretty fast, though, and dodged by bending over. I was even more decisive. As he bent down, I brought my knee up and smashed him right in the face. If this were the real world, his face would probably be caved in. With my sneak attack failed, I decisively gave up, twisted the Teleportation Ring on my hand, and set my destination to Water Cloud City. After a small whirlwind, I appeared in an open area outside Water Cloud City. The group of warriors was no more than three hundred meters in front of me. Damn it, I forgot again! I’m red-named, I can’t enter the city! It seems the Teleportation Ring can’t help a red-named player get inside a city either.

“

“

It seemed the group hadn’t noticed I’d teleported over here; they were still searching around randomly back there. I didn’t have time to deal with these small-fry. I figured I should find Ah Wei first. I opened a chat communication with him.

“

“

“Ah Wei!”

“

“

“Boss! Are you okay? Don’t do anything reckless!”

“

“

“Heh heh! Is there anything I can’t handle when I set my mind to it? I got your robe back! And a staff, too, with pretty good Attributes. Meet me at this end of the bridge in The Lost City. I’m red-named now, so I can’t get inside!”

“

“

“Oh! Okay! Boss, you’re a legend!” Ah Wei’s voice was full of excitement!

“

“

“Don’t forget to bring me some potions!”

“

“

“Got it!”

“

“

After cutting the connection, I twisted my Teleportation Ring, destination: The Lost City. A black whirlwind later, I appeared in The Lost City. Strange, isn’t this the Teleportation Array? How did I end up inside the city? Can red-named players enter? I decided not to worry about it for now and immediately ran for Clark’s shop, contacting Ah Wei again. “Ah Wei, don’t go to the city gate. Come back to the weapon shop. I made it inside the city!”

“

“

“What? Aren’t you red-named?”

“

“

“I don’t know how, but I’m in. Just hurry back!”

“

“

By the time I finished speaking, I’d reached the weapon shop, and Ah Wei arrived at the same time. We went straight up to the second floor, where Clark had already prepared some tea. I sat down, took a sip, and then took out the robe and the staff. Ah Wei excitedly put his robe back on, then stared at the staff. “What a great item! Boss, you’re amazing, you actually got this to drop!”

“

“

“Heh heh! Maybe that guy just has bad luck, or maybe my Luck Attribute is too high. Either way, I made it drop! Besides, he was yellow-named at the time, so it’s normal for something good to drop.” I pulled Clark over. “Oh! Right! Do you know why I was able to teleport directly into the city even though I’m red-named?”

“

“

“That’s perfectly normal! This is The Lost City, the land of eternal exile. It was always a place for red-named players to begin with!”

“

“

“Huh?” Ah Wei and I exclaimed at the same time. “So after all this, the so-called Lost City is just a red name village!”

“

“

“You can’t exactly say that!” Clark said slowly. “There are only three ways to reach The Lost City. The first is to walk here the hard way, like you did the first time. But the monsters along that path are high-level and densely packed, making it extremely dangerous. Plus, the paths in the Dark Forest are like a maze, and most people get lost. You got here last time purely by stumbling around randomly. The second way is to use a teleportation scroll for this city, like your friend here, or to use your Teleportation Ring. The third way is through continuous killing. For every person you kill, your Evil Index increases by one hundred. Every time you die, your Evil Index decreases by one hundred. If your Evil Index exceeds twenty-five thousand one hundred, the next time you die, your Evil Index will become twenty-five thousand. Players whose Evil Index is still at or above twenty-five thousand after dying, if they happen to be near The Lost City at the time of death, will have their souls automatically teleported back here.”

“

“

“Can’t you get here from the Teleportation Arrays in other cities?” Ah Wei asked.

“

“

“No. The Lost City has its own teleportation system; other cities don’t have a link that can teleport here. And by the way, The Lost City isn’t the only one. There are three of them in this country alone.”

“

“

“You mean there are three red name villages in total?”

“

“

“How do you still not get it?” Clark was getting exasperated. “Ordinary red-named players are sent directly to the affiliated red name village of the nearest city when they die. Only major red-named figures are sent here!”

“

“

“Oh! I get it now!” Ah Wei said with understanding. “So it’s basically the Valley of the Wicked!”

“

“

Hearing this, I quickly opened my attribute panel and saw that I indeed had an Evil Index, which was at four hundred. I had just killed quite a few people, but thankfully, some of them had attacked me first, so killing them didn’t count as malicious PKing. “Clark, how do I get rid of my red name?”

“

“

“The usual way is to wait it out. For every one hour of cumulative online time, your Evil Index drops by two points until it reaches zero. Another way is to do quests. While red-named, any NPC you encounter outside a city will give you a red name quest. The reward for completing it is a reduction in your Evil Index; the exact amount depends on the quest’s difficulty. The last method is to kill monsters; for each one you defeat, your Evil Index is reduced by one-five hundredth of the monster’s level. However, I’ll let you in on a secret. If you maintain an Evil Index of zero for twenty cumulative hours of online time, you’ll gain a Justice Index, which will start at one. It will increase by one for every additional twenty hours. But during this time, if you maliciously PK and kill another player even once, your Justice Index, no matter how high, will immediately be replaced by an Evil Index of one hundred.”

“

“

“Are there rewards for having a Justice Index?”

“

“

“It seems so, but I don’t know the specifics!”

“

“

“I’ll pass for now! Let’s get rid of this red name first!” I stood up and pulled Ah Wei. “Come on, let’s go level up and clear my name!”

“

“

“Alright!”

Chapter 3: The Steel-armored Beast

Ah Wei and I ran out of the City of the Lost. Following the map from the Medicine King, we found a place suitable for our current level to level up and clear our red names. This was a vast grassland filled with all sorts of bizarre monsters.

The most common were creatures that looked like rats, called Thunder Rats. They were fast and could use minor electrical magic. As level 121 monsters, they were a bit higher level than me but not too difficult to kill, making them perfect for leveling up. The highest-level monster here was something called an Iron-armored Beast, which looked like an Ankylosaurus from the age of dinosaurs, only smaller. This thing was level 210, impervious to all weapons and elements, and had an incredible amount of health. Fortunately, it was barely faster than a snail and couldn’t run more than a few meters in over ten minutes. It only had physical attacks, so it was helpless against you from three meters away. Besides, they were rare, so as long as you didn’t get too close, you were fine. I summoned Lucky. The guy must have been cooped up for too long; the moment he appeared, he unleashed a Sweeping Strike and started chasing monsters all over the grassland with fireballs, sending them scattering in a panic.

I found a large rock to sit on and examined the loot I’d gotten from SlayerBlade and his crew. First was the piece of equipment from I Am Great. I took it out for a look; it was just a pair of ordinary greaves, not even as good as mine. I tossed it without a second thought. Then I looked at the red ring from SlayerBlade. Holy cow… it was a Divine Artifact—the Star Pupil. It could break through all invisibility and disguises, detect the coordinates of a designated person, and grant super vision. Damn it, no wonder they gave me such a hard time. So this was the reason. I put it on, and wow, it really was something special. Everything around me became incredibly clear. Gazing into the distance, I could actually see the Eye of Hell on the Dark Tower, standing tall in the center of the far-off City of the Lost. For a moment, my gaze seemed to meet the Eye of Hell’s. Although the eye was closed, it seemed to notice me watching it. It slowly turned toward me and cracked open a sliver before slowly closing again and turning back to its original direction.

I was thoroughly creeped out by that terrifying eye, but thankfully, it didn’t seem to mind my gaze. I turned my head to look at Ah Wei. Above his head was his name, ‘Soulless’, displayed in gray, and after his name was a blue ‘68’—his level, it seemed. Below his name were a red bar and a blue bar. You didn’t need to be a genius to know they represented his health and mana. This was even better than a cheat program! An options menu popped up next to me as a system notification sounded in my ear. “This is your first time using the Star Pupil. Please configure the basic settings. These settings can be changed at any time later. Would you like to use the system defaults or customize your settings?”

“Customize my settings!”

“First option: Name Display Function. Would you like to always display other players’ names, or only display them upon designation?”

I thought about it. If everyone had a name floating over their head, it would reduce the game’s realism. Better to display them upon designation. “Display upon designation!”

“Second option: Vision Status. Would you like to always maintain super vision, apply a local zoom to where you are looking, or never use super vision?”

Super vision was definitely useful, but having it on all the time would be annoying. “Apply a local zoom to the target I’m looking at.”

“Third option: Level Display. Would you like to always display player levels, or only display them upon designation?”

“Display upon designation.”

“Fourth option: Health and Mana Display. Would you like to always display the target’s remaining health and mana, display it after an attack occurs between both parties, or never display it?”

“Display after an attack!”

“Thank you! Setup complete!”

I looked at Ah Wei again; there was nothing above his head now. I thought of his name, and it immediately appeared above his head, disappearing again fifteen seconds later. I tried it with his level, and it worked the same way. “Ah Wei, don’t move. I’m running an experiment.” I walked over, turned on PK mode, and punched Ah Wei. His health and mana bars immediately appeared above his head. Heh heh, this thing was great. “Ah Wei! This ring just dropped from SlayerBlade. I can see people’s health with it!”

“What? It’s that awesome? You’re basically a walking cheat program now, aren’t you?”

“Of course! This ring is why I got beaten so badly in the first place! Now that such a great item has dropped, SlayerBlade must be crying his eyes out! Just thinking about his miserable face makes me happy!”

“Oh, right, this thing can also detect people’s locations. Let me try it. Detect SlayerBlade’s location.” I selected the detection feature on the ring and entered the name SlayerBlade. A voice immediately sounded in my ear. “Target location: inside the City of Mountains. Specific coordinates…” Heh heh, pretty useful! “Ah Wei, once we clear our red names, let’s go into the city and kill him again.”

“Let’s just forget it! We already got our revenge. It’s not good to take things too far!”

“Fine, then! As long as he doesn’t mess with me again, I won’t go looking for trouble! Let’s hurry up and level!”

I took the lead and charged toward a nearby Thunder Rat, and started hacking away. We logged off at noon to rest, then got right back to it in the afternoon at the same spot. I don’t know what got into him, but Ah Wei asked me to help him catch a Magical Pet to play with.

“How many Magical Pets and Demon Servants can you have?”

“One Magical Pet and one Demon Servant.”

“You should probably hold off! Once you bind a Magical Pet, you can’t change it. You only have one slot. Getting a low-level Magical Pet now will affect your strength later on. How about we get you a Demon Servant for now?”

“Alright, let’s do that then!” Ah Wei was a little disappointed, but what I said was true. He wasn’t like me, with so many Magical Pet slots that ruining one or two didn’t matter. “Help me catch an Iron-armored Beast for a Demon Servant!”

“Okay!” I called Lucky back, leaped onto his back, and pulled Ah Wei up with me. By now, Phantom, Lucky, and I had all reached level 113, so it was no effort for Lucky to carry two people. We soared into the sky, and I began searching for Iron-armored Beasts. In the distance, there just happened to be a few gathered together. I commanded Lucky to dive down.

Ah Wei and I first cleared out the surrounding monsters, getting rid of all the annoying pests so we could focus on the big guys. There were three Iron-armored Beasts here, and they were clearly larger than the average ones. Could it be another mutation?

With the help of the Star Pupil, the power of my Identification Skill was greatly enhanced, and I easily scouted the monster’s information. Steel-armored Beast, a level 230 monster, an evolution of the Iron-armored Beast. Absolute physical and magical defense, slightly faster than an Iron-armored Beast. Its weak point is its soft abdomen.

Abdomen? This thing’s legs were shorter than the thatch grass on the ground, and its belly was dragging on the floor. How was I supposed to attack its abdomen! I had no choice but to bite the bullet and charge forward with a Leap Attack. With a loud clang, I was forced back three steps, the massive recoil making my hands go numb. I had only dealt 47 damage. A health bar appeared above its head. Holy crap, 3000 health! It could go toe-to-toe with Lucky! “Hey, Ah Wei? Should we find something else? This thing is too tough!”

“It’s good that it’s tough! The tougher it is, the more helpful it’ll be to me later!” As he spoke, Ah Wei threw an Ice Cone at it, which was even less effective than my attack, dealing only 15 damage!

Lucky rushed over from the side and swiped with his claw. Clang! It sounded like a hammer hitting an iron plate, sending sparks flying. It only dealt 65 damage. None of us could deal over one hundred damage to it! The Steel-armored Beast took advantage of Lucky’s momentary stun to bite him, but Lucky’s black scales were just as tough as the Steel-armored Beast’s hide, so he only lost 18 health. However, that one bite ignited Lucky’s draconic pride. He suddenly spread his wings and shot into the sky, then swooped back toward us from a distance. In the air, Lucky gradually tucked in his wings to accelerate his descent. Right as he reached us, he abruptly spread his wings again, roaring past just skimming the tips of the grass. The powerful airflow he generated slammed down, sending Ah Wei and me tumbling across the ground.

By the time we got back up, there were only two Steel-armored Beasts left in front of us. I looked up and saw Lucky climbing higher and higher, carrying something in his claws. I used the Star Pupil to zoom in on what was in Lucky’s claws. After zooming in twice, I could finally see that Lucky had carried one of the Steel-armored Beasts into the air. Just then, I saw Lucky suddenly flip over and dive, still clutching the Steel-armored Beast, frantically flapping his wings to accelerate. I grabbed Ah Wei and yelled, “Run!”

We had barely scrambled away when we saw Lucky plummet down like a dive bomber. Just before hitting the ground, Lucky abruptly released his claws and spread his wings, pulling up again. But the unfortunate Steel-armored Beast shot toward its two companions on the ground like a bomb. The two on the ground knew things were bad and turned to run, but with their speed, it was impossible. The dropped Steel-armored Beast landed squarely between the other two. With a tremendous BOOM, I felt the ground shake violently as countless shards of rock and clumps of dirt rained down on us. I was fine; my armor clanged as it was pelted. Ah Wei, in his cloth robe with no defense, was howling and screaming.

When the dust settled, we walked over to find that the three Steel-armored Beasts were dead. I quickly used my Capture skill. Because my Capture skill was high-level and my own level had increased quite a bit, I successfully captured the souls of the Steel-armored Beasts as Demon Servants. Three white points of light flew out from the three corpses and landed in my hand, transforming into three white crystals. I could even see the image of a Steel-armored Beast inside each crystal.

“Here, for you. Quick, drip your blood on it and it’ll become your Demon Servant! Keep the rest. If this one gets killed, you can replace it with another.”

Ah Wei took the crystals excitedly, dabbed some blood from his face onto one (from being hit by the rocks, poor mages!), and the crystal flashed and disappeared. He immediately summoned the Steel-armored Beast. Man, after becoming a Demon Servant, it had actually gotten quite a bit bigger. Ah Wei let me see its stats. Good heavens, its defense was a huge chunk higher than even mine! Its only drawback was its slow speed, but that didn’t matter. After all, Ah Wei was a mage; all he needed was for this guy to stand there and act as a shield. With its outrageously high defense and massive health, it would be a waste not to use it as a shield.

Ah Wei charged off to fight with his new little guy. Watching him made me start considering whether I should get one or two to use as shields myself!

Ah Wei was so engrossed in fighting with his Demon Servant that he completely forgot about me. I paid him no mind and focused on leveling up. By ten o’clock at night, I couldn’t take it anymore and urged Ah Wei to log off. By the time we logged out, Lucky, Phantom, and I were level 118, while Ah Wei had reached level 93.

Chapter 4: The Cavern

I started the grand undertaking of leveling up bright and early. My goal for today was to reach level 140. Ah Wei said he had something to do, so he couldn’t level up with me. I had to start on my own. I grinded from morning till noon, only logging off when I was completely exhausted. After a quick lunch, I got right back to it.

Just when I was really getting into it, I suddenly saw something glinting on the ground in the distance. I hurried over to check it out. It would be a real shame if some good gear had dropped and I’d missed it. When I got closer, I was greatly disappointed. It was just a silver-white iron ring.

I picked up the ring, and to my surprise, it pulled up another ring, then another, a series of them linked together into a chain. I gave it a hard tug, and the chain just kept getting longer and longer. In the end, I simply slung the chain over my back and started running. I had pulled out over thirty meters of chain when it suddenly went taut. I was running at full tilt and couldn’t stop in time, so the inertia sent me tumbling to the ground.

Frustrated, I scrambled up and gave it a few hard yanks, but the chain remained taut as a bowstring and wouldn’t budge. It seemed like the other end of the chain was tied to something. I beckoned, and Lucky, who was killing monsters nearby, flew over. I wrapped the chain around Lucky and gestured for him to pull. Lucky dug in his four claws and pulled with all his might. The chain creaked and groaned, and the ground at the other end of the chain began to tremble. I grabbed the back end of the chain and started pulling too, but it seemed our combined strength wasn’t enough.

“Lucky, stop for a moment!”

Whatever was on the other end must be buried too deep; the two of us weren’t going to be enough. I took Lucky and started searching the plains for Steel-armored Beasts. Using the same old method as yesterday, we easily dealt with ten of them, and I turned them all into my Demon Servants (My poor blood!).

Next, I flew with Lucky to the Dark Forest, where we felled five huge trees and made them into logs. We then carried them back to the plains. Since the logs were too big, Lucky could only carry one at a time. By the time we finished this whole ordeal, it was already dark.

I laid the five logs horizontally on the ground, wrapped the chain around them, and summoned the ten Steel-armored Beasts. I had them work in pairs to carry the logs, with Lucky pulling solo at the very front. Heh heh, a simple pulling team was basically assembled. With a shout from me, the eleven giant beasts pulled in unison. With a loud creak, a three-meter square block of stone was ripped from the ground, sending a huge cloud of dust billowing towards me. After the stone block was pulled completely free, I could see it was a cube, about three meters on each side. Underneath it was a tunnel sloping down at a forty-five-degree angle. The stone block had perfectly sealed the tunnel entrance, and it had been so hard to move because it was covered with so much earth.

I recalled Lucky and the others, summoned Phantom, and started heading inside. The tunnel was very dark. The faint starlight from outside only illuminated a small section of the entrance; further in, it was completely pitch-black. But it didn’t affect me much, because one of Star Pupil’s functions is night vision. No matter how dark it got, it made no difference to me.

After walking for a while, the tunnel began to slope downwards, getting steeper the further I went. After about ten minutes, I was already crawling on all fours. The surrounding walls also started to get stranger. First, they suddenly changed from stone to metal, then a stretch of crystal appeared, and finally, they became pure ice. Just as I was staring at the ice, finding it strange, my feet suddenly slipped, and my whole body went sliding down the passage.

Aah! …Aah! …Aah! … My miserable cries faded as I slid further and further away. At first, I tried to grab onto something to stop myself, but the slope was getting steeper, and the walls were all ice, offering nothing to slow me down. In the end, I just lay down and let myself slide. I had no idea which bored programmer’s masterpiece this damn hole was. I’d been sliding continuously for nearly twenty minutes and still hadn’t reached the bottom. Just as I was thinking about going back and asking my mom to fire the damn designer, the surrounding ice walls suddenly lit up. The light grew stronger gradually, so it didn’t hurt my eyes.

After sliding for another twenty minutes, I had completely given up hope. This tunnel was bottomless! All around me was the same monotonous ice surface as I continued to slide, slide, and slide some more. Just as I was about to give up and teleport away, I thought I heard something cry out. The sound was very faint, seemingly coming from further down the tunnel. As I looked around for the source, the sound grew louder and louder. It didn’t sound like it was coming from one thing, but many. Suddenly, an opening appeared in the ice above me, and an unidentified object shot out, slamming right into me.

“Aah!” Before I could even complain, a much shriller voice screamed. The sound made my ears go numb. I quickly grabbed hold of the source of the sound.

“Shh! Shh! Be quiet! Quiet!”

After a great deal of effort, the source of the sound was finally subdued. Only then did I get a clear look at the thing in front of me: it was a girl. Beneath a head of long, black hair was a lovely face. Big, beautiful eyes like black pearls stared at me, blinking and blinking until I was completely captivated. The deadliest part was that these intelligent eyes exuded an air of mature composure. Good heavens, a man’s kryptonite! Even deadlier was her skin—it was so perfect! Now I finally understood what ‘fair skin with a rosy glow’ meant. I, who considered myself completely immune to beautiful women, was starting to have impure thoughts!

Just as I was about to ask her how she got in, several openings appeared in the side wall, and a whole bunch of people came tumbling and scrambling in with a great clatter. Since we had entered at different speeds, some people slid further ahead while others were left behind. I quickly turned and grabbed two of the slower ones while shouting to the people in front, “Grab the people next to you! Don’t get separated! There might be a lot of monsters below. If we go down separately, we’re definitely done for!”

Hearing my shout, the people around us immediately grabbed onto each other, linking up. After a lot of effort, we finally steadied our positions.

An Elf Archer in a suit of green armor spoke first: “Hello everyone! I’m Rejuvenation, a level 93 Elf Archer. Let’s all get acquainted. If we run into anything down there, it’ll be easier to cooperate!”

Hearing him say that, the people around us began announcing their levels, professions, and names. Soon, only the young lady next to me and I were left. “Red Moon, level 119 Dark Mage!” Simple and to the point.

“Red Moon?” I looked at the beautiful young lady beside me in astonishment. “You’re the one who’s second on the Level Leaderboard?” The people around us all cast surprised glances, some of them clearly skeptical. But I believed she was the real Red Moon. Even if she wanted to lie, there was no need to pick such a high-profile identity.

“Hello, I’m Purple Sun, a Dark Mage.” I could use all dark magic anyway, and my current robes clearly marked me as a mage. I didn’t want to reveal the secret of my dual profession.

“A pleasure to meet you!” “A pleasure!” Just as everyone was exchanging pleasantries, a divider suddenly appeared up ahead, splitting the tunnel in two. The majority of the people were diverted into the left tunnel, while a smaller group, including me, slid into the one on the right. I quickly sent a private message to Rejuvenation, who had been sent into the left tunnel. “Rejuvenation, it’s Purple Sun! Are you guys okay over there?”

Rejuvenation replied immediately. “We’re fine, just got a scare! Wait, it looks like there’s something up ahead. The slope is starting to level out on our side. I’ll contact you again in a bit!”

Just as I cut the communication, the slope on our side also began to level out. As the incline decreased, our speed gradually slowed, and we finally came to a complete stop. But just then, my communicator rang. “Purple Sun! It’s Rejuvenation! A wall appeared in front of us with the character for ‘Death’ written on it. Then the ceiling suddenly collapsed, and all of us were buried. We’re at the resurrection point now. Your side must be the path of ‘Life’. Good luck, you guys. I’m going to go level up. Wasted so much time for nothing!”

“Oh!” I only replied with one word, unsure of what else to say. At that moment, we reached the bottom of the tunnel. Sure enough, there was a stone door here with the character for ‘Life’ written on it. I told everyone what had happened on the other side. They were all shocked and, at the same time, relieved to have made it here.

I looked at the people around me. Including me, there were now only five people on our side. The other four were Red Moon, a level 119 Dark Mage; Ugly, a level 97 Dark Mage; Pitiful and Unloved, a level 102 Black Warrior; and Green-Haired Turtle, a level 99 Divine Arts Master (a Hidden Profession). I led the way to the door and pushed hard against the stone slab, which looked unquestionably heavy. The door was cooperative enough, slowly swinging open.

The moment the door opened, a brilliant white light blinded us. When our eyes adjusted to the intense light, we were all dumbfounded. Before us was a massive hall, but the entire space was completely empty. A layer of white mist hovered over the floor of the room, which was thousands of square meters in size, so we couldn’t see what was paved underneath.

Ugly was the first to run inside. “Such a huge hall, how—aah…!”

Ugly’s body suddenly pitched forward, and he fell, his voice growing more and more distant. Just as I was about to run over and see what happened, Red Moon stopped me. “Wait!” She carefully tapped the ground with her Mage Staff, then took a step. She tapped a little further ahead again—there was no sound. The staff disappeared into the mist. “It’s empty!” Red Moon warned us as she used her staff to probe other spots.

“How can this be!” Green-Haired Turtle also drew his own Mage Staff and began to test the way forward. “It really is empty!”

I looked around. There were three doors on the opposite side of the hall, but who would dare walk on this floor? Red Moon suddenly stood up. “Gale!” Stupid me! Why didn’t I think of that!

But when Red Moon finished shouting, there wasn’t so much as a breeze, let alone a gale! “Anti-magic?” Red Moon said, as if talking to herself, yet also to us.

A ball of light suddenly shot out from beside me. “It’s not anti-magic. My Light Bolt still works. It probably only prohibits wind-type magic!” Green-Haired Turtle said as he prepared to clear a path with his staff again.

The remaining four of us all took out our weapons and began to probe our way forward. After fumbling around for a while, we got the gist of the situation. There was a semicircular platform, about a meter in radius, by the hall’s entrance. Beyond that, it was empty, but there seemed to be other platforms scattered about irregularly. The designer probably intended for us to jump across these platforms.

After a long discussion, we finally decided to venture forward. We had come this far; it would be a pity to turn back now. The worst that could happen was losing a level! This time, Pitiful and Unloved went first. In his own words, as a Warrior, it made no sense to let the mages charge ahead in a situation like this. We all gave him a few words of caution and added him as a friend. A guy with this much integrity was worth befriending.

Using a mage’s long staff, we roughly determined the perimeter of a platform. Pitiful and Unloved backed up a few steps, charged forward, and leaped, successfully landing on the platform. Before we even had a chance to cheer, he fell off the other side due to excessive momentum.

A moment later, his voice came through the party chat. “Damn it! I actually overshot it! You guys be careful. Watch your footing on the other side, too! The three of you left are all mages! I’m dead and back in the city now. I’m off to level up. Contact me when you guys get out!”

We all said we’d be careful, that we’d contact him later, and then watched as Pitiful and Unloved left the party. Now we started to be even more cautious. To be safe, I would jump first this time. Without a running start, I simply took a large step and leaped across. The moment my feet touched down, I quickly steadied myself. Thankfully, I hadn’t overshot it. “You guys wait there. Let me get a feel for the size of this platform!” I fumbled around for a moment. This platform was also a circle, probably a little over a meter in radius. I stood in the very center. “Red Moon, you jump first. I’ll catch you!”

A faint blush appeared on Red Moon’s face, but she quickly returned to normal. “Ready!” She actually ran to the edge of the platform and did a somersault over, landing on both feet without so much as a wobble. How dramatic! Is she a gymnast in real life?

Red Moon and I used our bodies as a barrier on the platform. “Alright, your turn! Go easy on the force. Don’t overshoot it and take us down with you!”

“I know! I’m not an idiot!” Green-Haired Turtle backed up a few steps and charged forward. His form looked quite professional, but just as he reached the edge of the platform… “Aah!…” He actually ran straight off without jumping at all! And he said he wasn’t an idiot. He’s a complete moron!

Red Moon and I glanced at each other and burst out laughing at the same time! This guy was hilarious! Red Moon seemed to be trying her best to hold back her laughter, which only made her face turn bright red. Green-Haired Turtle’s voice piped up: “Sorry about that! I remembered the takeoff point wrong!”

His comment was only met with even more intense laughter. Even Red Moon couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

After we finally managed to stifle our laughter, we began our sprint to the next platform. With the experience from the first one, our subsequent jumps went much more smoothly. We crossed more than a dozen platforms without any problems. In truth, the gaps between these platforms weren’t large, and the platforms themselves were quite big. As long as you paid a little attention, it wasn’t easy to fall off. It was just that the first few were more perplexing, which was why we lost so many people!

Chapter 5: The Crypt Quest (1)

After jumping for what felt like half a day, we weren’t far from the three doors on the other side.

“Which door should we choose?”

“Can you let me see your face?”

I was quite surprised. This was the longest sentence Red Moon had spoken since I’d met her. Still, I flipped back the hood of my cloak. Red Moon smiled with a look of relief. “The one on the right!”

What a strange woman! I didn’t put my hood back on. After all, it was just the two of us here.

“Then we should start selectively heading that way.”

“Got it. Sister, why do you hide your face when you’re so beautiful?” Red Moon asked, probing for the next platform with her mage staff.

Right now, I truly had the urge to commit suicide. A beautiful woman ignoring you isn’t the most tragic thing; the most tragic thing is when a beautiful woman doesn’t even see you as a man! “I…”

“No need to explain, sister, I know!” Red Moon turned to stare at me. “It’s a problem all beautiful women have! Men are like flies! It’s even more troublesome in the game! Where did you buy your cloak, sister? They don’t sell it where I am!”

My face was starting to turn pale! “Listen up! First, I am not your ‘sister’! My name is Purple Sun. If you don’t want to call me by my name, you can call me ‘older brother,’ or ‘Big Bro’—anything but ‘sister.’ Second, this cloak isn’t for hiding my face, and even if it were, it wouldn’t be for the reason you think. I happen to be a male myself, so I don’t need to worry about being harassed by men!”

“Ah!” Because Red Moon had turned around to listen to me, she was actually standing with her back to the edge of the platform. Startled, she took a step back and…

Of course, I couldn’t let it happen. I lunged forward and pulled her back. But I used too much force, and Red Moon fell right into my arms. At that moment, my mouth was barely two centimeters from hers. Fifteen seconds later, I did something I would regret immensely. As Red Moon came to her senses, she suddenly started struggling. Instinctively, I stepped back and pushed her forward, trying to create some distance. The result….

System prompt: “Player Purple Sun has maliciously killed player Red Moon. Evil Index increased by 100.” I had actually pushed Red Moon off the platform. My name, which had just been cleared, was red again!

I quickly opened communications with Red Moon. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t do it on purpose just now!”

“It’s not your fault! You’re on your own now, be careful! When you get back, give me a share of the loot, and we’ll call it even!” With that, Red Moon voluntarily cut the connection.

I was left alone, facing the vast, empty hall, not knowing what to do.

Now I was by myself again! Am I destined to be a lone star of misfortune? It can’t be that bad, can it? I collected myself and started jumping again. Without the mage staff to probe the way, I had to take out my own sword. I hadn’t brought it out before, afraid they would discover my class. Only now did I realize my sword seemed a bit too short; I could only roughly gauge the distance to the next platform.

I jumped across five or six more platforms without incident. Then, as I landed on the next one, the platform I was on suddenly sank. My heart lurched. It looked like I was going to die here! But the platform didn’t seem to keep sinking; it only dropped a few centimeters before stopping. Then, the clouds around me began to descend. Eventually, all the mist in the great hall was sucked away by something, leaving only these standing stone pillars. I peeked over the edge. These platforms were the tops of the pillars, and below them was complete darkness, making it impossible to see how deep it went.

Now that the mist was gone, I was actually too scared to jump. The immense height made my legs tremble. It was better when the clouds were covering everything! Just as I was hesitating, a huge rumbling sound came from behind me. I turned to look, and immediately wished I hadn’t. Row after row of stone pillars was collapsing, one knocking over the next, creating a chain reaction that was spreading straight toward me.

Well, this was just great. Now I had no choice but to jump. Steeling my heart, I figured I was dead whether I jumped or not. I fixed my eyes on the next pillar, closed them, and leaped! I continued jumping from one to the next, and somehow, I actually made it across! I glanced back. Holy cow! The collapsing pillars were right behind me. The stone door was just ahead, but it was just hanging in the air with nowhere to land around it. The pillar was still about a meter and a half away from the door. What if I jumped and the door didn’t open? Right, I could use my sword.

I backed up to the edge of the platform and sprinted forward. Just as the platform beneath my feet crumbled, I leaped. Pointing my sword at the wall, I slammed into it. Scraape! It actually worked. The longsword sank into the wall right up to the hilt, and the exposed handle was just enough for me to hang on to. Dangling slightly above the door, I started kicking it with my feet, but just as I expected, the stone door didn’t move an inch!

Infuriated, I kicked it a few more times, but the door still didn’t react. Instead, a red bar appeared above it. Whoa, this door had health points. Good grief, one hundred thousand HP. How long would it take to whittle that down?!

It was truly a case of ‘when it rains, it pours.’ As I was despairing, some terrible news came from above. The durability of the sword stuck in the wall was dropping rapidly. My only sword already had only 3 durability points left, while the damn stone door below had terrifyingly high defense. Each of my kicks only dealt about ten points of damage! I kicked the door as fast as I could, but before it could open, my sword broke in two with a crisp clang! I fell, clutching the hilt in my hand. Why was my luck so miserable? Wait! Don’t I have Lucky?!

“Lucky! Help!” A black light flashed above, and Lucky dove down, catching me in a steep plunge. “Thank goodness you can fly!” Lucky let out a happy dragon’s roar.

Rising slowly to the level of the stone door, I stood on Lucky’s head and started blasting the damned door with magic. At first, my progress was incredibly slow. My spells only did about thirty points of damage each. Although it was faster than kicking, it was still not enough. In the end, it was Lucky who helped me out in a big way. He actually dug his claws into the wall to hang there, then used his tail to smash the stone door. The tip of the dragon’s tail had an arrowhead-like point that was incredibly hard, like a super battering ram. The heavy stone door was smashed open in just a few hits. I’ll have to do more research later on what other untapped potential Lucky has that I can exploit!

After great effort, I entered the stone door. Inside was another passage, but this one was only tall enough for one person. Standing inside, I was practically walking with my head against the ceiling. Lucky, of course, couldn’t fit and had to return to the magical pet space. After walking for about five hundred meters, the passage suddenly opened up, and I entered a super-massive hall. In an instant, I practically foamed at the mouth and fainted. It wasn’t that I was weak; anyone who saw this scene would faint! The hall before me was a circle with a radius of over one hundred meters. The walls were natural stone, with no artificial decorations, but they were covered with doors. I spent over ten minutes counting them. Aside from the one I entered through, there were exactly three hundred and thirty-two doors here!

Forget it! I should just obediently go back and level up. That’s the proper path. I should have left long ago. What was I doing entering such a freakish cave! I spun my Teleportation Ring. A blue light flashed, and I was still in the same spot. What was going on? I spun it again. Useless! I reset the destination. Useless! I took out a City of the Lost teleportation scroll from my backpack and unfurled it. A system prompt sounded. “Use of teleportation-type items is prohibited in this area!”

Prohibited? Are you kidding me! I tried to open my communicator to talk to Ah Wei, but found it wouldn’t connect! I tried Red Moon, also useless. None of them worked. Finally, in desperation, I connected to the customer service hotline. The answer I got was that I was in the middle of a special quest. If I hadn’t entered this hall, I could have still used a Return Scroll, but now that I was inside, I would be instantly resurrected in this very hall unless I was killed enough to drop below level twenty. The only way to leave normally was to complete the quest from here.

Just don’t let me find out who designed this quest, or I’ll… (The following content has been deleted due to excessive violence)

Looking back, I saw that the door I came through had been sealed by a giant boulder at some point. Since the system was set to ‘entry only, no exit,’ I figured there was no way to open that rock! Just as I was feeling depressed, the center of the hall suddenly turned black. The fluorescent light from the walls was being absorbed by something there, leaving an area of complete darkness. I walked over cautiously, wanting to see what it was. As soon as I got close, something inside trembled and a person flew out.

“Oof! Who’s that?!” I kicked the figure sprawled on top of me away.

“You’re getting audacious, you even dare to hit an NPC!” The kicked figure suddenly stopped in mid-air. “Isn’t this my Worthy Brother?”

“Huh?” I scrambled up and took a look. How was it him? It turned out the one I had just kicked was the Dark Templar Captain from the Dark Canyon, Domingle, my Big Bro! “Big Bro, how is it you?”

“Oh! This place isn’t normally under my jurisdiction, but the old codger in charge of this place went off to get some good stuff. He said he’d give me a share if I helped him watch over things here. This place isn’t supposed to have visitors until level five hundred. Who knew you guys would get here so fast!”

“So, Big Bro, you’re the quest NPC here now?” I could already see a glimmer of hope!

“That’s right. It’s temporary, but this quest is a one-time thing anyway. Once someone completes it, it’s gone for good. So basically, I’m the quest NPC for this place!”

“Then my quest isn’t to defeat you, is it?” I looked aggrieved. “Big Bro, you’re level seven hundred fifty. Isn’t this just bullying me?”

“Calm down! Your quest isn’t to defeat me. If the quest were that difficult, I wouldn’t be wasting my breath talking to you for so long!”

“Then hurry up and tell me what the quest is. I can’t even level up in here, it’s such a waste of time!”

“The quest is rather long. First, you have to find one correct passage among all these doors. The tunnels behind these doors aren’t singular; they have forked paths too, and quite a lot of them. I’ll be waiting for you at the end of the correct passage. When you get there, I’ll tell you the next step of the quest.”

“You’ve got to be kidding! With so many doors and forked paths, when will I ever get out of here? Big Bro! Give me a hint!”

Big Bro placed a hand on my shoulder with great sincerity. “To be honest, it’s not that I don’t want to help you, it’s just that I’ve forgotten which door is the right one myself! All the doors here look the same. Besides that old pervert, who can remember which one is correct? But don’t worry, Big Bro will tell you a few secrets to guarantee you pass quickly.”

“What secrets?” Finally, something useful!

Big Bro ran to one stone door and made a mark, then found another and marked it as well. “You see, including the two I’ve marked and the ones between them, there are a total of ten doors here. I remember the correct door is in this general area, so you don’t need to check the others; they’re definitely wrong. How about that, made it a lot less difficult, right?”

“But there are still so many doors! And what do I do about the forks inside?”

“Don’t be anxious! There’s more!” Big Bro took out several crystal stones. “Look closely. There are three stones here, each with a different shape. Take them with you. At the top of every forked path inside, there are crystal stones for illumination. Any path that uses crystals of these shapes is a fake fork. Don’t take them, they’re definitely wrong!”

“Then what about the remaining ones?”

“The remaining ones? You’ll just have to try them one by one!” Seeing there was nothing else he could help with, Big Bro said, “Be careful on your way! The monsters in here are pretty high-level. It won’t be good if you get killed!”

“What, there are monsters too?”

“Nonsense! What kind of quest would it be without monsters!”

“Um! Big Bro! Can you help me get a weapon?”

“What for?”

“My only sword broke on the way in, so I have nothing to fight monsters with!”

Big Bro looked at me and finally said, “Wait a moment! You’re impossible!” In a flash, Big Bro ran back and tossed two items down. “This is part of the reward for this quest. I’m lending it to you for now. If you complete the quest, I’ll give you the rest. If you don’t complete it, you have to give it back!” Without waiting for my agreement, Big Bro left.

I quickly picked them up. They were two vambraces, shaped like dragon heads. You slide your hand in through the back of the dragon’s head and out through its mouth. At the elbow of each vambrace was a long, three-sided spike extending backward, and the outer-facing side was even sharpened. When I put them on, three long blades extended from each vambrace, with the middle blade being slightly longer than the others. The blades had a very peculiar shape, as if they were made of sharp cones linked together. The tips were very sharp, and the back of the blades had exaggerated barbs. I thought to myself that it would be nice if they were longer, and with a shing, the blades automatically extended by nearly a foot. After trying a few times, it seemed there were only three states: retracted, short-blade, and long-blade. The back of the vambrace, the dragon’s forehead, was where the dragon’s crest spread out to either side, forming a small shield. I looked at the stats.

Dark Demonic Dragon King’s Tearer, Three-Bladed Claw, Growth-Type Equipment (All attributes marked with * change according to the player’s level), Durability 1000/1000, Attack Power 150-150, Rapid Attack Speed, Defense 500, Block Chance 75%, 50% Lifesteal, Adds 100 Lightning Damage, Adds 100 Frost Damage, 25% chance to Freeze target for 3 seconds, Piercing Attack (Ignores Defense), 50% chance to Rend wound, Attack Speed increased by 50%, 15% chance for a Burst Strike (Effect similar to a critical hit, instantly tripling attack power).

Such an overpowered piece of equipment exists! I’ve struck it rich! Although the attack power wasn’t very high, the super-fast attack speed completely made up for it. Not to mention, it had 50% lifesteal. With such an incredible stat, as long as I attacked fast enough, I wouldn’t even lose health! And most importantly, they were vambraces, which meant I could still hold other weapons in my hands! Hahahaha! Jackpot!

Chapter 6: Crypt Quest (2)

Seeing that it was getting late, I logged off. Ah Wei happened to be back, so I told him about my day’s ordeal. He actually said I was lucky to have run into a hidden quest, which nearly made me choke with rage! The next morning, I logged on and started trying each of these damn doors, one by one.

First, the marked door on the far left. I pushed the stone door open and was once again dumbfounded. Was this a path for humans? Starting three meters past the doorway, the ground was packed with monsters, one right after another, stretching as far as the eye could see. Was this some kind of monster-spawning-gone-wild?

I swallowed hard and closed the door again. This was a death trap! How could it be so ridiculous? Right, I hadn’t checked the monsters’ level yet. If they were low-level, a lot of them might not be a big deal! Mustering my courage, I pushed the door open again. The creatures filling the tunnel all stared at me, the foreign intruder. I threw a Fireball at them, and the monster data immediately appeared. Demonized Vile Rat, Level 130, 300 HP. They were fast, liked to swarm, and their weaknesses were low defense and low health. Seeing me, they all rose to their feet, their pairs of red eyes utterly terrifying!

I was already level 137. These things were lower-level than me, so even though there were a lot of them, it should be manageable. Just as I was thinking this, they suddenly swarmed forward with a chaotic rush. “Hey! Don’t bite my ears! Don’t bite my nose! Ah! My butt! Crap, don’t crawl into my mouth!”

I scrambled back into the main hall, tumbling and crawling. The creatures didn’t pursue me; it seemed they couldn’t pass through the doorway. Oh my god, that scared me to death. Each bite only took a few points of my health, but just now I was bitten dozens of times by several hundred rats. If not for Lucky, my HP tank, I would have been gnawed clean!

What was I supposed to do now? Right, find something with a thick hide to tank the damage. This time, I summoned a Steel-armored Beast to take the lead. This guy was level 230 and renowned for its high HP and defense. Most importantly, it was about the same size as the tunnel. With it in front, it effectively blocked the passage. The few rats that slipped past its sides could be easily dealt with.

No sooner said than done. I followed the summoned Steel-armored Beast and began to advance. The rats swarmed again, but the level difference was too great. Each rat could only chip away a few drops of its health with each bite. Moreover, the Steel-armored Beast’s body was so large that it blocked the tunnel, so only the rats at the very front could actually bite it. And when I saw its health getting low, I would just swap it for another one. I had ten of them, after all. By the time I cycled through them all, the first one’s health would be almost fully recovered. I just followed behind, picking up the easy kills. Any rats that slipped by, I took them down one by one. If it weren’t for the fact that I couldn’t chat here, I’d say this was a great place to level up. The rats didn’t give much experience, but their sheer numbers meant I killed them quickly, so the experience gained over time was actually quite high.

After walking for what felt like an entire day, all the rats suddenly vanished around ten o’clock at night. A few steps further, I came to the first fork in the road. Three tunnel entrances stood side-by-side. I took out my rock fragment, compared it with the stone inside each tunnel and—damn it, all three were fakes. That meant this entire doorway was the wrong one. A whole day wasted! Though, it wasn’t a complete waste, since I had already leveled up to 142.

For the next few days, I wasted my time shuttling between these doors. My level didn’t increase much anymore; the rats were too low-level to give decent experience, and I was already level 188. In Zero, levels 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1000 were all major thresholds. Many people often felt that leveling from 200 to 201 was far easier than leveling from 199 to 200. Some even claimed that leveling from 600 to 601 wasn’t as exhausting as getting from 199 to 200! I actually asked my mother about this. After a lot of begging, she finally told me that these thresholds in Zero were deliberately designed. They were there to keep things fresh for everyone. Only by making the players’ emotions fluctuate could the game remain engaging. Too difficult, and it would crush their motivation; too easy, and there would be no sense of accomplishment! So, the time it took to level from 199 to 200 was, on average, equivalent to the time it took to level up around level 640.

I was in that exact state right now. At level 188, I could already feel my progress grinding to a halt. My school’s military training had started, but I wasn’t participating. After I sponsored the school with over two million, the teachers gave me the green light for everything. No one dared to give me trouble for skipping it. I used this month of military training to accelerate my quest to find the right path and level up.

September seventeenth. Let’s remember this day! I finally got out! I was now level 199 with 13% experience. After fighting for thirteen days and nights in that wretched pit, I had finally crawled out! When I saw Big Bro’s face, I almost cried! Damn it, for so many days, it was just rats and more rats. I had no idea if I’d butchered several million of them!

“Worthy Brother! You’re finally out! What took you so long? I thought you weren’t planning on coming out at all!” Domingle said, handing me a glass of red liquid. “Here, a little something to celebrate. This is a treasure from my collection. I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down once you’ve tried it!”

I took it and, without even sniffing it, chugged a large mouthful, making Domingle purse his lips. A fishy, foul-smelling liquid flowed down my esophagus. The taste was absolutely awful; I figured even traditional Chinese medicine would be a delicacy compared to this! But immediately, I felt a warm current surge through my body, and my spirits soared. A system notification popped up: “Player Purple Sun has consumed Thousand Blood Wine. Level increased by 1.”

I checked my level and saw it had turned to Level 200 with 0% experience. This stuff tasted bad, but it was incredibly useful. Good medicine really does taste bitter! “Big Bro, do you have any more?” I was already planning on getting a few more cups for some easy levels.

Domingle fumbled behind his back for a long time before pulling out a small bottle. I took it and was about to open it when he pressed my hand down. “That’s all there is. It’s only enough for six cups. If you want to level up, you have to drink one full cup at a time, otherwise it’s like drinking nothing. I suggest you save it. Drink one when you’re going from level 399 to 400, another from 599 to 600, another from 799 to 800, and save the rest for when you’re over level 900 and feel like you can’t level up anymore.”

“Alright, thank you, Big Bro!” I quickly stored the Thousand Blood Wine in my Bracelet.

Domingle then continued to tell me about the next task. “The reward you should have gotten for passing the maze was a piece of the Dark Demonic Dragon Set. Since I gave you the most helpful piece—the weapon—ahead of time, I can’t give you anything now, or the system will get upset! Your next task is in that corridor over there. If you can successfully get through it, you’ll receive two more pieces of equipment.”

I looked at the corridor. “Isn’t it just a straight hallway over a thousand meters long?”

“That’s no ordinary hallway. It’s riddled with traps. You can’t be careless. If a trap kills you, you’ll immediately revive back at this end of the corridor, so you have to be careful.”

“Are there any hints?”

“The hint is to be careful!” Domingle said, and then ran off.

It seemed he wasn’t familiar with the traps either! I’d just have to take it one step at a time.

I cautiously approached the entrance of the passage. The straight tunnel offered a clear view to the other side. It looked quite safe, so why was it the second trial? No matter. No point overthinking it when I couldn’t figure it out. I’d know once I walked through. I began to move inside, but I didn’t dare to be careless, inching forward step by step. I hadn’t even taken ten steps when a loud boom startled me, and I shrank back. A giant axe grazed past my face, shaving off a lock of my hair! I fell on my butt, feeling like my heart was about to leap out of my chest! If I had taken one more step or hadn’t retreated, I’d definitely be respawning in the main hall right now!

I sat on the ground for a long while to calm my nerves before carefully studying the giant axe. It swung back and forth like an old-fashioned pendulum. The axe blade was wide, giving it a large area of destruction. However, its speed didn’t seem very fast. I carefully counted for a long time. The ‘pendulum’ took about one and a half seconds to pass through the center point twice. If I hugged one wall, it would take about three seconds for the axe to leave the wall and return. I figured I had enough time to get past.

Plucking up my courage, I followed my plan, waiting by the wall for the axe to swing over. The moment it touched the wall and swung away, I dashed forward. By the time I got past, it was still on the other side. Haha, I made it! Just as I was celebrating, three identical giant axes suddenly dropped down ahead. I quickly retreated to a spot just outside the first axe’s attack range. Fortunately, there was a gap of nearly a meter between each of the three new axes. The three of them just swung back and forth in front of me, their huge blades stirring the air and creating a low, humming sound. Just as I was about to study the swinging frequency of these axes, three more axes suddenly dropped from the ceiling, their paths not horizontal but completely perpendicular to the old ones, swinging vertically. Six giant axes flew up and down in front of me, miraculously avoiding each other without colliding. But it was a nightmare for me; I couldn’t find any gap in the timing. The six swinging axes made my eyes swim!

Suddenly, I thought of a relatively easy but cruel method. I could just summon a Steel-armored Beast. All six axes would definitely get stuck in its body, and then I could pass through however I wanted. But that felt a bit too despicable. After struggling with the thought for a long time, I gave up on the idea. It seemed I’d have to find another way.

After studying them for a while, I realized that the timing gaps of the three horizontal axes were perfectly blocked by the positions of the three vertically swinging axes. That’s why I couldn’t find a window to pass! Wait. Since the vertical axes didn’t touch the other axes at all, their paths must be safe. How could I be so stupid! This time, I watched for my chance. When the vertical axe next to me swung over, I leaped up and clung to its arm. As the axe reached its highest point and began to swing back, it carried me smoothly past the formation of three flying axes.

I jumped off the axe and looked back at the still-swinging blades. They didn’t seem so difficult anymore! I continued forward, even more cautiously now. This place was indeed extremely dangerous. I hadn’t taken more than a few steps when the stone under my foot suddenly sank. Countless small holes immediately appeared on the adjacent walls, and a barrage of crossbow bolts flew wildly through the tunnel. I hastily took two steps back, dodging out of the attack range. Although I was quick, I was still turned into a pincushion. Thankfully, Lucky had the Guardian Collar. Its high HP tanked the damage for me! That volley probably dealt over two thousand damage. If Lucky hadn’t shared some of the damage, I would’ve been dead for sure, even with my Starfall Ring transferring 30% of damage to my mana!

While studying the trap, I used the Telekinesis skill from my Spatial Bracelet to collect the crossbow bolts on the ground. My Avenger was out of ammo, and relying on just those two homing shots wasn’t nearly enough! It would be a real waste not to collect all the bolts on the ground! After trying I don’t know how many times, I found that it wasn’t a problem with the specific stone I stepped on. As soon as I reached that spot, a rain of bolts would fly. I had no idea why the traps here were so powerful. My Bracelet had already stored no fewer than ten thousand bolts, yet it could still keep firing!

In a fit of pique, I decided to see just how many bolts it could shoot. I picked up a bolt and threw it to trigger the trap again, letting loose another barrage, which I then collected. I kept at it until I logged off that night. My bracelet was already holding over five hundred thousand crossbow bolts, and the trap still hadn’t run out. It seemed the conclusion was simple—this trap infinitely spawned crossbow bolts! The day’s harvest meant I probably wouldn’t have to buy bolts for the rest of my life. The ones in my bracelet were enough to supply a large-scale siege!

The next day, as soon as I logged on, I resorted to the most boring method—brute force. I put three Necro-Pills in my mouth and charged forward. I had over a thousand HP myself, plus Lucky’s three thousand-plus and Phantom’s eight hundred, for a total of nearly six thousand HP. I believed that should be enough to not get shot to death.

As soon as I got near that stone, the crossbow bolts started flying wildly. I did a fish-like dive to dodge the densest cluster of bolts, but upon landing, I was still riddled with them. My own health bar was already at the bottom. I quickly swallowed the three pills in my mouth and continued running, using a series of aerial flips to get through the two-hundred-meter tunnel. When I finally stopped, I was so dizzy from all the spinning that I couldn’t even stand steady and fell to the ground. Thank God I didn’t die!

I checked our status. Lucky had over five hundred HP left. Phantom was at rock bottom, and so was I! This tunnel was truly insane! Who knew what lay ahead? First, I used a series of potions to restore our health. Looking at the tunnel ahead, I decided to be cautious this time and cast a Molten Boulder to clear the way. A Molten Boulder was just a big, flaming rock. It rolled forward, burning everything in its path, and would explode upon hitting anything, dealing ridiculous damage. Really, I was just using it now because its large size should make it good at triggering traps. If it could get through, I probably wouldn’t trigger anything either!

As expected, as the boulder rolled along, a huge stone block suddenly dropped from the ceiling with a loud crash and flattened my Molten Boulder. Good thing it wasn’t me up front! After the stone block fell, it split the path in two. I skirted around one side and continued using Molten Boulder. This time was even more absurd. A log suddenly shot out from the side, embedding itself right into the opposite wall. My entire Molten Boulder was skewered on the log before exploding. This place was terrifying!

The traps that followed were varied, to say the least. Trapdoors, flying stakes, rolling stones, fire walls, snares, automatons—you name a trap, I encountered it! The most infuriating part was a section where walls dropped down in front of and behind me, sealing me in before it started to fill with water. In the end, just as I was about to suffocate, I had no choice but to summon both Lucky and all my Steel-armored Beasts. The entire tunnel was burst open by the sheer mass of them, and only then was I able to escape!

By the time I emerged from the tunnel, I was about to faint. I was practically stark naked. The set Clark had given me had reached zero durability, and I had to watch as it shattered into pieces. Fortunately, jewelry doesn’t have durability, and the cloak was indestructible, so it was still in perfect condition. The durability on my Dark Demonic Dragon Vambraces had also dropped significantly, but thankfully, their durability was high enough that they wouldn’t break just yet. In short, my current state was just a cloak, a pair of vambraces, and some jewelry. Everything else was gone. I had thought about repairing my own equipment since I was a blacksmith, but without tools and materials, it was impossible!

Chapter 7: Crypt Quest (3)

After what felt like an eternity, I finally escaped the tunnel and entered a circular room. Big Bro was already inside, waiting for me. “Worthy Brother, you truly are a dragon among men! You actually made it through that difficult trap-filled tunnel in one go.” As he spoke, he craned his neck to look at the tunnel I had completely mangled. (I couldn’t figure out a proper solution, so I had to brute-force my way through.)

“Don’t even mention it! If I’d stayed in there any longer, I would’ve gone crazy!” I snatched the liquid from Big Bro’s hand and chugged it down. Anything from Big Bro was bound to have some benefits, so I figured I’d drink first and ask questions later! It tasted good, something like a high-end champagne!

“Don’t!” Big Bro tried to stop me, but I had already finished it. He stared at me, dumbfounded. “Do you have any idea what you just drank?”

“What was it?” Big Bro drank it himself, so it should be fine.

“That was water from the Spring of Evil!”

“I was wondering why it was so sweet. So it was spring water!”

“But! Drinking water from the Spring of Evil means you’ve joined the Evil Faction, with no chance of turning back!”

“So what?” I was already part of the Evil Faction anyway!

Big Bro sat down on a stone stool and said, “After drinking from the Spring of Evil, your red name status will become permanent. This means that for every person you kill, your Evil Value will increase by one hundred.”

“Isn’t it already a hundred per kill? What’s the problem?”

“However, your Evil Value will no longer decrease! No matter how many monsters you kill, how many quests you complete, or how long you stay online, your Evil Value will never go down!”

“What?” Now I finally understood the feeling of being struck by lightning on a clear day! “So I’m going to be red-named for life?”

“Correct!”

“Does that mean I can never enter a city again?”

“Not necessarily! In the future, when you’re powerful enough to fight the guards head-on, you’ll be able to enter cities, won’t you? Or you could wait for players to form guilds and build their own cities. As long as you get special permission from the guild leader, their guards won’t care if you’re red-named or not.” Big Bro pondered for a moment before adding, “Also, you’ll now be able to move freely in special evil zones like the City of the Lost.”

“Argh! How could I be so unlucky! Big Bro, I’m not having it, this is all your fault! Why were you drinking something so troublesome in the first place?” Since my luck was so bad, I might as well blame it on Big Bro. The real goal was to extort something from him!

“It’s not like I asked you to drink it!”

“I don’t care! You’re the one who brought it!” In any case, playing dumb was the right move!

“Alright, alright!” Big Bro was getting worn down by my pestering. “Here!” He took out four amethysts.

“What are these?”

“Look at the dragon eyes on your Dark Demonic Dragon Vambraces.”

I looked, and sure enough, the dragon’s eyes were empty, just four holes. I hadn’t even noticed at first. “Why are these empty?”

“Those are sockets! You idiot!” Big Bro pushed the crystals into the sockets one by one. “Now, take a look!”

I checked the properties of the Vambraces, and two new lines had appeared—Display 3D Map, and learned skill: Vile Contamination. The description for Vile Contamination stated that during combat, it could gradually invade an enemy’s body, causing a drastic increase in their mana and health consumption. I also tried the map function, and it was incredible. A three-dimensional map appeared above my arm like a hologram, marking my own position as well as many red dots, which I assumed were the locations of monsters.

Big Bro waited for me to finish examining the Vambraces and asked, “You’ve passed the second trial. According to the rules, you can receive two components of the Dark Demonic Dragon Set. The system dictates a random draw, but I’ll pull some strings for you. Pick them yourself! See what you need most right now.”

“You really are the best, Big Bro! But what parts even make up the Dark Demonic Dragon Set? I don’t even know how many pieces there are, so how can I choose?”

“This set includes a Helmet, a Visor, a suit of Heavy Armor, a pair of Pauldrons, a pair of Vambraces, a pair of Gauntlets, a Heartguard, a Tasset, a pair of Greaves, a pair of Full Steel Combat Boots, two Shields, two Dragon Fang Swords (which are one-handed greatswords, longer and heavier than normal swords), a Dragon Lance, two Dragon-Tendon Cables, and one set of Wing Blades, for a total of fifteen parts and twenty-three components. You already have the two Vambraces, and the rules state that the Wing Blades can only be given out last. You can now pick two from the remaining thirteen parts. After you pass the next trial, you can pick three. Then, after one more trial, you can get everything and leave this place.”

“Oh! So there are that many pieces! But I don’t know which ones have good stats! Why don’t you help me pick, Big Bro? Just give me whatever I’ll need most for the next trial.”

“You really know how to find a loophole!” Big Bro was already picking out two items, despite his words. “Take these. These two parts should be quite useful.”

I quickly took them and had a look. The Dark Demonic Dragon’s Encirclement: Dragon-Tendon Grappling Cable. Durability: Growth-Type Equipment (All stats marked with an asterisk * change according to the player’s level).

*Attack Power: 250-250

Attack Speed: Fast

% Lifesteal

*Bonus: 300 Lightning Damage

On successful hit: Paralyzes enemy for 1 second.

100% Vital Point Strike

Ignores Defense

Bonus Skill: Grapple.

Another Divine Artifact. Could the Dark Demonic Dragon Set be a full set of Divine Artifacts? At this rate, there was no way I wouldn’t get rich! The item was just a thin, silver thread with an arrowhead at the tip. Big Bro helped me install the Dragon-Tendon Cable onto the Vambraces, where it could be retracted when not in use. With just a thought and a flick of my wrist, the arrowhead shot out, pulling the silvery cable behind it. I started flailing the cable around the room, scaring Big Bro into ducking and weaving for cover. In an instant, the room was a wreck. The stone table and stools were all destroyed, their cut surfaces as smooth as if sliced by a laser. It seemed the greatest feature of this Dragon-Tendon Cable was its ability to cut through metal like mud. With some guidance from Big Bro, I learned that its main feature was its use as a grapple. I could shoot the arrowhead into the ceiling to lodge it in the wall, then swing around like I was on a swing set. When I was done, a single thought would cause the arrowhead to automatically release and fall, and there seemed to be an automatic retraction device inside the Vambraces that spooled it back in like a measuring tape whenever it wasn’t in use.

After having my fun with the cable, I looked at the other item. The Dark Demonic Dragon’s Foundation: Full Metal Heavy Combat Boots. Durability: 1000/1000. Growth-Type Equipment (All stats marked with an asterisk * change according to the player’s level).

*Defense: 750

+0% Movement Speed

Bonus: Cursed Ground, 10-meter radius (Hostile players entering the area have their Attack, Defense, and Speed decreased by 10%).

Special Skill: Adhesion (Similar to a suction cup, allows sticking to ceilings).

Another Divine Artifact! It seemed my guess was correct; the Dark Demonic Dragon set was a full Divine Artifact set! These combat boots protected all the way up to my knee joints, and the whole thing was pieced together from large, diamond-shaped plates, making for an incredibly cool design. I figured the entire Divine Artifact set must have a very unique style; after all, it was a Divine Artifact, so it couldn’t be too ordinary. After studying them for a while, I discovered that the heel of the boots was actually a row of blades. A downward chop with these would probably be more effective than a saber! The tips of the boots also had numerous spikes. It looked like my dad’s company had considered practical combat value in addition to aesthetics when they designed this!

Wearing these new pieces, I must have looked ridiculous. A pair of gleaming black combat boots, a huge black cloak, and two pitch-black vambraces on my arms… but my body was only covered by the indestructible pair of starter shorts the system gave me! It was a comical thought! Thankfully, Big Bro was an NPC. Even though he was intelligent, his fashion sense seemed to be lacking, as he didn’t comment on my bizarre attire.

“Alright! You’ve finished looking at your items, it’s time to give you the quest.” Big Bro swiped his hands, and a portal materialized out of thin air. “Come on in!” He stepped through first.

I followed him in and was instantly dumbfounded. This was a beautiful, vast prairie, with verdant green grass, fluffy white clouds, and a brilliant blue sky! A paradise, probably, was no better than this!

Seeing me dazed, Big Bro nudged me. “Stop gawking. I’ll tell you the quest now.” He pointed toward a village in the distance. “Your quest is in that village. Go on! I’ll come back to get you when you’re finished!” Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Big Bro vanished! Hmph! He always ran off so quickly, I never even had time to ask for any inside information!

Just being here, my mood naturally brightened. The natural beauty of this place was second to none! The surrounding air was filled with the fresh scent of grass. With a happy heart and this wonderful atmosphere, I was in no hurry to do the quest. I ambled forward, taking a leisurely stroll. Before I knew it, I had reached the edge of the village. Just as I entered, I saw a beautiful woman running toward me. I was about to pull up the hood of my cloak, but then I figured this was a quest scene and probably full of NPCs, so it wouldn’t make a difference whether I wore it or not.

The beautiful woman ran right up to me and grabbed my arm. “Brave warrior, please save me!”

“What’s the matter?” It looked like this was the quest NPC!

Chapter 8: Crypt Quest (4)

“A monster! A monster is attacking me!”

“It’s okay! Where’s the monster? Watch me take care of it!”

“Which blind fool dares to cause trouble for me! You dare to snatch the person I’ve claimed?” A giant monster, over three meters tall, appeared at the edge of the village. “You’re the one, kid? I suggest you don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong. Or else! Hmph hmph!” The monster swung the giant axe in its hands, and a blast of energy shot out, snapping a nearby tree as thick as a man’s waist.

I swallowed hard, mustered my courage, and walked forward until I was less than ten meters from the monster before stopping. Getting a closer look, I realized this thing was a toad-like monster. Though it had humanoid limbs and could walk upright, its enormous toad head was truly terrifying! “Hey! You monster, how could you attack such a beautiful young lady?”

The monster’s reply was completely unexpected. “Haha… Haha…! You’re killing me! You’re no saint yourself, yet you’re playing the part of a Human Knight, a hero saving a damsel in distress! How amusing!”

“Who told you I’m not Human?” I was absolutely fuming!

“You reek of the blood of demons, and it seems you have a hint of an Angel’s scent as well. But the demonic scent is so strong it completely masks the angelic one, so you must belong to the Evil Faction. Besides, your evil aura is so immense it surpasses mine by several levels. I’ve never encountered such an intense evil aura before. Compared to you, that fellow from Hell’s Pool could be considered a good guy!”

Hearing our conversation, the girl who had been hiding behind me looked at me with suspicious eyes and began to crawl backward! The monster continued to approach me, saying, “You just have a Human’s appearance. With such a powerful evil aura, I’m afraid only pitiful Humans wouldn’t be able to sense it!” As soon as the monster said this, the girl behind me shot up and fled as if her life depended on it.

Damn it, what the hell is this! A perfectly good damsel-in-distress rescue has somehow turned into Beauty and the Beast! “You sure talk a lot of crap!” I faced the monster. With a flick of my wrists, the Dragon-Tendon Flying Cords shot out. The monster hastily tried to parry with its axe, but… with a flash of cold light, the axe snapped in two at its widest point, the cut so smooth it shone with a metallic luster. Not bad, these cords are pretty useful!

The severed half of the axe went spinning through the air and embedded itself deep into a nearby rock before stopping. The monster stared at its broken axe, completely dumbfounded.

“Hey! Toad?” I couldn’t hold back anymore. “Are you going to just stand there all day?”

“Great Hero!” The monster suddenly threw down its axe and lunged at me. I hastily blocked it with my blade claws. Heavens! What is happening! Failing to save the damsel is one thing, but I don’t need to save the monster too! The monster clung to me, bawling its eyes out, snot and tears everywhere. It was disgusting! “Great Hero! You have to save me!”

“Stop!… Stop! Cut it out! Stop! If you don’t stop, I’m going to get physical! Still not stopping? Wataaah (please imitate Bruce Lee’s cry)!” I finally managed to daze this crybaby, but I was covered in his goo. So f***ing disgusting!

The monster climbed up from the ground. I quickly got into a defensive stance to avoid being assaulted—oh, wait, I mean, forcibly hugged! Fortunately, this time the monster was much more subdued and didn’t pounce.

“What the hell are you doing? You were so arrogant before, how did you suddenly turn into such a wet hen?”

The monster, still a mess of snot and tears, cried, “Save me, Great Hero!”

“Stop crying and tell me what’s wrong. How am I supposed to know what you need help with if you don’t say anything?”

“It’s like this!” The monster wiped its tears, seemingly preparing to narrate the whole story. But why did I have such a strong, ominous feeling?

Four hours later, I finally understood my ominous premonition. This giant toad was more long-winded than a traveling monk, rambling on with nonsense for over four hours before finally getting to the point. By then, I was already seeing stars! After another two hours of torture, I at last understood what he meant.

Let me briefly summarize the contents of that six-hour conversation. Basically, the toad monster was once a handsome young man who accidentally strayed into Hell’s Pool and was cursed, turning him into a monster. Unless the monster living there is defeated, the curse can never be broken. This guy fell in love with a girl from the village (the one who just ran off), and when he couldn’t break the curse, he decided to just outright abduct her! And then he ran into me.

“Stop crying. Take me to this Hell’s Pool.”

“What?” He hadn’t quite processed it yet.

“I said, lead the way!”

“Oh! Thank you, Great Hero!” He tried to lunge at me again, but I sent him flying with a kick. Seriously, this guy has the early symptoms of a pervert!

I followed the guy for a long time until we finally reached the so-called Hell’s Pool. From a distance, I could see a lone mountain standing there, but he refused to go any further. In the end, I decided to go check it out alone and have him wait for me outside.

Riding solo, I walked a long way before stopping. A cave appeared before me, and beside it, there was actually a sign that read: “No. 22, Hell’s Pool, Fire Cloud Ridge, Tianji Mountain.” I nearly fainted! They have addresses here? Ignoring that for now, I started to head inside. Man, this place was as dangerous as they said. I hadn’t gone far into the cave when the path ended. Before me was a gigantic pit. I could see the tunnel on the other side, but this chasm separated us. Even worse, the bottom of the pit was filled with bubbling lava. I suddenly remembered the Dragon-Tendon Flying Cords Big Bro gave me. No wonder Big Bro said this thing would be useful! I shot the two cords to the ceiling of the cave on the opposite side, tested them to make sure they were secure, and then with a powerful swing, I flew right across. Heh heh, pretty simple!

I continued to swing across three more consecutive ‘fire pits’ before the path ahead flattened out. I hadn’t been happy for long when a rumbling like an earthquake sounded from behind me. I turned my head and nearly died of fright. Steaming lava was rushing toward me from behind like a flood. What else could I do but run! Now I understood why Big Bro gave me a pair of speed-enhancing boots. If not for them, I would have become part of the lava by now!

I scrambled and tumbled my way to the end of the tunnel. The view ahead suddenly opened up, and a lava lake burning with flames appeared before me. I dodged to the side just as the lava behind me surged into the lake. I was saved! My legs were already cramping from exhaustion! But my tragic fate, it seemed, had not yet left me. A huge vortex suddenly appeared on the lake’s surface, and the surrounding temperature rose sharply. I didn’t need a brain to know the boss was emerging.

Just as expected, the lava whirlpool expanded rapidly, and a vacuum formed in the center. Then, a bird’s head appeared in the vortex, followed by its neck, and finally, the entire boss emerged. “A crow? Why is the boss a crow?” I couldn’t help but say it out loud.

The creature, which had been striking a pose, heard my words and promptly face-planted into the lava. Then, at a speed I couldn’t have imagined, it shot back out, sending lava flying everywhere. One glob landed right on my head. “Aaaah!” (Just imagine the most bloodcurdling scream possible.) I clutched my smoking head and bolted at a speed I’ll probably never achieve again in my life!

“Hehe!” A laugh like silver bells made me stop. I looked around and found the source of the sound was that pitch-black crow. I’d heard that a crow’s caw is usually harsh. How could this one’s voice be so pleasant, like a young girl’s?

“Hey? Crow?…”

“Are you looking to die?” The crow flapped its wings furiously, and a layer of black flame suddenly erupted from its body. I could clearly feel the surrounding temperature skyrocketing.

Strange, what smells so good? A bit like roasted meat! Ah! I think it’s me! “Aaaah!” (Another bloodcurdling scream.) “Hot… hot… ah!…”

The crow was quite compassionate and retracted the black flames. “Hmph! See if you dare call me a crow again!” Behind that girlish voice was, it seemed, a girlish temperament!

“I surrender! I surrender!” A wise man knows when to yield! “If you don’t want me to call you a crow, you must have a name, right?” Since this boss’s attack was too terrifying and it was the highly intelligent type, I could only outsmart it.

“Stop with the crow business! How could someone as pretty as me be a crow?” That was actually true. Although she was all black, she wasn’t ugly like a crow at all. Not only did she have nine beautiful plumes on her head, but she also had a large fan of long plumes on her tail. Could she be a peacock? No, that’s not right. Only male peacocks have long plumes. “I’ll have you know, listen up! This lady is a crossbreed! My father is a pure-blooded Flame Phoenix, and my mother is the descendant of an Aurora Bird-of-Paradise and a Demonic Flame Hellhawk. So I inherited my father’s physique and my mother’s coloring!” As she spoke of this, she seemed a little downcast.

I quickly tried to comfort her. If she got emotional again and roasted me alive, I’d be in real trouble! “Don’t be sad! Your black feathers might not be conventionally pretty, but your overall appearance is quite impressive. It lacks a certain soft charm, but it has a powerful, exotic aura that’s just as captivating!” I swear, I was speaking from the heart!

“Really?” She spun around happily on the spot. Ai! Girls are the same everywhere!

“Excuse me!”

“What is it?”

“You said you’re a crossbreed, but you still haven’t told me what you are.”

“Me? I’m a Hell Black Phoenix! What, don’t I look like one?” As she spoke, she began to display that deadly black Hellfire again!

“Stop! Stop! I believe you! I believe you!” Hearing my miserable cry, she finally retracted the flames. “Phew! Saved! I was almost turned into human char siu!”

“What’s ‘human char siu’? Is it fun?”

“Not fun at all!” Are you kidding me? If she got excited and roasted me, that would be the end of it! “Um… did you by any chance turn a Human into a toad?”

“I think so! Why do you ask?”

“I was actually entrusted by someone to come here and help that person break the curse! But after seeing you, I just don’t have the heart to do it!” Ugh! I almost made myself puke!

“Oh, that?” Xiao Feng’s (a name she gave herself) eyes darted around. “For your sake, it’s not impossible to lift the curse, but…!”

“But what?”

“You have to agree to one condition.”

“And if I don’t agree?” I asked probingly. But the surrounding temperature suddenly shot up, and my skin started to give off that roasted meat smell again. I quickly changed my tune. “Okay! Tell me what it is!”

“That’s more like it!” The temperature finally returned to normal. “I’ll give up the curse on that guy, but you have to take me out to have fun!”

“Can’t you go out by yourself?”

“Duh! I’m the NPC guard for this quest. The main system restricts me from running all over the place!”

“Then what can I do? I don’t know the main system!”

“But you’re a player!”

“What about it?”

“Players can capture Magical Pets. If I become your Magical Pet, I can go everywhere with you!”

Haha! Another score! But I still pretended to be troubled. “But I already have two Magical Pets! And you should know, everyone has a limit on how many Magical Pets they can have. If I take you, won’t I be wasting a slot for no reason? That’s a huge loss for me!” After saying this, I snuck a glance at Xiao Feng. She had a thoughtful expression on her face. Looks like there’s a chance.

As if having made a great decision, Xiao Feng said, “How about this! Do you need a mount? I can introduce you to my friend. He’s a really fast runner; even I can’t catch him!”

I was already blooming with joy on the inside, but I forced my face to maintain a troubled look. “A mount would indeed be useful to me, but mounts also take up a Magical Pet slot! Add something else to the deal, and I’ll agree!”

“Alright then, you wait here, I’ll be right back!” With that, she dove headfirst into the lava. Why do I feel like I’m tricking a kid out of their lollipop? A moment later, Xiao Feng emerged again, carrying a pile of things in her claws. “This is all I have! If you think it’s enough, then it’s a deal. If not, there’s nothing more I can do!” She sounded listless as she spoke, clearly very dejected!

I quickly took the pile of items. After rummaging through them for a while, I found that most of it was junk, but there was one truly top-tier item inside. It was a Socketing Gem. Its property was Top-tier Fire Diamond: 75% Fire Resistance, summons Fire Toxin Bees (Quantity = Player Level x 2). Heh heh, I’m Level 0 right now, which means I can summon 400 Fire Toxin Bees. Even if Level 100 Fire Toxin Bees aren’t that useful, that many is still enough to scare people! It’s a pity I don’t have any equipment with a Socket right now, otherwise, I could equip it immediately!

“Alright! Stand still, I’m going to Capture you!”

“Okay!”

Chapter 9: Crypt Quest (5)

Standing there, I used the Capture skill over three hundred times before I finally turned Xiao Feng into a Pet Egg. It was exhausting; my throat was completely dry from shouting! I dripped my blood on it again to claim ownership, and Xiao Feng appeared. The system gave me another reward this time. You really can’t judge a book by its cover! Xiao Feng might seem a bit airheaded, but she’s actually a level 999 boss, the Hell Black Phoenix. I almost fainted when I saw her stats.

Hell Black Phoenix, Current Level: 0, Attack: 100-180, Defense: 100, Speed: 230, Health: 800, Mana: 1500. 75% chance to Ignore Defense, attacks inflict fire poison damage. Can use all fire-type magic, immune to magic. Special Skill: Rebirth—automatically revives 10 seconds after death (limited to once per day).

Stats this ridiculous at level 0? She’ll be deadly later on! Wait, why did my own stat window pop up? That usually only happens when I level up. I looked at my own stats and saw a Rebirth entry had been added. I quickly checked Lucky’s and Phantom’s stats. Haha! All of us can now revive once a day! But only Xiao Feng gets a full rebirth. When we revive, we only have one-tenth of our max health and have to slowly heal back up. Still, this is great—it’s like having double insurance!

“So, Xiao Feng! Where’s that friend of yours who can be a Mount?” Don’t call me greedy; I risked my life to get this far!

Xiao Feng flashed in the air and transformed into a snow-white cockatoo with a beautiful, long tail plume, then flew to my shoulder. “This way!”

“Didn’t you say you could take on a beautiful form? Why were you all black and gloomy just now?” I asked, looking at the exceptionally beautiful Xiao Feng on my shoulder.

“This form is nice, but it has no combat power! As soon as I revert to my combat form, I become the black phoenix. I only look like this when I’m resting. They say my grandfather looked like this, so this is the form of an Aurora Bird-of-Paradise. But now that I’m with you, I won’t have to stay in combat form all the time! Oh! We’re here!”

“That was fast?” Xiao Feng flew out first. This place was just another exit from the cave. There were trees everywhere; it seemed to be a forest. But why was this forest so dark!

As I was looking around, Xiao Feng flew back, and following her was a… what should I call it? It looked a lot like a unicorn, but not quite right! Unicorns are kind and pure beings, so they’re completely snow-white, and the horn on their head is encased in flesh, completely harmless. But this creature before me was not only black from head to toe, its only non-black features—its eyes—were a terrifying blood-red! Even stranger, the horn that should have been encased in flesh was completely exposed, its sharp tip glinting with a cold light. It reeked of killing intent!

“Greetings! I am the Fallen Unicorn King, guardian of the Black Forest!”

Quite worldly, aren’t we! Looks like this one will be harder to deal with than Xiao Feng! “Hello! I am…”

“No need to say anything! I already know. Let’s get on with it!”

What a cool and detached guy! Since he wasn’t one for small talk, I didn’t waste any time either and started the Capture. I didn’t expect him to be even more trouble than Xiao Feng. After over five hundred attempts, I was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion. What is this, really? Is the game deliberately making me grind my skills? Fortunately, this guy’s abilities didn’t disappoint. And he was actually a level 800 boss.

Fallen Unicorn King (Nightmare), Current Level: 0, Attack: 50-60, Defense: 40, Speed: 300, Health: 600, Mana: 600. Attacks have a chance to inflict Sleep (% success rate). Immune to dark, light, and lightning-type magic. Can use all lightning-type magic. Innate Magic: Divine Punishment Thunder—base damage 70 (attack has a chance to inflict paralysis).

Its attack power isn’t much, but its speed is absurdly fast. And its sleep-inducing attacks and the paralysis effect from its innate skill are terrifying. We tested it on some mobs, and sure enough, one hit put them to sleep, and they wouldn’t wake up unless they were attacked again! A Nightmare! I can’t believe it’s actually a Nightmare! This guy is incredibly useful. The only problem is that his level is too low to be ridden. I’ll have to train him to level 150 or higher first! Also, I don’t have the Riding skill yet. I can still ride him, but it will consume a huge amount of stamina and I won’t get any attack bonuses. Luckily, my stamina is super high right now, and my attack power is also insane, so there’s no need to rush!

I suddenly remembered—I’m a permanent red name. How am I supposed to go to a guild in the city to learn my class advancement skills? Ugh, whatever! I’ll just not think about things I can’t figure out.

While I was agonizing over this, that toad actually came running over. “Great hero! You truly are amazing, to have even subdued the Black Phoenix!”

“Just lucky, just lucky!” I didn’t dare act too arrogant in front of Xiao Feng! “Xiao Feng! Hurry and break his curse!”

“Okay!” Xiao Feng said to Nightshadow (the Nightmare’s name). “Nightshadow, Divine Punishment Thunder!”

A ball of lightning rolled through the sky and fell onto the toad, turning it into an electro-roasted toad. Then, its black outer shell shattered, and a handsome young man fell out. “Done!” Xiao Feng flapped her wings and flew back.

“Damn! So that’s how you break the curse!” Good thing it wasn’t me!

Just as I was lost in thought, Big Bro suddenly appeared beside me. “Worthy Brother!”

“Big Bro! What are you doing here? Did you complete the quest?”

“I did! The quest is over!” Big Bro said, seeming a little unhappy. “Couldn’t you have taken a little longer?”

“What’s wrong?” I looked at him innocently. “Are you not happy that I was fast?”

“Of course I’m not happy! I was in the middle of proposing to the Iceberg Goddess. I had just taken out the ring when the Main System announced you’d completed the quest and sent me back here! You could’ve been a little faster or a little slower, but no, you had to ruin my big moment!”

“Ah! That’s my fault, then! I honestly didn’t know you were busy with such a momentous life event, Big Bro! If I had known, I would have stayed here for another ten days or half a month!” I said with a fawning expression.

Seeing my aggrieved expression, Big Bro said, “Forget it! The opportunity is missed anyway! Right, come with me for the next quest so I can go back and explain things to the goddess!”

“Okay, okay! I wish you swift success, Big Bro!”

Big Bro didn’t explain, just teleported me directly to a huge hall. There were doors everywhere. Another maze? “Worthy Brother! This is the last quest.”

“With so many doors, which one is the right one?”

Big Bro looked at me and said, “There are a thousand doors here in total. Behind each door is a boss and a mob of minions. You have to try them one by one. Your target is the ultimate divine beast, the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon. As long as you defeat or capture him, he will tell you how to leave.”

Seeing Big Bro summon a portal to leave, I quickly grabbed him. “Wait! Big Bro, um, what happens if I pick the wrong door?”

“If you pick the wrong one, you have to kill every single monster inside, leaving none behind. The room will then automatically disappear and teleport you back to this hall. Also, except for the real boss, the monsters in the other rooms give no experience and drop no items!” I nearly fainted after hearing that. No experience was one thing, but no drops either! After speaking, Big Bro turned to leave again, and I quickly hugged him again. “What are you doing now?”

“Um! Big Bro, I haven’t gotten my reward for the last quest yet!”

“Oh! I forgot about that! Here!” Big Bro tossed out a pair of Greaves, a Tasset, and a piece of Heavy Armor. “Alright, come here.” I moved closer, and with a casual touch, Big Bro fully restored the Durability of all my equipment. “Work hard on your own! I’m off to take care of important business!”

Watching Big Bro disappear, I muttered to myself, “Chasing girls counts as important business? What a guy who ditches friends for women!” Though my mouth was complaining, my hands weren’t idle. I picked up the items from the ground to take a look.

Dark Demonic Dragon’s Guard (Divine Artifact), Heavy Armor, Durability: 1000/1000, Growth-Type Equipment (all stats marked with * change according to the Player’s level), *Defense: 1500, 15% Damage Absorption, +10% Max Health, Pierce Resistance, Cannot be Frozen, Retaliates against attackers with a Power Aura based on the Player’s level;

Dark Demonic Dragon’s Obscuration (Divine Artifact), Tassets, Durability: 1000/1000, Growth-Type Equipment (all stats marked with * change according to the Player’s level), *Defense: 700, +50% Max Weight Capacity, % Fire Absorption, Attached Skill: Dark World (Creates an area of absolute darkness with a radius of [X] yards, reducing the accuracy of all hostile forces within by 80%);

Dark Demonic Dragon’s Agility (Divine Artifact), Greaves, Durability: 1000/1000, Growth-Type Equipment (all stats marked with * change according to the Player’s level), Defense: 750, +50% Movement Speed, 50% Increased Attack Speed, +% Increased Evasion Rate;

Three more Divine Artifacts! The stats are insane, as expected of top-tier equipment. And the stylish design seems to be a consistent theme for this Dark Demonic Dragon Set! Although my set is still incomplete, I’m finally starting to look more presentable. At least it’s much better than my old briefs-and-cloak getup! Being Superman doesn’t necessarily feel that great, you know!

My head spins just looking at these one thousand doors. Whatever, I’m logging off for now! “Ah Wei?” No answer. Is he not offline yet? Never mind, I’m starving. I’ll go find something to eat myself.

Chapter 10: The Strange Package

After searching for ages, I couldn’t find anything to eat. Just then, Ah Wei ran in from outside. “Boss! You logged off?”

“Yeah!” I was still rummaging for any trace of food. “Where have you been?”

“Military training, of course! Who do you think I am, lying around the dorm all day like you! I haven’t been online for so many days, I wonder what level the top players have reached!” Ah Wei lamented. “Boss, what level are you?”

“Me? I’m only level 2.” (The system reward for taming Xiao Feng and Nightshadow had brought me directly to level 2.)

“That’s not very high! What have you been doing all this time?” Ah Wei seemed to find my slow progress hard to believe.

“Don’t even ask! It’s been a total disaster! Remember that quest I told you about last time?”

“I remember! What about it? Don’t tell me you’re still stuck in there?” Ah Wei’s face was a picture of disbelief.

“You guessed it! I’m still stuck. I’ve gotten plenty of equipment and Magical Pets, but I just can’t level up. And the worst part is, I’ve run into another problem. I was sent to a massive hall with one thousand rooms, and each room has a bunch of monsters. But except for the one room with the real target boss, the monsters in all the other rooms don’t drop any items and give zero experience!”

“There are quests that insane?!” Ah Wei made the sign of the cross on his chest. “May God bless you, you poor child!”

“Get out!” I kicked him out of the room. “I’m going to eat, you coming?”

“Of course! It’d be a waste not to! Only a fool would turn down a free meal!”

“Who said I was treating you?” We bantered as we walked out. “We’re going Dutch.”

“No way! You’re so rich, how can you be so stingy!”

“Nonsense! Are you poor?”

“I’m not poor, but compared to you, I’m just a drop in the ocean! Since you’re so wealthy, why not do a good deed and help me out with my meal?”

“Get lost!” The two of us roughhoused all the way to the school cafeteria. I was doing it on purpose; since Ah Wei was pushing me to treat him, I deliberately picked the cafeteria with the worst food. I had actually planned on eating out! “This place is great! Eat as much as you want! My treat!” I said, looking at Ah Wei with a wicked grin.

Ah Wei looked like he wanted to kill me. “Eat as much as I want here? The sight of it makes me full! No way, I’m going to the Dingsheng Grand Hotel!”

In the end, after much arguing, we headed for the Dingsheng Grand Hotel. The main reason was that I couldn’t stomach the cafeteria food myself! We had just reached the school gate when two men in black suits walked over. “Young Master!” I recognized the one in the lead; he was a general manager at my dad’s company, one of his confidants, I believe.

“Manager Wang? What are you doing here?”

“I was just handling some business nearby. The President asked me to drop this off to you on the way.” As he spoke, he took a silver case from the subordinate behind him.

I recognized it at a glance—it was a security case manufactured by my dad’s company. I pressed my hand on a small glass screen on the front of the case, and it automatically sprang open. Inside the large case was nothing but a single watch. I picked up the watch and turned it over and over, unable to figure it out. I looked up at Manager Wang. “This is…?”

“This is the key! The item itself won’t arrive until noon tomorrow. I don’t know what it is either, but the President wanted me to tell you that it’s something you’ve wanted for a very long time. Alright, the President is waiting for me to get back to business. I’ll be taking my leave!” With that, Manager Wang vanished as quickly as he had appeared. Truly decisive and swift!

Ah Wei snatched the watch from my hand and looked it over. “It looks so familiar! I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before!”

I snatched the watch back. “Don’t bother thinking about it. There’s no way you’ve seen it before!”

“How do you know I haven’t seen it?”

I turned the watch over to show him the five-zero stamp on the back. “This is a test sample from the lab. It’d be stranger if you had seen it!”

By the time we finished our boisterous meal and returned to the dorm, it was already late. Ah Wei and I went straight to sleep. The next morning, I woke up early. I suddenly felt like participating in the military training to get to know my classmates. Although my personality is a bit reclusive, we were still classmates, so it was necessary to at least meet and get acquainted. Besides, whatever that thing my dad was sending was due to arrive today, so I wouldn’t have been able to play the game in peace anyway!

When I dragged Ah Wei to military training, he fiercely felt my forehead and asked if I had a fever! I nearly fainted. It was a rare occasion that I wanted to be a good student, and this was the response I got!

The military training began. After we assembled, the classmates around me all gave me strange looks, making me feel uncomfortable all over! Even the drill instructor stared at me for a long moment before finally walking over. “Shen Lin, right?”

“Yes!”

“You…” The instructor looked me up and down for a long time. “Did you fill out your form incorrectly?”

“Huh? What form?” I looked at the drill instructor, confused.

The instructor handed me a class roster. On it were columns for name, gender, age, and other basic information. I found my row and looked at it for a long time but couldn’t see anything wrong. Seeing that I didn’t seem to get it, the instructor kindly prompted me, “Are you sure you’re male?”

Boom! I completely short-circuited! “Instructor! I’m sure. I’ve been male since the day I was born, and that’s not going to change!”

Seeing that I was about to explode, Ah Wei quickly chimed in, “Reporting, Instructor! I’ve known Shen Lin since we were kids, and I guarantee he’s not only a guy, but he’s also quite the pervert!”

I immediately murdered Ah Wei a thousand times over with my death glare. Is that your idea of helping me?

The drill instructor shivered at my glare and said, “Don’t mind me, I was just confirming.” He then quickly walked away, still looking at the roster and muttering, “Male? Doesn’t look like it!”

Ah Wei was laughing so hard that tears were about to stream down his face, patting my back. “You’re still as hilarious as ever! Haha! You’re killing me! How many times has this happened now?”

I violently grabbed Ah Wei’s collar with my left hand, lifting him completely off the ground, and gestured toward his family jewels with my right hand. “Laugh again, I dare you.”

Ah Wei and I had grown up together, so he knew. My father’s special medicinal regimen since I was a child had long since given me superhuman muscle strength. While I didn’t have the physique of a bodybuilder, my Strength was freakishly high. The striking force of my right fist, in particular, exceeded three hundred kilograms. Getting hit by it would be instant death.

“Help! Boss! I won’t do it again! I won’t do it again next time!” Ah Wei’s blood-curdling screams, like a pig being slaughtered, brought the drill instructor back.

Seeing our current situation, the drill instructor was visibly stunned. What he couldn’t have imagined was that I, with my average build, could lift a big guy like Ah Wei with a single hand. Even if Ah Wei was relatively thin, his height meant he weighed at least sixty-five or seventy kilograms. The instructor himself wasn’t confident he could lift that weight with one hand, especially since this wasn’t weightlifting—a person would struggle, and lifting a person required more than just the strength to lift their body weight.

“Stop it, now!” The instructor didn’t try to catch Ah Wei but instead placed a hand on my wrist and pressed down, trying to test my Strength. To his surprise, his downward pressure didn’t budge my left arm holding Ah Wei up in the slightest. But I quickly put Ah Wei down. “I’ll let it go for the instructor’s sake! If you’re looking to die, I’ll make sure you can never be a man again!” The surrounding male students understood the dirty joke between guys and were more or less convinced that I wasn’t a girl. A roar of laughter erupted.

The drill instructor hurriedly restored order. Once everyone had quieted down, we began our official training. Military training for university students wasn’t exactly formal military drills. Our training items were nothing more than turning, marching in step, and the like. This kind of training was far more about tempering one’s willpower than about the practical results of the training itself.

At noon, when the military training ended, we hadn’t even had time to leave the training ground (there were too many people and only two exits) when we noticed the crowd starting to surge backward. It didn’t take long for me to see why. A giant trailer truck had driven onto the training ground. The huge five-clawed golden dragon emblem on its front made it instantly recognizable as something from my dad’s Dragon’s Fate Group.

The truck drove to the center of the field and stopped. Two men dressed as deliverymen jumped down. One of them stopped a drill instructor near him and asked him something, after which the instructor pointed in my direction. The two deliverymen immediately ran over. One of them asked our drill instructor, “Excuse me, is this Second Company, Seventh Platoon?”

The drill instructor nodded. The deliveryman immediately said, “Are you finished? We have a package for Shen Lin that we need to deliver to him.”

The instructor said, “Oh! We’re finished, just waiting for the people ahead to leave.” Then he turned and called out to me, “Shen Lin!”

“Here!”

“Fall out! Go receive your package!” Then he said to the others, “Attention, everyone! At ease! Dismissed!”

I said to the deliveryman, “What did you guys bring that needs such a huge truck? It’s not furniture, is it?”

The deliveryman led me over, saying, “We don’t know what it is either. This was sent from the head office. It’s a huge box. Hurry up and open it! We’ve been guessing what could be so big!”

Ah Wei caught up and ran over. “What is it? Is it that thing from yesterday?”

“I don’t know! Maybe!”

Following behind Ah Wei was a large group of people, all from our class. It seemed their curiosity was quite strong!

The deliveryman climbed into the driver’s cab and flipped a switch. The three panels of the truck’s rear container began to slowly open. Inside the truck bed was another shipping container. Was it really necessary to wrap it in so many layers!

“Our job is basically done. The box inside needs a special key. The head office said the key was delivered yesterday.”

“A key? Oh! Right! The key! I forgot.” I quickly rolled up my sleeve to reveal the unique watch. “But… where’s the keyhole?”

The deliverymen circled the container a few times but couldn’t find anything resembling a keyhole. The nearby students also helped search for a long time to no avail. Someone even suggested looking on top. What kind of people were these! Who would put a keyhole on the roof!

Although the suggestion was absurd, I still climbed up. But it was the same—the flat top had nothing that looked like a keyhole. In the end, it was a remark from Ah Wei that gave us a clue. “See if there are any buttons on the watch. It might be a remote lock. The switch is probably on the watch.”

Of course! Why didn’t I think of that! I hurriedly studied the watch, but the problem was not a lack of buttons, but too many of them. I had no idea which one it was, and it was highly likely that the control was a combination of buttons.

With no way to open it, I was about to give up when my phone suddenly rang. It was a call from my dad.

My dad’s face appeared on the phone screen, a wicked grin on his face as he looked at me. “Dad!”

“Did you get the thing?”

“It’s here! But…”

“But you can’t open it, right?” Dad cut me off, obviously having planned this all along.

“Quick! Tell me how to open it.”

“Don’t be in such a hurry! Why don’t you guess what it is first? If you guess right, I’ll teach you how to open it!”

Chapter 11: A Dangerous Encounter on Campus

“What could be this big besides a car?” I said, annoyed. I had been asking Dad to buy me a car for ages, but he had always refused for safety reasons. Now it was obvious he’d finally agreed but was deliberately keeping me in suspense!

“You’re a clever one, kid! You really are my son!”

“Are you praising me or yourself?”

Suddenly, I heard another phone ringing in the background—the company phone on his desk. Dad quickly answered it, then covered the mouthpiece and said to me, “I have to go, no more chitchat. Open the face of your watch. There’s a keypad inside. The password is your birthday.” With that, he cut a connection.

There was a control keypad inside? How had I not noticed! I quickly ran my fingers along the edge of the watch on my wrist and, sure enough, found a switch. After a light press, the watch face suddenly popped open. The back of the face was a small screen, and the area it had covered revealed a keypad with only the numbers one through nine; there was no zero key. There really was a keypad! I entered my birthday—four ones—and saw a flash on the screen as the watch face automatically closed again. At the same time, the top of the container on the truck automatically opened.

“What is this thing? Why did the sunroof open instead of the door?” someone nearby commented.

But we soon understood why. A black object rose from within the container. At first glance, you would have thought it was a flying saucer! “A GT8000!” someone shouted, and nearly everyone around gasped. Then someone else yelled, “It’s a 7 Series! A 7 Series! I can’t… Hold me up, my heart can’t take it!”

“A GT8000? Hasn’t it even been released yet?” I stared at the maglev car floating in the air, my excitement beyond what most people could comprehend! Dad had actually gotten me one of the new cars his company was planning to launch at the end of the year! I was ecstatic!

The oblivious drill instructors and school administrators around me were all staring, wondering who I was. Although technology was advancing rapidly in this era, a maglev car was basically rarer than a helicopter from the year 2100. Currently, only the military had them in any significant number. Civilian use was limited to ambulance-type hovercraft at large hospitals, some marine rescue units, and a small number equipped by police departments in major cities. The number of privately owned ones worldwide was less than one hundred. In this day and age, most cars still relied on wheels!

“Boss!” Ah Wei sidled up to me. “The car! Heh heh! Let me take it out for a spin, yeah?”

“Get lost!” I pushed him away. “I haven’t even had a turn yet!”

The car slowly floated over and stopped beside me. I quickly opened the door and jumped in. The gull-wing doors felt great, and the seats inside were reclined at a sharp angle, seemingly belonging to a sports car. Ah Wei swiftly hopped into the seat next to me. “Boss, let’s go for a ride!”

“Alright!” Recalling the driving techniques I had learned, I slowly operated the maglev car, increasing its altitude. It rose five meters off the ground and could go no higher. Although it could levitate, it wasn’t an airplane, after all! I lightly pressed the accelerator, and the car shot forward with such a rapid response that it scared Ah Wei into screaming his head off. “Feels good, just that the acceleration is a bit too fierce!”

“All sports cars are like this!” Ah Wei said, drooling. “If you don’t like it, you can give it to me! Or I could pay you for it!”

“Get out of here! This is not for sale!” I cut off Ah Wei’s fantasy. “Let me see how fast this thing can really go!” As I said that, Ah Wei let out a blood-curdling scream. I stomped the accelerator to the floor. The car shot out like a missile, and I was pinned to my seat by an immense force, finding it hard to even breathe! I glanced up at the instrument panel on the roof (given the steep recline of the seats, it was easier to see the instruments up there). The numbers on the liquid crystal display for the speed were flipping like a stopwatch. My current speed had already passed 300 km/h. “So cool! 0 to 300 in just over a second,” Ah Wei said, also staring at the instrument panel.

I continued to accelerate, and it wasn’t until five seconds later, when the speed hit 600, that the car stopped accelerating. Judging by the acceleration time, this 600 km/h was an artificial speed limit, far from the car’s true top speed. If the car were reaching its maximum velocity, the final moments of acceleration would have been slow, not a smooth, unbroken rocket to 600.

Ah Wei’s words brought me back to reality. “I think I see a police car in the rearview mirror!”

“Where? I don’t see anything.”

Ah Wei shouted, “You’re going so fast, you think the police are race car drivers who can just stick to your tail?”

I quickly pulled over to the side of the road. Ah Wei got out to buy two cups of coffee, and only by the time he got back did we see five police cars, sirens wailing, catching up to us. We were given a stern lecture on traffic safety awareness and slapped with a huge fine before being let go. We were lucky that we had a sincere attitude and the police officer, our “Big Bro,” saw that we were just students, so he didn’t give us too much trouble! The lead officer declared with righteous passion, “The fine is to help you remember this lesson. Even if you don’t care about your own lives, you have to consider the safety of others!”

When I returned to school, I was met with an unexpected sight. A large crowd of people was standing at the entrance, almost all of them boys. There were girls, of course, but they all seemed to be from my class. The moment Ah Wei and I stepped out of the car, we saw nearly every boy fix Ah Wei with a murderous glare. Ah Wei leaned in and said, “What’s going on? Why do I get the feeling their intentions aren’t good?”

“It seems like their ill intentions are directed at you. They don’t look particularly malicious when they look at me!”

While the two of us were guessing, a girl from our class ran over. I knew she was in my class, but I couldn’t remember her name. She said to the crowd, “Line up, one by one! Give the letters to me and then go back and wait for news!”

Before Ah Wei and I could figure out what was happening, everyone handed something to the girl in front of me. Only after the crowd had dispersed did I have a chance to ask her, “Excuse me…?”

Before I could finish, the girl placed a small mountain—a mountain made of letters—into my arms. “Here, these are yours. Take your time reading them! Honestly!”

“I…”

“You really know how to attract admirers, don’t you?” Another girl walked over and extended a hand. “Hello! I’m our class president, Song Ning!”

I quickly shook her hand. Building a good relationship with the class committee was very important. “I…”

“I’m the class’s Arts and Entertainment Representative, Lu Yingying,” a third girl said, walking over.

“Stop!” I yelled. “Can you just let me say something?”

“Go on, then,” a boy said as he approached. I remembered him; he was our class’s Sports Representative.

“Can someone please tell me what just happened? And what is this pile?”

It was the class president, Song Ning, who spoke. “Your appearance on the school’s sports field caused a huge sensation. Almost all the first-year students saw you. Consequently, all the boys have fallen for your Charisma. And when they saw that GT8000, they became even more convinced that you’re a rich heiress, which led to the scene just now. As for these… I believe they’re love letters!”

“What?” The one who screamed wasn’t me, but Ah Wei. “Those murderous looks earlier… don’t tell me they mistook me for Boss’s boyfriend and wanted to kill me off as a love rival?”

Lu Yingying, who seemed to know him well, leaned in and said, “That’s very likely! Looks like you’d better watch your back! I’d advise you to hire some bodyguards!”

Ah Wei immediately lunged over and started fumbling with my watch. “What are you doing?”

“Lend me the car!”

“What for?”

“I’m going to the TV station to broadcast a public apology and declare that I’m not your boyfriend!”

“You little punk, you’re asking for a beating!” I grabbed him and gave him a sound thrashing that left his head covered in bumps. “That’ll teach you to talk nonsense!”

After finally dealing with that pile of stuff (waste has to be sorted), I attended the afternoon military training session. The moment it ended, another crowd was blocking the door for me! I barely managed to escape back to my dorm (Ah Wei and I lived in a student apartment, not one of the large, open-plan dormitories) and thought to myself, if only I were being chased and cornered by so many pretty girls like this, how happy I’d be!

Frustrated, I decided I wouldn’t go to military training tomorrow. I’ll just stay in my dorm room all day. Let’s see what you guys can do about that!

Chapter 12: I Have Returned!

My journey to find the right path continued. Today was already November 11th. By my count, I had been messing around in this final stage for nearly two months now. Those thousand doors were truly terrifying. Every single room was packed with monsters; the crowding was no worse than a bus at rush hour after school! Now, after my long exploration, only two hundred thirty-three doors remained in the hall. The ones I had already entered had vanished after being opened.

By all laws of probability, I should have found the correct door long ago, yet I couldn’t seem to find it. Since I wasn’t getting any experience, I hadn’t leveled up at all, but the coordination between my magical pets had become better and better. What made me happiest was that the level 80 Lucky could now talk, and his Dragon Flame was simply the number one skill for clearing monsters. In every room, one blast from him was enough to wipe out seven or eight-tenths of the boss’s minions.

Today was my birthday. I got up early, intending to make a breakthrough. I had to get out of this quest one way or another! The top spot on the leaderboard had once again been taken by that SlayerBlade. I’d killed him and knocked him out of the top ten, yet he’d managed to climb back up so quickly. The guy was truly a beast! Looking at his level 399 and then at my paltry level 24, I figured it wouldn’t be so easy to kill him again.

After a morning’s work, I cleared another four rooms. Now there were two hundred twenty-nine left. How could my luck be this rotten? I decided to take a lunch break and then get back to grinding. The moment I logged back on, I saw Big Bro standing in front of me. “Big Bro? What are you doing here?”

Big Bro had a triumphant look on his face. “Hehe! I’ve finally won over your Sister-in-law! From now on, I’ll have someone to watch the stars and admire the moon with when I go home!”

“Congratulations, Big Bro! But you can’t just think about yourself! Look at me, what am I supposed to do? It’s been over a month and I’m still wandering around in this quest. When is this going to end?”

“Alright, then! Big Bro will help you lighten your burden.” As he spoke, Big Bro waved his hand, and the surrounding doors instantly vanished until only a few were left.

I counted them. There were three doors left. “Is one of these three the right one?”

“No! All three of them are.”

“Huh?”

“Actually, three of the thousand doors were correct, but I have no idea why you managed to miss all of them after so many tries! I’ve never met someone with such rotten luck!”

“My luck seems to be concentrated in my equipment and magical pets. As for finding my way, any path I choose is guaranteed to be the wrong one!”

“Is that so? Well, since you put it that way, it must be true! I’ll give you some inside information. The boss inside mainly attacks by lowering your stats before going on the offensive. As long as you lock him down with a Sealing Demon Array right at the start, there’s nothing to fear!”

“Big Bro, doesn’t this make you a mole?”

“Get lost! Hurry up already, I’m waiting to go on a honeymoon with my dear wife!”

“Alright, alright!” I grumbled as I pushed open the center door. The doors on either side vanished simultaneously. So they were a trinity, just as he said.

The moment I stepped inside, the great door slammed shut behind me. “O son of Huaxia, inheritor of my legacy, I have finally awaited your arrival!” I hadn’t even found my footing when the voice boomed, its volume so loud it made my ears ring.

“Who are you? Where are you?” I scanned the vast, empty room. It was a perfect square, about five hundred meters on each side, and completely bare.

“I am here!”

“Where? Where?” I still couldn’t see anything.

“Heavens! Have I waited all this time just for an idiot to arrive?” the voice muttered to itself. “Hey! Kid! Look up! I’m above you!”

“Above me?” I looked up and saw only a dragon-shaped chandelier hanging from the ceiling, casting a golden-yellow glow. “Where are you? There’s nothing here but a fancy-looking lamp!”

Suddenly, the giant dragon chandelier on the ceiling began to move. Its massive dragon head swooped down right in front of my face. “Who told you I was a chandelier? I am Ao Guang, the Dragon God, chief of the divine beasts of China!”

“Ao Guang? I’m not Nezha, so why are you taking your anger out on me?”

“Who is Nezha? What does that have to do with me? Don’t interrupt! You have traveled thousands of miles to come here, so you must be a great hero who wishes to borrow my draconic power to unite the world. I shall now test you to see if you are worthy of possessing my divine power!” The old fellow finished speaking and prepared to fight.

“Wait!” I shouted, stopping him just in time. “Big Bro told me the rest of my equipment is here with you. Look at how pathetic I look right now. Shouldn’t you let me get geared up with the remaining items before we fight?”

The dragon god thought for a moment and said, “Seeing you in these rags (zero durability)… if word got out that I was bullying a junior, it would be shameful. I shall give you the items first. But if you cannot defeat me, I will take them all back!”

“Thank you! Thank you!” I’ve lucked out again!

With a shake of its head, the dragon god completely transformed the surroundings. I suddenly found myself on a vast plain, with no end in sight in any direction. Piled at my feet was a heap of equipment. I hurriedly put it on.

Dark Demonic Dragon’s Wisdom, Helmet, Growth-Type Equipment (all attributes marked with a * change with the player’s level), Durability 1000/1000, *Defense 900, +50% Spellcasting Speed, 5% chance to cause Magical Disruption in the surrounding area (hinders spellcasting), +10% to Mana Cap, 50% Resistance to Mental Magic, Innate Skill: Mind Settle—Temporarily lowers the target’s Luck.

Dark Demonic Dragon’s Concealment, Mask, Growth-Type Equipment, Durability 800/800, *Defense 80, Ignore Poison Effects, +3 meters to Night Vision Range.

Dark Demonic Dragon’s Burden, Pauldrons, Growth-Type Equipment, Durability 1000/1000, *Defense 600, 10% Damage Reflect, +10% Increased Attack Speed, 5% Damage Absorption.

Dark Demonic Dragon’s Grasp, Heavy Gauntlets, Growth-Type Equipment, Durability 1000/1000, *Defense 600, 10% Enhanced Damage, +10% Increased Attack Speed, Innate Skill: Desecrate—Causes a bleeding wound that doesn’t stop until death or purification by a divine spell.

Dark Demonic Dragon’s Struggle, Breastplate, Durability 2000/2000, Complete resistance to Vital Point Strike and Critical Hit.

Dark Demonic Dragon’s Resistance, Shield, Growth-Type Equipment, Durability 2000/2000, Defense 1800, 35% chance of a successful Block (the shield’s Defense is only applied on a successful Block), +10% Damage Reflect, Retaliates against attackers with a Lightning Strike spell equivalent to the player’s level.

Dark Demonic Dragon’s Collection, Belt, Durability 300/300, Adds 5 quick-use item slots, Innate Skill: Collection—Automatically picks up player-designated items dropped by nearby monsters.

Dark Demonic Dragon’s Fangs, Two-handed Sword, Growth-Type Equipment, Durability 1200/1200, Attack Power 250-1250, Swift Attack Speed, 5% Enhanced Damage, 25% chance to Rend wound, 0.1% chance for a Crushing Blow (equipment directly hit is instantly destroyed and cannot be repaired), Freeze Target, Ignore Defense, Inflicts 300 Poison Damage over 100 seconds, 25% Life Steal.

Dark Demonic Dragon’s Tail Sting, Long Spear, Growth-Type Equipment, Durability 1000/1000, *Attack Power 800-1330, Fast Attack Speed, Ignore Defense, +10% chance to Amplify Damage, Burns Mana and causes continuous electrical damage, +10% Life Steal, Innate Skill: Demonic Dragon Heart-Piercing Thrust—A super-fast five-hit combo; if the first hit lands, all five will connect (each subsequent hit deals 5% more damage than the last).

I was drooling all over the floor looking at all this stuff. And just as I expected, the Dark Demonic Dragon series was a full Divine Artifact set! The stats were insane, and it even leveled up automatically! The only thing I was slightly miffed about was that I had been fantasizing about the look of a traditional knight with a one-handed heavy sword and a shield. Instead, I got two shields and two swords. The shields were worn on the upper part of each arm and could also be carried on the back, but they couldn’t be held in hand. The two swords hung on either side of my tassets, and the long spear was slung diagonally across my back. The whole getup looked a bit strange! Still, with the helmet, mask, and all the previous armor pieces put together, it looked incredibly imposing. I just wondered if I’d be trampled to death by the ladies’ white knights if I walked around in such a flashy outfit!

After I had fully equipped the entire set, a surge of malevolent energy erupted from me. The powerful pressure made even the Dragon God before me squirm uncomfortably.

“Alright, kid, you have everything except for the final Wing Blades. I’ve also restored the durability on your other items. We can begin now, can’t we?”

“Sure! Let’s begin!” Still lost in my joy, I agreed without a second thought.

“You’d better be careful. This place of mine is called the God’s Domain. After death, you resurrect on the spot. And don’t even think about drinking health potions; they don’t work here. Even your own natural health regeneration will stop.”

I glanced at my empty belt. “Health potions? I’ve been here for almost two months, I ran out of red potions ages ago!”

“That’s good too, you’ll have fewer distractions! Also, once the battle starts, there are only two ways for you to leave. Either you defeat me and I’ll send you out, or you’ll be killed by me back to level 0 and teleported back to Novice Village!”

“What? A deathmatch? Then aren’t I doomed for sure?”

“You don’t have to worry too much, because I can’t heal either. When you die and resurrect with full health, mine doesn’t replenish at all!”

“That’s still not fair! You’re level 1000. On my side, only three of us are even useful in a fight, and our levels combined are just a little over half of yours. How am I supposed to fight that?” I started to play the victim.

The Dragon God seemed to think I had a point. He was level 1000, while on my side, I was level 24, Lucky was level 80, and Phantom was level 80. The others were all level 0, and those Steel-armored Beasts wouldn’t even survive one hit from him, so they barely counted! Even with my overpowered equipment, I’d at most be considered to have the strength of a level 300 player, but I still couldn’t beat a level 1000 boss like him! “How about this!” The Dragon God, true to his status as a divine beast of China, possessed the virtue of magnanimity in spades. “You don’t have to completely defeat me. Just take off half of my health, and you’ll pass.”

“Half?” I began to calculate the feasibility. “How much is half of your health?”

“My total health is two hundred thousand. Half is one hundred thousand. It’s not that much!”

Boom! I nearly fainted again. “One hundred thousand? You have the nerve to say that? Even if you stood perfectly still and every single one of my attacks ignored your defense and dealt double damage, I’d be hacking away until tomorrow morning! I’d probably die of exhaustion before you did!”

The Dragon God looked troubled. “Then how about we cut that in half again? Fifty thousand!”

“My price, twenty thousand!”

“No way! The Main System will be angry! How about forty thousand?”

“Twenty-five thousand!”

“Thirty thousand!”

“Deal! Thirty thousand it is. And even then, you still have more health than all of us combined! I’m still getting the short end of the stick!” I said, playing the victim even though I’d gotten a great deal.

“Alright! Kid, brace yourself. Five Elements Sealing Array!” The Dragon God did a flip and a massive Taiji symbol smashed down toward me.

I wasn’t an idiot. I turned and ran, but I was a step too slow. The array was too big, and I couldn’t dodge it completely. I got clipped by the edge. “Aargh!” I climbed up from the ground to find I only had a tenth of my health left. It seemed I had just been instantly killed, saved only by Xiao Feng’s Rebirth! But when I turned around, I saw a giant dragon head lunging at me again!

“Help me!” I scrambled to my feet and ran. A wise man doesn’t fight when the odds are against him!

Chapter 13: It’s Finally Over

As I ran, I summoned Phantom and Merged with him. Just as the dragon’s head reached me, I Teleported! I finally dodged it. Oof! The dragon’s tail slapped me, slamming my entire body deep into the ground. By the time I climbed back up, my health was fully restored, but a look at my level showed I was only 219! Damn it, I died once before I even made a move!

Over on the other side, Lucky was playing hide-and-seek with the Divine Dragon. The two of them soared up and down, but Lucky, at over a hundred meters long, was like a child before the Divine Dragon’s nearly thousand-meter length. Smack! A solid whip of its tail sent Lucky plummeting from the sky to the ground, incidentally knocking me into the air as well.

“Phantom, get on the Divine Dragon and disrupt its movements.” Phantom immediately lunged forward. But a crystal bubble-like object instantly appeared around the Divine Dragon, and Phantom was bounced back. “Master, it’s no good! I can’t get on!”

“Come back for now!” I Merged with Phantom once again.

Lucky opened his mouth wide and shot a blast of Dragon Flame at the Divine Dragon. Who would have thought the Divine Dragon would also open its mouth, spitting out a ball of crackling lightning? Not only did it completely shatter the Dragon Flame, it also blasted us to smithereens! This wasn’t working! I had already died twice, Lucky once, and Phantom once, yet the Divine Dragon hadn’t lost a single drop of health.

While I was trying to think of a counter-strategy, Lucky charged in again, this time trying to bite down directly. The Divine Dragon roared, coiling its entire body like a snake and wrapping it around Lucky. With a powerful squeeze, it instantly killed him! The level difference was just too great; we were no match for it at all!

That’s right, I have my crossbow bolts! I quickly took it out, aimed at the Divine Dragon, and fired. I used a Soul-Chasing Arrow; besides this, I figured nothing else could hurt it. The arrow was fired, but the result was less than satisfactory. It just struck the Divine Dragon’s body, making it turn its head and stare at me for a moment. That one arrow had only shaved off 31 health points. Against the thirty thousand required, that was as good as nothing!

For a while after that, the entire space echoed with our miserable cries and the Divine Dragon’s furious roars. Our attacks were nothing more than an itch to the Divine Dragon. We exhausted ourselves covering its body with wounds, but each injury was just a tiny scratch on its skin. In total, we had dealt about 500 points of damage! But the price we paid was far too heavy! Lucky had dropped to level 77, while Phantom and I were both at level 82. The Steel-armored Beasts I had summoned to act as shields were all wiped out! Xiao Feng and Nightshadow had also come out to help for a bit, and while it didn’t matter how many times they died at level 0, their attacks couldn’t even break its defense. They were completely useless!

I couldn’t keep fighting like this! Any longer, and I’d be de-leveled back to level 1 and forcibly sent back to Novice Village! Wait, I just had a crazy idea. “Phantom, Teleport us directly inside its head.”

“What?” Phantom didn’t understand.

“Teleport directly into its head, get me stuck inside, and let me self-destruct.” I explained it in more detail this time, and Phantom finally understood. In this game, if you teleported somewhere that wasn’t an empty space, you would get stuck inside the object and cause an explosion. Although this situation guaranteed death, I was going to die anyway, so I might as well give it a shot.

“Master, get ready. Here we go!”

The two of us deliberately charged toward the Divine Dragon’s massive head. Once we were close enough, Phantom activated Teleport. Our sudden disappearance made the Divine Dragon hesitate for a moment, but a sudden, excruciating pain made it scream and slam its head violently into the ground. The Divine Dragon clutched its head with its claws, shaking it fiercely. The overwhelming pain caused its entire body to start convulsing and thrashing wildly. Although Lucky had received my order to retreat as far as possible, he was still clipped by the thrashing dragon and instantly died again.

The Divine Dragon’s thrashing grew more violent, the pain making it lose control of its power. At the same time, the entire Dark Forest, situated directly above the Dragon’s Lair, began to shake violently. As the Dark Forest was located in the central region of the Chinese game server, it was a high-density area for players. It was surrounded by large cities, so nearly one hundred million players experienced this earthquake firsthand.

The forums were in an uproar because of the earthquake. Amidst the chaos, one particularly strange post went unnoticed by most, but its author vehemently insisted that he was telling the absolute truth.

In fact, people didn’t believe him because his story was too bizarre. The post’s title was “Demon God’s Descent Causes Massive Earthquake.” The content was as follows: Everyone knows about the huge earthquake in the Dark Forest a few days ago. I was leveling at a spawn point in the forest when the earthquake started. The monsters around me all stopped attacking, screamed, and scattered in terror. I was so scared I didn’t know what to do. While I was hesitating whether to run or not, an area in front of me as large as a football field suddenly cracked open. The surrounding trees were all falling over, so my view was wide open. That cracked area first rose up, then suddenly collapsed, and a huge hole appeared. The earthquake stopped after the hole formed, and a cloud of dust blocked my vision. When the dust settled, I saw a Demon God in full black armor with a pair of huge black wings appear in the center of the pit. He looked so cool at that moment, with his blood-red cloak fluttering in the wind, the half-broken sword in his hand, and the ground covered in blood. It was a sight I’ll never forget! If anyone doesn’t believe me, you can go to coordinates XXX, XXX in the Dark Forest to verify it. I guarantee the huge pit is there.

Actually, it wasn’t that no one believed this post. At least one other witness who was there at the time believed it. That person was Chu Rong, who had given herself the in-game name Blood-Red Rose. She was also present that day. She had been even closer to the epicenter than the person who made the post, so she not only luckily witnessed the entire event but also fell into the huge pit and had a close encounter with our protagonist.

Back to the topic at hand. I was stuck inside the Divine Dragon’s head, and my pain was no different from its. The intense agony made me faint for a moment, only to be jolted awake by the sheer pain. It was truly an unforgettable experience! Just when I thought I was about to completely break down, a loud bang, as if it had struck my heart directly, sent a shiver through my whole body. It was followed by a feeling of extreme relief as the pain suddenly vanished. It was truly the most wonderful feeling in the world.

At this moment, I had less than one-tenth of my health left (I had just been Reborn, only to be hit by collapsing earth). That loud bang was the sound of my head and the Divine Dragon’s head exploding together. I looked at my wretched self: the Avenger was nowhere to be found; I held half a Dragon Fang Sword in each hand; the Blade Claws that extended out were sheared off at the root; the Phantom Cloak was riddled with holes; my armor was covered in large and small dents; my entire body was covered in blood, and there was a pool of it on the ground—I estimated a lot of it was the Divine Dragon’s. Lucky’s noticeably smaller body lay not far from me, on the verge of death. The other little ones were in a similar state. I felt something wrong with my face and reached up to touch it. It turned out that only half of my Visor remained; a large piece near my left eye was missing! I wanted to use my Teleportation Ring to return to the City of the Lost, but my body felt as if it had been run over by a steamroller. I was completely unable to move, unable to even perform the slightest motion of turning the ring.

I called up all the help menus to check my stats. It would have been better not to look; a single glance left me completely dumbfounded. My level was actually 81. Although Phantom hadn’t died as many times as I had, due to the restriction that a Magical Pet’s level cannot exceed its master’s, he was also level 81. Lucky, because he had constantly acted as the vanguard and died more frequently, was now only level 76! Looking at my gear, the durability of all my equipment, except for the indestructible pieces, had dropped to the point where they could completely break at any moment. It was a miserable sight! I quickly recalled Lucky and the others, letting them return to the pet space to recover. This time, my losses were truly disastrous. The thing I found most unacceptable was that my Avenger Sniper Crossbow was gone, and I had no idea where it had fallen!

I stood in place for a while (not to act tough, I wanted to sit down, but my body was too stiff). I could finally move a little. I wasn’t in a hurry to teleport back to the City of the Lost; I had to find my precious Avenger first. I found a jutting rock to lean against. I needed to recover my stamina quickly. I hoped I wouldn’t run into any monsters right now!

“Do… you need help?” A voice like an angel’s sounded by my ear.

I whipped my head around warily, but the sudden movement brought a searing pain as it pulled on my wounds. Dammit, I’m bleeding again! I looked at the girl in front of me, who was dressed in a robe of what looked like sackcloth and holding a rotten-looking stick. Although the robe hid her figure, her soul-stirringly large eyes, cute lips, small and gracefully curved nose, and fair, rosy skin all revealed the exceptional beauty of the young girl before me.

“Who are you?” I was too lazy to say another word; my wounds hurt too much!

“I… I’m a normal Player!” The little miss’s voice trembled slightly due to the threat and hostility in my tone. “I know that in this world, you NPCs also fight each other to level up. Don’t worry, I won’t take advantage of you while you’re injured!”

What was she talking about! It was one thing to mistake me for an NPC, but to say she wouldn’t take advantage of me… little sister, don’t you know saying things like that can easily cause misunderstandings! “Do you have any Health Potions?”

“I do!” A happy smile appeared on her face, and for a moment, my heart skipped a beat for no reason. Watching her clumsily rummage around for a long time before finally pulling out a few red bottles for me, I roughly estimated that she was a novice.

I didn’t hold back, opening the bottles and guzzling them down in one go. I finally felt much better!

“Excuse me…?” she began, then hesitated.

“What is it? If it’s something I can do, I’ll consider helping.” I was very interested in this lovely girl. In all these years, there hadn’t been more than three girls who had interested me this much, and she was the most interesting of all.

“Excuse me, since you’re an NPC here, you must be very familiar with this area, right?”

“I wouldn’t say I’m that familiar! But finding things shouldn’t be a problem!” I could tell from the surroundings that this was the Dark Forest. I was very familiar with this place, and besides, I had Phantom, the living map!

“That’s great! Then can you tell me where around here I can find an NPC suitable to be a Magical Pet?”

“What level are you?”

“I’m only level 7, is that too low?” the girl blurted out, not giving me any room to interject. “I knew it! It’s just like they said, my level is too low to capture a Magical Pet!” After saying that, she sat down next to me, looking very dejected.

Suddenly, a strange idea popped into my head. “Seeing as you saved my life, how about I become your Magical Pet?”

“What?” She looked at me in disbelief. “Are you serious? A powerful boss like you must be invincible. If I had such a powerful Magical Pet, I wouldn’t have to hide here!”

“Hiding here? What are you hiding from?”

“It’s all because of those guys, they’re so annoying, swarming me like flies. I only ran into the forest to escape!”

“So that’s how it is! But I need to explain something to you. I’m an untamable NPC, so you can’t Capture me. However, you can be with me by forming a party. When you need me, just call for me in the chat channel. My name is Purple Sun. Just tell me the coordinates, and I’ll arrive immediately. But sometimes, when I have personal matters to attend to, you won’t be able to find me. Still, as long as I’m not busy, I’ll keep you company. Although I’m different from a normal Magical Pet and can’t guarantee I’ll be available on call, I have one advantage: I don’t take up one of your Magical Pet slots. You can still find other Magical Pets to fill the spots later.” Heh heh! I’ll just park my name next to yours for now, and things will be easier later! Don’t blame me, but ever since I was a child, I’ve never failed to get what I’ve set my sights on!

“Okay, okay, okay!” She nodded her head vigorously, looking at me with an intense gaze, as if she might pounce on me at any moment! “Do we need to sign some kind of contract or something?”

“No need, you just have to send me a party invitation.”

“Oh!” As she sent the party invitation, she remarked, “How come you seem so much like a Player?”

Of course, I am one, I thought. But naturally, I couldn’t say that out loud. “Because I’m a humanoid NPC, I’m quite similar to Players!”

“Oh!” The little sister was so gullible and easy to fool!

“Where are you heading now?” I asked.

“I’m about to log off! What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself. Just remember to look for me when you log on.”

“Alright then! Bye-bye!” With that, she logged off.

I was feeling much better now, so I quickly started looking for my Avenger. I rummaged around for a long time but found nothing. Strange, could it be that its durability ran out and it was completely destroyed?

Just as I was busy turning over the earth, a deep, powerful voice suddenly sounded. “Kid! Full of potential, aren’t you?”

I whipped my head around and was so frightened that I fell on my butt, unable to get back up.

Chapter 14: Bankrupt!

“Y-y-y-you’re not dead?” I trembled all over as I looked at the Divine Dragon floating in the sky. It was all over now. Even my suicide attack couldn’t finish him. I guess I’ll have to go back to the Novice Village and start over!

“How could I possibly die? I’m a Divine Dragon!”

I puffed out my chest and declared, “A true man would rather die than bow his head! Go on, kill me and send me back to the Novice Village!”

The Divine Dragon lowered itself, coiling around me. “Don’t worry! You’ve already completed the quest!”

“What? Did I hear that right?”

“No, you heard me correctly. Your final suicide attack was very powerful. It blew away nearly half of my health. You’ve more than completed the quest.”

“Haha! So that’s how it is! Thank you so much! So, what’s my final reward?”

“Don’t be in such a rush!” The Divine Dragon tossed a strange pair of metal wings over to me. “This is the last component of the Dark Demonic Dragon Set, the Wing Blades. Once you equip them, you’ll be able to fly. Plus, they make a great shield.”

I took them and had a look.

Dark Demonic Dragon’s Wings (Armor Attachment), Wing Blades, Durability 1200/1200, Growth-Type Equipment (All attributes marked with an * change according to the player’s level), Defense 800, Block Chance 35%, Special Ability: Flight, Innate Skill: Absolute Barrier — Grants a state of complete invulnerability for twenty seconds (usable once per day).

What a great item! But! “Boss! The item is great, but what am I supposed to do about losing so many levels at once? The highest-level player out there is already level 399, and the average is around two hundred seventy or eighty. What the hell am I supposed to do at such a low level?”

“I told you not to rush!” the Divine Dragon said irritably. “That pile of stuff you’re wearing is all part of the reward. I just gave it to you in advance, so don’t pretend it doesn’t count! Also…” The Divine Dragon gave me a round, black ball.

“Why are you giving me a shot put?”

“You dare call my daughter a shot put?” The Divine Dragon furiously slammed the ground, the shockwave launching me more than a foot into the air. “Fine, don’t take her! I was reluctant to part with my precious daughter anyway!”

“No, no! It’s my fault for not recognizing its value! Your venerable self is magnanimous!” The old dragon was so overpowered, his daughter must be a top-tier specimen too. I was definitely going to be rich! “Who cares about levels? With so many minions, leveling up will be a piece of cake!”

“You sure know how to talk, kid! Well then, I’m off. This old one must go back and report.” The Divine Dragon had just turned to leave when it came back. “Forgot to give you this.”

I took it and saw a glass marble. What was this? I looked at the old dragon, hoping he would explain, but the old geezer turned and vanished in a flash! “You old bastard!” I cursed at the sky. Immediately, a massive pillar of lightning descended from the heavens, blasting me a dozen meters into the air before I fell back down. Thank goodness I had just gotten these wings that can fly, or I’d have been killed by the fall! (When choosing a race, some races have wings, but they can’t be used for flight. Their only purpose is decorative!)

System Prompt: “Player Purple Sun has been attacked by Divine Punishment Thunder!”

That old geezer sure had good hearing! I’ll deal with him later; hatching the little dragon is more important right now. After a bit of work, the small shell cracked open. A little black snake crawled out. What is this thing? The old geezer actually tricked me! I should have realized it sooner. He’s a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, so he should have produced a golden egg, right? How could he lay a black shot put! He must have pulled a switcheroo! On closer inspection, it did look a bit like a dragon because it had two small bumps on its head. Maybe it’ll look more like a dragon when it grows up, I comforted myself. I never found my poor Avenger in the end, so I had to assume it was gone for good. What a shame!

It was already very late, so I teleported back to The Lost City and logged off. Tomorrow is Saturday, so I can play at a leisurely pace without needing to stay up all night.

After a wonderful night’s sleep, dawn finally broke. I had breakfast and logged on. My level was too low now; I had to at least get above level 200! I found Clark to help me repair my equipment, and the result nearly gave me a heart attack. It seems getting a full Divine Artifact set isn’t as simple as just having it drop!

“You’re amazing!” Clark stared in a daze at the equipment I took off.

I said proudly, “It took me two months to get this set! Of course it’s amazing!”

“I’m not saying it’s amazing that you got the equipment. I’m saying it’s amazing you managed to get such powerful equipment into this state! Just look at it! Is this still a Divine Artifact? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were watching a meteor shower and got hit by a meteor!”

“It’s not like I wanted this! But what could I do? Do you have any idea how powerful that old dragon was? Even with this full set, he could still one-shot me whenever he pleased!”

“Let’s not worry about how you damaged it for now. There are some problems with repairing it!”

“What’s wrong?”

“The materials needed to repair a Divine Artifact set include: two point five kilograms of High-Grade Divine Iron, at thirty-five Crystal Coins per kilogram. I have three kilograms, so I can lend you some for now. You also need five hundred thirty-one grams of Blessed Silver, at one hundred Crystal Coins per gram. You can buy that from the Death Mage in the Magic Tower, so it’s basically just a matter of money. Then you need three hundred grams of High-Grade Magic Crystal Powder. You can get this by grinding down Crystal Coins, but each coin only yields zero point five grams, and that’s not even counting losses during grinding. If you happen to sneeze while doing it, well… you’ll also need one hundred eighty-two centimeters of Sky Dragon Crystal Thread. This thread costs five Crystal Coins per centimeter. Your sister-in-law should have some; I can probably get a bit from her for you, no problem. Also, you need three Divine Dragon Teeth. You can’t buy this stuff even if you have the money. What’s your plan for that?”

I summoned Little Dragon Girl (the name I gave the little divine dragon) and Lucky (thankfully, he shrunk after losing levels, or the house would have collapsed). “Divine Dragon Teeth? You mean her teeth or his teeth?”

“A Divine Dragon!” Clark quickly bowed to Little Dragon Girl. “So you have the descendant of a Divine Dragon! But she’s too young. See, her teeth haven’t even grown in yet!”

“That’s easy. I’ll take her out to level up. When she’s older, she’ll lose her baby teeth. It’s just teeth! I’ll have as many as I want then!”

“We can say you have the dragon teeth covered, but there’s more. You need two feathers from the divine bird Bifang. Do you have any?”

I summoned Xiao Feng. “Does it have to be from a Bifang? Can’t I use phoenix feathers instead?”

“You even have a Black Phoenix! That’s wonderful! Phoenix feathers are even better. I only mentioned the Bifang because, while rare, they’re still easier to find than a phoenix. Since you have a genuine phoenix, you don’t need a Bifang! Alright! The next material is three hundred grams of the Blood of Ten Thousand Spirits. What’s your plan for that?”

“What’s this Blood of Ten Thousand Spirits?”

“The Blood of Ten Thousand Spirits is essentially blood, but it’s a mixture of blood from one thousand different types of animals. A Divine Artifact needs not only divine power but also vitality. The Blood of Ten Thousand Spirits is an item brimming with the essence of life. With it, the Divine Artifact will gain life.”

“Are there any restrictions on what kind of animals?”

“Not really, as long as there are one thousand different kinds!”

“Then I’ll figure that out myself. It shouldn’t be too hard!”

“Last one. Your set is the Demonic Dragon Armor, so it also requires a Dragon’s Soul.”

“I can’t bear to trade Little Dragon Girl’s life for a Divine Artifact! I’d rather not have it. The worst that can happen is I won’t have good equipment!” This was a matter of principle I couldn’t compromise on.

Clark said, “I’m not talking about a Divine Dragon, but this kind of dragon!” He pointed at Lucky.

I quickly hugged Lucky’s neck. “That’s even more out of the question! Lucky has been through thick and thin with me for months. Even if I have to go out naked without any equipment, I can’t sacrifice Lucky to repair my gear!”

Lucky seemed moved by my words and kept calling out, but he’d lost too many levels and couldn’t speak anymore! I summoned Phantom to translate. “Master, Lucky says he can take us to the Dragon’s Gorge. It’s a dragon graveyard, and we can find many dragon souls there.”

“Really? That’s great! Lucky is as capable as ever!”

“Alright then! That’s all the items. I’ll help you get the Divine Iron, Blessed Silver, Crystal Powder, and Sky Dragon Crystal Thread. As for the cost, I’ll tally it up for you after the repairs are done. For the rest—the phoenix feathers, Divine Dragon teeth, Blood of Ten Thousand Spirits, and Dragon’s Soul—you’ll have to figure those out yourself!”

“Okay!” I had just walked out when I ran back in. “Uh! Can you lend me a few pieces of ordinary equipment to tide me over for a bit? I can’t just go out like this!”

“There are plenty in the back room. Pick what you want. If you can wear it, you can take it!” Not standing on ceremony, I ran inside and picked out a simple, ordinary set to wear. In any case, I relied mainly on my magical pets for combat and didn’t need to be on the front lines myself, so having weaker gear wasn’t a huge problem!

Next up was my quest for materials. My plan was simple: follow Lucky directly to the Dragon’s Gorge. Along the way, I would level up, kill some monsters, and collect the Blood of Ten Thousand Spirits. By the time I reached the Dragon’s Gorge, Little Dragon Girl’s teeth would probably be big enough, and then I’d just ask Xiao Feng for a couple of feathers. Haha, all my problems solved in one go! I was just about to set off when Clark came over again. “Before you go, let me make this clear. I can waive the repair fee, but I can’t give you the materials for free, especially since I have to buy some of them from others. So, I’ll give you a rough estimate first so you can be prepared.”

“Right, right! Big Bro is right!”

“I’ve calculated it. Besides the special materials we just talked about, there are some common materials, but they’ll be consumed in large quantities, so it’ll still be expensive. All in all, I’ve calculated that you should prepare one hundred fifty thousand Crystal Coins. That should be enough. With one hundred fifty thousand as a base, even if it’s not quite enough, it won’t be off by much!” Thump. “Hey! Bro! What’s wrong? Don’t faint!”

Walking down the road, my steps felt so heavy. One hundred fifty thousand Crystal Coins! Where was I going to get that much! All the cash I had on me was a total of two thousand three hundred sixty-four Crystal Coins. It sounded like a lot, but compared to one hundred fifty thousand, it was just the tip of the iceberg! Although the game now allowed exchanging game currency for real money, I had promised my Dad I wouldn’t spend real money on the game! Money! Money! Money! Money! How was I ever going to get that much money!

After thinking for a long time, I finally made up my mind. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it! I’ll solve the material problem first and worry about the rest later!

Chapter 15: My Personal Little Nurse

I had already been gone for some time when Clark actually chased after me. “Here!”

“A Cloak?” Clark had actually brought the Cloak to me.

“Your journey will be very dangerous. Your Sister-in-law helped you repair the Cloak with Sky Dragon Crystal Thread and had me bring it to you first.”

“Thank you so much! I’ll definitely find the other materials.”

After three days of travel, we had all reached level 193. We finally arrived at the foot of a mountain range. After repeatedly asking Lucky, I confirmed that this was the only way to get to Dragon’s Gorge. I scanned the area and found it teeming with magical beasts called Snow Mountain Demonic Wolves. They were level 300, but had no special abilities. A perfect place to level up! But there seemed to be a few too many of them around. I quickly summoned my little minions and joined the battle myself. Although we were nearly one hundred levels lower than these wolves, we could barely hold on thanks to my minions’ strength. The only problem was that we were going through healing potions rather quickly. Good thing I’d prepared a lot before leaving!

After grinding for two days, we all reached level 212. As we were about to press on, my private message alert suddenly chimed.

“Purple Sun?” a timid voice came through.

“Rose?” I recognized the voice of Blood-Red Rose (the young lady I saved) immediately. It was strange that she hadn’t contacted me for so many days. “Do you need my help?”

“Yes!” Rose confirmed gravely. “I’m in some trouble!”

“Coordinates?”

“xxx,xxx”

“I’ll be right there!”

Rose heard the words “right there” in the private chat, and then the word “there” appeared right beside her ear. Everyone, including Rose, stared in astonishment at me, the guy who had just popped out of nowhere. Only then did I realize there were quite a few people around. It turned out thirteen people had formed a circle, with Rose and me in the center.

“Seven of you, deal with her Magical Pet! The rest, take care of her! Split them up and finish them off!” one of them, who looked like the leader, commanded.

I wasn’t arrogant enough to think I could take on thirteen people, especially when I was so many levels lower. I grabbed Rose, twisted my Teleportation Ring, and vanished. The two of us immediately reappeared where I had just been leveling up, but this time, I found a tree and landed directly in its branches. “Are you alright?”

Rose struggled out of my arms (I was holding her on purpose). “I… I… I’m fine.” The little lady was quite shy. She looked to be only about eighteen, maybe not even an adult yet!

“Why were they ganging up on you?”

“I one-shotted their Boss!”

“What?” I glanced at her name, and sure enough, it was red. “What’s your Profession? How are you so powerful? Yesterday you said you were only level 90 or so, and you can already one-shot people?”

“I’m level 210 now. I’m a Half-angel specializing as a Resurrection Mage.”

“Isn’t Resurrection Mage an Auxiliary Profession? How are you so strong?”

“My Resurrection Mage isn’t an auxiliary class; it’s a unique profession. I don’t have an auxiliary or a combat profession. My one and only profession is Resurrection Mage. According to the system’s help files, it should be a Hidden Profession. Besides the skills to resurrect Players, my Resurrection Mage skills also include ones that can be used for combat.”

“That sounds like a pretty good profession! Can I see your skills?”

“Sure!” Rose opened her skill window and set it to party-visible mode. I took a look. Besides the standard Resurrection and Life Lock skills of a normal Resurrection Mage, she had several others. One was called Life Flame, which could burn an opponent’s life force to deal damage. I noted that this skill actually had an Ignore Defense attribute, and at the rate it burned, it would eventually kill anyone, no matter how much health they had. I also noticed a skill called Paean of Life, which could quickly heal multiple targets over a large area! After looking for a while, I couldn’t find any skill capable of one-shotting someone, but I did see many very useful support skills! I absolutely couldn’t let this girl get away. She was the ultimate partner for everything, from traveling to killing!

“So how did you one-shot him? I don’t see any skills capable of that.”

Rose’s face turned red all the way to her neck. She whispered, “He kept hovering around me, saying lewd things, so I used this to stab him… there!” As she spoke, she took out a green dagger.

I took it and finally understood. Besides its normal attack, the dagger had only one skill: Corrosion. Just imagine… taking a stab wound there, and with a corrosion effect on top of it. No man could survive that! A moment of silence for that unlucky fellow!

“You’re not an NPC, are you?” Rose suddenly asked.

“You’re not that silly, are you?” I didn’t answer directly.

“I was just a bit dazed by you at the time. The moment I logged off, I figured it out. That’s why I didn’t look for you when I got on this morning.”

“Then why did you look for me just now?”

“I had no choice! I couldn’t take on that many people alone, so I called you to save me!”

“It seems we’re truly fated to meet!”

“Fated?” Rose looked at me. “How are we fated?”

“Because I remember we’ve met outside the game!”

“You’ve seen me in the real world?”

“That’s right!” I just smiled without answering.

“Let me see your face!” Rose said, lunging toward me. “I have a photographic memory. If I’ve seen you, I’ll definitely remember!”

“Is that so?” I said, fending her off with my hands.

“Of course it’s true! I’m only a freshman, but I’ve already finished all my university courses thanks to this talent!” She was still trying to pull off my cloak’s hood.

“You can see it! But on one condition!”

“Name it!” She finally sat back on her branch, abandoning her plan to use brute force.

“After I show you, you have to level up with me every day. Your support skills are ridiculously effective for leveling. If you had a strong attack skill of your own, you’d probably be over level 400 by now!”

“Deal! Leveling up alone is tiring anyway, and I get annoyed just looking at those disgusting guys when I party with them!”

I placed my hand on the brim of my hood and said, “But I’m a guy too, you know?”

“You? You’re the last leaf on a rotten head of cabbage that hasn’t completely rotted yet. Though you’re starting to decay, you’re not beyond saving!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Are you going to let me see or not?” Rose asked anxiously, looking ready to resort to violence again. How could she be so different from the shy girl from a moment ago?

“I’ll do it myself!” I flipped the entire hood back.

“Ah! Older sister!”

“Aah! Don’t come over here!”

“Oww!”

“Ah!”

“My god!”

“Help!”

“Ouch!”

“Hey… argh…! Why did you have to lunge at me like that?” I rubbed my aching back, twisting my body until my bones popped back into place with a crack. “Are you trying to murder me? You don’t have to kill me to silence me just because you don’t want to admit you know me!” The moment she saw my face, she had thrown herself at me with so much force that we both tumbled out of the tree. Luckily, we hadn’t climbed that high. Pity the poor Snow Mountain Demonic Wolf that was under the tree; it was now a meat pancake!

I pulled Rose back up the tree. I wasn’t brave enough to sit and chat on the ground with so many demonic wolves around. “Are you trying to get us killed? A girl needs to have some self-control! I know I’m handsome, but you don’t have to be so excited!”

“Haha! Haha! Older sister, you’re so funny! By the way, older sister, where did you get a cloak like this? Wearing this, no more disgusting men would come and harass me!”

“Stop!” I quickly cut her off. “Do you remember me? I did modify my appearance a bit, you know!”

“Of course I remember! There are some modifications, but I would never forget such a beautiful older sister!” Rose looked at me with a beaming smile. “I told you I have a photographic memory, and you didn’t believe me! Aren’t you the older sister who saved me when I was getting my account that day?”

“What a great memory! A pity your eyesight is so bad!”

“Huh? Bad eyesight?”

“Let me tell you this one more time, very seriously. I am a man. Male. A guy!” I grabbed her by the shoulders and said with great solemnity.

She nodded vigorously. “But older sister! You don’t look like a man at all!”

I was about to go crazy. “One more time, I’m a man! You should call me older brother, not older sister!”

“But older sister…”

“Older brother!”

“Alright! Older brother! Are you really a man?”

I was so furious I was tempted to just pin her down and prove it! “Last time, I’m a man! If you call me the wrong thing again, I won’t be so polite!”

It took the entire morning to finally sort out my gender issue. I nearly went crazy and was on the verge of forcing the point! It just about killed me, but in the end, she finally and thoroughly accepted that I was male! Why am I so unlucky?

After that, we arranged a time to level up together. With this super-nurse by my side, things were really convenient. We charged straight to the mountain peak to level up. The most common monsters here were level 300 Snowmen. These guys seemed to have something wrong with their heads. They all looked strong and burly, but they were all ranged attackers. They loved to attack us with snowballs, but although their snowballs had considerable attack power, their accuracy was abysmal. As long as you weren’t standing still, you would rarely get hit.

I always had my group of minions charge ahead, while Rose sat on a high rock behind us. Whenever one of us got hit, she’d cast a healing spell or something, and from time to time she would even buff us with Attack Enhancement, Defense Enhancement, or Magic Resistance. With Rose’s help, I gained ten levels in one afternoon. I saw that Nightshadow was now high enough level to be ridden and wanted to take him for a spin, but残念ながら, the slope of the mountain was too steep to ride a horse, so I had to give up!

Rose said excitedly that she was already level 219, and she had never leveled up so fast before. Rose said her skills could give a level 210 person the power of a level 225, but she herself had no combat power. In the past, she could only fight monsters twenty or thirty levels lower than her, so her level was not high despite spending a lot of time online!

“What are your plans after dinner? Are you going to keep playing?” I asked.

Rose thought for a moment and said, “I’ll probably keep playing until midnight before I rest.”

“Alright then, wait for me here when you get online. We’ll work hard again tonight. I’m going to try to reach level 225!”

“Are you logging off now? I’m about to.”

“Me too. See you tonight!”

Chapter 16: Leaving the Great Snow Mountains

“Purple Sun? Why are you always collecting the blood of these monsters?” Having followed me for nearly a week and watching me collect blood every day, Rose finally couldn’t contain her curiosity and asked.

“It’s a material. My equipment is damaged, and I can’t repair it without this stuff!” I replied, my hands never stopping their work. Only after squeezing out the last few drops of Snow Bear blood did I finally put away my tools.

Rose inquisitively ran over to my side and watched me start collecting the blood of a Snow Mountain Ice Fox. “Aren’t there a few more bears over there?” she asked strangely. “How much blood can you get from a small fox?”

“This material I’m collecting is called the Blood of Ten Thousand Spirits, meaning the blood of ten thousand different living beings. But that’s an exaggeration; in reality, the blood of a thousand living beings counts as Blood of Ten Thousand Spirits. The requirement is a wide variety of species. Sticking to one animal is useless, even if you collect several large barrels of its blood!”

“There’s such a strange thing?” Rose quickly ran off, only to return a moment later with a strange little animal in her hands. “A Snow Mountain Hamster, a new species!”

I smiled, took it from her, and began to draw its blood. The little hamster didn’t have much, and I was done in no time. “Let’s go!”

“How many have you collected so far?”

I did a quick calculation. “I already have four hundred and seventy-three types. But once we’re out of the Snow Mountains, there will be more animal species, so it’ll be easier to collect there. Right now, I’m just gathering some along the way to save time!”

“What equipment are you trying to repair, anyway? I’ve repaired equipment before, and it seems different items require different materials. For example, this top-tier Mage Staff of mine!” She held up the staff in her hand. “This is my treasured protective weapon, the Life Staff. Don’t be fooled by its ordinary appearance; it’s incredibly useful! You know why I can be a dedicated Resurrection Mage? It’s all because of this! It was originally a quest trigger item, and after I completed the quest, they gave it to me as a reward!”

“So that’s a Mage Staff? I always thought you were afraid of slipping and found yourself a walking stick!”

Hearing my words, Rose’s face immediately flushed red. “You…! Hmph! You have no taste!” Snatching the staff back from my hand, Rose said angrily, “It’s a rare piece of equipment that enhances support skills, you know? My Resurrection spell’s success rate is even higher than an NPC Resurrection Mage’s because of it. The reason I can maintain my current level is also because of this. Normally, my leveling speed would be even slower. But because my Resurrection spell is so good, I earned a lot of money and was able to level up by chugging ‘potions’, barely managing to ‘maintain’ this leveling speed.”

Seeing that Rose seemed a little angry, I softened my tone and tried to change the subject. “It certainly sounds like a good item then! You just mentioned earning money with your Resurrection spell. How do you do that?”

“Isn’t it simple!” Rose gave me a look that said, you’re an idiot. “I resurrect people, and they pay me. It’s that simple!”

“Aren’t there NPC Resurrection Mages in the city? People don’t necessarily have to look for you, do they?”

“The Resurrection Mages in the city charge one Gold Coin per revival. While I also charge one Gold Coin, my success rate is higher than the NPCs’. Players who don’t want to take the risk have to come to me. Besides, the NPCs are all in the city, whereas I stand right at the edge of the leveling zone, leveling up and resurrecting people at the same time. Tell me, would you rather wait for two minutes on the spot after dying, get teleported back to the city, spend one Gold Coin to gamble on your luck with an NPC Resurrection Mage, or would you rather find me right after you die, pay the same price for a much higher chance of being revived on the spot?”

“Wait! How much did you say the revival fee was?”

“One Gold Coin. What’s wrong?”

“Isn’t it fifty-five Crystal Coins?” I sensed something was wrong.

Rose said, astonished, “Fifty-five Crystal Coins? Are you kidding me? Do you think the newest players, who die the most, have that kind of money to get resurrected? I actually think even one Gold Coin is a bit expensive. There are still many Players who can’t afford the one Gold Coin fee and have to wait twelve hours for automatic Rebirth (that’s real-world time; the countdown continues even when you’re offline)! The monsters in this game rarely drop anything, especially money!”

“Argh! I’ve been scammed!”

I suddenly clutched my head, squatted down, and let out a huge yell, startling Rose.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Last time I was leveling up with a friend, my friend got killed. When we went to resurrect him, the NPC demanded fifty-five Crystal Coins from us!”

“And you paid it?” Rose asked in disbelief.

“Yeah! I didn’t know back then that one Gold Coin was enough! If I’d known, I wouldn’t have paid so much!”

Rose clutched her stomach, squatting on the ground in laughter. “Haha! You’re so dumb, getting scammed by an NPC! Haha! Haha! That’s hilarious!”

“No wonder the company said that NPC was malfunctioning! So it wasn’t just robbery he was up to!”

“You’re pretty rich, huh? You just casually handed over fifty-five Crystal Coins?”

“I just happened to have some money on me at the time, and that guy gave off a really uncomfortable vibe, so I was in a hurry to leave and didn’t pay attention to these things!”

“Don’t be sad!” Rose actually came over and patted my back. “I’ve noticed that when I’m with you, the monster drop rate is really high! It probably won’t take long to save up a lot of money!”

“That’s perfectly normal!” This was my proudest point. “I got a base Luck bonus when I created my character, and I have a ring that adds 7 Luck!”

“That much? What is it? Let me see!”

I held out the hand wearing the Starfall Ring, turning the ring towards her while making its properties visible. “What do you think?”

Rose was completely dumbfounded, staring at my ring with her mouth agape in a most unladylike manner, drool about to trickle out! “You managed to get something like this? That’s insane!”

“Why not?” I pulled my hand back, and only then did she remember to wipe the drool from the corner of her mouth. “This was a reward item from a level 1000 boss.” I pointed at Lucky. “He was originally a level 1000 boss, but I managed to Capture him by chance, and the system gave me this as a reward.”

“Your ‘Lucky’ is a level 1000 boss dragon? Isn’t he a pseudo-dragon? Then that one you call Little Dragon Girl couldn’t possibly be…?”

“That’s right!” I nodded. What’s so strange about that? I summoned all my underlings. “Lucky is the level 1000 boss, the Black Dragon King. Little Dragon Girl is the level 1000 boss, the Divine Dragon. Xiao Feng is the level 999 boss, the Hell Black Phoenix. Nightshadow is the level 800 boss, Nightmare. Phantom is the level 600 boss, the Mutant Spirit Body.”

“Are you a GM?” Rose’s eyes were wide as she stared at me. “That’s too amazing! At first, I thought Lucky was a level 0 pseudo-dragon, Little Dragon Girl was a level 230 mutated horned python, Xiao Feng was a level 300 fire crow, and Nightshadow was a level 80 black wild horse! And there’s this Phantom… I just found out you had something like this. Why haven’t you used it before?”

Before I could speak, Phantom piped up, “Who says I haven’t been out? I’m the one who’s on stage the longest every time. My special skill is ‘Merge’, so I’m always connected to my master. It’s perfectly normal that you can’t see me!”

“It can talk?” Rose tried to ‘touch’ ‘it’, but her hand passed right through. After a few more tries, she still couldn’t grab anything.

I said, “Don’t waste your energy. Phantom is a spiritual entity; it has no physical form!”

“Having no form is great!” Phantom said itself. “At least I’m not afraid of physical attacks. When a warrior runs into me, I can make them die any way I want! As for weaknesses, I guess the only one is that while I’m immune to physical attacks, I also have no physical attack power myself!”

“How do you fight without any attack power?”

“My attack method is a bit more troublesome. Basically, I make my enemies ‘commit suicide’. I can ‘control’ their actions.”

“Ah!” Rose suddenly screamed, slowly standing up and walking towards me. At the same time, she began to slowly pull open her tattered mage robe. “My body…! What’s happening!”

Seeing Rose about to strip herself naked, her fair thighs swaying in a way that was starting to get a reaction out of me! I had to stop this before something happened! “Phantom! Stop bullying her!”

“Oh!” Phantom reluctantly withdrew from her body. So this little guy was a ‘pervert’ too. I just don’t know if it’s male or female!

Rose suddenly regained control of her body and hastily pulled her clothes shut. “Phantom! What do you think you’re doing!”

“I was just giving a live demonstration to help you understand more thoroughly! If I can command you to take off your clothes, I can command a team of Players to attack each other. When there’s only one person left alive, I can command him to toss out a Return Scroll! And then… hehehe…”

Rose got goosebumps all over. “You’re more demonic than a demon!”

“How am I that scary?” Phantom disagreed with Rose’s assessment. “Watch your back!” As Phantom spoke, Rose felt her body suddenly roll to the side, and a snow leopard leaped through the spot where she was just standing. “See? Didn’t I say I was useful!” Phantom popped out again and controlled the snow leopard’s body, making it spin in place.

I went up and killed the snow leopard in a few hits, collected its blood, and said, “Let’s not dally here. We’re not out here camping. I still have a mission to do!”

“A mission?” Rose brushed the snow off herself. “Is it that equipment repair mission?”

“Yes!” I took the lead and walked off. If I didn’t get going, it seemed she was interested in holding a symposium with me right here!

Rose followed. “What kind of equipment repair needs blood? My cloth robes only need thread, my staff needs mercury and wood, and armor needs iron and silver. I’ve never heard of anything needing blood, and so much of it at that!”

“I’m repairing a Divine Artifact!”

“You have a Divine Artifact?”

“Nonsense! Isn’t that ring I just showed you one?”

“That’s one too? I was so focused on the ‘attributes’ that I didn’t notice its rank. So it’s a Divine Artifact! But thinking about it, that makes sense. It would be strange if something so powerful wasn’t a Divine Artifact!”

“We finally reached the summit!” I suddenly stopped and gazed at the vast grassland in the distance. From the mountaintop, the great plains looked like a giant green carpet. The dense trees at the edge of the grassland, where it meets the mountain, formed the ‘fringed’ border of this carpet. In the distance, one could vaguely see huge herds of beasts moving slowly (at such a distance, even fast movement looks slow).

Rose stood beside me as well. “It’s so beautiful! I told you this way was faster, but you didn’t believe me! See, the path you mentioned leads to the highest peak. We’re not trying to climb to the summit; taking this pass through the lower mountains is much easier than going over the very top!”

“I never knew such beautiful ‘scenery’ existed in the mortal world!” Phantom also chimed in. “But it’s still not as good as my homeland!”

Lucky also got ‘into’ the spirit and let out a resounding dragon’s ‘roar’, and then something terrible happened! (Guess what it is?)

Chapter 17: How a Demon is Made?

Lucky’s resounding roar, normally impressive enough to be heard for miles, was on a whole other level on this mountaintop today! Over the past week in the Great Snow Mountains, we had killed quite a few monsters, so my band of underlings and I had all reached level 272. At such a high level, Lucky’s roar was even more resonant. This time, it wasn’t just the small animals that were scared stiff—the very mountain began to tremble.

“

“

“What’s going on? Why is it shaking so much?” Rose asked, holding onto me to try and find her balance.

“

“

“Oh no! An avalanche!” I saw a colossal wave of snow on a nearby peak surging toward us.

“

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“Run!” Rose yelled, pulling me to rush down the mountain.

“

“

“We can’t! We can’t outrun an avalanche!” I recalled Nightshadow, Little Dragon Girl, and Phantom. “Lucky! Fly me up! Xiao Feng, you take Rose!”

“

“

I nimbly climbed onto Lucky’s back, while Xiao Feng simply grabbed Rose by the shoulders and took off directly. Unfortunately, we were a step too slow. Lucky’s large body made for a difficult takeoff. We had just left the ground when the avalanche hit. With a tremendous roar, Lucky and I were swept up in the snow, hurtling down the mountain with the white torrent at an unbelievable speed. Although Xiao Feng was nimbler, carrying a person into the air was a difficult maneuver she had never practiced. She finally struggled into the air, but the edge of the avalanche caught Rose’s leg and pulled her down. Xiao Feng, who might have escaped, suddenly lost her load and couldn’t find her balance. The turbulence caused by the avalanche was also incredibly troublesome, so the one who could have been saved was also dragged into the snowdrift.

“

“

I felt myself being shoved and tossed around in the snow, forced into countless strange and difficult positions before a massive impact threw me high into the air, only to be slammed back into the snow by a giant wave. My ears had long gone deaf to the sounds of Xiao Feng and the others, and I had no idea where Lucky had gone. All in all, I figured my chances of survival were slim.

“

“

What I didn’t know was that shortly after we were swept away, Lucky, relying on the immense strength and brutish power of his draconic body, managed to break free from the avalanche’s force. Using the downhill momentum, Lucky forced his wings open and actually pulled himself out of the snow. Unlike Xiao Feng’s soft, slender feathers, Lucky’s broad, powerful wings were exceptionally strong and enormous. The turbulence that had been a problem before couldn’t affect the flight performance of these massive wings at all; he had only been dragged in because he was caught off guard at the moment of takeoff! Ascending into the air, Lucky flew at high speed just above the surface of the avalanche, searching for us. The first to be saved was Xiao Feng. Her jet-black, lustrous feathers were impossible to miss in the white torrent.

“

“

Lucky swooped past the face of the snow, accurately plucking Xiao Feng out with his foreclaws. He carried her high into the air and released her. With enough altitude, she easily resumed flying. The next to be found was Rose. As the avalanche passed over a small cliff resembling a ski jump, it fortuitously tossed her high into the air. The swift Xiao Feng dove down and caught her in an instant.

“

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Finally, there was poor me, drifting with the current. The entire world felt like it was shaking. I tumbled over and over in the snow, front somersaults and back somersaults, until my head was spinning and full of stars. How pitiful! By the time the avalanche neared the foot of the mountain, I was barely hanging on! I rushed down the mountain along with the avalanche, my last impression being that I had crashed into something before I blacked out.

“

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————————————————————————

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“Boss! You’re finally awake!” Rose’s voice sounded so strange! I opened my eyes to see Ah Wei’s face.

“

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“Ah Wei? What are you doing here?”

“

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“I was about to ask you the same thing! How did you suddenly appear at the Resurrection Mage’s station in The Lost City?”

“

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“What? I’m in The Lost City?”

“

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“You bet you are! I was leveling up in the Death Plains outside The Lost City. I came back to the Mage Tower to see if I could buy any scrolls or something and saw your soul suddenly appear in the resurrection hall. Then the Resurrection Mage revived you. (The resurrection fee is automatically deducted. That swindler NPC from before charged more than the system’s set fee, which is why he had to ask us for it directly. System-mandated fees are deducted automatically.) Oh, right, your resurrection failed, so you lost an extra level! I saw you were unconscious, so I carried you back here!”

“

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“Where is this?” I looked around the room, which felt unfamiliar.

“

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“This is an inn in The Lost City, a room I rented. Boss, how did you get killed and sent back here? Weren’t you on a quest? Did you fail?”

“

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“My quest finished a long time ago! I was leveling up with a girl when we got caught in an avalanche!”

“

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“Holy crap! So you’re the one who caused that avalanche this afternoon? No wonder your name is so red it’s almost black, and it’s even flashing!”

“

“

“What?” I quickly opened my status window. “Ah!” My Evil Index was a staggering one hundred twenty-six thousand, three hundred and twenty-two! And from that new set of equipment I just got from Clark, the Vambraces, armor, Helmet, and Tassets all dropped. At least the Ring and Bracelet didn’t drop, thank goodness!

“

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“Well? How much is it? Boss, just how many people did you kill? To get a name that red!”

“

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“I killed people?”

“

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“You don’t know yet?”

“

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“What on earth happened?”

“

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“Don’t worry, listen to me.” Ah Wei sat up straight, as if he were about to recite a great historical text, and even cleared his throat with a couple of coughs. “According to reliable sources, at around eleven o’clock this morning, a rare, massive avalanche occurred on the Great Snow Mountains next to the leveling spot outside Rising Cloud City. At the time, Leafy Woods, the leveling spot at the foot of the mountain, was crowded with a large number of players. Due to the suddenness of the avalanche, and the fact that no such event had ever happened before, the players panicked and forgot to use their teleportation scrolls, resulting in a large number of players being buried alive.”

“

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“No way. Did it really kill a lot of people?”

“

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Just as Ah Wei was about to answer, I clapped a hand over his mouth, having heard a system announcement. “Attention all players! Attention all players! This is a system announcement! The game’s number one demon, Purple Sun, has an Evil Value exceeding one hundred thousand. A kill-on-sight order has now been issued for this player in the China region. Whoever kills this player will receive one random reward from the system, one thousand reputation points, and the bounty pooled by other players.” The system repeated this message five times! How depressing! Now I was public enemy number one!

“

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“Boss! You’re so amazing! As expected of my Boss, even when you do something bad, you do it so thoroughly! I’m impressed!”

“

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While I was wallowing in my misery, my private message suddenly chimed. “Purple Sun! Where are you?” It was Rose!

“

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“I’m in The Lost City!”

“

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“Aren’t you a red name?”

“

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“Red name? Of course! So red it’s almost black!” I said with a self-deprecating laugh.

“

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“Then how did you get into the city? I’m a red name now too, my Evil Value is really high. The city NPCs attack me on sight, and there’s a ton of players chasing me to kill me!”

“

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“Where are you? Give me your coordinates!” The moment I got her coordinates, I appeared beside her. There really was a large group of people chasing her. I quickly teleported with her back to the room Ah Wei had rented.

“

“

The moment Ah Wei saw Rose, he greeted her enthusiastically, “So this is Sister-in-law! Hello, I’m Soulless, but Sister-in-law can call me Ah Wei. The Boss and I have been friends since we were kids, we practically grew up sharing a pair of pants! So, uh, Sister-in-law, if you have any older or younger sisters, be sure to remember your little brother here!”

“

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Rose was so taken aback by the character in front of her that she didn’t know what to say. The constant ‘Sister-in-law’ address made her face flush red. “Hello! I’m Blood-Red Rose, you can call me Rose. I’m not… he and I aren’t really anything!”

“

“

Ah Wei immediately replied, “No need to explain to me! I can tell what Big Bro is thinking with just one look. Well, I won’t disturb you two. I’ll be on my way!” Without giving us a chance to explain, Ah Wei dashed out of the room.

“

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I wasn’t in the mood to joke around with Ah Wei, so I quickly had Rose sit down to discuss serious matters. “Looks like your name is pretty red too. What’s your Evil Value?”

“

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“Over thirty thousand!”

“

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“All I remember is being buried by an avalanche. How did I wake up as the number one demon?”

“

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“I think it might be because Lucky triggered the avalanche, so everyone who was buried is counted as being killed by Lucky. But since Lucky is your magical pet, the Evil Value was added to you, and since I was in your party, I got implicated too!”

“

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“No way!”

“

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“It must be! Because I inexplicably leveled up five times during the avalanche. The only possibility is that all the experience from the people and monsters killed by the avalanche went to the two of us. This also indirectly explains why we have red names!”

“

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“That makes sense! Oh, right! How come you were near Rising Cloud City? After I died, I was sent directly back to The Lost City!”

“

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“The Lost City?”

“

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“That’s right! This place is basically a Red Name Village, but it only accepts players with a seriously high red name status. With our Evil Values, there’s no escaping this place!”

“

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“I see! But I didn’t die!”

“

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“What? You managed to survive that?”

“

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“I was rescued!” Rose recounted how Xiao Feng had saved her. “Later, while we were flying just fine, Xiao Feng suddenly vanished. I guess you must have died, which caused Xiao Feng to disappear along with you. But by then, the avalanche was mostly over, so I survived!”

“

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“You’re really lucky to be alive!” I suddenly said, my spirits falling. “I’m sorry! It’s all my fault you ended up a red name like this!”

“

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“It’s nothing! You didn’t know an avalanche would happen. Besides, I have something to apologize to you for, too!”

“

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“What is it?” I stared at her, stunned.

“

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“Remember when we first met, and I told you my name?”

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“Lin Lijia. I remember it clearly!”

“

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“That was a lie! My real name isn’t Lin Lijia. My real name is Chu Rong.”

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“If you intended to hide your name, why are you telling me now?”

“

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“Because after spending so much time with you, I’ve discovered you have many good qualities. My grandma says that online, people aren’t bound by rules and restrictions, and that’s where a person’s true nature comes out. Some people act all sanctimonious in society, but once they’re online where everything is virtual, they become evil. In this world with no restraints, everyone shows their true self. Take me, for example! What do you think my personality is like?”

“

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“You’re very lively, you love to laugh, and you enjoy helping people. Oh, and you’re good at business. You have a great mind for economics!”

“

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“Actually, in the real world, I’m very quiet. Many of my friends still think I’m a shy, well-behaved girl. But this, right now, this is who I am on the inside. This is my true self! Do you know why my online name is Blood-Red Rose? Because it’s a rebellious release. I want to completely shed the image of a ‘good girl,’ the feeling of being weak. Here, I can laugh and be boisterous as I please because no one knows me. There’s almost no chance of me intersecting in real life with the people around me here, so I don’t have to be responsible for anything I do! That feeling is called freedom!”

“

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I sat there, looking at the girl in front of me. In that moment, I understood that she was a girl I absolutely could not let go of.

Chapter 18: A New Decision

“

“

“Now that you put it that way, I think it makes a lot of sense! During my childhood, I was always surrounded by people (bodyguards), but I just grew more and more lonely! Being alone isn’t true loneliness. True loneliness is when you’re in the middle of a crowd but realize there’s not a single person you can connect with…”

“

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It was like a floodgate had opened, and I poured out my inner turmoil. But Rose’s next words nearly made me pass out. “So you’ve had a hard life too! You must have grown up in an orphanage, right? It must be so pitiful to be surrounded by so many people but have no one to confide in!”

“

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“No…”

“

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Before I could explain, she cut me off, throwing herself into my arms and bursting into tears. “Don’t move! Let me rest for a moment, just a moment!” Her words stopped my attempt to push her away. “My family wasn’t a warm one. My mother passed away when I was very young, and my father married a stepmother. They were both devils. They never liked me, especially after my stepmother had my younger brother! The only person who was good to me was my grandma, but she passed away a few years ago too! But compared to you, I’m much luckier. At least I had a grandma who loved me, unlike life in an orphanage!”

“

“

What is all this?! How did I suddenly become an orphan? This girl’s imagination really runs wild! Wait a minute! Weren’t we supposed to be thinking about our red name problem? How did this turn into a pity party? I quickly shook Rose awake. She had actually fallen asleep comfortably in my arms! “Are you kidding me? Are we the kings of going off-topic or what? I thought we were discussing our red names!”

“

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“Oh, right! Weird! How did we get so sidetracked!”

“

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“Never mind that. What’s your plan now? You won’t be able to clear your red name anytime soon, so what are you going to do?”

“

“

“Same as always. I’ll follow you to level up, do quests, and clear my red name. Isn’t that what we’ve been doing these past few days?”

“

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“But things are different now. You’ve been red-named before, but since then, you’ve been following me through remote, deserted areas. It’s not the same anymore. My destination is Dragon Valley. The first part of the journey is through mountains far from any city, but the rest of the way involves crossing through densely populated cities. We can’t just run around in a crowd as two majorly red-named players. What if we get chased by thousands of people?”

“

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“Is it that scary?” Rose still seemed unconvinced. “If we don’t bother them, why would they hunt us down?”

“

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“Well, there are many reasons. First, being red-named means we’ve definitely killed people, so some do-gooders will want to eliminate us to rid the world of evil. Second, we caused that avalanche outside Rising Cloud City that buried several thousand people alive. It’s almost certain they won’t let us off the hook. Besides, those people won’t be leveling up alone. Everyone has friends both in and out of the game, and those friends will become our enemies. Third, it’s easy to get equipment drops from killing red-named players. As far as I know, a red-named player will drop at least one or two items upon death. And players are generally easier to deal with than monsters, so killing red-named players for their gear is much easier and more profitable than killing monsters! Finally, killing red-named players doesn’t increase your Evil Value; in fact, you get a reputation reward. With all these reasons, are you still not worried about being hunted? Besides, you heard the system announcement. I’m now a system-recognized demon. There’s even a bounty for killing me. I bet the professional bounty hunters have already started investigating us!”

“

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“Then what do we do? We’re finished! This is all your fault! With my status as a Resurrection Mage, I was planning on becoming an angel admired by all. I never thought I’d become a little demoness before I could even become an angel!” I deliberately stared at the top of Rose’s head. She kept touching her hair under my gaze. “What are you looking at? Is there something on my head?”

“

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“No! I just think your two little demon horns need trimming. They’ve grown longer!”

“

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“You!” A cup flew towards me, but I dodged it. “Murder! You’ll get Evil Value for this!”

“

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“Pfft! Aren’t you red-named? Killing you would clear my red name!”

“

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“You’re red-named too, you should just kill yourself!” The two of us wrestled playfully. Suddenly, the door was pushed open, and Ah Wei’s head appeared in the doorway. Ah Wei froze the moment he saw us. I was lying on the floor with Rose straddling me, her hands on my waist (we were tickling each other). “Ah! You’re busy! I didn’t see anything, carry on, carry on!” Ah Wei immediately shut the door and fled.

“

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“Get back here!” I scrambled up and chased after him. Rose, bright red, also quickly got up and straightened her clothes.

“

“

After dragging Ah Wei back, I learned that the kid had come to bring us some intel. “I just used the in-game forum browser to check the forums. The hottest thread is the one about your avalanche incident. They even posted pictures of you two!”

“

“

“What? Who posted it? How did they get pictures of us?”

“

“

“It’s from player screenshots. And another player even recorded the entire avalanche.”

“

“

“They have that?” Rose immediately opened the forums in-game and set it to public display. I instantly saw the pictures. There was only one of me, but I was face down in a snowdrift, half-buried. The only identifiable thing was a large section of my Phantom Cloak spread out. No one could possibly recognize me from a photo like that. But there were many more of Rose. They had a whole series of pictures of her, strung together like an animation! But she was photographed while falling from high up, so her figure was very blurry. They probably didn’t have time to focus properly, and it’s hard to capture a moving target!

“

“

“Hehe! You look so funny!” Rose said, pointing at the picture of me buried in the snowdrift.

“

“

“What could I do about it! Why don’t you try a high-speed descent in an avalanche? After being tossed up and down and tumbled around in the snow, if you can even tell which way is north when you get out, I’ll admit you’ve won!”

“

“

“Don’t you have a Teleportation Ring?” Ah Wei reminded me. “You could just teleport straight to Dragon Valley, right?”

“

“

“You think I don’t want to?” I said irritably. “For one, as a Magical Pet, Lucky has no concept of coordinates. He only knows how to get there, but not the specific location. Without coordinates, where am I supposed to teleport? Besides, according to Lucky’s memory, Dragon Valley is a complete anti-magic zone. Not only can you not use any magic, but it also has a magical barrier that blocks all teleportation, town portals, and that sort of thing!”

“

“

“Wow, really? As expected of the graveyard for level one thousand bosses!”

“

“

“So how are we going to get through the areas crawling with players?” Rose asked.

“

“

“Why don’t you teleport once in the general direction, just enough to get past the most densely populated areas?” Ah Wei suggested.

“

“

“That’s worth considering!” I finally made a decision. “It’s settled then. We’ll take the risk and try to force our way through. But before that, I think we should raise our levels first. It’ll be safer, at least. Dragon Valley is right there; it’s not going anywhere!”

“

“

Having decided on a course of action, we checked out of our room to go level up. Ah Wei said he didn’t want to be a third wheel and slipped away. It was just me and Rose again. “Where should we go to level up? You’re more familiar with this place, you decide!”

“

“

That was true. Rose was only here for the first time, after all. As a semi-‘local,’ I had to show her around. “Come with me! First, I’ll take you shopping!”

“

“

“What? Shopping? Are you crazy?”

“

“

“I’m not crazy!” I slapped away the hand Rose had placed on my forehead. “As the ancients said: A workman must first sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well. Look at what you’re wearing! People who know might think you’re just low-level and can’t afford gear, but people who don’t might think you’re from the Beggar’s Sect!”

“

“

Rose looked down at her own earth-yellow linen mage robe. “What’s wrong with it? It was considered pretty good back where I used to level up. A lot of people had worse. Mages in particular burn through mana like crazy. Do you know why there are so many female mages? It’s because the class is a total money sink. Usually, it takes several warriors to support one mage!”

“

“

“Is your area just particularly poor, or is the whole game like this?” I had never felt that gear was so hard to get! I think I was only short on starting funds right at the beginning, but after that, it was fine! And I don’t think I even use potions that much!

“

“

“You think everyone has high Luck like you and gets tons of equipment drops?” Rose seemed to find this very unfair. “Back then, we’d often have to clear an entire hillside of monsters just to get a dozen or so random pieces of equipment, most of which we couldn’t even use! Because there are so many races and classes, it’s hard to find gear that you can use yourself. Plus, equipment is divided by gender. Although you can pay an NPC Blacksmith to change the gender requirement, it costs money! You think you can just wear anything you find? Let me tell you, besides jewelry like rings, bracelets, heartguards, and necklaces, and various weapons, everything else has strict race, class, and gender requirements!”

“

“

“Is it that extreme? But my equipment doesn’t have any race restrictions.” I seemed to recall that the Dark Demonic Dragon Set had no requirements whatsoever. Not only did it have no race, gender, or class requirements, it didn’t even have basic Strength or level requirements. It seemed like any Player could use it!

“

“

“Impossible! You probably just didn’t notice. There’s no such thing as equipment with absolutely no requirements!”

“

“

“You don’t believe me? I’ll take you to see for yourself!” I grabbed Rose and started running towards Clark’s place.

“

“

Rose yelled from behind me, “Weren’t you going to take me to get new equipment?”

“

“

“It’s fine! It’s on the way, they’re in the same area anyway!”

“

“

Along the way, Rose looked around curiously. “The architecture here is so magnificent! The city where I used to level up looks like a village compared to this! But why are all the shops closed?”

“

“

“That’s to block out the sunlight!” I said as I hurried towards Clark’s place. The inn wasn’t far from his shop. I opened the shop door myself, pulled Rose inside, and then closed the door behind us.

“

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Rose looked around the empty shop curiously. “Is it okay for us to just come in like this?”

“

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“It’s fine, I’m good friends with the owner!” I closed the door and led Rose directly up to the workshop in the back room on the second floor.

“

“

Just as I expected, Clark was inside, repairing my Dark Demonic Dragon Set. Seeing me come in, Clark quickly stood up. “Why are you back? And this is…?”

“

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“Blood-Red Rose!” Rose extended her hand in a friendly gesture. “Hello.”

“

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Clark didn’t shake her hand. Instead, he took out a sword, held it upright before him, and gave a slight nod. Damn! He’s actually performing a Knight’s salute! Why wasn’t he this polite when I first came here? “My name is Clark, the owner of this shop. Purple Sun is my brother. Sister-in-law, if you need anything, just ask!” Whoa! What kind of NPC is this?!

“

“

“Stop messing around! I have real business with you!” I took out a bunch of tetrahedral-shaped ice blocks from my spatial bracelet. “Didn’t you ask me to collect materials for you before? I spent four or five days killing things in the Great Snow Mountains and got a lot of this stuff.” I dumped all the ice blocks onto the workbench next to us. “I Appraised them. They’re Mystic Ice Crystal Cores. I remembered seeing them on the list of materials you wanted to buy, so I brought them back for you!”

“

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Clark picked one up and examined it closely, his eyes practically popping out of his head. “Excellent! These are indeed Mystic Ice Crystal Cores. With these, I can guarantee success during equipment forging.”

“

“

“Guaranteed success?” Rose also picked one up. “I used to know a player who could repair equipment. Although he was low-level and could only do repairs back then, he told me that the repair and crafting processes had a high chance of failure. Even if you’re an NPC with a higher success rate, it can’t be one hundred percent, can it?”

“

“

“That’s what makes it so special! The primary function of a Mystic Ice Crystal Core is to act as an emergency stop material during weapon and armor forging. If a piece of equipment is about to be destroyed in the forge’s fire, you can add a Mystic Ice Crystal Core. It will instantly freeze the entire forge. As long as you let the forge thaw out slowly, the equipment inside will be perfectly intact and you can try forging it again. So, as long as you have enough Mystic Ice Crystal Cores, you’re bound to succeed eventually, even if it’s just by luck. How many did you collect this time?”

“

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I pointed at the table. “Just these. About a dozen or so!”

“

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Clark sounded slightly disappointed. “Just this many? It would be great if you had more!”

“

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“This is pretty good already! These things drop from the level three hundred seventy Snow Mountain Demon Kings. Look at my level. That thing is almost one hundred levels higher than me. Every time we ran into one, we had to clear all the smaller monsters around it first, then constantly harass it to wear it down. And we only managed that thanks to Rose, our super-healer! Otherwise, I’d have to take a detour just seeing one!”

“

“

“I was being too greedy! But this stuff is just too good. You have to collect more in the future! I’ll buy these from you for five hundred Crystal Coins each.”

“

“

“Of course! How could I pass up something so valuable?!”

“

“

“Ah! You two…! You’re terrifying!” Rose stood to the side, her mouth agape in shock. Unfortunately, no matter how wide she opened her cherry-like little mouth, it was still just that small. “You two just casually threw around five or six thousand Crystal Coins like it’s nothing?”

“

“

“What’s the big deal? I’m still one hundred fifty thousand Crystal Coins in debt!”

Chapter 19: A New Problem

Rose stared at me in surprise. “Have you been gambling?”

I shook my head.

“Are you on neuro-drugs?” (A program that induces hallucinations by directly transmitting brainwaves, with severe side effects that can easily lead to brain death.)

“What kind of person do you take me for?” I explained, “The money I owe is for equipment repairs!”

“What?” Rose jumped in shock. “How much equipment are you repairing?”

“One set!”

“One set?” Rose’s voice shot up several octaves. “One hundred fifty thousand Crystal Coins just to repair one set of armor? Forget repairing! For one hundred fifty thousand Crystal Coins, you could buy a whole pile of it! Are you kidding me?”

Clark chimed in, “Brother Purple Sun isn’t kidding. That one hundred fifty thousand Crystal Coins is an internal price, and it doesn’t even include my repair fee. That’s just a portion of the material costs. In fact, he prepared a large portion of the materials himself, which is why it’s so cheap! If anyone else wanted me to repair these things, I wouldn’t even look at it for less than a hundred thousand Crystal Coin repair fee. As for the materials, I’d estimate they’d cost at least two or three hundred thousand Crystal Coins!”

“You must be some big shot!” Rose couldn’t believe the price we were quoting; such a sky-high figure simply shouldn’t belong to a single set of armor! “This…? Is this the ‘no-requirements’ armor you wanted me to see?”

“That’s right, this is it! And all the materials I’ve been collecting these past few days were to repair this very set!”

“Quick, let me see!” Rose was already trembling with excitement. “I want to see just how powerful something that costs hundreds of thousands to repair can be!”

“You want to see? Then wait just a moment!” Clark ran to the furnace and used a pair of tongs to pull out the pieces of the Dark Demonic Dragon Set one by one. “I didn’t know this before, but now that you’re back, I think you’ll have to figure something out. A new problem has come up with the repairs!” Clark fixed the pieces onto an iron frame, gradually assembling them into a humanoid shape.

“Wow! What a cool-looking set of armor!”

The more Rose looked, the closer she got, nearly touching the armor. I quickly pulled her back. “Be careful! It’s scorching hot right now!”

“Oh! It’s just so beautiful, I forgot for a moment!” Rose stuck out her tongue playfully, looking adorable. “Even though it’s covered in scars, it just gives it an even more murderous aura. To think they could design something so cool. Zhonghua Company really lives up to its name as a major corporation!”

“Zhonghua doesn’t have that kind of skill! This is a work of Dragon’s Fate!” I said casually, but it drew strange looks from both of them.

“Divine Artifacts are supposed to be the work of gods. What do Zhonghua and Dragon’s Fate have to do with it?” As expected of an NPC, Clark could even say something like that!

Only then did I realize I’d let it slip. The outside world only knew that the EU Parity Trade Group, Dragon’s Fate Special Industries Group, and Zhonghua Cultural Information Company had jointly released Zero. But in reality, the actual creation of Zero had nothing to do with Zhonghua Company; they were just the distributor and had no part in its development. Rose glanced at me a few times, seeming to have thought of something, but in the end, she said nothing.

“You said you just discovered a problem. What is it?” I quickly changed the subject.

“You can see the Demonic Dragon armor now. It’s been in the furnace for a week, but as you can see, it’s still black and hasn’t changed at all!” Clark then took out three spoon-like objects. He pointed to the first ladle, which contained a bubbling, red-hot liquid. “This is Lava-Forged Iron, the most heat-resistant armor material I can find. But look! This is what it looks like after just two days in the furnace!” He swirled the ladle, and the liquid inside flowed like water, only slightly more viscous. Clark then pointed to the second ladle, which was filled with a substance like sesame paste—partly red-hot, partly silvery-gray with a brownish tint. “This is Lava-Forged Iron that’s been in the furnace for one day. It’s already as soft as mud!” Finally, Clark pointed to a red-hot block in the third ladle. “This is Lava-Forged Iron after thirty minutes in the furnace. It’s already been heated completely red-hot! Now look at that pile of black stuff by the wall. That’s unheated Lava-Forged Iron. Do you see the problem now?”

“I understand! But can’t you raise the temperature?”

“Did you notice the cracks on the edge of the furnace? And this cracked fire ladle? My smelting equipment simply can’t withstand this temperature. And as you’ve seen, it’s not like the Demonic Dragon armor is just a little bit away from melting—it’s completely unaffected by the fire. It has a total resistance to high temperatures!”

“Have you tried bending or hammering it directly?” I carefully examined the cracks on the armor.

In response, Clark handed me a bent pry bar and a broken wooden handle. “This is the pry bar we used to try and force it straight, and this is the handle of the sledgehammer we used for shaping it after quenching! This thing is harder than any of my tools. I’m at my wit’s end!”

“Doesn’t that make it incredibly difficult to repair?” Rose was surprisingly more anxious than I was.

“That’s why I’ve been struggling for so long. I’ve already cracked the furnace trying to raise the temperature, but it’s no use. And I also discovered this problem!” Clark used the tongs to lift off the helmet, then slowly put his hand inside. To our astonishment, he tapped the inner surface to show he was indeed touching it. Then, he pulled his hand out, scooped some water from the nearby cooling tank, and dripped it onto the helmet. The moment the water hit the helmet, it hissed and instantly vanished into a puff of white steam. “See? The entire armor is the same. The inner wall stays cool no matter how long you heat it, but the outer wall, while it doesn’t melt, heats up very easily!”

“It seems this thing really is a handful!”

Rose suddenly remembered something. “Have you heard the legends about dragons?”

“You mean Lucky or Little Dragon Girl? I’ve heard plenty of legends about both of them!”

“The ones like Lucky.”

“As I recall, European dragons like Lucky are supposed to be very powerful and evil. In the stories, they’re usually breathing fire and snatching princesses before being slain by a hero! Wait! I think I’m getting an idea!”

Rose encouraged me from the side, “Yes, that’s it! Keep going!”

“You mean using Lucky’s Dragon Flame?”

“The boy is teachable!” Rose said, adopting the tone of a seasoned veteran. “Will it work?”

“You mean that demonic dragon of yours?” Clark asked.

“Yes, him! I have no idea how hot Dragon Flame is! Lucky is already over level 80, but I’ve never used him to burn anything!” I began to consider the feasibility.

“No matter! We’ll know once we try!” said Clark.

“Alright! Let’s give it a try!”

I opened my mouth to summon Lucky, but Clark quickly stopped me. “Not in here! Whether or not the Dragon Flame can melt the Demonic Dragon armor, it can definitely burn this house down!”

“Then let’s go test it outside the city,” I said, eagerly pulling Clark toward the exit.

Clark stopped me again. “Not so fast! We need to bring some test subjects!” He gathered a bunch of miscellaneous items, which I tossed into my Spatial Bracelet, and we followed him out of the city.

Along the way, Rose was fascinated by the strange buildings, especially the incredibly long bridge outside the city gate. Since she had teleported directly into the city, this was her first time seeing it. “What’s under the bridge?” Rose asked curiously, sticking her head out over the railing to look down.

Hearing her question, Clark turned his head, and his face went pale. He shot forward like an arrow, pulling her back toward the center of the bridge. Just then, a massive, ugly head shot out of the water, flying to the spot where Rose had just been standing. The head was stopped in mid-air above the railing as an invisible wall suddenly erupted with a powerful electric shock, scaring the creature’s massive head back into the water. It seemed that while the bridge wasn’t as dangerous as it looked, it wasn’t as safe as it appeared either!

Having her life saved, Rose was so frightened she sat on the ground in a daze, completely unresponsive. It wasn’t until I walked over and shook her that she remembered to cry.

Clark stood to the side, lecturing us, “This lake is no friendly place. You two must be extremely careful in the future! The sides of the bridge are protected by a powerful barrier. As long as you don’t stick any part of your body past the railing, you’ll be fine. But if you do, you’re asking for trouble!”

“Sob… I won’t do it again!” Rose cried like a little girl. Perhaps because she had fewer inhibitions in the network, she always expressed her innermost feelings. You could cry without worrying about people calling you weak, or laugh your head off without worrying about your image! I was starting to understand a little of what Rose meant by freedom. “That scared me to death!” Rose stood up, still looking at the monster that would occasionally poke its head out of the water to look at us, a lingering fear in her heart.

“Don’t worry about it! As long as you don’t go past the railing, you’ll be fine!” I gently put my arm around Rose’s shoulders to help calm her down (though my main goal was to take advantage of the situation).

“Alright, let’s try it here!” We had reached the boneyard on this side. Clark took out a piece of Lava-Forged Iron and placed it on the ground. “First, let’s see if the Dragon Flame has any temperature. Many demonic flames have high attack power but no heat!”

I summoned Lucky and commanded him to shoot Dragon Flame at the Lava-Forged Iron. Lucky backed up a short distance, took a deep breath, and unleashed a powerful pillar of fire, concentrated into a high-speed jet aimed at the target. “Okay! That’s enough!” I quickly shouted for him to stop, but Lucky’s power seemed a bit excessive; he had burned a crater into the ground.

Clark, ever the professional, used his tongs to rummage around in the pit for a moment before coming to a conclusion. “Not bad! The Dragon Flame not only has temperature, but it’s quite high!”

“So can we test if it’s hot enough to forge a Divine Artifact?” I asked.

“Alright!” Clark placed a fire ladle on the ground. “If it can melt even this, then there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Okay! Lucky! Aim for that ladle and breathe fire!”

“Understood!” Lucky once again breathed fire at the ladle, but this time the result was disappointing. The ladle shattered into pieces but didn’t melt! “Let me try a different kind of Dragon Flame!” said Lucky.

“Okay!”

This time, Lucky told us all to get back. He then began to use the ultimate Dragon Flame, reserved for life-or-death situations, and aimed it at the fire ladle. Unlike the previous red flames, what he shot out this time was a blue-green flame that was far more concentrated. The blast lasted a mere two seconds, and the fire ladle was completely vaporized. A large crater was burned into the spot where it had been placed. But just as we were celebrating, Lucky collapsed. I quickly summoned Phantom to check on him.

“Master, don’t worry. Lucky is just momentarily stunned from using the Purple Flame, a dragon’s last-resort ability. He’ll be fine in a moment. This is the only side effect of the Purple Flame, which is why dragons generally don’t use this move unless their life is at stake!” Phantom directly relayed Lucky’s thoughts to us.

Knowing the reason, I quickly sent Lucky back to the pet space to recover. “Clark, what do we do? Do we smelt it right here?”

“No! Once all the materials are gathered, I’ll find a few space-system mages to levitate the Dark Demonic Dragon Set in the air for reforging. Otherwise, we’ll never find a furnace that can withstand this temperature!”

“Then I’ll have to trouble you with finding the mages. I need to go find the rest of the materials first!”

Chapter 20: We’re in Big Trouble!

After solving the flame temperature problem yesterday, I set out for Dragon Valley with Rose. Before leaving The Lost City, I insisted on taking her to pick out a lot of things. I was paying, of course. Even though I was already deep in debt, I had so many problems I didn’t care about a new one, and so much debt I’d stopped worrying about it!

“

“

Although I was being generous, Rose refused to buy any expensive equipment after learning I was short on money. In the end, I had to force a set of ordinary female mage battle armor on her just so she’d have something. Anything cheaper would have been too shabby to offer, and she wouldn’t accept anything too expensive! The set, called ‘Mage’s Strength,’ was a type of light mage armor. While it was a relatively common model of mage armor, in an era where most mages wore cloth robes, any kind of plate armor was already a rare find. Besides, this set came with a lot of Attribute bonuses!

“

“

We were making our way through a forest. “What’s that?” Rose suddenly asked, pointing ahead.

“

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I looked in the direction she was pointing and could vaguely make out a group of something in a chaotic brawl. Although the distance wasn’t great, the fog in the woods was thick and visibility was low, so I couldn’t see clearly what was fighting. “Can’t make it out! Want to go take a look?”

“

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“I’ll go first!” Rose skipped ahead. No matter how much I shouted after her, I couldn’t hold her back. This girl was getting wilder and wilder!

“

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“Ah!”

“

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A sharp scream pulled me from my thoughts. I raised a hand, pointed forward, and called, “Lucky!”

“

“

Our long-term coordination wasn’t for nothing. Lucky could now understand my next move from my slightest gesture. Kicking up a hurricane, a blur of afterimages, and a shower of wood splinters, Lucky charged in the direction I pointed. Following behind him, my line of sight immediately cleared up. This was always Lucky’s habit—any place he fought was guaranteed to become ruins, and this time was no exception!

“

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“What’s wrong? What happened?” Pulling up the hood of my Cloak, I ran down the path Lucky had cleared. Rose was sitting on a fallen log, rubbing her ankle.

“

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“I’m so unlucky! I tried to jump over a rotten log and got tripped by some vines. I almost flattened my face!”

“

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I helped rub her ankle and said, “Flattening your face is nothing to worry about. As long as you didn’t flatten… somewhere else! Hahahaha!”

“

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“You’re awful! You! Pervert!” While I helped rub her foot, I received a shoulder massage from her powder-puff fists, all the while crying out, “Ouch, that hurts! Spare me, milady hero!”

“

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“Who are you?”

“

“

A rather unfriendly voice interrupted our romantic moment, putting me in a foul mood. I slowly stood up and looked at the Knight-attired guy not far away. He was clad in a full suit of silver-white heavy armor and wielded a magnificent two-handed greatsword, giving him a somewhat imposing air (mainly because the protagonist had so little contact with other Players he didn’t understand how scarce equipment was; this set was already a rarity on the market). Behind him was a large group of at least twenty people.

“

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I had no intention of responding to him. When I don’t like someone, I absolutely won’t waste time with fake pleasantries. Without a word, I directly summoned Nightshadow. Before the dumbfounded gazes of those people, Nightshadow appeared as suddenly as a phantom. I picked up Rose, placed her on Nightshadow’s back so she was sitting sidesaddle, then lightly vaulted onto the horse myself and wrapped an arm around her. Gently patting Nightshadow’s neck, he cooperatively turned and began to stroll away with slow, leisurely steps.

“

“

We had already gone some distance when I realized Lucky hadn’t followed. I put my little finger in my mouth and let out a sharp whistle. Lucky glanced back in our direction and finally noticed we had left. He knocked out the giant Bear Fiend in front of him with a single palm strike, then snatched it up in his mouth and swaggered past the group of people, chasing after us. As he left, his long tail even managed to sweep down an ancient tree, nearly crushing the Knight in the lead.

“

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It wasn’t until we were a good distance away that a man in green mage robes behind the Knight suddenly snapped out of it and yelled, “Captain! That guy snatched our quest NPC!”

“

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“What? Huh? What are you all standing around for?! After them!” At the Knight’s shout, his underlings finally remembered to chase after us.

“

“

After Rose and I had traveled some distance, I quickly had Nightshadow change direction and start running. To avoid leaving a trail, I had to recall Lucky; anywhere he passed, you didn’t have to be blind to see the path of destruction. Lucky even complained about the good bear meat going to waste, so I had to permit him to quickly tear off a few pieces for himself. Lucky was fast, alright. He tore the huge bear to shreds in just a few moves. He picked out a few of the largest cuts of meat, stored them, and then returned to the pet space. I noticed something on the ground, picked it up, and stored it in my Bracelet. Now wasn’t the time to deal with it.

“

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I urged Nightshadow to run faster. Rose leaned against my chest and said, “Why are you running in such a hurry?”

“

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“I took a look,” I said while pushing Nightshadow into a gallop. “That leading Knight is level 399, and the ones behind him are all above 380. I was just putting on a cool act earlier, using Lucky to scare them. Once they snap out of it and catch up, we’ll be done for! Don’t you think the two of us can take on that many high-level experts. At least, I don’t have that kind of confidence!”

“

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“Hmph! I thought you were some big shot! By the way, what was that thing you just picked up?” Rose asked. “Quick, let’s see!”

“

“

I was curious too, so I took it out and looked at its Attributes:

“

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Guild Emblem, an item for establishing a guild. Indestructible. Attached Skill: Command (Reduces pain sensation and increases speed for guild members. The effect’s potency is determined by the Guild Leader’s level).

“

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I then checked the user guide: The wearer of the emblem becomes the Guild Leader and can then recruit guild members and appoint guild positions. The Guild Leader can confirm the emblem’s appearance to serve as the guild insignia (one-time only), after which all guild members will receive a copy of the insignia (automatically reclaimed upon leaving the guild). Party members from the same guild gain a 1% experience bonus.

“

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“This is pretty useful!” I told Rose what the emblem did. “Purple Sun! Why don’t you wear it? Then you can make me Vice Guild Leader, and we’ll get an experience bonus when we party up. Isn’t that great?”

“

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“I don’t have time to build a guild. Managing all those people would be a huge pain!”

“

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“Who said a guild has to have a lot of people? Just the two of us is fine!” Rose gestured wildly, excited by her own idea. “How about it? Just two people! From now on, we’ll be the number one underground guild in Zero! Haha! I want to be a little delinquent!”

“

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I was completely defeated by this crazy girl. But fine, a guild it is! It was for that 1% experience bonus anyway, and there was no harm in it. “Alright! Hold on!” I equipped the emblem, and the system immediately prompted me to confirm the guild name, emblem, and banner. “Hey, Rose? What should we name our guild?”

“

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“Whatever the name is, it has to have my great name, Rose, in it. And it has to sound super scary!”

“

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“Is that so?” I thought for a moment. “How about just ‘Blood-Red Rose’?”

“

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“Nope! How could we just use my name directly? Think again!”

“

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“Death Rose?”

“

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“Sounds awful!”

“

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“Bloodstained Rose?”

“

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“Almost there!”

“

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“Vampire Rose?”

“

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“No way!”

“

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“How about Bleeding Rose?”

“

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“No, no! None of them are good!”

“

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“I’ve got it! How about Frost Rose?”

“

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“Not bad! That’s the one!” Rose finally nodded.

“

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“What about the guild emblem?”

“

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“You figure it out!”

“

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After a long time designing, I finally settled on the look of the guild emblem and banner in my mind. The system prompted if I wanted to confirm my decision now. I chose to confirm, and the system instantly generated them based on my thoughts (if you can play the game with a helmet, it’s probably no problem for it to read a player’s thoughts directly). The emblem transformed into the shape of a beautiful, brilliant red rose. The banner depicted two crossed swords with a red rose between them, its thorny stem entwining the blades.

“

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“There, all set!” I said to Rose. “Send me a request to join the guild, and I’ll accept you!”

“

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“Okay!”

“

“

The joining process was incredibly simple, finished in just a few seconds. After confirming, a small rose insignia appeared on Rose’s chest and shoulder. Then, I appointed Rose as the Vice Guild Leader. “Alright, we’re a guild now!”

“

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“Too bad it’s just the two of us! How about we ask that friend of yours, Ah Wei, to join?”

“

“

“Forget it! The two of us became massive Red Names and public enemies because of that avalanche, so we can’t join other guilds. It’s fine for us to just make a party for fun. But Ah Wei still has a bright future ahead of him. If he came here, how would he develop later on?”

“

“

“I guess you’re right!” Rose said, disappointed. “I feel like I’m getting the short end of the stick! Even though I’m the Vice Guild Leader now, since there are only two of us in the guild, doesn’t that just mean you’re my dedicated leader?”

“

“

“How would I dare! Look, haven’t you been the one giving all the orders?”

“

“

“That’s more like it. From now on, you need to remember that I’m the one leading you, don’t forget. This Vice Guild Leader title is just for show. Got it?”

“

“

“Got it, got it!” Good heavens! How was this girl becoming more and more different from before? Could this be the result of being in love? It’s terrifying!

“

“

We ran for a long time until we were sure they wouldn’t catch up before finally stopping. Even though Nightshadow was the one doing all the running, that didn’t mean we weren’t tired; riding a horse also consumes stamina. After we slowed down, Rose leaned back against my chest to rest. I held her gently, and neither of us spoke a word. I suddenly felt that the atmosphere was perfect. Perhaps?

“

“

“Rose?”

“

“

“Hm?” Rose looked up at me, waiting for me to continue.

“

“

“I… I…” Although I was a little scared, I gritted my teeth and said it. “I want to pursue you! Will you be my girlfriend?” I could feel my face rapidly heating up, and my heart seemed to be beating abnormally. The extreme nervousness sent my adrenaline into overdrive, and I started sweating profusely. “Can I?” I lifted her face to mine. What I saw was a pair of eyes filled with complex emotions. It’s truly hard to imagine how a person’s eyes could transmit such a complex message in a single instant!

“

“

She suddenly threw herself into my arms, wrapped her arms around my neck, and started crying. Her action left me at a complete loss for a moment, but her heartbeat told me what she was thinking—it was a sign of her excitement. I gently pushed her back a little, held her face in my hands, and carefully wiped away the sparkling teardrops on her cheeks. “I love you!” My face slowly drew closer to hers. Just as our lips were about to touch, her body suddenly stiffened and then vanished. With the person in my arms suddenly gone, my forward momentum lost its support, and I tumbled right off Nightshadow’s back, landing flat on my back with my feet in the air. What a miserable sight!

“

“

“Rose? Rose?” I leaped up, calling out in all directions. I opened a Private Message, but I couldn’t find her. The system prompted: This player’s account is currently offline. Why? Did I move too fast? That can’t be it, can it? It wasn’t my fault, absolutely not! Does she not like me? That didn’t seem right either! Her reaction when she heard my confession seemed very emotional. If she were going to reject me, she probably wouldn’t have been so emotional. But then why did she suddenly log off? Can anyone tell me what on earth just happened?

Chapter 21: Seeking Help

I had no desire to stay in the game any longer and logged off right where I was. For three days I was in agony and Rose never came online. It was almost noon again, and I couldn’t take it anymore; I was so restless! I left a note on the table, telling him to check every thirty minutes to see if Rose was online, and if she was, to call me immediately.

I skipped lunch and rushed out of the dorm on my own. Standing in front of the Zhonghua Company headquarters, the Tianzhu Building, I hesitated whether to go inside, looking up at the one hundred and seventy-eight-story structure. After a full minute of mental struggle, I finally went in. Besides the forty-odd elevators, the first-floor lobby only had a reception desk and a security room behind it. The real work area started from the second floor.

“Hello! How can I help you?” the receptionist asked with a very formal smile.

“Is General Manager Liu Hui in?”

The receptionist gave me a puzzled look. I knew what she was thinking, wondering why I would ask for someone so high-ranking right off the bat! Despite her doubts, she quickly checked the records and said, “I’m very sorry, General Manager Liu is away on a business trip.”

“Then is his special assistant, Yang Kun, here?” I didn’t expect the first person I asked for to be out!

This time, the receptionist didn’t bother to check the records and answered directly, “I’m sorry, they went together!”

“Then is Executive President Yun Ya here?” I refused to believe I couldn’t find someone I knew!

“I’m sorry!” I was afraid she’d say that!

I held up my hand in a ‘halt’ gesture. Since I couldn’t find anyone, I had to use my trump card! “Just tell me, who’s on the one hundred and seventieth floor or higher?”

This time, the receptionist’s tone was noticeably different. “May I ask what this is about? Only top-level management personnel, General Manager level and above, work on those floors. If you can’t provide a valid reason, I’m afraid I can’t answer your question!” Sigh! I ran into someone too dedicated to their job!

“Okay, okay! One last one…”

“Little Lin? What brings you here?” I turned around and saw Aunt Yun Ya appearing in the lobby, surrounded by a large group of bodyguards. “Shouldn’t you be at school right now? Lei Lei (protagonist’s mother’s nickname) told me you’re in college!”

“Aunt Yun Ya! I’m so glad to see you! Quick, take me up, I need your help!”

“So that’s why you came all the way here, I thought you came specially to see me!” Auntie joked with me while saying to the stunned receptionist, “Notify the secretary’s office, cancel all my arrangements for this noon!”

Following Aunt Yun Ya to her office, I hinted with my eyes for her to send all the bodyguards and secretaries out of the room. Auntie cooperated and had them all leave. After the last person left, she locked the door, turned around, and said to me, “Now, can you tell me what’s going on? What’s with all the secrecy?”

I double-checked that the door was locked and that no one could come in before finding a sofa to sit down and saying, “You can’t tell my Mom about this, okay!”

“I promise!” Aunt Yun Ya swore, raising three fingers.

“Okay! Here’s the situation! I met a girl, and she’s also a college student!”

“Oh? What’s her name? How old is she? How did you two meet?” Auntie was so nosy! It seemed all women had a weakness for gossip!

“Don’t get excited! Let me finish!” I interrupted Auntie’s questioning. “We met online, in a game. We were playing an online game, and we teamed up, it’s that Zero game that you guys are distributing.”

“I didn’t know Zero had this feature! Looks like we’ll have to use it in our advertising!” Auntie was digressing again!

“Are you even listening?” I was getting a little annoyed.

“Yes! Continue!”

“Her in-game name is Blood-Red Rose. I also met her in real life. She told me her name was Lin Lijia, but in the game, she said that name was just made up because it was the first time we met, and she didn’t want to tell me her real name.”

“Then has she told you her real name now?”

“She said her real name is Chu Rong, but now I don’t know which one is real, which one is fake, or if neither of them are!”

“So what do you need me to do? Propose marriage? You should ask your Mom about that!” Auntie was joking again.

I didn’t laugh. I just continued, “Everything was going smoothly until this morning when things went wrong. We had just escaped a chase, and the atmosphere was great, so I took the opportunity to confess to her!”

“She rejected you?”

“It would be simple if she had rejected me! After I finished speaking, she threw herself into my arms, laughing and crying at the same time. Then I said those three words to her, and I was about to kiss her! She looked up at me, so I thought she accepted me!”

“I didn’t realize you were so skilled! Did your Dad give you special training on how to chase girls?”

“Special training? I’m like this without training! Just as I was about to kiss her, she suddenly disappeared and logged off! I’ve been waiting for three days now, and she hasn’t come online since!”

“You said she disappeared suddenly?”

“Yes! She suddenly disappeared from my arms, making me fall off my horse!”

“Then you can relax a little. She didn’t log off on her own!” Aunt Yun Ya leaned back on the sofa and explained, “I also have a Zero account. Although I haven’t played it much, I’ve logged in a few times to see the environment. And I’ve read the settings and stuff. It specifically mentions the way to log off. Normally, a character should slowly exit the game, during which the character’s image gradually fades until it disappears. This fading process usually takes three to five seconds. Although it’s fast, it’s not as exaggerated as suddenly disappearing like you said! There’s only one situation in the game that causes a character to suddenly disappear, and that’s an interruption of the signal under non-special circumstances!”

“Can you explain it more directly? I don’t quite understand!”

“It means that when a Player’s character is in a state where they can log off, the Player’s brainwaves suddenly cut off. There are several possible reasons for this. It could be that the Player’s helmet suddenly disconnected, which is rare. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone experiencing something like that. It could also be that the Player suddenly has brain death, which is typically caused by conditions like cerebral thrombosis, but the Zero helmet has a monitoring mechanism for this. If the blood flow in the Player’s brain is too low, the helmet will automatically alert and force a safe exit. Besides, your girlfriend is young and shouldn’t have that kind of problem! The last, and most likely, reason is that someone suddenly removed the Player’s helmet. This would cause the Player’s helmet to fail to detect brainwaves and suddenly disconnect! But I think this possibility isn’t very high either because forcibly removing the helmet of someone who is playing a game is like waking a sleepwalker, and it can easily cause the Player’s brain to be overstimulated, leading to partial aftereffects. And the helmet has a wake-up button. As long as you hold it down for ten seconds, you can force a safe exit. I don’t think anyone would directly unplug the helmet to save ten seconds, unless they were planning to kill someone! But you said that the other person is a college student, so she should be playing in her dorm. I think besides classmates and teachers, there shouldn’t be any bad people who can get into a girls’ dorm, right?”

“So I understand! But I’m so anxious because I don’t know what’s happening to her!”

“That is quite troublesome, especially since you don’t even know her real name for sure!”

“What should I do?”

“You shouldn’t hide it from your parents. Tell them directly. I think they’ll support you. Maybe your Dad is eager to have a grandchild and will specially allocate activity funds for you! As long as your Dad is willing to help, there won’t be any problems.”

“No way! I’d rather die than tell them!” Just kidding, I’m not going to report to my parents when pursuing a girlfriend. “I absolutely refuse!”

“You can’t refuse! Your mom is looking for a daughter-in-law these days, and you just happened to find one, how can you let it go!”

“No! I don’t agree. You can’t tell them! You promised!”

“What did I say?” Auntie looked at me with a mischievous expression, making me feel uneasy.

“You said you promised!” I still argued forcefully.

“Did I say I promised anything? I meant I promised to help you, not promise not to tell your parents. You misunderstood, so you can’t blame me!” Auntie had been in the business world for so many years for nothing. This little trick was nothing to her! To paraphrase a line from a TV series: “Businessmen are people who hurt others!”

“You’re cheating!”

Auntie ignored me and directly pressed the internal call button on the phone. “Lei Lei? Are you still there?”

Mom’s voice came from the phone. “You better come over here. Your precious son is here with me, and he has something urgent to tell you!” Auntie, while looking at me and gesturing wildly on the phone, smiled and hung up.

In less than twenty seconds, Mom rushed into the room like a whirlwind. “Son! What’s wrong? Did someone bully you?”

“With this face of mine!” I pointed to my face. “Who would be willing to? Besides, with my strength, they’d have to be willing to give up their own lives if they dared to touch me!”

“Then what is it?” Mom saw that I looked unhappy and sat down next to me, comforting me while trying to get information from Aunt Yun Ya.

Aunt Yun Ya cooperated with my Mom, and the two of them asked and answered as if they had rehearsed it beforehand. They quickly revealed my glorious deeds in broad daylight! What I couldn’t stand the most was that Mom actually called Dad directly. “Husband! Come to my company, big news!”

Dad initially refused to come. “What is it? I’m still in Europe! I’m busy, I’m negotiating a very important deal!”

Mom got angry when she heard that. “What business is more important than your son? Let me tell you, if this deal’s profit doesn’t exceed one billion, you come back immediately! Your precious son is in love!”

“What?” Dad almost pressed his face against the screen of the video phone, wishing he could squeeze himself out of it. “Really? This is serious! You wait, I’ll go back now!”

Ugh! I felt like things were getting a little out of control! As expected, Dad acted swiftly. At six o’clock in the evening, Dad appeared, panting like a bull, on the helicopter pad on the top floor of the building (not the old-fashioned rotary-wing helicopter). “Wife! Is what you told me this afternoon true?”

“Of course, it’s true. How can you joke about something like this! But the situation is a bit complicated!”

“What’s wrong? Does the girl’s family disapprove, or does she disapprove herself? Tell me who it is, and I’ll send someone to bribe everyone she knows. Pursuing girls is similar to doing business. You must not be soft when pursuing them, you must first smooth out all relationships before things can fall into place! Look at me, marrying your Mom was like getting a company for free. That’s more profitable than any other business!”

Mom hit Dad and said, “What nonsense are you talking about!” So Mom, Dad, and Aunt Yun Ya held a special meeting that lasted two hours. Finally, Aunt Yun Ya, in her capacity as my godmother, announced the decision. First, Aunt Yun Ya herself would allocate company personnel to help me find and investigate all of Rose’s real personal information. Second, Mom would cram me with the essentials of pursuing girls and female psychology! Finally, Dad would provide all the funds for my pursuit of Rose and would specially dispatch the company’s private mercenaries to help me with personal image work, such as saving the damsel in distress and bravely fighting gangsters!

Chapter 22: The Investigation

I didn’t like any of the suggestions, but I was forced to accept them in the end. After all, I was really worried! However, the plan to have me play the hero was ultimately shot down by my strenuous objections. Winning Rose over was a must, but deceiving her with a trick like that was something I couldn’t accept!

The next morning, Aunt Yun Ya mobilized a large team to help me investigate Rose’s true identity. First, we obtained the files of every single female student currently enrolled in all of New Nanjing’s universities. The next step was simple but tedious: we had a hundred people enter the files into a computer and then screen them by photograph. I had said Rose was very beautiful, but Aunt Yun Ya was worried that beauty was simply in the eye of the beholder, so they pulled out the file of every girl who was considered remotely pretty!

It took about a full day. At five in the afternoon, I finally saw the files, piled up before me like a small mountain. “What’s this?”

“The files of all the more outstanding-looking female university students in the city!”

“Are you kidding me?” I flipped through a few pages. “Why are there so many? Didn’t you already screen them?”

Aunt Yun Ya explained, “There are over fifty universities of various kinds in this city, many of which are world-renowned, so students from all over want to get in. There are sixteen mega-universities with over one hundred thousand students each, and when you add in all the other miscellaneous schools, the total student population is nearly four million. After filtering out the men, that’s still over two million women! Since we weren’t sure if ‘Rose’ was her real name, we couldn’t use it to filter everyone out. So, we had to select all the prettier ones as candidates. But just in case, we also pulled everyone with a phonetically similar name! The pile on your left contains everyone with those names. Since we don’t know the exact characters, we gathered every phonetic variation—2,373 files in total. The pile on your right, with over four hundred thousand files, is everyone else who’s decent-looking but doesn’t have that name.”

“That many?”

“This is already pretty good! We’ve already excluded everyone we could confirm wasn’t her. If you saw the original numbers, you’d probably just give up!”

“Alright, I’ll go through them slowly.” I started with the smaller pile of 2,373 files. After a while, I even saw a Western girl! “Auntie? What’s this? There’s a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl in here!”

“Oh! I forgot to tell them to only include Asians! I’ll go have them screen it again!”

“Forget it, forget it! I’ll go crazy by the time you’re done screening again. I’ll just look through them myself!”

Even though each file was only a single printed page, 2,373 of them were nearly as thick as a comprehensive dictionary. After looking through over seventeen hundred of them, my eyes started to go cross-eyed! “Aunt Yun Ya! Help me!” I flopped onto the sofa, rubbing my eyes. “My vision’s blurry! I’m dizzy!”

“There’s nothing to be done! You’re the only one who’s seen her, otherwise we could help you!” Aunt Yun Ya plucked the file I’d just finished from my hand and placed another stack in them. “Hurry up! Your mother said she’s anxious to see what her daughter-in-law looks like and told me to press you to speed things up.”

“My mom must have too much time on her hands!” I grumbled as I continued flipping through the files. “Found her! Aunt Yun Ya! I found her!” I tossed the thick stack of files aside, holding up just a single sheet. “Hehe! I finally found her!”

“Let me see!” Auntie jogged over to my side, snatched the file, and read it aloud. “Chu Rong, female, born November 11th, ’45. Isn’t that the same day as you? So you two were born on the same day of the same month of the same year? You sure know how to pick them!”

“How would I know her birthday! It’s a coincidence, a total coincidence!”

“She attends New Dragon Academy, which is a subsidiary of the Dragon’s Fate Group. Isn’t that the same school as you? You’ve never seen her?”

I snatched the file back and took a look. “I’m in the Advanced AI program in the Sixth District. She’s in Advanced Business Management in the Ninth District. They’re so far apart, how could we possibly have run into each other?”

“Aunt Yun Ya, I’m going to her dorm to find her. Do you want to come with me?”

“You’re courting a girl, what are you dragging me along for?”

I scratched my head in embarrassment. “I can’t get into the girls’ dorm! It’d be easier to slip in with you there!”

“It’s no use. That school isn’t a subsidiary of Zhonghua Company, so I don’t have any pull there! Go ask your dad to arrange it for you!”

Although I felt it was humiliating, I was willing to do anything for Rose. I connected to Dad’s comms: “Dad!”

“You found her?” Dad’s eager face leaned close to the screen. “Well? Have you contacted her yet?”

“Just found her. She actually goes to the same school as me! I was just about to go over and find her!”

’Then what are you waiting for?”

“I can’t get into the girls’ dorm!” I could feel my face burning. “You just need to send someone to help me get past the guards!”

Dad didn’t answer me directly. Instead, he asked, “What district is she in?”

“The Ninth District. Why?”

“That makes things easier. Just go straight to the entrance of the school’s Ninth District. I’ll have someone waiting for you there! Go for it, son!”

What was all this! So frustrating! “Auntie, I’m heading out now!”

“Okay! I won’t see you out. Drive carefully!”

Leaving Tianzhu Building, I sped all the way to the entrance of the campus’s Ninth District. (Even though the nine districts were connected, each had its own exit.) It was the busiest time of day at the school gate, with many students coming and going in pairs. Striking a dissonant chord with the crowd was an all-black hovercar, styled like an old-fashioned van, parked by the side of the plaza in front of the gate. From its reflective paint and the texture of its chassis, you could tell at a glance that it was a military armored vehicle, and a high-grade one at that.

I slowly glided my car up next to the black armored vehicle. The dragon emblem on its door told me it was the people Dad had sent. Just as I got out of my car, two people, a man and a woman, got out of the other vehicle. The man had a fierce appearance, the complete opposite of me, the type you’d identify as a man’s man at first glance. The woman had a beautiful face and an equally fantastic figure—if the most beautiful woman was one hundred points, she’d be a ninety-five! “Young Master Lin?” the woman asked tentatively.

“Mmm,” I nodded in reply. “My dad sent you, right?”

“Yes!” The woman graciously extended her hand to shake mine. “I’m Butterfly, and he’s Big K. I recognized your car as soon as it pulled up, but when you got out, I was a bit surprised why Young Master Lin had become Miss Lin!”

I gave a helpless smile. “Let’s take my car.” I waited for them to get in and then drove toward the school gate (the campus was huge, so walking was not a wise choice). When we were still some distance from the gate, I noticed the guards were looking our way. Sure enough, as we arrived at the entrance, seven guards swarmed us. “Excuse me…”

Big K didn’t let him finish, simply reaching out from the car and pinching both sides of his face, preventing him from speaking. Then he swiftly pulled out a card and swiped it on the reader at the gate. A crisp electronic response sounded out: “Dragon’s Fate Group, high-level S-class card. Identity confidentiality level is too high to be disclosed! Welcome. We hope to serve you again!” Simultaneously, the main gate, which had been closed, slid open automatically, creating an opening large enough for a vehicle to pass through. (The school gates were usually like this, with a small pedestrian gate normally open and the main vehicle gate only opening for access).

Big K released the guard, and we continued toward the girls’ dormitory. In the back, Butterfly was still nagging Big K. “Can’t you just talk nicely? Would it kill you to open your mouth and speak? Don’t just lash out all the time, you’ve offended everyone!” Even when being scolded, Big K just smiled and said nothing. “Talk back, will you!” Butterfly seemed to be getting genuinely angry.

“I…!”

“Yes! Keep going! Say it!” Butterfly suddenly cheered excitedly. I watched these two strange people through the rearview mirror, not really sure what their deal was, but one thing was clear—Big K had a speech impediment!

Since we were driving, we reached the dormitory area quickly. An electric rail campus shuttle (the campus was so large that they had set up an internal loop line with driverless cars; they weren’t fast, just a bit quicker than walking, making them convenient and safe) picking up students from class stopped right in front of us. So many students poured out that I had no choice but to park the car right there.

The Ninth District was truly the domain of the arts and business departments; of the twenty-seven buildings in the entire dormitory area, twenty were female dorms! When I reached the entrance to the girls’ dormitory area, I finally understood why Dad had said it would be simple. There were no guards at the dormitory entrance at all—just four cute-looking robotic dogs sitting motionless at the gateway. Don’t be fooled by their pet-like appearance; underneath their artificial fur was a body made of advanced synthetic materials. In terms of attack power, the only creatures that have ever lived on Earth that could probably compare were dinosaurs! These were clearly the newest Family Guardian 3000 model. Their computers could directly memorize the physical and olfactory features of everyone living in the area they protected. If anyone not on record intruded into this zone, they would first try to drive them away with intimidation. If intimidation didn’t work, they would automatically assess the target’s physical strength and inflict a limited amount of harm (to prevent causing serious injury to trespassers who might be frail, like the elderly or children, and to avoid fatalities).

To be honest, I was still pretty scared of these things, because I had seen an attack test of a Family Guardian 2000 model. The target was a scrapped car, and the robot tore it to shreds! The three of us stood outside the yellow line at the girls’ dormitory entrance. The robotic dogs just stared at us, unmoving. Big K took a step forward, crossing the yellow line. In unison, all the robotic dogs stood up and bared their long, alloy teeth at us, which looked just like a mouth full of small military daggers!

Big K again took out his card and held it out. One of the dogs walked over and, surprisingly, extended a card reader from its mouth. After this dog had briefly scanned the card, all the dogs returned to their original positions and resumed their poses, ignoring us completely.

“Big K, you wait for us here,” Butterfly said, knowing that someone with Big K’s appearance could easily frighten people. Big K didn’t say anything, just nodded, then walked over to the electronic dogs and started playing with them. Seeing me staring at Big K, Butterfly knew I found his situation strange and quickly explained, “Big K is a half-werewolf, so he’s relatively friendly with canines. He grew up in a lab, so he never talked much, and he ended up like this!”

I nodded to show I understood and walked toward the dormitory building. According to the file, Rose was supposed to live on the ninth floor of Building Eleven. After wandering through the huge women’s dormitory area for a long time, I finally found Building Eleven tucked away in a corner. Looking up at this old building, which could practically be considered a historical artifact, I could already guess at Rose’s family’s financial situation. This was a large dormitory building the school specifically prepared for underprivileged students. Only those in exceptionally difficult financial situations would live in these twelve-person rooms. Those with a bit more money lived in four-person apartment-style suites (with a shared living room and individual bedrooms). The very wealthy, like Ah Wei and me, lived in two-person rooms (the school didn’t have single rooms, claiming it was to foster a sense of community).

Climbing the stairs to the ninth floor left even someone in my physical condition a little out of breath. Butterfly, behind me, was in a similar state. Although she wasn’t breathing through her mouth yet, her breaths had become heavy and deep. Downstairs, I had pressed the button for the elevator for quite a while, until a passing female student said, “Don’t bother pressing it! It’s been broken for years!” I nearly fainted on the spot. What era was this? A building with no elevator? Truly worthy of being called the slums!

Walking through the halls, I discovered for the first time an advantage to my looks: many girls with disheveled hair and messy clothes walked past me without paying me any mind. These girls, who were normally so glamorous, would never let a man see them in their current state. I finally found Rose’s dorm room. Damn! It was directly across from the restroom. How could this building still use public restrooms!

I neatened my appearance slightly and pressed the doorbell. After waiting a minute, nothing happened. Butterfly, leaning lazily against the wall, knocked on the door. “The elevator is broken. Did you really expect a high-maintenance item like a doorbell to be repaired?”

That’s true! How did I not think of that!

Chapter 23: The Operation

“Who is it? Did you forget your own keys?” a high-pitched female voice called out. Before I could even answer, the door opened. A girl in a sweater and woolen pants, her face covered in acne, appeared in the doorway. “Who are you?”

“I’m looking for Chu Rong!”

“You’re…? Ah! You’re…” Thud! The door slammed shut again, almost flattening my nose. It was followed by the sounds of a chaotic racket from inside. Two minutes later, the door opened once more. It was the same girl, but this time she had put on a jacket and had clearly tried to fix her hair, though it didn’t look much better. “Hello! I’m Rongrong’s roommate, my name is Linlin. You must be that Purple Sun that Rongrong mentioned, right?”

“How did you know?” I asked, completely surprised.

“I doubt I’ll ever meet another guy as handsome as you. It couldn’t be anyone else! Come on, don’t just stand in the doorway. Come in and talk,” Linlin said, ushering us into the room.

Butterfly gracefully shook her hand. “My name is Butterfly, I’m his friend. A few days ago, Chu Rong suddenly logged off in the game, and we haven’t been able to contact her since. Is she here?”

“What took you so long! Rongrong must have had a terrible time these past two days!”

“What happened to her?” I grew tense at once.

“Rongrong was playing the game that day, but for some reason, her father and mother suddenly burst in, with the dorm supervisor trailing behind them. When her dad saw her playing, he went over without a word and yanked off her Helmet. Then her stepmother slapped her across the face and said, ‘We give you money for school and you’re here playing games. We’ve been too good to you!’ Then they dragged Rongrong away. Later, Rongrong called us, and that’s when we found out they had come specifically to drag her back home. Her stepmother found a man for her and is forcing her to marry him. That father of hers is a real piece of work, too, saying things like, ‘What’s the point of school? It’s just a waste. Marrying someone rich can at least help the family.’ I thought it was strange at first that her family was suddenly so concerned about her, even coming all the way here to see her. It turns out they had this planned all along!”

I couldn’t sit still anymore. The extreme emotional turmoil made me lose control, and I accidentally crushed the cup in my hand. “Where is she now? Is she at home?”

“She called this morning and said she’s still in New Nanjing and hasn’t left yet. Her family is planning to fly her directly to Japan tonight. I heard the guy is the son of a rich Japanese businessman.”

“Do you know which airport?”

“I don’t know!”

“Thank you! We’ll get her back!” I bolted from the room, pulling out my phone as I ran and connecting to my dad’s direct line. “Dad! Don’t ask any questions! Rose is being sent to Japan tonight. I need you to immediately check the passenger manifests for all direct flights from New Nanjing to Japan tonight!”

“Got it. Don’t worry.” Dad crisply hung up and began to mobilize the Dragon’s Fate Group’s resources to check the flight records.

Even with Dad’s assurance, the anxiety in my heart didn’t ease in the slightest. If I failed to catch up to Rose, it would be incredibly difficult to get her back. Although Dad’s group was powerful, this was Japan, after all, and the Dragon’s Fate Group’s influence was at its weakest there.

“What do we do now?” Butterfly asked, catching up to me.

“We’ll go to every major airport and search one by one. There are only three international airports in this city!”

“Right!”

Leaving the school at lightning speed, we first rushed toward the First International Airport. This airport primarily handled flights from New Nanjing to other parts of Asia, so if she was going to Japan, this was the most likely departure point. After blowing past countless speed cameras and red lights, I finally arrived at the airport before seven o’clock. Butterfly stayed outside to deal with the police who would surely be showing up any moment, while I ran into the terminal alone.

I ran around the hall aimlessly, but there were too many people, all constantly moving. I couldn’t find her at all, and I didn’t even know for sure if they were leaving from here.

I wandered around in a daze for a few circles. It was almost seven-thirty, but I still hadn’t found them. Just as I was about to despair, my phone rang. “Son, I found her. First International Airport, departing at seven-thirty this evening, Flight 31945. The aircraft is a Flying Phoenix 300 medium-sized passenger jet, destination Tokyo, Japan.”

“Got it!” I quickly hung up and checked the time. Seven-twenty-nine! I sprinted to the massive floor-to-ceiling window in the departure lounge that faced the runway. Although it was already dark, the powerful lights on the runway still allowed me to clearly see the words “Flying Phoenix 300” on the side of the passenger jet as it slowly taxied. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach as the plane left the runway. It was over! It was all over!

Butterfly caught up from behind. “What is it?”

I pointed weakly at the departing jet.

“She’s on that plane?” Butterfly asked, shocked.

I could only nod again.

“How could we be so unlucky! We were just one step too late!” Though it had nothing to do with her, Butterfly still felt sorry for me. The feeling of losing a lover must be similar to losing a brother. Although she had never lost a lover, she had seen her brothers-in-arms, with whom she had faced life and death, die before her more than once. That feeling was more unbearable than any physical pain.

Chapter 24: Getting Her Back

“Son! How is it?” Dad asked anxiously as soon as he picked up the phone.

“The plane took off!” I told Dad, frantic.

“You didn’t stop her?”

“I got there too late!”

“Is that so!” After a moment of thought, Dad continued, “It’s alright! You go wait at the auxiliary runway!”

On the plane, Rose and her family were all looking out the window. With tears streaming down her face, Rose watched the buildings outside gradually shrink. Seated beside her were a rather dashing middle-aged man and a coquettish woman—her father and stepmother.

“Husband! How much do you think that old man is willing to give?” the woman asked in a syrupy voice.

A rather terrifying expression appeared on the man’s face. “Who said we’re selling my daughter? Can’t we just live with our own daughter? We raised her, why can’t we live with her?”

“That’s right!” the woman chimed in. “We really should live with our lovely daughter. That old fellow wouldn’t treat his in-laws poorly, would he?”

As the two shameless people were talking, the captain’s voice suddenly echoed through the cabin. “Attention all passengers, I have just been informed by ground control of a potential technical issue with this aircraft. Although the plane is currently operating normally, for your safety, this flight will be returning to the airport for a comprehensive inspection. After landing, all passengers will be guided by the flight attendants to transfer to another aircraft. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and look forward to serving you again!”

“What? Turning back?” the middle-aged man complained, displeased. “We’re going to be late because of this!”

A flight attendant politely said, “Please don’t worry. The plane you’ll be transferring to is one of our company’s newer models, and it’s faster than this one. Not only will you not be late, but you might even arrive a dozen or so minutes early!”

“Really? That’s great!”

Down on the ground, I was waiting at the boarding gate of the auxiliary runway. This runway, equipped with top-tier facilities, was specially prepared for small and medium-sized luxury private charters. I gazed through a massive, shockproof observation window with a built-in magnification function like a telescope, watching as the flight that had already flown far into the sky suddenly executed a wide left turn and headed back toward the airport.

I waited at the boarding gate as the flight Rose was on came to a steady halt. I anxiously scanned the crowd of people streaming out, searching for that familiar figure. Soon, I spotted Rose being half-dragged, half-supported out of the cabin by a middle-aged man and woman.

“Rose!” I couldn’t help but shout.

“Purple Sun?” Rose and her parents stared at me in disbelief. Wrenching free from her parents’ grip, Rose ran frantically toward me. I, of course, rushed forward without a second thought and held her tight.

“I thought I’d never see you again!” I held her tightly, trying to give her as much comfort as I could.

Rose trembled and cried in my arms. Even though she said nothing, in that moment, I truly and completely understood all the emotions she wanted to express.

Butterfly stood to the side, looking at the two of us, then over at Big K, and smiled warmly. Rose’s parents, however, were not so moved by the scene. Having recovered slightly, Rose’s father charged over, looking furious. “So you’re Purple Sun?” After pulling Rose away, he threw a punch at me. “Are you looking to die?”

Of course, the fist never hit me. Big K’s skills were no joke. Although he had flaws in his personality, his reflexes and muscle strength were on a level absolutely unattainable by humans. Even my own body, which had undergone priceless and specialized enhancements since childhood, couldn’t possibly match his strength. Human genes limit our bodies. He easily caught the fist with one hand, and with a slight squeeze, Rose’s father crumpled in pain, letting go of Rose to try and pry away Big K’s iron grip.

“Do… do you… know… know who… who I am?” He was trembling from the pain but still tried to threaten us. “I’m a Japanese citizen! I have Japanese citizenship!” As he spoke, he tried to pull out the newly issued Japanese passport from his clothes.

Big K’s simple logic didn’t care whether you were Japanese or Chinese. As long as you were an enemy, what difference did nationality make? He applied a bit more pressure, and Rose’s father immediately went pale and limp.

“I know you’re all orphans, and life must be hard. I can give you money, just let us take Rose! How about it?” Rose’s stepmother tried to persuade us. Unfortunately for her, I have little concept of money. As for Butterfly and the others, who could possibly give them more money than my Dad? What was even more laughable was that they thought we were orphans! Rose must have told them that. It was obvious they had learned everything about me from her. The pity was, even Rose herself didn’t have a clear idea of my true identity!

I figured if I had told them my identity from the start, Rose’s parents wouldn’t have treated us this way. They wanted to break us up precisely because they thought I was some poor kid who grew up in an orphanage. In the beginning, to save myself the trouble, I might have just used money to buy Rose back, even though that would have tarnished our love. But now that it’s gotten this messy, I won’t give these two greedy people a single thing! I signaled Big K to let go, then grabbed Rose’s father by the collar with one hand and lifted him up. “I’m warning you, I’m taking Rose with me. You’d best not cause me any trouble! Don’t think I won’t touch you just because you bought some foreign citizenship. Let alone a traitor like you, even if you were the president or prime minister of some country, I could still make you vanish from the face of the earth at any time. You’d better believe me!” I tossed him, sending him crashing into a row of seats. “Get lost! Don’t let me see you on Chinese soil ever again!”

Under everyone’s shocked gazes, I swept the still-dazed Rose into my arms and walked out of the airport. What I wanted was that intimidating presence, a superior aura powerful enough to frighten everyone. This was a social tactic my Dad had taught me since I was young—the best way to avoid retaliation when solving a problem is to crush all their hopes at once, making them lose the confidence to retaliate!

Rose didn’t fully come back to her senses until our car had left the airport. “How are you? Scared you, didn’t I? Was I too harsh just now? You’re not mad at me for treating your father like that, are you?”

Rose shook her head desperately. “I absolutely loved what you did back there! You know? You give off a really strange vibe. Your appearance is too effeminate, and I’ve always felt you lacked a certain manliness! But just now, I saw it. You were magnificent!”

“Really?” I roared with laughter. “I never knew my image was so glorious!”

“By the way! Where did you steal this car?”

“Ah!” Rose’s words nearly made me drive the car into the median strip. Thankfully, the car’s automatic stabilizer corrected its course. “Who told you I stole it? This is my car!”

“Really?” Rose’s face was full of disbelief. “You’re an orphan. Even if the state provides free education, housing, and other basic necessities, a luxury sports car like this isn’t something the government can just give to everyone! You don’t seem much older than me, either. I don’t believe you could’ve earned enough money to buy a car like this yourself!”

“I can’t hold it in anymore! Wahahaha!” Butterfly, in the back seat, was red in the face from holding back her laughter. “How did the great Young Master Lin of our Shen family become an orphan? Even if you’re chasing girls, you don’t need to use such a low-class excuse to get sympathy!”

“The Shen family?” Rose turned to look at Butterfly in the back. “Which Shen family are you talking about?”

“Besides the Shen family of the Dragon’s Fate Group, are there any other prominent Chinese people with the surname Shen? I don’t recall Shen being a very common surname, is it?”

“What? The Dragon’s Fate Group? You mean the Dragon’s Fate Group, the second-largest conglomerate in the world?”

“That’s the one! Dragon’s Fate is a registered trademark; using the same name is illegal!”

“You!…” She pointed at me, rendered speechless for a long time.

“Don’t get so worked up!”

“Why did you lie to me back then? If I had known, we wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble. If my parents knew you were the Young Master of Dragon’s Fate, they never would have sent me to Japan.”

“I’m not the one who said it. You were the one who guessed it!”

“But why didn’t you explain?”

“You talk like a machine gun. I would have needed a chance to get a word in!”

Rose thought about it and realized it seemed to be true, so she quieted down. “Where are we going now?”

“To my mom’s villa here! My Dad and my mom both really want to meet you.”

“No way! Stop the car!”

“What for?”

“I can’t go looking like this! At least let me prepare a little!”

“It’s fine. My mom and dad aren’t holding a beauty pageant. They just want to meet you!”

“But isn’t this too rude!”

“Don’t be scared! I’m here! Even an ugly bride has to meet the in-laws eventually, and you’re not ugly!”

“Jerk! Who said I was going to marry you?”

I threateningly slowed the car down and said, “You’re not going to marry me? Then I’ll take you back!”

“You! Hmph!” Rose started to sulk.

I laughed heartily and drove the car into my mom’s villa. “Come on!”

“Young Master! The matter is concluded. We’ll be taking our leave now!” Butterfly said, pulling Big K along as she bid us farewell.

“Alright! Take my car. When you’re done, just park it at the entrance to Area Nine of the school. See you!” I watched Butterfly leave and then walked into the house, with a nervous Rose clinging to me and looking all around.

Chapter 25: Settled

“This must be Chu Rong, right?” Mom was quite direct, pulling Rose over. “Don’t be afraid. Even though I’m Shen Lin’s mom, your future mother-in-law, I won’t give you a hard time. I’m an open-minded parent. As my daughter-in-law, your only job is to take good care of our Shen Lin. Understand?”

“Mom!” I walked over and pulled Rose back. “Is that any way to introduce yourself?”

Dad came over too. “Hello, I’m Shen Lin’s father, Shen Jianguo. I imagine you already know about our family’s situation, but I need to tell you some things now that might make you uncomfortable. It might be a bit inappropriate to say this at our first meeting, but I hope you’ll remember it.”

“Dad! Stop scaring her!” I quickly interrupted him.

Dad motioned for me to be quiet. “Shen Lin is my only son, which, to put it bluntly, makes him my sole heir. In the future, Longyuan and Zhonghua will be his. There’s also an emergency asset that no one knows about: ten percent of the shares in the European Peer-to-Peer Trading Company. The total value of these assets is beyond what an ordinary person can comprehend, and their influence is immeasurable. To be blunt, whoever possesses these things can sway the direction of a country, even the political course of an entire region. The temptation of these assets is not something most people can resist. So, in the future, many people will surely scheme for this fortune. If you truly want to be with Shen Lin, you must be prepared to endure all of this.”

Rose looked at my dad but said nothing. She gave a slight nod and then shrank into my arms, refusing to look up again.

“Son,” Mom said, “I have to warn you. Once you two get married, you can forget about your old life. You’ll quickly become a public figure, and your every move will be reported by the press.”

“I know all that!” I stopped my mom from continuing. “I know all the consequences of this decision, but when Rose left, I understood what’s more important!”

“In that case, we won’t say any more,” Dad said. “I’ll arrange a wedding for you two. But before that, you two had better not… you know what. Understand?”

“You know what?” Rose asked innocently.

“Exactly, that!” Dad tried to be subtle for a while, but Rose still didn’t get his meaning. Finally, he had to turn to me. “Kid, you know what I mean, right?”

I blushed and nodded. Dad immediately added, “If you really can’t hold back, just do it in the game. Your characters are together there, anyway.”

“You can do… that in Zero?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes. All human behaviors from the real world can be perfectly replicated inside.”

I started to consider Dad’s words. Doing it in the game was indeed a good idea, but I wondered if my physical body would also react. How embarrassing would it be if I made a mess all over the bed! I leaned close to Dad’s ear and whispered, “If I do that inside, will… you know… also happen outside?”

Dad burst out laughing. “You think you need to worry about that? If we did such a poor job, no one would play! When you were fighting monsters in the game before, did your physical body flail around?”

“I guess not!”

“There you go! To put it simply, our game helmet is a brainwave extractor. The body’s movements are controlled by bioelectric signals transmitted through the nerves. The game helmet intercepts these signals, inputs them into the game, and simultaneously emits reverse brainwaves to interfere with the electronic signals reaching other parts of the body. So, once you enter the game, your body is effectively disconnected from your brain. Aside from basic life signals like breathing and heartbeat, all other reactions are intercepted. When you feel things like hunger in the game, it’s because the helmet is reading your body’s signals and relaying them to your brain. If the helmet didn’t relay them, you could starve to death without ever feeling it!”

“That’s great!” I said, a wicked grin spreading across my face.

Mom couldn’t stand it anymore and came over to drag Dad away. “You old pervert, don’t corrupt the kids. And you,” she said to me, “Rose is a pure, good girl. Don’t go overboard! Alright, it’s getting late. Everyone, go to bed!”

The innocent Rose never did figure out what the three of us were talking about. She had a feeling it concerned her, but she had no idea what it meant.

That night, I was forced to sleep in a separate room from Rose. And here I was, planning to… you know! But I’m not worried. Poor Rose, you can’t escape my clutches! Hahahaha! “Ouch!” My gleeful fantasy was cut short by a rap on the head.

“Still not sleeping? What are you giggling about?” Mom deliberately provoked me.

“Oh!” I was furious but didn’t dare say a word. Lying in bed, it took me a long time to fall asleep. The unbearable temptation in the next room was simply…!

I finally managed to fall asleep, but it felt like morning came in a flash! So frustrating! One night and I’ve got panda eyes! “Son! We’re leaving now. You and Rose can head back to school on your own,” Mom said, appearing at my bedroom door.

“Got it!”

After Mom left, I ran to Rose’s room. The little rascal was still asleep! A huge pile of blankets on the bed formed a small mound, with Rose wrapped up so tightly not even her head was visible. I carefully lifted the covers. “Whoa!” I quickly pinched my nose. Wow! That was close! I almost got a nosebleed! How did I never realize Rose had such an amazing figure! It seems those mage robes and battle armors in the game were a real waste of this beauty! Rose was lying there under the covers, her pink, semi-transparent silk nightgown completely unable to block the light! The sunlight shining on the nightgown reflected a pinkish glow. She looked like a fairy fallen to the mortal world. Her appearance in the game must have been toned down! Staring at the matching bra visible under the translucent nightgown, I was about to lose my mind! Was Mom setting me up to commit a crime? She actually gave Rose the same kind of nightgown she uses to hint to Dad that it’s… okay! The faint outline of her body beneath the nightgown was something no healthy male could control! Heh heh! Well, it’s going to happen sooner or later. Since the opportunity is this good, I might as well make her a woman ahead of schedule!

I practically tore off my own pajamas. At a time like this, any man would turn into a carnivore! Just as I was about to pounce, Rose suddenly stirred. Her beautiful, vermilion lips moved slightly. “Purple Sun! Save me! I don’t want to be married off to Japan!” A single, glittering teardrop slid from the corner of her eye down her cheek. That tiny teardrop instantly restored my sanity. My male instincts vanished as quickly as they had appeared.

I gently wiped away the tear from her face and planted a kiss on her forehead, then scrambled back to my room to get changed. What I didn’t know was that just after I closed the door, those tear-filled eyes suddenly opened. She muttered to herself in a low voice, “I guess you have some conscience after all. Did you really think I’m that naive? Grandma was right, a woman’s tears can defeat any man, especially one who likes you!” Her mischievous tone suddenly softened. “But my dear Husband, please don’t be in such a hurry! I will become your woman eventually. I would do anything for you, but please, give me time to prepare myself!” As she spoke, she touched the spot on her forehead where I had kissed her, a blissful smile on her face.

Poor me, I was still in my room, cursing myself for how I could have treated Rose like that. I was so despicable, a complete animal!

After getting dressed, I woke the feigning Rose, and we decided to walk downtown for a stroll. Neither of us cared about our classes at school. Rose was so intelligent she had already finished the curriculum, and I was just there to get a diploma. Attending class was meaningless for us. Along the way, perhaps to make up for what happened this morning, Rose took the initiative to take my hand, loop my arm over her shoulder, and press herself against me. Unfortunately, the looks from passersby weren’t the blessed and envious gazes you’d give a divine couple, but the curious stares reserved for two lesbians. What I couldn’t stand the most was a young man who shook his head and sighed, “Two such beauties, what a pity!” What nearly made me faint was that as the young man was passing us, Rose said to me in a loud voice, “Honey! Where should we go have fun?” The poor guy was so shocked he walked straight into a lamppost. Judging from the crisp, bell-like clang, he must have hit it pretty hard!

To make commuting easier, Mom’s villa was built not too far from the commercial district. We soon reached the city’s most bustling shopping street. Rose stopped for a moment in front of the Tianling Tower, which was known as the “Hanging Gardens,” then turned to pull me away. “Why aren’t you going in? This is the most high-end and comprehensive shopping and entertainment center in the city. Aren’t you going in? Don’t girls love fashion the most?”

Rose smiled and said, “I’m surprised you know this is the city’s most high-end consumer center. You know my family’s situation. If I hadn’t earned a scholarship, my dad probably wouldn’t have even let me go to university! Even that woman (Rose’s term for her Stepmother) rarely dares to set foot in a place like this.”

I turned Rose by her shoulders to face me. “Listen to me, and listen well. I want you to remember that you’re not a pitiful, unloved little girl anymore! You’re my woman now. From now on, the only thing you need to know is happiness. You don’t have to worry about anything else. Now, come inside with me. I’m going to make you the most beautiful woman in the world!”

Although still a bit timid, with my encouragement and the innate female love for shopping, Rose quickly gave in. No woman can resist the allure of shopping, and Rose was no exception!

Walking into the first-floor lobby and seeing the shopping directory, I nearly went crazy! Why was men’s fashion only on the second floor, while women’s fashion took up floors three all the way to thirty! The moment we entered, the situation reversed, and it was Rose dragging me along! We first entered a relatively ordinary clothing section. Although Rose was full of praise, I wasn’t impressed by anything and urged her to go straight to the twentieth floor. All the good stuff was up there.

After finally getting through the clothing sections that were driving Rose wild, we arrived at the twentieth floor. From this floor up, it was all specialty shops for designer brands and custom-made clothing. Rose had never seen such beautiful clothes in person before; she had only seen them on TV during fashion shows. I pushed her into a store called “Holy Snow Specialty Store.” I don’t know much about women’s clothing, but I remembered that Mom’s clothes all seemed to be from this brand! I trust my mom’s taste; anything she fancies can’t be ordinary!

A sales associate came running over enthusiastically from a distance. “Welcome! What can I help you two ladies with?”

Sigh! Another one who got it wrong! But I couldn’t be bothered to explain.

Rose casually picked up a price tag on a nearby dress and gasped when she saw the long string of zeros after the number. “Shen Lin?”

I knew the price had shocked her, but I already knew this stuff wouldn’t be cheap! “My girlfriend needs some beautiful clothes, everything from evening gowns to casual wear. I don’t know much about fashion, so could you please help her pick some out?”

The sales associate looked at me, surprised, then glanced at Rose. Although she found it odd that a “woman” like me would have a girlfriend, she quickly took Rose to pick out clothes. After all, you don’t argue with a customer!

Rose was as happy as a Butterfly, trying on one outfit after another. One moment she was innocent and carefree, the next elegant and poised, then seductive and charming. It wasn’t just me; even the sales associates and other customers in the store were staring in a daze. We spent over an hour in that store, and the clothes Rose had tried on were piled up like a small mountain. I could see the sales associate starting to frown. Even though I don’t shop often, I know about people who try on a heap of clothes without buying a single thing. Sales staff dread that kind of customer! Seeing that Rose was more or less done choosing, I picked out a classic ladylike outfit for her to wear and tossed the clothes she had worn in to the sales associate. “Throw these away. Also, pack up all the clothes she just tried on. Send everything except the outfit she’s wearing to this address.” I handed her my ID card. The sales associate’s face instantly went from cloudy to clear, the sunny-with-no-clouds kind! I knew her commission on this many clothes would be sky-high; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so overjoyed!

Chapter 26: The Wolf King

It was already evening by the time we finished shopping, and my back was about to break! I never knew something could be so exhausting! That night, I sent Rose back to her school. The mountain of clothes had arrived before we did, and our return gave her roommates quite a shock. The one called Linlin saw us with the pile of clothes and immediately asked, “Did you two rob a bank? You’re an orphan, where did you get all this money?” She pulled a skirt suit from a shopping bag. “Oh my god! It’s a Snow Saint special limited edition commemorative suit! Wow!” The moment the words left her mouth, she was pushed aside by her other roommates冲ing forward.

While they were messing around, I said goodbye to Rose. “Stay in the dorm for a while. I’ll buy a house outside the school as soon as I can. I’ve already altered the guard dogs downstairs, so your parents won’t be able to get in anymore. You can live here without worry!”

After returning to my own dorm, Rose and I, with a tacit understanding, logged back into the game. The moment I appeared, Rose leaped into my arms. “How did you know my timing so precisely?”

“I just guessed you’d be eager to get online, so I didn’t waste any time and came on to keep you company!”

“At least you have a conscience!” Rose reverted to her ‘little devil’ personality from the game. “I know what my father talked to you about last night! Do you want to… right now…?”

So direct! “Rose! Uh… that… the other day!”

Rose tackled me straight to the ground. “I know you’ve been thinking about it for a while. I was actually awake this morning!”

“Then you were…?”

“I did it on purpose, to see if you were a pervert or a gentleman!”

Understanding Rose’s feelings, I immediately flipped her over and pinned her underneath me. “So what do you think I am?”

“A pervert!” Rose answered with a smile.

“I am a pervert! Awooo!” I mimicked a wolf’s howl and began to give Rose a ‘wolf’s kiss’, finishing what we couldn’t that day.

But what happened next left me unsure whether to laugh or cry. Just as my howl ended, several resounding howls echoed from the distance. The sound, which sent a chill down to the bone, was definitely not a human imitation. Don’t tell me I actually summoned real wolves! Man!

“Awooo!” The howls grew closer. It seemed I really had attracted a pack of wolves! I quickly summoned my underlings. Lucky appeared first, and I immediately ordered him to clear the nearby trees. Wolves were too fast, and the dense forest was to their advantage. Felling the trees before they arrived could reduce the danger to us. Next came Nightshadow and Xiao Feng; with their high Agility, dealing with a wolf pack shouldn’t be a problem. Phantom, of course, couldn’t be forgotten. As for Little Dragon Girl, I’d leave her out. Her area-of-effect attacks were too slow to be useful.

We had just gotten into formation when the wolf pack appeared. Right in front of us, two huge, black Demonic Wolves leaped nimbly onto a fallen log. They scanned the area before locking their gazes on us. Just as I was feeling relieved that there were only two, another seven or eight Demonic Wolves suddenly jumped onto the same log. Good heavens, it looked like a lot of Demonic Wolves had come!

Soon, a snow-white Demonic Wolf leaped out from behind the log. This was clearly the Wolf King. Its pure white fur, enormous size, and the cross-shaped mark on its forehead all indicated its distinguished status. The white Demonic Wolf stared at us for a moment, then in a single bound, it was right in front of me. I hastily grabbed Rose and turned to run. A beast this huge was definitely high-level! Lucky, without a second thought, charged forward with a swipe of his claw. The Demonic Wolf dodged the attack with a nimble diagonal leap. Nightshadow also rushed over but was completely surrounded by the other wolves before he could even get near the white one. Xiao Feng tried to provide support, taking advantage of her air superiority, but a particularly large black Demonic Wolf crouched on the ground and leaped, almost reaching her. The Demonic Wolves’ jumping ability was just ridiculous!

After his straightforward claw attack missed, Lucky immediately spun around and swung his massive tail. The Demonic Wolf easily ducked under the tail, then pounced onto Lucky’s back and began tearing at him wildly. Pained and enraged, Lucky opened his mouth and unleashed a Dragon Flame, incinerating a host of Demonic Wolves. Now free to act, Nightshadow shot onto Lucky’s back and knocked the Demonic Wolf off with an upward thrust. Thank goodness Nightshadow was much faster than the Demonic Wolf!

I had Rose climb a large tree to heal and buff us from above, while I charged into the wolf pack, brandishing the basic sword in my hand. Lucky’s earlier grazing hit on the Wolf King allowed me to see its stats. What a beast—Sanctified Demonic Wolf King, a level 750 boss. Its speed was 230, the same as Xiao Feng’s. Its attack power was normal for its level, but its health was incredibly high; it was clearly a super HP tank! Although Lucky was high-grade, the level difference was too great, and he was completely suppressed. Nightshadow was fast, but not an offensive Magical Pet, so he couldn’t do much to it either. Xiao Feng was busy holding off a large group of wolves by herself and couldn’t spare the effort. It seemed it was all up to me!

“Lucky! Imprisoning Flames!” This was a combination spell Lucky and I had developed. It was essentially a circle formed by two semi-circular Blocking Fire spells. As long as we trapped the target inside, we could torment it with ranged attacks from the outside!

The ring of fire formed successfully, but to my dismay, the Demonic Wolf’s jumping ability was so ridiculous that it simply leaped out of the flaming circle. What terrifying jumping power! I slammed on the brakes, because the wolf that had jumped out was now right in front of me, so close I could feel its breath on my face!

The Demonic Wolf crouched back, preparing to pounce. Just in time, a wall of black fire appeared between us, separating us. I looked up; sure enough, it was Xiao Feng’s Hellfire. Although the flames blocked the Demonic Wolf’s path, it still leaped over the wall of fire in an instant. “Aiyah!” It lunged at me, and a single swipe of its claw sent me flying. My health bar hit rock bottom in an instant. Damn, a boss over five hundred levels higher than me really wasn’t something I could handle with my strength!

Rose’s super healing skill arrived instantly, a warm sensation spreading through my body, making me feel much better. At my command, Lucky began setting fires everywhere. I’ll set this whole forest ablaze, let’s see how you jump then!

It seemed like a good idea, but the plan failed. The Wolf King completely ignored the flames and shot straight toward me. It had dodged the fire earlier out of a simple fear of it, but now, trapped in a sea of flames, it realized these low-level fires did it no real harm, so it stopped dodging and charged right through! Faced with such a high-speed magical beast, I had no way to dodge. Unsurprisingly, I was sent flying out of the fiery range. With a loud crash, I broke a large tree. Lucky and Xiao Feng both let out a miserable cry. The Guardian Collar had effectively transferred the excess damage to them. Although it saved my life, Xiao Feng, whose health was already at rock bottom, was grazed by a Demonic Wolf from below and was immediately wiped out. Luckily, she still had a resurrection skill!

Facing such a powerful enemy, I was out of ideas. I leaped onto a nearby tree branch and used Capture on the Wolf King three times in a row, thoroughly enraging it. The Wolf King opened its mouth towards me, and a white crescent shot out. I didn’t know what it was, but I was sure it wasn’t good. I had to move, now! I used Teleport to dodge the Wolf King’s white crescent. Behind me, there was a faint crack. The treetop above where I had been standing suddenly toppled over, the break as clean as if cut by a knife.

Phantom reminded me, “That’s a unique skill for beast-type magical beasts, the Pressure-Burst Bomb. It’s basically an evolved version of Wind Blade!”

“Isn’t that extremely dangerous?”

“At our current level, it’s extremely dangerous even if he doesn’t know that move!”

I glanced up at Rose in the tree and yelled, “Rose! Things are getting hairy, let’s scram!” My strange slang confused Rose, but when she saw me recalling Lucky and the others, she finally understood what I meant. She jumped straight down from the tree. I quickly caught her, then used Capture on the Demonic Wolf one last time. I didn’t care if it succeeded or not—I never expected it to, anyway—I just twisted my Teleportation Ring and left the forest.

I looked around. We had been teleported to a plain. I lay on the ground to de-stress; that last encounter had been too humiliating! Only then did the system notification sound: “Congratulations to Player Purple Sun for successfully capturing a level 750 boss!”

“Huh?” I checked my inventory, and sure enough, there was a white Magical Pet Egg. “This is possible?” I took out the Pet Egg to have a look. It really was the Wolf King from just now!

Rose leaned over to look. “What’s this?”

“A Magical Pet Egg! See, all my Magical Pets were captured, turned into Pet Eggs, and then hatched to become my own pets to help in battle. When I’m not busy, I can play with them too. It’s a pity mine are all too big. They’re okay for fighting, but you can forget about playing with them.”

“Oh, so that’s how it works! I’ve never seen a Pet Egg before. I never saw anyone with a pet where I used to play!”

I took Rose’s hand and placed the egg in it. “It’s for you!”

“You don’t want it?”

“I already have five, and you don’t have any. This is for you, for protection. I saw how fast it was just now, a perfect match for a mage like you.”

“You’re too good to me!” Rose lunged over and gave me a loud, smacking kiss, which made me grin so wide I couldn’t close my mouth.

“So, what are you going to call me from now on?”

“Husband!” Rose seemed to be especially uninhibited in the game. “Happy now?”

“That’s more like it!”

“How do I hatch this thing?” Rose turned the egg over and over, but couldn’t find anything special about it.

I took her hand again and made a small cut on it with my sword (the pain sensitivity in the game was so low that a cut finger was practically painless). A drop of blood welled up from the wound, and I pressed her finger against the egg. Rose froze completely; I knew she was communicating with the system. Soon, she returned to normal. The egg in her hand immediately cracked, and a tiny white furball squeezed its way out. Strange, wasn’t it a wolf?

Soon, the little thing was completely out. It was indeed the Wolf King, just that its size was rather small, and its fur was so long that if you weren’t paying attention, you’d think it was a furball!

“So cute!” Rose hugged the little Wolf King, nuzzling it nonstop. “Such beautiful fur! It’s all white, without a single stray hair except for the black cross on its forehead!”

I said in a knowledgeable tone, “Don’t get too excited. It’s only level 0 right now. It won’t be able to fight until it’s at least level 100!”

“I don’t care! As long as it’s cute!” Rose kept stroking the little wolf in her arms. I was honestly worried the poor thing would be mauled until its fur fell out!

“Hello, you two!” A person in a blue mage robe appeared next to us. Judging by his looks, he had to be a player. “Pleased to meet you here!” He extended his hand for a handshake.

I felt there was something strange about this person, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Rose, however, reached out to shake his hand. The moment he grasped Rose’s hand, his own hand trembled. A strange ring slipped from his wrist and clasped directly onto Rose’s. Before Rose could react, a golden light flashed, and she vanished from where she stood!

“What did you do?” I instantly drew my sword and stared daggers at him.

“Purple Sun! You can’t escape! What do you say, care to surrender?” The mage looked at me arrogantly.

“What did you do to her?” I was ready to dispose of this despicable fellow the moment I had my answer.

“Nothing much. I just sent her to prison!”

“Prison?”

“That’s right. I’m a Bounty Hunter!”

“A Bounty Hunter?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know?” The mage looked at me with surprise. “We players take on missions from the Bounty Hunter Agencies that the system has set up in various cities. Depending on the target’s difficulty and Evil Value, we receive a corresponding reward. Once a Bounty Hunter accepts a mission, they have three real-world weeks to execute it. As long as the Bounty Hunter successfully kills or captures the target within that time, they get the promised reward and don’t gain any Evil Value. But if the mission fails, they have to pay one percent of the mission’s commission as a penalty.”

“How did you find us?”

“Bounty Hunters can receive a report on their target’s coordinates once a day. I just logged on and found that you had teleported right next to the city I’m in, so I came straight here. You should just give up! Surrendering can save us both from wasting potions. Besides, you definitely can’t beat me. If I kill you, you’ll be sent straight to prison. Instead of being killed and losing a level, why not just go to jail quietly?”

I smiled and asked, “So Rose is in the prison of the nearby city now?”

“That’s right. You can go keep her company! A prison cell can be very lonely!” the mage said as he approached me.

Chapter 27: Changing Profession

“I’m sorry, but I have no intention of going to jail. Once I’m locked up, I’ll never get out! So…” I casually threw a Lightning Ball, sending the mage flying. The poor mage never would have guessed that I, a Warrior, would cast a spell instead of charging at him with a sword. Since he didn’t raise his shield in time, my Lightning Ball took out a huge chunk of his health. Before he could react, I rushed forward and finished him off with my sword. He may have been a high-level mage, but mages were notoriously low on health. A direct, unblocked stab from a high-attack Warrior like me sealed his fate.

After dealing with the mage, I quickly tried to contact Rose via private message, only to receive a system notification: The player you are trying to contact is currently in jail and cannot be reached! How annoying to run into something like this! I immediately contacted Ah Wei. “Ah Wei! Are you there?”

“Boss? What’s up?”

“I need your help!”

“Go on, what is it?”

“I just ran into some Bounty Hunters!”

“Don’t tell me you got caught? I know you’re low-level, but with all that treasure you’re carrying, you shouldn’t have been captured, right? Couldn’t you have just gotten away with your Teleportation Ring?”

“It wasn’t me who got caught! It was your Sister-in-law! We were ambushed!”

“How could that happen! Alright, tell me what you need me to do. But just so you know, if it’s a jailbreak, don’t count me in. Even if I’m a super mage who’s changed to a Hidden Profession, I’m not a one-man army! Against NPCs, I’d probably only last a few seconds!”

“Who said anything about a jailbreak? That’s a job for me, of course. Right now, I need you to help me pinpoint Rose’s location! I don’t know which prison she’s in. What if I go through all the trouble of breaking in only to find out I’m in the wrong place? It’s not convenient for me to enter a city with a red name!”

“Is that all? You scared me. Okay, tell me which city?”

“Duh! If I knew which city, how could I go to the wrong one? Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“So I have to check them one by one? There are a ton of cities here, it could take months to go through them all! Boss! I don’t have the money, you’re paying for the teleportation fees!”

“Fine! As long as you find her!”

“Alright! Just wait, Boss! Oh! Tell me where you guys were captured. The cities near there are probably the most likely!”

I gave Ah Wei the coordinates and then hurried back to the City of the Lost. Hearing Ah Wei mention his Hidden Profession just now reminded me that I also had two Hidden Professions I hadn’t changed to yet! At first, it was because my level wasn’t high enough, but it should be fine now. And I’d need all the strength I could get to rescue Rose! But where do I go to change my profession? I rummaged through my Spatial Bracelet for a long time before finally finding those two damn profession change scrolls. Ever since I got this super-sized storage space, I’ve never bothered to organize my things. I never had to worry about running out of space, so I just let it be. Now, trying to find something in this mess was like shooting myself in the foot!

First, I opened the scroll for the Demonic Phantom. Aside from a short introduction at the beginning, the rest of it was all instructions. It seemed to be a quest without an NPC. Some quests that didn’t involve NPCs were like this, with included instructions.

Following the instructions step by step. “First, find a spacious and safe place.” Spacious and safe? Looking at the city streets, they were first-class in safety, but spacious was out of the question! Right, the Death Prairie outside the city—a super-large zone completely devoid of monsters. Safe and spacious! I quickly ran out of the city and stood far from the walls. This should be spacious enough!

“Second step, summon two Dark-series Magical Pets.” Dark-series? All my Magical Pets were demonized due to my attributes, so they should all count as dark-type, right? Wait, there was a note after this sentence! “The final form of the Demonic Phantom can vary. The specific outcome will be determined by the attributes of the Magical Pets!” What did that mean? I didn’t get it at all. Was I going to turn into a dark monster like my pets? Whatever, I’ll figure it out after I transform. After much consideration, I summoned Little Dragon Girl and Xiao Feng. With a dragon and a phoenix, symbols of good fortune, nothing unlucky should happen, right?

“Third step, drip your blood onto the scroll and begin the prayer according to the incantation!” Alright! I cut my finger, dripped some blood onto the scroll, and it immediately burst into flames. The incantation then inexplicably appeared in my mind. “Great Darkness, I swear to forsake the sanctuary of the heavens. I call upon the power of darkness with my soul. I renounce the call of the light and swear to become the harbinger of darkness! Great power of darkness, grant me the great power of destruction!” A black ring of light rapidly spun around my body. The ring’s rotation sped up continuously until cracks appeared all over it, growing larger and larger. With a loud boom, the ring shattered into countless fragments. But instead of flying in all directions, they flew directly toward Little Dragon Girl and Xiao Feng. After the fragments entered their bodies, they transformed into two black orbs of light and flew back into me.

System Notification: “Congratulations Player Purple Sun on successfully changing your profession to Demonic Dragon-Phoenix Knight. Please designate a mount. Your two Dark-series Magical Pets have been consumed in the process and can no longer be designated as mounts. Please choose another!”

“Nightshadow!”

System Notification: “Magical Pet Nightshadow has been designated as your mount. You have acquired the skills: Charge, Ram, Skewer, Heavy Strike, Weapon Block, Pierce, and Overawe. Due to your transformation into a Dragon-Phoenix Knight, your Demon Servants are now automatically subject to a Knight-type restriction.”

Knight-type restriction? What was that? I quickly checked the help system. Crap, so the so-called Knight-type restriction meant I could only capture humanoid Knight-type NPCs as Demon Servants now! Holy cow! Wasn’t this a death sentence? Knight-type NPCs were generally high-level and densely packed. You either never ran into them, or you ran into them in droves. The usual way to handle them was to turn and run. No matter how high your level was, if you ran into a few hundred Knights in a Group Charge, they’d trample you to death!

Wait! Big Bro! Duomingge had a whole troop of underlings, didn’t he? He’s the commander of the Dark Legion; asking him for a few Knights should be a piece of cake! Heh heh! I’m a genius!

“Nightshadow!” I summoned Nightshadow, put away Little Dragon Girl and Xiao Feng, and mounted him. As I rode towards Big Bro’s camp, I studied how to change to my other Hidden Profession.

After reading for a while, I only figured out one thing: to become a Soul-Reaping Mage, I had to find a specific NPC in a city called Dragon City! Since I had to go to a city, I wasn’t in a hurry. I’d settle things with Big Bro first.

Just as I entered the Gorge, I heard Ah Wei’s voice. “Boss! I found her! I just went into the prison in Bright City, and Sister-in-law is right there. The cell doors are always open, but once a red name goes in, they can’t get out! I just told Sister-in-law, and she said you shouldn’t go! Besides not having freedom, everything else in the prison is fine, and red names get cleared faster in there than outside!”

“Alright, give me the coordinates of that city’s gate, and then you can go. And while you’re at it, tell your Sister-in-law that I’m not abandoning her!” I cut off the connection and sped towards Big Bro’s place. When I finally reached the camp entrance, I was relieved that the guards still remembered me. Although they weren’t as polite as when I had the Keepsake last time, at least they didn’t try to kill me on sight!

“Excuse me, I’m Duomingge’s sworn brother. Could you please inform him?”

“Wait here!” The guard turned and ran inside. He returned a short while later, noticeably more polite. “Please, follow me!” I followed the guard for a long time before finally seeing Big Bro.

“Big Bro!”

“What brings you here? I heard from Old Dragon that he smashed your Demonic Dragon Set to smithereens. Aren’t you out looking for materials to repair it?”

“I came this time to discuss something with you!”

“What is it? As long as I can help, I definitely will!” Big Bro was as straightforward as ever!

I told him the story of how Rose was captured. “I need to go rescue her now, but as you know, the city guards are all level 800 and above. Unlike you NPCs in the wild, they don’t level up on their own, so they start at a very high level. Right now, most of us players are below level 500, and I’m not even level 300. I’m no match for guys who are over 500 levels higher than me!”

“That is troublesome! But I can’t help you with that! I have rules to follow here. I’m not allowed to help you attack a city!” Big Bro said with a troubled expression.

“I don’t need you to attack the city! I just changed my profession to a Demonic Dragon-Phoenix Knight, and now all my Demon Servants have a Knight-type restriction. So I was hoping to get a few of your subordinates to be my Demon Servants.”

“Is that so!” Duomingge waved his hand, dismissing all his subordinates. In an instant, only the two of us were left in the room. Big Bro glanced outside the door to make sure everyone was gone before whispering to me, “Actually, I do have some troublesome subordinates. It would be for the best if you could take them away!”

“They’re not too low-level, are they? If they’re not very strong, they won’t be of much use to me!”

Chapter 28: Spirit Herald Knight

“They’re all Spirit Herald Knights, with levels higher than my own. But since they lack any command skills, they fall under my authority. The problem is, their levels are too high and they’re incredibly strong, making them completely insubordinate. Trying to command them is a waste of breath; I have almost no control over those bastards! Their refusal to follow orders disrupts the entire squad’s coordination, so when they’re around, my troops can’t fight effectively at all!”

“How many of them are there?”

“Ten! A bit much, wouldn’t you say?”

“Perfect! I can summon exactly ten Demon Servants!”

“That’s fantastic! These guys are so much trouble, having them around is killing me! Come with me!”

I followed Big Bro, circling around the camp toward the back. These guys really were a handful—they didn’t even live in the main camp! After walking a good distance away, we saw a row of tents next to a mountain cave. Big Bro stood in the middle of the tents and bellowed, “Assemble!” then quickly ran back over to me. Swish, swish. A row of long spears suddenly stabbed into the ground where Big Bro had just been standing and along his path, the exposed shafts still quivering.

Ten knights clad in full black heavy armor emerged from the tents. Each carried two crossed long spears on his back, a heavy sword at his waist, and a heavy shield on his arm—they looked like standard knights. The knights each went to retrieve their spears and sling them onto their backs. One of them, who seemed to be the leader, asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to introduce someone to you! Come on, over here!” Big Bro pulled me forward. “This is my brother. You are now assigned to him as his Demon Servants!”

“Don’t even think about it!” the leader shot back rudely.

“Don’t be so final! I’m your commander, after all!”

“What kind of commander are you? Can you even beat us? If you can defeat any single one of us, we will obey your every command. But if you can’t, then don’t say another word. Just go back the way you came!”

“Exactly!” another Spirit Herald Knight interjected. “If you don’t have the skill, don’t try to order people around!”

“Then you tell me, how do we fight?” I stepped forward, furious. No one had ever shown me such contempt!

“Not bad! You’ve got some backbone! We won’t bully you. We’ll send out our weakest member to fight you on foot. You can summon your Magical Pets and use all your skills and items. As long as you can reduce his health by half, you pass! But don’t get too cocky. I suspect you’ll most likely get one-shotted!”

“Fine!” Although I felt it was humiliating to be given a handicap, considering the level gap, my only options without it were to die or… die!

Big Bro quickly led us to a clearing, and the duel began. To boost my combat power, Big Bro even gave me his own knight armor. The armor had very high defense, but it was a bit heavy and slowed me down. Still, to avoid getting instantly killed, I reluctantly put it on.

Facing me was the Spirit Herald Knight chosen as the weakest, but even if he was the weakest, his actual combat power was still more than I could handle! I started by summoning all my Magical Pets. The Spirit Herald Knight across from me faltered for a moment, clearly not expecting me to have so many!

Since the target was a single person, Phantom didn’t need to Merge with me. I commanded Phantom to enter the opponent’s body. The Spirit Herald Knight, who had been charging, suddenly took a hard tumble. Lucky immediately rushed in to take advantage, smashing its tail down upon his head.

The knight rolled sharply to the side, and Lucky’s attack hit empty air. Seeing Lucky miss, I followed up with a sword thrust to where the knight would be, calculating his movement to ensure a smooth hit. Unfortunately, my sword still failed to connect. Just as he was about to run into my blade, the knight suddenly sprang up, drawing his sword in a horizontal slash. I quickly bent backward, and Phantom also managed to force his blade slightly higher. With a slice, a lock of my hair was gone!

I retreated some distance to avoid his close-range combat. Lucky pounced on the knight again; a frontal assault wouldn’t put Lucky at too much of a disadvantage! Little Dragon Girl successfully completed her formation, and a giant Bagua symbol suddenly appeared under the knight’s feet. I was worried, wondering if something from China would even work on a Western evil creature! The result was quite reassuring. The knight abruptly sank, nearly collapsing, but he quickly stood up again. Little Dragon Girl said to me, “This is the Dragon God’s Gravity Formation. He’s now under double gravity, so his movement speed will be drastically reduced. Use hit-and-run tactics against him!”

His movement speed is down, huh? Heh heh! Let’s see what you can do if you can’t catch me! “Xiao Feng! Hellfire, continuous burn!” Xiao Feng immediately unleashed black flames of Hellfire, surrounding the knight. No matter how high your defense is, you’ll die sooner or later! “Nightshadow! Continuous lightning attacks!”

The two magical attacks, combined with Lucky’s physical attacks, should be able to slowly wear him down! Just as I thought victory was in my grasp, the knight suddenly pulled a long spear from his back, aimed at Little Dragon Girl, and threw it. Although Phantom interfered with his aim, the javelin still struck Little Dragon Girl with lethal accuracy. With a tragic dragon cry, Little Dragon Girl revived on the spot. Dammit, he one-shotted her just like that!

After reviving, Little Dragon Girl no longer had the power to maintain the Gravity Formation, so she had to switch to a Skill Counter Formation. This formation reflects twenty-five percent of all skill damage back at the attacker! While it couldn’t reflect normal attacks, it basically neutralized his skill-based attacks. As long as he didn’t use a full-power offensive skill, he probably wouldn’t be able to kill me in one hit, and if I got hit by a normal attack, I’d have time to heal!

“Watch out!” Xiao Feng warned me. I ducked, and a long spear flew over my head. Dammit, here we go again!

“Xiao Feng! Switch to Concentrated Flame!”

“Got it!” A massive pillar of fire suddenly erupted from under the knight’s feet and shot toward the sky. The knight dodged several times, but the pillar of fire persistently followed him. This was a unique Phoenix skill—not only was its attack power high, but it was also very accurate. Its only drawback was that the Phoenix had to remain completely still and couldn’t use any other magic while casting it. The moment it was interrupted, the spell would stop!

After dodging left and right for a long time without being able to shake us off, the knight seemed to realize that this wouldn’t end until he took me down. Ignoring the harassment from Lucky and the others, he charged straight for me.

I wasn’t an idiot; I wasn’t just going to stand there and let him hit me! I jumped onto Nightshadow’s back. I refused to believe he could outrun Nightshadow! The knight indeed couldn’t outrun Nightshadow, but he quickly drew his last long spear and threw it. I managed to avoid getting hit, but Nightshadow couldn’t dodge the attack. The javelin accurately one-shotted Nightshadow, and in the interval between his death and revival, I fell flat on my face!

Just as I scrambled up, I felt a rush of wind behind me. With a loud boom, the knight was sent flying by a sweep of Lucky’s tail.

After being knocked away, the knight did a flip in mid-air, landed steadily, and then came at me again. I quickly climbed back onto Nightshadow’s back. Run! As the knight charged, Xiao Feng abandoned maintaining the flame and swooped down. The knight ducked, slid along the ground, and continued to pursue me. Lucky moved to block him with a swipe of its claw, but the knight did a front somersault to evade the dragon claw and continued his pursuit with a series of aerial flips over Lucky. With no other choice, Little Dragon Girl had to join the effort to stop him, but unfortunately, she didn’t last long either. After reviving, Little Dragon Girl had very little health left, and she was quickly finished off in this close-quarters fight! It looked like I wouldn’t be able to summon her again for a while!

Jumping off Phantom’s back, I recalled him and Merged with him. Although I lost Phantom’s interference, which made the knight’s movements swift and fluid, I could at least Teleport to create distance and dodge his attacks.

I spun around for a slash, then teleported away to avoid his follow-up attack. The knight was even fiercer, spinning on the spot for a counter-slash. Good thing I dodged it! A battle of attrition like this was not a solution; if I kept running like this, I’d be done for sooner or later.

That’s right, I have the Invisibility Cloak! I teleported behind the knight and then activated Invisibility. Heh heh, how are you going to fight if you can’t see me! Having lost his target, the knight glanced around before standing still. Nightshadow charged forward and gored him with his horn. I wasn’t alone; trying to pinpoint my location by sound wouldn’t be so easy! Although my name was red now, meaning other Players could see my red name even while I was invisible, NPCs couldn’t see me no matter what!

Using invisibility to dodge attacks, I’d just rely on my Magical Pets to take him down! Lucky was the only one among us who could go toe-to-toe with him in melee, so Lucky was always at the forefront. However, his level was far too different from the knight’s, and after a few exchanges, he didn’t have much health left! Fortunately, the supporting attacks from Xiao Feng and Nightshadow were still very effective! Since I was in no danger, I sent Phantom out again to interfere with his movements. This skill was the best for a sneak attack!

After tangling with him for a full twenty minutes without getting anywhere, the knight suddenly let out a great roar, and his armor fell to the ground as if it had simply fallen apart. A black bat flew out from the armor, circled once in the air, and then charged straight at me. Of course, bats are blind—they use echolocation to navigate. No wonder my invisibility had stopped working!

Although I now knew how he could find me, I was completely at a loss for what to do! Lucky quickly ran over and snapped its jaws at him. The bat dodged the dragon’s mouth with great agility, but the follow-up claw struck it squarely. After landing, the bat swiftly transformed into a bewitching woman, clad only in a single, loose-fitting robe. Before I could even process her sudden transformation, she rushed forward and stabbed me. Though it was a dagger, its attack power was no weaker than the knight’s heavy sword. With one strike, a huge chunk of my health disappeared. Dammit, it was at rock bottom again!

This was unbearable! How could her attack power be so high?! But Lucky and Xiao Feng weren’t about to just watch me get stabbed. Lucky’s fangs clamped down on her torso almost at the exact moment her dagger plunged into my body. Nightshadow’s horn struck her at the same time, and Xiao Feng’s flames, landing just a step behind, were also effective.

Just as I felt my life about to end, she suddenly turned back into a bat and flew a short distance away. I was about to attack again when she suddenly spoke. “I have failed!”

“What?” I didn’t register it at first.

“My health is below half. You have won!” She said no more and went straight to pick up her armor.

“What was that bat transformation all about?” I asked, walking over curiously.

Chapter 29: Dinner

“We are Spirit Herald Knights. Do you know how we evolved?” the leading Spirit Herald Knight asked.

“Isn’t it just Black Warriors slowly leveling up and evolving?”

“Of course not! We were originally Holy Paladins. Then vampires killed us and turned us into vampires. Although we became vampires, our Knight skills didn’t disappear, so we became Black Knights and gradually promoted to Dark Templar. But because we are vampires, we could only evolve into the Spirit Herald Knight branch of Dark Templar. Turning into bats is a vampire’s instinct, but our Strength weakens after transforming, so we usually don’t turn into vampires!”

“I see!”

“The five of us were originally high-ranking guard commanders of the Holy Temple, and those five are the personal female guards of the Holy Temple’s female successor. The one who fought you just now was one of them. If it had been all five of us, you wouldn’t have stood a chance!”

“When I Capture Demon Servants, I need to defeat the opponent first and then Capture their soul. What about you?”

“It’s fine. Vampires aren’t considered living beings anyway. You can summon us directly.”

“Oh! Then I’ll start!”

Capturing those ten took a lot of effort. The success rate of Capturing them at full health was unbelievably low. I didn’t finally complete the Capture of all ten until I logged off for the night.

After logging off, I first contacted Rose. She hadn’t logged off yet; she’s addicted to jail time! I had her roommate wake her up to answer the phone. “Rose? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! Just feeling bored! Oh, right, I met a friend inside. She’s really fun!”

“Friend?” My heart skipped a beat. A man and a woman alone in a jail cell! Unacceptable!

“Yeah! I only met her in the cell. She’s really knowledgeable about men!”

“Knowledgeable about men? Is it a he or a she?”

“Of course, it’s a she! The men are all locked up across from us, with an aisle in between. We can see them, but we can’t touch them!”

“Oh!” I’m so awful, actually doubting Rose’s heart! “Didn’t I have Ah Wei tell you that I was going to rescue you? Why didn’t you just log off? It must be miserable in jail!”

“Who says? It’s because I knew you were coming to rescue me that I insisted on not logging off! I want to quietly wait in the jail cell for my prince to rescue me! That蔷薇(Qiangwei) even said that you men only talk the talk and can’t actually save me! I want to prove her wrong!”

“Who is 蔷薇(Qiangwei)?”

“It’s the friend I told you about that I met in jail! Her name is Blood Rose, and it matches my name so well!”

“Are you really sure you don’t want to log off and wait? You don’t need to specifically wait for me in the cell. I’ll rescue you as soon as I’m ready! Then, you can log on and wait for me to rescue you!”

“No! I want to wait for you! Waiting is also a kind of happiness!”

Ugh! What kind of theory is that! “Since you insist, then so be it! I’ll rescue you as soon as possible! Come downstairs now, okay? Let’s go out to eat!” With a Honey, I can’t just settle for convenience food! It’s okay if I’m hungry, but it’s not good if my Honey is hungry!

“Okay! Come pick me up! I’ll come down right away.”

I drove to Rose’s building, and she came down shortly after. Today, Rose was wearing a super-sexy outfit that almost scared me to death. Thinking about it, it seemed to be from the clothes I just bought for her. I didn’t notice when I bought it that there was such a Large Health Potion-colored leather outfit! Red leather boots, red leather pants, a red leather vest, and a red trench coat on the outside! Heavens! Where are the napkins? I have a nosebleed! These super-hot clothes, combined with Rose’s innocent face, are simply a man’s bane!

Because she hadn’t worn such high heels before, Rose’s gait became a swaying posture from left to right. As a result, the men passing by all covered their important parts to hide their excessive reactions!

“Where are we going?” Rose asked as she jumped into the car. “How about the small restaurant by the gate? I’ve wanted to try it for a long time, but it’s too expensive, and I only dare to eat in the cafeteria (Rose is a scholarship student so eats cafeteria food at half price)!”

“A small restaurant?” I didn’t expect Rose to be so easily satisfied. She doesn’t have any of the usual shortcomings of women. I’m definitely lucky to have her! “Let’s go to the revolving restaurant on the top floor of the Dingsheng Grand Hotel and try their couples’套餐(taocan - set menu)!”

“Ah? There! That would be… Oof!”

I sealed her mouth with my lips to stop her from saying more. Originally, I just wanted to shut her up, but I don’t know why but once I kissed her, it was hard to let go. We only separated when we were both out of breath, feeling unsatisfied.

“I’ll say this one last time. You are my woman now, and enjoying happiness is the only thing you need to consider! Don’t mention anything about places being too expensive or too cheap in front of me in the future!”

Rose was so moved that tears welled up in her eyes. With tears of happiness, she pounced on me again. “Whoa! Stop! Oof…”

That was sudden, and I almost passed out! Looks like kissing is also a strenuous exercise!

After arriving at the hotel, we found the best seats to sit down. A waiter hurriedly wanted to come over but was immediately stopped by the head waiter. “Did you see that lady?”

The waiter looked carefully and said, “Are you talking about the one in the red clothes or the one in the black clothes?”

“Idiot! The one in black is a man! Although I can’t be sure if he’s a man or a woman, even if they are two women, the one in black is playing the role of a man. Whether they are men or women, satisfying our customers is our service tenet. After you go over, just call the one in the black clothes ‘Sir.’ Also, you need to praise the小姐(xiāojiě – young lady) in the red clothes for being beautiful, but don’t stare at her. You also have to say that the two of them are a good match, understand?” He pulled the menu from the waiter’s hand and gave him another one. “Use this one!”

“This is the couples’ 套餐(taocan - set menu) menu?” the waiter asked, looking at the menu.

“Never mind that, hurry over there. Don’t keep the guests waiting too long!”

After Rose and I sat down, the waiter quickly walked over (waiters in high-end places are never allowed to run in front of guests). “What would you two like?” He handed over two menus.

I took the menu and saw that the cover was decorated with a couples’ 套餐(taocan - set menu) design. “Your girlfriend is very beautiful!” The waiter said to me as I ordered, and my mood index immediately soared by more than ten percentage points. It’s customary for men to feel proud when someone praises their girlfriend’s beauty in person. When you see a man, you should praise his girlfriend for being beautiful, and when you see a woman, you should praise her clothes for being beautiful and imply that it’s because of her that the clothes look beautiful.

“We’ll have this!” Rose and I pointed to the same dish at the same time.

“The two of you are really a match. There are many couples who appear to be together but have different intentions, but the two of you have心有灵犀一点通(xīnyǒulíngxī yīdiǎntōng - be telepathically linked; to have a tacit mutual understanding).”

“Is that so! Hahaha!” I laughed loudly. Rose blushed and lowered her head shyly.

What the waiter said put me in a great mood, and I ordered more things. Only after everything was brought out did I realize how much we had ordered! But I quickly realized that ordering a lot was a wise move. Rose’s appetite was clearly disproportionate to her figure! At first, she was very restrained and ate elegantly, but after a while, she became a whirlwind!

We ate for an hour, and when I paid the bill, I gave the waiter a tip.

“What do you want to do this evening?” I asked Rose.

“Go back and rest. I ate too much tonight! What about you?”

“I’m going back to find a way to save you.”

“Then you have to hurry!”

“Of course!”

After sending Rose back to her dorm to rest, I ran back to continue my prison break plan. Thinking about it, I have a lot of work to do. I need to speed things up! Right now, I should change profession for that Soul-Reaping Mage first.

After searching for a long time, I finally found that damn scroll. After looking at the attached map and coordinates, it seemed that Dragon City was quite far from here. With my current Strength, it seemed a bit difficult to rush into Dragon City. Right, I’ll go to Clark to ask for a better set of equipment!

Chapter 30: The Revived Demonic Dragon Set

I rushed back, excited to find Clark, but the guy was actually out. It was the middle of the night—why wasn’t he in his shop doing business? (The City of the Lost had its days and nights flipped; it was livelier in the evening.) What was he doing, running all over the place? Since he wasn’t in his shop, I went to my sister-in-law’s place to look for him. Ten to one, he’d be there.

Sure enough, I found him the moment I burst into the clothing store. The guy was being all lovey-dovey with his wife! The second Clark saw me, he immediately pushed me out of the shop in embarrassment. “What are you doing here?”

“Something urgent, of course! My honey got captured! Do you have any good equipment I can borrow? I need to storm the city and rescue her!”

“Are you crazy?” Clark stared at me in shock. “Do you know what level the NPC guards in the city are?”

“Over 800, I know! That’s why I came to you for help!”

After a moment’s thought, Clark said, “I have a way to let you temporarily use the full power of the Divine Artifact set, but you can only use it once a day, and each time for only ten minutes. You have to take it off before the time is up, or else the entire Divine Artifact will shatter and be beyond repair. And the worst part of this method is that after you use it, regardless of whether you go over the time limit, you will lose ten levels in one go! Do you want to use it?”

“Ten minutes for ten levels? What a severe penalty! But for power that transcends my level, I have no other choice. I level up fast anyway, so ten levels is less than a day’s work!” I made up my mind. I couldn’t let Rose stay in jail for too long! “Tell me the method!”

“Come with me!” Clark led me back to his shop, gathered the set pieces, and asked me, “How is your collection of the Blood of Ten Thousand Spirits coming along?”

I took out the list I used for tracking and counted. “I’ve already collected 783 types. I’m still short 217!”

“Wait a moment!” Clark rummaged around for a long time and also produced a vial and a list. “I helped you collect some. See if there are any duplicates!”

“You’ve been collecting too? That’s great!” I took the list and compared it for a while. “There are 79 duplicates. Excluding those, you have a total of 210 new types. We’re only short seven!” I mixed the blood from both vials together and gave it a shake. “What do we do? We’re still missing so many.”

“Hold on!” Clark held out his hand and took out a knife shimmering with blue light. “You’re getting off easy, kid. My Undead blood is incredibly rare! Things repaired with my blood gain resistance to darkness!” With that, he cut his hand and let a few drops of blood drip into the vial, then handed the knife to me. “Your Demonic God Blood is also a top-tier material for forging. Adding it can significantly reduce the equipment’s weight and increase Agility. With so many good things added, the Divine Artifact might even recover ahead of schedule!”

As I let my blood, I asked, “Is the blood of rare creatures all very precious?”

“That’s right! For example, the magical pets you have with you. Equipment repaired with a Phoenix’s Blazing Soul Blood can automatically regenerate durability as long as it’s not completely shattered. Equipment repaired with a Demonic Dragon’s (like Lucky’s) Adamantine Dragon Blood is incredibly difficult to break through and exceptionally sturdy. Equipment repaired with a Divine Dragon’s (like Little Dragon Girl’s) Pure Crimson Sun Blood can absorb a large amount of magical damage and increase your own magical attack power. The Pure Yin Energy Blood from a spiritual body can make the equipment resonate with other gear, so you won’t have to worry about finding it even if you lose it. And a Nightmare’s Dream Demon Blood can cause enemies to fall into a brief coma or be stunned.”

“It’s that good! Why didn’t you say so earlier! I need to add their blood right away.”

Clark said in astonishment, “You haven’t added their blood yet? I thought that would be the first thing you’d do!”

“I didn’t know their blood was so useful. I just figured it wouldn’t make a difference to be missing a few, so why take a knife to my own magical pets!” As I spoke, I summoned my pets to draw their blood. With their blood added, it was exactly one thousand types. Hehe! All collected!

After gathering the Blood of Ten Thousand Spirits, I followed Clark outside the city and we started digging a pit. Want to know why? The reason was simple: we had to rely on Lucky’s plasma jet (that purple Dragon Flame) to smelt the Divine Artifact. Clark’s forge definitely couldn’t withstand such high temperatures, so just digging a pit and burning it there was fine!

I discovered another new function for Lucky! Who said only mice could dig holes? Lucky’s digging speed was no slower than an excavator. A little over ten minutes later, a large pit the size of a swimming pool and over three meters deep was finished. We started preparing everything. Clark set up a platform for hammering and the cooling water on one side, while I started collecting materials from Lucky and the others—dragon teeth, phoenix feathers, and the like.

Finally, everything was ready. We began to add all the materials and the set pieces into the pit. Lucky stood at the edge of the pit, took a deep breath, and violently began to spray purple plasma flames. I could faintly see electric arcs flashing around the outer ring of the flame. The light was so intense that we could barely see the situation inside the pit. Lucky’s flame jet lasted for a full minute before it slowly contracted and disappeared. Due to the excessive exertion, Lucky fainted immediately. My heart ached for him, and I quickly recalled him to let him rest!

Suddenly, Clark cried out. “This is bad! The temperature isn’t high enough! All the materials we worked so hard to collect are going to be wasted!”

“What?” Clark’s words struck me like a bolt from the blue, making my whole body go weak. I ran to the edge of the pit and looked at the Demonic Dragon Set, now glowing faintly red at the bottom of a pit that was at least ten meters deep. It had indeed begun to melt, but it was still not enough!

Just as I was heartbroken with disappointment, Xiao Feng suddenly leaped to the bottom of the pit. “Infernal Netherflame!” A massive, bluish-purple fireball suddenly appeared. Clark exclaimed, “How could I have forgotten there’s a Phoenix, a god of fire, here!”

Xiao Feng’s fire was different from Lucky’s. It was a flame that barely gave off any light. This was the pinnacle of fire; a flame that didn’t lose excess heat and looked dim was actually the hottest. Although the flame was incredibly powerful, Xiao Feng seemed to be struggling to support it. The consumption for such a high-level flame was terrifying! Nightshadow walked to the edge of the pit and suddenly reared up. A white ball of light shot into the sky from the single horn on his head. Immediately after, the ball of light did a turn in the air and flew into the fiery pit. With a flash of white light, the pit was instantly filled with crackling electricity. Nice one. He actually used electric arcs to increase the heat. There shouldn’t be any problems now. The high temperature from the electric arcs also gave Xiao Feng a jolt of energy; for a Phoenix, the higher the temperature, the greater their power.

“It still seems to be a little short!” Clark reminded us that the temperature was not quite sufficient!

Little Dragon Girl immediately flew above the fiery pit and began to form an array. A huge halo of light suddenly appeared on the edge of the pit. Little Dragon Girl tilted her head back and let out a dragon’s cry. “Nine Heavens Thunderfire Curse!” The dark clouds in the sky immediately grew blacker, and a pillar of lightning almost as wide as the pit itself fell directly into it. At the same time, the flames inside shot up more than ten meters high, scaring Clark and me into backing away quickly.

Two minutes later, Nightshadow was the first to give out, collapsing limply. I quickly recalled him to rest. Less than a minute after Nightshadow fell, Xiao Feng flew out. Even with so many helping her, she couldn’t hold on any longer! Little Dragon Girl, on the other hand, was super tough. Her Thunderfire Curse showed no signs of stopping, endlessly heating the fiery pit.

“That should be about enough!” Clark finally shouted for her to stop. Little Dragon Girl stopped at once, her energy consumption was also immense!

The flames vanished. The large pit had now completely turned into a bottomless abyss. The walls of the massive crater had expanded several times over, and what was once the bottom was now over fifty meters deep. I stretched my head to look down, but the bottom was all lava and I couldn’t see a thing. Xiao Feng took a dive straight into the lava, and a short while later, she flew up with one component in each claw. The area around Xiao Feng was still a high-temperature zone. The moment she came up, I felt the searing heat on my face! Clark directed Xiao Feng to place the armor on the platform and then go back down to retrieve the other parts.

As expected of a professional blacksmith, Clark was far more experienced than me. He soaked a towel in water and wrapped it around his entire head, leaving only his eyes and nostrils exposed, then wrapped two more wet towels around his hands and started the repairs. I quickly imitated him and wrapped myself up. Although I still felt like I was in a sauna, it was much better than before!

Xiao Feng quickly brought all the components up, and then she actually went back into the lava to take a bath! Sigh! I was so envious! To be completely unfazed by such high temperatures!

The repairs continued late into the night, with me assisting like an apprentice. When the repairs were finished, I actually received a system notification. Because I had successfully assisted in repairing a Divine Artifact, my subsidiary Blacksmith profession advanced to level 10, the maximum! Because I was the first person to successfully repair a Divine Artifact, the system rewarded me with a large diamond, the Heart of Creation. It was clearly an identified item, yet I couldn’t see any of its stats. How strange!

Getting this item reminded me that Xiao Feng seemed to have given me a fire diamond. I quickly took it out and gave it to Clark. “Help me inlay this while you’re at it!”

Clark took it, looked at it, and said, “Damn! You’ve got to be kidding me! You even have a Top-tier Fire Diamond, this is something only a Phoenix could—!” He paused, looked at Xiao Feng, who had finished her lava bath, and then said, “Right! You’ve even captured a Phoenix, it’s not unreasonable to get a fire diamond! Tell me, what do you want to inlay it on?”

“Inlay it on the Helmet!” I pointed to the spot between the eyebrows on the Helmet. “Good things should be put in a conspicuous place! Hiding a treasure is not a good habit!”

“It’s your stuff anyway, whatever you say goes!” Clark resignedly went to set the fire diamond.

I calculated on the side. The fire diamond could summon Fire Toxin Bees. I was currently level 263, which meant I could summon 526 Fire Toxin Bees. Although those things were only level 100, if that many attacked at once, they could sting a person to death, or at least scare them to death!

Just as I was fantasizing about commanding a swarm of Fire Toxin Bees to sting people, Clark suddenly ran back and said, “It’s done. Want to try it on?”

“Of course!” I immediately began to put on the armor with Clark’s help. It took a lot of effort to put all these things on. It was all the Demonic Dragon Set’s fault for having too many parts!

“Alright, try a few movements and see if there are any problems,” Clark said, taking a few steps back.

“Okay!” I happily tried to draw my sword, but was shocked to find that my arm couldn’t move at all. I tried to bend over—completely impossible! I tried to take a few steps, but my legs felt as if they weighed a thousand catties and I couldn’t lift them at all! “Clark! I can’t move! It’s like I’m stuck!”

“Try using more strength!”

Using almost all my strength, I managed to take a single, difficult step forward. “Hah!… Clark!… This… hah!… armor!… How did it… get so heavy!” I asked, panting heavily.

“So it still didn’t work after all!” Clark sighed.

“What are you talking about? Didn’t we just fix it? The system even notified me that I leveled up for successfully repairing a Divine Artifact!”

“We only repaired its body! A Divine Artifact is different from normal equipment. It has a soul! The body can be repaired no matter how damaged it is, but if the soul is dead, it’s completely useless!”

“Then what do we do?” I asked anxiously. “Don’t tell me this amazing Divine Artifact is just a piece of junk now?”

“Of course there’s a way!” Clark replied with certainty.

Chapter 31: Equivalent Exchange

“What do I do then?” I asked Clark anxiously. I went through so much trouble to get this outrageous Divine Artifact set, and now it’s suddenly and inexplicably become unusable. How could I not be anxious!

“Remember how I told you to go to Dragon Valley to find a dragon soul?”

“I remember!”

“This Demonic Dragon Set is driven by a demonic dragon’s soul. But when we just repaired it, we didn’t infuse a soul into it, which is why it’s like this now! Without a soul to power it, the armor’s weight becomes more than a person can bear!”

“So, does that mean it’ll work normally if we just infuse a soul into it now?” I asked excitedly, seeing a ray of hope.

“It should! But there are a few problems! First, you haven’t found Dragon Valley yet, have you? Second, it doesn’t seem like you know how to infuse a soul, do you? I’m just a blacksmith. Drilling a hole and setting a gem is one thing, but asking me to infuse a soul is asking way too much!”

“What do I do then?”

“You’ll still have to find the dragon soul, of course, but that’ll take some time. There’s no point in rushing it now. We can go to the Exchange to get your Demonic Dragon armor working for now, but you’re guaranteed to lose some levels!”

“The Exchange? Is the Exchange the place you mentioned earlier where I could get my equipment working without repairs?”

“That’s right!”

“But isn’t the Exchange for selling things?”

“Yes, the Exchange is for selling things, but the Exchange here sells wishes. As long as you can meet the conditions, any wish can be granted!”

I said uneasily, “The more I hear, the more this sounds like making a pact with a demon to sell my soul.”

“You think your soul is that valuable? The Exchange wants experience points. Different conditions require different amounts of experience points in exchange! If it’s just to temporarily restore mobility to a soulless set of armor, losing two or three levels should be enough to take care of it!”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

At my urging, Clark led me to the Exchange. It wasn’t far from the city gate, and we arrived in no time. The massive building before me was astonishing! Although the architecture in the City of the Lost was generally grand and imposing, this structure, reminiscent of the Grand Pope’s Chamber from the Greek Sanctuary, still gave me a shock. The building’s facade featured eighteen towering stone pillars, each so thick it would take two people to wrap their arms around it. In the center of the three-meter-high gates, a giant set of scales was carved in bas-relief.

We walked up the steps leading to the great hall. As soon as we reached the entrance, the gates opened automatically. To my surprise, the interior was quite bright, completely lacking the usual gloomy style of the City of the Lost. The moment the gates opened, dozens of pairs of eyes inside all stared at me. From their expressions, I felt as if I had interrupted their work, as some people were standing in the aisles holding stacks of documents and other things.

Clark stepped in front of me to break the deadlock. “This is my friend. He needs to trade for something!”

Clark’s shout was like a giant boulder dropped into a calm lake. In an instant, the entire Exchange descended into chaos. Everyone started running, and every single person was screaming as if the end of the world was nigh. The once bright and tidy hall instantly became as chaotic as a morning market, with people running about in a frenzy!

A few minutes later, an old man with a long beard suddenly leaped onto a lectern-like object in the center of the hall and yelled, “Everyone, stop! Documents Department, organize your files immediately! Reception Department, prepare refreshments! Trading Department, go draft a plan! Implementation Department, prepare to gather power for me!”

At his shout, the hall did indeed quiet down. In the blink of an eye, the hall returned to normal, and everyone lined up on either side of the entrance, chanting in unison, “Welcome!”

I looked at Clark, wanting to know what was going on, but it seemed he had never been here either! The old man in the center of the hall said, “Young man, come over here, I will personally receive you!”

Although the atmosphere here was bizarre, this old man seemed relatively normal. So, I walked over carefully and asked, “Can you trade wishes with me?”

“Of course!” The old man beamed as if he’d just won the lottery. “This is what I do! State your wish, I’ll assess the price, and then you can see if you can accept it. If not, we can still negotiate. As long as you agree, we can make the trade.”

“Is it that simple?” I was a bit skeptical of him! This guy was way too agreeable!

I took the Demonic Dragon Set out of my spatial bracer and placed it in front of him. “This is my equipment!”

The old man just glanced at it and said, “A Divine Artifact? Lost its soul? You want our help to restore it?”

As expected of someone so old and shrewd, he knew everything with just a glance! “That’s right. Tell me, what’s the price?”

“Please wait a moment!” The old man’s face was no longer the beaming smile from before; he looked very serious now. He turned and beckoned, and several people dressed as mages in long robes ran to his side. They conferred in hushed tones for a moment before the mages ran off again. The old man turned back to face me. “We’ve discussed it, and your situation is a bit special! Repairing a Divine Artifact would normally have a price you couldn’t afford, but since it’s already repaired and only lacks a soul, it’s a different matter!” He paused, then his face suddenly broke into a wide smile again. “I recommend you first purchase our Diamond Membership Card! With a Diamond Membership Card, you can enjoy a fifty percent discount, and what’s more…!” The old man then took out a red crystal. “Using the membership card also lets you enter a raffle for this Top-tier Fire Diamond!”

I cut off his sales pitch and pointed to the fire diamond in the center of the armor’s helmet, “I already have one!”

“That’s no problem! It never hurts to have more things!” The old man still wouldn’t let me off the hook. “After you have a Diamond Membership Card, you can also refer others! For every successful member you refer, we’ll give you points, and with enough points, you can exchange them for prizes!”

I really couldn’t stand the old man’s nagging anymore and made a ‘time-out’ gesture. “How much for the Diamond Membership Card?”

The old man held up five fingers.

“Five Diamond Coins?”

The old man shook his head. “We don’t want money! We only want experience points. At your current level, you lose five levels. You lose five levels, and we’ll give you the Diamond Membership Card!”

“Go to hell!” I couldn’t help but explode. “If I lose five levels, my magical pets lose levels too! You people really know how to calculate, don’t you!”

“You have magical pets?” the old man asked in surprise.

“Obviously!” I cut him off irritably. “If I didn’t have magical pets, I wouldn’t be making a fuss!”

“You can’t blame me for that, you didn’t make it clear!” the old man explained. “We saw you come in without any magical pets, so we assumed you didn’t have any!”

“My magical pets are rather large, so it’s inconvenient to have them in the city!”

“In that case, we can factor in the experience points of your magical pets. We accept pet experience here, but it’s only valued at one-tenth of your own. That is to say, it would take ten times the amount of pet experience to pay for the Diamond Membership Card!”

“How about this?” I started planning how to best arrange the level loss. It was much harder for me to level up than my pets, so losing their levels would be relatively faster to recover. However, I’ve always relied on my magical pets to conquer the world; if they all lose their levels, I’m finished. “I have five magical pets. I’ll lose two levels myself, and let them split the rest among themselves. How about it?”

“No problem!” the old man said immediately. “As long as the total amount is correct, we don’t care how you pay!” The old man immediately gave me a transparent crystal slice. “This is the Diamond Card. It cannot be lost, traded, or discarded. Remember to show it proactively whenever you make a trade in the future!”

I ignored the old man and checked my level directly. Sure enough, I had dropped two levels, leaving me at Level 261! “What about my armor?”

“According to our calculations, to completely restore it to its normal state would require you to lose forty levels. As a Diamond Member, that’s half price, so twenty levels. If you agree, we can close the deal right away.”

“No way! I don’t need it fully repaired, just enough for two uses will be fine! (I need to change my class and then rush a city assault). Just twice, and after that, I’ll find a dragon soul and fix it myself!”

“Is that so?” The old man thought for a moment. “You’re actually getting the short end of the stick this way, but since you need it urgently, it can’t be helped! Four levels per use, so half price is two levels!”

I was just about to agree when Clark ran up and stopped me. “Just get it fully repaired. You level up fast, so you don’t need to worry about a few levels. In the future, even if you find the dragon soul, you might not have a way to infuse it. It’s more cost-effective to get it done in one go! Besides, you have many magical pets; just have them help share the burden!”

After hearing Clark’s words, I actually thought he made a lot of sense. “Alright then! Twenty levels it is! Take ten levels from me, and split the rest equally.”

“Great!” The old man, beaming with joy, picked up my armor and ran to the back. How could he move something so heavy!

I stood in the great hall, looking at my Level 251. Lucky and the others lost even more than I did. Man! I’d better come to this place as little as possible in the future. At this rate, if I come here a few more times, I’ll probably be a newbie for the rest of my life!

“It’s ready! It’s ready!” The old man ran back out, carrying the armor just as he had before. “It’s repaired, quick, try it on!”

I shook off my unhappiness; the excitement of having the armor repaired was enough to offset everything. I quickly put on the armor, and a strange sensation spread throughout my body. Both Clark and the old man took a few fearful steps back. I looked at myself in a mirror that a nearby staff member had brought over and finally understood why they had retreated in fear. A black Divine Dragon, formed from black mist, was coiled around my body. At first glance, I thought Little Dragon Girl had somehow come out, but a closer look revealed that wasn’t right. Little Dragon Girl wasn’t this small, and this black Divine Dragon possessed a terrifying Evil Aura that was extremely intimidating!

Chapter 32: The Returning Avenger

“What is this?” I turned and asked the little old man.

“My apologies! I made a mistake while summoning the Dragon Soul just now. I was supposed to summon a Western Demonic Dragon, but somehow I ended up summoning an Eastern Divine Dragon! I figure they’re more or less the same, so just make do with it!”

“This is something you can just ‘make do’ with?” I rushed over and grabbed the old man by the collar. “How are you going to explain this technical error?”

The old man said timidly, “Actually, you didn’t lose out. A Divine Dragon’s soul is even more ferocious and violent than a Demonic Dragon’s. Not only have the Divine Artifact’s attributes not decreased, but it even gained a new set attribute: Dragon Soul Deterrence.”

“Really?” I let go of the old man and took a look. It seemed there really was an extra set attribute.

Dragon Soul Deterrence: An advanced version of Overawe. Significantly reduces the reaction speed and accuracy of opponents within a certain range, with a chance to interrupt spellcasting.

“This really is good stuff! Seeing as things didn’t get worse, I’ll let you off the hook for now!” I didn’t press the matter of his mistake any further.

The old man smiled and said, “As compensation and an apology, The Exchange has decided to give you a quest for a Magical Pet. However, it’s quite difficult. If you can’t complete it, it’s not our problem!”

“No problem, no problem! What is it?” Hearing that it was difficult, I knew it had to be something extraordinary.

“We don’t know what it is either.” The old man took out a small green object and handed it to me. I placed it in my palm and examined it for a long time. It looked a lot like an almond, but I had no idea what it was! “This is the quest activation item. Take it to the Garden of Life to start the quest.”

“Got it!” I put the item away and left The Exchange. Damn, what a rip-off joint. Just one visit and I dropped more than ten levels!

After leaving The Exchange and walking some distance, I called out to Clark. “Come over here, I found something new!”

“What did you find?” Clark came closer and asked.

I held out the vambrace of my Demonic Dragon Set in front of him. “Look, what’s this?”

Clark looked at it for a long time and said, “A crossbow? Is there a problem?”

“This vambrace didn’t originally have the function of firing crossbow bolts! And no matter how I look at it, the attributes of this new crossbow look just like my lost Divine Artifact, the Avenger crossbow!”

“The way I see it, it’s quite simple,” Clark said. “All Divine Artifacts have souls, and anything with a soul fears death. Your crossbow must have been completely shattered in the last battle. To survive, it chose to merge with your vambrace. But the vambrace itself was also severely damaged back then, so the crossbow’s attributes didn’t manifest at all. Now that the set has been reborn, the crossbow’s soul has reawakened. How do you always get so lucky, kid!”

I grinned foolishly. “Haha! It’s because my Luck stat is high!” Wearing the full Dark Demonic Dragon Set, even I’m starting to like my new look. Am I getting a bit narcissistic? Never mind that, I have something else to ask Clark.

“Can you make armor for a warhorse?”

“You mean barding for a warhorse?” Clark, ever the professional, understood immediately.

“Yes, that’s the stuff!”

I summoned ten Spirit Herald Knights. Each one was clad in a full suit of black plate armor. It was heavy armor that covered every part of their body except for their eyes. On their backs were extra-long cloaks with red lining and a black outer layer, trimmed with gold. They rode tall mounts encased in black iron armor, with only their eyes and tails showing. Ever since I subdued them at Big Bro’s place, seeing them pose like this has made me green with envy! The aura, the majesty! I bet they could scare their enemies to death with their presence alone if they did a Group Charge! But compared to them, I was practically invisible! Back then, I was wearing the White Equipment Clark had given me (the set from Big Bro was just a loan, not a gift), so I looked like a lackey leading the way for them! My only advantage was that Nightshadow was taller than their mounts. I hadn’t noticed before without a point of comparison, but Nightshadow is much bigger than an ordinary horse! But without armor, Nightshadow lacked that same imposing aura, so I resolved right then and there to get him a suit of battle armor.

I pointed at the mount of a summoned Spirit Herald Knight. “This kind. My Nightshadow needs a set too!” After speaking, I summoned Nightshadow for Clark to see.

Walking over to Nightshadow, Clark lifted one of its hooves to inspect it. “I have plenty of this kind of armor,” he said, “but the problem is your mount is a bit too big. We’ve never seen a warhorse this tall! I didn’t notice before, but seeing it today is really something! In fact, the mounts those ten guys ride are already considered very large, yet yours is a whole head taller! Why don’t you go take care of other things, and I’ll forge a custom set for you!”

“How could I ask you to do that! You even fronted the material costs for repairing the Demonic Dragon Set!”

“I’m not in a rush for the money. Just remember to pay me back.”

After leaving the City of the Lost, I planned my next move. I’d log off for today. Tomorrow, I’d spend two days power-leveling and try to get above level 265. Once Clark finished Nightshadow’s armor, I could attack Dragon City, get the Soul-Reaping Mage’s profession changed, and get some practice in. I had to make sure everything was foolproof when I rescue Rose!

With my plan set, I logged off to rest. The next morning, I had breakfast with Rose. She told me that several experimental projects she had applied for at school had been approved (Rose is an economics major, and large economic calculation computers aren’t cheap; the school only has a few, so you have to apply and wait in line to use them). She needed to hurry and finish her experiments, so she might be offline for about a week. This actually suited my plans perfectly. With Rose away, I could power-level a few more times to be on the safe side!

After breakfast, I took Rose to her lab and then came back to continue leveling. Power-leveling might be monotonous, but I’m the type of person who enjoys it. Besides, this was all preparation for a hero rescuing a beauty. How could I possibly find something so wonderful boring!

In six days, I reached level 301. Among my magical pets, only Little Dragon Girl was level 300; the others were all level 301 like me. I had to admire my own speed! After putting on the Demonic Dragon Set, my monster-killing speed increased significantly. And because my defense was so high, I usually trained on monsters a hundred levels higher than me. The speed of leveling up by fighting higher-level monsters was incomparable to fighting those at my own level! Rose would be back in two more days. I had to start my operation!

When I ran back to the City of the Lost, Clark had already finished forging Nightshadow’s armor. He was really fast! I took Nightshadow to an open area outside the City of the Lost to test the armor. It was basically fine, with only one flaw: Clark had forgotten to make a hole in the helmet! He had followed the standard methods for making warhorse armor, simply scaling up the size, but Nightshadow has a single horn on his head. The original warhorse helmet wouldn’t fit at all!

After going back and busying ourselves for another afternoon, we finally got the armor sorted out. Time for another test. Haha, this time the design was perfect, just what I wanted. The full suit of black armor on Nightshadow instantly gave him a fierce and powerful aura. Clark looked at him and said, “Wait for me, I just remembered something good that you could use.”

Clark ran off and returned a moment later, carrying a large pile of something. “Quick, try these on!” Clark ran up to me and dumped the items on the ground.

I looked at the things Clark had brought. It was a saddle! “What’s this?”

“Something from way back. Its properties are pretty good! I don’t ride anymore, so it’s a waste to keep it!”

I excitedly secured the saddle onto Nightshadow. Once everything was equipped, I vaulted onto his back. Not bad, a very comfortable saddle! I checked Nightshadow’s current stats. His speed hadn’t decreased at all! I remembered that a mount’s speed was supposed to decrease based on its load. A Knight’s riding skill could reduce the speed penalty, but even though I had changed my profession to Dragon-Phoenix Knight, I had never learned any riding skills! Even if I did have the skill, I’d never heard of any level of riding that could completely negate the speed reduction!

Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind. Could it be the saddle? I quickly opened Nightshadow’s equipment screen. He now had a collar, a suit of armor, a saddle, and four iron treads. The collar was a reward item; all my magical pets had one. The armor was the set we just made, which added two hundred defense plus a new innate skill: Collision. The Collision skill was somewhat similar to a Warrior’s Savage Impact. Its basic effect was to forcefully knock a target off its path with a chance to stun them. Those four iron treads (not the same as horseshoes; if a horseshoe is like a slipper, then an iron tread is like an iron boot for a horse. Besides protecting the hoof and preventing sprains, it has many barbs for attacking. Usually, only trained warhorses wear them, otherwise they could injure themselves) had pretty good attributes. In addition to increasing Attack Power by 80, they also added 10 Speed and doubled the effect of the Charge skill! I have no idea how Clark got such an awesome item! Finally, I looked at the saddle. Sure enough, it had an attribute. The saddle’s attribute was Ignore Weight! This meant Nightshadow’s speed would be the same whether someone was riding him or not. With his speed, plus this item, who could possibly catch me now!

After getting everything ready, I went to the pharmacy. The Medicine King’s first-aid potions were incredibly effective, so preparing some extra could prevent any unexpected accidents!

With everything ready, I activated my Teleportation Ring and appeared on the plains outside Dragon City. I logged off right there. I needed a good night’s rest. Tomorrow, I would charge into Dragon City, change the Soul-Reaping Mage’s profession, and, while I was at it, test whether I truly had the ability to break through the city’s defenses!

Chapter 33: Storming Dragon City

After a good night’s rest, I was ready to assault Dragon City’s defense system. Just in case, I had dragged Ah Wei along. His job was to scout the route for me before I attacked the city guards, then follow me during the assault. If I got killed, he could immediately help me pick up the items I dropped. To prevent anyone else from getting to them first, I had even given him my Spatial Bracer. I set the Demonic Dragon Set and the whole miscellaneous assortment of rings I was wearing as priority auto-loot items. I refused to believe anyone could pick up items faster than my Spatial Bracer! Unfortunately, the system is designed so that you drop items after you die, so you can’t pick up your own dropped loot. Otherwise, I would have just kept it on me! My red name status was severe, and I was almost certain that if I were killed, I would drop at least half of my equipment.

“Boss, you can go in peace! I’ll be sure to get your things back for you!” Ah Wei said, seeing me off.

I rapped him on the head. “What do you mean, ‘go in peace’? Am I heading to the execution grounds? You better watch my back closely. If I lose even one piece of this gear, I’ll have to kill myself—but I’ll kill you first!”

“I know, I know!” Ah Wei said impatiently. “I’ll go scout inside the city first.” With that, he ran into the city.

Outside the range of the archers at the city gate, I began my final preparations. First, I summoned all my Magical Pets. I had Phantom Merge with me. Xiao Feng, Lucky, and the others were all raring to go, looking even more excited than I was! Finally, I summoned the main force for this operation: the ten Spirit Herald Knights. They lined up in a single row on a small rise on the plains, watching the city gate from afar as they waited for Ah Wei’s signal.

Very few people were outside Dragon City in the early morning. Normally, unless it was the weekend, few players would be online at dawn. But that didn’t mean someone as conspicuous as me standing outside the city would go unnoticed! Before Ah Wei appeared, a large crowd of people had already gathered. They edged closer and closer until they could see us clearly.

A Warrior in the crowd whispered to his companion, “Do you think that’s a boss?”

“Doesn’t look like it! She has a name displayed. Look, it’s red!”

“Purple Sun? Why does that sound so familiar? I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere before.”

Another person chimed in, “Of course you have. That’s the number one most-wanted red name in the game!”

“It’s her!”

“It’s her!”

A ripple of understanding went through the crowd. Listening to their discussion from atop Nightshadow’s back, my vanity was truly satisfied. I never expected to be so famous!

“How is it a woman?” an annoying voice suddenly piped up.

“Yeah! From the name, I always pictured a burly, fearsome-looking fellow, the kind you’d slay to rid the world of a menace. But now… how am I supposed to bring myself to attack her?” This voice was even more annoying.

The third voice nearly made me fall off my mount. “She’s gorgeous! I don’t care who she is, I’m going to pursue her!”

“Yeah! So beautiful! We should kidnap her and make her the chieftain’s wife! She’d be fun and she could help in a fight!” a troublemaker chimed in.

“Can you even beat her? Look at all that gear. I bet three of you charging at her would be over in a minute or so!”

“Yeah! And look, she has so many Magical Pets with her! But that’s just too many! Doesn’t that one in the back look like a dragon?”

“Idiot! What’s so special about eleven people with three pets? (They couldn’t see Phantom since he was Merged with me, and Nightshadow wasn’t counted since he was considered a Mount). At most, it’s just pretty impressive!” This idiot actually mistook the Spirit Herald Knights for players! I wondered how he would react if he found out they were all my pets!

A nearby player with an owl on his shoulder said, “Eleven people with four pets is already incredible! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a Magical Pet these days? Don’t be fooled by the fact that everyone can carry two or three; in reality, over ninety percent of players don’t have a single one! You think Magical Pets are easy to come by? Besides, look at what she has—that’s a dragon! It could probably wipe out a whole crowd of people in an instant!”

“I’d love to get the loot she’d drop!” said a greedy daredevil.

“Too bad there are so many of them,” said another who felt the same.

Just as these players were chattering away, a message suddenly arrived from Ah Wei. “Boss, come quick! I’ve scouted it out. The Quest NPC you’re looking for is just inside the city gate. I’m at the entrance, hurry up!”

“Alright!” I lowered my Helmet’s visor and shouted, “Change formation! Male guards, form up in front! Female guards, protect me! Charge!”

Almost as soon as I finished shouting, the entire troop had instantly changed formation and was charging toward the city with terrifying momentum. Behind me, where I had been standing, a crowd of people fell over in shock. “My god! Who the hell is that? A red name who dares to charge a city!”

We instantly entered the city’s perimeter. The first thing that arrived wasn’t an attack, but a system notification. “Please confirm within five seconds whether this is a guild siege or a personal action!”

“Personal action!” I shouted quickly and urged the troop to accelerate. The five strong, male Spirit Herald Knights in the front row quickly raised their battle shields. Worthy of Spirit Herald Knights converted from Paladins, their combat experience was indeed impressive. Just as the shields were raised, a sharp volley of arrows whistled down. Because we were moving so fast, the arrow volley landed mostly behind us. Although a few arrows hit home, our readily-formed shield wall successfully blocked every single one. (The game mechanics in Zero dictate that projectile weapons must directly hit a target’s body to deal damage. Arrows intercepted by a Shield have no killing power, whereas melee weapons deduct health no matter where they strike.)

A few seconds after the first volley, the second one arrived. This time, we were prepared. Xiao Feng unleashed a Firestorm in the air, burning the fletching off most of the arrows. Without their tail feathers, the arrows began to tumble wildly in the air, and most of them flew off course. The remaining arrows that slammed into the shields still made my hands go numb. The Level 600 city defense NPC Archers were truly not to be underestimated! Relying on our mounts’ astonishing speed, we didn’t give the archers on the walls time for a third volley. In a flash, we charged through the area covered by the arrow fire and reached the base of the city walls. Turns out Dragon City also had a bridge outside, but theirs was built over a moat. Unlike the exceedingly long stone bridge of the City of the Lost, this was just a small wooden bridge.

By the time we charged onto the bridge, a line of Warriors had already formed a defensive line on it. Since this wasn’t a siege battle, the main gate wasn’t closed. I yelled to the Spirit Herald Knights in front, “Ignore them! Charge! Lucky, clear the way!”

Lucky swooped down from the sky, breathing a jet of Dragon Flame from one end of the bridge to the other, throwing the Warriors’ formation into chaos.

The five Spirit Herald Knights in the front tightened their formation until it was about the width of the bridge. With a unified shout, all the Spirit Herald Knights drew their long spears and began to accelerate. After charging onto the bridge, we used the speed and weight of our warhorses to forcibly smash through the disorganized Warriors. For a moment, bodies tumbled off the bridge like dumplings dropping into a pot. The onlookers in the distance stared with their mouths agape, only managing to utter a sentence after a long while. “So that’s how terrifying a Knight’s Group Charge is!”

The Warriors at the gate were all Level 600 guards, a completely different caliber from the Level 850 Spirit Herald Knights. Soon, all the Warriors had been knocked into the moat. As soon as I charged into the city, I saw Ah Wei waving frantically at me from a corner. I rushed over, no longer caring about the pedestrians in the way, pulled Ah Wei onto my horse, and began charging in the direction he was pointing. I was definitely going to become an infamous villain after this!

Lucky and Xiao Feng flew along the streets from above, setting everything on fire. In an instant, the whole city seemed to be ablaze. My Evil Value seemed to be rising again! Little Dragon Girl created a massive crystal barrier behind us. A large group of cavalry, who were thoroughly enjoying the chase, couldn’t brake in time and crashed right through the crystal barrier, taking a nasty fall. The cavalry behind them didn’t hit the barrier, but in trying to avoid the fallen riders, they yanked hard on their reins. As a result, their warhorses reared up violently, throwing them from their saddles.

Although they were held up for a moment, we hadn’t gotten far before the city defense cavalry charged at us again. These were all Level 800 NPCs, with a Level 850 Chieftain leading them. Even though their levels couldn’t match the Spirit Herald Knights, there were just too many of them, and they weren’t slow either!

After rounding numerous corners, we charged into a small alley. Ah Wei said to me, “The NPC you mentioned is inside. This is the only exit. Just have your subordinates hold them off here for a little while!”

“You ten, block this alley entrance for me!”

“Yes!”

Ten Spirit Herald Knights blocking one entrance shouldn’t be a problem. In a narrow alley like this that only three people could pass through at a time, superior numbers were no advantage. “Where is he? Lead the way!” Ah Wei and I ran deeper inside.

The alley was indeed very narrow. Eventually, I even had to make Nightshadow wait behind.

Chapter 34: Failure

Thanks to Ah Wei leading the way, we quickly found the NPC. He was an old man whose highly decayed body almost made me mistake him for a zombie at first. The quest description said I needed to get the Heart of Desecration from an old man in Dragon City who had been bitten by a zombie, then go to the Garden of Life to cleanse it with holy water to change my profession.

Looking at this old man now, I had no doubt he’d been bitten by a zombie! The old man was originally groaning on the bed, but upon seeing me, he immediately stretched out a hand that was little more than skin over a skeleton. “Young man, I have finally waited for someone with strength! I was bitten by a zombie, and now my body is on the verge of turning completely. But zombies cannot receive God’s forgiveness, so I need your help, young man!”

“What can I do for you?”

“After I die, cough, cough, you… take my… heart… go… go to…”

“Hey! Go where? Don’t die yet! Can’t you tell me the place before you kick the bucket? If you don’t finish, my quest won’t even start, and it’ll all be for nothing!” I shook the old man violently, trying to rouse him.

Perhaps my vibration therapy worked, as the old man actually opened his eyes again. “Am I dead? Is this hell? Why do you look so familiar!”

“Hey! Look closely, I’m here to accept the quest. Hurry up and tell me where I need to go!”

“Oh! You need to go to the Garden of Life and use the Water of Life from the Spring of Life to wash my heart. Only when it is successfully purified can I ascend to heaven!” As soon as the old man finished speaking, he started convulsing violently. I backed away in fright, and it turned out to be the right move. The old man suddenly shot up straight and lunged at me. Damn! He turned into a zombie!

“Spirit Seal!” Ah Wei was even faster than me, his hands forming a seal to activate the skill. The-old-man-turned-zombie twitched slightly before falling down stiffly. It seemed this old geezer was all bark and no bite! “Done!”

“Not bad! You’re pretty skilled, kid! While you’re at it, help me take out that Heart of Desecration!”

“In your dreams! You’re the one changing professions, not me. That thing is all mushy and disgusting! If you want it dug out, do it yourself!” With a complete lack of loyalty, Ah Wei handed me a small dagger. “To show my support, I’m lending you my personal self-defense dagger!”

“Get lost!” I kicked Ah Wei out the door. A Spirit Herald Knight, who happened to be standing there intending to enter, caught him.

“My lord! We can’t hold them back on our side much longer!”

“I know. Hold on for one more minute, then you can fall back and consolidate your defense with me.”

“Yes, sir!” The Spirit Herald Knight turned and left.

I looked at the old man’s corpse on the floor. Damn it, who came up with such a twisted idea! Ever since I was a kid, I’ve seen plenty of rotting flesh and severed limbs in my dad’s company lab, so this little thing wasn’t going to faze me! I extended my right hand, and with a flick of the mechanism and a crisp click, foot-long Blade Claws sprang out. The advantage of the Blade Claws was that they were perfect for creating massive wounds—of course, they were also perfectly suited to serve as a gutting knife!

Enduring the pungent, bloody stench, I dug out the jet-black heart. Damn it, it also reeked of a corpse! I casually ripped a sheet from the bed and wrapped the rotten heart in it. It was too disgusting!

I looked at the bloodstains splattered all over me, then at the corpse on the floor. I really couldn’t figure out how this shriveled old man had so much blood in him. When I was taking out the heart, it sprayed everywhere like a high-pressure hose! Pushing the door open, I saw the Spirit Herald Knights had already retreated to the doorway. The city’s NPC Guards were no joke! Even these freakishly strong Spirit Herald Knights could only hold them off for a few minutes before they were overwhelmed!

I pulled Ah Wei over. “You’re not a red name, so the NPCs won’t do anything to you. After I leave, you can get out on your own!”

“Don’t worry!” Ah Wei backed into a corner, just in case.

I twisted the Teleportation Ring on my hand, waiting to be teleported out, but there was no reaction! A look at the help system told me that cities have a suppression system; red names cannot use any form of teleportation magic within the city. This measure was mainly to prevent people from killing in the city and then using teleportation to escape! Since teleporting failed, I’d have to escape through the sky. Hopefully, the city guards didn’t have an air force! I unfurled the Demonic Dragon Wings from my back. This was the first time I’d ever used them to fly! I tried to control them; it was quite simple. With a powerful jump followed by a flap of my wings, I left the ground. The feeling of flying was exhilarating!

I hadn’t flown very high when I saw a platoon of city defense NPCs in a neat square formation on the roof of a nearby building! Crap! Heavy crossbows! By the time I realized what they were holding, it was too late. A rain of arrows came bearing down on me. I had already recalled the Spirit Herald Knights; it would have been useless even if they were out, since they couldn’t fly! Xiao Feng, Lucky, and the Little Dragon Girl were busy interfering with the other ground troops. Phantom’s teleport distance wasn’t long enough to escape this overly massive attack radius!

Right, defense, absolute defense! My Demonic Dragon Wings seemed to have a talent skill called Absolute Barrier. Just as the rain of arrows was about to reach me, I roared, “Absolute Barrier!” A translucent blue sphere of light suddenly appeared around me, protecting me inside. The arrow rain pattered harmlessly against the barrier. Just when I thought it was over, a huge, three-meter-long arrow came flying toward me. The heavy ballista on the city wall had actually turned to fire into the city! The massive crossbow bolt crashed against my barrier with a loud clang. This was a superweapon capable of piercing through the city walls! A miracle occurred. After hitting my protective shield, the bolt was immediately deflected without penetrating it in the slightest.

It truly lived up to its name, Absolute Barrier. It was truly an impenetrable defense! Several more waves of arrows and a dozen more giant bolts struck my Absolute Barrier, and just as I expected, there was no effect. This defensive wall was invincible; no attack could breach it and harm me! I roared arrogantly in the air, “Those who block me will die!”

I had intended to show off a little, but I got carried away! Just as I was about to rely on my Absolute Barrier to go down and play with the NPCs, the blue barrier suddenly flickered a few times and vanished. Crap, I forgot it had a time limit! The instant the barrier shattered, I was turned into a pincushion by countless crossbow bolts, big and small. I was instantly killed before I even hit the ground!

When I revived, I was already in a room with Ah Wei beside me. “Boss! What were you doing! Quick, put this on!” Ah Wei took out the entire Demonic Dragon Set from his bracelet. “I’m impressed! You even die in such a spectacular fashion. When you were insta-killed, you just exploded with loot! Anyone who didn’t know better would’ve thought it was raining equipment!”

I took the items and started putting them on. It was terrifying; I had dropped all my equipment except for a few rings! Thankfully, Ah Wei was below with his Spatial Bracer and managed to pick everything up.

“The Spatial Bracer’s auto-loot function is really incredible. It collected so many items before they even hit the ground! If they’d fallen to the ground, I doubt anyone could have picked them up. It was crawling with people down there; whoever tried to loot would’ve been a dead man!” Ah Wei exclaimed.

“Where are we?” I asked, looking around the bedroom-like room.

“This is the Private Residence I bought in Dragon City!” Ah Wei said proudly. “I’m the first Player in this game to buy a Private Residence. The system rewarded me with a twenty percent discount on all future housing purchases! It’s a shame property can’t be transferred, or I’d switch careers and get into real estate!”

“How come no NPCs are chasing me here?”

“A Private Residence is private territory, just like an embassy in a foreign country. This area is not under the jurisdiction of the city’s NPCs! You have no idea how dangerous it was just now! Luckily I’m a Necromancer and used Soul Lock to seal your soul and bring you back here, then used a Resurrection Scroll I bought to revive you! Do you have any idea that if you’d been caught by the NPCs, they would have revived you and sent you straight to the Prison?”

“So how do I get out of here now?” I had already put on my armor. “Even if I wait until tomorrow to use Absolute Barrier again, I won’t be able to escape! There are too many guards!”

Ah Wei walked over and pulled at my cloak. “Have you tried this thing?”

“Invisibility?”

“Right! Just turn invisible and sneak out! The NPCs won’t be able to see you!”

“What if a Player sees my red name and tells the NPCs?”

“Simple!” Ah Wei made a throat-slitting gesture.

“A very direct method. I like it!” With our decision made, we logged off for the time being. To be safe, it was more reliable for me to wait until tomorrow when my Absolute Barrier was available again before making a break for it!

After logging off, I went to the lab to pick up Rose, feeling helpless. Her experiments should be wrapping up over these few days. I hadn’t waited long at the door when Rose came out. I spoke, embarrassed, “You…! Can you wait for me a little before going back into the game?”

“Did something happen?” Rose looked at me.

“I accepted a profession change quest in Dragon City today!”

“And then?”

“I got insta-killed! But Ah Wei helped me get my equipment back. Other than losing two levels, I didn’t lose much.” (Resurrection Scrolls allowed anyone to perform a resurrection, but there was no success rate; using one meant a guaranteed loss of two levels). I said sheepishly, “I’m afraid I don’t have the strength to rescue you right now! I originally thought I could just charge in, but now I realize getting in is easy, getting out is the problem! When I charged into Dragon City today, it was easy. But after getting the quest, I was trapped inside! I thought I could escape with the Teleportation Ring, but who knew that red names are forbidden from using any form of teleportation in the city! Dragon City is a small city, and the place where I got my quest wasn’t far from the gates. Bright City would be a completely different story! Bright City is a medium-sized city, much larger than Dragon City in both area and NPC count. And the Prison is in the government office in the city center. I really don’t know if I can even get in! So I hope you can wait for me while I come up with another plan!”

Rose was still smiling as she looked at me. “Do you think I would dislike you for this?”

“Wouldn’t you?” I looked at her, astonished.

“Even though you have a face as beautiful as a woman’s, you’re not a woman, after all. There are many things you can’t understand! What you need to know is that I wouldn’t like or dislike you because of your abilities. I care more about whether you are willing to do it for me, not whether you can do it!” Rose took the initiative to kiss me and then continued, “Take your time and think of a plan. My experiments are highly valued by the professors. To completely resolve my research topic, a professor has promised to lend me his own laboratory, so I might be busy for another month!”

“Don’t worry, I should have found a solution by the time your experiment is over. I might even think of something long before then.”

“I believe in you. Let’s go, my treat tonight! But don’t order anything too expensive!” Rose said playfully.

A wicked grin spread across my face. “Then I’ll have to plan carefully where the most expensive place is! If you don’t have enough money then, you’ll just have to sell yourself to pay off the debt, and then I’ll buy you, and then… Hahahaha!”

“You’re terrible!” Rose tapped me lightly on the head.

Chapter 35: Escape

“

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Logging back in, I knew I had to hurry. Just because Rose wasn’t making a fuss didn’t mean I could take my sweet time. First, I needed to finish that profession change quest. I remembered the old guy at The Exchange had given me a Magical Pet quest, and its destination seemed to be the Garden of Life as well! Since both quests had the same destination, it would save me a lot of trouble.

“

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I started leaving the city using Ah Wei’s method. To ensure no Players would interfere with my movements, I deliberately chose to head out in the early morning. Fewer people would be online at this time—the all-nighters would have gone to bed, and the others wouldn’t be up yet. I activated the Phantom Cloak’s Invisibility and began moving toward the city gate. Countless NPC Guards passed by me along the way, so close I didn’t dare to breathe!

“

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I finally made it to the city gate. There were plenty of guards here, too, but fortunately, none of them had noticed me yet. I hurried toward the exit. I’d already spotted a Player looking in my direction, probably wondering why a name was floating in mid-air. A man who looked like some kind of warrior-class Player finally couldn’t resist and walked over.

“

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He got closer and closer, eventually drawing his longsword and probing in my direction, trying to see what was there. I couldn’t take it anymore. If this kept up, I’d be discovered sooner or later. Looking at the distance to the gate, I figured I could make a break for it. “Nightshadow!” I summoned Nightshadow in a flash and leaped onto his back. Canceling my Invisibility, I summoned the Spirit Herald Knights. It was now or never!

“

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The warrior who’d been investigating was sent flying by a kick from Nightshadow’s hoof! How dare he block my way—the nerve! Upon our appearance, the guards immediately swarmed us. We didn’t have enough distance to build up speed, so we couldn’t use a charge attack for now. The longer we were stuck here, the more NPCs would gather. Time was of the essence.

“

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I called out Lucky, Xiao Feng, and the others. “Charge!” Ten Spirit Herald Knights led the way, forging a path. The guards here were all level 800; the level 850 Guard Captains hadn’t arrived yet, so my Spirit Herald Knights still had a temporary level advantage! With a dragon’s roar, Lucky charged into the crowd and began attacking wildly. With horns on his head, claws on his feet, and a tail full of barbs, he was basically a living tank! Although Lucky’s attacks couldn’t deal any fatal blows to the guards, their effects were quite noticeable. His massive tail, in particular, could send a whole group of them flying with every sweep.

“

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Gradually, more and more Players gathered to watch. They were all discussing who could be so incredible as to warrant so many NPCs being dispatched to deal with them. These guys had no idea what I was going through! The gate was right in front of me, but I couldn’t move a single step closer! A few guards had actually closed the city gate. How could they be so shameless? They opened the gate to let me in, and now they were closing it to trap me!

“

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I fought my way to the entrance, but the tightly shut gate gave me a headache. Dragon City’s gate was a portcullis that raised upwards. Now that it was lowered, opening it again wouldn’t be so easy.

“

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I ordered all the Spirit Herald Knights to fall back behind us and block the guards’ attacks. “Lucky! Smash the gate!” Lucky reacted instantly, leaping to the gate, aiming his tail at the center, and whipping it across. With a tremendous BOOM, the gate was still standing, but several small cracks had appeared. “Lucky, keep going!”

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With another dragon’s roar, Lucky put his strength into it again. The immense force sent clouds of dust billowing from the city walls. The guards behind us were gradually pressing forward, and the Spirit Herald Knights were on the verge of being overwhelmed. Meanwhile, it seemed Lucky still needed more time. Little Dragon Girl said to me, “Let me do it!”

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“Can you?” I didn’t think I’d ever seen her use a physical attack before. In my mind, a brute-force type like Lucky was better suited for this kind of work.

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“Don’t worry! Lucky, step aside!” Lucky moved back, and Little Dragon Girl charged straight at the gate. This time, there was an even bigger cloud of dust and a deafening noise. Shards flew everywhere outside the gate. Little Dragon Girl’s train-like body smashed through the opening, sending several humanoid figures on the other side flying—I couldn’t tell if they were Players or guards!

“

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“Retreat!” The entire gate had been blown to bits; nothing could stop us now! We had just run out of the city when the NPC Guards swarmed out in pursuit. “Lucky! Destroy the bridge!” I hadn’t even finished speaking when I heard a sharp crack from behind, followed by a series of splashes. “Hmph! That’s what you get for chasing me!” I glanced back at the guards stuck at the gate and the fools flailing in the water. Serves them right for picking on me! I was tempted to go back and taunt them, but then I saw the guards at the gate quickly part to clear a path. A troop of cavalry charged out of the city like a whirlwind. Upon reaching the edge, their warhorses leaped gracefully over the moat, which wasn’t very wide to begin with. Time to turn tail and run!

“

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I scrambled out of Dragon City’s sphere of influence with the cavalry hot on my heels before I could finally shake them off. Those guys were terrifying; I almost didn’t make it out of there alive! First, I needed to figure out where the Garden of Life mentioned in the quest was. Five minutes later, I had to give up. I’d scoured the quest description but couldn’t find any information about the Garden of Life’s specific location, though I did learn it was teeming with Magical Pets. That was good news, but also bad, because before they’re tamed, Magical Pets are highly aggressive. More Magical Pets meant more Monsters.

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I contacted Ah Wei. “Ah Wei, can you help me find out if anyone in the city knows where the Garden of Life is?”

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“The Garden of Life? You mean that place that’s full of Magical Pets?”

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“You’ve been there? Quick, tell me where it is!”

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“I haven’t been, but there are posts about it on the forums. You should look it up yourself. I’m really busy right now!”

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“Alright, you get back to it. I’ll check myself.” I ordered the Spirit Herald Knights, Lucky, and the others to stand guard while I sat on Nightshadow’s back and started browsing the forums. I opened the forums and, sure enough, there was a post about the Garden of Life—and it was even a featured post! Looks like I’ll have to check the forums more often from now on. After reading for a while, I found that the post was written by a Player who had stumbled into the Garden of Life by mistake. According to his description, the Garden of Life was located directly north of the Divine City, in the center of the continent. A two-hour walk from the Divine City would lead you to this so-called Garden of Life, but its perimeter was a massive forest. The forest was home to a very expensive type of fruit, and many people went there to gather it for money. However, the deeper one went into the forest, the scarcer the fruit became, so few people ventured into its depths. Passing through the forest would bring you to the entrance of the Garden of Life, a place known as the Life Labyrinth. Anyone who wished to enter had to pass through the labyrinth first. At every turn within the labyrinth stood a Minotaur, which, though it wouldn’t attack Players, would ask questions. Failing to answer within three minutes or answering incorrectly would get you teleported back to the labyrinth’s entrance! The Player who wrote the post claimed to have answered over thirty questions and successfully cleared it, only to be inexplicably and instantly killed the moment he stepped into the Garden of Life. He said that to this day, he still has no idea what killed him, because unlike in PvP, a Monster attack doesn’t notify the Player of the attacker’s name. However, the Player did claim that the garden was exceptionally beautiful, a true fairyland, and that a wondrous melody echoed throughout.

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Whatever it was that attacked that Player, the specific location of the Garden of Life was now clear. Since I knew the way, things would be much easier.

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Using my Teleportation Ring, I teleported directly to the outskirts of the Divine City. Following the directions from the post, I headed north and, sure enough, soon saw the forest that was supposedly overflowing with fruit. The post wasn’t exaggerating; there were quite a few people here gathering fruit.

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“Hey! Stop right there!” a voice suddenly called out from behind me.

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I turned around, annoyed, to see two people. The one on the left wore a tattered mage robe and held something that looked like a mop handle, which I guessed was his Mage Staff. The guy on the right was decked out in an iron helmet and looked somewhat imposing, though the excessive rust on his armor rather spoiled the effect.

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“What is it?” Although these two didn’t look like good people, I maintained a basic level of politeness.

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The two of them eyed my ostentatious, gleaming black armor and the cape fluttering in the wind behind me, then gulped. The mage whispered to the warrior, “He doesn’t look like an easy target. Contact the Boss and get some backup!”

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“Which guild are you from?” the mage asked me.

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“Is that any of your business?” I wasn’t unable to answer, I just didn’t want to.

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“It doesn’t matter if you don’t say. I can see the emblem on your shoulder. I’ll just go to the authorities and check it against the registry to find out which guild you belong to.”

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“What do you guys want? If you have no business with me, don’t waste my time. I’ve got places to be.”

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“You’re going inside, aren’t you?” The mage pointed at the forest.

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“What’s it to you?” I was starting to lose my temper.

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“Our guild is in charge here. You have to pay a tax to gather fruit inside!” the mage finally got to the point.

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I looked the two of them over again, then turned to walk into the forest without another word. The mage and the warrior immediately circled around to block my way. “Didn’t you hear? You have to pay to gather fruit in there.”

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“I’m not going in to gather fruit.”

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“How are we supposed to know if you are or not?”

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“I don’t care if you know. I’m going to count to five. Get in my way, and you die.” There was no point in reasoning with thugs like these.

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“Don’t be so arrogant. Your gear might be impressive, but our guild members will be here any second. Don’t throw your life away for nothing!” The warrior next to him, having apparently finished contacting his backup, chimed in, “Hey, you’re a Red Name! We’ll kill you and see how tough you are then!” Before I could reply, he charged, trying to cut me down.

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I shifted slightly to my left, and the Blade Claws on my right hand shot out instantly. Squish. In one side and out the other. “Kid, next time you try to kill someone, check who you’re dealing with.” I gave him a push, and the warrior fell backward, turning into a Wandering Soul on his way to resurrect. I casually flicked my still-dripping Blade Claws and walked toward the mage. The guy was so terrified he was frozen to the spot. I walked right up to him, grabbed the hem of his robe, wiped my Blade Claws clean on it, and then walked past him into the forest.

Chapter 36: Garden of Life

The woods were sparse, filled with fruit trees, so it wasn’t very dense. After walking a short distance, the fruit trees gave way to relatively taller trees, and the people around me were getting fewer and fewer.

Haha! A maze! I quickly found the green, plant-based maze mentioned in the forum post. I’d never seen walls made of such dense vines before. Before me was a solid wall with no entrance. I picked a direction and started walking. According to the post, there were many entrances, with one appearing every so often. Soon enough, I saw an opening in the wall of vines. That must be the gate. Once inside, I discovered the maze even had a ceiling. What a shame. Otherwise, I could have just flown over it!

Passing through the gate, I continued deeper inside. I didn’t encounter any monsters or anything of the sort. I walked straight for about a hundred meters before a fork in the path appeared. Sure enough, a Minotaur holding a Mage Staff was standing at the corner. Seeing me approach, it walked right up to me. “Seeker of knowledge, answer me this: what is the meaning of life?”

Jeez, what kind of question is that! The meaning of life? Hasn’t that question been studied for centuries? “You have thirty seconds!” the Minotaur urged when it saw I wasn’t answering.

“I live for no particular reason. I am alive simply because I am alive. There is no other reason. To be alive is meaning enough!”

“Very good. Please proceed!” The Minotaur stepped to the side of the passage.

I can’t believe I guessed that right. I’m a genius! Continuing forward, I discovered that the maze was unusually large. I kept winding up in dead ends! After trying countless paths, I finally found the second corner with a Minotaur. It seemed only the paths with Minotaurs were correct. This time the question was even more absurd. It actually asked me what the essence of magic was! How would I know the essence of magic? There’s no magic in the real world! “I don’t know!”

The Minotaur once again stepped aside. “This trial tests your honesty. You have passed!”

Haha, so the answer was “I don’t know”! The rest of the way, I just had to look for intersections with Minotaurs. If I made two turns and didn’t see a Minotaur, I knew it was the wrong path and immediately turned back to try another.

It was nearly noon when I finally escaped that damned maze. I’d been asked close to fifty questions along the way, and it made my head spin! I looked up, and my heart nearly stopped! Was this some kind of dream city? It was too beautiful! A turquoise stream, shimmering leaves, beautiful flowers, and fluttering butterflies! Right, the Player who wrote the post said the Garden of Life was very dangerous. He’d been captivated by the scenery for a moment after entering and was insta-killed! I quickly raised my magic shield. I refused to believe that with my defense and an active shield, I could still be insta-killed!

I carefully took a few steps forward. There didn’t seem to be anything here! I had started to wonder if the author of the post had found something good and was lying to keep others away, but then I thought, if he didn’t want others to come, wouldn’t it have been better not to post at all? Just as I was thinking, I suddenly felt the ground squirm. Bang! My whole body was sent flying like a rubber ball. Are you kidding me? Am I a softball to you?! I spread my Wings to stabilize myself. I was going to see who was bold enough to use me as a ball!

“Ah!” Before I could even react, a rock flew up from the ground and knocked me down. How embarrassing! To think I was knocked out of the sky by a rock!

I had just landed and hadn’t even found my footing when the ground suddenly split open. A green snake shot out and wrapped itself around my leg. I quickly slashed the snake’s body with my Blade Claws and broke free. I pulled off the half that was still wrapped around my leg and took a look—it was a vine!

“Oof!” A vine shot out from behind me and swatted me away. Four more vines appeared from nowhere and quickly bound my limbs securely. What the hell? How was I supposed to fight like this? Before I could struggle free, several more vines coiled around me, wrapping me up like a dumpling!

“Everyone, help me!” I summoned all my Magical Pets and Demon Servants in one go! With a few swift motions, my body was free again. The Spirit Herald Knights had deftly sliced through the vines on me. Lucky leaped to a nearby vine, bit down, and started pulling. That little guy is just ridiculously strong; he actually managed to pull the vine right up. The vine was pulled out of the ground from the spot Lucky had bitten. Little Dragon Girl flew to the side of the vine and breathed out a puff of purple gas. “Petrify!”

After a great deal of effort, they pulled the vine out, only to find it was just a section. The main body seemed to have abandoned this limb and fled! This time, I didn’t dare be careless. I had the Spirit Herald Knights form a circle with me in the middle. Let’s see you try to ambush me now!

Xiao Feng and Little Dragon Girl took to the sky to scout, but we discovered a dome-like shield in the air that completely enclosed the area. It seems that even if the maze didn’t have a ceiling, I wouldn’t have been able to fly in!

“Lucky, bring up the rear!”

Lucky immediately ran to the back and stood guard. We walked carefully for a while and nothing happened. I was starting to think it was over when a vine suddenly shot up from directly beneath me. Nightshadow’s speed was truly impressive; it quickly dodged the vine’s attack. The vines failed in other places, too. The Spirit Herald Knights were too high-level to be restrained, and whenever Lucky was caught, it would bite down on the vine and start a tug-of-war, always managing to rip out a long section!

I called Xiao Feng and Little Dragon Girl down to provide low-altitude support. It seemed there was no need for aerial reconnaissance here; the enemies were all “underground operatives,” so scouting their movements was useless! The moment Xiao Feng landed, a vine wrapped around her leg. With only enough time for a short scream, Xiao Feng was pulled completely underground! I leaped off Nightshadow’s back and searched around. Xiao Feng wouldn’t be defeated that easily. Getting pulled underground must have just been an accident!

I was right. The ground shook violently, and a vine suddenly shot out, covered in a layer of blue flames. Immediately after, more vines began bursting out from the ground, the holes they emerged from spewing fire like nozzles. Xiao Feng was ruthless; she had set a fire underground and forced all these things to the surface.

The ground trembled more and more intensely. Suddenly, a large mound bulged up not far ahead, and a huge green blob burst out—with Xiao Feng standing right on its head! As soon as the big blob emerged, it dove into a nearby pond with unimaginable speed. The pond was immediately shrouded in white steam. It looked like the thing had been badly burned!

Xiao Feng, probably still furious about being dragged underground, unleashed a fire dragon at the pond. Instantly, the pond dried up, hitting rock bottom! The green blob was dumbfounded, spinning in place, still looking for water!

I pointed at the green blob. “Phantom, can you communicate with it?”

“I can!” As a spiritual entity, Phantom could directly read mental information and communicate with anything.

“Ask it what it is.”

After a brief pause, Phantom said, “It says it’s a level 600 Magical Beast, a Life Flower Vine.”

I took out the almond I had scammed from The Exchange. “Ask it if it knows what this is.”

“It says it’s the seed of a flower vine.”

“What’s it for?”

“It says that flower vines are a special type of Magical Pet. Because they’re a plant-type Magical Beast, they become a seed instead of an egg when tamed. You just have to plant the seed next to a Fountain of Life and water it with water from the fountain, and it will grow into a flower vine like itself. However, to make the flower vine mobile, it has to absorb blood. The more types, the greater quantity, and the higher the level of the blood, the more powerful the flower vine will be when it matures!”

“Is it that simple? Then why is it so useless itself?”

“It says it’s a wild one and could only absorb small amounts of blood from passing Magical Beasts, so its abilities are limited!”

“Ask it the way to the Fountain of Life.”

“It says it can’t explain, but it can take us there!”

“Same difference. Tell it to lead the way!”

After following the big blob for a long time, we finally reached a clearing in the woods. Everyone was stunned once again. It was too beautiful! A small fountain was spouting from a huge rock, surrounded by a small pond. Clear spring water flowed down the rock and into the pond! Above the pond, a small rainbow shimmered with a beautiful light, capturing our gaze.

Phantom said to me, “This flower vine is asking if we can let it go now.”

“Alright, let it go!”

The green blob immediately burrowed into the ground and disappeared. It seems the creature was terrified of Xiao Feng’s flames! I took out the Old Man’s Heart of Desecration. All I had to do now was wash it clean, and I could change my profession! I never thought it would be this simple!

I held the Heart of Desecration, squatted by the water’s edge, and bent over to start washing it. “Don’t!” A gentle female voice, clearly strained with tension, rang out. Unfortunately, I didn’t stop in time. My hand still plunged into the water!

Chapter 37: Spring of Life

“Ah!” The moment my hand touched the water of the Fountain of Life, a massive electric current surged from the spring eye in the rock. The current raced across the water towards me, and I could see the arcs of electricity dancing on the surface, but I couldn’t dodge in time. With a crack, the powerful current struck me, sending me flying backwards. The ten Spirit Herald Knights and Lucky watched me trace an arc through the air with the exact same expression. Those Spirit Herald Knights were the worst, actually using their hands to shield their eyes from the sunlight as they watched me fly further and further away, doing absolutely nothing!

I have no idea how I got blasted so far. That was awful! After about ten seconds of flight, a distant rumble finally reached me, followed by the rising of a small mushroom cloud.

I actually flew for several kilometers, snapping through a forest on the way down. If the ground where I landed hadn’t been relatively soft and I hadn’t managed to activate Absolute Barrier in time, I definitely would have been done for!

“Ah!… Ouch!… Oh!” I twisted my nearly broken body, feeling like I’d been hit by a speeding locomotive. The power of that spring was insane!

I hadn’t been on the ground for long when Nightshadow came running to pick me up. I actually had to make Nightshadow crouch down so I could climb onto his back; my bones were all rattled! When we got back to the spring, there was someone new there—an Angel! That was the only term that seemed fitting for her! Completely different from Rose’s light and agile beauty, she possessed a pure beauty, the kind that made any man who looked at her feel guilty. In her presence, probably most people wouldn’t even be able to entertain any lewd thoughts; her beauty would suppress any hint of evil. For example, if a pervert were to target her on her way home, he’d probably follow her all the way to her door, and only after she’d gone inside and closed it would he suddenly remember that he’d forgotten to make his move!

“Y-You… hello!” The girl’s voice was shy and gentle, making my heart start to beat in time with her words. “A-Are you… are you alright?” As soon as she asked the question, her fair cheeks flushed into an alluring shade of red apple. That beautiful and bashful look was almost suffocating me, so I quickly covered my eyes to avoid being suffocated to death!

“I’m fine! Are you the change profession NPC here?”

“I’m not!… I’m a Player!”

“What?” My jaw dropped, and I fell off Nightshadow’s back in the process! I bet most men couldn’t think straight in front of her; she could probably get any man to disarm with the slightest hint!

“I said I’m not an NPC. I’m a Player! Um, are you going to wash this black peach in the spring water?” She held out the Heart of Desecration in one hand.

I had been about to tell her that it was a heart, but considering the consequences, I decided to make up a little white lie. “Yes! But that peach is very dirty. Don’t hold it; give it to me quickly!”

“It’s okay; I’ll help you wash it clean!” She smiled and turned back to wash the ‘peach.’ I suddenly remembered that I had been blasted away just now, so wasn’t she…?

“Don’t!”

“Ah? What?” She stopped again, turning to look at me, water still dripping from her hand.

“A-Are you alright?”

“Oh! You mean that!” She tilted her head, making an adorable gesture, and smiled. My heart skipped another beat! “I’m not a member of the Evil Faction, so I’m fine! Your profession seems to be a dark-type, and this spring will actively attack any dark-type creature that touches it!” With that, she squatted down again and continued washing.

I just stood behind her, watching her back. She was wearing a white dress, a winter-style one-piece thing. All the collar, cuffs, and hem of the dress were trimmed with white fur, making her look like a princess. She also had a warm hat with white fur on her head, and the brim was decorated, making it look quite pretty. I suddenly noticed that she had a silver stick hanging at her waist; I wondered if it was a Mage Staff. If it was, the exaggerated design definitely made it a Divine Artifact! But I guessed it probably wasn’t a Mage Staff; if it was, it would be too short, and it had so many holes in it!

“All done!” She suddenly turned around and handed me the Heart of Desecration. “This peach is very strange; it feels like it’s rotting because it’s so soft and slippery!”

I took the now-reddened heart. As soon as it was in my hand, it started to speak. “Thank you, young man. My heart has been cleansed, and I can ascend to Heaven. Thank you. As a reward, I shall pass on the holy magic I created in the past to you.”

Immediately afterward, I heard a system notification that I had successfully change profession and a whole bunch of skills popped up, but I didn’t have time to look at them now because…!

She pointed at me, trembling, and said, “That… that… that peach was a… heart?”

I could only give a helpless, silly smile and nod. As soon as she saw me nod, she immediately fainted! I quickly stepped forward to catch her. Seriously, she fainted so easily! But holding this beautiful body, my heart started racing again, and I had trouble breathing! I quickly found a clean, flat rock and laid her on it. Worried that the stick behind her back would be uncomfortable, I pulled it out.

Because I didn’t dare to stare at her, I had no choice but to start examining the stick. It was a little over a foot long and had a row of holes in it. I immediately realized it was a flute! Strange; why would a girl come to a place like this without a weapon, but with a flute? “Mmm!” A groan came from behind me. I turned back and saw that she was indeed awake!

“Are you alright?”

“Ah!” She jumped up and ran to the spring to wash her hands. After about ten minutes, she was finally done! “Okay! I’m fine!” She took another deep breath to calm herself.

“I’m sorry! When you were holding it just now, I was afraid you’d be scared if you knew what it was, so I lied and said it was a peach…”

Before I could finish, she cut me off. “It’s not your fault! I was the one who said it was a peach first!” She lowered her head again, embarrassed to look at me. Suddenly, she patted herself, looking around, and asked me nervously, “Where’s my silver flute?”

“It’s here! I pulled it out just now because I was worried it would be uncomfortable for you to lie on!” I handed her the flute, and she immediately took it and put it back on her waist.

“Why are you carrying a flute around? Don’t tell me your Auxiliary Profession is a musician!”

She smiled and said, “It’s not quite right, but it’s similar! My Main Profession is a Sound Manipulator.”

“Sound Manipulator? What kind of profession is that? I’ve never heard of it! How do you attack? Is it because the sound of your flute is so hard to listen to that you use noise to deafen people?” I joked with her.

“Then you’ll find out when you try it!” She pulled out the flute and put it to her lips. “Death Variations, Chapter One: Soul-Piercing Sound!” A melodious tune instantly rang out, and the beautiful melody made people lose themselves, as if this music were everything! I was enjoying it when the sound suddenly stopped, making me feel like I had flown into the air and then fallen down!

She still had her usual smile. “Look at your skills!”

“Huh? What?” I didn’t react for a moment. Only after she repeated it did I understand and take a look. “Ah! Why are all my skills displayed in gray?”

“Try using any one of them!”

I tried, but I couldn’t use them! “Just now…?”

“Look at the time again!”

I quickly looked, and it was already noon. Although I didn’t know how long I had been listening, that tune definitely lasted longer than it felt!

“The length of Death Variations, Chapter One is thirty-two minutes. Usually, I only need to play the first three minutes for it to take effect, but I felt like you seemed to like it, so I finished the whole thing!”

“Are you saying I listened for thirty-two minutes?”

“About that! My technique isn’t good, so I don’t have a good grasp of the time; sometimes it’s faster, sometimes it’s slower, but it should have been at least thirty minutes just now!”

I was so surprised that I almost couldn’t speak. It took me a while to say, “This thing of yours can seal skills?”

“Not just skills, magic too!”

“Are there other chapters? I think I heard you say that was Chapter One!”

“Do you want to listen?” She smiled and continued, “Death Variations, Chapter Two: Death Melody!” A melodious music sounded again, a clearly different melody from the last one, but still so beautiful, but it still ended quickly.

“It’s already over?” I said, still not satisfied.

“You still want to listen? Take a look at your own body!”

I wanted to look down, but discovered that my neck couldn’t move. I thought it was because I had been in the same position for too long, so it was stiff, but then I suddenly realized that my hands couldn’t move either! “What’s going on?”

“The length of that chapter just now was forty-three minutes. It usually doesn’t take three minutes to take effect, but you listened to the whole thing! The effect of this chapter is to completely immobilize the enemy!”

“Can you undo it? How long am I going to be frozen like this?” I looked at her with difficulty.

She put the flute to her lips again, “Hymn of the Sun!” After a burst of impassioned music, I could suddenly move. “Hymn of the Sun has a length of six minutes, and its main effect is to remove all negative effects!”

“Do you have any other songs?”

“Yes! Death Variations also has a Chapter Three: Soul Dance, which has a length of fifty minutes and whose main effect is to directly burn away the enemy’s health. Life Anthem can restore health, with a length of seven minutes. Moon Song can restore Mana, with a length of six minutes. That’s all for now; I can learn new ones when I level up in the future!”

“Then can you play them all for me?”

“Do you have Mana potions?”

“What for?”

“Do you think I can play all these magical music without using any Mana? I’ve already used up all my Mana by letting you listen to so much just now!”

“Didn’t I only listen to three songs?”

“The Mana cost of my songs is calculated by time. You’ve been listening for over an hour!”

Chapter 38: Sowing a Flower, Reaping a Melon

“Your skill is amazing! No matter how many people try to fight you, they won’t stand a chance with you playing like that! By the way, is your skill an area-of-effect attack?”

“It is, and the range is huge! It can hit any number of people within a certain range at the same time, and I can choose to exclude certain people or only target a single person. But my skill actually isn’t that great!”

“Who says? How can a skill that awesome not be great? When people run into you, they can’t use skills, can’t use magic, and can’t even move. How are they supposed to fight?”

“It’s not really like that! The effect of my song appears gradually, which means it takes a while from when I start until it takes full effect. Most people are just stunned for a moment at the beginning, then they start attacking! My Death’s Variation takes three minutes to completely immobilize an opponent. My health is even lower than a mage’s. I’d be hacked to death long before that time is up!”

“Don’t be discouraged. You’re the type of class that’s useless in a one-on-one fight but a killing machine in a group battle! As long as you have someone to shield you for the first three minutes, the world is yours for the taking!”

“That’s a nice way to put it, but it doesn’t mean much to me!”

“Why not?”

“Because I can’t get out of here! I came here right after leaving the Novice Village. Later, I discovered that to get out, you have to defeat the Minotaur at the exit, and you have to do it one-on-one. That means I have to beat the Minotaur by myself, but look at me—who can I possibly defeat?”

“Can you have Magical Pets?”

“I can have six! How about that, isn’t that a lot? I made sure to add a lot of points to Charisma!”

I hadn’t expected she could have so many, though my own number was even more terrifying. After I change my profession, I’ll be able to have nine Magical Pets! “That’s quite a lot! Why don’t you have any Magical Pets? If you get a few pets to hold the line for you, you won’t have to worry about a thing after those three minutes are up!”

“I want to! But I don’t have the Capture skill, so I can’t catch any Magical Pets!”

“This is for you!” I took out the almond. “Plant this in the soil and water it with water from the Fountain of Life, and it will grow into a plant-type Magical Pet.”

“A melon seed? I have a lot of those!” She pulled a handful of identical-looking things from her pocket.

I almost fainted. That damn Old Man at The Exchange had actually duped me! He lied and said it was a Magical Pet when it was clearly a melon seed, and I’d been treasuring it like a gem! “Are you kidding me? Where did you get so many?”

“There are a lot of them growing on that tree over there, but the tree bites people. I always use my flute to immobilize it from outside its attack range before I go grab them. They taste pretty good, want to try some? This is the first I’ve heard of them being Magical Pets. If I’d known sooner, I would have left long ago!” As she spoke, she took a ‘melon seed,’ buried it in the ground, and scooped up some water with her hands to pour over it. A tender sprout immediately shot out of the ground, then with a pop, it grew into a large tree. The tree then suddenly turned into a green orb and vanished into the ground.

“It really is a Magical Pet. I misunderstood the Old Man!”

“Why isn’t it listening to my commands?”

“Oh! You forgot to add a drop of blood! You have to drip your own blood on the seed before planting it!”

“Oh!” She immediately planted another one, and this time it went much better.

Watching her happily plant one after another, I quickly yelled for her to stop. “How many have you planted? You can’t replace Magical Pets. If you fill up all your slots, you won’t be able to switch even if you find a better one later!”

“Oh no! I forgot! I’ve already planted all six!” she said playfully, sticking out her little tongue.

“Sigh! Now you’re a musician and a gardener!”

“A gardener? There’s nothing wrong with that. I like being a gardener. Planting flowers is very nice! Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself. My in-game name is Melting Ice, and my real name is Shangguan Yun!”

I wanted to stop her, but she had already said it. “My in-game name is Purple Sun, and my real name is Shen Lin. You’re too quick to trust people. We’ve known each other for less than a day, and you’re already telling me your real name. That’s too dangerous!”

“Are you a bad person?”

“Of course not!”

“Then it’s fine! After all, you’re not a bad person!” She was still smiling. It seemed like her default expression was a smile.

“Right, I almost forgot why I came here! Bingbing, do you have any more almonds? You don’t mind if I call you that, do you?”

“I don’t mind, but what’s an almond?”

“I mean your melon seeds! I need one too!”

“Ah?” Bingbing’s little face instantly turned red. “I’m so sorry! I got too excited just now and planted them all! But it’s okay, I can take you to the big tree to get more!”

Following Bingbing through the tall grass, I saw the giant ancient tree. It was truly huge; its massive trunk would probably take five or six people to encircle with their arms. Bingbing pointed to the red fruits on the tree. “That’s them. Crack open the shell, and the melon seeds are inside!”

Just as I was about to go get one, she pulled me back. “Don’t rush, it bites people. Let me immobilize it first!” Thinking that was the safer option, I agreed, mainly because I wanted to hear that beautiful music again. In a short while, the great tree completely stopped moving, but unfortunately, because she forgot to change her attack pattern, I was frozen in place as well! I had no choice but to let Bingbing fetch a fruit for me. I told her one was enough and that I didn’t need that many, but she ended up clearing the tree of every fruit she could see!

I was forced to listen to the Song of the Sun one more time to be able to move again. Looks like I’ll have to be careful in the future! That song is way too potent!

After cracking open the fruit, I began my tree-planting project. First, I cut my finger and dripped blood onto the seed. The green orb from before had mentioned that absorbing more blood could increase a plant’s power, so I called over Lucky and the others and collected a bit of blood from each beast. By the time I was done, the seed had turned from gray to black. It seemed my demonic attribute was so strong that anything associated with me turned black!

I found a spot, dug a hole, buried the seed, and then had Bingbing help me get some spring water for it. Thank goodness she was here, or I would have been completely helpless! The moment the spring water touched the soil, a small seedling sprouted. Unlike Bingbing’s, mine was black.

When Bingbing came back with the second scoop of water, trouble started as soon as she poured it. It was fine when it was just a seed, but now my vine had become a creature of darkness. The instant the water touched the small seedling, a plume of white smoke rose up. Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought she’d poured sulfuric acid on it! Although the reaction wasn’t as severe as mine, the seedling was clearly withered by the spring water.

Just as I thought my tree-planting plan was about to fail, Bingbing’s music suddenly filled the air. The melody had to be the Song of the Sun. That’s right, being doused with water from the Fountain of Life should count as a negative status for a dark creature, and this should be able to cure it!

The seedling did indeed stand up straight again, but something seemed off. The leaves on the seedling suddenly began to turn red, and the veins on each leaf became blood-red. Faintly, I thought I could hear the earth-shaking sound of ten thousand horses galloping. The thunderous sound suddenly intensified, and several vines shot out of the ground, binding me, Lucky and the others, and Bingbing tightly. Then they lifted us high into the air and stopped moving. Lucky was about to struggle, but I noticed we weren’t losing any health and told him not to move. The vines wove themselves into a platform-like structure in the air, lifting us all up to safety.

Down on the ground, things were starting to get chaotic!

From our platform, we saw clouds of dust and smoke billowing below. My vine had actually grown countless tentacles. One tentacle suddenly plunged into the fountain, and it immediately burst into flames. But it didn’t stop. Other tentacles followed, one after another, reaching into the water.

At first, the fountain water could still burn away the tentacles, but soon there were more and more of them, until they almost covered the entire pond. A very thick tentacle plunged down from above, straight into the eye of the spring, tearing the entire massive rock apart. The fountain’s flow stopped, and the vine finally covered the pond. In no time, the vine began to expand outwards, and soon, the entire Garden of Life was covered by a vast number of vines.

The fountain had dried up, the trees had withered and died, and a gust of wind blew past, turning the beautiful, dreamlike landscape into a vast desert in an instant! “What the hell! What’s going on? Phantom, ask what happened!”

After a moment, Phantom replied, “Our blood just caused it to over-evolve. This thing has already evolved into a level 900 Strengthened Demon Vine. It was just absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy, and this is what happened after it finished!”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration, isn’t it?”

Staring at the desert below, Bingbing said, “How terrifying!” Just as she finished speaking, a beautiful black rose and a blood-red rose suddenly bloomed on a nearby vine. Phantom said, “It says that was just an instinctive reaction from its recent growth. It won’t be able to do something like that again even if it wanted to. Those two flowers are an apology gift for you!”

Unbelievable. What kind of flower was this? It had already learned how to flirt! “Right, from now on, your name is Rose Vine! Okay, you can let us down now!”

Chapter 39

“Well, well! Look at the happy little couple!” The arrogant voice came from a Black Knight in front of them. The guy was wearing a shabby set of gray knight’s armor, but compared to the people around him, his gear was actually quite good. Although he didn’t even have a horse, the knight’s lance in his hand was enough to identify him as a Black Knight.

“What do you want?” I asked while observing our surroundings. A quick count put their numbers at over fifty. This was the first time I’d seen so many Players together; I was used to being surrounded by NPCs!

While continuing the pointless verbal spar with him, I assessed the enemy’s strength. The fifty or so people were clearly from the same Guild, and the one spewing nonsense at me was their leader. Their equipment wasn’t much to look at; they were holding Mage Staffs that looked like mop handles and swords and spears that seemed ready for the scrap heap. They looked like a peasant militia!

Although their gear was a mishmash and clearly low-grade, their class composition was quite complete. Those in the back row were obviously the very Priestesses Ah Wei was always rambling on about, hoping to meet! According to Ah Wei, the Priest class had extremely weak attack power and low health, making it difficult to level up, so very few people played one. However, in Zero, most of the Priests were pretty girls who were squeamish about gore. And although Priests weren’t great on their own, they could significantly boost the combat effectiveness of those around them, which made them the most popular class. You rarely heard of anyone PKing a Priest, because you never saw one caught alone!

This Guild even brought Priests along. They’re really giving me a lot of face!

“Heh heh! Let’s make a deal. We’ll let you go, but the girl behind you stays.” Hearing this, Bingbing quickly shrank behind me. That small gesture was more than enough to stir up a man’s protective instincts!

“Don’t think I’m afraid of you just because you have numbers. Look at my gear; you should know we’re not on the same level!” I probably had a chance of taking out these fifty people and escaping safely, but right now, I had Bingbing to worry about. With her low health, she’d be finished if I wasn’t careful for even a moment. I wasn’t skilled enough to protect her and fight a group of fifty Players at the same time! So, scaring them off was the best option, though even I had my doubts about the feasibility of that plan!

“Your gear does look pretty badass, I’ll give you that. But… you don’t seem to have noticed there are fifty-seven of us! I don’t think you can take care of us and walk away unscathed! Fifty-seven to two, the advantage is clearly ours!”

“Oh?” I deliberately drew out the sound. “Is that really so? Nightshadow! Lucky! Phantom! Xiao Feng! Little Dragon Girl!” I didn’t summon the Spirit Herald Knights. Normally, I could pass them off as Players, but summoning them right in front of everyone was a different story!

“You… you… you…!” The Black Knight fell right on his ass. The people around him also began to back away, and some were even reaching for their Return Scrolls!

“Get lost. This lord has no time for your nonsense. Watch out, or I’ll slaughter all of you!”

“That’s impossible! Don’t be afraid, everyone! Those must be illusions! The girl behind him must be an illusionist!”

I was about to order Lucky to go beat them up when Bingbing suddenly reached out and tugged on my arm. “Please, just go. I don’t want to kill anyone. We’re all just here to play and relax. Can’t we leave the troubles of the outside world behind?”

The disgusting guy on the ground scrambled back to his feet. “Don’t get too cocky, little girl. There are so many of us, even if your Magical Pets are strong, we can crush you with sheer numbers! Besides, you think you’re the only one with a Magical Pet? Come on out, Lai Pi!” A ferocious-looking lizard leaped out, baring its teeth at us in a show of aggression. But when it saw Lucky, it froze as if it had been electrocuted.

Lucky looked down at the little creature before it (to a dragon the size of a large bus, there was no difference between a monitor lizard and a gecko). Then, it stretched out a claw and flashed it in front of the lizard. Seeing the lizard go limp like a pile of mud, Lucky suddenly flashed a draconic smile, revealing a mouthful of gleaming white fangs. The lizard below instantly vanished, running away at a speed even more terrifying than when it first appeared! A dragon and a lizard truly weren’t in the same league.

Bingbing laughed and patted Lucky. “You look so fierce and menacing, I never thought you’d be so funny!”

Lucky let out a pleased draconic roar. The Magical Pets that a few of the surrounding players had just summoned—the ones that hadn’t seen the now-legendary draconic smile—immediately fainted. (The lizard wasn’t the only one that had fled earlier; its entire batch had run off, and the ones left were summoned too late to see what happened!)

The surrounding people watched in panic as their Magical Pets vanished, yet they didn’t dare give chase. They knew that if their formation broke now, they would surely die!

“Since you don’t want to leave, I have no choice!” Bingbing brought her flute to her lips. “Death’s Variation, Second Movement: Melody of Death!”

Because I was in a Party with Bingbing, I only heard simple music. The people around us, however, immediately began to show adverse reactions. But the beautiful melody made them completely ignore the faint sensation. Moreover, her skill attack didn’t trigger any system notifications. A normal attack would prompt the system to inform you that you were attacked by so-and-so, but Bingbing’s attack had no such alerts. Soon, the three minutes were over, and the bunch of idiots around us still hadn’t snapped out of it!

“Why can’t I move?” A long time after the music had ended, someone finally realized something was wrong. But I wasn’t about to let them off. It’s not my style to let a grudge go unsettled!

“I told you I was not to be trifled with, but you just wouldn’t believe me!” I left Bingbing’s Party (I didn’t want to make her a red name too) and walked up to the leading Black Knight. “Don’t blame me, you brought this on yourself! Just bear with it; death is nothing to be afraid of! It’ll only hurt for a moment!” With that, I gave him a clean decapitation. I didn’t lay a hand on the others, leaving them all for Lucky to handle. Revenge is one thing, but massacres aren’t my hobby. I’m not a psycho!

“Is this… alright?” Bingbing asked worriedly, watching the people over there fall one after another. “Isn’t this going too far? We weren’t actually attacked!”

I cut Bingbing off. “My perspective is a bit different from others. In my view, the intent to act is enough. I don’t see any difference between attempted assault and actual assault! Since they had already started to carry out their plan to harm us, my opinion of them is the same, regardless of whether we were actually hurt! You don’t need to worry about it!”

After comforting Bingbing a little, we left the forest. “Is there anywhere you want to go?”

“Not at the moment!”

“Since you don’t have anywhere to be, could you do me a favor?” I started thinking about Bingbing’s skill. That thing was incredibly useful!

“What is it? Just say it! I’ll definitely help if I can! You did me a huge favor by rescuing me, so now it’s my turn to repay you!” Bingbing looked as if she was ready to go through fire and water for me.

“Alright, I’ll tell you! The thing is, I wasn’t originally playing alone. I have a girlfriend who plays with me!”

“Then where is she now?”

“She was arrested for having a red name. Right now, she’s in the Prison in Bright City. I’m planning to rescue her, but I tried storming a small city and found that while I could get in, I couldn’t get out!”

“You need my flute’s music to trap the guards?” Bingbing was sharp as a tack; she understood immediately.

“Yes!” I said excitedly. “As long as you help me, I can save her!”

Bingbing thought for a moment. “I wonder if you’ve considered a few problems.”

“Like what?”

“First, I’m only level 171. I’ve never tried fighting city NPC Guards before, so I have no idea if this move is effective against them! But the possibility of it being completely ineffective is low. I reckon it will most likely work, just not as well! Also, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but what about the first three minutes? A level 800 guard can one-shot anyone below level 700, let alone a low-health, low-defense Melodist like me.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. My only concern is what you mentioned about the reduced effect. You remember the Knights I had with me at the start, right?”

“I remember!”

“Those are Spirit Herald Knights, all level 850. They should be able to hold them off for up to ten minutes!”

Bingbing looked completely incredulous. “How did you even catch level 850 creatures?”

“I actually tricked them! I’ll tell you about it later. For now, just come with me and we’ll test it on a city guard!”

“No way! Right now?”

“Yes! Right now!” I quickly pushed her onto Nightshadow’s back and then leaped onto Lucky’s myself. “Let’s go!”

Chapter 1: The Experiment Fails

“Aah!”

Bingbing and I were on our way to Bright City when a human-shaped object suddenly fell from the sky, knocking me head over heels from my mount. “What idiot is trying to be Superman!”

“S-Sorry! I didn’t do it on purpose!” A man dressed all in black scrambled over to help me up. “I’m sorry! I’m being hunted. Please forgive my actions!”

“A ninja?” Bingbing and Nightshadow had turned around and run back. A moment ago, we were both on Nightshadow’s back. This ‘superman’ had dropped from the sky and knocked me, who was sitting in the back, clean off. Bingbing, sitting in front, was lower down and escaped the collision, but the speed had carried them far ahead. Now that she was back, Bingbing finally recognized the man in black as a ninja.

“A ninja?” I ignored his offered hand and jumped to my feet. I sized him up. The man was quite tall, at least taller than me, probably around 178 centimeters. Not that being taller than me was difficult; I’m on the shorter side. He was clad in a tight black suit with his face masked, and two Japanese swords were slung diagonally across his back. He was definitely a ninja.

“Brothers up ahead, don’t let him get away! He’s Japanese!” A group of over a hundred people came stampeding from the distance, a considerable number of them cavalry.

I glanced at the ninja beside me and then at the pursuers in the distance. The ninja clearly understood my meaning and, with a powerful leap, fled.

Bingbing was baffled by my inaction. “What are you doing?”

“I’m not doing anything,” I feigned ignorance.

“You let him escape!” Bingbing pouted. “He’s Japanese!”

“Does being Japanese mean he deserves to die?” I climbed back onto my mount. “Besides, he didn’t harm us. I only act against my enemies, not against a particular race!”

Seeing she couldn’t win the argument, Bingbing said no more and turned away in a huff. The troop of players had already rushed up to us. The lead Knight shot me a disdainful look, said nothing, and led his men charging past. Another Knight following behind him hissed two words through clenched teeth as he passed me: “Scum!”

I paid them no mind and continued on toward Bright City with Bingbing. We soon arrived outside the city. It was much more bustling than the last time I was here. The gates were thronged with people coming and going—what a lively scene!

I jumped down from Nightshadow’s back and said to Bingbing, “Stay up there and don’t get down. If there’s any danger, Nightshadow will definitely be able to get you away. I’ll go draw the guards’ attention, and you test whether your flute’s music has any effect on NPCs.”

“Be careful, then!”

“Don’t worry! Even if getting into the city is difficult, just blocking the gate won’t be a problem.” I quickly summoned my Spirit Herald Knights and Lucky. I commanded Nightshadow to stay in the rear, while the Spirit Herald Knights cleared the way. I rode Lucky in the center, with Xiao Feng and the others protecting our flanks.

Our mixed formation charged toward the main gate of Bright City. The guards didn’t hesitate for a second. The moment they saw us rush into Bright City’s territory, they started letting arrows fly. The range of Bingbing’s skill was quite impressive; she could cover the guards’ position even from a great distance. The Spirit Herald Knights at the very front were the first to clash with the guards. It was the same as before—the guards were completely unable to withstand the Spirit Herald Knights’ charge!

Although we broke through the first line of guards, more appeared immediately behind them. They quickly formed up, blocking our advance. At the rear, Bingbing had already begun to play the second movement of Death’s Variation, while we at the front desperately held off the GPC Guards’ assault. Three minutes passed quickly, but the guards’ movements seemed completely unaffected. Could it be that it really wasn’t working?

After Bingbing had been playing continuously for about five minutes, we finally couldn’t hold on anymore. The Spirit Herald Knights in the front row were almost out of health, yet the guards, completely uninfluenced, continued to attack us. “Retreat!” I ordered, feeling helpless. The entire experiment was over in just half an hour, and the result was deeply disappointing. Bingbing’s skill was clearly ineffective against the guards. Whether it was because her level was too low or because NPCs were immune to this type of skill, I didn’t know.

“It seems like my skill doesn’t work,” Bingbing said dejectedly.

“Looks like we’ll have to think of another way,” I said, pondering what method could possibly break through the encirclement of NPC guards so many levels higher than us to rescue Rose.

“Haha! Let’s see you run now!” The voices of many people, probably a hundred or so, echoed from up ahead.

Both Bingbing and I were curious, so we crept over quietly. Parting the bushes, we saw a large circle of people, making it impossible to see what was going on inside. Bingbing boldly walked right out. Left with no choice, I pulled up my cloak’s hood, fastened the clasp at the front, and followed her out.

I gently pushed one of the onlookers. The man turned, but when he saw Bingbing’s face, his expression, which had been ready to curse someone out, suddenly turned into a lecherous grin. We easily squeezed through the crowd and into the inner circle. It was clear these people didn’t know each other; although they glanced at us a few times, no one said anything.

Three people stood in the center of the circle, all of whom we had seen before. One was the ninja who had knocked me off my mount earlier. The other two were the Knights who had been chasing him. The lead Knight with the greatsword looked at the ninja and said, “You little Jap, what are you doing in our Chinese territory?”

“I am not Japanese!” the ninja protested. “I’m really not Japanese!”

“Then how can you be a ninja?” the other Shield Knight said menacingly. “Stop lying. The system won’t generate the Ninja class unless you log in with a Japanese ID.”

“I’m really not!” the ninja continued. “I’m of mixed heritage. My mother is Japanese and I was born in Japan, so I have a Japanese ID. But I came to China when I was one, and I’m in the process of getting my Chinese ID right now. It’ll be done soon! I’m really Chinese!”

The Shield Knight drew his sword. “I don’t care if you’re Japanese or not. Consider yourself unlucky for choosing the Ninja class!” With that, he swung his sword down.

The ninja was quick, stepping back to evade the sword’s arc, but someone behind him kicked him in the back, sending him stumbling forward again. The Shield Knight violently thrust his shield forward in a Collision, sending the ninja flying. But the ninja, perhaps, used the force of the impact to launch himself out of the encirclement. He must have been dazed, or maybe he’d watched too many movies, because he scanned the horses we had parked to the side, and upon spotting my Nightshadow as the most imposing, he vaulted onto its back and spurred it onward, trying to escape.

Nightshadow didn’t give a damn who he was. No one besides me, or someone I designated, was allowed on its back. Nightshadow suddenly bucked, sending the ninja into the air. As the ninja fell, it delivered a classic rear kick right to his body. I’d heard that an experienced horse could kill a lion with a well-aimed kick. I wondered if Nightshadow was that strong. All I saw was the ninja’s falling body suddenly fly sideways, knocking over a whole swath of people. Looks like this horse has some serious strength!

While the ninja lay on the ground, clutching his stomach and unable to get up, Nightshadow turned to glare at him, looking like it was about to go over and stomp on him a few times. I hurried over to grab Nightshadow and calm it down. Bingbing also came over to soothe it, telling it not to be impulsive.

The Knight who looked like the leader walked over, probably intending to ‘pet’ Nightshadow, but seeing the horse fidgeting and the people lying on the ground, he didn’t dare get too close. “Your horse is quite fiery, brother!”

I quickly replied with false modesty, “He’s just got a foul temper. Won’t let anyone but me touch him!” This Knight had a rather sunny disposition, so I was in a better mood to chat with him.

“Brother, may I ask where you captured this horse?” He led his own mount over, a dun-colored steed. “This is my horse. I named him Claw-Yellow Flying Lightning. His speed is decent, but his temperament is too gentle, completely non-aggressive! I’ve been wanting to switch for a while. I wonder if you could tell me where I might find a more ferocious steed like this one!”

I pulled Nightshadow’s head down and pointed to the horn on his forehead, which was over a foot long. “Have you ever seen a horse with a horn? This is a unicorn!”

“No wonder he’s so tall!” the Knight said with envy. “If only I could get one too!”

“A unicorn? Don’t be ridiculous. Did you glue that horn on? Are there even black unicorns?” The Shield Knight lackey stepped forward and said.

I really disliked this guy. I lifted Bingbing onto Nightshadow’s back and then hopped on myself. I turned to the lead Knight and said, “A mount is a Knight’s legs. On the battlefield, a mount and its master must be of one heart and one mind. Without that rapport, even the most powerful mount is no better than a donkey! You’d be better off taking good care of your own.”

Chapter 2: A Summons from Dad

After leaving that group of guys, I started running toward the City of the Lost. It seemed necessary to have Bingbing level up for a bit first. Just as I arrived in the City of the Lost, I suddenly received a call from Ah Wei.

“Boss, where are you?”

“I’m at the teleportation station in the City of the Lost. What’s up?”

“Your dad called, he’s looking for you!”

“My dad?”

“Yeah! I logged off just now to grab a bite, and your dad happened to call. He said you need to go to Longyuan’s Nanjing branch tomorrow, and you have to bring Miss Rose with you.”

“Oh! Got it. By the way, where are you?”

“I’m leveling up in the forest next to the City of the Lost.”

“Get back here, quick. I have a friend who needs you to help her out for a bit!”

“Be right there!” A few seconds later, Ah Wei came running out of the teleportation station. “Boss! Whoa! A goddess!” Ah Wei stared at Bingbing with a lecherous grin. “Beautiful lady, may I ask what your relationship is with our boss?”

Bingbing couldn’t stop laughing at Ah Wei’s silly expression. Seeing that he wasn’t getting an answer, Ah Wei turned to me. “Boss, you’re really something else. Two of them already, and so fast! Don’t keep them all to yourself, help a brother out!”

“Get lost! I won’t have time these next few days, so help me level up Bingbing. Remember to protect her well. Her class is rather special—low health and low defense, even more fragile than a mage!”

“What kind of class is that fragile!”

“It’s not something I can explain in a few words. You two can chat more tomorrow and you’ll figure it out. I’ve got things to do!”

“OK, you can count on me!” Ah Wei bowed to Bingbing and made a welcoming gesture. “This way, beautiful lady.”

Watching them leave, I logged off directly. I’d been online for too long today, so it was time for an early rest. I gave Rose a call to set a time and then went to sleep. I slept until my alarm woke me the next morning. It was already eight o’clock; I had to hurry over to my dad’s!

After tidying up, I drove to pick up Rose. Because she was meeting an elder, Rose had specifically chosen a very formal women’s suit. “Wow! Are you trying to be a career woman?”

“You’re the worst! I wouldn’t be dressed like this if it weren’t for you! From what you said yesterday, I figured your uncle has something official to discuss with us, so there’s nothing wrong with dressing a bit more formally! But you, what’s with this casual outfit? Go change first!”

“Is that really necessary?”

“No! You absolutely have to change!” After some bickering, I was forced to change into a suit. I rarely wear these things, so it felt quite uncomfortable to suddenly switch.

Soon, we arrived at the Longyuan branch office. A senior company executive was already waiting for us at the entrance. He immediately ran over when he saw us. When he saw Rose and me get out of the car, he was momentarily stunned. He only snapped out of it after I cleared my throat. “Excuse me! Which of you is the Young Master?”

Rose looked at me and started laughing. I blushed and said, “I am!”

“This is the address. The president wants you to go here!”

“What is this place? He could have just told me last night, honestly!” We got back into the car and inserted the disc into the navigation system. A route quickly appeared. “Isn’t this the suburbs?”

“Never mind that, just hurry up!” Rose urged. “I still have a lot of experiments to finish! If your uncle hadn’t summoned me, I wouldn’t have bothered to come out at all!”

“Alright, milady!” I sighed helplessly and sped all the way to our destination, causing Rose beside me to shriek the entire way. After we got out of the car, I was inevitably treated to a massage from her fists.

“Where are we?” Rose asked, looking at the empty space around us.

Before us was a dense mountain forest, with lush pine trees that made it impossible to tell the season.

“It’s all trees here. What on earth did your uncle want us to come all the way out here for?” Rose looked around, completely befuddled by my dad’s intentions.

But I was different from Rose. I had been to more than a dozen of my dad’s company’s secret bases, and none of these miscellaneous labs were built in conventional locations. As expected, my guess was spot on. A row of yellow warning lights suddenly rose from the ground ahead and began to flash. After flashing for a few seconds, there was a sudden click, and the warning lights began to rise again. But this time, it wasn’t just the lights rising—the ground itself was tilting up! A minute later, a passageway nearly ten meters wide appeared before us. Rose was completely dumbfounded. I, on the other hand, was long used to it. After the square indicator light at the top of the passage turned into a green arrow, I guided the car slowly into the tunnel.

The tunnel entrance closed immediately after we entered—a standard practice for confidential facilities! We hadn’t driven far when the car suddenly crashed to the ground with a thud, like a chunk of iron. I checked the indicator for the magnetic levitation engine; it showed that it was functioning normally, but the car just wouldn’t lift off!

The impact jostled Rose awake. Looking at the disabled car, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s stuck! The car is working fine, it’s probably an issue with the base! Don’t worry, this kind of car has a backup system.” I pressed a switch under the steering wheel to lower the wheels. These four wheels were usually retracted inside the fairings to maintain aerodynamics. For now, we had no choice but to use them to get by.

As we continued deeper, we soon realized we were driving in circles. The tunnel seemed to be a spiral staircase; the base was probably quite deep! We sped up and quickly reached the end of the tunnel, where a huge underground parking lot suddenly appeared before our eyes.

“Son! Over here!” Dad was actually standing right by the entrance. We had driven past him because we were going too fast!

After finding a spot to park, Rose and I walked over to Dad. “Dad! What did you call me here for?”

“Nothing?”

“Then why were you looking for me?”

Dad’s next words nearly made me faint. “I was looking for Rongrong! I had you come along because I was worried my daughter-in-law wouldn’t be safe coming to such a deserted place alone! So I had you act as a temporary bodyguard and chauffeur!”

“I protest! Mmph—”

Rose clapped a hand over my mouth, muffling the rest of my words. “Uncle, what did you need to see me for?”

“Follow me first, let’s sit down and talk!” Dad led us into an elevator. After transferring between countless other elevators, we finally arrived at a place called the reception room. “Rongrong! Your relationship with Shen Lin is basically set in stone, so there are some things I don’t need to keep from you anymore. I’ve seen the economic simulation experiment you’ve been doing at school recently, and its feasibility is quite high! Because of this, I sent a letter of opinion to the State Council these past few days asking them to study the feasibility of your plan!”

Rose interrupted my dad’s explanation. “What does my experiment have to do with the State Council? All I did was research the mutual influence between economics and society. This study shouldn’t be worthy of so much attention, right?”

Dad raised a hand, signaling for Rose to stop. “You might not think so, but in fact, your theory has immense research value! We made some modifications based on your research, and although it’s not perfect, it has already been a real eye-opener for those old researchers! The reason I asked you here this time is that I hope you can come work for our company!”

“You mean you want me to work at Longyuan?” Rose’s eyes began to sparkle! It seemed the allure of a golden opportunity at Longyuan was greater than mine.

“It would be unreasonable to let another company have a talent like you, not to mention you’re my chosen daughter-in-law. A company like ours is sometimes in a contradictory position; we need high-level talent but dare not let them know too many inside secrets! If you join, we can entrust you with management without worry. Besides, Shen Lin actually needs a capable wife like you to support him. Although he doesn’t have the habits of a prodigal spendthrift, he’s still an amateur when it comes to business! Do you know why we accepted you so easily the first time you came to our home? Normally, we wouldn’t accept something so important so readily!”

Rose shook her head, indicating she didn’t know.

“It’s because after I looked into your real identity, I reviewed your entire file, including your design discussions for this experiment. I have great faith in your business talents. I used to worry that there would be no successor for this business empire when I get old, but your talent makes me believe you can hold it up! What do you say? Are you willing to come to Longyuan?”

“Stop!” I pulled apart the two of them, who were smiling as if their negotiations had gone smoothly and were about to shake hands. “Hold it! Dad! Are you trying to poach my talent? My dear honey is very pure; she can’t be exposed to the glitzy, corrupt business world!”

“It’s okay! Husband! I want to give it a try.” Rose clung to my arm coquettishly, her sweet pleas making my bones melt. Now I understood why lecherous emperors in history were always fatuous rulers!

“Alright, alright! I surrender!”

Seeing that we had no more issues, Dad continued, “Rongrong’s experiment was originally just a model, but we helped her perfect the details. Now it can be used directly!”

“Details?” Rose and I asked at the same time.

“Yes! The original experiment had no practical value; at best, it was a relationship model. Now, after our modifications, it has become a dangerous weapon!” Dad’s face was alight with excitement as he spoke, looking quite pleased with himself.

“A weapon? Isn’t Rose in the economics department?”

“That’s right! This is an economic weapon, different from military weapons. If successful, it can be used to control any country at will!”

“It’s that powerful!”

“Of course, it still needs multi-faceted coordination, but those are things to be completed in the future! Rongrong, it’s best you don’t go to school for the time being. Why don’t you come here and conduct your experiments directly? Our experts here don’t quite understand your core ideas yet, and they’re eager to discuss them with you in person. Besides, our equipment here is much better than the school’s!”

“Okay! But can I see the lab?”

Chapter 3: A Storm is Brewing

Dad brought us to the lab. We were now standing on a massive gantry, looking down into a huge space over ten meters deep and the size of four or five football fields. Three enormous gray machines stood in this space, each one bearing the Longyuan logo on its side. They had octagonal bases and were about ten meters tall. Hundreds of cables as thick as a person’s waist snaked from the walls to the machines like spider legs. Many heat sinks on these cables occasionally vented steam, but the ventilation system here must have been reinforced, as it didn’t feel humid at all despite all the water vapor.

“These three are Longyuan’s crowning jewels—Nuwa!”

“You mean the servers for Zero?” Rose’s voice quivered with excitement.

“The servers for Zero are also called Nuwa, but they aren’t these three! The one used as a server is a specially simplified machine, with some unnecessary components removed, and its performance is far inferior to these three!”

“So you’re saying these three computers are even more powerful than Nuwa?” Rose looked like she was about to faint, so I quickly got ready to catch her.

“These aren’t exactly computers! They’re optoelectronic processors—part biological, part mechanical!” Dad pointed at a pipe below. “That thickest one isn’t actually a cable; it’s a nutrient solution transport pipe. The components inside are fundamentally based on the neural structure of an insect’s brain.”

“Insects? Why not use human brains?” I asked, puzzled.

Rose shot me a huge glare, and Dad gave me a knock on the head. “Do you think human brains grow on trees? Using them involves too many ethical and moral issues. Besides, in reality, apart from their larger size, human brains have no other advantages!”

“But aren’t humans the most intelligent animals?” Rose asked.

“That’s only because human brain capacity is larger. If an insect’s brain were the same size as a human’s, it would definitely be smarter! Moreover, insect brain cells possess independence; each cell is like a separate chip. Human brain cells are useless once separated! Actually, the biggest reason for choosing insect brains is the low cost. Our lab can produce several tons of semi-finished product in a year. Who can blame them? Insects reproduce so quickly!”

“Can I use these for my simulated experiments in the future?” Rose asked excitedly.

“Yes, we’ll allocate one-fifth of the system’s resources to your project.”

“One-fifth?”

“One-fifth is a lot. The total performance of that computer at your university is less than one percent of Nuwa’s!”

“That’s wonderful!” Rose jumped for joy. “I can finish my experiments very quickly! But I want to know, what kind of weapon did you turn my experiment into?”

“We gave your theory a descriptive name.” An old man with a full head of white hair, dressed in a dust-proof suit, walked over. “It’s called the ‘Commercial Nuclear Warhead’! It doesn’t sound very nice, but it’s very effective!”

“Sounds pretty powerful!” I joked from the side.

“Of course!” the old researcher said with certainty. “Our experiments have proven the method to be very reliable. And we’ve already found the fuse to detonate this ‘nuclear warhead’!”

“That’s right!” Dad added. “The fuse is Zero!”

“No way!” I exclaimed. “Zero! Is it really that powerful?”

A slight smile appeared on Rose’s face. “I understand! So, who is your first target?”

“Take a guess.”

“Japan?” Rose answered after a moment’s thought.

“Correct!” the old researcher said admiringly. “Tell us how you guessed.”

“There are many reasons. First, the initial strike is bound to have the best effect, so you’d definitely choose a country that is both difficult to deal with and powerful. Second, since you’re using Zero as the medium, you need to find a suitable target. Japan is a major gaming nation with a strong player base, making it an easier target to engage! Third, although Longyuan’s influence is global, its foothold in Japan is its weakest. Taking down this formidable rival would force a reshuffle of Japan’s commercial powers, and a well-prepared Longyuan could certainly claim a huge share of the profits!”

“Very good, a remarkably sharp mind!” The old researcher praised Rose happily. “But why didn’t you consider the national conflict between Japan and China?”

“Business is business. A businessman’s goal is profit. They can afford to lose face, but not wealth. Everything is for profit! National hatred is a political lie; economic interests determine everything!” Rose spoke with great gravitas. Standing beside her, I could hardly believe this was the same naive and innocent little girl I knew! How can her intelligence in matters of emotion and economics be so vastly different!

Both Dad and the researcher laughed. Dad said slowly, “Your analysis is very logical, but not thorough enough. However, that’s because you’re still too young!”

“Was my analysis wrong?” Rose asked, startled.

“Not wrong, just not deep enough! The national issue you dismissed is actually our primary motivation!”

“Impossible!” Rose said, completely surprised. “How can businessmen act on impulse!”

“This isn’t acting on impulse!” the researcher explained to us. “In fact, I don’t hate the Japanese at all. On the contrary, I hold them in high regard. This nation has long lived under immense pressure, which in turn has forged many excellent qualities. For example, the Japanese are highly efficient and never procrastinate. They are never lax in their work; they have a constant sense of crisis and don’t know the meaning of leisure! Their spirit for learning is also very strong; they can always absorb the strengths of other nations and make use of them! Our own ancestors had the slogan ‘learn from foreign technology to strengthen ourselves,’ but unfortunately, it was never widely implemented! In fact, in some aspects, we are indeed inferior to the Japanese!”

Listening from the side, I felt a tightness in my chest, a sense of frustration that my own people could be inferior to another! “With over a billion people, how can our Zhonghua nation be inferior to a small nation of a few hundred million?”

Dad interjected, “Listen carefully, I said inferior in some aspects, not in every aspect! In fact, overall, the Zhonghua nation is far more formidable than the Japanese! We must recognize others’ strengths to learn from and utilize them. You can’t just say Japan has nothing good just because you dislike the country! Besides, you can’t paint everyone with the same brush. Japan has simply muddled its own culture by constantly copying others. In reality, not every Japanese person is an irredeemable devil!”

The old researcher also chimed in, “Japan’s geographical location is very poor. Aside from geothermal resources, you could say Japan has almost nothing of use! And this problem became even more severe after the last Sino-Japanese War when we sent the island of Honshu into the Pacific Ocean! The Japanese won’t just sit and wait to die. They need to develop, but they have neither the resources nor the space to do so. So, they found a path to development: war! Seizing the land and resources of neighboring countries would solve all of Japan’s problems, and their largest neighbor is us. In other words, China stands in the way of Japan’s development. As long as China is there to suppress them, Japan can never hope to rise! That’s why Japan absolutely must eliminate China, no matter what. At the same time, China is also constrained by Japan! Japan’s geographical location makes it a forward outpost for the United States right on China’s doorstep, which is very dangerous for us. Moreover, Japan blocks China’s route to the Pacific Ocean. Ships leaving China have to take a huge detour to avoid Japanese waters. Do you know what that means in an era where marine resources are increasingly being exploited? It’s like a mountain of gold piled up right in front of you, but there’s someone standing in the way. Just think how wonderful it would be if that person could disappear? So, rather than wait for them to invade us, it’s better to strike first and deal with them! Do you understand now? This plan has nothing to do with national sentiment. Like you said, that’s just a political lie. The real issue is money. Japan’s existence hinders our development and affects our survival. Our two countries have a severe conflict of interest!”

The old researcher grew more and more agitated as he spoke, his face turning red! I quickly cut him off. “Stop! Stop! I get it. Japan and China are two beasts. Both are starving, but there’s only one piece of meat, and it’s clearly not enough for both. So, both beasts have the same goal: kill the other and devour it along with the meat in front of them!”

Dad furrowed his brow. “While the description has some issues, that’s more or less the gist of it! The last clash was just the two beasts testing each other’s strength, and Japan clearly got the worse end of the deal!” Dad lowered his voice and pulled us closer. “I’ll tell you a secret, but don’t go spreading it around. It’s highly likely that China and Japan will go to war again, and this time, it’ll be an all-out war!”

“So that’s the reason,” Rose nodded. “It seems my previous thinking was a bit naive! I always thought the Chinese hated the Japanese simply because of that old, stale national hatred!” After speaking, Rose hung her head, looking like she was about to cry!

I quickly pulled Rose into my arms. “It’s okay! It’s already remarkable that you could maintain your national consciousness while living in a family that idolizes the Japanese!”

Rose looked up from my embrace. “Of course! Even though my father and stepmother both worship the Japanese, I was still raised with a patriotic education!”

“Shen Lin, your gear in the game seems pretty good!” Dad looked at me with a mischievous grin.

“What are you planning?” I had a feeling I was in for it.

“It’s simple. We want you to go to Japan and cause some destruction,” the old researcher took over the explanation from Dad. “Our current data shows that the capital flowing into Zero from all over the world has already surpassed ten billion. This huge sum doesn’t have a major impact on a country’s overall economy, but it’s more than enough to serve as a trigger. As long as you destroy the Japanese assets within Zero, the Japanese will certainly not want to lose such a large amount of money. To protect it, they’ll have to invest even more. At that moment, Longyuan can storm the Japanese financial market and, like a whirlwind sweeping away clouds, completely crush the established Japanese powers.”

“Sounds simple enough, but there are plenty of practical problems!” I began to consider its feasibility.

Dad reassured me, “Don’t worry, we’re not in a hurry. You can act according to the situation. But let me give you a heads-up. In two months at most, the restrictions on group battles will be lifted. Then, within four months, the nation-versus-nation system will be opened. At that time, the maps of all countries will be connected, and it will be a true free-for-all among heroes. Whatever your plans are, you have six months to increase your strength, no matter what!”

“Alright! I’ll see what I can do! Or why don’t you just go into the server and tweak my stats for me!”

Dad said angrily, “Do you think the other countries are idiots? From the day Zero’s servers went online, they’ve been under a security lock placed by the governments of the five great powers: China, the US, the UK, France, and Russia. We can only view the data, we can’t change it. To modify any data, all five nations must unlock it simultaneously. The last time that administrator contacted you to retrieve the Gold Coins from the bugged NPC, it was only because all five governments unlocked the server to let him in. And the plan to confiscate the Gold Coins was implemented because of them. According to our original plan, we weren’t going to confiscate it, since it was the game’s fault, not yours! But the other countries disagreed, and we had no choice! We had to spend a fortune just to help you keep that Divine Artifact crossbow of yours!”

“So that’s how much was going on behind the scenes that day!”

Rose and I didn’t manage to get away until that evening, after talking with Dad and the others the whole time. Today was absolutely exhausting. After hearing what Dad said, it looks like I’ll have to be more proactive in the game from now on. It seems I can’t just keep playing with a casual mindset anymore!

Chapter 4: Eagle

I logged into the game bright and early today. My Magical Pet and Demon Servant are both very powerful, and my own equipment is quite decent. My only weakness is my slightly low level, but leveling up is a minor issue. After all, I still have six whole months to do it! Plenty of time! Right now, it seems I need some helpers. To go against an entire country, it’s definitely impossible for me to do it alone! When tens of thousands of people charge at me, even if I were the final boss, I could at most take down a thousand of them before being overwhelmed. The rest could drown me with just their spit!

Do I need a large Guild? No, that won’t work. I know my own limits. I can manage commanding thirty to fifty people, but any more than that and I’m out of my depth. That’s it! I’ll find a few like-minded experts. Quality over quantity! Besides, we’re just going to cause chaos, not fight a decisive battle with their main force. What do we need so many people for?

Once I’d decided on a course of action, I began to set it in motion. First, I needed to find Bingbing. Her skills were too powerful to go to waste. As for Ah Wei, I’d pass. Although the kid had changed to a Hidden Profession, his skills were average. He was best suited for logistics.

I was lying down in the Cemetary Plains outside the City of the Lost, my head resting on a half-broken tombstone as I admired the beautiful sky (I have a thing for overcast, cloud-filled skies), contemplating my next move. Suddenly, a shadow fell over me, blocking my view. “Excuse me, sir!” a baritone voice said from above.

I tilted my head to look at him. Before me stood a very tall man. His messy hair was plastered to his face with sweat, his eyes were filled with anxiety, and his eyebrows were thick and heavy. He had a ruggedly masculine face that also had a sunny disposition. I looked at his attire. On his torso was what should have been a gleaming golden suit of knight’s armor, but it was now mottled with bloodstains, and several deep gashes had nearly torn through the chest plate. The lower half of his body was clad in the same style of knight’s armor, likely part of a full set. On his back was a greatsword; his body blocked the blade, so I could only see the hilt. The extended grip indicated it was a Two-handed Sword. Eagle’s day had been rotten from the start. He’d logged on early in the morning to level up with his girlfriend, only to run into some perverts who started harassing her. A few words were exchanged, and a fight broke out. Who would have known the other party would call their Guild for backup? He was outnumbered, and after taking down a few of them, he finally ran out of potions and was killed. Fortunately, his girlfriend used the system’s female protection function to teleport away. (Zero had a feature where female players who were being sexually harassed could choose to randomly teleport the offender ten kilometers away or teleport themselves to a designated city’s teleportation station. In special circumstances, like if the female player was knocked unconscious, they would be automatically teleported to the nearest city’s women’s sanctuary). After that, he was mysteriously teleported to a magnificent, enormous city. The problem was, there wasn’t a single person in the city. From the Resurrection Mage’s guild hall all the way out, he hadn’t seen a soul. The massive city was like a ghost town, devoid of any sound. The occasional breeze that swept through the streets felt eerie.

After searching the city for half a day and not finding a single person, he finally decided to use the teleportation station to leave, only to receive a system prompt: “This city’s teleportation station is not open to white-named players during the day!” With no other choice, he had to leave the city on foot to find a way out, but what he saw upon exiting was a boundless cemetery! Eagle immediately confirmed that this was definitely a ghost town. He had never seen such a large cemetery anywhere.

After walking for some time through the cemetery, which was filled with all sorts of blooming flowers, Eagle suddenly noticed a black object on a fallen tombstone up ahead. Approaching cautiously, he realized it was a person—or maybe it was a person. The black Helmet had cloud-like flanges on both sides, protecting the ears and the sides of his cheeks. A spike extended upwards from between his brows, resembling an animal’s horn, and there was even a V-shaped mark at its base. Where a face should have been, a solid black Visor concealed it entirely. The only translucent part was where the eyes were, but this was now covered by a single piece of V-shaped amethyst, looking like the protective visors often seen on robots in Japanese anime.

This creature (Eagle wasn’t sure if it was a player) wore the same style of black armor. The chest plate had two dragon-shaped decorations, and its flat contours and broad Pauldrons indicated it was male armor. The practical-looking Tassets were studded with gems of all sizes, and the seamless Greaves were the same non-reflective black. Looking at his raised left leg, Eagle saw it even had heel blades—what a deadly weapon! (Heel blades are blades attached to the back of the heel, so when you kick someone with your heel, it’s like you’re slashing them. By the way, only people who don’t know how to fight kick with the front of their foot!)

What was most eye-catching were his two arms. His Vambraces were actually crafted to look like dragon heads. The lifelike design looked as if they were about to devour someone, and the two dragon horns curved backward into sharp spikes. Eagle’s gaze focused on a protrusion on the back of the hand. Though he didn’t know what it was, he had a feeling something was inside! Overall, this set of armor packed a lot of offensive power. Finally, he noted the two swords at his waist and the knight’s lance lying on the ground beside him, confirming this was a close-combat profession. Eagle was confident he wouldn’t be at a disadvantage in a one-on-one fight against a melee class. He cautiously walked over, preparing to ask for information.

I sat up and looked at the man before me. “Can I help you?”

The man was very polite. “I think I’m lost! Could you please tell me how to get out of here?”

“Leave here? Isn’t there a teleportation station?” This guy was interesting, not even knowing about the teleportation station. It was the first time I’d met someone even more clueless than me!

“I went there, but the system prompted that this city’s teleportation station is only open to red-named players. White-named players have to wait until night to use it!”

“You’re not a red name?” I stood up, stretching the wings that were folded behind my back. I had retracted them when I was lying down to keep them from getting in my own way.

The guy across from me was clearly stunned for a moment when he saw my wings, but he quickly composed himself. “I’m not a red name!”

“Are you kidding me? This is a top-tier evil-aligned area. Unless you’re a super high-level red name, you wouldn’t be teleported here. How could you, a white name, possibly be sent here!”

“But I was sent here! And I really am a white name! I did just PK with someone, but I tricked them into attacking first, so it was ruled as justifiable self-defense.”

“That’s strange!” I circled around him, and this time I got a full view of his sword. It was exceptionally long—it wasn’t just the hilt, the blade itself was unusually long too! But much like his armor, the blade was covered in bloodstains and nicks. Just how many people did this guy fight to get his equipment into this state? Right, I wonder how strong such a capable fighter is. He might be a powerful character. I was just worrying about being short-handed, and one shows up at my door. I really get whatever I wish for! “Do you have any items on you that dropped from a dark-type creature?”

“Does this count?” He took out a red gemstone. “This dropped from a Lich Lord. It’s a gem, but I don’t know what it’s for!”

“That must be it. If you’re carrying a Source of Evil or a similar evil object, there’s a certain probability you’ll be sent here. Your item is probably a top-tier evil item too!”

The blond knight grew anxious. “Then how do I get out of here?”

“Simple!” This guy was decked out in gleaming gold; he looked pretty strong. Recruiting him might be a good idea. “This is my turf. Let me tell you, there’s nothing I can’t do here! Leaving is a piece of cake. Where are you going? Tell me the coordinates, and I can send you there.” It’s a small matter to take someone with me using my Teleportation Ring!

“Really?” He was clearly a little skeptical. “My name is Eagle. Thank you for your willingness to help!”

“I’m Purple Sun. Don’t be so quick to thank me! There’s no such thing as a free lunch! You have to fight me. If you win, I’ll send you on your way. If you lose, it’s no big deal either. I just want to see your strength. As long as you’re close to my requirements, I’ll send you on your way too!”

“Alright! Let’s do it!” With a clang, his sword was in his hand. It seemed he had a lot of PK experience. That draw speed wasn’t something you could train by fighting Monsters. This was a technique exclusive to people who specialized in PK!

“Let’s get this straight first: no using potions. We’re testing strength. Relying on potions to tank damage is just a waste of money and meaningless!”

“Deal!”

“Then let’s begin!”

The moment I said ‘begin,’ my vision blurred and I lost my target. Was that exaggeration necessary? He was a big guy, I didn’t expect him to be so fast! Eagle suddenly flashed out from my side. “Sacred Hammer Strike!” He gripped his sword with both hands and smashed it down on my left shoulder! -100! A Paladin skill! That was a huge hit! I didn’t even react as he scored a direct blow. The tremendous force sent me staggering sideways. But before I could fall, Eagle had already crouched down and delivered an uppercut. “Rising Cloud!” - 0!

“Whoa!” I was launched into the sky. The immense force was impossible to resist; it seemed skill effects couldn’t be offset by normal attacks! Eagle’s assault didn’t end there. While I was still rising due to inertia, he leaped up, reaching a point even higher than me. “Setting Sun!” -400! He actually flipped in mid-air and brought his foot down in an axe kick to my stomach, slamming me toward the ground. But Eagle, with even more uncanny speed, landed first. Balancing on one leg, he executed a high-spring kick, his legs forming a straight line. “Flying Rainbow!” -600! I was sent flying into the sky again. I thought it would be over, but who knew how this superman got above me again. “Meteor Fall!” -800! He inverted himself in mid-air, head down and feet up, concentrating all his strength into his right arm and landing another heavy blow on me. I was knocked out of the sky for the second time. And then, he once again landed on the ground faster than I did.

This time, he landed on his hands in a handstand, elbows slightly bent to absorb the impact. He quickly tucked his legs, bending them toward his chest, then shot them out like lightning from between his arms. His arms pushed, rapidly flipping his body over as his legs extended forcefully. I appeared right above him. “Rabbit Kick!” -10!

“Agh!” I flew into the sky for a third time. A black shadow flickered, and sure enough, he was above me again. It looked like this guy planned on using an infinite combo to juggle me to death! I turned in mid-air, crossed my hands in front of my chest, and lightly triggered the mechanism. Shing! The Blade Claws shot out.

“Heaven’s Punishment!” -1400! He performed a “White Crane Spreads its Wings” pose in the air and then kicked forcefully at me. I used my Blade Claws to lock onto his foot, and with a slight twist, I sliced off a section of his Greaves like opening a can, but the attack still hit me!

My counterattack clearly shocked him as well. I knew myself that this kind of fighting, which focused on destroying equipment instead of attacking the person, was boring. The problem was, I couldn’t even touch him!

Seeing his Greaves destroyed, he was forced to change his strategy. Since one foot was entangled, he tried to kick me with the other. I grabbed his leg with both hands, spun around, and moved behind him. I struck at the back of his head with my heel blade. Eagle instinctively blocked with his hand. Crack! a Vambrace was instantly sliced open. He retracted his leg and kicked backward, sending me flying. All these moves had actually happened very quickly; at this point, we still hadn’t landed. In mid-air, we adjusted our postures and landed on our feet, creating distance between us once more.

Eagle looked at his Vambraces and Greaves. “I never thought someone could break my ultimate skill, Heaven and Earth Net! This move is supposed to be unbeatable in a one-on-one duel!”

“You’re not bad yourself! You took off 4700 of my health with those few hits. That’s pretty terrifying. So each hit dealt double the damage of the last! And it looks like you haven’t even used the full combo yet!”

“That’s right. My Heaven and Earth Net is a self-created skill. You broke it before I could finish! The last move, Heaven’s Punishment, was supposed to smash you into the ground. Then there would have been an Earth’s Annihilation to send you back into the sky. After you fell, I’d use my sword for the final high-speed ten-hit Heaven and Earth Combination. I never expected you to break it! By the way, I wanted to ask, what level are you? 4700 health is enough to one-shot any player of any profession at this stage! From what I know, the person with the most HP right now should be SlayerBlade, who’s number one on the Level Leaderboard. That guy has over five thousand HP!” (The attack, defense, and other stats in this work are set to be relatively large, so please don’t compare them to games like Legend of Mir with lower stat values.)

“I’m only level 313. I actually only have 5000 health!”

“Did you build as an HP tank? How did you allocate your stats? It seems impossible for a level 313 to have 5000 health, right? SlayerBlade is already level 477!”

“My equipment is good. It’s all added on!” I pointed to myself. “You can tell just from the look of it that this set is no piece of junk!”

Eagle waved his hand, and a majestic, pure white Unicorn suddenly appeared beside him. “I thought I wouldn’t need my Mount to deal with you. It seems I underestimated you! Let me show you my true strength. As a Knight, once I’m on horseback, my skills are far beyond what they are on the ground!” Eagle leaped onto the horse’s back and took out the lance hanging from the saddle. “Shouldn’t you get serious too? I saw your lance. You should have a Mount as well, right?”

“Of course!” I smiled and placed one hand on the ground. A golden, glowing pentagram appeared beneath my feet.

Chapter 5: Bailing

A Golden Pentagram, identical to the one under my hand, suddenly appeared beneath the Dragon Lance that was leaning against a distant tombstone. The weapon sank rapidly as if it had been placed in a mire. The formation at my feet suddenly flashed with electricity. I began to slowly raise my hand, palm still facing down. The pommel of the Dragon Lance seemed to be attached to my palm, rising from the center of the formation as my hand ascended. When the lance was more than a meter out of the ground, I gripped it tightly, slid my hand down to the middle of the shaft, and yanked. The entire Dragon Lance was swiftly pulled free. This was a trick I had discovered when I was bored. As long as I had more than half of the Demonic Dragon Set components, I could summon the other scattered pieces. So, unless I lost more than half the set, I could recall them at will. Besides its practicality, its best feature was for showing off—just like what I was doing right now.

“Nightshadow!” I leaped into the air, and a black hole materialized behind me. Nightshadow, arcs of electricity flashing around his head, charged out of the dark spatial gate. I landed perfectly on his back. “Alright, we can begin!”

“It seems I’ve really met my match today! That under you must be a Nightmare, right?”

“You really know your stuff, don’t you?” I patted Nightshadow’s neck. “You’d better be careful. He’s very fast, and he’s got a bad temper!”

Eagle patted his own Mount. “What a coincidence. My Blazing Sun is also very fast and has a bad temper!”

“Charge!” Eagle and I shouted almost simultaneously. Ah, it was a real waste we weren’t brothers!

The two of us charged forward at the same time. Eagle wasn’t bragging; his Mount, Blazing Sun, was indeed very fast. Unfortunately for him, for some reason, Blazing Sun’s path was a straight line. Nightshadow, however, feinted sharply to the left just as he was about to reach them, then swerved right to evade Blazing Sun’s Collision. Of course, I knew what Nightshadow was planning. From the very beginning, I hadn’t even raised my Shield. Instead, I held my Dragon Lance at an angle, ready to land a vicious strike from the side.

Having lost its target, the charging Blazing Sun scrambled to halt and nearly did a somersault. Eagle, his Shield raised and Long Spear poised, had been ready to clash with me head-on. He never expected me to swerve away, and unable to check his momentum, he fell right off his horse. Although falling from your horse during a charge was an ill omen for a Knight, Eagle’s mistake actually saved his life. His sudden fall left me with no opening to attack. With a whistle, Blazing Sun immediately circled back to the grounded Eagle, who vaulted back onto his saddle without pausing and charged at me once more.

I had already turned around and was charging toward Eagle. Perhaps fearing I would dodge again, Blazing Sun’s speed had noticeably slowed. And that moment of deceleration was exactly what I was waiting for. “Demonic Dragon Heart-Piercing Thrust!” With a bang, the Dragon Lance in my hand suddenly burst into five spearheads. After a series of clangs, Blazing Sun galloped past me, its back now empty. Eagle stood five meters in front of me, a Shield with five new holes in it clutched in one hand. Five spearheads were embedded in his chest, each connected by a red steel wire to the Dragon Lance in my hand. The health I had just lost was rapidly recovering. It seemed these wires were the a lifesteal effect!

Eagle quickly realized the spearheads in his chest had a lifesteal effect. He reached out to pull them out, but the moment he touched one, an electric arc shot from my end along that wire, knocking him back three steps before he could steady himself. Although he was shocked, he managed to pull out the spearhead. He then quickly used the tip of his own spear to pry out the remaining four. As soon as the last one was removed, the steel wires on my end began to tighten, and the five spearheads swiftly merged back into one on my lance. I’d never had a chance to test this innate skill of the Dragon Lance before. It was a real eye-opener! I never thought it would be so effective!

“What kind of equipment is all this?!” Eagle used his Long Spear for support, barely managing to stand. “How can there be such an overpowered item!” As he spoke, he shook the Shield, which now sported five new holes. “The force of that blow was terrifying! I give up! I’m dead for sure if we keep fighting!”

“How much health did you lose just now?” I was eager to know the actual results.

“It took off three thousand HP instantly, then another five hundred-plus was drained away, and finally, that electric shock took another two hundred. I’ve only got a sliver of health left! My God! My Shield’s defense is over two thousand! I even got a notification that the block was successful, but I still got hurt this badly! Are you sure you’re level 313? I’m already level 443! Forget being insta-killed, not many can even break my defense! Earlier today, I was surrounded by over a hundred people and still managed to take out dozens of them before I died! What is this set of yours? It’s full of tricks!”

“It’s not that exaggerated, is it? It was actually my first time using that skill. Sorry for using you as a guinea pig! But you are very strong, so I’ve decided to send you out of here.”

I teleported directly to Thundercloud City with Eagle. Because of my red name, I could only teleport to the area outside the city. If I got any closer, the guards would want to have a “chat” with me again! Eagle messaged his girlfriend to come out and meet us, so we waited for her outside the city.

It was pretty boring for two people to just stand there, so I started trying to recruit him. “Eagle, you’re pretty strong. How about you help me Level up sometime?”

“Don’t be so polite. With your strength, you think you need me to help you? You could be the one helping me! Logically speaking, it’s a disadvantage for a high-level Player to help a low-level one. The Experience Points from low-level Monsters are too low, and newcomers die easily against high-level Monsters. So unless you know the person or are trying to pick up girls, very few people are willing to help a newcomer. But partying with you would probably be faster than being power-leveled by someone else. Your low level gives an Experience Point bonus when we Party up, but your attack and defense are even higher than mine. We could totally go fight high-level Monsters, and the experience would multiply over and over. So it’s not me helping you, it’s you who has to help me!”

“Then it’s a deal. We’ll start leveling together today. By the way, shouldn’t you go get your gear repaired in the city?” I pointed at the holes in his Shield.

“This?” He glanced at it nonchalantly. “This is a Golden Set. Its set bonus is automatic durability recovery. No need to worry about it; it’ll fix itself over time!”

“It’s that amazing?” I stared at his equipment, my eyes sparkling and my mouth watering. “Why can’t my whole set auto-repair!”

“Don’t be so ungrateful. If you like automatic repair so much, let’s trade! I’ve been eyeing that set of yours with envy!”

Hearing his words, I looked at my own Demonic Dragon Set and thought about the astronomical repair bill I owed Clark! Sigh! Tears streamed down my face. “Everyone has their own cross to bear! People used to say that buying a car is easy, but maintaining it is hard. My Demonic Dragon Set seems to be the same. It’s awesome to wear, but I just can’t afford to repair it!”

“How much does it cost to repair? I’ve heard that the higher the grade of the equipment, the more expensive the repairs. Divine Artifacts even require special materials for repairs. If you don’t have the materials, you can’t fix them even if you have the money!”

“You’ve hit a sore spot again! Let’s not talk about it! Anyway, someone’s fronting the cost for me!” I looked up at the sky and said, “I just don’t know when I’ll ever be able to pay it all back!”

“Who’s such a true brother! Willing to front such a huge sum!”

“Husband!” Just as I was about to answer, I was interrupted by a shout.

“Lingling! Are you okay? Did they chase you?” Eagle swept a girl, who was a whole head shorter than him, into his arms. As he stood up straight, he lifted her completely off the ground.

“Put me down, you big oaf! There’s someone else here!” As expected of a girl, she was more considerate! Eagle put her down. “Hello, my name is Yougu Bailing, ‘Ling’ as in the character for Elf. I’m a level 422 Elf Archer. My Husband said you helped him get back. Thank you so much!” What a bright and cheerful girl! She had long, emerald-green hair, delicate features, and flawless skin. A longbow was slung across her back, and she wore a full suit of vine armor. She and Eagle really were a match made in heaven; even their personalities were so similar!

“Hello, I’m Purple Sun, a level 313 Celestial Demon Dragon-Phoenix Knight and part-time Soul-Reaping Mage.”

The girl thought for a moment, then her face lit up with excitement. “You’re that Purple Sun, the continent’s number one wanted criminal! I knew I’d heard that name somewhere! By the way, how did you kill so many people in one day? You didn’t massacre a city, did you?”

“I wish I had the skill for that!” Being around such a sunny person made even me want to joke around. “Are you two going to Level up or get revenge?”

“No need for revenge. There are too many of them, we wouldn’t have the advantage. Let’s go Level up! We’ve wasted a lot of time this morning! We were planning to gain three levels before noon!”

“Three levels is nothing!” Given my leveling speed, three levels in one morning was indeed simple, but in others’ eyes, it was a superhuman pace. “Where are we leveling?”

“We definitely can’t go back to where we were this morning. How about we go to the Green Field Forest?” Bailing suggested. “Purple Sun, you be careful. The Monsters there are pretty high-level, so you can just hide and stay safe.”

Eagle immediately cut in, “Don’t worry about him. He’s a Monster!”

“What do you mean?”

“He challenged me to a PK just now and almost insta-killed me with one skill!”

“Are you kidding me? Even if you’re not a full HP tank, you’re still a warrior. There’s no way you’d get one-shotted by someone over a hundred levels lower than you! Besides, is that Top-tier set of yours just for show?”

Eagle immediately held up his Shield, which was still full of holes. “I have proof! Look what he did to my Shield!”

“Wow! How did it get like this! This is a high-defense Shield specifically for Paladins, how did it get turned into a sieve!” Bailing tossed the Shield back to Eagle. “Since you’re so strong, then it’s decided.” It was clear at a glance that Bailing was always the one in charge between the two of them; she didn’t even ask for Eagle’s opinion before making the decision! I knew nothing about places outside the City of the Lost, so I had no say in the matter and could only nod in agreement.

The Green Field Forest was actually not far from Thundercloud City. Those two were clearly familiar with the area. We avoided the crowded leveling zones and fought our way toward the heart of the forest, finally stopping in a relatively open clearing. According to Eagle’s experience, Monster spawns were very fast here, and very few people would come this deep to compete for kills.

Soon, we encountered a large group of Sawtooth Beasts. These things looked a lot like Wild Boars, but their teeth were terrifyingly long. Eagle reminded me, “These Sawtooth Beasts are level 430 Monsters. High attack and high defense, but low HP and slow. And they always appear in groups!”

Since I planned to recruit these two, I had no intention of hiding my strength from them. I summoned all my Magical Pets and Demon Servants at once, scaring them so badly they scrambled up a tree! “What are you doing up in the tree? Come down! These are my Magical Pets!”

“Dragons! Dragons! There are dragons!”

“What are you so afraid of? It’s just two dragons.”

Bailing clung to the tree trunk, refusing to come down. “A few days ago, a bunch of people were fighting over a gem dropped by a Monster at the edge of the forest outside the city. More and more people gathered until it turned into a chaotic battle of over a thousand people. Then a dragon passed by, picked up the gem, and casually breathed a mouthful of Dragon Flame, insta-killing all of them! Eagle was there that day, ask him if you don’t believe me!”

Eagle immediately added, “Yeah! I was there too. We were both glad afterward that we were a bit slow. If we had been just a few seconds earlier, we would have been barbecued along with that crowd! Our gear wasn’t even complete back then. It was all the equipment dropped by those guys that we picked up and sold to afford these two sets lingling and I are wearing!”

“Just come down! My dragons are still in their growth period; they’re not capable of that!”

Eagle hugged the tree trunk and said, “Are you sure?”

Bailing also shouted, “I have an Evil Dragon Phobia!”

I circled the tree numerous times. “You’re really not coming down?”

“Not coming down!” the two answered in unison. Bailing immediately sensed something was off in my tone. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll ask one last time. Are you coming down or not?”

“Not… coming… down!”

I turned to Lucky and pointed at the tree. Lucky immediately ran over and flicked the trunk lightly with his forepaw. The tree began to shake violently, and the two of them couldn’t hold on, getting shaken off. The ground suddenly erupted, and two large holes appeared. Two tentacle-like things shot out of the earth like lightning and caught the two of them.

Eagle stared at the black thing wrapped around him, not daring to struggle at all. At its tip was a green, transparent crystal orb. Two leaf-like flaps on either side of the orb opened and closed, making it look very much like an eye. The orb itself was much thicker than the vine-like tentacle, resembling a head, and its tip was covered in barbs that seemed capable of extending, retracting, or closing completely!

Chapter 6: Fairyland

“Is this another one of your Magical Pets?” Eagle stammered, looking at the Rose Vine. “Aren’t you a warrior?”

“I told you, I’m also a Soul-Reaping Mage! The Soul-Reaping Mage is an advanced version of the Beast Tamer. Its main feature is being able to have more pets! Alright, Rose Vine, put them down!” The Rose Vine gently returned them to the ground before sinking back into the earth. “Don’t you think having more Magical Pets saves a lot of trouble?”

“It does save a lot of trouble, but… this is too many! Good heavens! Two dragons, two tree vines, a Nightmare, and a parrot!” Eagle counted the Magical Pets around me. “Oh, and what about those ten friends behind you? Aren’t you going to introduce them?”

I pointed behind me. “A few corrections. Those ten behind me are Spirit Herald Knights, my Demon Servants! The two that caught you were actually the two tentacles of a single Magical Pet, not two separate ones. Also, he’s not a tree vine, he’s a flower vine. I named him Rose Vine. The one that got you down just now was Lucky. He’s huge, but he’s actually very gentle. The one coiled up in the sky is Little Dragon Girl. Chinese dragons are auspicious creatures, so there’s nothing to be afraid of, right? And this one on my shoulder isn’t actually a parrot! This is the Bird of Paradise in its pet form, but in its combat form, it looks like this.” I tossed Xiao Feng into the air. With a boom, a fireball exploded in the sky, and Xiao Feng’s enormous black body instantly blotted out a large patch of the sky above us. “When it comes to danger, she’s actually the most dangerous. Don’t be fooled by her pet form! Also, Phantom, reveal yourself!”

A cloud of black mist materialized in front of me. “Phantom, reporting! What are your orders, Master?”

Bailing looked like she was about to faint. “Are you for real? Do you have any idea how much a Magical Pet Egg sells for on the market right now?”

“They sell Pet Eggs? I’ve never bought one! How much are they?”

“Are you even a Player?” Eagle’s eyes were turning red as he stared at me. “Don’t you know? Pet Eggs are in extremely high demand right now, especially high-tier ones! You know why you can’t switch Magical Pets once they’ve bonded with you? It’s a classic psychological test.”

“How did a psychological test get into this?”

Bailing explained, “It’s actually quite simple. The game company posed a dilemma for all Players. On one hand, everyone’s pet capacity is very low, and once a Magical Pet bonds with a master, it can’t be replaced no matter what. So everyone started scheming. If you get a low-tier Magical Pet too early, you’ll definitely be at a disadvantage in the later stages. But if you hold off and don’t get one, leveling up at the beginning will be very tough, and there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to get a high-tier Pet Egg later on!”

“Don’t Magical Pets have Loyalty? I heard that pets with low Loyalty can be captured by other Players and re-bonded. You could just get a low-level one for now, and then when you find a better one, lower the current one’s Loyalty and have someone help you capture it, right?”

“Someone already tried your method!”

“And then what?” I asked.

“That unlucky fool deleted his character and started over!” Eagle said grimly.

“Why?”

“Because after the Magical Pet was captured, the pet slot was still occupied! For example, if you can have two Magical Pets and someone captures one of them, then you can only have one! When your pet is captured by someone else, it doesn’t free up a pet slot; it directly lowers your maximum pet limit! Now do you get it?”

“Good thing I never tried that!” I thought, a lingering fear in my heart.

Eagle looked at my collection of Magical Pets and said, “Looking at this lineup of yours, this place doesn’t seem very suitable for us to level up anymore!”

“What do you mean?”

Bailing pointed behind me. I turned around and jumped in fright. Sometime, without me noticing, the ground behind me had become a field of corpses. Lucky was still chewing on a Sawtooth Beast in each claw, and every so often a flower vine would erupt from the ground and something would disappear! “Whoa! There’s no need for such widespread destruction! All of you, behave yourselves!” Hearing my voice, Lucky immediately tossed the half-eaten Sawtooth Beast behind his back and looked around as if nothing had happened, though the blood all over his mouth was not very convincing!

“Do you guys know a place that’s suitable for us to level up?” I looked at the now silent forest around us. “The monster respawn rate here is indeed a bit slow!”

“Hehe! I’ve got it!” Bailing suddenly jumped up.

Eagle seemed to have thought of the same thing and said in surprise, “You don’t mean that place, do you?”

“Yes, that’s the one! How about it?” Bailing was grinning like she’d won the lottery!

I couldn’t help but chime in. “What place are you talking about? Why do you look so scared?”

Eagle explained, “We’re talking about Fairyland Mountain, not far from here. The monster levels there are just right, all around level four hundred seventy or eighty, with some level five hundred-plus bosses mixed in sometimes. It’s a pretty good place!”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

“But the way the monsters respawn there is a bit extreme!”

“Are there a lot of them?”

“Not that there are a lot, it’s just that it’s endless! The monsters here respawn a while after being cleared out, but over there, they respawn continuously based on regional density. As soon as you kill one, another one instantly spawns in its place. And even if you can hold your ground, monsters from the surrounding areas will gradually converge on your position until they overwhelm whoever enters! Bailing and I went there twice. The first time, we were scared off. The second time, we were both surrounded and killed!”

My interest was piqued. “What do the monsters’ attack patterns remind you of?”

“Remind me of?” Eagle didn’t follow.

Bailing, however, understood quickly. “They’re trying to stop Players from going up the mountain!”

“Correct! There must be something on that mountain. The way these monsters attack isn’t meant for people to level up; they’re clearly trying to drive intruders back!”

Eagle stroked his chin. “Now that you put it that way, it’s true! Their actions are clearly meant to keep people off the mountain! Maybe there’s really treasure up there!”

“Then what are we waiting for! Charge!” I had already leaped onto Nightshadow’s back, ready to rush towards the treasure mountain of my dreams. Jehovah, Jade Emperor, Tathagata Buddha, all the gods, please let it be Gold Coins. A treasure vault would be enough to pay back my debt! This feeling of being in debt is terrible!

“Let’s go!” While I was praying, Eagle and Bailing had already mounted Blazing Sun, though their riding posture was a bit strange. To be precise, Eagle was riding the horse, while Bailing was sitting on his right shoulder! We galloped wildly towards Fairyland Mountain. I followed behind, watching Bailing and Eagle the whole time. I really had to admire them! In this uneven forest, the horse could only run by leaping and bounding, yet they managed to maintain that position without falling off! But Eagle really was a tough guy! He didn’t even react with a person sitting on his shoulder. Although Bailing was petite, she was still a person!

My mind wandered as we quickly reached Fairyland Mountain. A river actually separated the forest from the mountain! Across the river was Fairyland Mountain. Up close, the mountain was quite large, though not very tall. It was perpetually shrouded in a faint purple mist that would occasionally reflect glimmers of light!

“The scenery is quite beautiful, isn’t it?” I joked to lighten the mood, as the two beside me already looked like they were about to turn and run at any moment!

“Danger lurks beneath the surface!” Bailing said sternly.

Eagle chimed in, “Don’t be deceived by appearances. Just like your Phoenix, the beauty here is just a facade to conceal its dangerous nature!”

“Is it necessary to be so dramatic! If you’re scared, just stay behind me!” I pointed forward. “Lucky! Clear the way!”

With a joyful dragon’s roar, Lucky charged forward. Splash! Lucky suddenly disappeared into the river. About five seconds later, a huge pillar of water shot up, carrying Lucky and a pile of miscellaneous monsters with it. It instantly started raining monsters from the sky!

“I didn’t think such a narrow river would be so deep!” I looked at the still-drenched Lucky. I had always judged the depth of rivers by instinct. Theoretically, a river less than twenty meters wide shouldn’t be more than three meters deep, but I never expected such a narrow river to be so deep!

“I told you not to be deceived by appearances! Last time, the two of us and our horse fell in. Luckily, we got out fast. That water is full of piranhas!”

“Is there a bridge nearby?”

“No! But there’s a place where it’s very narrow. Most Mount-type Magical Pets should be able to jump it!”

We dutifully followed Eagle and the others for a short distance and indeed found a place where the river narrowed. I estimated the width to be about five to eight meters. I patted Nightshadow. “Can you make the jump?”

Nightshadow didn’t answer, simply walking to the riverbank and, with a small leap, landing lightly on the other side. After landing, he even let out a snort! I didn’t dare offend this incredibly temperamental fellow now. If his Loyalty dropped and someone captured him, I’d cry myself to death!

“Eagle, your turn!”

Eagle directed Blazing Sun to back up a bit to get a running start, then charged toward the riverbank. Blazing Sun was a Unicorn, after all, so a distance like this was nothing to him. Even with two people on his back, he cleared the river with ease thanks to the momentum.

After crossing, Eagle pointed to the mountain path on the other side. “You can’t take any of the paths. As long as you step on one, it doesn’t matter if you’re a god or a superman, you’ll definitely end up back at the starting point! We spent half a day going in circles last time! But there is one good thing about the paths—they are all safe zones. The monsters never attack people on the roads!”

“It seems this place really is dangerous! You guys lead the way. I don’t think I can be of much help until we run into monsters!”

Chapter 7: The Dart

“Ah!”

With a cry of pain, Bailing and I were sent flying by an immense force. Nightshadow leaped forward in a couple of bounds to catch me, while Eagle agilely caught Bailing.

“What was that?” I looked around. “Did any of you see what attacked us?”

“No idea!” Eagle scanned the surroundings cautiously. “It was just a blur, and then you two went flying.”

“I think it was some kind of small animal!” Bailing steadied herself, leaning on Eagle, as she drew a uniquely shaped arrow from the quiver on her back. “I brushed against it just now. It was… fluffy!”

I looked around. The vast forest was unusually quiet, as if completely empty. “Rose Vine, come out and scout!” The roots of the surrounding trees loosened, and from beneath each trunk, a tentacle tipped with a crystal eye emerged. They coiled up the trees to about a person’s height, their crystal eyes swiveling to search for the target.

“See anything?” Eagle asked.

A larger tentacle rose up before us. An image suddenly appeared in the crystal orb at its tip. On the screen, a blurry black shadow leaped from one tree to another, so fast it was nearly invisible. The image in the orb was clearly a composite of continuous shots from different tentacles. I never thought this thing could be used as a camera!

As I was lost in thought, Bailing suddenly shouted, “Watch out! It’s coming!” The crystal orb showed the black shadow speeding towards us from behind. We could even see ourselves in the same frame now!

Forced to act, I drew my twin swords. “The three of us, back-to-back! Don’t leave any blind spots! Lucky, clear out the surrounding trees. Throw them far away so they don’t get in our way! Phantom, get off me and go find the target. See if you can control it! Xiao Feng, air support! Little Dragon Girl, set up a gravity Barrier around us! Spirit Herald Knights, spread out and search!”

Lucky reacted the fastest. The nearby trees were the first to suffer. With their roots severed by Rose Vine, Lucky easily uprooted them whole and tossed them down the mountain. The area quickly became a clearing.

“Over there!” A sharp-eyed Spirit Herald Knight spotted the black shadow. As he shouted, his javelin was already in the air, but it was useless. We didn’t really expect something as large as a javelin to hit it anyway.

“There!” This time it was Bailing who shouted. Whoosh—a volley of javelins flew past, but again, they hit nothing!

“Above!” I spotted it first this time. I had only meant to look up at Xiao Feng, but instead, I saw a black shadow suddenly diving down from the sky.

Xiao Feng swiftly beat her giant wings, and the powerful gust of wind instantly disrupted the shadow’s momentum. A white, fuzzy ball vaguely appeared within the black blur.

“Thousand Shadow Arrows!” Bailing, who had already drawn her powerful bow taut, suddenly released her hand. With the twang of the bowstring, a rain of arrows flew out. This was an Archer’s ultimate skill for suppressing high-speed opponents. Once used, it would release a shower of arrow apparitions, but only half of them were real. As for which were real and which were fake, that depended on your luck! Although Bailing’s arrow rain covered the black shadow, its Agility was clearly too high to be hit by such a dense barrage. The arrow rain missed!

I was at a loss. High-Agility opponents were my bane. I wasn’t afraid of high-HP or high-defense enemies, but I couldn’t stand fast ones! The black shadow flipped in mid-air and suddenly dove towards Bailing, apparently seeking revenge. Just as it was about to succeed, a tentacle from Rose Vine swept out. Its attack path blocked, it had to change its strategy. The shadow used the vine as a foothold and leaped away diagonally.

The lead Spirit Herald Knight suddenly pointed forward. “Steel Spear Iron Cage, 7, 23, fire!” Swish, swish, swish—ten steel spears flew out almost simultaneously. These spears were aimed at where the black shadow was about to land, essentially a predictive shot. The shadow, still in the air, clearly realized this. However, it seemed it could only change its posture in mid-air to dodge the arrow rain but couldn’t alter its trajectory.

Almost at the same instant it landed, ten long spears plunged into the ground, forming a circular iron cage that pinned the black shadow inside. Xiao Feng swiftly descended from the sky and landed on top of the prison, blocking the only exit.

“Heh heh! That’ll teach you to run!” I walked over to the spear cage and looked at the little creature inside.

It was a small white animal that looked a lot like a squirrel, but its fur was clearly much finer. Its extremely long, white, downy fur made it look like a snowball. The little guy had a huge tail, a big, fluffy tail almost larger than its body; I guessed its incredible agility had a lot to do with this massive appendage. I couldn’t find its ears for the longest time, until I finally spotted two super-cute little tufts of fur on top of its head. Those must be its ears! Lastly, and most distinctively, were its incredibly large eyes. A pair of watery blue eyes blinked, looking so moist they seemed on the verge of tears.

“Oh my!”

“Wow! It’s so cute!” Bailing shoved Eagle and me aside, her eyes sparkling as she looked at the little creature. “You’re so adorable, little one! How about this older sister adopts you?” The little creature leaped up and down inside the cage, clearly displeased. Bailing paid it no mind. “Husband, quick, private message your classmate to come over. I want to Capture a Magical Pet!”

“Oh!”

Just as Eagle was about to make the call, I stopped him. “No need to call anyone. My Auxiliary Profession is Breeder!”

Eagle looked at me and said, “That’s right! Your Main Profession is a Soul-Reaping Mage that advanced from Beast Tamer. It seems most Beast Tamers have Breeder as their Auxiliary Profession!”

“Of course! Beast Tamers rely on Magical Pets for combat. Without Breeder skills, wouldn’t they be at the mercy of others their whole lives?”

“That’s true!”

“You two, stop chattering over there! Get over here and help me catch it!” Bailing pushed Eagle aside and pulled me over. “Hurry! Hurry up!”

“Don’t be so impatient!” I started using the Capture skill on the little creature. It still seemed very unwilling, crashing against the iron spears of its cage with a clatter. The little thing wasn’t a very high-level Monster; I managed to subdue it after just a dozen or so attempts. But that was thanks to my Capture skill being at level seventeen. I heard that players with a Capture skill over level ten were as rare as a a phoenix feather. It made sense. Capturing high-level Magical Beasts like Lucky gave an absurd amount of experience, and back when I was capturing Nightshadow, it took me a whole afternoon. Who else is lucky enough to have a Magical Beast stand still and let you grind your skill on it?

“Here!” I handed over a white egg about the size of a small watermelon.

“Hee hee!” Bailing excitedly wiped her hands before taking the white Pet Egg. But her next words made me nearly choke on my own saliva! “How long does this thing take to hatch? Do I have to sit on it myself, or can someone else do it for me?”

“Huh?… Hahaha… ha… hahaha…! You’re killing me!” I squatted on the ground, one hand on the floor for support and the other clutching my stomach, laughing until I had no strength left. “Hearing you say that, I think I have a good idea of how precious Pet Eggs are! Hahaha… ha! Have you guys never seen a pet hatch before?”

Eagle walked over, looking confused. “Forget hatching, we’ve barely seen anyone with a pet. Seeing you with so many Magical Pets this morning scared us half to death! Right now on the market, a Magical Pet Egg with a grade between three hundred and four hundred (this refers to the pet’s grade, not level; the highest grade is one thousand) costs about thirty thousand Crystal Coins, and even then, it has a price but no supply! There are no players on the market with high-level Capture skills, and the ones sold by NPCs are all below grade one hundred, so Pet Eggs are incredibly rare.”

I found this incredible. Logically, even if they were rare, they shouldn’t be in such high demand. “Can’t all Monsters be Captured to become Magical Pets? Why are there so few?”

“You don’t know? When you Capture a Magical Pet, unless you beat it down to one or two health points, it will self-destruct the moment you try. As for those with too much health left, the success rate is abysmally low, and it can even cause them to go berserk, making them even harder to deal with! To get a Monster down to just one or two health points, you have to calculate how much damage you’re doing in battle, and you also have to factor in its health regeneration rate. It’s easier said than done. One wrong move and you either kill it or leave it with too much health! Hey? That’s right! Why didn’t that little guy just now go berserk or self-destruct?”

“I don’t know!” I looked at the egg. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a Monster self-destruct on me during capture. Could there be some hidden requirement you guys haven’t met that’s causing them to self-destruct?”

“We can discuss these problems later when we have time!” Bailing was still more concerned about the egg. “For now, just tell me how to hatch my baby!”

“Simple!” I gave a wicked grin. “Go get some straw and build a chicken nest. Then put the egg inside, sit on it yourself, and it’ll be done in just three hours!”

Bailing’s eyes darted, and she instantly leaped up and gave me a flying kick. “You’re messing with me! Spit it out!”

“I surrender! I surrender! You just have to cut your finger and drop a single drop of blood on it. The moment the blood touches the egg, it will hatch immediately!” This girl is nothing like Rose, I thought. She’s too sharp!

“Husband! Give me your hand!” Bailing put the egg on the ground, grabbed Eagle’s large hand, and drew her dagger, about to draw blood.

I hurriedly snatched the egg away. “What are you doing?”

“Dropping blood on it to hatch it, right?” Bailing looked at me, confused.

“Don’t you want it anymore? Whoever’s blood is used for hatching, it becomes their Magical Pet. If you use Eagle’s blood, the pet that hatches from this egg will be Eagle’s!”

“You should have said so earlier! Good thing I didn’t cut him!” Bailing patted her chest. Suddenly, she noticed the tip of her dagger. “Why is there blood on this? Husband, did I nick you just now?”

Crack! The egg in my arms actually cracked open. A little furball suddenly leaped out, bounced a few times on the ground, and then zipped up onto my shoulder, nuzzling its little head against my face. Only then did I notice my hand. “Ah! …You cut my hand!” I had taken off my Gauntlets earlier to use the Capture skill (you can’t wear Gauntlets when capturing), and I hadn’t had time to put them back on! When I snatched the egg just now, the sharp dagger had actually left a finger-length gash on the back of my hand! “Aargh…! What are you guys doing! How could I be so unlucky! I want a combat beast, not a lap dog! Ah! What a waste of a pet slot!”

Phantom said, “Master, this little thing’s grade is not low! It’s a grade-700 Aurora Fox, an even higher grade than me! This type of Magical Beast is renowned for its speed. In the entire World of ‘Zero’, it’s the fastest!”

“Really?” I quickly opened the little creature’s status screen: Level 0 Aurora Fox, Attack: 15-25, Defense: 10, Speed: 750, Health: 300, Mana: 50. Its attack, defense, and other stats were very low, even worse than many common Magical Beasts, but its speed was just absurd. It was more than twice as fast as Nightshadow! It really was as fast as lightning. If it attacked someone, they’d probably be dead before they even knew what hit them!

Bailing watched the little creature, swallowing dryly. “Waaaah… I want one too!…”

I quickly stopped her. “Don’t worry, there might be more than one here. I’ll help you catch another one. My Capture success rate is very high!”

“That’s more like it. I just wonder if there are any others on this mountain!”

“Didn’t you say the Monsters here spawn in groups and respawn indefinitely? If there’s one, there should be many!”

“That applies to common Monsters!” Eagle looked around and said, “But this little guy is obviously not a common Monster. The ones we’ve encountered before were all around grade five hundred; we’ve never seen anything at grade seven hundred!”

“Speaking of which, didn’t you say there were a lot of Monsters here? How come I’ve only seen this one so far? According to you, this whole mountain should be swarming with them, right?”

Bailing looked around for a moment and said, “I don’t know what’s going on. Logically, there should be a lot! Last time, we were forced to retreat by Monsters before we even got this high up!”

I looked up at Xiao Feng. “Fly higher and see where all the Monsters on the mountain have gone.”

“Okay!” Xiao Feng flapped her wings powerfully and soared into the blue sky. Soon, she was just a small black dot to us on the ground. She returned quickly. “On the other side of the mountain, a lot of Monsters are in a huge battle with some Players. It looks like a large group of people. The Monsters are swarming them like a tide!”

“No wonder! So we lucked out!” Eagle muttered.

Bailing leaped onto Eagle’s shoulder. “Let’s hurry up the mountain! Since someone is taking the heat for us, we should make it worth their while. Let’s go get the treasure!”

“Yeah! Let’s go!” I quickly jumped onto Nightshadow’s back. “Charge! Treasure, here I come!”

“Wait for us!” In my excitement, I had already charged up the mountain, leaving Eagle and Bailing far behind.

Chapter 8: The Secret Chamber’s Treasure Chest

“Strange! How is there nothing here?” We stood on the mountaintop, looking all around. There was a clearly man-made, square platform with a round stone standing in its center. “Could this be some kind of treasure?” I circled the stone for a long time but couldn’t figure out what was special about it.

Bailing drew Eagle’s Two-handed Sword. “Stand back! I’ll know if it is once I split it open!” With that, she swung the greatsword, which was comically out of proportion with her frame, and hacked down. I wanted to stop her but was a step too slow. Fortunately, aside from the sword being knocked back, there was no other damage. The stone’s hardness was quite ordinary; the blow left a sword mark of moderate depth. “Doesn’t seem like any special kind of stone!”

I went over for a closer look. “It certainly seems ordinary, but it makes no sense to build a huge platform on a mountaintop just to leave a big rock here! There must be something we’re missing.”

Bailing returned the sword to Eagle and pointed at the rock. “Smash it! It must be hollow inside!”

“Let me do it! The sky will be dark by the time you’re done breaking it!” I pulled them back a short distance. “This kind of heavy lifting is Lucky’s specialty. This guy is practically a living battering ram! Lucky! Split it open!”

Lucky slowly raised his massive tail and slammed the arrow-shaped tip down on the stone. With a loud boom, Lucky’s tail actually sank into the rock and got stuck. He struggled left and right, but it wouldn’t budge! Suddenly, Lucky heaved upwards, and with a buzz, the stone was lifted, but it was connected to a stone pillar underneath. The square pillar looked quite long; Lucky’s tail wasn’t long enough to pull it out completely.

“Hold it steady and don’t move!” I said to Lucky. “Rose Vine, get what’s underneath out for me.” After I spoke, Rose Vine didn’t appear at my feet but instead materialized at the edge of the platform.

Phantom’s voice appeared in my mind: “Master, Rose Vine says that this is a solid slab of rock underneath him, and he can’t get through!”

Eagle walked over. “What’s wrong?”

I pointed helplessly at the Rose Vine on the platform’s edge. “We’re standing on a solid, very deep piece of rock. My Rose Vine is blocked and can’t get through. It seems Lucky’s tail isn’t long enough to pull out such a long stone either.”

“Why don’t we smash it ourselves?”

Bailing rolled up her sleeves, ready to start smashing, but I pulled her back. “This kind of work is no problem! Little Dragon Girl, can you break it?”

“I’ll try!” Little Dragon Girl coiled around the pillar and, with a heave, there was a loud crack as the pillar shattered. Lucky seized the opportunity, twisted free from the broken section, and smashed the stone sphere on the ground to pieces. “Done.”

A half-meter-high stump of the stone pillar was still ‘planted’ in the ground, but there was no telling how deep it went. “Lucky, pull it out!”

Lucky grabbed the stone pillar with his front claws and began to pull upwards. This time, it went smoothly. The remaining section was only a little over two meters long and was pulled out with ease.

“This looks like the entrance to a tunnel!” The three of us gathered around the hole left by the pillar to take a look.

“I think so too!” Eagle agreed with me.

“Then let’s go down and see?” Bailing suggested.

I summoned the little creature I had captured earlier. “I’ll name you Dart, for now. Go down and check the situation inside, then come back and tell me.”

Bailing said reluctantly, “Why are you making him do such a dangerous job?”

I gestured at the opening. “This hole is smaller than a window. It’s a problem for a person to get in, let alone any of my pets. Besides, Dart is only Level 0. Even if he gets killed, he won’t lose a level and has infinite respawns. How convenient! Plus, it would be a waste not to use his speed for scouting!”

“That’s true!” Bailing had nothing to say to that. She could only hug Dart and say, “Be careful!”

Dart’s figure flickered and vanished. He was back in just ten seconds. Phantom began to act as our translator. “He says there’s just one very narrow room below. There’s a chest inside, but it’s bigger than the opening and can’t be brought up!”

“Is that so! Eagle, shall we go down?”

Eagle said with some difficulty, “I don’t think I can get down there! The opening seems too small! With this physique of mine…” He gestured to his muscles.

“I’ll go!” Bailing leaped and was gone before we could even try to stop her.

I patted Eagle’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m heading down right now!” I looked at the opening and tested it; it seemed about right. To be safe, I took off all my armor (I had cloth clothes on underneath, I’m not an exhibitionist), leaving only my Helmet on. I carefully braced myself against the walls on both sides, let go, and slid down. But my Helmet got stuck. I went down, but the Helmet was still hanging at the entrance!

I looked up to see Eagle’s face appear at the opening. “Purple Sun! Your helmet won’t fit. I’ll hold onto it for you for now!”

“Oh! Okay!”

I turned around to find Bailing standing behind me holding a candle. “You carry candles with you?”

Bailing handed me one and lit it. “There’s a pile of them on the ground over there. You should take them all, I don’t have a habit of carrying candles. I just happen to carry a tinderbox!” She paused, then continued, “So you’re a girl! I always thought you wore the mask because you were either very ugly or had a scar on your face! You’re so beautiful, why do you always cover your face?”

“Ugh! I’m a guy! I wear the mask precisely to stop you people from mistaking me for a woman!”

“Are you really a guy?” Bailing still seemed unconvinced.

“I guarantee I’m a genuine, bonafide male. If you don’t believe me, I’ll introduce you to my girlfriend later!”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary. I can see your Adam’s apple! But you’re just too beautiful, it’s enough to make anyone jealous! What kind of skincare products do you use?”

“Are you done yet?! Where’s the chest?” I asked the most important question, using it as an opportunity to change the subject.

Bailing took half a step to the side. “Behind me!”

The chest was right behind her, hidden by her a moment ago. I walked over and carefully stroked its surface. Although it looked quite old and worn, it was still very sturdy! I tried to wrench the padlock on the chest. “Can you pick locks?”

“I’m not a Thief. How would I know a skill like that?”

“Then I’ll just have to use my favorite method!”

“What method?” Bailing leaned in, curious to see how I would open the lock.

I drew my sword and wedged it into the seam of the chest. “Brute-force cracking!” I started prying at the lid. “It’s really tight!” I drew my other sword and handed it to Bailing. “Help me!”

Bailing quickly found a place to set down the candle and began to pry as well, but our combined strength still didn’t seem to be enough.

“I don’t think it’s working!” Bailing was panting from the effort. “Why don’t we try another way?”

“Another way? Right! Why didn’t I think of that!” I put my swords back in my inventory, then picked up the entire chest and placed it in my own item slots. Luckily, my other things were in my Bracelet. This chest filled my entire inventory and even maxed out my carrying capacity! “Grab hold of me!”

“What for?” Bailing asked, confused.

“To get you out!”

“No need, I can get out myself. But you, can you even climb up to that opening with a full carry weight?”

“Did I say I was going to climb?” I grabbed Bailing’s arm and twisted my Ring. In an instant, we appeared right above the opening. “See? We’re out!”

Seeing Bailing and me suddenly pop out, Eagle rushed over. “Who is this…? Where’s Purple Sun?” He then ran back to the opening, peered down, and started shouting my name.

“Stop shouting! I’m over here!” I took out the chest and started putting my armor back on. I still preferred the feeling of being fully covered!

Eagle stood there with his mouth agape, pointing at me and then at the hole, unable to process what was happening for a long time. Once I was fully dressed, I walked over and snapped him out of it. “Hey! Stop spacing out! Never seen a handsome guy before?”

He said in astonishment, “I don’t know about a handsome guy, but you’re definitely a beauty!”

“Instead of wasting time talking nonsense, you could come over here and deal with this lock!” I pointed at the red padlock fastened to the chest.

“It’s just a lock! Everyone, stand back! Watch me!” Eagle raised his sword to chop down on it. I quickly scrambled to the side to avoid any friendly fire. Clang! The sword struck the lock’s shackle accurately, but it didn’t cut through!

“Let’s just have Lucky do it!” I commanded Lucky to brute-force the old chest. Lucky didn’t struggle at all, taking the entire chest apart in just a few blows. “So, what do you think? My Lucky is pretty amazing, right?”

“Whoa! Treasure!” Bailing exclaimed, her eyes fixed on the items that had fallen out of the chest.

I walked over to take a look as well. What fell out was a bow, a milky-white sphere, a Ring, and a Bracelet. The bow was a powerful one made of metal. Its silvery-white body shimmered faintly and was inlaid with gems of various sizes, making it look more like a piece of art. “Bailing, you’re the only Archer here, so you take this bow.”

Bailing picked up the bow and caressed it. “Well, since you two can’t use it, I won’t refuse! I’ll take it.”

“What are its stats? Are they any good?”

Bailing looked at the bow’s stats and cried out in astonishment, “It’s a Divine Artifact! Its name is the Elemental Divine Bow, Attack Power 230-300. It can randomly imbue arrows with one or two types of magic!”

“Doesn’t that basically make you a Magic Archer?” I said with envy. “What amazing luck!”

“Alright! Let’s see what other treasures there are!” Bailing picked up the milky-white sphere and looked at it. “What’s this? Why doesn’t it have any stats?”

“How could it not have stats!” I took it for a look. “This is a Magical Pet egg, but I don’t know what’s inside! If you’re brave enough, you can hatch it and see for yourself. If it’s something good, you’ve hit the jackpot. If it’s trash, you’ll just have to accept your bad luck!”

“I’ll take that bet! You have a bunch of Magical Pets, so you wouldn’t understand how we pet-less people feel. Even Eagle has Blazing Sun, and I’m the only one without. I have to take this gamble, no matter what. Besides, how could something found with a Divine Artifact be trash!” With that, she cut her finger and dripped blood onto the egg. As a drop of crimson blood landed on the shell, the egg suddenly squirmed. Crack! A small, white horse’s head poked out, followed by its body. It even had wings!

“A Sky Horse!” Eagle recognized it. “It’s the king of the pegasi, the legendary Sky Horse!”

I moved closer for a better look. “It doesn’t look any different from a pegasus! How do you know it’s a Sky Horse?”

“A Sky Horse’s eyes are blue, while a pegasus’s are brown. I saw it on the forums. Someone apparently got one and posted about it.”

Bailing didn’t care what kind of horse it was; it was fun, and that was all that mattered. “Why is this little guy so small?” Bailing asked, cradling the Sky Horse in her palm.

I pointed at Lucky and said, “This guy wasn’t even as big as the Sky Horse when he was born! Just level him up a few times and he’ll be fine. Most Magical Pets’ sizes are fixed by Level 50. Ones like Lucky that never stop growing are probably rare!”

“That’s good, I was worried he’d always be a pocket-sized horse! But being small is fine too, he’s so cute! Little guy, from now on, your name is Crystal Eye, because your eyes are as blue as crystals!” The little horse hopped around in her hand, then leaped to the ground and started frolicking everywhere. It was truly an energetic creature!

While Bailing was playing with the little horse, I started examining the remaining items. First was the Ring. It was an ordinary-looking ring with a cross on it. The moment I picked it up, it burst into flames in my hand. “Ah!” I quickly dropped it. “What the hell is this thing?!”

Eagle cautiously approached it and tentatively touched it, but nothing happened. Growing bolder, he picked it up and looked at it, and still nothing. I stood to the side and asked, “What are its stats?” I wouldn’t dare touch it again, not for anything. It had actually burned a large patch of my skin black right through the all-metal Gauntlets of my Demonic Dragon Set. What on earth was that thing!

Eagle looked at it again and again, even slipping it on his finger and taking it off. “There’s nothing wrong with it! How did you make it catch fire just now?”

“Look at the stats. I bet there’s something about ‘justice’ or ‘light’ in there. I always have bad luck whenever I run into those things!” The pain in my hand was actually getting worse!

“You actually guessed right. Besides adding two points to Luck, this thing has only one attribute: Resist Evil!” After saying that, he actually started laughing.

I grumbled, “Tch! Resist Evil… I’m not evil, what’s it burning me for?!”

Bailing finally finished playing and skipped over. “You’re dressed all in black, your class belongs to the dark Faction, and you have a red name. If you’re not evil, am I?”

“I’m not arguing with you!” I went to check the Bracelet myself. “Haha! I’ve hit the jackpot!” I jumped for joy as soon as I saw the bracelet’s stats.

“What is it? Is it worth getting so excited over?” Bailing leaned in, wanting to see the stats.

I took off the old junk Bracelet on my wrist and slipped the new one on. “This one’s mine, the rest is all yours!”

“What is it?” Eagle, now wearing the ring, also walked over.

I pointed to the space above my head. “Can you still see my name?”

“It’s gone!” Bailing said calmly, but then she immediately realized what it meant. “Your red name shouldn’t allow you to hide your name. How come we can’t see it now?”

I showed them the Bracelet’s attribute panel: Shrouding Bracelet, Holy Spirit Equipment, +1 Luck, Nullifies all adverse effects of a player’s red name status (effects restored immediately upon removal), 5% chance to double an opponent’s Evil Value during PK (ineffective against players with zero or positive Evil Value).

“Bwahahahaha! I can finally enter a city! Hahahaha! I can go play in a city!”

Bailing and Eagle just stood there, staring dumbly at me as I went crazy. Bailing edged behind Eagle. “Did he get overexcited and snap?”

Eagle nodded. “Looks like it!”

I immediately leaped onto Nightshadow’s back. “Let’s go! To the city! I want to go to the city!”

The two of them beside me had expressions that screamed, ‘you’re insane.’ “The city isn’t going to grow legs and run away. What are you so worked up about?!”

“You could never understand how I feel!” I was so excited my speech was getting a little disjointed. “Do you know? I’ve only been inside a city twice since I started playing this game, and that was during the open beta when the huge city was completely empty! You could say that I haven’t set foot in a city since the official launch!”

“No way! You don’t even go into the city to buy potions?” Bailing asked curiously.

“At first, I was lost in the forest. Later, I came out only to fall into a cavern, where I got a quest that took over two months to finish. But after I got out, I’ve had a red name this whole time and didn’t dare enter a city. Then there was that avalanche that buried so many people, and I ended up being hunted. I couldn’t even go near a city after that!”

“Wow! You’ve really had it rough!” Bailing patted my shoulder comfortingly. “We’ll go back with you now. It’s perfect timing, we can swap out our equipment and sell off our old stuff!”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Just as I shouted, a voice suddenly cut in from the side. “None of you are going anywhere!”

Chapter 9: Fury

“Thinking of running? Just leave the items. We want the treasure, not your lives! We just fought our way up here through so many monsters. If you’re just going to swoop in and take the spoils, don’t blame me for being impolite!” The one who spoke was a man in a black mage robe. Although he was handsome and his words were reasonably polite, who knew if he was currently plotting how to take care of me and Eagle?

There were a lot of them, about three to five hundred people. Judging by their tattered clothes, this was the group of fools Xiao Feng had seen getting swarmed by monsters. Since I had originally planned to head into the city, I had already recalled Lucky, Little Dragon Girl, and the Spirit Herald Knights. Xiao Feng was now in her Bird of Paradise form, perched on my shoulder. I turned my head slightly toward her. “Was this the group from the foot of the mountain?”

“It’s them, but there were two or three thousand of them earlier!”

I had Eagle move closer and whispered, “They had two or three thousand people at the foot of the mountain earlier, and now there are only three to five hundred left. That means they must have gone through a fierce battle and their potions are likely almost depleted. The three of us, plus my minions, should be able to handle them.”

Eagle, however, said, “But they were the ones who tied up the monsters, which is how we got this equipment. I say we give them half. If they can accept that, we won’t have to fight them!”

“Alright!” I never expected this guy Eagle to be so upright. No wonder he chose to be a Paladin, a class that lives and dies by honor!

Eagle spoke to the mage, “We didn’t know you were on the mountain when we came up. Plus, we were the ones who opened the secret chamber. I don’t think you would have been able to open it yourselves. So how about this? We’ll give you half of the treasure, and we can consider it a joint effort. What do you say?”

The black-robed mage considered it, but a warrior beside him spoke up first. “How do we know how many items you got? What if you took six pieces and gave us one, telling us there were only two in total? Wouldn’t we be getting ripped off?”

The black-robed mage raised a hand to silence the warrior next to him. “We wouldn’t have been able to make it up here a moment ago, but the monster respawns suddenly stopped. I believe that’s because you opened the secret chamber. I trust your sincerity. Hand over half the treasure you obtained, and you can leave. We’ll call it a successful joint treasure hunt!”

Eagle took the ring off his own hand and then reached out to Bailing. Bailing just looked at him. “What are you doing?”

“Give me the bow!”

Bailing hugged the bow tightly and shook her head fiercely. “No way! Why should I? This is mine!”

Eagle’s voice was stern. “Lingling!”

“I won’t! I won’t!”

“We can’t be so unreasonable. They’ve already suffered heavy losses. This would be disgraceful!” Eagle was getting slightly angry.

Bailing looked at the expression in Eagle’s eyes and reluctantly handed over the divine bow. “Here!” She looked as if she might burst into tears at any moment, which was certainly uncomfortable to watch, but there wasn’t much I could do for the time being.

Eagle tossed the divine bow and the ring to the man in the black robe. “There were four items in total. Another bracelet was given to my friend, and the last one was a magical pet egg that has already bonded with its owner, so we can’t give it back to you!”

The man in black looked at the items in his hand and passed them to someone behind him. “My name is Defy, and I’m the Guild Master of the Black Moon Guild. Our guild has many branches, with a presence in most major cities. If you have time, brother, feel free to drop by for a visit. Since you’ve shown such integrity, let’s be friends! If your girlfriend likes this bow, she can take part in the auction next week. Our guild rules state that any treasures we find must be auctioned off and the profits shared equally, so I can’t just give it to you as a favor! However, if you do buy it, we can give you a ten percent discount on the final auction price.”

Eagle replied very politely, “We were the ones who took advantage of you; we are in the wrong this time. We really do want that bow, so I will be at the auction!”

“See you then!” Defy began to lead his men down the mountain, but not everyone followed him. A group of people remained behind. After walking a short distance, Defy noticed that some hadn’t followed and turned to look back. “Boss Long, what are you doing?”

A man in a blue mage robe emerged from the group. “Now that Black Moon’s business is finished, you can leave. Don’t forget to give us our share of the money when those two items are sold. The rest is none of your concern.”

Defy looked at Eagle and raised his voice. “Be careful, brother. This guy is bad news, but my guild has some dealings with them, so I can’t step in to help you. Take care of yourself!” With that, he led over a hundred men away, looking quite indignant.

The man called Boss Long walked to the front of the crowd and scanned me from head to toe. “That idiot Defy has a screw loose, but I’m different. We’re all smart people here, so let’s speak plainly. Brother in black, that set of yours must have come from the secret chamber just now, right? I don’t want too much. Let’s sell it. We’ll split it seventy-thirty. You get thirty, I get seventy! How’s that, am I generous or what? You get a thirty percent cut for doing absolutely nothing, practically picking it up for free! I’m just a kind person!”

If anyone could see my face right now, they would discover that it had turned green with rage. The moment I saw him stay behind, I knew he was after something. I had originally planned to give him the bracelet if he was insistent—he was just going to sell it anyway, so at worst I could borrow money from my dad to buy it back! And Bailing’s Sky Horse had already bonded with her, so not even the Jade Emperor himself could do anything about it! But I never expected this guy to have his eyes on my Demonic Dragon Set! Never mind its actual value as a full set of Divine Artifacts; the two and a half months I spent underground for it couldn’t be compared to this small mountain!

“Hahahaha!” I was so furious it went to my head, and I laughed out of sheer anger. “If you wanted to die, you should have just said so! I never said I wouldn’t help you!”

“Don’t get too cocky!” one of the grunts shouted, about to charge forward before Boss Long stopped him.

“Kid, you should learn to leave yourself some leeway when you speak, you know? Judging by your voice, you’re just a teenager. You still have a lot to learn about the way things work!” His gaze suddenly hardened. “Don’t think you can beat over two hundred of us just because you have good gear. If we all charge, how many of us can you even hurt? Be cooperative, and you’ll suffer less!”

I was now too angry to even know what to say. I had never been so insulted in my entire life! I couldn’t be bothered to waste any more words on him! I placed my hand near my shoulder, and Xiao Feng immediately hopped into my palm. I tossed her forcefully into the air. Using the momentum, Xiao Feng transformed into her combat form in mid-air. A fierce gust of wind sent the surrounding people staggering back several steps before they could regain their footing.

“A Phoenix!”

“A Phoenix!”

“A black Phoenix!”

The crowd suddenly descended into chaos. To these ordinary players who rarely even saw anyone with a pet, what did a Phoenix signify? Seeing their panicked state now, I realized that Eagle and Bailing’s initial reaction to Lucky had already shown their strong self-control. Some of the people in front of me were already fumbling for their Return Scrolls!

But a single sentence from Boss Long immediately quelled the chaos. “Everyone, quiet down! It’s just one Phoenix, and by the looks of it, it might not even be real! There are a lot of us. If we kill him, his magical pet will disappear automatically! Everybody, hold your positions.” Although the crowd was still restless, the situation was brought under control. However, Boss Long’s expression wasn’t looking too good. He knew he had run into a tough nut to crack this time!

Seeing his complicated expression, I suddenly found it rather amusing to mess with him. I wanted to see how he would react if I gave these people another surprise! I directed Nightshadow to take a few steps back, creating enough space. Extending my right hand, a massive black hole appeared at my side. A deafening dragon’s roar erupted from within, and the immense shockwave knocked over a whole group of people standing in front of the opening! That guy Lucky! I had only used Phantom to tell him to make his entrance a bit more intimidating; he didn’t need to be so dramatic! Wow! My ears were ringing a little!

While those people were staring blankly at the black hole, it suddenly flashed, and Lucky flew out at incredible speed, flying low to the ground. Skimming over the heads of a crowd of stupefied idiots, Lucky even snagged two unlucky bastards along the way. The two guys who were lifted into the air let out inhuman, ghastly wails. The people below were scared out of their wits by their companions’ screams, standing there with their legs trembling!

When people are extremely nervous or afraid, they tend to lose their ability to think clearly. That was obviously the case with the men in front of me now. The vast majority of them could no longer tell if they were in a game or in reality. Quite a few had actually fallen to their knees, crying their eyes out. “I don’t want to die! Spare me!”

Lucky couldn’t care less and casually tossed the two guys down like bombs into the crowd. The spectacular scene of blood splattering everywhere scared a whole group of people into tears. There were actually a few unfortunate girls in the group, but it seemed they had fainted when Lucky first appeared. That was for the best. I considered myself a gentleman, and scaring girls was not something I enjoyed! Now that they were unconscious, they wouldn’t have to see what was coming next.

If you’re going to put on a show, you have to go all the way. I raised my outstretched right hand to the sky. Little Dragon Girl’s figure suddenly appeared around me, then she circled me, spiraling up into the sky, growing to her normal size as she flew. Boss Long had completely lost control of the situation. The field below was a mess of people crying for their parents!

Next, I began to summon Rose Vines. The goal now was to scare them, preferably to scare a few to death! The ground in front of them began to churn, and countless massive vines shot up from below, grabbing people and pulling them into the earth. The crowd once again erupted into a chaotic mess of wailing and screaming.

Seeing Boss Long’s face turn purple with rage and fear still wasn’t satisfying enough. I commanded Phantom to fly out, this time finding a player who had just fainted and taking control of his body. The controlled guy suddenly jumped up, screaming, “Ah! I can’t take it anymore! A demon! It’s a demon!” Then he started screaming hysterically, clawing at his own face until he looked even scarier than a zombie. Although the controlled fool was unconscious and felt nothing of what was happening, the people around him didn’t see it that way. To them, they were watching a companion being literally scared out of his mind!

While the surrounding people were on the verge of a mental breakdown, I raised my left hand and fired the Dragon-Tendon Cable at Boss Long. I had gotten quite skilled with this thing over the past few days. A recent discovery was that the Dragon-Tendon Flying Cords weren’t always sharp enough to cut through steel; only by infusing them with mana could they slice like a blade. Normally, they were quite suitable as a rope! Now was the perfect time to use it as a lasso. It smoothly struck Boss Long’s neck. The cord suddenly tightened, and due to inertia, the arrowhead whipped around, wrapping twice around his neck.

I hitched my end of the cord to my saddle and then shook Eagle and Bailing awake. “Got the prey, time to scram! Let’s go, Nightshadow!” Nightshadow reared up and bolted forward. Boss Long, who had no idea what had just happened, was dragged behind my horse. To fight for a sliver of air, Boss Long instinctively gripped the cord around his neck with all his might, trying to relieve the pressure.

I couldn’t be bothered with whether he lived or died. I just commanded Nightshadow to gallop at full speed, and along the way, I specifically chose paths overgrown with thorny bushes. Wherever the road was uneven, that’s where I went. By the time we rushed down the mountain, the only thing left on this pitiful fellow was his system-enforced, infinite-durability underwear. His full set of equipment had long been torn to shreds! Just as I was enjoying the ride, Eagle and Bailing caught up from behind. Bailing looked at Boss Long being dragged behind me, on his last breath, and said, “Purple Sun, let him go! You’ve pretty much gotten your revenge!”

“Don’t you two try to persuade me. This is the first time in my life I’ve been provoked like this! No one has ever dared to speak to me that way. I can’t stand it. You can go back to the city and rest first. I’ll come find you when I’m done venting!” After speaking, I rode Nightshadow into the woods, leaving Eagle and the others far behind.

As I was riding, I suddenly felt my speed increase, and the flying cord in my hand automatically retracted. I looked back to see a flash of white light in the distance. That Boss Long had probably been dragged until his health ran out. On second thought, that was too easy for him. I should have paid more attention. For the final blow, I should have used Avenger. Taking out two of his levels at once would have been much better!

I opened my chat tool. “Eagle! Where are you guys? Come hang out with me in the city for a bit!”

“You’re done venting?”

“Nope! The guy got dragged to death!”

Bailing’s portrait suddenly squeezed into the frame. “You were so scary just now. I thought you were going to eat someone!”

“I’m not a monster! I was just seeing red. I didn’t do anything to you guys, did I?”

“No, not at all! Did you just say you wanted to go play in the city?”

“Yeah! I let off some steam, but I still feel really terrible. I’ve never been to a city before, so now is a good time to check one out. You have no idea, I have a best friend named Ah Wei, and that kid is always bragging to me about how fun this or that city is. He’s deliberately bullying me because I can’t enter one!”

“Okay! But which city do you want to go to?”

“Bright City!”

“Bright City? Isn’t that place not very big? The major cities are usually more fun!”

“I’m not going there to have fun. My girlfriend was arrested and thrown in prison. She’s being held in the Prison in Bright City, and I want you guys to help me rescue her!”

Eagle’s portrait squeezed back into the frame. “Brother! It’s not that I don’t want to help you, but the city guards are too high-level. A guy like me would get wiped out in one hit! If you want to attack a city to rescue someone, I don’t think it’s possible without thirty to fifty thousand people!”

“Did I say I wanted you to PK with NPCs?” It was still a bit hard to explain via private message. I opened the Star Pupil on my hand (the detection ring), directly pinpointed Eagle’s location, and then activated my Teleportation Ring, appearing right beside them and giving them a fright.

“You!!” Both Eagle and Bailing stared at me, dumbfounded, wondering how I had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“Enough with the ‘you, you, you’!” I flashed the Shrouding Bracelet on my wrist. “Remember? The bracelet from just now. This thing can cancel a Red Name. I need you to take it inside and give it to my girlfriend. As long as she wears it, she can walk right out of there, bold as brass!”

“That’s right!” Eagle took the bracelet. “Open your private message, let us see what your girlfriend looks like, and we’ll help you deliver it.”

“Wait, she’s not online right now. I’ll log off and give her a call.”

“Hurry up! We’ll wait for you!”

I quickly logged off to contact Rose. I dialed the phone I had given her, but surprisingly, it was her roommate who answered. “Where’s Rose? What is she doing?”

“She just put on her helmet to get in the game! I’ll call her for you.”

“No need, then. I was just calling to ask her to get in the game.”

“Oh! Okay, bye-bye!”

I hung up and quickly logged back on. I couldn’t have Rose log on, not see me, and then log off again! I appeared in the same spot. Eagle and Bailing were cuddling to one side, enjoying the草原 scenery! These two, were they deliberately tormenting me while Rose and I are separated! “Alright, stop with the sweet nothings and get over here.” I called them over while connecting to Rose on private message and turning on the video function.

Rose’s beautiful, smiling face appeared on the screen. I quickly took off my helmet and was about to speak when Rose spoke first. “Husband! You’re online? I was just… Ah… hahaha… haha! Wait a second… ah!” The screen shook violently, and the figures of several girls flashed by. Suddenly, a very pretty girl appeared in the frame. “Hey! You’re Purple Sun?”

I frowned. “Who are you?”

“Me? You don’t know me? Are you from some remote backwater? You don’t even know the vice-president of the second-largest guild in the entire game!”

“My apologies, then! I don’t even know the president of the number one guild, so I can’t say much about any others!”

“You!” The girl was fuming. “This is an ultimatum. I want both of you to join our Divine Maiden Alliance. You have thirty seconds. If you don’t join, Rose will… Hmph, hmph!” From off-screen, Rose’s screams suddenly cut through. “Don’t!… Ah… ah!… Stop!…”

“What in the world are you people doing?”

“Didn’t I just say? We want you to join our guild. I hear your equipment is quite good, and it seems your Luck is very high too!”

Chapter 10: An Accident

“Didn’t I tell you? We want you to join our Guild. I heard you have some nice equipment, and it seems your Luck is pretty high too!” The girl wore an expression that said she knew I couldn’t refuse. Suddenly, Rose rushed over and tackled the girl to the ground. The screen shook violently again, and Rose’s tear-streaked, messy-haired face appeared, though she was smiling brightly. “Husband, ignore her! I’d rather be tickled to death by them than give in! Ah…” Rose was pushed out of the frame again.

The first girl reappeared on the screen, though now her messy hair, strewn with a few pieces of straw, was hardly intimidating. “I’m telling you, if you don’t agree, we’re bringing out the heavy torture!”

“What in the world are you all doing?” I watched the group of girls run back and forth across the screen, completely unable to picture what the scene inside the cell was actually like. “Hey! How about a deal? I have a way to get all of you out. Why don’t you come out and we can talk face-to-face? You’re making my head spin!”

“Ah! …Pull her off! …Ah! …Hahahaha… Ah…” Before the girl could answer, she was tackled by Rose again. From the sounds of it, Rose was tormenting her once more! What a bunch of crazy girls! Cold sweat beaded on my forehead. If Rose stayed with them for too long, she’d be corrupted! I had to get her out quickly. I didn’t want my sweet little Angel to turn into a little she-devil! Unfortunately, it seemed she was already starting to show her devilish nature!

A few seconds later, Rose was pulled away again by a group of girls. The self-proclaimed Vice-President appeared for a third time, but now even her clothes were crooked. Beside me, Bailing quickly covered Eagle’s eyes. “Don’t look!”

I blushed and said, “Shouldn’t you fix your clothes first?”

“Huh? Oh!” The girl finally noticed how low her collar was open and hastily straightened her clothes. “Alright, let’s get down to business. You have a way to get us out?”

“Of course. I haven’t been idle all this time Rose has been inside. I’ve been working hard every day for my dear Honey’s early release!” I said with a completely serious expression.

“Then come to the cell door. We’ll talk in person!”

“Alright!” I first used Star Pupil to pinpoint Rose’s exact coordinates. Then I told Eagle and the others to follow me and activated my Teleportation Ring, teleporting directly to the prison entrance.

“Ah!” a girl cried out.

“Oof!” That was me.

The drawback of the Teleportation Ring had finally shown itself! The ring teleports to a set of coordinates, but if that location is already occupied, the ring will find the nearest available spot within a ten-meter radius of the target coordinates. If no suitable spot is found within that range, the teleportation fails. In this case, there was an obstacle right at my destination—and it was a person! My target was the main entrance outside the prison cell, but someone happened to be passing by at that exact moment. The ring chose the nearest suitable spot, which was right next to her, and I materialized right in her path. Walking along without a care, she was completely unprepared for my sudden appearance and slammed right into my chest. Caught off guard myself, I was knocked to the ground along with her!

“Ah! I’m so sorry, so sorry!” I apologized profusely.

“Don’t you have eyes?!” A girl following behind her hadn’t seen me appear suddenly. All she saw was me and the other person tangled on the floor, with me apologizing desperately. She naturally assumed that we had collided, one going in and one coming out. As she helped the girl up, she grumbled, “Honestly, what’s the rush? Trying to get reincarnated?”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I really didn’t do it on purpose! I wasn’t looking carefully!” I also hurried to help the girl on the ground. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine! I’m not made of glass. Snowy, don’t give him a hard time!” The girl used our support to stand up in one smooth motion. “What was that just now?”

“Huh?” Her question left me bewildered. I thought she had forgiven me when she said she was fine, but now she was suddenly asking what happened. What was going on? “I really didn’t do it intentionally!” I could only apologize again.

“I’m not asking if you did it on purpose. I’m asking how you appeared so suddenly. It didn’t look like you were logging back in at your last location. Logging in is a gradual appearance, but you just popped out of nowhere!” The girl looked me in the face as she asked. She looked familiar, like I had seen her somewhere before, but I couldn’t quite place her. In any case, she was very beautiful—or to be more precise, she had a certain air about her, a sense of superiority over everything. It was strange for a girl to give off such a feeling, but she just did.

“I was using a teleport. I had no idea I’d appear right in front of you, and then we collided.”

“A teleport?” She looked down in thought for a moment, then her head snapped up. “Are you a Formation Taoist, one of the Hidden Professions?”

“What Formation Taoist? I’m a Knight-class!” I gestured at my armor. “Do Taoists wear heavy armor?”

“My mistake! Then what was that just now…?”

In a hurry to see Rose, I directly showed her the attribute panel of my Teleportation Ring. “Understand now?”

She looked at the stats in astonishment. “How did you get this?”

“It was a system reward. I was the first Player in the China region to use a Teleportation Array!”

“They give out things like this?!” The girl behind her, the one called Snowy, was so shocked her mouth hung open.

“Are you selling this Ring?” the girl I had knocked down asked, looking as if she had made a momentous decision. “I’ll pay a high price!”

I quickly pulled my hand back. “Not for sale! What happened today was my fault, and I apologize, but I will never sell this Ring! Since you’re not hurt, I’ll be going now!” With that, I turned and walked into the Prison. The place was quite well-built. A hallway led from the entrance, with plastered walls and a floor paved with large, clean-looking bluestone slabs. It seemed Dad and the others hadn’t intended to make the prisons as grim as their real-life counterparts. At the end of the hallway were two rooms. The door on the left had a ‘Female’ sign, and the one on the right, naturally, a ‘Male’ sign. I walked toward the ‘Female’ room. The door was just a bamboo curtain, easily pushed aside. Behind the curtain was a single large room, divided into two sections by a pale blue barrier. I was in the smaller section; the other side was clearly much larger.

“Husband! I’m over here!” Rose’s sharp eyes spotted me first.

I hurried over to the edge of the barrier. Rose and a group of more than a dozen girls were looking at me from the other side. Seeing their messy hair and straw-covered clothes (the prison floor was covered in straw), it was clear they hadn’t ended their ‘battle’ after the communication had ended!

The girl who called herself the Vice-President walked over. “You’re pretty fast! It looked like you were still outside the city just now!”

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’m here to discuss a few things with Rose.” I said, then turned my gaze to Rose.

Rose walked up to the barrier and looked at me. “Husband, did you get rid of your red name?”

I raised my left hand and showed her the properties of my Shrouding Bracelet. “What do you think? In a little while, I’ll go out of the city and have a friend bring this to you. Once you put it on, you’ll be able to walk right out of here! By the way, where’s that friend of yours you mentioned, Crimson Briar? We can get her out too.”

The self-proclaimed Vice-President walked over, glanced at me, and said, “This young lady isn’t interested! In another twenty-some hours, my red name will be cleared anyway.”

“You’re Briar?” My mouth must have been wide enough to swallow an egg. “Weren’t you just trying to force us to—?”

“President!” Briar suddenly looked behind me. Knowing someone had entered, I turned to look as well.

Walking in was the very girl I had crashed into at the entrance. “It’s you?”

The girl who was called President saw me at the same time. “You’re Purple Sun?”

“How did you know?” I wondered how anyone could recognize me with my face covered. Besides, she didn’t seem to recognize me outside just now! The girl’s next words cleared up my confusion. “My name is Red Moon, President of the Divine Maiden Alliance. I had a rough idea it was you back at the entrance. Briar told me to come to the prison, saying Rose’s husband, Purple Sun, was on his way, so I rushed over!”

“Red Moon? You’re Red Moon! No wonder you looked so familiar! You didn’t come all this way just because I pushed you off that platform last time, did you? I really didn’t mean to do that. I panicked and my hand slipped!”

“What! That was you last time? Then how did you become Rose’s husband?” Red Moon looked at me in astonishment.

Now I was even more confused. “So you’re not here to settle the score for me pushing you off the platform?”

“No! I heard from Rose how amazing you are, so I wanted to recruit you into our Guild. When I heard you were coming today, I rushed right over! I always thought you and the person I met in the cavern were two different people who just had similar-sounding names!”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Phew! As long as you’re not here to settle scores, that’s good!”

“I may not be here to settle scores, but you have to support me by joining the Guild!” Red Moon seized the opportunity to pressure me.

“I’ll have to pass on that!” I shook my head quickly, but I found it a bit inconvenient with the Helmet on, so I took it off. It was just a bunch of girls here, so it shouldn’t cause any awkward problems. But it seemed I had underestimated my own looks. The moment I removed my Helmet, I heard a collective gasp from my surroundings.

Briar pulled a mirror out of nowhere, looked at her own reflection, then at my face, before huffing and slumping down in a corner. Snowy, who was following Red Moon, also took out a mirror, looked at herself, then at me, then back at herself, then at me again. Finally, she too wilted and went silent in a corner. Almost simultaneously, every girl in the room, except for Rose and Red Moon, went over to the wall and squatted in a row as if they had suffered a terrible blow.

I pointed at them and asked, “What’s wrong with them?”

Red Moon smiled. “It’s hard to explain. A woman’s thing! So, tell me why you won’t join our Divine Maiden Alliance? We’re the second-largest Guild in the China region. No other guild can compare to us, except for the number one, Fervor Alliance! And even they are only slightly bigger than us. If it came to a real fight, we might not lose. Besides, our two guilds are practically family, because the Boss of Fervor is my Big Bro! But don’t you worry, it won’t be long before I surpass him and become the number one Guild!”

“I’m not refusing because I look down on the Divine Maiden Alliance. In fact, it has nothing to do with how big your Guild is. I already have a Guild of my own!”

Red Moon cut me off before I could finish. “I know, that little Frost Rose thing, right? A two-person guild is like playing house. What’s so good about it? You should just join us, right?”

“It doesn’t matter how many people Frost Rose has. It’s our Guild, and it’s Rose’s and my Guild. We built it together, and we’ll stick with it to the end. Besides, there are other reasons I won’t join you. For one, I imagine the Divine Maiden Alliance is mostly female Players. A guy like me would find things even more inconvenient in there. Right now, people are already skeptical when I say I’m a man. If I joined your Divine Maiden Alliance, wouldn’t I be unable to argue my way out of it? Also, I don’t like being in the spotlight. You could say my personality is a bit on the gloomy side; I don’t like being in crowds! Guild affairs are also a hassle for me. If I joined, it would definitely interfere with my own plans, but if I didn’t participate, I’d feel bad for the other members. Given all that, it’s better if I just don’t join a guild!”

Red Moon’s little face flushed with anger, her hands clenched into fists as if ready to beat me up at any moment. But then she suddenly let out a breath. “Hmph! Fine! If you’re not willing, then forget it! The Divine Maiden Alliance may be desperate for talent, but we don’t need to chase after people, begging them to join! Snowy, let’s go!” Red Moon pulled the still-dazed Snowy along and stormed out in a huff.

Rose beckoned me over. I took a few steps closer, stopping right at the pale blue barrier. Seeing me like this, Rose couldn’t help but say, “What are you afraid of? Come on in!”

“Can you cross this?” I asked foolishly, pointing at the barrier.

“Of course! It only stops red-named players from leaving. It has no effect on other players!”

Hearing her words, I tentatively reached out a hand to touch it. Sure enough, apart from a faint blue shimmer, there was nothing there! It seemed the barrier was only meant to trap red names. The moment I stepped inside, Rose threw herself into my arms. “Is this that priceless armor set?”

I nodded. “To save you, I had no choice. I had to borrow money from Clark to cover the repair costs. I still owe him one hundred fifty thousand Crystal Coins!”

“Looking at this set, I think it’s totally worth it! What’s this on your arm? Why does it have such a big protrusion?”

“This?” I held my hand in front of me and pressed a spring, and the Blade Claws shot out. “This is what’s inside. Both arms have it. And this.” I pulled out the Dragon-Tendon Flying Cords. “This can be used as a rope, but it can also cut through metal like mud.”

“Wow! How did you get all this stuff?” Briar, who had been sitting off to the side, also came closer upon seeing my novel equipment.

“Are you feeling better? What was wrong with you all just now? What were you doing squatting by the wall?”

Briar said, “It’s all your fault, you pretty-boy! Why do you have to be so gorgeous? It’s one thing for us not to be able to compare to great beauties like the President and Rose, but we can’t even compare to you, a guy!”

“Is that all? Was it worth being depressed over for so long? It’s not like I decided what I look like. My Mom and Dad designed my character. If you’ve got a problem, go talk to them. Ask them why they designed me so perfectly! Or you could go talk to your own parents and ask if they cut corners when they designed you!”

“Get outta here! I’m not going to bicker with you! But speaking of which, what Level is this set of yours? It looks so unique, and its power doesn’t seem half-bad. Most importantly, it has so many gadgets! What’s this hole here for?”

“Where?”

“Here!” Briar pointed to the front of the protrusion on my forearm. “This hole. The three holes below it are for the Blade Claws, so what’s this one for?”

I raised my right arm and aimed at the side of the door. With my left hand, I pressed a button on my right arm. Swoosh! A crossbow bolt embedded itself deep into the wall next to the door. At the same time, a startled cry came from the doorway. “Whoa! Who was that? Are you trying to kill me?!” It was Bailing, with Eagle following behind her. They had just walked in as I fired the arrow. Bailing, who was in front, saw something flash past her and suddenly there was a crossbow bolt stuck in the wall right next to her ear.

“Sorry, so sorry! You’re here! I was just testing the crossbow!”

Bailing said angrily, “You scared me to death! If I had taken one more step, that arrow would have been lodged in my nose!”

“These two must be your new friends, right?” Rose asked, looking at Eagle and Bailing.

I quickly made the introductions for Rose. “This is Eagle, he’s a Paladin. And next to him is his girlfriend, Yougu Bailing, an Archer.” Then I turned to introduce them. “This is my girlfriend, Blood-Red Rose.”

“Hello!”

“Hello!”

After they exchanged greetings, I started to explain the details of the rescue plan. “The problem is simple.” I raised my left hand. “As long as you wear this bracelet, any red-named Player can pass through this barrier freely. In a bit, Eagle and I will go outside the city, and I’ll give this to him. He just needs to bring it back to Rose, and she can leave. With a few more trips, we can get Briar and the others out too! How about it? Simple, right?”

“Simple it may be, but don’t you know how dangerous that is?” Bailing asked.

“What’s so dangerous?” I asked, confused. “Isn’t it just a few trips between here and the city gate?”

Bailing pointed to the row of girls along the wall. “Quite a few people saw the stats of this bracelet just now, right?”

“Yes, they did. So what?” I still hadn’t caught on.

“Briar, they’re not all from your guild, are they?”

Briar’s voice instantly jumped an octave. “You think our Divine Maiden Alliance is a bandit’s den? What do you mean, ‘all from our guild’? Besides me and my three sisters over there, none of the others are. Watch what you say next time, you’ll make people think we’re all female bandits! Besides, even in a group PK, the Divine Maiden Alliance wouldn’t get so many people captured!”

Realizing she had poked a hornet’s nest, Bailing quickly apologized. “Sorry! I was just confirming. Since so many of them aren’t from your guild, can you guarantee that they’re trustworthy? What if one of them informs their friends outside that there’s a bracelet here that can clear red names? Don’t you think that would attract a large group of robbers?”

“This is inside the city! Robbery? Aren’t they afraid of getting caught?” I couldn’t imagine anyone would go to such lengths for a bracelet!

Before Bailing could answer, Briar cut in, “Are you an idiot? If this bracelet was auctioned off, it would be worth at least one million Crystal Coins. Eagle is alone. Even if he attacks first, he’ll only get one hundred Evil Value points. That’s just a day in jail, a trivial amount of time that no one would care about! The temptation of one million Crystal Coins is not something everyone can resist!”

“No way! This thing is worth that much?” I stared at the bracelet on my wrist and started to consider whether I should sell it to pay off my debt after rescuing Rose.

“Then what do we do?” Rose asked anxiously.

I suddenly had an idea. “Briar, isn’t the Divine Maiden Alliance the second-largest guild? And Red Moon said her brother is the boss of the number one guild, Fervor Alliance. In that case, can you ask your guild to send some people to provide an escort?”

Briar immediately shook her head so fast it was a blur. “You’re not a member of our guild, so we have no obligation to help you! Besides, you just offended our big boss. She should be sending people to rob you, so consider it a favor that she’s not!

“But don’t you and your friends need this to get out too?” I clung to my last shred of hope.

“Don’t even think about it! Our red names aren’t as bad as your girlfriend’s. We’ll be out in three to five days anyway. Getting out early would be great, but we don’t mind staying a couple more days! To be honest, if it were up to me, I would have already sent people to rob you. Since we’ve established a guild, we’ll be facing group PKs and even guild wars frequently in the future. With this thing, we wouldn’t have to worry about our names turning red! It’s a pity I met Rose before I saw the bracelet! Now that we’re such good friends, I can’t bring myself to do it! Sigh! Why am I so kindhearted?”

Seeing my predicament, Eagle said, “It’s alright, it’s just a little risk! If I can’t beat them, I can still run, right?”

“I guess we’ll have to try!” Bailing said. “The two of us will go together. If someone tries to rob us, we can split up. They won’t know who has the bracelet, so they’ll have to divide their forces. That will increase our chances of escaping!”

Chapter 11: Escape

The path from the prison to the city gate was quite safe. I figured as much; no one would be foolish enough to make a move at this time. Once outside the city limits, I immediately took off the Shrouding Bracelet and handed it to Eagle. “It’s all up to you guys now!”

“It’s fine. A dozen or two people are nothing to me. If there are more, I’ll just run!”

Bailing also chimed in, “And you’ve still got me, don’t you? You think I’m just here for show?”

“Alright, alright, hurry up and get back quickly! Oh, wait a second. Let me see if my idea will work.” I summoned all my Spirit Herald Knights and Magical Pets. “I wonder if the NPCs will attack my Magical Pets if I don’t enter the city! If they don’t, you’ll definitely be safe with them protecting you.”

Eagle replied directly, “Then you don’t need to test it. I guarantee they won’t attack, but it also won’t be any use!”

“What do you mean?”

“A friend of mine tried it! NPCs only attack red-named players. They completely ignore the magical pets of red-named players, unless the pet attacks an NPC directly—only then will it retaliate! But all magical pets are fundamentally unable to leave their player’s line of sight, which means your magical pets can only act where you can see them!”

“That’s impossible!” I said, puzzled. “Once, when I was tired from leveling up outside the City of the Lost, I had Lucky go back and buy potions on his own! Technically, the inside of the city isn’t within my line of sight, right? Another time, I had him go a long way away from me by himself to chop wood to make an ox-cart—that was when we opened the entrance to the lair. He ran off on his own then, too!”

“Your magical pet can buy potions?” Bailing asked in astonishment.

“Only Lucky can! My other magical pets don’t have storage space, so they can’t carry anything! But they should be able to fight outside my line of sight, though I can’t give them overly complex commands. They can understand simple instructions!”

“You definitely have something strange on you. I’ve never seen a magical pet with such high intelligence that can also leave its master to carry out missions!” Eagle nodded, agreeing there was something unusual going on.

“I’m not sure, then. Maybe Lucky and the others just happen to be special, or maybe you’ve just seen too few magical pets, and they were all low-level!” I mused over the possible reasons. “Whatever it is, at least they can help you charge in safely! Alright, you two should get going. Don’t delay; the longer you wait, the more enemies might gather!”

“Alright! We’re going in!” Eagle and Bailing charged toward the city together. I stayed behind and ordered the Spirit Herald Knights to follow and protect them. If the two of them split up, five knights would go with each. They were the overt force meant to be a diversion, and I believed that with five Level 850 monsters accompanying them, not many people would be able to get close!

Of course, Rose Vine couldn’t be left behind either. Hidden in the shadows, he was perfectly suited for this kind of protection work. However, my command to him was to follow and protect the Bracelet; if the Bracelet was in danger, he was to snatch it and bring it back. Phantom’s task was also crucial. He was to follow Eagle and use mental attacks to hinder anyone who tried to grab the item. The Dart’s mission was also to protect the Bracelet; if it were ever dropped, he could snatch it in an instant. Xiao Feng, Little Dragon Girl, and Lucky were too large, so they didn’t go.

I waited anxiously outside. Eagle had already charged through the city gates. If it weren’t for the two NPC guards at the gate staring at me with their bows drawn, ready to shoot me at any moment, I really would have wanted to rush in myself! Things weren’t any better for Eagle! Our guess had been spot-on; someone from that group of girls earlier had indeed informed people on the outside, and it was more than just one group! Soon after entering the city, Eagle and Bailing ran head-on into a crowd blocking their way. A group of people stood shoulder-to-shoulder across the wide road, completely sealing it off. Although passersby were angry to see them blocking the path, they were simply outnumbered, so other players had no choice but to take a detour!

Eagle glanced at the crowd; it was a chaotic mob of about a hundred people! Just as Eagle was deciding how to get around them, the leader of the Spirit Herald Knights suddenly spurred his horse forward, moving in front of Eagle. “We’ll charge first. You follow behind!” Without waiting for Eagle’s nod, the five Spirit Herald Knights quickly formed a V-formation, with the other knights protecting the flanks. “Spirit Herald Knights! Advance!” the lead knight commanded.

“Kill!” the ten Spirit Herald Knights roared in unison. “Death to those who stand in our way!”

Eagle, who was behind them, hadn’t expected these guys to charge out so arrogantly. After being with me for so long, they still hadn’t shed their old, arrogant habits. But this time, their arrogance was a blessing! The front line of the opposing group was composed of Knight and Warrior-class players, but most of them didn’t have mounts. This was mainly because obtaining a Magical Pet was a real headache! While they lacked mounts, it didn’t mean they were unaware of the power a Knight possessed on horseback.

The Spirit Herald Knights closed the distance between them in a flash. Following behind, Eagle tightened his grip on his sword, ready to cut down any enemy that broke through the knights’ defensive circle. But he had completely underestimated the brutal strength behind the Spirit Herald Knights’ arrogant demeanor. The first wave of knights to make contact with the enemy didn’t even draw their weapons; all they did was hold their war shields in front and charge. The initial impact felt like a bowling ball hitting its pins. Although the players blocking the way were specially chosen Berserkers of the Orc or Half-orc races, there was still a world of difference between the strength of a warhorse and a person. Even a Berserker couldn’t possibly withstand the impact of a fully accelerated warhorse, let alone one whose master was Level 850! Crash! The crowd was sent flying. The first row of knights charged forward without wasting a second, while the Spirit Herald Knights on the flanks, all wielding long spears, instantly killed anyone who dared to rush forward. Eagle, surrounded in the middle, felt as if a wall had formed around him. Every enemy that dared to approach was swiftly sent flying. It seemed the level gap was just too immense!

Standing alone outside the city, I could only watch my status screen as my red Evil Value kept jumping up. I didn’t know what the fight in the city was like, but just seeing my Evil Value shooting up like a tachometer gave me a pretty good idea!

The people besieging Eagle and Bailing had originally planned to use their front-line Berserkers to block Eagle, allowing the Mages and Archers in the back to surround and kill him. There was nothing wrong with this plan in theory, but the ten Spirit Herald Knights were an unexpected variable. The human wall, which should have been impregnable, formed by renowned Berserkers and forty-three high-level Knights, was smashed to pieces in an instant. The Mages and Archers in the back, who had been gleefully waiting to pick up easy kills, suddenly saw their own knights flying onto the roofs of nearby buildings. Before they could even figure out what was happening, they were trampled to death by the warhorses!

Among this group, the unluckiest was one of my enemies: Boss Long. I had just killed him outside the city, and when he revived, he heard a report from one of his underlings that someone had a bracelet that could clear a red name. So, he had brought his men here to set up an ambush, planning to get his hands on this treasure that he knew would sell for a high price. Who would have thought that his front-line melee classes would be taken down in a single charge, resulting in countless deaths and injuries among the Mages and Archers behind! The absolute worst part was that, in his eagerness to claim the glory, he had squeezed into the formation himself. And as luck would have it, he was standing right in the path of the knights’ charge. As a result, he became one of the first mages to be trampled to death.

A formation of over a hundred people wasn’t very deep. It took the Spirit Herald Knights a total of three seconds to charge to the other side. The path they left behind was now a corridor of death, littered with people lying scattered on the ground. Most of them were warriors; the Mages, with their meager health, basically died on contact! Although this charge looked devastating, not many people actually died. A true charge is more effective with hundreds of knights together. With only ten Spirit Herald Knights, there were countless injuries, but nearly all the deaths were Mages!

An idiot on the ground jumped up, preparing to rally the remaining people for a counterattack. But before he could even shout, he saw the leader of the Spirit Herald Knights across the way had already regrouped them. “You bunch of fools, how did you only take down so few people? Have you forgotten the code of the Spirit Herald Knights? Say it out loud!”

The remaining Spirit Herald Knights roared in unison. “Leave no blade of grass standing! Kill!” The ten Spirit Herald Knights actually charged back! The idiot on the ground was instantly dumbfounded. The Spirit Herald Knights plunged into the crowd and began to cut down the remaining people like they were chopping vegetables. Many of the onlookers who had been watching the commotion were also caught in the crossfire because they were standing too close to the ambushing group, but thankfully, the Spirit Herald Knights didn’t end up massacring the entire city!

Bailing sent me a private message, allowing me to “admire” the heroic deeds of my underlings. I nearly fell off Nightshadow’s back! “Tell them to get moving! If they cause any more trouble for me, they’ll be sorry!” I was about to faint. To have such a perverse habit, and that “leave no blade of grass standing” nonsense—I would have to give them some serious ideological education in the future!

“Let’s go! Your Boss said if you don’t get going, you’ll be in for it when you get back!” Bailing shouted to the Spirit Herald Knights. Swoosh! An arrow shot towards Bailing’s heart like a bolt of lightning. But a black shadow flashed before Bailing’s eyes at an even faster speed.

The Dart did a backflip and landed on Blazing Sun’s head, an arrow held sideways in his mouth. On a rooftop across the way, a masked man stood up. “That’s impossible!” He clearly couldn’t accept that The Dart had caught his arrow. He drew his bow to its fullest and fired another arrow at Bailing. The Dart leaped again, and the arrow reappeared in his mouth. “How is that possible!”

Bailing looked down at The Dart. “I never knew you were this strong! If I hadn’t been such a country bumpkin and accidentally cut Purple Sun’s hand back then, you’d be mine now!”

The man on the roof was clearly dealt a heavy blow. He drew his bow again and shot another arrow. Just as The Dart was about to jump, the arrow suddenly shimmered and split into three. “Multiple Shot!” Bailing was also an Archer, so of course she recognized this mid-tier Archer skill. The Dart leaped into the air, spun around, and landed with all three arrows clenched in his mouth.

“Are you kidding me! How is that possible?” The archer was obviously even more shaken; his voice had begun to tremble.

Eagle ignored the archer on the roof and urged the Spirit Herald Knights to hurry toward the prison! Standing outside the city, I finally breathed a sigh of relief when my Evil Value stopped increasing. “Those bastards! I leave for a moment and they’re already causing trouble for me!”

Just as Eagle and Bailing turned a corner, another group of people rushed out. They were obviously also here to intercept them, but it seemed they were a little too slow. The moment they appeared on the street, they found that Eagle’s group had already passed the spot they had intended to block. A Warrior leading the group bellowed, “Get them—” He couldn’t finish his sentence, because Bailing, who was riding on Eagle’s shoulders, turned around and shot an arrow that struck his helmet. The arrow stuck right between his eyebrows, but it didn’t pierce through. Bailing hadn’t intended to kill him; it wasn’t worth getting a red name over him. The shot was merely a warning, using her strength to tell him not to act rashly!

The road was truly a chaotic mix of friend and foe. On the way from the city gate to the prison, Eagle and Bailing were ambushed, chased, and blocked a total of fifteen times! Listening to Bailing count the ambushes they faced, I realized that people out there were truly desperate for equipment to the point of madness!

“Alright, we’re with Rose and on our way back!” Bailing told me.

Then, a private message from Rose came through as well. “We’re finally out! Husband, you have to take me out to clear my red name today! I don’t want to go back to jail!”

“Of course. After you clear your red name, I’ll go shopping in the city with you!”

“Aren’t you red-named?”

“Don’t you have that Shrouding Bracelet? Once you clear your red name, you won’t need it anymore. Then I, the number one red name in the world, can strut around the city as I please!”

“Ah! Husband, I can’t talk anymore, we’re being ambushed again!”

This time, Eagle was in a real bind, because in front of them was a huge group of young women! “Purple Sun! We’ve run into trouble!” My voice chat with Eagle had been open the whole time. “I think I’m going to need some air support from you!”

“What’s wrong?” I asked anxiously.

“See for yourself!” Eagle turned on the video chat and aimed the camera in front of him.

“Ah! Red Moon!”

“You know her?” Eagle asked, astonished.

“Duh! Get closer, I have something to say to her.” Eagle had no choice but to dismount and walk towards Red Moon with his hands up, signaling that he only wanted to talk. When he got close enough, I began to speak. “Red Moon, why must you do this?”

Red Moon still looked furious. “I’ll ask you one last time, will you join the Divine Maiden Alliance or not?”

I frowned. “Do you have to make such a big deal out of this? I’ll help you get your people out, but forget about joining the Divine Maiden Alliance. Don’t force me!”

“I also hope you don’t force me to force you. You should just join voluntarily!”

“What! What kind of logic is that?!”

“Good words!” Red Moon’s face was flushed with anger, as if I owed her a lot of money! I owed Clark so much money and even he didn’t act like this with me!

“Are you determined to fight me?” I was getting a little annoyed too. “It’s one thing for a girl to be a little willful, but don’t take it too far, okay!”

“So, you want me to kill Rose and your brother again and snatch the bracelet?” Hearing my words, Red Moon’s anger clearly flared up.

“It seems we can’t come to an agreement!” I cut off the communication directly. “Lucky!” I quickly leaped onto Lucky’s back. He was my only way into the city! Although my Demonic Dragon Wings also allowed me to fly, they had a height limit that was well within an archer’s range. Lucky’s flight ceiling was much higher than mine. I didn’t know if he could get out of archer range, but it was at least safer than flying myself!

While telling Lucky to head for the city from high up, I told Rose and the others to hold on for a while. Although the city was large, at Lucky’s flight speed, it was only a matter of a few dozen seconds, and most of that time was spent climbing! Diving from above the city toward the densely populated area, I spotted Rose and the others in a standoff with Red Moon from a great distance, thanks to Star Pupil’s help! As a Knight, Eagle had no idea how to deal with these young women. He couldn’t touch them, couldn’t push them! Bailing and Red Moon, on the other hand, had no such problems; between girls, there was no reason to go easy on each other. And then there were my Spirit Herald Knights. The intimidating presence of these guys was incredible. Everywhere they went, a wave of shrieks from the girls followed!

The Spirit Herald Knights’ attacks were completely merciless. They seemed to have no concept of chivalry, treating the girls with the exact same methods they had used on the Orc Berserkers earlier. How could these delicate young ladies withstand a group charge from fully armed Spirit Herald Knights? After one exchange, the air was instantly filled with cries of pain, and the situation took a dramatic turn. The crowd of onlookers who had been watching the spectacle quickly joined Red Moon’s Divine Maiden Alliance.

A scholar-like player, either lacking a sense of danger or just missing a screw, actually walked up to the leader of the Spirit Herald Knights, pointed at his nose, and asked, “Are you even a man? How can you bring yourself to attack so many delicate young ladies?” This fool clearly didn’t understand the Spirit Herald Knights’ identity; he had completely mistaken them for high-level players!

For a moment, the lead Spirit Herald Knight was also bewildered by this fearless idiot. He pondered whether this fellow was incredibly powerful, which was why he was completely ignoring him! Finally, unable to figure it out, he extended his knight’s spear and aimed it at the man, who was still pontificating his theories! Only when he saw the tip of the long spear pointed at his neck did he realize the danger and scream in terror. “What are you doing?”

With a gentle poke, the Spirit Herald Knight sent the idiot to his death in a flash of white light. “That scared me to death. I thought I’d run into the High Priest of the Holy Sanctuary!” the lead knight said with relief after seeing the man was dealt with.

Another Spirit Herald Knight rode up beside him. “He might have been a reserve priest of the Holy Sanctuary. His long-windedness was on par with the High Priest, but his strength was far inferior!”

“Alright, cut the crap!” The lead Spirit Herald Knight raised his long spear and bellowed, “The code of the Spirit Herald Knights!”

“Leave no blade of grass standing! Kill!” The surrounding crowd instantly scattered in a panic, everyone scrambling to get away.

“All of you, get back here!” Lucky and I practically crashed into the ground. The massive shockwave made everyone so unsteady they nearly stumbled and fell. Without time to explain, I quickly pulled Rose up, tossed two City of the Lost Town Portal scrolls to Eagle, and immediately recalled all my Magical Pets and Demon Servants except for Lucky. “Use these scrolls! We’ll meet on the other side!” I patted Lucky, signaling that he could take off. Red Moon, realizing my intention to escape, rushed forward. Seeing her charge, her band of female followers also rushed over. Lucky pushed off the ground with a powerful kick and spread his wings. Whoosh, whoosh, two powerful flaps of his massive membrane wings instantly kicked up a huge gust of wind. The wind not only lifted Lucky and us rapidly into the air but also sent the crowd of people charging at us tumbling away.

“We finally got away!” I said in relief, holding Rose. by the time the swarms of NPC guards arrived, we were already out of the archers’ range. Although the NPC archers still responsibly fired two volleys of arrows, the projectiles had lost all their momentum by the time they reached our altitude. While one would occasionally hit us, it was completely harmless!

“Help me! Sob… sob… sob…!”

Rose pushed away my misbehaving hands. “Did you hear something?”

“I think so, but the wind is too loud to hear clearly what it is!” I looked around, then down at the ground. “At this altitude, we wouldn’t be able to hear any sounds from down there. We must have misheard, or maybe it’s just the sound of the wind. I don’t think we’ve ever flown this high before! Hey Lucky! Lower our altitude a bit, not too fast, fly steady!”

“Sob… sob… sob… Help me… sob… sob… sob…!” The sound came again, and because we had descended and the wind noise had lessened, we heard it much more clearly.

“I think there really is a sound!” I looked around strangely, even activating Star Pupil’s telescope function, but I couldn’t see anything! “Weird! Is this place haunted?!”

Hearing this, Rose immediately threw herself into my arms, peeking out with just her small face as she looked around nervously. “It’s not really a ghost, is it? The sound I just heard seemed like a woman crying!”

“Then it must be a female ghost! Did you offend someone in the past, and now they’ve come back as a ghost to find you?” I said, trying to scare Rose.

“Help me… sob… sob… sob…!” The sound came a third time, and because we had descended quite a bit, it was extremely clear. The voice was indeed a woman crying, and with a tremor in it that made even my skin crawl!

“Ah!” Rose shrieked in fear and hid in my embrace, not daring to look up.

Chapter 12: The Kidnapping

“Pur…ple… Sun…! You… bastard…! Save… me… ah…!” The female ghost’s voice trembled terribly, but I could just barely make out what she was saying. Strange, how does she know my name? I don’t think I’ve ever wronged anyone! Is it necessary to haunt me even as a ghost? No, wait! This is a game! I know plenty of ghosts in the City of the Lost. What’s there to be afraid of?

“Husband! It sounds like that female ghost is looking for you!” Rose poked her little head out, peering around.

The voice came again. “You… hurry… up and… save me… ah… sob…”

“The voice sounds like it’s not far from us!” said Rose. “It seems to be below us!”

“Below?” I crawled to the edge of Lucky’s wing, grabbed one of the bone spurs on his body, and stuck my head out to look beneath him. The sight nearly scared me into falling off! “Red Moon? Hahahaha…! What are you doing here?”

“Hurry up and pull me up!”

“Weren’t you trying to kill me? Wouldn’t pulling you up be asking for a death wish? You should just use a Town Portal!”

Red Moon’s face turned pale, whether from anger or something else. “If… I… had one, do you think… I’d need you… to tell me!” Her voice was still trembling violently.

“Then you can’t get rough with me again, okay?”

Red Moon glanced down below and, as if greatly conflicted, nodded her head. I climbed back onto Lucky’s back. “Lucky, bring our stowaway up here! Give her the most passionate welcome, okay?”

“Understood!” Lucky used one foreclaw to grab Red Moon, who was standing on his other foreclaw, and tossed her into the sky. He then shot up swiftly to catch her on his back. Of course, the entire process was accompanied by Red Moon’s piercing scream, which echoed through the clouds. As I reached out to pull the still-airborne Red Moon onto Lucky’s back, the moment our hands touched, she instinctively threw her arms around me. Rose was right beside us, but I couldn’t push her away. “Hey! You can let go now! You’ve landed!”

It took a while before Red Moon finally lifted her head. Then, upon seeing me, she pushed me away as if she’d been electrocuted, a move that almost sent her tumbling off again. She managed to steady herself, but seeing her about to lunge over again, I quickly pulled Rose over and thrust her into her arms. “I’ll lend you my honey to hug, I don’t mind, really! So, have you discovered what a generous and good person I am?”

Rose understood my intention and wrinkled her little nose at me, even raising a fist as if to punch me. But these small gestures only made her seem all the more adorable! Rose noticed that Red Moon, who was clinging to her tightly, was shaking violently with her eyes shut. “Sister Red Moon, what’s wrong? Why are you trembling so much?”

Red Moon said with a quaver, “I have a fear of heights! When I was little, I was being naughty and fell from a second-floor balcony. I’ve had acrophobia ever since!”

“Well, well! So the great Sister Red Moon has something she’s afraid of after all! I thought you were afraid of nothing on heaven or earth!” I quipped from the side.

“Are you looking to die!” Red Moon shrieked, about to charge over and hit me.

I quickly dodged back. “Lucky! I suddenly feel like the weather today is perfect for sightseeing. Why don’t we go a little higher?”

“Don’t!” Red Moon screamed in a panic. But of course, Lucky wouldn’t heed her wishes. For Lucky, following my commands was all that mattered.

“Yes, Master. Ascending now!” Lucky flapped his wings forcefully a few times, instantly gaining a good deal of altitude.

Red Moon was so angry her face went white. “I… I’ll risk my life to make sure I don’t let you off!” With that, she actually let go of Rose and lunged at me.

Seeing her about to charge, I quickly shouted, “Lucky! Barrel roll!”

“Ah!” This time, it wasn’t just Red Moon screaming; even Rose shrieked in terror. Lucky was a living creature, and his barrel rolls were far more agile than a fighter jet’s. Seven or eight consecutive rolls left even me feeling a bit dizzy!

Rose and Red Moon were gone! “Purple Sun!” I heard Rose call my name and rushed over. It turned out Lucky was holding Rose in his mouth! I quickly pulled her up. “Are you okay?”

Rose punched me in vexation. “You’re the worst! Thank goodness Lucky caught me! Hey! Where’s Red Moon?”

“Lucky, where’s Red Moon?”

“I shook her off just now!”

“What? Why didn’t you catch her?” I asked in shock.

Lucky sounded aggrieved. “You told me to roll. I thought you wanted to shake her off, so I caught the mistress but not her!”

“Quick, dive down and see if we can still make it!”

“Okay! Hold on tight!” Lucky folded his wings, did a sharp U-turn, and plunged downwards.

On the ground, members of a small guild were surveying the terrain on a plain.

“Boss, this location is great. Ahead is Cloud Mist Mountain, a good place to level up. Behind is Dragon Valley, which is supposedly a great place for treasure hunting. To the left and right, there are system cities about one hundred and fifty kilometers away. This is definitely a prime spot to build our guild headquarters!”

Whoosh… The sound grew louder and louder.

“Number Two, are you hearing something?”

“Not at all! Number Three, did you hear anything?”

“I think I hear something.” Number Three followed the sound and looked up. “It’s above us!”

At Number Three’s shout, the entire guild looked up at the sky. They saw a small black dot falling at high speed, with a larger black dot seemingly plummeting at an even faster rate. The two dots gradually became clearer. The smaller one vaguely looked like a woman, while the one next to it was a colossal, menacing dragon. The sound was clearly from the dragon compressing the air as it plummeted, a noise much like a cannonball tearing through the air.

Just as the woman was about to be splattered into a bloody mess on the ground, the dragon finally caught up. The rapidly descending dragon abruptly spread its wings, but it still couldn’t completely negate its excessive speed. It slammed a foot down onto the ground, its body skimming just above the surface. The dragon’s immense impact and the blast of air from its wings easily knocked over everyone on the ground. But the dragon used this maneuver to take off again, just as the woman reached the same altitude, where she was caught in its open mouth. Using the force from its ground push and the speed gained from the descent, the dragon soared back into the sky, disappearing into the clouds as if nothing had ever happened.

About thirty minutes later…

“Boss, I think I just saw a dragon fly by! Am I seeing things?”

“I think I saw it too!” Number Three suddenly pointed at the ground. “Ah! Footprints, the footprints from where the dragon landed! It wasn’t a dream!”

“Number Three, maybe we should find another place to build our city?” the Boss said suddenly.

Number Two immediately chimed in, “Yeah! We should definitely find another place!”

Number Three nodded vigorously. “Right! I agree with you both. I think I saw that woman get eaten by the dragon. If that dragon keeps coming here to look for women to eat, our guild will never be able to recruit any female players! I don’t want to become the abbot of a monastery!”

And so, a large group of people scurried away in a panic.

I sat on Lucky’s back, looking at the motionless Red Moon lying there, and said, “Thank goodness we made it in time!”

“That scared me to death!” Rose said, patting her chest. “That was almost the end! What’s wrong with her?”

“She’s probably in shock!” I looked at Red Moon’s face. “She should wake up soon!”

Rose said worriedly, “Doesn’t she have a fear of heights? Could throwing her down like that cause any lasting trauma? If she has a weak heart, couldn’t that have been fatal?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I actually asked my dad about this specifically.”

“What did Dad say?” Rose blurted out in her haste.

“Well now! In such a hurry, are we? Already calling him Dad! Good! Good! Just keep calling him that from now on, don’t change it!”

Rose rained a flurry of soft punches on my head. “Be serious!”

“Our dad said,” I deliberately took advantage of the situation, earning another round of beatings, “Dad said the game helmet can completely sever the connection between the brain and the body, including the autonomic nervous system that controls heartbeat and breathing. The design took into account how realistic the game is and that some scenes could be very intense. To prevent people with poor physical conditions from suffering adverse consequences from overstimulation, all neural controls are cut off during gameplay and temporarily managed by the computer. Control is only released after you log out. So there’s no need to worry about someone with a bad heart dying from shock!”

“Even so, I’m still worried!” Rose lifted Red Moon’s upper body. “She’s still unconscious. I’m afraid she’ll be left with some kind of psychological scar! Isn’t that how she got her fear of heights in the first place?”

“That, I don’t know!” I called out to Lucky, “Find a clean body of water and land!”

“Understood!” Lucky swiftly dove towards a huge lake.

We carried Red Moon to the lakeside. Rose got some water and wiped her face, but it didn’t seem to have any effect! “Let me do it!” I hoisted Red Moon up and threw her into the water, causing Rose to scream from behind me. “What are you doing!”

“Ah! You bastard!” My method was still the most effective. Red Moon shot out of the water as if electrocuted. “You… ah…” Red Moon fell back into the water.

“Serves you right! That’s what you get for causing me trouble!” I jumped ashore and said to Rose, “Should we leave first?”

Rose looked at the drenched and miserable Red Moon climbing out of the water. “We should take her with us! There aren’t any cities nearby, and she doesn’t have a Return Scroll. She’ll get lost!”

“That’d be for the best!” I said angrily. “Then I’d never have to see her again!”

“Please?” Rose whined, pulling my arm and swinging it back and forth until my resolve started to melt again.

“Alright, alright! My Rose is the kindest!” I turned and adopted a different tone with Red Moon. “Get up here!”

Red Moon looked at Lucky fearfully and shook her head. “I’m not going up in the sky again!”

“So much trouble!” I summoned Nightshadow. “You can ride the horse!”

“But I don’t know how!” Red Moon started wailing again.

“What a pain!” With another wave of my hand, “Phantom! Possess her.” I said to Red Moon, “Relax your body, don’t resist!”

Controlled by Phantom, Red Moon instantly flipped nimbly onto Nightshadow’s back. She actually seemed quite interested in riding a horse and stopped arguing with me, instead curiously looking and patting all over Nightshadow. Nightshadow was probably getting annoyed. “Can you stop touching me!”

“You can talk?” Like a little girl, Red Moon leaned close to Nightshadow’s ear and started playing with it!

Nightshadow looked exasperatedly at me, sitting on Lucky’s back. “Hey! Where did you pick up this thing on my back?”

I glanced at Red Moon. “Found her.”

Nightshadow suddenly spoke in a very strange tone. “Is it okay if she gets broken?”

“Broken?” I looked quizzically at the still-oblivious Red Moon. “Shouldn’t be a problem, I guess?”

“Where are we headed?” Nightshadow looked at me.

“The City of the Lost.”

“I’m going on ahead!” With that, Nightshadow shot off like a whirlwind, Red Moon’s distant screams trailing behind him.

Rose hadn’t heard Nightshadow’s words. Seeing him suddenly take off, she leaned over and asked, “Where did Nightshadow go?”

“Oh! He thought we were too slow and went on ahead!”

“Oh!” Rose snuggled back into my arms and said no more.

I patted Lucky. “Let’s fly. We’re too slow!”

“Alright!” Lucky spread his wings and took off. Although we were much faster in the air than on the ground, we still couldn’t catch up to Nightshadow. We could only see a black dot in the distance, trailing a cloud of dust as it vanished from our sight.

By the time we arrived over the City of the Lost, not only Nightshadow but also Eagle and Bailing had arrived. We had agreed to meet at the city gates, and I saw them from afar. Bailing waved at us to show they were there. Eagle was facing a wall, and I couldn’t tell what he was doing. Red Moon was leaning over the bridge railing, and I couldn’t tell what she was doing either. Nightshadow was pacing back and forth nearby, looking very excited.

Lucky dove swiftly and landed on the edge of the Mass Grave Plain, on this side of the long bridge outside the city. The broad bridge was fine for people, but a bit narrow for Lucky. Nightshadow proactively ran over to pick us up. Riding on his back, we quickly reached the other side of the bridge. Only now could I see clearly: Eagle was studying the carvings on the wall, and as for Red Moon, she was clutching the bridge railing and vomiting!

I looked at the smug-looking Nightshadow. “What happened here?”

“Nothing, just went a little too fast. She seems a bit dizzy!”

But Red Moon lifted her head and pointed a weak finger at me. “You big bastard, even your horse has the same damn personality! Neither of you is any good! Bleargh…!” She started throwing up again mid-sentence.

Rose couldn’t bear to watch and quickly ran over to help by patting her back. “Husband! Can’t you just give in a little? You have to be gentle with girls!”

“I’m always very gentle with girls!” I deliberately feigned ignorance. “Am I not gentle with you? Or would you prefer me to be a bit rougher?”

Rose didn’t say anything, but Bailing gave me a light smack. “Hey! Don’t be a bad influence on my husband!” she said, glancing at Eagle.

Eagle quickly shook his head and waved his hands. “I wouldn’t dare! Everything is as my lovely wife commands!”

Just as we were talking, a small, palm-sized angel popped up next to Red Moon, a video camera perched on its shoulder. No surprise, this was the video chat tool in Zero. Everyone had chat functions upon entering the game, but not everyone could use video chat. Both parties had to purchase a chat tool (like the little angel with the camera) to use it. As for the chat tool itself, you could choose one based on your personal preference. Mine was a bee holding a tiny camera.

A voice came from Red Moon’s camera. “Sister Red Moon! We can finally see you! Where are you? What happened? You suddenly disappeared and scared us to death! At first, we thought you were blown far away, but we searched the area for ages and couldn’t find you. Later, we tried to contact you via private message, but the system said you were in a comatose state and couldn’t answer. We kept calling you, but then the system kept saying you were in an extreme state and couldn’t answer, and just a few minutes ago it changed to you being in extremely poor physical condition and unable to answer! What on earth happened to you?”

Red Moon glanced over at me with an exceptionally strange smile, and I instantly knew I was in for it! Red Moon suddenly started crying, tears streaming down her face as she sobbed into the camera. “Quick, turn on the recording and show this to my brother. Sob! I’ve been kidnapped! That great villain, Purple Sun, kidnapped me, and I can’t escape! He brought me to this strange place.” As she spoke, she aimed the camera at the lake, which was still bubbling with green gas. “See! Sob! He’s so scary! ~~~ Ah! He’s coming again! No, no! I wasn’t contacting anyone!” Rose was on the other side, shouting and shaking the camera with her other hand. I knew what she was up to.

A chorus of shrill screams from a large group of girls came from the camera. “Purple Sun! We advise you to be smart and let our Sister Red Moon go, or you’ll regret it!”

I rushed over to snatch the camera and stop her from ruining my reputation any further, but Red Moon, seeing me approach, deliberately angled the camera to capture me, making it look like we were fighting over it. Now I was completely framed. Red Moon finally took the camera from the little angel’s shoulder, threw it on the ground, stomped on it, and kicked it into the lake. Then, she switched to voice chat and intentionally turned on the broadcast mode to spite me. “Sob, sob~ He smashed my favorite chat-bot! You have to come save me! Ah! Don’t… no… don’t pull my clothes…”

Great! Now I was a perverted sex fiend! Red Moon cut off the communication and chose to block all incoming chat requests. She looked at me with a provocative glint in her eyes. “That’ll teach you to defy me! Hmph!”

“You’re determined to make me a sinner for the ages, aren’t you?” I stared at her, my face cold as ice.

“No one has ever dared to refuse my requests. You’re the first, and you’ll be the last! As long as I don’t show up, you’ll forever be a perverted sex fiend. Even if you clear your name, it’s useless. With my Divine Maiden Alliance and the Fervor Alliance around, you can forget about ever showing your face in public again!” Red Moon was dead set on making me public enemy number one.

I turned back to Rose. “You still have your research today, right?”

Rose nodded.

I said, “You should go then. I won’t see you off. Ask Dad to send a car to pick you up. Be careful on the way.”

“Husband!…” Rose seemed to want to persuade me but knew that I was furious and wouldn’t listen. She nodded obediently, handed the bracelet to me, and logged off.

I looked at Eagle and Bailing. “Thanks for today. It doesn’t seem like a good day for thanks, so we’ll talk another time! Behind the city is a Gorge with lots of monsters and decent levels. If you go deeper, you’ll find plenty of high-level monsters. It should be a good place for you to level up. I won’t be joining you! Oh! Be careful to avoid monsters like the Black Warriors. They come in swarms, and you won’t be able to handle them!”

Knowing I was furious, Eagle and Bailing quickly made themselves scarce.

Everyone was gone. It was just me and Red Moon. I slowly approached her, taking off my armor. Red Moon stared at me, backing away. “You… What are you doing…?”

I continued to close in on her, my voice menacing. “You’ve already announced to the world that I’m the number one pervert and lecher. It’s a reputation I can’t get rid of now! Instead of bearing the blame for something I didn’t do, I might as well make it a reality. After all, whether I do it or not, I’m already a lecher. I might as well get some enjoyment out of it!”

Red Moon was so scared she kept backing away, her voice trembling uncontrollably. “You… You… stay away!… I… I’m the President of the Divine Maiden Alliance!… Our guild has a lot of members!”

“The President of the Divine Maiden Alliance? Perfect. I’ve always wondered what the difference is between a ‘divine maiden’ and an ordinary woman!”

“Don’t… ah…!”

Chapter 13: The Tail

“Don’t… Ah…!” Red Moon shrieked in terror, backing away.

Of course, I pretended not to hear a thing. “Go on, scream! This is the Ultimate Evil Zone. No one comes here unless they’re a super red-named player! So, even if you scream your lungs out, no one will come to save you! And even if someone did show up, they’d be an Archdemon just like me. Good people don’t come to places like this! Hahahaha!” I laughed menacingly on purpose to make my little speech more believable. My plan was to lunge at her, at which point she would use the female anti-harassment protection feature to teleport to a nearby city. That way, I could get rid of this annoying pest without making her think I was letting her go on purpose! Hahahaha! I’m such a genius! “Little darling, you’d better not resist!” I closed in on her menacingly.

I started tearing at her long robe, but even though she struggled and pounded on me, she didn’t use the protection feature. She didn’t teleport me away, nor did she teleport herself. What’s more, she’d actually given up a Mage’s most powerful spells to hit me with her little fists! At this point, I was starting to suspect she was intentionally playing along with my act!

This wasn’t working! Time for my ultimate move! I turned her face to line up with mine, then slowly, slowly brought my face closer… Twenty seconds later, I froze. As much as I had tried to slow down, there was only so much distance between our faces. I couldn’t drag out the process indefinitely. Right now, our lips were no more than a millimeter apart. But the thing that was really making my head spin was her reaction. At first, she’d been pounding on me nonstop. Then, realizing my intention, she stared at me tensely, her eyes wide and fluttering! Finally, right at this moment, she actually closed her eyes! Should I just go for it and kiss her, or should I let her go and deal a blow to her pride!

Ten seconds later, I made my decision. I loosened my grip slightly, and Red Moon toppled backward. The sudden pain in her rear made her eyes fly open. Seeing me off to the side, putting on my armor, she actually ran over. “What are you doing?”

“I suddenly realized you’re not that attractive, so I’ve decided to abandon my original plans for you!”

“But… but…” Red Moon stammered for a long time but couldn’t get a full sentence out.

“There’s no ‘but’ about it. Are you dissatisfied that I didn’t have my way with you right here and now?” I had already finished putting on my armor and vaulted onto my horse’s back. “I’ll admit I was in the wrong this time. I won’t hold any of your actions against you. You’re free to go!”

I spurred Nightshadow to gallop out of the city. Suddenly, I felt something tighten behind me, and something landed on the horse behind me. I turned my head and almost fell off. “How did you get up here?”

“I jumped!” Red Moon looked at me, her face all smiles.

“I’m begging you, okay? Milady, please just let me go!” I took off my bracelet and handed it to her. “I’ll never go near a proper system-run city again. Here, take this too. Can’t you just let me play my game in peace!”

“No!” Red Moon revealed a wicked smile. “I’m going to follow you every day. From now on, you’re the super-perverted demon who kidnapped me. The moment you’re spotted by other players, you’ll be swarmed and attacked! Those who offend me never meet a good end, and you’re no exception!”

“You’re absolutely determined to follow me, aren’t you?” I deliberately lowered my voice, trying to make it sound more threatening.

“Yes!” Red Moon nodded firmly.

“Lucky!” I summoned Lucky. I refuse to believe you’d dare to follow me through a few more aerial stunt shows!

“Where are we going?” To my surprise, Red Moon climbed onto Lucky’s back first. “I’ll keep you company!”

She was already on. If I backed down now, it would just make me look even more pathetic! Steeling myself, I jumped onto Lucky’s back and unsummoned Nightshadow. “Take off. We need to go higher!”

“As you command!” Lucky flapped his massive wings, carrying us into the sky.

First, we climbed to a sufficient altitude—a place to truly test the limits of one’s fear of heights! I kept going up until even my own legs started to feel a bit weak. Only then did I order Lucky to begin his aerobatics. The first maneuver was, of course, the tried-and-true barrel roll. This time, we did ‘n’ number of spins in one go. By the time we stopped, even Lucky was a little disoriented. But Red Moon just clung to Lucky’s spinal spikes from behind and wouldn’t let go. This wasn’t going to scare her! Right, I have a crueler trick! I’ll throw her off, then catch her right before she hits the ground. That’s terrifying and cruel enough, right? Hehehehe!

While fantasizing about Red Moon’s terrified screams, I walked over to her. She looked up at me. “What are you going to do?”

I said nothing. I just reached out, pried her hands loose, picked her up, and walked to the edge of Lucky’s back. “Helping you experience the powerful charm of gravity!” With that, I forcefully threw her off. But! The wretched girl actually grabbed onto the long spikes on my armor’s shoulders! As my center of gravity shifted, I ended up taking myself down with her as I threw her! Dammit! How did I end up with such a troublesome person!

“Aah! Lucky! Help me…!” I can’t believe I’m falling with this wretched girl! I’d made Lucky fly extra high just to scare her, and now it’s come back to bite me! I looked at Lucky, hoping he had noticed the two of us falling off or had heard my final cry for help. But when I saw him maintaining his altitude and flight path, I knew he hadn’t noticed at all whether one person or two had just fallen off his back!

No, I have to think of something. I’ll be dead for sure if I fall like this; I have to find a way! Summon my other flying Magical Pets? That probably wouldn’t work. They all need to receive commands to act, but in my current state, I’d be out of their hearing range before I could even issue a command after summoning them! Wait, the Demonic Dragon Wings! I have a pair of wings on my back, don’t I! Although my Demonic Dragon Wings are useless at this altitude, they should still be able to control my balance, no problem. At least I wouldn’t have to fall while tumbling head over heels!

I don’t know if it was my bad luck or because Red Moon is a jinx, but I suddenly realized she was clinging desperately to my back. My Demonic Dragon Wings were pinned between us, completely unable to open! Red Moon had completely lost her senses. She was now just instinctively grabbing onto anything she could, and right now, that thing was me!

I suddenly understood why you have to knock a drowning person out first when rescuing them! If you don’t, you end up in a situation just like this! Driven by survival instinct, the victim will instinctively grab onto things. Now, the two of us are tangled together, meaning not only will she die, but I’ll be going down with her! Wait, why didn’t I think of that! I just have to knock her out! But a new problem arose: how am I supposed to knock her out? She’s clinging to my back. My hands can reach her head, but how am I supposed to get any force behind a blow from this angle?

A tool! The thought flashed through my mind. Hit her with something! But I didn’t have anything suitable on me! Finally, out of desperation, I unfastened the sword at my waist, sheath and all. Turning it around, I gripped the scabbard. The pommel should make a decent hammer! But how much force should I use? I may not like her, but she’s still a girl! What am I supposed to do! As I was pondering this, I suddenly saw the ground rushing up to meet me. Actually, it wasn’t the ground rushing up, but me plummeting at high speed into Mother Earth’s embrace! No time to hesitate. Full force it is! Hehe! A big lump on your head is better than both of us kicking the bucket!

I brought it down hard. I clearly heard a thump. I hope I didn’t knock her stupid! After the blow, I immediately knew I’d succeeded, because Red Moon’s shrill screams instantly stopped. Watching the ground get closer and closer, I struggled to break free, but misfortune came calling once again! Although Red Moon was unconscious, her will to survive had been so strong that she was still hugging me tightly, not letting go. It was like clearing corpses on a battlefield; many soldiers die still gripping their enemy’s body, refusing to release. That’s because their final intent was so intense that even though the brain has stopped working, the body is still faithfully carrying out the brain’s last command before shutting down. And right now, Red Moon’s brain’s last command was to hug me for dear life and never let go!

“Ah! Heavens!” This is it! I’m done for! Why does this damned woman have to pull me down with her! My luck has really run out!

At this moment, not far below us, was the largest leveling area outside Cold Emerald City. At least a thousand people were witnessing our fall!

A warrior and a female Archer were leaning against each other. The warrior pointed to the distant sky. “Look, a shooting star!”

“It really is!” The female Archer chirped happily, snuggling into the warrior’s arms. “I didn’t think they’d have meteor showers here. It’s so romantic!”

Nearby, a small party was taking a break from leveling. A warrior pointed to the sky. “Boss, why is there a shooting star over there?”

A Berserker looked up. “Whoa, it really is! A real shooting star! I can’t believe how realistic this game is! They even have astronomical phenomena like this!”

A female Priest next to them also looked and said, “It might be a hidden quest! Should we go check it out?”

The Berserker said, “Forget it! You know how hard the quests are in Zero. With our strength, we’d just lose more than we’d gain! Just focus on leveling up!”

As I fell, I observed the landing zone. I could confirm five people were standing there. With the power of Star Pupil, I could easily see them. They were five Ninjas! The one in the middle was the Sino-Japanese kid I saw the other day. But they didn’t seem to be on the same side; the four surrounding him were clearly ganging up on the mixed-blood Ninja. What was going on? Why were the Japanese fighting among themselves?

But I didn’t have time to think about what they were doing, because I was already hurtling toward them! The mixed-blood Ninja in the middle obviously saw me. When the other Ninjas saw him look up, they habitually looked up too. But just as they raised their heads, the mixed-blood Ninja had already dashed away with unimaginable speed. After just a few steps, he dove to the ground, covering his head and ears with his hands!

Geez! I’m not a cluster bomb. Is it really necessary to react like you’re under artillery fire?

In the middle of the fight, Yuzhe suddenly saw something falling from the sky. A closer look revealed it was a person. His body was already at its limit, and he wanted to believe this person falling from the sky was a savior sent from the heavens. The problem was, this savior’s landing posture and speed seemed a bit off! So he dashed away, protected his head, and dropped to the ground. He had just hit the dirt when he felt a loud BOOM from behind, followed by a shockwave that rapidly swept over his back. Thinking it was over, Yuzhe was just about to get up when a rain of miscellaneous equipment and human body fragments flew past from behind.

I watched myself slam violently into the ground. The intense impact made me feel like I lost consciousness for a moment, but it was very brief. This wasn’t a football game; even though I made a touchdown, there were no points to be had. However, my Experience Points and Evil Value had unexpectedly increased! Where I landed, a cloud of dust billowed up, carrying a mess of unknown things flying in all directions. The scene reminded me of war movies where a bomb drops into a crowd, followed by human parts and all sorts of other junk flying everywhere!

“Aahh…” Red Moon groaned on my back. Even though I’d managed to open my Demonic Dragon Wings at the last moment and had cushioned her fall, she was still badly injured. Fortunately, it wasn’t fatal.

Red Moon probably felt me underneath her, so she struggled to roll to the side. The force of the impact still left her unable to stand up. Although I was on the bottom, I was in relatively better shape than her. After all, I was wearing a full set of Divine Artifacts: the Dark Demonic Dragon Armor. Compared to Red Moon’s flimsy Mage robe, my armor’s defensive capabilities were far, far superior!

It took a great deal of effort to pull my hands out of the ground. Using my limbs to brace for impact was a real mistake. Even though my Demonic Dragon Wings had absorbed a lot of the force when they opened at the end, my four limbs were still driven into the ground like four wooden stakes! After struggling to climb out, I discovered there were actually two more people underneath me! So I wasn’t at the very bottom after all! Someone else had cushioned my fall! The place where we had landed was now a small crater. It really did look a bit like a meteor crater, if you ignored the two human-shaped holes in the middle!

I had to use my long spear to pry the two volunteers who had cushioned my fall out of the ground. Turns out they were two of the Ninjas from before! ‘Poor guys! Don’t think I’ll treat you as my saviors just because you volunteered to be my landing pad! I never asked you to cushion my fall!’ I thought wickedly. Not that they would ever know who had flattened them, since the two unlucky sods were already long dead.

“Quick, come help me!” Red Moon called from the side.

I had no choice but to run over and see what was wrong. “What’s the matter!”

“Help me up!” I supported her, and Red Moon began to stretch her waist. After a series of cracks and pops, her body seemed to regain its mobility. “Ah, that’s much better! My bones were all out of place!”

“Lean against this tree for a bit. It looks like there’s still someone alive over there! I’m going to check it out!” As I spoke, I let go. Red Moon, not expecting it, let out another miserable shriek! I ran over to the person lying on the ground to the side. It was clearly another Ninja, and in fact, it was the same mixed-blood Ninja who was being attacked earlier!

As I started to turn him over, the Ninja suddenly jumped up. “Who are you!” He looked at me with fear in his eyes. “I haven’t offended you, have I?”

I held my hands up in front of my chest (note: not above my head). “I was just checking to see if you were okay!”

The Ninja took a wary step back. “Did you see the other four people who were fighting me?”

I pointed at the stuff scattered all over the ground. “Aren’t they everywhere? Oh! And there are two more at the bottom of that crater over there!”

“Just now…” He pointed at me, then at the sky. His meaning was obvious.

I gave an awkward laugh. “Hehe! Hehe! A flying accident! A flying accident! Purely unintentional!”

“And here I thought you came down specifically to save me!” The Ninja sheathed his ninja sword; it seemed he believed me. “Normally, if a Chinese player saw five of us Ninjas fighting, they’d choose to help me first, and then finish me off as well! Strange behavior, isn’t it?”

“Come down specifically to help you? I don’t think I’m bored enough to go skydiving without a parachute every day! As for what you said about Chinese players helping you just to kill you later, I think that’s perfectly normal. First, you’re outnumbered. Saving you ensures the maximum number of Japanese players are eliminated. When you’re the only one left, you can be eliminated too!” As I spoke, I picked up my Dragon Fang Sword from the ground. The Ninja hastily drew his sword again.

I waggled the sword so he could see the scabbard. “I was using it as a hammer in the air just now. Don’t be nervous! Ouch!” I spun around abruptly. “What are you doing?”

Just as I expected, Red Moon was standing behind me, fuming, one hand rubbing her head and the other gripping a Mage Staff. From the way she was holding it, that staff was the weapon she’d just used on me! “So it was you who hit me on the head! I thought I’d hit it when we landed!”

“Well, who told you to hold onto me for dear life and not let go? If I hadn’t knocked you out in time to break free, we’d both have gone to meet our maker!”

“In any case, it was wrong of you to hit me! You have to join the Divine Maiden Alliance as an apology!”

“Seriously! My dear young lady, just forget about it! This isn’t how you recruit people into a Guild!”

“I’m not forcing you. Aren’t I discussing it with you right now?” Red Moon actually looked completely justified! To use a phrase you often see online: Women are a lot like computers; no one knows how they work except their manufacturers (parents)!

“This isn’t forcing me? If this is what you call a ‘discussion,’ then I don’t know what a threat is!”

“You…!” Red Moon’s gaze suddenly drifted behind me. “A Japanese player!” She shoved me aside. “Get out of the way! Floating Lightning!” A ball of electricity flew from Red Moon’s hand. The Ninja behind me clearly hadn’t grasped the situation. The electric ball quickly struck his body, and the massive current made him flop around on the ground like a fish out of water! As expected of the number two player on the China region’s Level Leaderboard. What a terrifying lightning attack, to cast a spell in such a short time! Strange, I didn’t see her use any powerful moves when she was ‘fighting’ me earlier!

Although the Ninja’s limbs were twitching from the electricity, making him walk funny, he still drew his ninja sword. From my observation, Ninjas are a high-agility class. Once he started moving, it would be hard for a Mage to hit him! But it seemed I was wrong. Red Moon suddenly crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Grand Flame Formation!”

With a boom, it was as if the Ninja was standing on the edge of a volcano. The lava that suddenly appeared under his feet made him leap aside, but the fissure in the ground seemed to have grown eyes and chased after him. After running for a bit, he finally realized it wasn’t the fissure that had eyes, but Red Moon, who was controlling the flames. Sheathing his sword on his back, the Ninja leaped up forcefully. “Ninjutsu! Earth Escape Technique!” With a thud, the Ninja landed on the ground and then vanished into it as if he had fallen into water.

A mound of earth suddenly bulged up from the ground and rushed rapidly toward Red Moon. When the mound reached her, the Ninja suddenly leaped out. Although Red Moon raised a shield in time, she was still knocked back three steps. But Red Moon was no pushover. She suddenly crouched and pressed her hands to the ground. “Concentrated Flame, Heaven-Scorching Art!” Countless pillars of fire and fireballs suddenly appeared, flying wildly in all directions. I was caught in the crossfire and had to dodge frantically. Any later and I’d have been a roasted pig!

The Ninja once again activated his ninjutsu and went underground. In an instant, earthen walls and spikes erupted one after another from the surroundings, while Red Moon filled the area with fire.

I had reached my limit! “Both of you, stop!” I roared. All my Magical Pets and Demon Servants were summoned, including Lucky, who had been flying leisurely. “Stop them!”

“Understood!” all the Magical Pets and Demon Servants replied in unison.

Xiao Feng suddenly grew in size and flew onto the battlefield. The surrounding flames instantly gathered toward her, and all the red fire was sucked into her body. What had been a sea of flames vanished in an instant. The ground immediately trembled, and with a loud rumble, Rose Vine’s thick tendrils shot out of the ground, bringing the Ninja with them. After being forced out, the Ninja tried to run, but a dense wall of vines blocked all escape routes. Ten Spirit Herald Knights instantly leveled their long spears at his head.

“Now that’s more like it!” Both sides finally quieted down.

Chapter 14: The Homemade Ninja

“Let me down!” Red Moon was suspended in mid-air by the Rose Vine. Her limbs dangled uselessly, unable to touch anything, making it impossible for her to break free.

I first released the Ninja. “Alright, you can go!”

The Ninja retrieved his sword but didn’t leave. He just kept looking at me. “You’re not going to kill me?”

I gave him a strange look. “Why would I kill you?” Is there something wrong with this guy’s head?

“But I’m a Ninja!”

“No kidding! You think I couldn’t tell from your outfit?” I pointed to his ninja gear.

“Then why are you letting me go?”

“Does whether I kill you or not have anything to do with your profession? Or are you hoping I’ll finish you off?” With a casual wave, the Rose Vine coiled around his body again. “If you’re so eager, I don’t mind helping people out!”

“No, no, no!” The Ninja shook his head frantically. “I just find it strange. A Chinese person normally wouldn’t let a Japanese Ninja go. They might back down if they weren’t strong enough, but you’re so powerful! What I mean is, why aren’t you attacking a Japanese person?”

“Let me be clear. I’m not killing you, and it has nothing to do with whether you’re Japanese or Chinese. I only care about my own interests. I’m a very pragmatic person; I don’t do things that harm others without benefiting myself. Killing you brings me no benefit, and you haven’t harmed my interests, so I can’t be bothered to waste my time on you. But I will say this: I don’t have a good attitude toward Japan, because they have infringed upon my interests! So you’d best not let me see you on Japanese soil, or I’ll take care of you without a second thought.”

“I’m not Japanese!” the Ninja said anxiously. “My name is Yuzhe, and I’m Chinese!”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me. I said I wouldn’t kill you, and that means I won’t stab you in the back.” I turned and walked toward Red Moon.

Yuzhe caught up from behind me. I heard the sound of a longsword being drawn—was this guy actually trying to ambush me? I spun around, revealing my Blade Claws, but I froze. He was offering me the hilt of his sword! “What are you doing?”

“Will you take this sword?”

I didn’t reach for it. “Isn’t this your weapon? Why are you giving it to me?”

“This is one of Japan’s three great National Artifacts, the Tachi, Hidden Thunder. I went to a great deal of trouble to get it out of Japan!”

Hearing this, my curiosity was piqued, and I couldn’t resist taking it for a look. “There are a lot of problems with what you just said.”

“Problems? What problems?”

“First, what is a ‘National Artifact’? I’ve only heard of Divine Artifacts. Lower-tier items are just called equipment of some sort. I’ve never heard of National Artifacts! Second, haven’t the international channels opened yet? How did you get something from the little Japs back here? Third, why do you, a self-proclaimed Chinese person, have the Ninja profession? As far as I know, only Japanese people can choose to be Ninjas!”

“That’s simple. I’ll start with the third question. Although I was born in Japan, I moved back to China to live with my grandfather and grandmother when I was just over a year old. However, my ID card is still for Japanese nationality. I’m in the process of getting my Chinese citizenship, but it hasn’t been finalized yet. So, when I first logged into the game, I used my Japanese ID, which allowed me to choose the Ninja profession. I figured that Chinese players would be at less of a disadvantage if they understood the characteristics of Ninjas! As for your second question, I logged in from Japan a while ago when I went to visit my parents. Because my account’s login location was abroad, my character was moved to the Japanese map. In other words, even though the international channels aren’t open, the network links are already active. If you physically travel to the corresponding country, you can bring your character with you. Of course, it’s impossible to wage a National War this way. You couldn’t do anything more than send a spy or two; there’s no way to launch a full-scale invasion. Proper National Wars will have to wait for the official opening. During my trip, I happened upon a large Japanese Guild that was farming for treasure. I took advantage of the situation when they and the Monster had worn each other down, snatched this, and brought it back with me!” He pointed to the sword. “And as for National Artifacts! I only learned about them recently myself. For the sake of the National Wars, two National Artifacts were added for each country. In reality, a National Artifact is a full set of equipment made specifically for National Wars. Japan’s two National War sets are already out. One is the Stealth Ninja Set, which is said to have a super Invisibility function and give an insane Agility boost. The other set is for a Spirit Caller, allowing them to command the corpses of the dead on the battlefield. I just don’t know what the maximum number of corpses is. This sword of mine is a component of that Stealth Ninja Set. Now that I’ve taken it, the Japanese will never be able to complete their set!”

After his explanation, I examined the sword more carefully. It looked like an ordinary Japanese sword, only noticeably longer. Its attributes weren’t overwhelmingly powerful: Tachi, Hidden Thunder. Attack Power: 400-480. Attack Speed: Rapid. Additional 100-150 Lightning Damage. 100% chance to Rend Wound, Amplify Damage, Weaken target’s all stats by 5%. (Set Bonus: Invisibility, strikes cause painless wounds).

It felt like a pretty strong item, but not to the point of being invincible. Its main use was the Invisibility. Without this piece, the little Japs would have to find another weapon for the set. Then, if you saw a sword floating in mid-air by itself, you’d know for sure it was the guy in the Stealth Ninja Set! Haha, losing this sword would definitely give the little Japs some sleepless nights!

“Why aren’t you using such a great item? You’re a Ninja, isn’t this perfect for you?” I looked at the young Ninja before me with confusion. I really didn’t understand him now.

“Just for stealing this thing, they’ve chased me from Japan to China. If I carried it around, my life in the game would be over!” He seemed to look at the longsword with great reluctance. “Those four guys from earlier were here to capture me. They chased me all the way from Japan trying to get this sword back. I overheard their leader saying that a few high-level players are coming from Japan soon to track this sword!”

“You’re kidding! Is one sword really worth chasing someone from Japan to China?”

“This sword is valued at two point five million Crystal Coins in Japan. You tell me, is it worth it?”

“It’s that valuable? Why not sell it back to the Japanese?”

“If it was about the money, why would I have gone through all the trouble to bring it back? My family isn’t short on cash, and I’m not a greedy person. What I saw and heard in Japan let me know that it was better to bring this thing back than to leave it there.”

“The fact that you were willing to bring such a great item back proves you’re a proper Chinese, even if you have half-Japanese blood.” I smiled and extended my hand. “My name is Purple Sun. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He shook my hand. “Not half, a quarter. My maternal grandfather is also Chinese. It’s my mom who is half-Japanese.”

I suddenly thought of the mission Dad had given me. Since I’d inevitably run into a large number of Ninjas in Japan, shouldn’t I recruit this one to join my group? He had no shortage of patriotic passion for the Chinese nation, and he understood the weaknesses of Ninjas because he was one himself. His weaknesses were the common weaknesses of all Ninjas! “Would you be up for leading people to Japan to cause some trouble?”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Sabotage, plus a little killing and arson.”

“It would be my greatest honor. I’ve been planning to go over and stir up chaos myself once the National Wars begin. That’s why I chose the Ninja profession in the first place. Once I’m over there, no one will ever suspect a Ninja of being a spy!”

I handed the sword back to him. “I have a place you can go to level up. You should hold onto this. Once you’re there, I guarantee they won’t be able to find you.”

“It’s no use, no matter where I go,” Yuzhe said helplessly. “This thing is ranked second on Japan’s Weapon Leaderboard. The leaderboard over there constantly displays the owner’s identity and location. Otherwise, with a map as big as Zero’s, you think I wouldn’t be able to get away? I’m giving it to you because you seem very powerful and should be able to protect it better. Most importantly, you can fly.” He pointed at my wings. “The ones hunting me are all Ninjas. None of them can fly; they’ll never catch you!”

That’s when I remembered that the Chinese region also has all sorts of leaderboards. It was just that my Hermit’s Ring concealed my rankings. Otherwise, aside from the Level Leaderboard, I’d probably be at the top of all the others! “Then how are you going to level up without a weapon?”

“I have this!” He pulled out another longsword from his back. “This was my original weapon. The stats are worse, but at least it’s usable.”

“So where are you headed now?”

“To find a place to level up! When the National Wars start, we can go to Japan together and kill to our hearts’ content!”

“Never mind that. I’ll take you to meet my friends. A few of my buddies are planning to head over for some ‘fun’ too. Having them help you level will be much faster than you going it alone as a Ninja.”

“That would be great! I couldn’t ask for more!”

“Wait a moment.” I contacted Eagle and Ah Wei, telling them to meet at the entrance to the Labyrinth.

No one was too far from the Labyrinth. We were the furthest, but travel was convenient for us. With Lucky acting as a large, vertical take-off and landing transport, distance was no object. We met up quickly. The moment Yuzhe jumped off Lucky’s back, he nearly got into a fight with Eagle. Thankfully, I was quick enough to pull them apart. It took a long explanation to clear up the misunderstanding, but Eagle’s gaze toward Yuzhe was still tinged with suspicion.

After some simple introductions, I got to the point. “I’ve gathered everyone to discuss something. I’m planning to pull a big job over in Japan once the National Wars start. What do you all think?”

Hearing this, Eagle’s eyes remained fixed on Yuzhe, as if trying to find some clue on his face.

“Count me in.” Bailing once again showed her heroic stature. “The Japanese are no good. Going over there to kill a few and get some good drops back would be satisfying and profitable. Two birds with one stone!”

Eagle immediately followed. “Of course I have no objections. How could I be left out of something like this? Count me in!”

Ah Wei also chimed in, “I may not be that strong, but count me in too. I missed the last Sino-Japanese conflict, so there’s no way I’m missing out on this war!”

Bingbing also raised a hand and shouted, “I’ll sign up! My grandma said the Japanese are the worst! My skills are really useful. Just hold them off for me for three minutes, and then you can do whatever you want!” Bingbing’s words left the others baffled. Only Ah Wei and I, who had witnessed her skills, knew what she meant.

I said, “Bingbing, everyone here is unfamiliar with your skills. Why don’t you play a tune for them?”

“Okay!” Bingbing took out her silver flute and began to play. A few minutes later, when everyone came to their senses from the beautiful music, they discovered they couldn’t move. Only then did they realize that the enchanting melody was actually a skill attack!

“What kind of attack is this?!” Bailing tried to move her body in horror. “Why can’t I move at all?”

“Didn’t see that coming, did you? This is our Miss Bingbing’s special skill. Bingbing’s class is the hidden profession Melodist. Her skills are musical pieces with offensive properties. That last piece was a lockdown ability. Against opponents of a similar level, it can lock their movements for seven or eight minutes each time. And as long as the music doesn’t stop, you’ll never be able to move!” I wickedly picked up the petrified Red Moon, who was standing like a stone statue, and placed her on Lucky’s back. Then I said to Lucky, “Fly up high and come back down in a few minutes!”

“Got it!” Lucky disappeared into the sky, carrying the defenseless Red Moon.

I turned back to the group. “Alright, now the world is at peace! Let’s continue. Yuzhe, what about you? Everyone else has agreed to join.”

Actually, Yuzhe had already told me he wanted to join. Making him repeat it now was just to let everyone else accept him as a Chinese person. His Ninja profession made it genuinely difficult for Chinese people not to view him differently. Yuzhe said, “I’ll join. How could a Chinese person not join in!” Hearing him say this, Eagle’s expression visibly softened, but I could tell he still harbored some suspicion.

“Alright, now let’s study the Ninja problem.”

“What’s the problem with Ninjas?” Bailing asked.

I explained, “According to what Yuzhe saw in Japan, the proportion of players who are Ninjas is quite large. On average, one in every five players in Japan is a Ninja. For a single profession to make up one-fifth of the total player base in a game as diverse as Zero is a huge ratio! You have to remember, Zero’s slogan is ‘a custom-made profession for every player,’ which means there shouldn’t be too many people with the same profession. For example, although Bailing’s profession is Archer, there are actually over a thousand sub-categories of Archer, so it’s very diverse when you get down to it. Considering how many Ninjas there are in Japan, I specifically asked Yuzhe to come and analyze the situation for us. If we know ourselves and know our enemy, we can come up with countermeasures in advance.”

Yuzhe stepped forward and said, “Actually, ‘Ninja,’ just like Archer, Warrior, Mage, or Beast Tamer, is a vague, general term. After level 30, every profession splits into many detailed specializations! For example, after level 30, a Warrior can choose to develop into a Shield Warrior, Spear Warrior, Bow Warrior, Berserker, and so on. Ninjas also have many branches. I’m currently level 379, and my development path is the ‘Blade Ninja.’ The characteristic of a Blade Ninja is an exceptionally high attack frequency. When I’m trading blows with someone, even though my attack power is much lower than theirs, they’ve often only hit me once by the time I’ve already struck them a dozen times! That’s the specialty of a Blade Ninja. But my choice isn’t one of the main paths. There are four main development paths for Ninjas: Jutsu Ninja, Arsenal Ninja, Stealth Ninja, and Swift Ninja.

“Jutsu Ninjas are quite similar to Mages. This type of Ninja can typically use ninjutsu that resembles magic, like fireballs. Of all Ninjas, their attack power is the most terrifying! Comparatively, though, they’re the easiest to deal with. Despite their high attack power, their speed and defense are very average, and their health is especially low, so they’re easily one-shotted. Generally, as long as you’re a little careful, the probability of being taken out by a Jutsu Ninja isn’t high!

“Arsenal Ninjas’ main combat style is projectile weapons. They are like the archers among Ninjas. The Dart, blow darts, and small crossbows are their main weapons, though they usually carry things like chain-scythes or daggers as well! An Arsenal Ninja’s attacks are usually for harassment. In most cases, their attack power isn’t high, so you don’t need to worry too much about them. As long as you don’t just stand still, it’s not that easy to die to them!

“Next are the Swift Ninjas. Their attacks are characterized by speed. Both their movement speed and attack speed are unbelievably fast. While this type is troublesome, they are generally easy to handle as long as you’re not careless. However, you should note that their profession is a natural counter to Archers. Because they’re too fast, an Archer’s arrows usually don’t pose a threat to them. They’ll typically engage Archers in close-quarters combat. Although their attack power isn’t high, it’s still much stronger than an Archer’s, so they practically specialize in countering Archers! Mage-type professions don’t have to worry too much; once a Mage puts up their shield, a Ninja usually can’t break through it. A few small magic spells will usually make the Ninja retreat, since they don’t have much health either. Warriors can just ignore them completely. No Swift Ninja would be stupid enough to fight a Warrior. In close combat, there’s no way they could withstand a Warrior’s attacks, so Swift Ninjas generally won’t provoke Warriors!

“Of the four types, the most annoying are the Stealth Ninjas! Stealth Ninjas have relatively balanced attack and defense. Their speed isn’t the fastest, but it surpasses most professions. Their attack power can’t compare to a Warrior’s, but it’s much higher than other professions. Their defense is also lower than a Warrior’s, but higher than Mages, Archers, and the like. But they can turn invisible. It’s said that the highest-level Stealth Ninjas can move and attack in complete silence and without leaving any tracks or other signs. Unless you use an area-of-effect attack, there’s basically no way to detect them! But don’t worry too much. The number of Stealth Ninjas in Japan isn’t very large, because most Monster NPCs can find them by smell. So, with their average attack and defense, leveling up is very difficult for them, and consequently, there are fewer of them!”

Yuzhe continued, “Besides Ninjas, there’s another Japan-exclusive profession to watch out for. The Japanese have a lot of players in the Spirit Caller profession. This profession is somewhat similar to the Western Undead Mage and can control corpses, and in very considerable numbers!”

Ah Wei suddenly interrupted Yuzhe, “My Spirit Herald Mage can also control corpses. We don’t have to worry on that front. Worst case, I’ll just raise all the corpses on the battlefield and then release them. After being raised and released once, corpses will rot immediately. No corpses, no problem!”

“That’s right!” I affirmed.

Yuzhe looked at Ah Wei and said, “It’s even better if we have a specialist on the team. Alright, that’s all I know for now. Does anyone have any comments?”

“Shouldn’t we go level up?” Bingbing said. “Levels are very important. Strength is what gives you the right to speak!”

“But before that, I want to go have some fun in the city. It’s been so long since I’ve been inside one!”

Eagle gestured mockingly at the sky. “You’re not afraid of that young lady anymore? You’re currently the number one red-named player in all of China, as well as the number one perverted deviant! Aren’t you just asking for a beating by showing your face on the street?”

“That’s exactly why I have to go soon. I should take advantage of the fact that not many people know about this yet. Later on, when everyone finds out, I really won’t be able to enter a city!”

Bingbing asked innocently from the side, “What was going on with that older sister just now? Why does it seem like you really hate her?”

“Hate her? That’s an understatement! I hate her so much my teeth itch! That girl is an absolutely super-evil character. Now I finally understand what ‘sanctimonious’ means! You have no idea, because of her, I’m now publicly recognized as the number one pervert in the entire game!”

“‘Pervert’? Hahaha! That’s so funny,” Bingbing said with a laugh. “Well, let’s call it a day then. I’m logging off! Let’s go tomorrow!”

“It is getting late today. Everyone should log off early,” Yuzhe added. “Because of my identity as a Ninja, I’ve never dared to enter a city. With you guys accompanying me tomorrow, it should be fine. I really want to see how the design of Chinese cities differs from those in Japan!”

“So I’m not the only one who can’t enter a city because of special circumstances!” I lamented. “I’m not the only poor soul here! Tomorrow, we’ll go together and we have to make up for lost time! As for the time, what time should we set? Can you all get up in the morning? I never sleep in anyway.”

“I never get up early!” Ah Wei immediately shouted.

“Me neither!” Bailing also cried out. “Lack of sleep is a beauty killer, you know!”

“Then let’s say ten o’clock. Everyone should be up by then, right? Whoever gets here early can do their own thing. We’ll meet here at ten.”

“Okay, we’ll do as you say.” Everyone agreed to my plan.

Logging off, I felt exhausted. Only now did I remember that I don’t think I logged off to eat lunch. Ugh! No wonder I’m so hungry! “Ah Wei? Ah Wei?”

“What is it?” Ah Wei had just logged off.

“Want to go out to eat?” I wanted to drag Ah Wei along. It was too boring to go alone, and Rose had gone to the lab. She probably wouldn’t be back until very late.

“What’s up today? Suddenly thought of me? Aren’t you and your honey hitting it off?” Ah Wei said, half-joking and half-complaining.

I immediately changed my tune. “Fine, don’t eat then! Looks like I’ll have to enjoy The Zenith Hotel’s specialty gourmet dishes all by myself today!” I deliberately said “specialty gourmet dishes” very loudly to entice Ah Wei.

Sure enough, Ah Wei immediately took the bait. All these years as brothers weren’t for nothing. I knew Ah Wei’s weaknesses best: fine food and beautiful women were temptations he could never resist. “Boss! I was wrong, just take me with you, please!” Ah Wei rushed over and hugged my leg, as if he would start gnawing on it like a gourmet meal if I said I wouldn’t take him.

“Aren’t you going to get dressed? You’re going to go just like this, hugging me?” I said, feigning helplessness.

Ah Wei’s little act that evening wasn’t for nothing. The meal cost me over three thousand. Luckily, this Young Master could still afford it. Ah Wei only stopped when he was so full he couldn’t eat another bite. Seeing him walk on the way back reminded me of a woman ten months pregnant, one hand on his back, stomach sticking out as he walked! That guy! I glanced around, making sure to walk far away from him whenever a pedestrian appeared. I absolutely could not let anyone know that we knew each other! It was too embarrassing!

It was already very late when we got back to the dorm, mainly because Ah Wei, with his protruding belly, waddled along and just couldn’t walk fast. I could hear the phone ringing from behind the door, so I rushed inside to answer it. Dad’s face popped up on the screen. “Kid, where did you run off to so late? And without your phone?”

“Phone? I brought it!” I quickly pulled out my phone and looked at it. It wasn’t even on! “Forgot to turn it on!”

“Are you free tomorrow?” It seemed Dad really had something important to discuss, as he didn’t beat around the bush.

“I made plans with some friends to go shopping in the game tomorrow. They’re the elites I’ve gathered to carry out that infiltration and sabotage plan. Tomorrow is mainly for us to bond a little so we can coordinate better in the future.”

“Oh! I see,” Dad thought for a moment. “Then are you free the day after tomorrow?”

“I’m free the day after tomorrow. What’s up?”

“I need you to go on a business trip.”

“A business trip? I’m not your employee!”

“I have two business deals here, and I can’t handle them both by myself.”

“Don’t you have a whole company of high-level executives eating for free? Why do you need me to go?”

“This deal involves some confidential company matters. I don’t trust most people with it, and the few I do trust don’t have the necessary skills. So after thinking it over, you’re the most suitable person.”

“Seriously? Fine, that works. Alright then, but you know the rules!” I said, smirking as I stated my condition. This was a habit between me and my dad. Every time he asked me to do something, he had to agree to one condition of mine, and as long as it wasn’t an impossible or unreasonable demand, he had to fulfill it.

“Alright. Come to our company’s experimental base the day after tomorrow morning. The same one I asked you and Chu Rong to come to last time.”

“Got it! I’ll be there on time!”

Chapter 15: The Beautiful Metropolis

The next morning, when I appeared at the gates of the City of the Lost, everyone was already there except for Bingbing. Rose had heard I was going shopping this morning and wanted to come, but unfortunately, we both had red names, and the Shrouding Bracelet only worked for one person. So, Rose had no choice but to go back to her research!

After a short wait, Bingbing came online. With the full team assembled, we prepared to go have some fun in the city. The only downside was that Red Moon insisted on tagging along with me! In truth, the only ones really excited about this trip into the city were Bingbing, Yuzhe, and me. Ah Wei, Eagle, and Bailing had been in and out of cities countless times. I was excited because I’d been tied up by that cavern quest for so long, and then I’d had a red name ever since, preventing me from entering. Bingbing was excited because she had been trapped in the Garden of Life until now. Yuzhe was in the same boat; because he’d chosen the Ninja class, he had become a pariah in the China server. People rarely bothered to listen to his explanations, so he usually avoided crowds altogether. A densely populated city was no different from a Forbidden Land to him!

All three of us were thrilled. We could finally have some real fun in the city! For our first-ever outing, we chose Divine City, one of the three main system cities. From a distance outside the city, I could already see the massive metropolis. It was at least five times the size of the City of the Lost, and I’d heard there was an entire underground complex, making the whole city effectively two-tiered! It was hard to imagine—such a colossal city with its own underworld. The scale was simply staggering!

As we gradually neared the city’s edge, the number of players around us increased. The bustling crowd was a mix of groups of two or three hurrying off somewhere and others strolling leisurely on the plains outside the city, as if appreciating the grassland scenery. In reality, Zero wasn’t just an ordinary combat RPG. Its depth went far beyond simple fighting. To attract more players, Zero tried its best to mimic reality. There were many non-combat players who came here to enjoy different kinds of fun. For instance, some people loved hunting, but in the real world, wild animals were in protected reserves, and hunting was strictly forbidden. Here, however, it was no problem. You could hunt however you pleased, and no one would care! Many players also entered this world to fulfill certain dreams, like mountain climbing. There were many mountains specifically for sightseeing with very few monsters, so players who enjoyed climbing could take their time.

As we approached the city, we saw a row of people sitting by a section of the moat, each holding a fishing rod. There was even a flag stuck in the ground beside them, with the words “xx Fishing Association” written on it.

“What’s this?” I asked, staring blankly at the group.

Ah Wei explained, “These are non-combat players. They enjoy fishing, but in the real world, you have to travel to the suburbs to do it. It’s so convenient here; you can put on your helmet and experience the joy of fishing from home. The only drawback is you can’t eat what you catch, but who cares about that! If you want to eat, you can just buy fish at the market. There’s plenty there!”

Bingbing pointed to a strange symbol on the back of one person’s clothes and asked, “What’s that? A Guild emblem?”

Bailing took a look and said, “No, that’s the mark of a non-combat player. People who don’t like fighting can apply for the non-aggression system. They have these symbols on their backs. Although they’re in the same environment as us, we can’t actually fight them because they’re immune to attacks! If they ever want to fight, they can switch it back. The non-aggression system can be enabled and disabled an unlimited number of times, but there’s a one-week cooldown between changes, and it costs a hefty service fee each time!”

“Isn’t that an invincible state?” Yuzhe exclaimed in surprise. “Then aren’t these people super powerful?”

Eagle said, “They’re invincible, but they have no attack power. They’re mainly here to experience a different kind of life. We generally don’t interact with them much!”

“That makes sense,” Bingbing nodded in agreement. “Are there any other restrictions besides not being able to fight?”

“Not really. These people can usually open small shops and things like that in the game,” Bailing continued to explain. “Some Auxiliary Profession players also apply for the non-aggression system to focus on leveling their auxiliary skills. A Blacksmith friend of mine is one of them! He opened a big weapon shop in the city and researches smithing skills inside!”

Yuzhe sighed, “I have to hand it to the designers at Longyuan. They actually managed to integrate an RPG and life simulation games all into one system!”

“Stop marveling over there! Let’s get into the city and have some fun!” Bingbing urged us to hurry up.

We were also anxious to see what the “Number One City Under Heaven” looked like. Divine City had a moat, but it wasn’t very wide, at least not as exaggerated as the one at the City of the Lost, so the stone bridge here wasn’t as long either. However, the bridge leading to the gate of Divine City was incredibly broad. By my estimation, it was at least three times wider than the long bridge in front of the City of the Lost. It made sense, though. The City of the Lost was a fortress, after all. A huge, wide gate would only make it harder to defend and serve no other purpose. As a commercial hub, Divine City didn’t need to consider such things; it could afford to build its gates with magnificent grandeur!

After crossing the stone bridge over the moat, we arrived before the city gate. Many NPC Guards stood watch. There were three archways, one large and two small. Three sword-wielding guards stood on each side of the large gate, while one guardsman with a greatsword stood on each side of the smaller gates. Inside the main archway, two Knights sat mounted on their horses. Although this arrangement of guards looked impressive, I suspected you couldn’t rely on them in an actual battle!

Once inside the city, the view opened up dramatically. The roads here were well-paved, but the surrounding buildings seemed somewhat disorderly. Though there were many houses, they were all very low-rise. I still preferred the style of the City of the Lost, where everything was built to look like a temple! The streets were lined with vendors who had set up stalls on the ground, some with small tables. “Are these NPCs or players?”

“Both!” Eagle said. “The ones with ground stalls are definitely not NPCs; only players do that. But those with counters aren’t necessarily all NPCs either. Overall, there are more players here!”

I glanced at the surrounding stalls. They really had everything! All sorts of trinkets looked nice, but where would you put them? “Are these things useful if you buy them?”

“These?” Bailing looked around. “They’re all decorations. If you have your own house, you can buy them to furnish it.”

“A house?” Bingbing, Yuzhe, and I asked in unison.

Ah Wei said, “Didn’t I take you to my house last time?”

“But what’s the point of having a house?” Yuzhe asked, puzzled.

Ah Wei immediately started counting on his fingers. “Oh, the benefits are endless. First, you can use it as a warehouse. The system bank lets you store things, but you have to pay a fee based on the item’s volume every time you deposit or withdraw. Second! You can heal. Your health and mana regeneration rates are several times faster inside your own house. Third, you can use it as a sanctuary. Private houses are invincible. Once you’re inside, no one can get in unless you allow it! Fourth, you can sleep in it. Zero recently launched a sleep-assist function. Sleeping in the game gives you better rest than outside, and you can buy super waterbeds, air mattresses, and other beds here for a much cheaper price. And of course,” Ah Wei leaned in and whispered in Yuzhe’s ear, “the most important function is that you can… you know… with a girl inside.”

I looked at the dense cluster of houses around us. “Are all these houses?”

Ah Wei nodded. “They are, but they all use virtual space. Don’t be fooled by their identical exteriors. The interiors vary in size, and you can design the style and layout yourself. If you don’t want to design it, there are system-provided templates to choose from.”

“That’s great, but it’s too noisy here. It would be perfect if you could build one outside the city!” “You can!” Ah Wei immediately jumped in, launching into an enthusiastic spiel. “As long as you pay the land purchase fee and the construction costs, the system will build a house of your specified design at your chosen location. As for the location, as long as you’re not trying to build on water or in a volcano, you can build it anywhere. But I’d recommend finding a spot that’s close to a city and easy to reach. The system might be able to build it, but it’s useless if you can’t get there! Also, there are restrictions on houses. First, houses outside the city don’t use the hyperspace system, meaning the interior size is the same as the exterior. Each person can buy a maximum of five houses outside the city. Each house cannot exceed fifty thousand square meters in land area, and the total area of all five houses cannot exceed two hundred thousand square meters. Houses can have up to two basement levels and six main floors. Towers or attics can go up to ten stories. The height of each floor cannot exceed eight meters, and the total building height cannot exceed fifty meters, not including the basement. Houses can be designed by the player or by the system. If you pay the land and construction fees in one lump sum, you get a ten percent discount. For installment plans, you must pay at least thirty percent of the total cost upfront, followed by at least ten percent each month!”

After Ah Wei rattled that off in one breath, we all stared at him with our mouths open. “Are you kidding me? Are you a salesman?” I asked jokingly.

To my surprise, Ah Wei replied with a completely straight face, “How did you know? I have a small quest to sell ten villa-style houses, which refers to the ones in the wilderness. If I succeed, I’ll get one for free!”

“Wow!” Everyone looked at him as if he’d utterly defeated them. “You’re something else!”

Although we teased Ah Wei for his silliness, the idea of a villa was actually quite appealing to me. It would be pretty nice to find a good spot and build a house!

“What are all those people over there doing?” Bingbing tugged at my arm. “Brother Purple Sun, let’s go check it out!”

“Sure!” I was also curious why so many people were crowded around up ahead.

We squeezed through the crowd with some effort, only to see a player with a ground stall hawking Magical Pet eggs. Most of the people gathered around were non-combat players, who were mainly buying Magical Pets to keep as pets, so low-tier, cute Magical Pets were very popular here. Bingbing excitedly picked up a sample Long-eared Rabbit and stroked it over and over. “This little thing is so cute!”

Bailing picked up another little Elf. “This one is even cuter, but it’s a shame I’m a combat class and need a useful Magical Pet!”

Hearing this, the vendor immediately turned to Bailing. “Miss, if you like combat Magical Pets, that’s no problem! There’s an auction house in the city center, and the continent’s first-ever Magical Pet auction is about to begin. If you’re interested, you should go take a look!”

“Really?” Bailing immediately jumped up. “Let’s go! I want to see!”

Bailing dashed ahead, and the rest of us ran to keep up. Along the way, I kept feeling like a lot of people were pointing and staring at us. I moved closer to Ah Wei. “Have you noticed that people seem to be pointing at us?”

Ah Wei immediately glanced around. “You’re right! What’s going on?”

Eagle and Yuzhe overheard us and came closer. Yuzhe said, “It couldn’t be because of me, could it?”

Eagle looked at him. “Maybe!”

Red Moon swaggered over, pushing us aside. “You bunch of idiots, what’s so strange about it? You’re running around town dressed in such flashy gear, it’d be weird if people weren’t looking at you! Take a look at what the other players are wearing, and then look at yourselves!”

I glared at Red Moon, but she only got louder. “What are you glaring at me for? I’m talking about you! The others are one thing; Eagle’s and Bailing’s gear is just a bit conspicuous. But your outfit is the flashiest of all. Look at you, all black from head to toe, and you even have an antenna sticking out of your head for no reason!” She tried to touch the long spike on my Helmet. “Look, look! And these wings, spread so wide. Afraid people won’t know you can fly?”

I now understood what an internal injury felt like! I was suffering from an internal injury caused by pure anger! But Red Moon showed no signs of stopping. “Why don’t you bring out that flashy horse of yours too? How impressive would it be to ride through the streets?”

Furious, I summoned Nightshadow. “As you wish!” I said, deliberately drawing out my words in a nasal tone. I leaped onto the horse. “Everyone, mount up! The city is too big, it’ll be too tiring to walk!”

“But we don’t have enough horses!” said Bingbing.

Bailing beckoned with her hand, and a beautiful silver-armored flying horse appeared before us, drawing gasps of amazement from the onlookers. “This is my beloved horse. I came online so early this morning that I had some time to level it up. It’s rideable now! With Purple Sun’s Mount and Blazing Sun, that makes three, but there are seven of us, so it’s still not quite enough.”

I hopped onto Nightshadow and began to assign the mounts. “Yuzhe, you and Ah Wei ride the flying horse. Bailing, you and Eagle can ride Blazing Sun like before.” With that, I bent down, scooped Bingbing onto Nightshadow’s back, and had her sit sidesaddle in front of me. “Alright!”

Red Moon was on the side, shouting, “What about me?”

With a flick of my wrist, the Dragon-Tendon Flying Cords shot out and wrapped around her wrist. I hooked the other end to my saddle. “You walk!”

Once everyone was ready, we turned even more heads. But whatever, it wasn’t like we were too ugly to be seen in public. If people wanted to stare, let them stare! Ah Wei was now on the flying horse’s back holding the reins, while Yuzhe stood ramrod straight on the horse’s back with his arms crossed over his chest—he claimed the view was better that way! Eagle was on his Unicorn, Blazing Sun, as usual, with Bailing perched on one of his shoulders as if competing with Yuzhe to see who was taller! I had one arm half-wrapped around Bingbing, who sat in front of me, while my other hand held the reins. Behind me, Red Moon struggled desperately but couldn’t get free, so she had no choice but to be dragged along on foot like a prisoner.

Our strange procession was truly a sight to behold, drawing countless amazed looks. However, it seemed most people were commenting on the fact that I had tied a beautiful girl behind my horse. But since our group all had mounts, no one foolhardy enough dared to cause trouble for the time being. Red Moon was grumbling something behind me as she was unwillingly dragged along. By my estimate, she was most likely cursing me and my entire family! I couldn’t be bothered with her. If you have the nerve, just keep clinging to me! I was curious to see whether I would wear down your temper first, or if you would drive me crazy first!

Soon, we arrived at the auction. Eagle pulled me, wanting me to go in and take a look with him. I quickly refused. “I’ll pass! It’s not like you haven’t seen my Magical Pets. There’s no way they’ll have anything better than mine here. Besides…” I said awkwardly, “my current assets are in the negative, and I still owe someone over a hundred thousand Crystal Coins! Even if there’s something good in there, I can’t afford it!”

Red Moon looked up at the sky and sneered, “Hmph! A poor slob acting like a big shot!”

Furious, I yanked the flying cord, pulling her right in front of me. “Say that again!”

Red Moon didn’t repeat herself, but instead, she shrieked at the top of her lungs, “Molester! Pervert! There’s a pervert here!”

I was stunned! This was the city center, and there were tens of thousands of people waiting to enter the auction right next to us. She was actually screaming “molester” here! The crowd swarmed us in an instant. Though no one made a move, likely due to my gear, by the looks of it, a fight was imminent!

“Young man! This isn’t right!” an old man with the non-combat player symbol walked over. “How could you do this! Aren’t you ashamed of yourself, harassing a young lady in public!”

I wanted to cry but had no tears. The circle of people was closing in, and it looked like things were about to get violent! Suddenly, Bingbing had a flash of inspiration. She ripped off my Helmet. “You two older sisters, stop playing! The auction is about to start, let’s go get in line!”

When the surrounding people saw my face and heard Bingbing’s words, they all let out a collective “Oh!” and quickly dispersed. Even the few who continued to stare at us no longer looked hostile.

The old man from before immediately said, “Oh, so it was just a couple of young sisters playing around! My apologies, old man that I am!”

I quickly replied with humility, “Not at all! Your sense of justice is something we young people should learn from!” The traditional virtue of respecting the old and loving the young should always be remembered!

After seeing the old man off, we decided to split up. Yuzhe, Eagle, Bailing, and Ah Wei decided to check out the auction, while Bingbing and I decided to browse elsewhere, since Bingbing’s Magical Pet slots were already full. Even if she bought a Magical Pet egg, she couldn’t use it! Red Moon, however, insisted on sticking to me like glue!

Naturally, we couldn’t go shopping with Bingbing on horseback, so we had to walk. First, we asked for directions and found the entrance to the underground city. This place was truly a commercial district, with merchants selling things everywhere. There were also many vendors hawking their wares at roadside stalls.

A girl’s favorite store is, of course, a clothing store. The first place we entered was a large one with a grand storefront. The owner was a very thin, middle-aged man who greeted us as soon as we walked in. “What can I help you three with?”

“This is our first time shopping, so we’re not familiar with a lot of things. Are the clothes here considered protective equipment?” I asked, looking at the dazzling array of fashion around me. None of it looked like it offered any protection.

The owner smiled. “Everything I have here is decorative clothing. You just have to wear it over your regular armor, and it will completely conceal the armor’s appearance!”

I pointed to the blades and long spikes all over my armor. “With my armor like this, wouldn’t a piece of clothing rip to shreds the moment I put it on? Besides, even if I wore a long robe, wouldn’t the two long spikes sticking out of my back look awful?”

“Well, you can try it on!” The owner found a scholar’s outfit and draped it over me. The clothing perfectly concealed my armor. The most miraculous part was that the scholar’s outfit had no hat, but my Helmet was surprisingly invisible. The clothes also fit me perfectly, not at all like the bulky shape I imagined from wearing armor underneath! “How is it?”

“There’s something this good!” I happily checked myself in the mirror. “From now on, I won’t have to worry about getting stared at for having good gear when I enter a city!”

Bingbing rushed into the women’s section and started trying on one outfit after another. The clothes here were very convenient to try on; since they were just worn over armor, there was no need for a fitting room. Red Moon, who had started off having a staring contest with me, now also rushed in and began trying on clothes with Bingbing one by one. It seemed no girl could resist the charm of beautiful clothes!

The two young women inside had completely forgotten whether they had come as a trio or a pair. I had no choice but to stay outside and chat with the owner. “Do these clothes have durability? Will they need repairs?”

The owner said, “They do have durability; otherwise, it would be a one-shot deal! Each piece of clothing can be worn for about five hundred to one thousand hours before it breaks. The exact duration depends on the price of the clothes. Usually, more expensive clothes have higher durability. After it breaks, you can come back to the store and buy another one. If you like the style, that’s fine too. Just give us the item number, and you can get an identical one!”

“So durability is based on time! If I go into a fight wearing this, it won’t get damaged, will it?”

“It won’t! The durability of these clothes is only calculated by usage time. When you fight, the stats are calculated based on the armor you’re wearing underneath!”

“That’s good!” As we talked, I browsed the racks and suddenly found a mage-style robe. I wonder if I could pass myself off as a mage to trick people while wearing this! “Boss, how much is this?”

“This one!” The owner seemed a bit hesitant. “This one has an attribute!”

“Didn’t you say they don’t have attributes?”

“Those are ordinary clothes, they don’t have attributes. This one is a premium item, the only one of its kind in my shop.”

“What’s the attribute?”

“Besides concealing your original armor, it also has a ‘Beguilement’ attribute, but I’m not clear on what it’s used for! Are you sure you want to buy it?”

“An extra attribute isn’t a bad thing. Why wouldn’t I buy it?”

“This one is very expensive!” The owner seemed to doubt my purchasing power!

“How much?” I took out my payment card, ready to buy it.

“Ten thousand Crystal Coins!” the owner said.

“What?” I nearly fell to the floor. “Did I hear that right? That’s one hundred thousand RMB!”

“I know it’s a bit pricey. Normally, no one would spend money on something like this, but for some reason, the system set the price at this amount! Since I opened this shop, I’ve only ever sold two of these!”

I was in a terribly awkward position now! If I said I wasn’t buying, I’d lose face. But if I said I was, I only had 7,349 Crystal Coins on me. What was I supposed to do? “Brother Purple Sun! Huh! Are you buying this outfit?”

I nodded awkwardly. “I want to, but it seems I don’t have enough money!”

Red Moon immediately seized the opportunity to interject, “Haha! You poor slob! Beg me! If you beg me, I’ll lend it to you!”

“In your dreams. I’d rather not buy it than borrow from you! Borrowing money from a devil like you is no different from selling my soul!”

Bingbing said, “How much are you short? I’ll cover it for you!”

I quickly refused. “How could I use your money!”

“Brother Purple Sun, you saved me, and I haven’t had a chance to thank you. I saved up a fair bit of money in the Garden of Life. I’ll lend it to you for now, and you can pay me back later!” Bingbing smiled playfully. “If you still feel bad, you can just pay me back with an extra hundred or eighty in interest!”

Since Bingbing had put it that way, I couldn’t refuse any longer. “Alright!” In the end, Bingbing helped me buy the robe, and my debt grew even larger! It seemed I would have to find a way to make money from now on. Things couldn’t go on like this!

Chapter 16: Catch the Thief!

After leaving the clothing store, the number of people outside seemed to have grown. “This shopping street is really bustling!” I exclaimed.

“This is nothing! It’s not even a holiday. If it were, it’d be unbelievably crowded!” Red Moon always loved to argue with me.

“Where to now?” I asked Bingbing. “There are other clothing and jewelry stores. Do you want to check them out?”

“Sure!” Bingbing said.

So we started to head deeper in. We saw many fine things along the way, but the only drawback was that the crowd grew thicker and thicker, making it difficult to even walk! Suddenly, someone bumped my shoulder. I glanced over and saw it was a very stylishly dressed girl, so I didn’t think much of it. Before I could react, Bingbing suddenly cried out, “Brother Purple Sun! Where’s your robe?”

“Huh? What?” I looked down and saw my jet-black Demonic Dragon Set. The robe I had just bought was gone.

Over there, Red Moon also piped up, “Why is your red name glowing? It’s like a light bulb!”

“What?” I looked and jumped in shock. Not only was my robe gone, but my Shrouding Bracelet was missing too! “Damn it! That girl just now was a thief!”

Red Moon was already starting to laugh brazenly at my side. “Hahahaha! You idiot! Losing two items at once, talk about bad luck!”

I said to Bingbing, “You guys go on ahead. I’m going after my things!” With that, I charged after the woman.

The thief saw me running toward her and quickly sped up to escape. She weaved through the crowd, and the distance between us actually grew wider and wider! What kind of speed was that! Left with no choice, I had to summon Nightshadow. Although the city was too crowded to gallop freely, Nightshadow was at least faster than I was on foot.

Seeing I had a Mount, the female thief ran even faster. In this city teeming with people, I was stunned that I simply couldn’t catch her! Just as we neared the dungeon entrance, the thief darted past the gate guards. A guard’s obvious attempt to grab her was easily evaded. Although he failed to catch her, I could take comfort in the fact that the guards at least wouldn’t help a thief bully a red-named player like me! It seemed that theft, like having a red name, also increased one’s Evil Value!

The thief dodged the attack, and now it was my turn. I was already closing in on the guards. This wouldn’t do! “Spirit Herald Knights!” I bellowed. Ten Spirit Herald Knights formed up in front of me. “Break through the guards for me!”

“Yes, sir!” Almost instantly, all the Spirit Herald Knights formed a V-formation to clear a path for me. After dodging the guards, the female thief had turned back, intending to gloat at my pathetic state. To her surprise, my Spirit Herald Knights easily trampled the two guards and charged through. The thief was so scared she leaped up and bolted. To ordinary players, these Level 800 guards seemed incredibly powerful, but against Level 850 Spirit Herald Knights—and with the odds at ten to two—they were utterly powerless and were sent flying.

After breaking through the guards’ position, the Spirit Herald Knights stayed behind me to block the other guards who were giving chase. Fortunately, my sudden appearance as a major red name in the city had thrown the city guards into a bit of ‘chaos’. I had to get my Shrouding Bracelet back before they could organize an effective encirclement!

The female thief’s speed was truly something else! I chased her on Nightshadow from the city center to the east side and still couldn’t catch her! Right now, our situation was a female thief running at the very front, with a Knight in full black armor in hot pursuit (that Knight being me, of course). Right behind the Knight were ten identically dressed Knights, and behind them, a thousand of the city’s defense cavalry in neat formation. Such a large procession racing through the city terrified the populace. The thundering sound of hooves was like rolling thunder, making one’s ears go numb!

The female thief abruptly pulled a few girls into the middle of the road in an attempt to block our pursuit. Nightshadow took a small leap and flew over the heads of the girls, who were staring in panic at our menacing charge. Following my instructions, the Spirit Herald Knights behind me each pulled one of the three young ladies onto their horses. Thank goodness for super-NPCs like the Spirit Herald Knights; pulling someone onto horseback at a full gallop isn’t a move an ordinary person could pull off!

The three girls, now safe on horseback, looked at the Spirit Herald Knights who saved them with eyes full of stars! It was a pity my subordinates were all NPCs. It seemed the young ladies were destined for disappointment. Up ahead at a turn, a group of honest-looking young men were chatting about something. As I passed them, I shouted, “Catch!”

Before they could figure out what was happening, the Spirit Herald Knights behind me tossed the girls from their arms into the young men’s. The young men, who now had girls in their arms but were dizzy from the impact, couldn’t decide if they were lucky or unlucky. Getting to hold a few beauties who had been air-dropped to them probably made being knocked around worth it! The girls should be fine with those handsome guys to cushion their fall, right?

Meanwhile, Eagle and his group had just left the auction. As soon as they stepped outside, they saw everyone standing on the sides of the road, not moving forward. Eagle put Bailing on his shoulders. “What do you see?”

Bailing had just gotten settled when she saw a girl running down the main road at an incredible speed. The girl had barely passed when she saw me leading a troop of Spirit Herald Knights, charging past like a whirlwind. Then, the thundering of hooves came from behind. One look and she was nearly frightened out of her wits. Nearly a thousand cavalrymen galloped past at full speed in neat ranks. The immense vibration from over a thousand hooves striking the ground felt like an earthquake!

Bailing said, “I think that’s Purple Sun! He’s chasing a girl!”

Ah Wei exclaimed in shock, “He’s not fighting with Red Moon again, is he?”

Bailing said, “No! I don’t know that girl!”

Yuzhe said, “That’s not right! The sound from outside is like thunder; at least a thousand horsemen just ran past. Would Purple Sun really need such a grand procession just to chase a girl?”

Bailing said, “The ones in the back are a thousand of the City Defense Cavalry. Purple Sun’s red name is showing, so the cavalry are probably chasing him for being a red name!”

I was in hot pursuit when my private message suddenly pinged. It was a call from Eagle. I was too busy, so I only turned on the voice system. “Purple Sun! What are you doing! We were gone for a second and you’ve rustled up this huge lineup! Are you holding a protest march?!”

“How did you guys know?”

“I’d have to be deaf and blind not to! You just ran past us with over a thousand people in tow, causing a damn earthquake. How could I not know? What on earth are you doing? Even if she’s a beauty, you don’t have to go this hard!”

“What beauty! She’s a thief! I got robbed! The little rascal made off with my bracelet. Without that thing, how the hell am I, a red-named player, supposed to get by?! So tell me, should I be chasing her or not?”

“No wonder!”

“Cut the crap! Tell your Honey to come help me! Also, have Yuzhe ride your horse over here. I need a high-Agility class for backup!”

“You don’t need me?”

“The opponent is so fast, she’s clearly a high-Agility class. Our warrior types are useless here! Right, Bingbing is still in the dungeon. Go get her!”

“Alright.” After Eagle’s call disconnected, Bailing’s call came through. “Where are you? How do we find you?”

“Didn’t you say I was causing an earthquake! With this much commotion, there’s no way you can’t hear it! Just follow the sound!”

“Got it!”

In no time, Bailing and Yuzhe suddenly ‘cut in’ from a corner. “Hey! How does it feel chasing a girl?” Bailing teased me the moment she arrived.

“I’m covered in dust and grime, and you’re asking me how it feels? Watch out!” As I was speaking, a few more girls watching the spectacle were pulled to the ground. Nightshadow was already used to it; he knew to jump even if I didn’t shout. This was the nth time the little thief had pulled this trick. I only shouted to warn the newcomers, Yuzhe and Bailing.

Bailing was on a pegasus, so there was no need to worry; she soared over them with a single leap. The Blazing Sun next to her was, after all, a Unicorn, and its jumping ability was not to be underestimated either. The three Mounts leaped and landed in sync. The Spirit Herald Knights behind us did the same as before, scooping up one person each and tossing them into the crowd on the side. But this time, it seemed they missed one; a girl had not been pulled up! But I couldn’t worry about that now! It was too late to go back and save her. I could only pray that the City Defense Cavalry had good horsemanship and could avoid her! But that was almost impossible. With a thousand people charging past, it was inevitable that one or two would misstep and trample her!

The cavalry behind us did indeed leap into the air. It seemed the command to protect ordinary, non-red-named players was very strict. But as I was about to turn the corner, I saw a welcome sight. Apart from the front row of knights who flew over, some knights further back must have spotted her too late to jump in time. As a result, a knight took a tumble, triggering a chain reaction. A huge swath of cavalry created a massive pile-up!

“Hahahaha!” Bailing watched the cavalry miserably tumble into a heap and doubled over with laughter. “I never thought NPCs could be this hilarious!”

“Watch out!” Bailing was still laughing when several more people by the roadside were pulled down. Having not reacted in time, Bailing gave the wrong command, and she crashed head-first into the crowd, taking down a whole bunch of people! Bailing’s voice immediately sounded in the private chat. “Don’t mind me! You guys keep chasing, I’ll catch up in a bit! I got carried away! Ouch!”

Yuzhe said, “Running in circles around the city like this isn’t a solution!”

“Then what should I do?”

“Let’s split up. I’ll head over there to intercept her. We need to ‘force’ her out of the city!”

“Okay!”

Just as Yuzhe took off, Bailing caught up. “Where did he go?”

“We’re splitting up to surround her. We have to ‘force’ her out of the city! Without buildings and crowds, our mounts’ straight-line speed won’t be slower than hers! There are too many people here, and she keeps ducking into alleys where we can’t run fast!”

“Good idea!” Bailing said, then sped off in another direction.

At the next intersection, the female thief tried to turn, but Yuzhe suddenly appeared and blocked the way. As she turned around, Bailing’s figure appeared at the other intersection. Seeing me getting closer and closer, she had no choice but to run towards the city gate. The three of us converged and continued to press her. After blocking her path several times, we finally ‘forced’ her to the city gate. For some reason, the guards who were originally at the gate were gone! Don’t tell me they all went to chase me!

The female thief shot out of the city gate, and we, of course, followed in pursuit, with the thousand cavalrymen who had just picked themselves up right behind us. People who were about to enter the city saw a girl suddenly run out of the gate, followed by a thundering noise. A whole squadron of horses charged out majestically, scaring the people outside into a hasty retreat. Some who were already on the bridge were so frightened they fell into the moat!

Once the girl was out of the city, there was no more cover for her. After we chased her beyond the city’s defensive range, the cavalry all retreated back into the city.

The three of us spent a great deal of effort to finally surround the little thief. “Lucky! Xiao Feng! Little Dragon Girl!…” I summoned all my Magical Pets. With so many of us, there was no way we couldn’t catch her!

“Dismount!” I leaped off Nightshadow’s back and had Bailing and Yuzhe dismount as well. Now that the little thief was trapped, horse-type Magical Pets, which were fast but not very agile, were not of much use!

“Be smart and hand over the items. We won’t make things difficult for you!” I said in a low voice.

The little thief looked at me and suddenly rushed forward. Before I could process what was happening, I felt a sharp, needle-like pain in my shoulder. She actually ambushed me! My health dropped like lightning by over three thousand! Oh my god! What kind of attack power was that!

The female thief seemed surprised that I wasn’t dead. It wasn’t strange if you thought about it; I was wearing a full set of Divine Artifacts and still lost over three thousand health. An ordinary person would have been dead or at least skinned alive! By the time I came to my senses and prepared to retaliate, she had already shot more than ten meters away. How could she have such terrifying mobility!

Slipping past me, she made a mad dash for the city gate. It seemed she had realized that while the city was unsafe for her, it was even more disadvantageous for me! Nightshadow swerved in front of her, blocking her path. Without a shred of hesitation, the female thief slid on the ground and passed under Nightshadow’s belly. It looked like she’d used this trick to dodge NPCs in the city quite a few times!

“Rose Vine! Intercept!” I gave the command, and Rose Vine quickly grew into a wall in front of her. The thief tried to go around it from the left, but Lucky swooped down nimbly to block her path. She turned again, and Xiao Feng had already landed on the other side. With no other option, the female thief had to turn back. As she ran towards me, her hands weren’t idle. A volley of sleeve darts flew towards me. The Dart leaped up from the side and landed with four sleeve darts in his mouth.

Bailing rushed up and drew her bow. “Multiple Shot!” A shower of arrows like scattered blossoms from a celestial maiden densely covered a large area around the female thief, but she miraculously dodged her way out! Yuzhe appeared behind her like a phantom, chasing her at a nearly identical speed while slashing wildly. Without a second thought, the thief rolled on the ground. Yuzhe couldn’t brake in time and ran past, crashing right into me as I rushed over to help!

Yuzhe quickly helped me up. “This girl is as slippery as an eel! Do you guys have anything that can stop her?”

“I have an idea!” Bailing drew her bow again and pulled out an arrow with no arrowhead. She then fitted a strange-looking tip onto the bald shaft. “Advanced Homing Arrow! Thousand-Mile Freeze!” Swoosh! An arrow trailing a white mist shot out. The female thief performed several evasive maneuvers, but unfortunately for her, the arrow continued to follow her. Bailing shouted from our side, “It’s useless! Unless you die or the arrowhead hits its target, that arrow will chase you for the rest of your life!”

Yuzhe walked over and looked at the arrow chasing the thief in the distance. “What kind of skill is that? It’s too powerful!”

Bailing drew another headless arrow and fitted a tip on it. “It’s not a skill. That arrow is part of my special equipment! I only have two of these in total!”

Hearing this, I quickly grabbed the arrow in Bailing’s hand. “How can you waste your treasure for my sake!”

Bailing wrestled her hand free from my grip and shot the arrow anyway. “It’s fine, you think I’m that generous? These arrows return automatically. The cooldown is just a bit long, so I can only use them once per battle!”

“That’s a relief! I thought they were gone for good after being shot!”

While I was talking with Bailing and the others, a sudden explosion roared from the distance. The three of us looked up to see a giant block of ice standing not far away. “Whoa! So fierce!” I ran over to take a look. The female thief was completely frozen inside! The massive chunk of ice was like a crystal coffin, and the thief was frozen solid in mid-air, still in the posture of being blasted off her feet.

Bang! Before we could celebrate for long, the female thief inside the ice suddenly exploded into a puff of smoke, and a wooden log fell to the ground. “Substitution Jutsu!” Yuzhe cried out. “Isn’t that a Taoist’s Substitution Jutsu?”

Just as we were stunned by this sudden turn of events, a patch of turf nearby flipped open, and the female thief shot out and started running again. “What kind of person is this! How does she know everything!” I complained as I frantically commanded my heavy-hitting Magical Pets to swarm her.

As we were giving chase, the female thief suddenly turned, crouched, and pressed both hands to the ground. A pillar of fire shot along the ground toward me. “Scatter! Explosion Curse!” Yuzhe exclaimed in alarm.

The three of us immediately scattered. The pillar of fire quickly reached the spot where we had just been standing and exploded. Although we dodged ahead of time, the force of the blast still left us dizzy!

I leaped to my feet. The female thief over there was still giving me a provocative smile. “You forced my hand! I was going easy on you because you’re a girl!” I yanked off my left Heavy Gauntlet and pressed the red diamond on my Helmet deep into its socket. Putting the Gauntlet back on, I began to manipulate the fire diamond. Countless little red dots immediately appeared around me, floating in the air like tiny fireflies. The red dots began to grow larger, until each one became a red ball of light the size of a volleyball.

I quickly crossed my hands in front of my chest to form a hand seal, then lifted my head to look at the female thief. After a slight pause, I commanded, “Fire Toxin Bees, attack!” Over six hundred red orbs of light exploded simultaneously, and over six hundred giant Fire Toxin Bees appeared at once. These creatures, which had been curled up inside the light orbs, stretched their limbs the moment they were freed. Their bodies were over fifty centimeters long, and their red-and-black torsos were covered with weapons! Each Fire Toxin Bee had massive pincer-like mandibles, three pairs of scythe-like legs like a praying mantis’s, and in my opinion, those legs were far more effective as killing tools than for locomotion! Most terrifying of all was the over-fifteen-centimeter-long, dark-red stinger on their tails. The sight of that thing was enough to make one shiver! The sound of over six hundred giant insects in flight was like a large bomber, and the vibration in the air made the surrounding grass tremble erratically! But then, a problem arose! All the Fire Toxin Bees landed around me instead of attacking the female thief as ordered!

Yuzhe shouted from behind, “Purple Sun! Those aren’t Fire Toxin Bees!”

“What? Not Fire Toxin Bees?” I quickly summoned Phantom. “What are these things? Isn’t the fire diamond supposed to summon Fire Toxin Bees?”

Phantom paused for a moment and said, “They are summoned creatures, unlike Magical Pets and Demon Servants. I cannot communicate with them, so I don’t know why they were summoned! But I recognize them. These are Bee Dragons from the depths of the Death Swamp! They are Level ??? creatures that specialize in group activities, often attacking creatures two or three hundred levels higher than them! These things always travel in swarms, and their attack and speed are both incredibly formidable. In the Death Swamp, no Monster dares to provoke them. Even Level 700 Swamp Ghouls have to go the long way around if they see them! You likely summoned them because you set the fire diamond into a Divine Artifact, causing the diamond to evolve and produce something even more terrifying!”

“Got it! But how do I control them? I told them to attack just now, but it had no effect!”

“Perhaps you called them by the wrong name!”

“Oh!” I looked at the female thief again. “Bee Dragons! Attack!” The moment I shouted, a sound like an airplane taking off buzzed around me, making my eardrums throb! All the Bee Dragons immediately took to the air and charged at the female thief. The panicked thief retreated again and again, casually flinging a handful of sleeve darts to take down a few Bee Dragons. Unfortunately, there were far more Bee Dragons remaining. Moreover, the Bee Dragons that died didn’t fall to the ground but instead turned into small fireballs and suddenly accelerated toward the thief. The terrified thief scrambled and rolled to dodge the fireballs. The moment the fireballs touched the ground, they exploded. Although the explosions weren’t powerful, they ignited a large patch of ground!

Now I knew why these things dared to attack monsters of a higher level than them! Their suicidal fighting style was just too terrifying! They were determined to take their enemies down with them even in death!

The female thief performed a series of big leaps but was still grazed by the flames from a fireball’s explosion. The fire quickly spread to her clothes, and she frantically rolled several times to extinguish the flames. But the other Bee Dragons didn’t give up their assault. A dense swarm of Bee Dragons charged, and despite the thief’s astonishing Agility, her body was soon covered in wounds of all sizes. Suddenly, a Bee Dragon lunged at her neck and bit down. As blood spurted out, it was devoured mid-air by many other Bee Dragons. So these little demons also had Lifesteal! The thief had no choice but to stab the Bee Dragon on her neck with her dagger, but the slain Bee Dragon immediately exploded, setting a large area of her body on fire.

In no more than a minute, with a loss of less than ten of their own, the Fire Toxin Bees—no, Bee Dragons—had left the female thief on the brink of death. Bailing came closer and frowned, “What terrifying attack power!”

“More like a terrifying method of attack!” Yuzhe added. “Completely suicidal attacks that disregard all costs! An ordinary person would be scared to death before they even got hit! That kind of ferocity would scare anyone to death!”

“I surrender! I’m begging you! Please spare me!” a plea for mercy finally came from over there.

“Bee Dragons! Return!” I commanded. All the Bee Dragons immediately turned and charged toward my head, scaring me into thinking they were about to do something! But instead, they all crashed into the fire diamond on my helmet and vanished as if they had drilled right into it.

We warily approached the female thief. When we got close, we all unconsciously let down our guard, because anyone could see she was no longer a threat. The thief was lying on the ground, almost unable to move. Her clothes were long since reduced to tattered strips! Countless long stingers of all sizes were embedded in her body, pinning one of her legs completely to the ground. No wonder she begged for mercy. What a terrifying monster!

Bailing went up and tried to help her by pulling out the stingers one by one, but as soon as a stinger was pulled out, it exploded. Caught off guard, Bailing was knocked head over heels. Thankfully, the explosion wasn’t very powerful! “Whoa! Why does it still explode?!”

“Let me do it!” I went up and pulled out the stingers one by one, and not a single one exploded.

Yuzhe explained from the side, “This is to prevent the person who was hit from treating themselves, so the stinger is designed to explode when pulled out! But since they are creatures summoned by Purple Sun, nothing happens when he pulls them out!”

Just then, Eagle and the others arrived. “Brother Purple Sun! Did you get your things back?” Bingbing was the first to run over.

“There!” I pointed at the female thief on the ground, still impaled with a body full of stingers.

“Ah! How did she end up like this?” Bingbing jumped in shock. It wasn’t surprising; even I found the scene a bit too gruesome to look at! “So pitiful!” Bingbing’s indiscriminate kindness was acting up again.

She took out her flute, and everyone around her quickly covered their ears. “What are you doing?”

Bingbing looked at the people around her. “Playing a Song of the Sun to ease her pain!”

“Oh! Then go ahead and play!” Everyone finally lowered their hands.

Red Moon ran up and looked at the thief. “Wow! How could you do this to her! She’s a girl! Calling you a pervert isn’t wronging you at all!” As she spoke, she actually went up and pulled out a stinger, which, of course, resulted in another explosion!

It took me a long time to pull out all the stingers by myself. This female thief had been hit by at least five hundred of them. Thankfully, the stingers’ attack power wasn’t high, and she seemed to have been constantly taking Potions! The female thief reluctantly handed over the stolen items. “So unlucky today. What was I thinking, trying to rob you!”

“You have the nerve to say that? You made me chase you across nine streets, and my whole sightseeing plan is ruined!”

The female thief said, “What are those two items of yours? I didn’t even get a chance to look at their properties! In the past, people I stole from would give up after a short chase. Why did you chase me for so long?”

I let her see the properties. “Understand now?”

“No wonder! I was wondering why a thousand-plus cavalrymen were suddenly chasing me today. Stealing one little thing shouldn’t cause such a commotion! So it turns out they were after you all along!”

Chapter 17: The Temporary Salesman

“Hello, beautiful young lady. I am Soulless, a Spirit Herald Mage! It is an honor to meet you!” Ah Wei had popped out from who-knows-where.

“What’s he doing?” Bailing leaned in and asked.

I shook my head, looked up at the sky, and sighed. “Spring is almost here!”

“Oh!” Everyone nodded in unison, indicating they understood.

I pushed Ah Wei aside. Right now, I needed to figure out this female thief situation. “I have a lot of questions for you. Can you help me answer them?”

“I’ll answer your questions if you don’t throw me in prison!” The female thief actually started bargaining with me.

“Prison? I’m not a Bounty Hunter!” Although she offered to answer my questions, I still found it quite strange!

The female thief said in surprise, “You don’t know? After using the Steal skill, regardless of success or failure, there’s a one-hour wanted period. During this time, if the person who was stolen from captures me and takes me to the Prison, they can get half of my assets! So as long as you don’t take me back to town and hand me over to an NPC, I’ll answer any of your questions!”

“Alright, I won’t take you back.”

“Thanks! Then ask away!” The female thief seemed very relaxed.

“First, I’d like to know how to address you. My name is Purple Sun, what’s yours?”

“I know you’re Purple Sun. I saw your name when the theft succeeded! My name is Gold Coin!”

“A name that truly fits!” Bailing exclaimed.

“Okay, Gold Coin, I want to know why your Steal skill is so powerful. Although I don’t know what Steal is specifically related to, I’m sure it has something to do with both of our Luck stats. And my Luck is very high, which means it shouldn’t be easy to steal things from me! But why did you manage to ‘lift’ two items from me in a single try?”

Gold Coin actually started laughing. “That was just a coincidence! I rarely miss when I make a move, but this is only the third time I’ve ever gotten two items at once! I can only say it was your unlucky day!”

Her words made me feel quite awkward. To think I’d run into such rotten luck! “Alright then! I also want to know if you have some kind of top-tier equipment that boosts your speed. You were almost faster than my Mount! Your Agility is terrifyingly high!”

Without a word, Gold Coin directly shared the attributes of her shoes for us to see. “Cloud Rabbit War Boots (National Artifact): Defense 300, +7 Agility, +21 Base Speed, +300% Movement Speed, +50% Evasion Chance, +500% Jump Ability. Attached Skill: Wind Walk - doubles speed for one minute, one-hour cooldown between uses.” Bailing read out the stats. “Wow! No wonder we couldn’t catch up!”

Yuzhe also added, “It’s actually one of our country’s National Artifacts!”

I cut off everyone’s discussion. “Do you have any other pieces of this National Artifact set?”

Gold Coin shook her head. “If I did, I wouldn’t have been chased so miserably!”

“That’s true!” I nodded. “What exactly is your class? You know the Steal skill, Taoist arts, and that attack of yours earlier would have definitely killed a normal person! You really make me curious!”

Gold Coin smiled. “You make me very curious too! I have a dual class of Taoist and Assassin. That last attack was a self-created skill that combines the Taoist’s Magic Attack Art and the Assassin’s Assassination Art. This move of mine has always been invincible; I can even insta-kill HP tank warriors. Yet you just took it head-on, and from your unflustered expression, it either means you have excellent PvP experience and are confident in yourself, or my attack was still a long way from reaching your limits!”

I smiled back. “I don’t have much PvP experience. Although your attack did a lot of damage, if you want to take my life, you’d probably have to stab me another three or four times!”

“A monster HP tank, indeed!” Gold Coin muttered.

“That’s not right! I’m not an HP tank! Though I do have a lot of HP, I mainly rely on high defense. In reality, your attack only took away a little over three thousand of my health. For a normal warrior, three thousand health isn’t necessarily fatal!”

“Your defense is that high?”

“Isn’t your attack even more terrifying? Even with my high defense, you still took off three thousand of my health!”

“That’s different!” Gold Coin argued excitedly. “My self-created skill is called Desperate Strike. Although its attack power is incredibly high, after using it, my Mana drops to zero and my defense is halved! Plus, I’m stunned for one second after hitting a target. You were just too surprised earlier and missed your chance. Otherwise, this move of mine has always meant that when I use it, someone is guaranteed to die—either my opponent or me!”

“It seems there’s no such thing as a perfect skill! High risk comes with high attack power!” I felt that while Gold Coin’s skill wasn’t perfect, its power was still incredible. It could handle most one-on-one duels! “Right! You’re a dual-class Taoist and Assassin, but I’ve never heard of Assassins having the Steal skill. Isn’t that a Thief’s skill?”

“I learned it secretly!” Gold Coin took out another ring and showed us its attributes. I read what I saw aloud for everyone. “Eagle Eye Ring: 0.1% chance to learn a skill used by an enemy. Wow! What an amazing attribute! Too bad the success rate is a bit low!”

Gold Coin put the ring away. “Not only is the success rate low, but the restrictions are many! It requires the opponent to be in combat with you, and they have to use the skill on you successfully at least twice for there to be a chance to learn it. Also, the skill must succeed when they use it on you! Take this Steal skill, for example. I had a Thief help me practice. He stood face-to-face with me and tried to steal from me for four days straight before I finally learned it!”

Ah Wei sighed. “If only I could learn that Desperate Strike of yours!”

I kicked him aside again. “She has to use it successfully on you twice for there to be a chance to learn it! If she used Desperate Strike on you, you’d be gone in one hit, let alone two! It’d be more likely if I were the one learning it!”

“Hey! That’s right!” Eagle suddenly smacked his right fist into his left palm. “You should borrow this ring and learn that Desperate Strike. With your attack power, using that move could absolutely insta-kill even a dragon! In the future, when you go to Japan, you can use this move to catch them by surprise and insta-kill their guy wearing the National Artifact, and snatch Japan’s National Artifact back. They’d never expect someone to be able to insta-kill a person fully equipped with a National Artifact in one hit!”

“It’s a good idea, but it’s time-consuming! Gold Coin might not agree!”

Hearing our conversation, Gold Coin immediately jumped up. “Who said I wouldn’t? Someone is willing to stand still and let me practice my skill, and I wouldn’t agree? Wouldn’t that make me a fool! When do you want to learn it, right now?”

“Not today. We’ll talk when I have time; I’ll contact you. You can go for today!”

“Then I’ll be off! Be sure to contact me! I was just worrying about how to level up this skill of mine!” Gold Coin ran off cheerfully. She was such a bright girl. Although she wasn’t stunningly beautiful, she had a great personality. I suddenly thought of Red Moon again. The two of them were truly like heaven and earth!

I had finally gotten my things back and all my questions were answered, so there was no need for me to waste any more time here. I definitely wasn’t in the mood to continue shopping. We discussed it, and I said I was going to level up. Eagle and Bailing said they would join me. Bingbing and Red Moon, of course, wouldn’t leave my side. Seeing that no one was shopping anymore, Yuzhe had no choice but to come with us. It was very dangerous for a Ninja like him to be in the city alone! As for that love-struck fool Ah Wei, he had run off after Gold Coin earlier. I really couldn’t stand him!

Our leveling spot was the Dark Forest outside the City of the Lost. Everyone was extraordinarily powerful with high attack stats, so we specifically sought out high-level monsters to grind. The afternoon passed quickly, and everyone made good gains. Especially me, who killed monsters the fastest yet had the lowest level among the group. In one afternoon, I had reached Level 321, leveling up a whole eight times! No wonder they say leveling is fast when you party up to kill monsters!

Because I had to go to my dad’s place the next day, I told everyone I wouldn’t be online for the next few days and logged off. Early the next morning, I drove to the research base. Dad wasn’t there; the person who met me was a chief researcher at the base.

“Where’s my dad?” I asked upon reaching the office.

“The President has business to discuss, so he asked me to relay his message.” The researcher typed something on the computer on his desk and then turned the screen towards me.

My dad’s face appeared on the screen. “Son, you’re here!”

“What’s the big idea, tricking me into coming here so early just to run off yourself!”

“Didn’t I say I was busy! If I had time to wait for you at the base, I wouldn’t have gone myself!”

“So what is it?” I asked.

“Didn’t I mention last time that our country is about to launch a major operation?”

I nodded, leaning closer to the screen excitedly. “Tell me! What operation?”

“I’m not the operation commander. How would I know such a national secret!” Dad was shamelessly whetting my appetite!

“Aren’t you a delegate to the National People’s Congress? You don’t know anything, so why did you ask me to come here?”

“I don’t know anything, but the military gave me a research plan and ordered a lot of things. Today, we have a meeting with them, and I need someone I can absolutely trust who also understands the company’s technology to negotiate with the military representative. That’s why I called you!”

“Alright! Where do I need to go?”

“Here!” Dad’s face shrank to a corner of the screen, and a map appeared in the middle.

I stared at it for a long time. “This is Shanghai! What am I going there for?”

“Remember Base No. 3 under New Nanjing?”

“Don’t tell me there’s one under Shanghai too!”

“That’s right, there is one!” Dad said smugly. “And it was built even earlier than the one in Nanjing! The military representative will arrive at noon. You need to give him a tour of our company’s new products and provide a simple introduction. For some items, you can even demonstrate them so he can see their actual operational effectiveness! You can decide on the specifics yourself!”

“Wait a minute!” Seeing that Dad was about to cut the connection, I said anxiously, “I don’t know anything yet! What’s a suitable price to sell those things for? I haven’t even seen any of the products, how am I supposed to introduce them?”

“The information has been sent to your car’s computer. You can look at it on the way! I had no choice! I was originally hoping you could go yesterday!”

“Fine!” After hanging up, I quickly said goodbye to the chief researcher and drove towards Shanghai. Once on the highway, I pressed the ‘auto’ button in the center of the steering wheel, and the GT8000 immediately entered autopilot mode. I loaded the data from the car’s computer, put on a simple helmet, and began studying the new product information. Although these high-tech products were very technologically advanced, I was just playing the part of a salesman. I only needed to memorize the technical parameters; it wasn’t like I had to build them myself!

Just as I finished reading the data, the computer prompted that I had reached the highway exit. What a hassle. If only the autopilot worked on regular roads too! Not long after getting off the highway, I arrived at the location indicated on the car’s GPS map. There was a large complex of buildings here, and the entrance was actually inside a military base! I was stopped by the guards at the gate. I rolled down the fully reflective window—from the outside, it was impossible to see in!

A soldier walked over and saluted. “Miss, this is a restricted area. Please show your identification to enter!”

“Ugh! What’s with your eyes!” I handed him my identification card.

He scanned it with the card reader at the gate and handed it back to me. “My apologies! You may enter!”

As I drove past, the guard was still muttering. “She’s clearly a woman, so why does her ID card say male? Have I been in the army for so long that I can’t even tell men from women anymore?”

I had no time to pay attention to what these grunts were muttering about. I drove straight into the entrance of the underground tunnel, passing two more checkpoints along the way. It really was a sentry every five steps and a post every ten! By the time I rushed into the underground base, the military representatives had already arrived. A dozen senior researchers were receiving them.

I quickly parked the car and hurried over. As I approached, I took a quick look at the arrivals. There were seven of them in total. The leading officer looked to be in his fifties. I couldn’t read military ranks, so I had no idea how high up he was! Behind him, on his left and right, were two slightly younger officers. ‘Young’ was relative to him, of course; one of them looked to be around forty, and the other was about twenty-five or twenty-six! The four behind them were clearly guards of some sort, so I didn’t pay them much attention!

I went up and directly shook hands with the officer in the middle. “Hello, I am Shen Lin, the Executive President of the Dragon’s Fate Group’s technology department!” This Executive President title was something my dad had forced on me to get me to work. I’d had it twice before, but each time it was a different position. This time, I was using this title mainly because the people we were receiving were of a relatively high rank, so sending someone too ordinary would seem disrespectful!

“May I ask why the President of Dragon’s Fate Group, Shen Jianguo, didn’t come?” the youngest officer asked first, his tone seemingly laced with dissatisfaction. This guy was really impatient, speaking up before his superior had said a word! “We’ve brought a contract worth several hundred billion. What’s the meaning of sending a woman?”

Before I had a chance to explain, the officer in the middle shook my hand first. “Hello, I am Lieutenant General Yan Lei, the head of the General Armaments Department. Did you just say your surname is also Shen? There aren’t many people in China with this surname! Are you and President Shen Jianguo…?”

Ginger really does get spicier with age! “I am his son!”

“Oh!” The lieutenant general smiled and shook my hand again, this time more firmly. “I’ve never heard any news about President Shen’s successor! You all do a fine job of keeping secrets!”

“It’s not about keeping secrets! I’m an only son, and my father doesn’t want me to be harmed by the outside world, so he has always kept my identity low-profile!” I steered the conversation back on topic. “Would you like to have a meal first, or go directly to see the products?”

“Let’s skip the meal. I’m eager to see the goods!” The lieutenant general was clearly a straightforward person. Talking to someone like him made things feel a bit more relaxed!

“Then please follow me!” I began to lead the way. When we reached the elevator, I suddenly stopped and turned to the lieutenant general. “May I ask who these gentlemen you’ve brought with you are…?”

“Oh! My apologies! I got too excited and forgot to introduce them.” He pulled the forty-something officer over. “This is Colonel Shi Lin from the National Security Bureau.” He then turned to the other side. “This is Major Jiang Kai from the Political Department. The four behind them are my guards!”

I politely shook hands with Colonel Shi but deliberately ignored Jiang Kai. “The area below is a classified facility. It would be best if Lieutenant General Yan and Colonel Shi came down with me!” I turned to a company employee next to me. “Could you please take these gentlemen whose security clearance is insufficient to the lounge to wait!”

Jiang Kai’s face turned livid with anger, but I couldn’t be bothered with him! I led the lieutenant general and the colonel into the elevator. After passing through seven or eight complex identity verifications, the elevator finally began its descent. It went straight down for three hundred and fifty meters before stopping.

The moment they stepped out of the elevator, both the lieutenant general and the colonel were stunned, because the underground space here was simply too vast. It was a huge, empty area. We were currently on a spiral staircase in the middle of the room. The staircase had many levels, mainly to facilitate observation of the weapons tests in the center from different angles.

I shouted “General” three times before he came back to his senses. “How did you build this! How much earth did you have to excavate for such a large place?”

“This base wasn’t built all at once. Initially, it was less than a third of its current size. It was renovated and expanded three times to get this big. It’s now mainly used as a testing ground for advanced weaponry. Apart from aircraft and nuclear weapons, which we can’t test here, everything else is no problem.”

The colonel also came to his senses, looking down at the ground below and sighing. “It must be over a hundred meters deep down there, right?”

I glanced down. “174 meters. We’re on the middle level; it’s just as high above us.”

“So high!” the general exclaimed.

I took two electronic procurement proposal forms from the secretary behind me and handed one to the general and one to the colonel. “What would you two like to see first? I can do a live demonstration of anything except for aircraft. This spreadsheet has all the product codes suitable for procurement, along with simple descriptions. The prices are at the very end. You can click here to see simple image data. If there’s anything you like, you can tell me and I’ll do a physical demonstration right away.”

The general looked at the page counter at the bottom. “The list alone is over 200 pages. I’m afraid we won’t be able to finish reading it in a short time!”

“No problem! Aren’t you two staying here for a few days before heading back? We don’t need to rush.”

The colonel, however, immediately held up the list and pointed. “Could you show me this electromagnetic tank, model number TZ-01?”

I turned and told a staff member to bring it out for a look. Before the tank was towed in, I said, “Let’s go down and see it. A tank isn’t very dangerous; we don’t need to stand so high up!”

“That’s just what I was thinking!” Like a child waiting to see a new toy, the general excitedly led the way down. Then again, for these decision-makers, these tools that protect the lives of soldiers were no different from their toys!

By the time we reached the bottom, the tank had already been brought in. The blue-gray behemoth looked very intimidating. The general and the colonel couldn’t resist stroking the tank’s outer shell. I provided timely commentary from the side. “The shell is a special alloy, formed by a single press. Although repairs are a bit more troublesome, its durability is absolutely top-notch. The frontal main armor can withstand multiple hits from kinetic weapons up to 155mm caliber at a distance of 200 meters. The side armor can withstand multiple hits from kinetic weapons up to 135mm caliber at a distance of 400 meters.”

The colonel looked at the cannon barrel again. “Isn’t this cannon a bit too long?”

“A 180mm caliber railgun is just like this! Since it’s a vehicle-mounted railgun, we couldn’t equip it with an overly large transformer, so we had to lengthen the barrel to ensure the projectile’s exit velocity. New things always have their flaws! But I guarantee that in terms of power and accuracy, it’s a whole tier above gunpowder-propelled weapons. And because the shells don’t need propellant, their volume can be much smaller, which means we can carry a lot more of them!”

“Can I see a live-fire test?” the colonel asked.

“Prepare the target!” Three armored plates were erected one thousand five hundred meters away. Each plate was 50 centimeters thick, with a 10-meter gap between them. “Begin firing!”

The cannon barrel immediately emitted a sharp charging sound. Five seconds later, there was only a soft ‘pop’, followed by a massive roar from ahead. I jumped onto the tank. “Let’s go over and have a look, and check out the tank’s mobility at the same time!”

The general quickly said, “I’ll just take the commuter vehicle. These old bones of mine can’t handle being tossed around!”

The colonel, however, immediately jumped up. “Alright!”

The tank instantly rose half a meter and then charged towards the target. The colonel asked, “Can it fire on the move?”

I opened the top hatch and spoke to the person inside, “Fire while moving, load explosive armor-piercing shells!”

The tank’s cannon immediately boomed twice in succession. I said proudly to the colonel, “How do you feel? A firing rate of one shot every five seconds is three seconds faster than America’s M1A2 SEP TUSK I!”

We quickly reached the target. The towering armored plates had been blasted apart in the middle. The general also caught up quickly, saying excitedly, “This tank of yours is pretty fast! The commuter vehicle couldn’t even keep up with you!”

“This thing’s road speed is 130 kilometers per hour. Of course the commuter vehicle can’t catch up with it! Are you satisfied with this machine? This railgun is the world’s first to be put into practical use!”

“There’s nothing to criticize about the cannon and the mobility!” The lieutenant general nodded in approval. “But what about the fuel consumption? We need to consider overall performance. If this thing is a gas-guzzler, won’t it just add to the logistical burden?”

I shouted to the crew inside the tank, “Open the engine compartment!” With a hiss of depressurizing air, the cover at the rear of the tank tilted upwards, revealing a very conspicuous symbol inside.

“Nuclear-powered?” the colonel couldn’t help but exclaim.

I walked over, grabbed a protruding handle, turned it three times, and pulled. A canister the size of a thermos liner was pulled out by me. “Fusion electromagnetic reactor. It’s driven by these tritium rods. One is enough for seven or eight years. We usually prepare two, so if one is depleted or damaged, it automatically switches to the other. Convenient and safe!”

“What made you think of using nuclear power?”

“Don’t be fooled by how fast this thing runs; it actually weighs 82 tons! If it ran on diesel, you’d have to prepare an oil pipeline to drag along with it! Isn’t nuclear power safer? Fuel is more prone to exploding, whereas tritium rods are much safer!”

“That’s true!” The colonel seemed to agree with my point.

The general said, “Let’s note this down as one of the preliminary selected products. By the way, I forgot to ask, how is the fire control system?”

“Aside from missing a mosquito, I guarantee it can shoot down a fly if you ask me to!” I said, half-joking.

The general seemed to be asking casually. After all, everyone knew about Dragon’s Fate’s computer technology. Using such good computers for a fire control system was naturally a piece of cake! “The abbreviation ‘TSSFTA’ on here… does it stand for ‘The Soldier’s Special Full-body Tactical Armor’?”

“So it’s a bulletproof vest?” the colonel offered his own interpretation.

“No, no, no! This is a far cry from a bulletproof vest!” I instructed the staff to remove the tank and bring out the TSSFTA. A moment later, a trailer carrying a row of robots over two meters tall drove in. I pointed them out to the general. “This is the TSSFTA. We call it ‘Iron Armor’.”

“So many?” The colonel looked them over and found that no two were the same.

I began to explain. “This is a series. The first is the Iron Armor Assault Type, the second is the Heavy Firepower Suppression Type, the third is the Anti-Air Combat Type, the fourth is the Beyond-Visual-Range Sniper Type, the fifth is the Search and Support Type, the sixth is the Unmanned Iron Armor, and the seventh is the Iron Armor Riot Control Type. This stuff is really only for special forces. Equipping the entire army would increase their combat effectiveness by several hundred times, but the price is too high. Even if we sold it to you at cost, you’d at most be able to assign one per platoon!”

The colonel seemed very interested. “Equipping the entire army is impossible, but forming a few special combat divisions shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“That I don’t know. This thing costs at least three hundred thousand per unit. You’ll have to plan it out yourselves. I know our country’s military budget isn’t huge!”

While they were discussing the feasibility, I jumped into an Assault Type Iron Armor myself. I opened the front hatch and climbed in. The limbs of the Iron Armor were just right for my own, but the design was a size larger than a person. My hands were actually above the Iron Armor’s elbow joints, and my feet only reached its knee joints. Closing the hatch, I controlled the Iron Armor to jump down from the trailer. It felt quite simple. The control technology for this thing clearly had traces of Zero, using direct brainwave control and data feedback! It seems that everything from Dragon’s Fate wasn’t so simple!

The general and the colonel were having a hard time making a decision, but then they saw me jumping around and playing. The Iron Armor had drive wheels under its feet, like inline skates, and it was very fast! I tested it and it seemed to have an air-cushion device, allowing it to perform short-distance jumping flights. I demonstrated it for the general. The machine could leap up to about 100 meters in a single jump, and then use its air-cushion jets to slowly descend while moving forward!

In the end, the general couldn’t resist the temptation and decided to discuss it with the central command. However, seeing the way he was practically drooling, he was definitely going to buy it. Whatever, the more he bought, the more I could boast to Dad and maybe even swindle an Iron Armor for myself!

Chapter 18: National Artifact Crisis

The general and the lieutenant colonel watched the performance for three whole days. In the end, the general directly approved a procurement contract for 130 billion, with another 180 billion contract pending discussion with the central command. I was only able to finally relax after seeing the general and lieutenant colonel off at the airport. After standing ramrod straight and following General Yan around for three days looking at equipment, my back was about to break! I never would have thought that soldiers picking out weapons were no different from women shopping for clothes! The Lieutenant General and Colonel had tested almost everything we had over these past three days. If it weren’t for Dad’s instructions and the several-hundred-billion-dollar procurement plan in his hands, I would have bailed long ago!

After seeing the general off, I hurried back to the base office to contact Dad and ask for my reward. Although I look like a girl, I’m a guy at heart. What boy wouldn’t want these kinds of guns and cannons? I wouldn’t have said anything if I didn’t have the means, but since I did, there was no way I was going to let this opportunity slip by.

“Son! Is everything taken care of?” Dad’s background was actually a mountain forest.

“All done! A deal for 130 billion was sealed on the spot, and there’s another 180 billion that will take some time to be finalized, but I guarantee it won’t be less than 100 billion!” I patted my chest with full confidence. “Oh! Right, where are you? Why does it look like a tropical rainforest behind you?”

“I’m in the simulated ecology base. All these plants behind me are being prepared as the first batch for space colonization! What do you think?” Dad picked up a huge, red-colored object. “This is a new fruit I’ve grown. It’s a bit big, but it tastes great! Want me to bring some back for you?”

“No, that’s fine! I want what you promised me, right now!” I had to strike while the iron was hot, get Dad all flustered so it would be easier to wheedle things out of him.

“You’ve already found something you want so soon?” Dad paused, then suddenly exclaimed, “You don’t have your eyes on something from the experimental base, do you?”

I didn’t answer, just smiled. Dad immediately understood what I meant. “I’m warning you! None of that messy stuff!”

“What counts as ‘messy’ stuff?” I wanted to see if my target was on Dad’s list of prohibited items first.

“Biological weapons are off the table!”

“I’m not a terrorist, what would I do with that stuff?”

“No nuclear weapons!”

“Does nuclear power count?”

“Nuclear power? Just how big is the thing you want?” Dad looked a bit troubled.

“Not big, not big at all! It’s not even as big as my car!” That was the truth. The Iron Armor weighed two and a half tons in total and was only about 2.3 meters tall, so it wasn’t bigger than a car!

“Just tell me what it is already! I’ll see if it’s possible!” Dad asked impatiently.

“The TSSFTA Iron Armor!”

“Oh, that thing!” Dad pondered for a moment. “If you really want it, you can have it, but some parts will have to be removed! Get Dr. Wang on the line, I’ll talk to him.”

“Okay!” I immediately dashed out, ran to the laboratory, and dragged the chief researcher, Dr. Wang, back to the office.

Dr. Wang stumbled into the office after me. “He’s here!”

Dad said to Dr. Wang, “Wang Xing, I need you to modify an Iron Armor for Shen Lin.”

“No problem. How should I modify it?”

“Just remove all the weapon systems for me!”

Dr. Wang said with astonishment, “But that’s everything! Without the weapons, this Iron Armor is just an empty shell!”

I ran over and said, “If all the weapons are removed, can I install some other things onto it?”

“What do you want to install?” Dad looked at me, a sense of dread creeping up on him, afraid I was about to ask for the moon.

“I’ve tried the cockpit of that thing, it’s way more comfortable than my bed. Can I integrate the Zero game helmet into it?”

“That’s a small matter.” Dad turned to Dr. Wang. “As long as it’s not a weapon, just help him install it. I’ll transfer the costs to you from my personal savings.”

“Understood!” Dr. Wang said to me, “Let’s go, let’s put this big guy on a diet!”

“A diet?” I didn’t understand what he meant at first, but I got it after I saw a mountain of parts being dismantled from the prototype Iron Armor by a large group of staff! The prototype, which originally weighed 2.73 tons, was stripped down to a mere 0.97 tons. I walked over and knocked on the metal plating, which produced a hollow clang. “Is it all empty?”

Dr. Wang looked at me as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “This is a military combat robot. Besides the weapons, what else would be left? The drive system and computer aren’t that big!”

“Damn! What a rip-off!” I was only now realizing I’d been had. If the original Iron Armor was worth ten million, this current version was worth five hundred thousand at best! No way, I had to make up for my losses. “Alright, everything that needed to be removed is gone. You guys can start installing the things I want.”

“No problem. I’ve got everything here. Just tell me what you want.”

“First, help me install this.” I pointed to a machine on a nearby shelf.

“A Molecular Illusion Device (which is an invisibility device)? What do you need this for?”

“Don’t worry about it, just install it! And this.” I brought over a powerful thruster. “It doesn’t even weigh a ton right now. It should be able to fly with this installed, right?”

“It should!” Dr. Wang directed the installation while watching me haul more things over.

“This one.”

“A Reinforced TBD Force Field Generator? What are you planning to do?”

“Don’t worry about it! Just install it!” To be honest, I was just looking at the price tags. Whatever was most expensive, I was having installed. “Okay, I want this, this,… this one too, and this one!”

“A Bio-Detector? An Electromagnetic Anomaly Detector? A Supercomputer?…” Ten hours later, Dr. Wang and a group of researchers were lying on the floor, leaning against the wall, foaming at the mouth as they stared at my modified prototype Iron Armor. My new super toy was now worth ten million RMB in total, and that was just the cost price! Haha! I finally came out on top! It was now the most advanced toy in the world. What satisfied me most was that after three hours of coercion and persuasion, Dr. Wang helped me install a stun gun. Having no weapons at all just didn’t feel right! Finally, I used a platform scale to weigh it. 1.3 tons. It seemed these things were expensive, but not very heavy! Because there was so much empty space, Dr. Wang had consolidated all the components, which resulted in an extra storage box on the back of the Iron Armor!

What satisfied me most were the Molecular Illusion Device and the Wireless Connector. The Molecular Illusion Device could disguise the Iron Armor as anything. I could even make it look like a car and drive it around on the road, and people would just think it was a car. As for the Wireless Connector, its main function was to allow the game helmet inside the Iron Armor to connect to the network wirelessly at any time. In fact, the helmet itself wasn’t changed at all. The original helmet in the Iron Armor was identical to the one used for Zero, it just had two operating systems installed!

“Bye-bye!” I placed the Iron Armor on the roof of my car and drove out of the base. The Molecular Illusion Device demonstrated its effectiveness perfectly. Even though it was lying right on my car roof, no one could see a thing. To them, there was nothing but air!

I drove back, eager to test out my unorthodox game pod. Getting it back into my dorm was quite an ordeal. The Iron Armor was a bit big. Although it could barely fit through the hallway, I would definitely bump into people on the way (people would surely walk right into the invisible mech), and my piloting skills weren’t great. It would be bad if I knocked down the staircase! In the end, I decided to go in through the balcony. Even though the slimmed-down Iron Armor still weighed over a ton, it could be considered as light as a swallow relative to its power!

I managed to jump onto the balcony in one go, but I accidentally bent the railing. It took me a long time to straighten it back out. It was still bent and twisted, but it would have to do! I ran into the dorm room. Ah Wei was actually out! Why wasn’t this guy here? Whatever. I turned off the invisibility function, activated the network connection antenna, and got ready to enter the game!

“Purple Sun!” Someone sent me a private message as soon as I logged in. From the sound of it, it was Eagle, and he seemed pretty anxious.

“Eagle! What’s up?”

“We found a player who wants to sell some equipment.” Eagle’s voice really did sound urgent.

“So he’s selling. So what? You want it? Then just buy it! Don’t tell me you’re broke? I don’t have any money to lend you. Last time, Bingbing had to spot me some cash just so I could afford that set of disguised Mage Robes! I only have a little over three hundred Crystal Coins on me right now. You can have it if you need it, but that’s all I’ve got!”

“I’m not trying to borrow money from you! Do you know what he’s selling?”

“What is it? Could it be better than my Divine Artifact set?”

“He’s selling one of China’s National Artifacts!” Eagle’s voice was starting to crack!

“What? A National Artifact? Where?” Now I was getting nervous. To think we’d run into the second Chinese National Artifact so soon!

“The auction house in the center of Goddess City! Hurry up and get over here. There are a few Japanese players hanging around. It looks like they know they won’t get their own National Artifact back, so they’re trying to dismantle ours instead!”

“Have you made contact with the seller?”

“Haven’t seen him! He’s supposedly a mage, name’s Great Necromancer! The auction house staff said the equipment was delivered yesterday morning. We’ve been looking for you everywhere but couldn’t find you. Even Ah Wei has gone missing!”

I calmly considered the situation. “Then I won’t head over for now!”

“What are you doing?” Eagle sounded even more anxious.

“Once an item is submitted to the auction house, it can’t be taken back for any reason. So unless the auction fails, the only way to get it is to pay up! If I go over there, I’ll just be worrying with you guys. I can’t help!”

“Then what are you going to do? You can’t just do nothing, can you?”

“I’m going to find some money!”

“Huh?” Eagle didn’t understand what I meant.

“I’m going to find the money to buy it!” I explained again.

“The item’s stats have been posted. I saw them. It’s worth at least 500,000 Crystal Coins!”

“Damn! Isn’t that an astronomical price!” I complained. “Why is it worth so much? What is it? What are its stats?”

“It’s a piece of Taoist equipment, the Heavenly Lord Battle Robe. Defense 700, doubles all Taoist spell damage, 50% resistance to elemental damage, 25% faster mana regeneration, and comes with the skill Heavenly Aegis (auto-defense, absorbs 30% of damage). A Taoist wearing this can stand and trade blows with a warrior! Also, you remember that Gold Coin we met last time, who had the Cloud Rabbit War Boots?”

“What about them?”

“This robe and those boots are a set! They’re both part of the Heavenly Lord series!”

“Damn! Then we absolutely have to get it! I’ll go figure something out!”

“Okay, but you have to be quick. The auction starts tomorrow night!”

“Got it! I’ll do my best!” After cutting the connection, I began to rack my brain, trying to figure out what to do. Exchange real money for in-game currency? Dad had already told me, absolutely not another cent invested in the game. Once you start, there’s no stopping it! Earn it in the game? How? I was already deep in debt myself! Don’t tell me I have to go into business to make money! But what kind of business could I do to earn enough money in such a short amount of time?

As the saying goes, rarity creates value. What was both rare and important? The answer was obvious: equipment and Magical Pets. I remembered talking with Eagle and the others about Magical Pet eggs before. They had said those things were incredibly rare. Even a trash-tier Magical Pet was worth over ten thousand Diamond Coins. In that case, I wondered if I could make a lot of money capturing and selling some Magical Pets!

I quickly opened a private message to Eagle. “Hey, Eagle! Do you know what level of Magical Pets are popular right now?”

“Why are you asking?”

“You said the Magical Pet market is tight. I’m thinking of catching some to sell!”

“That’s right! How could I forget! Aren’t you really good at capturing Magical Pets?”

“Just tell me already!”

“I don’t know exactly what level is most popular, but it’s certain that the higher the level, the more sought-after they are. We’re in a hurry, so we don’t have time to haggle. That means we can’t sell pets that are too high-level; they’ll be hard to sell quickly if the price is too high! Besides, it would be difficult for you to capture them. In my opinion, well-rounded Magical Pets around Level 500 would definitely be very popular.”

“What do you mean by ‘well-rounded’?” He was confusing me!

“It means they have balanced stats. For example, most of your Magical Pets aren’t the well-rounded type. Although they’re great, fewer people will buy them! Take your Dart, for example. Its speed is a clear specialty, but its other stats aren’t as good. So, the people who would buy that type of pet are a niche group! We need money fast, so we have to pick something that everyone likes!”

“Alright! Alright! I’ll figure it out myself!” I quickly cut off his explanation. The more he talked, the more confused I got! “You guys should help me find some potential buyers first.”

“Okay!”

Around Level 500! Let’s see, that would be the mini-boss type Magical Beasts around the cities! I directly teleported to the plains outside Goddess City and headed straight for the high-level monster area deep in the grasslands. Goddess City was also one of the three major system capitals, so there were an incredible number of players around! Thankfully, I now had this set of disguised Mage Robes worth 10,000 Crystal Coins and the Shrouding Bracelet on my wrist. In the eyes of ordinary players, I was just a run-of-the-mill mage. If there was anything conspicuous about me, it was that this Mage Robe was a bit fancy, and I couldn’t hide my face anymore, as the robe even concealed the effect of my Cloak!

Under the astonished gazes of the surrounding players, this phony mage, me, sprinted deep into the plains. Occasionally, some monsters would come to harass me. I usually just ran around them, but the players behind me were left dumbfounded. They had never seen a mage with such high Agility. Moreover, sometimes when I got hit a few times by a monster, I would just continue rushing forward as if nothing had happened. What squishy mage would dare to run with their head down like that without a shield up!

As I was running, it suddenly occurred to me: what would I do later when catching the Magical Beasts if they ran all over the place! I had always caught them in mountain forests before. This was my first time trying to capture one in an open field. I really didn’t want to chase a Magical Beast in a marathon!

Looking at the small leveling parties around me, I suddenly had a great idea. “Hiring bodyguards for a high price!” I could find a group of people to act as temporary shepherds. They might not be good enough to kill the monsters, but surrounding and herding them shouldn’t be a problem, right? As long as they could drive the Magical Beast I designated to my vicinity, it would be much easier for me to make my move. At least it would be better than me running around foolishly by myself!

The moment I finished shouting, the people around me all swarmed over. Whoosh—I was surrounded like a dumpling! Everyone was clamoring!

“How much are you paying?” a man with a high-pitched voice shouted.

“How many people do you need?” a deep male voice asked.

“For how long?” There was even a girl’s voice!

“What monster are we killing?” This one was a young man!

“Cash up front?” A merchant, for sure!

A large crowd surrounded me, bombarding me with all sorts of questions! I quickly raised both hands to signal for quiet. “I’m heading deep into the plains to face monsters around Level 500. Also, I only want teams, no individual players, thank you!” This was intentional. Team members have better coordination. If I just cherry-picked elites from the crowd, their combat power might be higher, but their teamwork would definitely be a complete mess!

After hearing what I said, a good number of players dispersed. Some were solo players, while others felt that Level 500 monsters were a bit too high-level and still very dangerous even in a team. Besides, just because we were in a team didn’t mean the monsters would be alone!

Seeing that there were still quite a few people left, I continued laying out my conditions. “I have something urgent to do, so we need to work through the night, starting immediately. We might be at it very late today, and we’ll have to continue tomorrow morning. We won’t be finished until 4 PM tomorrow afternoon!”

Someone nearby said, “It’s just an all-nighter at most. What gamer hasn’t pulled an all-nighter once or twice!” Although he said that, some people were still unwilling, and another group left.

Not many people were left now. Seeing them clearly separated into three groups, I knew they were originally three separate teams. I continued, “If all three of your teams are in, I’ll hire all of you. This task requires a lot of people. I’m offering a total of three hundred Crystal Coins. How you split it is up to you. Any items dropped during the mission are yours to split; I won’t interfere. However, you’ll be responsible for your own Potions and equipment repair costs. I’ll pay fifty Crystal Coins when we start, another fifty when we log off tonight, another fifty when we log in tomorrow morning, and the rest will be paid in full upon completion.”

When I said this, the people around me started counting heads. It was obvious they were all calculating how much they could get. The team on the far left had five people: two male warriors (warrior, archer, mage, and so on are general terms here, as the game’s class system is too detailed to recognize everyone’s specific profession), a female elf archer, a female white mage, and surprisingly, a rare male Priest! The team in the middle had four people: a female warrior, two male Dark Mages, and a male swordsman. Heh, completely inverted roles! The team on the far right was a six-person team: three male elf archers, a female Priest, a female Taoist, and a woman in a Mage Robe holding a Two-handed Sword, making it hard to tell what her profession was! That was fifteen people in total. Per head, each person could get twenty Crystal Coins. That was a pretty high income!

“I’m going to capture Magical Beasts to make Magical Pet eggs. Failure is not your concern. For every success, each person will get an extra two Crystal Coins. Your task is to help me drive the Magical Beast I choose into an encirclement, and then you just have to make sure it doesn’t escape!”

“Not a big problem! We’ll take it!” The male Priest from the first team actually stepped up to speak. It seemed he was the leader. I had initially thought one of the two warriors was the leader!

The female warrior from the second team also stepped forward to accept the task. The leader of the third team was surprisingly the woman with the unclear profession. They also agreed to do it. It seemed the temptation of twenty Crystal Coins was quite strong!

“Since everyone agrees, hurry back and prepare. Stock up on Potions and everything. I’ll wait for you here. I’ll give you twenty minutes. Anyone not back by then will be considered to have given up the task!”

Hearing this, the people around me immediately formed their own circles to discuss. Soon, each of the three groups sent a representative back to town to purchase Potions and repair equipment in bulk. The third team had too much to carry, so they sent two people back. The rest began to wait with me.

Waiting around was naturally boring. The leaders of the three teams, acting as their representatives, started chatting with me. “Are you an Auxiliary Profession?” the one with the unclear profession asked.

“No, I’m a combat profession!”

“Then isn’t it very difficult for you to capture Magical Pets?” the female warrior from the second team asked. “Nowadays, even people who specialize in capturing Magical Pets have a hard time succeeding. You’re not even a specialist, so isn’t your chance of success very low?”

“I’m just giving it a try!” I didn’t want to reveal too much to people I had just met. “You guys don’t have anything to lose anyway! Oh, right, this task seems pretty tough. Why did you all accept it? I thought no one would take on such a dangerous mission! The penalty for dying and losing a level here is very severe!”

The male Priest said, “For the amount of money you’re offering, I’d do it even if you told me I’d definitely lose a level!”

“A lot? Are twenty Crystal Coins per person a lot?” I had calculated it based on Longyuan’s standards. The daily salary for the lowest-level official employee at the Dragon’s Fate Group was 180 RMB. Giving them twenty Crystal Coins was 200 RMB. I actually didn’t think it was a lot at all. I arranged it this way because I only had a little over 300 Crystal Coins left. I couldn’t afford any more! “That’s the minimum standard for the Dragon’s Fate Group!”

“My heavens!” the female warrior exclaimed. “How could we compare ourselves to people from Longyuan! Longyuan’s salaries are famously high. Otherwise, why would people be scrambling to get into the Dragon’s Fate Group! The salary of even the lowest-level employee at Longyuan isn’t much less than a manager’s at other companies! For us low-level employees at small companies, our daily salary is only around seventy-something yuan. You’re giving us twenty Crystal Coins, which is 200 RMB. That’s three days’ pay for me!”

“I’m still a student. This is the first time I’m actually getting paid to play a game,” the woman with the unclear profession added. “I used to have to exchange real money for Potions and pay for game time cards. You’ve solved my problem. I won’t have to eat steamed buns every day this month!”

Her comment made everyone laugh. The very cute female Taoist from her team behind her put an arm around her and said, “If my older sister runs out of money, just come find me. I’ll treat you to instant noodles. It’s better than steamed buns, anyway!”

“Hahahaha!” Everyone laughed even more heartily, but I was the only one feeling anxious! If I couldn’t scrape together enough money this time, China’s National Artifact might very well be snatched away by the Japanese. This was no laughing matter. Losing this item during a National War would be almost like having our country’s flag carried off by the enemy! My Capture skill was indeed a high level, but accidents could always happen. What if I failed to catch any Magical Pets? I needed a backup plan!

Robbery? A good method, but risky! This plan could only be executed once. If the Japanese managed to get ahold of a Chinese National Artifact, they would surely want to take it back to Japan to show it off. But if they found out someone was trying to steal it back and they believed they couldn’t get it back to Japan, they would definitely resort to the next best thing: never logging on again, ensuring that the Chinese players could never get that National Artifact back! No matter how I thought about it, it was unsafe! Besides, what if the Japanese logged out immediately after buying it? It seemed the only way was to prevent them from buying it in the first place. This was an all-or-nothing gamble!

While I was stewing in my own worries, the others were having a lively chat. From the looks of it, they were getting more and more familiar with each other! That was good, too. The more familiar they became, the better their coordination would be later, which would mean less trouble for me

Chapter 19: A Miniature Adventure

In the distance, two people ran toward us, waving their hands. I knew without looking that they were from the group of the player with the unknown class, because their entire team was running over! His teammates were quite something; one of them ran over with a large bundle on his back.

“Boss, I’ve sent that Mage Staff of yours to the Auction House,” the male Elf Archer who had run the errand was likely reporting to her. “It should fetch a good price.”

Two more people ran back from that direction. It seemed all three teams had regrouped. I waited for them to distribute their items amongst themselves, then began to rally everyone to advance deeper into the grasslands. The grass here grew exceptionally thick; I had never seen such a dense prairie!

At first, it was fine. The grass was only a little higher than our ankles. But the further in we went, the taller the grass became. An hour later, we were wading through chest-high weeds. I couldn’t figure out how grass could grow so tall! One good thing about the depths of the prairie, however, was that the grass wasn’t as dense as it was on the outskirts. Otherwise, with grass this tall and thick, we could have forgotten about making any progress at all!

A female Archer walking behind me tapped me on the shoulder. “Do you hear anything?”

“A sound?” I stopped and listened carefully for a moment, but heard nothing. “No!”

The female White Mage from behind walked over. “You Elves have long ears. We didn’t hear a thing!”

The three male Elf Archers raised their hands in unison. “There really is a sound!”

“Why can’t I hear it? Are Elves’ ears really better?” I began to look around, but still found nothing.

The female Elf had already nocked an arrow. “Over there!” The other male Archers followed suit, drawing their bows. Just then, I faintly heard something too. Listening more closely, it sounded like something was rustling the blades of grass as it walked over them.

“I hear it too!” The people around me started noticing the sound one by one. Something was really coming!

“I think I saw something!” one of the male Elf Archers said.

“I saw it too!” another Elf confirmed. “It’s coming this way. Everyone be careful, the target is huge!”

Suddenly, something in front of us leaped high into the air and landed right before us. The four Archers released their arrows at the same time, but it happened so suddenly that all four shots missed. One arrow even flew straight up into the sky, then fell straight back down, nearly nailing me in the head! After a moment of chaotic stumbling, everyone finally recovered from the shock of the monster’s sudden appearance. I watched helplessly as they bumped into one another! What a highly skilled team this was!

Everyone faced the monster as if it were a formidable foe. The warriors stood in a trembling line at the front, Archers provided cover from behind with drawn bows, and the mages, of course, hid in the back. Although, judging by its leaping ability when it first appeared, I didn’t think standing in the back was necessarily safe!

“What is this thing!” The male Priest stared blankly at the creature before us.

“It should be a rabbit!” some girl answered. I didn’t have time to see who.

Another girl’s voice followed. “Isn’t it a bit too big?”

“Yeah!” Everyone unanimously agreed with her.

“Who has the Identification Skill? Appraise it!” someone finally made a constructive suggestion.

“I do, wait a moment!” I volunteered. Now was the time to show my usefulness. After Appraising it, I nearly fainted. “Prairie White Rabbit, an ornamental animal, no attack power!”

“Tch!” A collective groan of disappointment came from the crowd as they lowered their guards, but still, no one dared to get closer.

The player with the unknown class cautiously approached and patted the monster before us. It didn’t react, only glanced at us. Seeing that there was indeed no danger, the others finally dared to come near. The male Priest walked over and said, “Does the appraisal just say it’s an ornamental white rabbit?”

“Of course!”

“But it’s way too big!”

I nodded in complete agreement, looking at the giant white rabbit before us, which was no smaller than a rhinoceros! “This thing must weigh at least a ton! Why would the game company make such a huge ornamental white rabbit? Could it be a bug?”

“A bug? That’s possible!” I also felt that this super-sized white rabbit was terrifyingly large.

Just as we were studying the rabbit’s size, it suddenly leaped up and ran off with incredible speed. “Get down! Airstrike!” I wasn’t sure which idiot shouted that, but I instinctively dove out of the way. A large number of people behind me also hit the deck, and the few who didn’t react were pushed down by those next to them. A massive black shadow suddenly swept over our heads. I managed to twist my head to look; it was a golden eagle, but this one was no smaller than Lucky!

I quickly used my Identification Skill and told the person next to me, “Prairie Golden Eagle, an ornamental creature!”

“Are you kidding me!” The people next to me complained as they dusted themselves off.

“Don’t you all think there’s something strange about these things?” I asked, watching the already distant golden eagle.

The player with the unknown class nodded in agreement. “It is very strange. I’ve seen these golden eagles before; there are a lot of them in this area, but this one is just too big!”

“Exactly! It’s like a bomber!” the male Priest agreed.

“Monster!” A shriek suddenly came from behind again.

“What now?” I quickly turned around, only to see a massive creature that looked very much like a centipede. I say it looked like a centipede because I had never seen one as thick as a water bucket. The visible part of its body was at least three meters long, and since its tail was out of sight, there was no telling its total length! “Get out of the way! It’s a Venomous Centipede, a Level 0 Monster!”

I had Appraised the monster’s attributes, but I didn’t understand why a Level 0 creature would grow so large! The centipede suddenly lunged at me. I quickly retreated, tossing out a compressed Fireball. It was a direct hit, but the effect seemed minimal!

Fortunately, a rain of arrows from the Archers arrived as support, but the effect was less than ideal. The centipede’s hard shell seemed to provide excellent protection. The female White Mage began to cast her magic; a binding spell easily immobilized the monster! But it quickly broke free, startling the female White Mage, who dodged several times before escaping!

“Are you sure you identified that right? That thing looks like it’s at least Level 500! There’s no way it’s Level 0!” An Archer had run up next to me at some point. “My Level 400 Archer’s Piercing Shot actually bounced off. How could this be a Level 0… Duck, it’s coming again!” Before the Archer could finish, he pushed me to one side and rolled to the other. The great centipede charged right between us!

“Super Bomb!” The two Dark Mages finally unleashed their combined attack. A Magic Missile, almost as big as the centipede itself, flew towards it. The Dark Mages’ attack power was the highest of all classes, and this powerful move they had spent so much time on was even more formidable. After the Magic Missile hit the centipede, dazzling arcs of electricity erupted, and with a loud boom, a small mushroom cloud rose into the air!

After the smoke cleared, everyone saw the centipede twitching and struggling on the ground. Its midsection had been blown away; it seemed the attack had been quite effective! The two Dark Mages wiped sweat from their brows simultaneously. “Are you sure that was a Level 0 monster? That move we just used was for dealing with Level 600 monsters. Using it together once completely drained our Mana! Isn’t this Level 0 monster a bit too strong?”

“How would I know!” I was also anxious. Suddenly, it occurred to me that The Dart might be suitable for scouting ahead for us. His level wasn’t easy to discern, so they wouldn’t suspect me! “The Dart!” I began the summoning. With a thunderous crash, a monster several times larger than the rabbit from before appeared beside us, scaring us into scrambling away. But the monster just chased after me, reaching me in less than a second. I backed away in fright, but the monster didn’t attack me; it just followed me!

Wait, why does this guy look so familiar! There was a golden collar hanging around its neck, and on closer inspection, there were words on it. “Guardian Collar: The Dart?” Isn’t this what I gave The Dart? Could this behemoth be The Dart? A closer look confirmed it. Apart from its absurdly large size, this was The Dart.

The male Priest next to me cautiously approached. “Another ornamental one?” The Dart’s appearance was rather cute, so it was no wonder he made the mistake. Besides, after the experience with the giant white rabbit, this seemed quite normal!

“I think it’s my Magical Pet!”

The male Priest stared at me. “What do you mean, ‘you think’? You don’t recognize your own Magical Pet?”

“I recognize him, but he wasn’t this big before!”

“You mean…” We both thought of a very absurd but highly likely possibility at the same time! “We’ve shrunk!” we both shouted together.

“What are you guys talking about?” The people behind us began to murmur among themselves.

“We may have shrunk!” I said to the female warrior who had asked. “Ever since we entered this area, the grass around us has been getting taller. In reality, it’s not the grass getting taller, but us getting shorter! And that giant white rabbit from before was just an ordinary rabbit. It looked bigger because we had shrunk. You see, this is my Magical Pet! He used to be about the size of a small dog, and I always carried him on my shoulder. Look at him now!”

“No way!” The people around clearly didn’t believe it.

The player with the unknown class said to a girl next to him, “Where’s your Demon Servant? Don’t you have a little Furball pet? Summon it and see!”

“Oh! Fluffy, come out!” The female Priest began to summon her pet Demon Servant, and indeed, it appeared, but as a super-sized furball! The giant Furball suddenly leaped towards the female Priest, who quickly dodged in terror. “No! Don’t…” The poor female Priest was already pinned underneath the Furball, with only her two arms sticking out, twitching spastically!

Seeing everyone’s strange looks, the female Taoist nearby explained, “Every time she summons it, she lets the Furball jump into her arms. It’s probably become a habit!”

“At least it’s now proven that we’ve really shrunk!” The male Priest watched helplessly as a group of people frantically tried to move the Furball off the female Priest!

“We couldn’t have shrunk all at once. We were shrinking little by little on the way here, which means the thing that’s shrinking us has been following us all along!” the player with the unknown class analyzed our current situation.

In this situation, I could no longer hide my strength. “Xiao Feng!” At my call, Xiao Feng appeared beside us. Even in his pet form, the current Xiao Feng still looked to be over two meters tall (from our perspective). “Xiao Feng, scout the area for any high-level Magical Beasts. Let me know if you find anything.”

“Got it!” Xiao Feng soared into the sky and transformed into his battle form. The sunlight was suddenly blotted out; Xiao Feng’s wingspan now looked no smaller than a football field! After circling high in the sky for a while, Xiao Feng descended again. “There’s nothing!”

“That’s impossible! Could it be underground?” I muttered to myself. The people behind me were already scared silly. “Rose Vine.” The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck, and a massive head emerged, looking around. “Down here!” I yelled from below. Rose Vine lowered its tentacle-like head and finally noticed me.

“Search underground for me. See if anything is hiding down there. Dig up everything in the soil,” I ordered. Then I turned to Xiao Feng. “You go up too. Rose Vine’s digging will disturb anything in hiding. Take another careful look.”

“Understood!” Xiao Feng took to the sky again, and Rose Vine dove into the ground like it was diving into water.

“Are these all your Magical Pets?” the male Priest asked, looking at me.

“Yes, I rely on my Magical Pets to get by!” Since I had been exposed anyway, it was easier to explain by claiming to be a Beast Tamer.

Rose Vine was indeed fast. The surrounding earth was immediately overturned, and countless small Magical Beasts were flushed out. Suddenly, there was a huge noise, and a clod of earth flew up and headed straight for us. Xiao Feng swiftly dove down and blocked it. “Master, Rose Vine has driven out the enemy!”

“What the heck is that?” I jumped a few times to get a better view of the thing in the distance. In that short time, we had shrunk even more. The grass was now over our heads, and we couldn’t see what was happening outside at all! “Lucky!” I called out my most reliable assistant. “Go help!”

Lucky immediately pounced towards the target, while I climbed onto The Dart’s back. “Xiao Feng, you go help too!” I turned to the team members behind me. “All of you find a place to hide for now!” Then I directed The Dart to carry me towards the battle so I could command it from the scene.

The monster before us was basically a bull, or to be precise, a three-eyed white water buffalo! Comparing its size to Lucky’s, it should be over three meters tall (without a reference point after shrinking, I couldn’t estimate its exact size), quite a bit larger than a normal bull!

It looked like this fellow was of a high level! Lucky charged up and grappled with it. Both were brute force types who specialized in physical attacks, and they started a contest of strength as soon as they met. The great water buffalo tried to gore Lucky with its horns, and Lucky parried the attack with its two front claws. But unexpectedly, the buffalo’s third eye suddenly shot out a beam of light. Lucky seemed to have been heavily injured, crying out as it rolled to one side. The great water buffalo wasn’t about to let such a good opportunity slip by. It immediately struck the classic bull pose: head down, pawing the ground, and snorting. This thing was about to charge!

“Little Dragon Girl!” It seemed the opponent’s level was too high; fewer numbers might not be enough to control it! “Use a formation to seal its third eye!”

“Understood!” Little Dragon Girl ascended into the sky and began to cast her spell.

I continued to command Xiao Feng. “Wall of Fire, block its attack!” A massive wall of fire quickly separated the water buffalo and Lucky. Rose Vine suddenly emerged from the ground and wrapped around one of the buffalo’s legs, but the buffalo broke free in just a few struggles.

It seems this isn’t working! “Nightshadow! Go help!” Nightshadow swiftly charged over and slammed into the water buffalo’s side. And what do you know, Nightshadow’s first time goring someone with its horn was quite effective. A hole was immediately gored into the great water buffalo’s body. Nightshadow didn’t get greedy; it hit and ran. The water buffalo spun around violently to gore Nightshadow, but Nightshadow had already pulled away!

“Xiao Feng!” I ordered, “Light up everything around it, roast it alive!” In an instant, a large patch of the grassland was set ablaze. Since we were in a Party, we were immune to the fire, so it didn’t affect us. But the great water buffalo was not having a good time. No matter how high its level was, it couldn’t withstand continuous burning!

Suddenly, the great water buffalo gave up chasing Nightshadow. It had realized that it couldn’t match Nightshadow’s speed, so it switched targets, and that target was me. Fortunately, I was on The Dart’s back. With a few leaps, The Dart put a safe distance between us. Heh, a numbskull that can’t even catch Nightshadow wants to chase me and The Dart! I summoned Phantom to launch some interference attacks. “Get on its back, just stop it from running at full speed!”

“Got it!” Phantom mounted it with ease, and the beast immediately started twitching. Nightshadow’s troublemaking skills were really getting better and better!

“Lucky? What’s wrong?” We had circled around to Lucky’s side. He seemed to be badly injured. What was that thing just now? A powerful dragon taken down in a single hit! I looked with a heartache at the scorched mark on Lucky’s chest! “You should go back and rest!” I recalled Lucky; he had lost his ability to fight!

The water buffalo was now chasing Nightshadow in a frenzy. Although its straight-line speed was also very fast, its poor turning ability meant it couldn’t catch up to Nightshadow at all. But we couldn’t just keep this up! I had shrunk a little more by now. If this continued, would I shrink into nothingness?

There was no time to waste! “Spirit Herald Knights!”

“KILL!” A resounding reply thundered from above my head! Couldn’t these guys be a little quieter!

“That bull up ahead! Butcher it for me!”

“Understood!” The leader of the Spirit Herald Knights gave the order. “Long Spears ready! Throw!”

In less than ten seconds, the ten Spirit Herald Knights had thrown all thirty of their Javelins, and surprisingly, every single one hit! Now I understood how they had used javelins to build a cage back then! The great water buffalo was impaled with thirty Long Spears, looking like a porcupine. The blood flowing out had already stained its white fur red. “What level is this thing! Still not dead after thirty spears!”

I had just been muttering to myself, but to my surprise, Little Dragon Girl descended to answer my question. “He is the Mount of Shiva, one of the three main gods of India! By rights, he should be considered a Level 850 monster!”

“No way! He has a backer! Is that Shiva very powerful?”

“Shiva is a main god; he’s not on the monster level leaderboard. My father, the Dragon God, is on the same level as Shiva. You can think of them as super Level 1000 monsters!”

“So I’ve turned his Mount into a porcupine… he’s not going to come settle the score with me, is he? This is terrible! I’m doomed this time!”

“It should be fine. Lucky might be able to beat him in the future. Lucky is a Dragon King, so he should also be considered a super Level 1000 boss. You don’t need to worry!”

“Lucky has such a prestigious background!” I already knew Lucky was a Dragon King, but I didn’t know he had the potential to be a super Level 1000! “Aren’t you a descendant of the Dragon God? Will you also become a super Level 1000 divine beast in the future?”

“I can’t! I’m just Level 1000. Super Level 1000 divine beasts are specially designed; I’m not fated for that! Watch out!” I was so busy talking that I didn’t notice the great water buffalo was charging over again!

“Spirit Herald Knights! Mince him into beef filling for beef buns for me!”

“As you command! Spirit Herald Knights, charge!”

“KILL!” The ten Spirit Herald Knights immediately surrounded it. The long struggle had already depleted a lot of the damned water buffalo’s health. Now, with ten Spirit Herald Knights of the same level attacking it at once, no matter how much health it had, it was taken down instantly!

Rose Vine suddenly emerged from the ground beside me. “Phantom! What is it saying?”

“It says to summon Lucky. It has a way to heal his wounds!”

“That’s great!” I quickly brought out Lucky, but he was still lying on the ground, unable to move.

Rose Vine placed one of its tentacles on Lucky’s wound, while on its other side, several tentacles suddenly shot out and enveloped the water buffalo’s corpse. With a series of crunching sounds, the great water buffalo’s corpse was broken down into countless fragments. The seeping blood was quickly absorbed by Rose Vine, and a red light immediately flashed on Lucky’s wound. In a short while, Lucky got back up. Although the scorched mark was still there, it no longer affected his movement!

“I didn’t know you had this trick up your sleeve!”

“Ah!” A scream came from behind me. I turned around to see a beautiful girl staring at our side with a shocked expression. All the Spirit Herald Knights and Magical Pets turned their heads to look at her.

The girl was probably frightened by the scene before her. The area was now scorched black, with smoke still rising from many spots, clearly having just been burned. In the middle of the field, the Spirit Herald Knights were gathered around a pool of blood, while Lucky and Rose Vine were still busy with the healing! Xiao Feng was perched on Nightshadow’s back, and a dragon was circling overhead! Anyone seeing such a spectacle would likely be dumbfounded!

I had intended to ask the girl her purpose for being here, but she just ran right past me! I was initially annoyed, but then I realized it wasn’t her fault. It was normal for her not to have seen me, being so small! I estimated I was barely bigger than a bee right now!

The girl ran straight up to the Spirit Herald Knights. “Who’s in charge here?”

The Spirit Herald Knights didn’t answer, but all looked at their leader.

“You’re the leader? Which Guild are you from?”

Of course, the Spirit Herald Knight couldn’t understand her real meaning, so the Knight commander replied, “We are of the Dark Shrine!” The Spirit Herald Knights were knighted in the Dark Shrine; they belonged to the forces of darkness, so claiming to be from the Dark Shrine was entirely correct!

The girl, however, misunderstood his words. “Dark Shrine? A new Guild? Not very famous, huh? I have heard of The Holy Light See, though!” This Holy Light See the girl mentioned was a Guild formed by players, but its name made the Spirit Herald Knights misunderstand!

“You’re one of the See’s people!” The Spirit Herald Knights simultaneously drew their swords. These guys were mortal enemies of the clergy! Even after following me, they wouldn’t have a good attitude towards Priests and the like!

“I’m not! I’ve just heard of them!” The girl had no idea she had just walked along the edge of death’s door! “Did you guys just kill a big white bull?”

“We did!” the Spirit Herald Knight nodded, admitting it.

“Then where’s the corpse?” the girl asked anxiously.

“It ate it!” The Spirit Herald Knight pointed at Rose Vine.

The girl looked at Rose Vine. “It must have dropped some equipment, right?” The girl still seemed to hold a sliver of hope.

Items? Hearing the girl say that, I remembered to check my Spatial Bracelet. Because this item could automatically pick up loot, any items from monsters I killed would drop directly into my Bracelet. I hadn’t paid attention earlier, but now I looked and saw there really was something. I took out an item that looked like a token, but as soon as it came out, it suddenly grew in size and fell to the ground! Sob~ an I’m not shrinking anymore even though the bull is dead!

“Huh! How did it get here!” The girl saw the “huge” token I couldn’t lift and ran over. “Why can’t I pick it up! There’s still a protection timer on it!” I had just looted the item, so there was still a three-minute protection timer on it!

After a few failed attempts, the girl turned her attention to my side, or more precisely, to The Dart. “Oh, what a cute little fox! What’s your name?” The girl raised her head and shouted to the Spirit Herald Knights who were still standing there foolishly, “Whose pet is this?”

Standing on The Dart’s back, I yelled, “He’s mine! MINE!”

The girl saw me, but she clearly didn’t see me well. “How come there’s a flea! This game is so realistic.” With that, she reached out to grab me!

Just as the girl was about to catch me, a series of pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop… sounds erupted, and I suddenly returned to my original size. From the pile of grass behind me, a large group of people appeared like a human pyramid, and cries of pain filled the air! “I’m finally back to normal!” I jumped up with joy. The girl, on the other hand, stared in astonishment at the dozen or so people who had suddenly appeared before her!

Chapter 20: Those Indians

“I’m finally back to normal!”

“That’s great!”

A clamor erupted behind me as everyone celebrated returning to their proper size. The young lady in front of me just stared in bewildered astonishment at the group of people who had popped into existence.

“You…! Who are you people?”

“My name is Purple Sun!” It seemed I couldn’t count on the group behind me. “Hello!”

“Oh! Hello, my name is Shura Ziyi!” The girl seemed to be slow on the uptake, as if her mind hadn’t quite caught up yet. “What are you…?” She pointed a wavering finger at us.

I didn’t answer her question, asking instead, “What did you want with that cow?”

“Right!” The girl suddenly snapped out of her daze. “The cow! Did that cow drop anything?”

I picked up the Token from the ground. “Just this. It’s a big, dark iron plaque. I haven’t had it Appraised, so I don’t know what it is.”

The girl’s eyes lit up as she stared at the plaque in my hand. “Are you selling this?”

“This thing?” I glanced at the plaque. “I haven’t had it Appraised yet, so I’m not planning to sell it for now. I’ll decide what to do after I get it identified!” I knew this girl was fully aware of what this thing was for; she was clearly here for this very plaque. But I had no intention of just handing it to her! “If you want it, wait until I get it Appraised. If I don’t need it, I’ll sell it to you!”

The girl said directly, “There’s no need to Appraise it. I’ll buy it from you for one hundred thousand Crystal Coins!”

“Let me think about it!” For this girl to offer a hundred thousand Crystal Coins so readily, she was either so rich she didn’t know what to do with her money, or this item was priceless! “You’re offering this price without knowing anything? What if it’s a piece of junk? Wouldn’t you be taking a huge loss?”

“I know its stats. One hundred thousand Crystal Coins isn’t a bad deal for you! I really need it, and I’m in a hurry, so you’d better sell it to me now!” The girl kept glancing into the distance. It looked like someone else was after this thing, too!

I suddenly had an idea—perhaps my fundraising plan could be realized right here! All I had to do was stall for time until the people chasing her caught up, then I could let them start a bidding war. I might just be able to make a small fortune! “I think I’ll get it Appraised first and see. I’m very curious myself why you’re willing to pay such a high price for this thing!”

The girl said anxiously, “Then let’s go get it Appraised quickly!” She handed me a Return Scroll. I knew she was afraid we’d run into her pursuers on the way back, but that was exactly what I was hoping for. “It’s not that far to a town from here. Let’s just walk back! Using a scroll is expensive, what a waste!” Haha! The young lady’s face was flushed with anxiety! Or maybe it was with anger!

“If I don’t care, what are you fussing about?” The girl looked like she was about to explode!

“Stop right there!” A group of people finally appeared in the distance. My timing really was perfect!

Just as I was looking at the crowd, I felt a sudden pain in my chest. “Ouch! You ambushed me!” This girl must have been driven mad with desperation, resorting to robbery when a sale failed! The moment I cried out, the players I’d hired swarmed forward, forming a protective barrier between us. They were hired as bodyguards, after all. So far, they hadn’t been any help at all and had only been a burden, so they were quite embarrassed. Now that they had a chance to be useful, they certainly weren’t going to miss it!

“What do you think you’re doing?” I scrambled up, pretending to be furious as I shouted at the girl. In reality, I didn’t care about her attack at all; I’d guessed she might pull a stunt like this! “You’re trying to rob me!”

The girl didn’t answer my question, staring at me in shock instead. “How are you not dead?”

“Nonsense! No matter how useless I am, I’m not so weak that you can one-shot me!” I was still pretending to be in pain, ‘rubbing’ my chest. In truth, my chest was completely fine. The Demonic Dragon Set was basically armor; as long as it wasn’t pierced, I wouldn’t feel much! But since I was wearing a Mage Robe, I had to put on a show.

“I used a skill just now! Aren’t you a Mage?”

“What’s wrong with me being a Mage?” How did this girl know I was a fake! “You can tell my class just by looking at this Mage Robe!”

“The skill I just used was Mana Blast. Its main effect is to consume the opponent’s Mana and deal damage equal to double that amount to their health. As a Mage, your Mana should be higher than your health! My attack should have killed you instantly!”

I glanced at my own Mana and health bars—neither had budged. “There’s no effect? Your skill probably failed!” I knew it was the Demonic Dragon Set’s magic resistance at work. The attack hadn’t done anything!

The group of people from behind finally reached us. Whoa, they were dark! And they had large turbans wrapped around their heads. So, they were Indians! Why was everyone so keen on coming to the China server lately? The leading Indian walked over and said, “Hello, may I ask if you have obtained the plaque that dropped from the Divine Cow?” His Chinese was as awkward as it could possibly be! What a cheapskate. It would have been much better to spend a little money to hire a system translator! (In Zero, conversations weren’t automatically translated, but you could hire a system translator for a fee. The translation was simultaneous and charged by time—convenient and affordable!)

“It’s with me!” I brandished the dark lump. “What about it? Don’t tell me you want to buy it too?”

“Don’t sell it to him!” the girl behind me shouted excitedly. “That’s an Indian National Artifact! If they get it, they’ll have something to counter us with when the National War between India and us starts! If you’re Chinese, sell it to me!” The girl seemed to have lost her composure, otherwise she wouldn’t have blurted out the item’s true significance. Still, I admired her, and I suddenly felt my earlier behavior was quite petty. She was spending her money for the good of the country, and I was actually thinking of extorting her! How shameful!

The Indian player smiled. “We will offer a high price, as long as you are willing to sell! This whole National War thing is just for fun. It’s no fun if it’s not fair! Go on, name your price. We’ll pay in cash!”

The girl gritted her teeth and said, “One hundred fifty thousand Crystal Coins, that’s all I have! You have to think carefully!”

The players I’d hired were also looking at me. Their expressions made it clear they didn’t want me to sell to the Indians either! When it came to Japan, there might be a few Scum who worshipped everything foreign, but when it came to India, which was inferior to China in every way, the solidarity among the Chinese was remarkably high!

I turned to the girl and said, “Catch!” I tossed the plaque to her. She caught it, staring at me in astonishment, at a loss for words. I turned back to the Indian, whose face had turned green with rage, and spread my hands. “Sorry, fellas, highest bidder wins! And no amount of money can buy a Chinese heart! That’s a price you can’t afford!” Seeing that the Indian looked about to resort to force, I waved a hand at my Spirit Herald Knights. “Don’t just stand there gawking, time to work!”

The ten Spirit Herald Knights ran in neat formation and stood before the nine Indian players. I dare you not to be afraid! Including our pets, we had over thirty on our side. You only have nine. We could bury you with sheer numbers! Besides, I refused to believe anyone at this stage could take on a Level 850 Spirit Herald Knight one-on-one!

Everyone laughed as we continued deeper into the grasslands. Each of my mercenaries came over and clapped me on the shoulder. “Well done! A true Chinese! It’s worth risking our lives for you!” It sounded great, and hugely satisfying to my vanity, but getting my shoulder slapped with such passion by a dozen people in the same spot was a bit much! If not for the Demonic Dragon Set, my shoulder would probably be swollen by now!

“Wait!” Shura Ziyi caught up. “You should hold onto this!”

“What for?” I gripped the Token, not understanding what she meant. “Don’t you want it badly?”

“That’s because I didn’t know what kind of person you were. I was afraid you’d sell it to those Indians! Since you’ve already proven you wouldn’t sell it to them under any circumstances, there’s no need for me to have it. It’s safer with you anyway!” She smiled at me, and for a moment, I thought I was looking at an Angel! What a sunny, enthusiastic smile!

“No need to be so modest. Just let us hold on to it for you!” The Indians suddenly reappeared beside us, but this time, there seemed to be more of them! Behind him were more than forty other Indians. It seemed he hadn’t started a fight earlier because his reinforcements hadn’t arrived!

“I knew we couldn’t avoid this fight!” the player with the unknown class jumped out. “All of you, remember this: the Chinese are not to be trifled with! Brothers, charge!”

“Hack’em to bits!” The group of temporary mercenaries charged forward just like that!

“Is there a need to be so dramatic?” I couldn’t stand these people; they’d all turned into fanatics! “Spirit Herald Knights, help them out!”

The Indians sent to the China server were definitely not ordinary players. Add to that the fact that our own ragtag mercenaries weren’t top-tier, and the difference was immediately obvious. In the first clash, three of our guys were taken down! Fortunately, once the Spirit Herald Knights charged in, it became a complete slaughter. The Indians who came were all of a class called Pontiff. These guys were somewhat similar to Chinese Taoists, capable of both physical and magic attacks! Although they were quite formidable, the level gap between them and the Spirit Herald Knights was just too vast. They didn’t stand a chance!

Seeing how intense the battle was on our side, Shura Ziyi bravely charged in as well. I’d seen her red armor earlier and knew she was a melee class, but I hadn’t expected her to be a high-attack Warrior following a traditional path. None of her movements had flashy skill effects; every attack was focused purely on destructive power. The Indians were cut down by her, two slashes per person. What overwhelming strength!

Because most of the players were clumped together in a brawl, the Mages and I, the fake Mage, could only watch from the sidelines. But with the Spirit Herald Knights in there, we had nothing to worry about!

The whole thing was over in just a minute. In fact, it should have been even faster, but our own players were blocking the Spirit Herald Knights’ attack paths, interfering with their combat effectiveness! After dealing with the Indians, we started to clean up the battlefield. The ground was littered with small bottles. I picked one up to have a look. “Blessing Oil? What’s this?”

Someone else picked one up and looked at it. “Doesn’t look like a health potion!”

The female Warrior was quite direct. “We’ll know if we try it!” I thought she was going to test the potion herself, but who would’ve thought she’d grab the Swordsman behind her, pinch his mouth open, and pour it down his throat! She really had a spirit of self-sacrifice! “How is it?” she asked the Swordsman, who had just been force-fed an entire bottle of the ‘potion’.

The Swordsman didn’t say a word, just crouched down and started to vomit. The Dark Mage next to him found some writing on the bottom of a bottle, but unfortunately, it was in Hindi and unreadable. I hired a system translator for one minute, and when I saw the translation, I nearly died laughing. Everyone around me asked what I was laughing about. I crouched on the ground, laughing for a long time before I could say, “That bottle is for external use, not for drinking!”

A Dark Mage from the same team as the female Warrior muttered, “Good thing I didn’t drink any! Look at Xiao Tian, his face has turned green!”

Shura Ziyi ran over and asked, “What’s this stuff for?”

Still laughing, I said, “This is Blessing Oil sold in Indian temples. It’s the same kind of thing as the Divine Water from Chinese temples or the Holy Water from European churches. You pour it on yourself, and its main effect is to enhance all your abilities, but there’s a time limit.”

“No wonder those Indians were so formidable! But… hahahaha… that Swordsman of yours is really pitiful! Haha… haha…”

The Swordsman was still on the ground, on the verge of throwing up his lunch, while the Dark Mage next to him continued to tease him. “Xiao Tian! Don’t be sad, you didn’t lose out! Think about it, this is oil from an Indian temple, that makes it Indian Godly Oil! You chugged so much of it, you’re bound to be exceptionally virile in the future! The girls you chase will be very lucky! Haha… haha…!”

Hearing this, all the guys roared with laughter. Shura Ziyi, next to me, was laughing along as she asked me, “What’s that Indian Godly Oil for?”

“You don’t know?” I looked at her in surprise. “You’re laughing along even though you don’t know.”

“I just love to laugh! Hurry up and tell me what it’s for!” Shura Ziyi persisted, not taking no for an answer.

“That’s something specifically for… that thing…” I whispered the explanation in her ear.

After she heard it, she laughed even more hysterically. “Haha… haha… I’m dying! …Indian Godly Oil… haha… haha… So those Indians were so fierce just now because they slathered themselves with this stuff! Haha… haha…”

“What’s this?” The male Priest picked up a long staff and handed it to me to Appraise.

After I Appraised it, I was shocked myself. “My god! The second wave of Indians must have been delayed because they were chasing this thing. The moment they got it, they found out a fight was about to break out over here, so they rushed over without even having time to Appraise it!”

“What is it, anyway?” Shura Ziyi asked.

“An Indian National Artifact—the Staff of the Heavenly God!”

“Really?” She immediately took it and looked it over and over. “It really is! No wonder the Indians only sent a few people after me. It turns out the more powerful item was over there!”

While watching them pass around the Staff of the Heavenly God, I asked, “How did an Indian item end up in China?”

“It’s an exchange!” Shura Ziyi explained, looking like an expert. “Not all of a country’s National Artifacts are located within its own borders. Each country will have four of its National Artifacts abroad! There’s a detailed explanation on the official website, but I don’t remember the specifics. Anyway, two of China’s own National Artifacts are in India and two are in Japan. Two of India’s are in China and two are in Great Britain. Two of Japan’s are in China, one is in the United States, and one is in North Korea!”

“It seems like they’re all in hostile countries!” the male Priest said. “Doesn’t distributing them like this just provoke war?”

“Duh! Otherwise, National Wars would just be for show. It’s easier for conflicts to arise when there are objectives to fight over, laying an emotional foundation for future National Wars!” the female Warrior analyzed, shaking her head sagely.

“I think I get it now!” I nodded. “Spreading the National Artifacts out forces the countries to search for them in each other’s territories, which is bound to cause friction. That way, future National Wars will be much more intense!”

“That’s more or less the idea!” Shura Ziyi agreed.

Just as we were talking, my private message alert suddenly chimed. “Purple Sun! How’s the magical pet catching going? We’ve already contacted that major Necromancer over here!”

“Eagle!” I was stunned. It was all because of those Indians; I’d completely forgotten about catching a magical pet! “I haven’t caught one yet! How are things on your end? What did he say?”

“It’s a mixed bag! The Necromancer is an okay guy, but he didn’t get the item by himself, so he can’t make the final decision! The good news is, when he listed the auction, he set a restriction to refuse bids from non-Chinese players!”

“That’s still risky! You know how it is in China. The forest is large, so it has all kinds of birds. There are plenty of patriots, but there are also Scum! What if the Japanese pay someone to bid on their behalf?”

“Now that you mention it, that’s a real possibility! But having that first barrier is better than nothing. We’d better pray the Japanese can’t find a traitor they need in such a short time! Oh! Also, we’ve scraped together one hundred thousand Crystal Coins!”

“That’s still far from enough!”

“We know. We’ll figure something out!”

“Alright, I’ll speed things up on my end too!”

After hanging up, Shura Ziyi noticed my worried expression. “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah!” I nodded. “We discovered someone auctioning one of China’s National Artifacts in Divine Maiden City—the Battle Robe of the Celestial Lord! We don’t have enough money to buy it. I’m worried the Japanese will get it, and then it’ll be even harder to assemble our country’s artifacts!”

“Take this!” My trade window suddenly popped up. In the other party’s column was a staggering one hundred and fifty thousand Crystal Coins. “This is everything I have, but for China, I’ll chip in!”

I was so moved I nearly cried, but Shura Ziyi’s next words of praise stopped the tears that were about to well up in my eyes. “It’s so rare to meet someone with a Chinese heart like you, older sister! Older sister, you’re a role model for us girls! If you need any help in the future, just ask me. For our country, I’d jump into a pit of fire!”

This time, I completely fainted! “I’m a man!”

“You’re a man?” Everyone around turned to stare at me. “Is that for real?”

“You’re a man?”

“Really!”

“You’re lying!”

Chapter 21: Frantic Hunt (1)

“We can finally continue our advance deeper into the grasslands! Although we were delayed a bit, if our luck is good, we should still be able to make it in time! My temporary mercenaries are fanned out ahead of us, scouting the way. The Spirit Herald Knights are guarding the rear. I’m really worried we’ll run into something else that’ll launch a sneak attack from behind!”

Shura Ziyi chatted with me while we searched for any Magical Beasts that might appear.

“How did you guys suddenly appear just now?” Shura Ziyi asked curiously. “It startled me. I thought a monster had popped up!”

“We didn’t suddenly appear. We were right in front of you the whole time, you just couldn’t see us!”

“You can turn invisible?” Shura Ziyi had actually come up with her own explanation!

“Not Invisibility!” I didn’t even know how to explain it! “Weren’t you chasing that Divine Cow at first?”

“I was! But it disappeared in a flash. I only hurried over because I saw the light from magical explosions this way!”

“Do you know about that Divine Cow’s skill?”

Just as I expected, Shura Ziyi only knew that the Divine Cow dropped a National Artifact but was clueless about its specific abilities! “You’ve seen it? What kind of skill is it? Is it powerful?”

“I have! It’s the skill that made you unable to see us!”

“So what skill is it, exactly?”

“Shrinking spell!” I said simply. “It’s a skill that makes the target smaller! It’s very powerful. The shrunken target doesn’t just get smaller in size; its abilities seem to decrease as well!”

“Then how did you defeat it? Those ten subordinates of yours look perfectly normal, don’t they?”

“The skill seems to take a long time to take effect! We were targeted from the moment we entered the grasslands. By the time we noticed we were obviously shrinking, an hour had already passed! And our Magical Pets weren’t shrunk, probably because the skill requires line of sight to the target, so any pets we hadn’t summoned at the time were spared!”

“So you’re saying you took it down with your Magical Pets in the end? Hey! How come your ten subordinates are fine?”

“They’re my Demon Servants. They weren’t out when we were targeted!”

Shura Ziyi stared at me in shock. “Are you kidding me! All ten of them are Demon Servants?”

“Yeah! What’s wrong?” I really didn’t see what the big deal was.

“You can have ten Demon Servants? Isn’t that too many? I can only have three!”

“It’s nothing strange. I make my living with Magical Pets and Demon Servants. If I had about the same number as you, I might as well just delete my character and start over, right?”

“Even so, that’s still way too many, isn’t it? It’s ten of them!” Shura Ziyi looked like she couldn’t accept it. “If only I could have that many Demon Servants! Then I could become the world’s number one invincible beautiful girl! Wahahahaha…”

“Hey, hey, hey! Mind your ladylike image!” I can’t stand it! Girls these days are crazier than the last! “Don’t even think about it! I got a surprise boost of super-high Charisma when I started the game, plus I completed several hidden quests in a row to get such a spectacular team!” Just thinking about those two dark months in the underground labyrinth still made my skin crawl.

“Oh, right, I also saw a dragon flying in the sky earlier! And there was another dragon on the ground, but it was a Western-style evil dragon! And I saw a Phoenix, too, but I don’t know why its feathers were all burnt black. Aren’t Phoenixes supposed to be reborn from fire? Why was it charred black?”

Speechless! She could even come up with that. What a cheerful girl! “First of all, both dragons are my Magical Pets. Secondly, the burnt one… no, wait! You’re getting me confused! That Phoenix is a Hell Phoenix, so it’s black. Only Fire Phoenixes are red!”

“So you’re saying that whole group I saw earlier are all your Magical Pets!”

“Correct, but no points for you! Hahaha…!”

Shura Ziyi squinted at me. “You have so many secrets! What else are you hiding? I have a feeling this isn’t even your final trump card!”

Completely defeated! She could even sense that! Could this be the so-called woman’s sixth sense? It was way too accurate! Good thing that shrew Red Moon has such a straightforward personality that she doesn’t seem to have a sixth sense at all! “Stop analyzing me and tell me about yourself, will you? All I know about you right now is that your name is Shura Ziyi and you’re a female warrior!” If she kept this up, I’d have no secrets left. I had to change the subject, quick!

“Me?” Shura Ziyi said plainly. “I’m just an ordinary Player. People like me are the most common type there is!”

“Even ordinary has a race and class! I’ve told you everything, and you’re still keeping secrets from me?”

“Alright!” As if she’d made a huge decision, Shura Ziyi began, “I’m very ordinary, anyway. My race is Human, and my class is an Agility Warrior—the kind of warrior that focuses on training Agility. My equipment is ordinary, too. You see it, the True Red Set. It’s the best armor from the system shop. It’s expensive, but I guess you couldn’t call it rare! After all, every system shop sells it. As long as you have the money, it’s a common set that everyone can own! As for Demon Servants, I don’t have any yet!” She suddenly added mysteriously, “But I have a very powerful Magical Pet!”

“You have a Magical Pet?” I was surprised. This girl had a pet, but I’d never seen her use it! “What’s it like? Summon it and let me see!”

“Alright! Come on out, Ashura!”

Poof! A cloud of smoke suddenly billowed out, obscuring my vision. “Cough… cough…! It’s so choking! Lucky! Fan the wind!” I had no choice but to summon Lucky to help blow the smoke away! Lucky revealed a single wing and gave it a flap. A huge gust of wind instantly blew all the smoke away to who-knows-where! When the smoke cleared, a boy appeared before my eyes?

A cute, blond-haired, blue-eyed boy of about seven or eight stood before me. In his right hand, he clutched a uniquely designed greatsword that was even taller than he was. Because the blade was so long, he couldn’t seem to just hold it and had to rest it on his shoulder!

“This is your Magical Pet?” I stared at the little boy in front of me, astonished. This was too much! Seeing the pair of twitching little wings on his back, I realized clearly that this was an Angel!

Whoosh! The ladies among the surrounding mercenaries all crowded in, pushing Shura Ziyi and me, who were originally in the center, to the outside!

“He’s so cute!”

“Little brother, what’s your name?”

“His hair is so beautiful! He’ll definitely be a handsome man when he grows up!”

“He’s like a doll! I want to hug him!”

“His skin is so smooth! So adorable!”

The girls chattered excitedly as they circled the little boy, but he grew more and more unhappy. “Get away from me, all of you! What do you take me for, you lovesick fools?”

Although those words should have been intimidating, they lost all their original impact when spoken in the childish voice of a seven- or eight-year-old. The girls continued to kiss and touch him, taking advantage of him!

Shura Ziyi circled the crowd twice without finding a chance to squeeze in and could only shout anxiously from the outside. “All of you, make way! Whatever you do, don’t piss him off!”

Almost as soon as Shura Ziyi finished shouting, the boy inside finally erupted. “I, the great Ashura, am the executor of divine punishment! All of you impudent women, get away from me!” With that, he actually lifted the seemingly heavy greatsword with one hand and pointed it to the sky. “Divine Punishment! Battle Form!” The cute little boy suddenly began to grow bigger—not just simply scaling up, but growing as if aging. An Adam’s apple appeared on his previously smooth little neck, and his fair arms developed strong, muscular lines and bulging veins! The strangest part was that the cute, small-sized armor he was wearing actually grew with him! In a moment, a ridiculously handsome man of about twenty-three or twenty-four appeared before everyone, clad in shimmering, golden, full-body armor, with only his helmetless, drop-dead gorgeous face exposed. I knew it was the same little boy from before because one thing about him hadn’t changed: the longsword in his hand.

The women were so frightened they stood frozen, not knowing what to do. Ashura began to speak again, but his voice had become deep and powerful! “You dare to trifle with a Divine Punisher? Do you wish to suffer divine punishment?”

Shura Ziyi finally found a chance to dash into the circle and grab Ashura’s already-raised right hand. “Don’t be angry! They were just playing with you because they think you’re cute!”

“Older sister, don’t be afraid! With me here, they can’t threaten you!” This Ashura was clearly the type with superb fighting skills but no brains!

It looked like it was up to me to step in at the critical moment! I walked over and gave each of the girls in the outer circle a knock on the head. The women looked at me angrily, but I ignored their glares. “How dare you gang up on our Lord Ashura and Miss Shura Ziyi! Now that I’ve defeated you, you must all submit to my command and become my soldiers!” I gave them a meaningful look. “All of you, get outside and act as guards, just like that group of guards over there!” The women immediately ran off to resume their earlier scouting mission.

I faced Ashura. “I have dealt with the enemy. The two of you are safe now!”

Ashura said, “Thank you for your help!” After speaking, he shrank back into his child form. Seeing the surrounding girls looking like they were about to rush in again, I quickly shouted, “Isn’t Ashura’s sword amazing?”

Ashura held out his arms to Shura Ziyi, signaling that he wanted to be held. Shura Ziyi seemed quite used to this and immediately picked him up. Ashura sat in the crook of Shura Ziyi’s arm, hugging her neck, and said, “This is my Divine Punishment Sword. I can use it to summon divine punishment. Anyone hit by it will be instantly cooked!” Then he said to Shura Ziyi, “Older sister, they pinched my cheeks, and it really hurts!”

“Oh! Poor Ashura! Here, a little kiss will make it better!” she said, planting a kiss on Ashura’s chubby little cheek. “Doesn’t hurt anymore, right?”

“It doesn’t hurt anymore! Older sister is amazing!” Faint. Was this the same guy from a moment ago?

“Hey! Ziyi! What’s the deal with this Magical Pet of yours?” I looked at the little guy, completely baffled.

“I don’t know the specific reason either, but he can transform. Normally, he’s like this, with the intelligence of a seven- or eight-year-old. But if he or I get hurt, he gets angry and transforms into a Divine Punisher. After transforming, his combat power changes significantly, but his mind doesn’t seem to change much. He just goes from an innocent child to a rigid Knight!”

“Is the transformation stable?” I was growing more and more interested in this unusual Magical Pet! “I mean, can he control the transformation at will?”

Shura Ziyi thought for a moment and said, “I’m not too sure! Anyway, every time he transforms, it’s after he gets angry. And he usually reverts right after a battle ends. At least, so far, he’s never suddenly changed back in the middle of a fight! I guess the transformation is affected by circumstances, but he can control when he reverts!”

“That’s good enough! As long as it’s not a time limit or some other restriction, it’s fine. It’d be deadly if he suddenly reverted to his original form mid-fight!”

“Exactly!” Shura Ziyi nodded in agreement.

“Monster spotted!” someone suddenly shouted from up ahead. “Purple Sun! Get over here!”

“Business is finally here!” I hurried over. “What is it?”

“Over there!” I followed the male Priest’s finger and saw a male lion with a full coat of golden fur being surrounded by my mercenaries.

“That’s it?”

“Yes! This thing is tough. Not only is it fast, but its attack power is ferocious. If it weren’t for your squad of Black Knights holding it off, we wouldn’t have had time to surround it!”

“Good! Everyone, keep it surrounded!” I took off my Gauntlets and started using my Capture skill. The first attempt failed. The lion looked at me, then suddenly ignored everyone else and charged straight for me. “Stop it!” I yelled frantically. If it reaches me, how am I supposed to use my skill!

A red shadow flashed before me as Shura Ziyi appeared in front of me like a bolt of lightning. Such fast movement! She suddenly swung her sword in an upward thrust. The lion performed a difficult mid-air spin and actually managed to dodge the attack! Ignoring them, I continued using Capture. The lion was hit again, glanced at me, and lunged for me once more. Shura Ziyi launched a flying kick from below, sending the lion spinning through the air before it landed again. Unfortunately, she had put too much force into the kick and lost her balance, landing flat on her back!

“Rose Vine! Entangle it!” Hindering movement was what Rose Vine did best. Seven or eight tendrils shot out, but the lion dodged every single one! You’ve got to be kidding me!

“Phantom! Disrupt its movements!” I still had a backup plan!

This time, the effect was much better. It was finally under control! Although the lion’s movements were still agile, it frequently lost coordination and face-planted on the ground! But despite that, the damn lion stubbornly continued to run toward me.

“Dark Mist!” I couldn’t tell who cast the debuff spell, but the effect was counterproductive! The mist did indeed block our vision, but it seemed to only affect us. Our whole group couldn’t see a thing! But the lion, with its excellent hearing and sense of smell, was like a fish back in water.

“Ow! You idiot! Why did you stab me?” There was even friendly fire in the darkness!

“Where’s the White Mage! Dispel the darkness, quick!” I suddenly remembered we had a White Mage in the party! She cast her skill quickly enough, but the moment the black mist dissipated, I was dumbstruck! The lion was no more than three steps in front of me. It had clearly pinpointed my location and was only momentarily stunned by the sudden light. But as everyone knows, lions aren’t particularly intelligent, so it didn’t waste much time thinking. It resumed its preparations and pounced.

“Great Grappling Hand!” A young man suddenly appeared next to me. He was really brave! To think he’d charge in empty-handed like that. The young man’s sudden appearance did indeed interrupt the lion’s attack, but he didn’t actually manage to grab it, just knocked it away.

The two of them—oh, no, one man and one lion—got up at the same time and faced each other! But I didn’t have time for them to waste. I gave a signal, and the surrounding mercenaries decisively closed in. I walked over and patted the young man on the shoulder. “First, thanks for the help! Second, may I ask who you are?” I didn’t seem to remember hiring a mercenary who looked like him!

“Hello! My name is On-Time Big-Pot Rice! Eagle sent me! I’m his classmate!” He reached out and shook my hand.

“Oh! You’re Eagle’s classmate! A pleasure! But why did Eagle send you? We’re not short on people over here!”

“I’m here to deliver this!” On-Time Big-Pot Rice pulled out a large bundle of hemp rope from behind his back! “You can’t restrain an animal with just people. With this, it’s a different story!” He handed the rope to me. “Everyone grab an end, let’s tie it up with the rope!”

“We have to be able to get it on him first!” Shura Ziyi ran over. From the looks of her dirt-streaked face, I could tell she must have taken a nasty fall earlier.

Who would have thought that On-Time Big-Pot Rice would roll up his sleeves and declare, “There are so many of us, and we can’t even catch one beast! Everybody, charge! Even if we have to dogpile it, we’ll restrain it!” He actually shouted something like that at a time like this. And being a man of action, he dropped the rope in his hand and leaped at the lion himself. And what do you know, he actually caught it! But what he caught was the lion’s tail! “Aaah! Help me!” The scream came right on schedule.

But to our surprise, we discovered that while his method looked foolish, it was actually effective. With a person dragging on its tail, the lion’s pace slowed down considerably. I got excited too. “A few more people, go help! Pin it down for me!” At my shout, almost all the melee-class players charged forward. The scene was truly spectacular: a huge crowd of people, leaping and grabbing, all clambered onto the lion.

Even though it was a high-level Magical Beast, the weight of so many people piling on at once was no joke. Some grabbed its front legs, some its hind legs, and some held down its head. They actually managed to press the lion to the ground by sheer force. The lion struggled unwillingly for a while before finally giving up. A few girls went up and, in a flurry of motion, tied it up like a rice dumpling. Someone even tied a bow on its head! I was speechless. Although the method was a bit embarrassing, we had finally caught one!

This capture mission was a success, for the most part. If there was a failure, it was only that On-Time Big-Pot Rice had it a bit rough. Since he was the first one to pounce, he was naturally at the very bottom of the pile with the lion. As a result, his clothes were just a little disheveled, his handsome hairstyle was a little messed up, and his handsome face was just a little bruised! That’s all!

I had them continue searching for other Magical Beasts while I started using the Capture skill on this lion. What I didn’t know was that many of the high-level Magical Beast tamers who later appeared in Zero were inspired by our ridiculous method from today, catching a Magical Beast to practice their skills on and thus making their fortunes!

After using the Capture skill more than thirty times, I finally succeeded. “Hehe, this is money!” I said, carefully stroking the egg I was holding.

I quickly opened a communication channel with Eagle. “Hey! Eagle?”

“What’s wrong now?” Eagle sounded neurotic.

“Nothing’s wrong. We’ve got our first piece of merchandise. A level 512 Prairie Lion King. Hurry and help me contact a buyer. And I recorded the fight leading up to the capture, so you can show it to the potential buyer!”

“That fast! You’re amazing, kid! Okay, okay, I’ll go contact someone right now. By the way, did the ropes I had my classmate bring you arrive?”

“You mean On-Time Big-Pot Rice?” I chuckled. “That guy is hilarious. He actually pounced on the lion and pinned it with his body! It was ridiculous, but it worked well. I’ll have to consider hiring a group of Orc Berserkers to help me catch Magical Pets in the future!”

Eagle immediately burst out laughing. “Haha… haha…! That’s just how he is. He’s a constant prankster at school, too! But he’s a good guy; almost no one in our class doesn’t get along with him! Also, don’t count on that human-pile capture method. You just got lucky with a small lion today. If it were something the size of a small mountain like your Lucky, you’d need several thousand people to hold it down!”

“You have a point. We’ll talk about that later. I’m going to see if there are any other catches. You hurry up and find me a buyer!”

“OK!”

Chapter 22: Frantic Hunting (2)

Eagle went to contact a buyer, so I had to hurry things up on my end. Although Magical Pets were very valuable at this stage, they weren’t so pricey that a single egg could buy a National Artifact. Besides, this lion wasn’t some exceptionally high-level creature, so it wouldn’t sell for an outrageous price!

Since one egg wouldn’t fetch a high price, I would make up for quality with quantity. If I caught a few more today, the total would be enough.

Our team didn’t travel far across the Grasslands before we encountered our second target. It was a huge, armored creature. At first glance, I thought it was a rhinoceros, but on closer inspection, it didn’t look like one, because I couldn’t see any legs. It just lay there quietly, looking for all the world like a large black rock. If it weren’t for the part on its side that was visibly pulsating, I wasn’t sure if I would have missed this quarry.

I pulled a useless bow from my Bracelet and shot an arrow at the black rock. This was just so I could see its stats. I drew the bow and released the arrow. Although I missed my original target, I at least managed to hit it. A red “-1” floated up. What the hell, it didn’t even break its defense? Even though I wasn’t a dedicated Archer and the bow in my hand had the attack power of a starter weapon, with my super stats, I should have at least broken through its defense!

Although the attack didn’t break its defense, Star Pupil’s stat display function still activated. “Iron Armor Beetle, Level 650 Magical Beast. Physical Attack: 900-1800, Physical Defense: 3000, Ground Speed: 72, Air Speed: 132. Skills: Flame Jet, Acid Attack, Collision. All attacks have a virulent poison effect.”

After I read out the stats, everyone nearby was startled. Shura Ziyi looked at me. “Should we find another target? This thing doesn’t look like something we can handle! If we were just killing it, it wouldn’t be a problem with your Spirit Herald Knights, but capturing it seems unlikely!”

On-Time Big-Pot Rice also ran over. “Its back is too smooth, and it’s shaped like a football. There’s no way to tie it up!”

“The stronger the Magical Pet, the more valuable it is. How can we let such a good thing go?” The black lump I was looking at was a pile of Gold Coins! “I’ll test it out first!”

“Let me do it!” The female warrior swung her longsword and charged. The black creature didn’t even try to dodge; you could say it never intended to!

Clang! A sound that shouldn’t have been there rang out as the female warrior was sent flying back. Her sword flew back even faster than she did and ended up stabbing On-Time Big-Pot Rice in the foot. He was now over there, hopping on one foot. Fortunately, we had Priests in the party, so a small wound like this was no big deal!

“It’s that tough!” I looked worriedly at the black creature, which was still motionless. “How much health did you take off?”

The female warrior’s speech was a little slurred; the shock from the impact had made her bite her tongue! “Didn’t break its defense! Just the mandatory 1 point of damage!”

“No way! Even your attack couldn’t break its defense?” On-Time Big-Pot Rice’s foot was finally healed, and he ran over again. “Let me try!” For the first time, he took out his own weapon—a Nine-Toothed Rake! Holy cow! What an awesome piece of equipment! He yelled as he charged forward. Unsurprisingly, the sound of metal clashing rang out again as a person came flying back.

“How was it? How much did you do?” the female warrior asked, unconvinced.

On-Time Big-Pot Rice was trembling as he spoke. “I… I did… b-b-better… than… you!” I put my hand on his head to help him calm the vibrations before letting go. His speech was much clearer! “Thanks! I broke its defense. It lost 43 health!”

“That’s not bad!” I looked at the creature, which suddenly twitched.

Phantom suddenly said to me, “Master, fall back quickly! Rose Vine says the part of that creature underground is bigger than the part above!”

“What!” I was shocked. The part of this creature above ground was already the size of a subcompact car, and there was more underground—and it was bigger than what was on top! This was insane! “Everyone, fall back! This thing is bigger than it looks!”

We had just run a short distance when the ground suddenly sank and began to collapse. We quickened our pace, but the ground was collapsing much faster than we expected, and over a slightly larger area! I had already run quite far, but the collapsing ground still caught me! Needless to say, the others were even worse off. Except for Shura Ziyi, almost no one escaped. As expected of an Agility Warrior—speed is a great advantage!

Although I didn’t make it out of the range, it wasn’t a problem. The pit was bowl-shaped, deep in the center and shallow at the edges, and I was only two steps from the edge! After climbing to the top of the pit, I realized it was no ordinary hole. An area half the size of a football field had caved in.

Shura Ziyi and I helped everyone climb out. “Is everyone up?” I asked the team leaders.

“All present and accounted for!” the three leaders replied in unison.

Shura Ziyi suddenly cried out. “Where did On-Time Big-Pot Rice go?”

“On-Time Big-Pot Rice? Right! Where is he? Has anyone seen On-Time Big-Pot Rice?” I asked everyone, but no one answered. They all just shook their heads.

“Help! I’m over here!” While we were searching, we suddenly saw a small island-like object in the middle of the large pit. It looked like it was the Iron Armor Beetle from before, but the deadly part was that On-Time Big-Pot Rice was actually standing on its back!

“How did you get up there?” I yelled.

“I saw the ground sinking all around, but this spot wasn’t moving, so I jumped on!” On-Time Big-Pot Rice shouted from the beetle’s back, trying hard to keep his footing. The smooth back was as shiny as a mirror; one could imagine how hard it was to get a grip!

Just as we were trying to figure out how to rescue him, the small island began to move. It slowly rose to its feet, its massive body, no smaller than Lucky’s, gradually appearing. When it stood up on its six legs, I was reminded of an old movie I had seen called Starship Troopers. The tanker bugs in it looked a lot like this, only this one was slightly smaller! But I didn’t think its current size would affect its performance—one look at the huge pit told me that much!

“Ah?… Aah!” Because the Iron Armor Beetle stood up, On-Time Big-Pot Rice lost his grip and slid right from its back to behind its head. The kid was lucky, though. He actually managed to climb onto the beetle’s head and grab the long horn on its head.

“What kind of Monster is this!” The male Priest stared at the creature before him, making the sign of the cross on his chest. He was really taking his role as a Priest seriously!

“Move!” I suddenly saw the Iron Armor Beetle take a deep breath. I was all too familiar with this move! Lucky made the same preparatory motion every time he used his Dragon Flame. I had summarized it as: one, inhale; two, pressurize; three, breathe fire! This creature was now clearly in the inhalation phase. The next move was going to be dangerous!

Sure enough, the Iron Armor Beetle opened its mouth wide at us, and a jet of purple flame shot out in a straight line. Anyone who didn’t know better would think it was using napalm! Although its spray was fierce, because I had shouted in time, everyone ran away quickly, and miraculously, no one was injured!

The Iron Armor Beetle’s two pairs of green eyes were terrifying enough. Being stared at by those four eyes made our skin crawl! “Spirit Herald Knights! Attack!” I had no other choice. Although the Magical Pet egg was important, our lives were more precious! If we died, we would have to waste time running all the way back here. It was more worthwhile to just kill it and find another Magical Beast!

Upon receiving the order, the Spirit Herald Knights turned their horses around and began to attack. First up was their signature skill, the Lance Throw. An entire volley of lances hit their mark! As expected of Spirit Herald Knights, each lance plunged deep into the Iron Armor Beetle’s back. Green slime oozed out along the lances. We watched as plumes of smoke rose from the lances, which gradually softened and finally dissolved in the slime!

The Spirit Herald Knights looked at each other and then at me. They were clearly also surprised that their lances had been corroded. It seemed the Spirit Herald Knights weren’t suited to dealing with this thing! “Lucky!” I had to command Lucky to go up. “Prepare! Dragon Flame!”

“Understood!”

Lucky began to inhale, aiming at the Iron Armor Beetle. The beetle also began to inhale. Good heavens, the two monsters were about to have a fire-breathing duel! I suddenly remembered that On-Time Big-Pot Rice was still on the beetle’s back. I wasn’t sure if the beetle could withstand Dragon Flame, but On-Time Big-Pot Rice definitely couldn’t!

“Rose Vine! Quick! Get that guy off the Iron Armor Beetle’s back!”

Rose Vine didn’t waste any time. A tentacle immediately shot out from under the beetle’s feet, wrapped around On-Time Big-Pot Rice, pulled him to the ground, and then dragged him underground. At the same time, Lucky and the Iron Armor Beetle both began breathing fire. Lucky’s Dragon Flame was a high-level skill with immense power, but the Iron Armor Beetle’s Level was currently higher, so when their flames collided, they were evenly matched. The flames engulfed them both, and a huge fireball soared into the sky, the intense heat forcing us to retreat!

The flame jet ended. Lucky seemed to have gotten the slightly shorter end of the stick, perhaps because his Level was still too low. But the Iron Armor Beetle wasn’t much better off. The ten holes that the Spirit Herald Knights’ lances had pierced had now become ten large craters, and its once shiny black armor had been burned dull, looking like melted plastic! Lucky’s scales weren’t damaged by the flames, but the Iron Armor Beetle’s fire clearly had a strong corrosive property. The acid burned his scales, causing them to smoke and emit a foul smell!

I took out the ropes On-Time Big-Pot Rice had brought and gave one end to each person. “Circle around it and tie up its legs!” At my command, everyone immediately rushed forward. The Iron Armor Beetle looked at so many of us and for a moment didn’t know who to spray. Meanwhile, we quickly entangled its legs. Realizing it had been tricked, the Iron Armor Beetle actually lifted the armor on its back, and a pair of transparent wings extended.

Shura Ziyi stared at the wings and muttered to herself, “This is insane! Something this big can fly?” Just as she finished speaking, the creature, no smaller than a light transport aircraft, actually took to the air!

I looked at the Iron Armor Beetle, which had already flown some distance away, and said, “Spirit Herald Knights, another round of Lance Throws! If you have any explosive skills, use them too!”

“Yes, sir!” the Spirit Herald Knight leader shouted. “Spirit Herald Knights, prepare! Fire Thunder Spear Formation! Fire!”

Ten lances were launched almost simultaneously with the sound. Thud… thud… thud… All ten lances hit, and this time they struck its relatively soft abdomen. Upon impact, the lances exploded, and ten fireballs erupted. Immediately, the Iron Armor Beetle, leaking fuel (its slime) like a downed airplane, tumbled and crashed towards the ground. Seeing that it was on the brink of death, I used Capture repeatedly. After more than thirty attempts, I actually succeeded! Looking at the winter-melon-shaped egg in my hand, I actually felt a little reluctant to sell it!

But considering the National Artifact, I suppressed the feeling and sent a private message to Eagle. “Eagle, I’ve got a new product! Let me show you a video first!” I played the footage of me capturing the Iron Armor Beetle for Eagle to see. When it finished, I said, “How about that? Not bad, right?”

“That’s some seriously good stuff! You’re amazing!”

“Have you contacted a buyer?”

“I’ve contacted them, but they’re still on their way. I’ll contact you again once we’ve settled things. It’s already past 1 AM, you’d better hurry!”

“I know! I’m trying to be quick!”

I placed the Iron Armor Beetle egg into my Bracelet and continued our hunting expedition. This time, we found a target quickly, perhaps because my search teams had gained some experience!

“Get down! Thunder Eagle!”

I don’t know who shouted, but everyone hit the dirt—except for one person, On-Time Big-Pot Rice! Heaven knows why he didn’t lie down, but now he was the only one still standing there! The Thunder Eagle dove from the sky, flew low over the ground for a moment, and then passed over our heads. After a gust of wind, someone next to me was missing. Everyone looked up, and it was On-Time Big-Pot Rice again! He had actually been carried into the sky by the Thunder Eagle!

“Archers! Ready!” I shouted to the others who were getting up. “Be careful not to shoot our man!”

“Don’t worry!” an Archer confidently assured, then let loose his bowstring. The arrow flew out, leaving a beautiful trail of sparkling dots—the special effect of a Freezing Arrow.

“Aaaah…!” The scream from the sky came swiftly, but it clearly wasn’t the Thunder Eagle’s voice! In the bright moonlight, everyone could only see a figure dangling from the Thunder Eagle’s talons with a tail sticking out of its butt. A closer look revealed that the tail was an extra-long arrow!

The Archer mumbled embarrassedly, “An accident! An accident! It’s too dark!”

“Tch!” Everyone gave him the middle finger in unison.

“I guess I still have to do it!” I sighed and raised my right hand, rolling up my sleeve. “Dragon-Tendon Flying Cords, grappling hook fire!” Bang! The cord’s hook shot out. The Thunder Eagle clearly saw what I had fired and came to a sudden stop, dodging my attack. I quickly raised my left hand and fired another shot. This time it was good; I hooked its leg!

But I discovered a problem—I couldn’t seem to pull it down by myself. The cord in my wrist was unspooling, but the cord had a length limit! Almost instantly, the cord reached its maximum length. The steel-cable-like cord went taut. “Ah!” I was pulled off my feet. “Rose Vine! Help!” Just as I was pulled less than two meters off the ground, a tentacle suddenly shot up and wrapped around my waist. The immense force felt like it was about to tear me in two!

The Thunder Eagle had it worse. The suddenly taut cord yanked it hard, and it was pulled from high in the sky, crashing heavily to the ground. The Spirit Herald Knights and my mercenaries went to work. The Spirit Herald Knights pinned the Thunder Eagle’s wings to the ground with their lances, while the mercenaries rushed up and tied it up securely with ropes.

Although the Thunder Eagle was a Level 517 Magical Beast, its advantage was in flight. A grounded Thunder Eagle had little attack power! On-Time Big-Pot Rice, his eyes full of stars, crawled out from under the Thunder Eagle. “Priest!… I need healing!” Thump! After staggering a few steps, he collapsed again!

I had no time for him; I had to hurry and capture the Magical Pet. This time it was fast. The capture succeeded after only thirteen tries.

“Purple Sun! Come here quickly!” I suddenly heard Shura Ziyi’s shout and rushed over.

“What is it?”

“Look at this!”

I followed her finger and looked over. The scene before me made me freeze in an instant!

“A bird’s nest?” My first impression of the giant, one-meter-diameter earthen pit before me was that it was a nest. From the thick layer of dry grass and Thunder Eagle down lining the pit, it was obvious that this was a Thunder Eagle nest! “Wait, if this is a nest… then…” Before I could finish, Shura Ziyi, who was next to me, had disappeared. Sigh! Another one in the sky!

“Archers…” On-Time Big-Pot Rice was about to shout when I clamped my hand over his mouth.

“Xiao Feng! Go up and take it down!” Even with the Level difference, my Fire Phoenix shouldn’t lose to a Thunder Eagle, right? “Lucky, get ready to catch someone!”

Xiao Feng quickly caught up with the Thunder Eagle. Although the Level gap was still quite large, a Phoenix was a Phoenix, after all. A starving camel is still bigger than a horse! The two birds of prey quickly tangled in the air. The Thunder Eagle obviously couldn’t carry a person and fight at the same time, so it decisively dropped Shura Ziyi. The well-prepared Lucky immediately flew up and caught her perfectly!

“Xiao Feng! Retreat!” I first shouted to Xiao Feng in the air, then turned to the people behind me and yelled, “Archers, fire!” A shower of arrows flew out. This group of Archers had so little confidence; they all used the Scatter Shot skill. If only Bailing were here!

The arrow rain did hit its mark. In fact, with such a wide spread, it would have been hard to miss. But because it was a Scatter Shot, the damage was a bit lackluster!

“Watch me!” On-Time Big-Pot Rice produced a long spear from somewhere, got a running start, and hurled it. The spear flew towards the Thunder Eagle at great speed due to inertia. Although one spear might not have done much, I already understood On-Time Big-Pot Rice’s intention. I saw the long wire trailing behind the spear. This kid wasn’t so dumb after all!

The spear accurately hit the Thunder Eagle’s body, piercing through one of its wings but failing to bring it down. But that didn’t matter; the original plan was just to use the spear to carry the wire up and drag the Thunder Eagle down!

The Thunder Eagle was enraged. It turned and glanced at On-Time Big-Pot Rice, who was holding the other end of the wire. Shura Ziyi had already run to my side, and she muttered a single word. “Crap!”

“Huh? What?” I looked at her, puzzled.

“Do you know why it’s called a Thunder Eagle?”

I was about to say I didn’t know, but then I understood immediately! “You don’t mean…”

“Aaah… ya-ya-ya!” The screams from over there had already begun. The Thunder Eagle had finally used its ultimate move. A bolt of blue lightning traveled down the thin wire, and On-Time Big-Pot Rice on the ground became the final conductor. All we could see was a blue skeleton, clutching the wire that had now turned into a live cable, letting out惨叫 while doing a strange breakdance! Shura Ziyi simply covered her face, and the Priest was making the sign of the cross again. I, on the other hand, was just glad that my Dragon-Tendon Flying Cords weren’t conductive! Otherwise, I would have definitely been the first to become a roasted sausage!

The lightning lasted for more than ten seconds before stopping. On-Time Big-Pot Rice opened his mouth, puffed out a smoke ring, and collapsed. His body was already pitch-black, with wisps of green smoke rising from it! The Priests only then remembered to go and save him. Fortunately, the power wasn’t that great, and since On-Time Big-Pot Rice was a warrior with a lot of health, he survived!

We couldn’t just leave the Thunder Eagle in the sky. I pointed at it and shouted to the Spirit Herald Knights, “Pick one person to bring it down. The rest of you, don’t throw. Its health is low, don’t kill it for me!”

The Spirit Herald Knight leader stepped forward himself. A lance flew out like a bolt of lightning. The seemingly ordinary lance directly struck the base of the Thunder Eagle’s wing. Half of the wing suddenly broke off as if hit by a cannonball. Watching the scattered feathers and blood, I realized that the lances thrown by the Spirit Herald Knights were actually spinning at high speed. No wonder other people’s lance attacks were no match for these freaks!

Watching the Thunder Eagle fall straight to the ground, I quickly ran over to capture it. This time it was even easier. Because it was in a heavily injured state, it only took six tries to succeed!

“Over here!” Shura Ziyi was still standing by the nest, calling to me.

“Don’t tell me you found another Thunder Eagle!”

“No!” Shura Ziyi pushed aside the feathers. “What I wanted you to see earlier was actually this.” She took out a Thunder Eagle egg. “Those two were a pair. This is a Thunder Eagle nest. There should be more below!”

“Really!” I quickly ran over and started searching. And what do you know, there really were! I found five eggs in one go, plus the one in Shura Ziyi’s hand, making a total of six! “Hahahaha! I’ve struck it rich! Struck it rich!”

People say misfortunes never come singly; I think fortune also likes to come in droves. Just as I found so many Thunder Eagle eggs, good news came from Eagle. Since our harvest was so bountiful, I ended the employment contract early. I still paid them the full price, and the mercenaries were happy to get off work early. Shura Ziyi, On-Time Big-Pot Rice, and I quickly teleported back to Goddess City. The moment we stepped out of the Teleportation Array, we saw Eagle and his group already waiting for us.

“You’re finally back! How was the harvest?”

I took out all the Magical Pet eggs. “Eight Level 517 Thunder Eagles, one Level 650 Iron Armor Beetle, and one Level 512 Prairie Lion King.”

“So many! You’re really something else, kid!” Eagle let me hold on to the Magical Pet eggs for now. These things took up a lot of inventory space, and he couldn’t carry so many! “The buyer I contacted is already waiting for us at Moon-Embracing Tower. We were just waiting for you!”

“Who is the other party?” I asked as we walked. “We can’t sell to bad people! Selling these things to bad people to get a National Artifact would be like robbing Peter to pay Paul, wouldn’t it?”

“Don’t worry, I contacted Feng Yin Piao Miao, the leader of the Fervor Alliance.”

“Fervor Alliance?” I looked up at the sky and thought for a moment. “Why does that name sound so familiar? I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere!”

“Of course you’ve heard of it!” Bailing jumped out. “Fervor Alliance is the number one guild on the mainland in Zero, and Feng Yin Piao Miao is Big Bro Red Moon!”

“That’s right!” Eagle added, “Red Moon was the one who helped introduce this deal.”

“What?” My brain instantly shut down! I imagined myself being stomped on by Red Moon, surrounded by the Magical Pets I had sold her. A man with an indistinct face stood behind her, smirking at me and muttering, “How does it feel to be taken down by the very Magical Pets you captured?”

“No way!” I stopped in my tracks. “How can we sell to them! Red Moon is still waiting to settle the score with me! Isn’t selling to him the same as selling arms to the enemy during wartime?”

“Can you not be so petty!” Eagle tapped me on the head. “Piao Miao is a really great person. I don’t know about his little sister, but he himself is definitely a good guy. I’ve spoken with him; he’s very personable, and there’s always a feeling that you can’t quite see through him!”

“Let’s meet him and see, then!” I still trusted Eagle more. Although I didn’t know if Feng Yin Piao Miao was as Eagle described, given the situation, I couldn’t afford to be picky! Since Feng Yin Piao Miao was the president of the number one guild in the China region, he would likely be the one to lead us Chinese players against Japan in the National War. I trusted that such a person wouldn’t be a bad guy!

We soon arrived at Moon-Embracing Tower. The name was quite fitting; looking up from below, the roof of the tower seemed to touch the moon! Eagle led us into a private room on the ninth floor. The room was very large, obviously prepared for a meeting with many people.

Facing the door was a row of chairs. In the middle chair sat a young Knight in his early twenties. He was dressed in a full suit of gleaming silver-white equipment that could practically be used as a light bulb! Behind him stood a line of girls, a full seven of them, each one prettier than the last. They were all stunning beauties!

Eagle pulled me over. “Let me make an introduction. This is Purple Sun. He’s the one who got the Magical Pet eggs, so you’ll have to discuss the specific price with him!”

The Knight stood up, walked over to me, and very politely extended his hand. “Hello. I am Feng Yin Piao Miao. I’m the one who wishes to purchase your Magical Pet eggs today! Before we talk about the price, I’d like to ask, how did you get them? If you can tell me the method, I’m willing to pay one million Crystal Coins for this secret!”

I smiled. “Everyone knows the method, but it’s useless for you to learn it. I can only tell you that it’s related to my personal stats, so no one can do it except me! Alright, let’s talk business now!”

“Alright! Let’s sit and talk!” He gestured for us to sit at the table. There was a long rectangular table in the room. Feng Yin Piao Miao sat on the opposite side, while our group sat on this side.

I took out all the Magical Pet eggs and piled them on the table. “Eight Level 517 Thunder Eagles, one Level 650 Iron Armor Beetle, and one Level 512 Prairie Lion King. Do you need to see videos of their combat performance to assess their value?”

“No need!” Feng Yin Piao Miao stared at the Magical Pet eggs on the table in amazement. “I’ve seen all these Magical Beasts before; they are all quite formidable! Especially that Iron Armor Beetle, that’s a very powerful character!” He carefully examined each egg. “Although this Thunder Eagle’s Level isn’t high, its speed is absolutely absurd. How did you manage to get it? I’ve never seen anyone able to catch them!”

“That’s a secret!” I smiled. This Feng Yin Piao Miao really was easy to get along with! It seemed just as Eagle had said, he was different from Red Moon; he was a very nice person! “How much do you think they’re worth?” I was more concerned about the price now.

“I’ll offer one hundred thousand Crystal Coins for this lion. What do you think?”

“Done!” I calculated the numbers in my head. The minimum estimate for that National Artifact was five hundred thousand Crystal Coins, and the actual price might be around five hundred fifty to six hundred thousand. This lion pet was the lowest-level Magical Beast here. If it was worth one hundred thousand, then the final total price should exceed one million Crystal Coins, so I figured the price was definitely enough! “What about these? You don’t want them?”

“Of course I do!” He was also afraid I wouldn’t sell to him. Magical Pet eggs currently had a price but no supply, which was why he had sat here waiting for me until midnight after hearing he could get his hands on some. “I’ll offer one hundred and ten thousand Crystal Coins for each of these Thunder Eagle eggs. How about it?”

Before I could answer, Bailing wrote “12” on my back with her finger. I immediately replied, “One hundred and twenty thousand each!”

Feng Yin Piao Miao nodded without the slightest hesitation. “Deal. One hundred and twenty thousand each. Lastly, this Iron Armor Beetle is extremely rare. Name your own price!”

I looked to Bailing for help; I really had no idea about the market price! Bailing immediately drew a “20” on my back. I hesitated for a moment. Isn’t two hundred thousand too expensive? In the end, I still shouted it out. “Two hundred thousand Crystal Coins.”

Feng Yin Piao Miao hesitated for a few seconds. “Alright! I’ll take it!” A trade window immediately popped up in front of me. The other party placed 1.26 million Crystal Coins in it, and I quickly put all my Magical Pet eggs in. After confirming the transaction, the system deducted an 8% personal income tax, and my actual income was 1,159,200 Crystal Coins.

“Well then, we’ll see you next time!” I stood up, preparing to leave.

Feng Yin Piao Miao stopped me. “Don’t be in such a hurry! My Fervor Alliance is currently the number one Guild in the China region. I wonder if you have any interest in joining us.”

They really were siblings, even their interests were the same. Why did everyone in their family love recruiting people so much? I pointed to the guild emblem on my chest. “I already have a Guild. I think I’ll pass!”

I thought he would be as persistent as Red Moon, but to my surprise, he just smiled and said, “Then never mind! Red Moon said you wouldn’t join, and it seems she was right! But, even if you don’t join us, if you have more Magical Pet eggs to sell in the future, please do consider us first!”

“That’s no problem!” I shook his hand again and then left Moon-Embracing Tower. After coming out, I handed the money to Eagle. “I need to log off and rest first. I might not make it to the auction tomorrow, so don’t wait for me! If I can make it, I’ll let you know!”

“Alright then!” Eagle said, “I need to log off too. You’d better try to come tomorrow. If you really can’t get up, then forget it.”

“Okay, I will!” After saying goodbye to Eagle and the others, I quickly logged off. Looking at the time, it was already past 4 AM! My eyelids were starting to fight each other! Hopefully, I can wake up before tomorrow’s auction—no, before today’s auction!

I stepped out of my Iron Armor and looked around the dorm room. It was empty. Where on earth did that kid Ah Wei run off to, actually staying out all night! Can’t be helped, I had to rest first. I couldn’t hold on any longer!

In a daze, I was awakened by a shriek. I opened my eyes to see that it was Ah Wei, screeching like a dying duck by my bed!

“It’s the crack of dawn, are you trying to summon a ghost or something?!”

“That! That thing?” Ah Wei’s speech was a bit incoherent!

“What ‘this’ and ‘that’! Can’t you speak in full sentences?”

“What’s that robot over there?”

I glanced at the Iron Armor he was pointing at. “My new toy! Don’t bother me, I’m going back to sleep!”

“A toy? You can play with this thing?” Ah Wei didn’t seem to want to let me go. I had no choice but to explain the whole story to him before I could finally get some peace.

Ah Wei’s eyes gleamed as he said, “It’s so good to have a rich Dad!”

I sent him flying with a kick. “Is your family poor?” Although not comparable to mine, Ah Wei’s family assets were also in the hundreds of millions. And this kid was crying poor to me!

“What time is it?”

“It’s already 4 o’clock. Why are you still sleeping?”

“What? 4 o’clock!” I leaped out of bed. “I’m late! Get online, quick!”

“Late for what?” Ah Wei hadn’t reacted yet. I didn’t care, I grabbed a Helmet and put it on his head. “I’ll tell you when we’re online. Oh right, teleport directly to Goddess City!” After speaking, I jumped into my Iron Armor, connected to the system, and went online.

Chapter 23: National Artifact Auction

“Boss! I’m at the Goddess City Teleportation Array! Where are you? What’s so urgent?” Ah Wei started pestering me the moment he logged on.

“Come to the auction house in the city center! Quick!”

“Oh!” Ah Wei seemed to run over rather reluctantly.

Since I had logged off at the Moon-Embracing Tower yesterday, which was quite close to the auction house, I arrived at the entrance before Ah Wei. I started looking for Eagle in the crowd while calling him. “Eagle! I’m on!”

“Purple Sun! What took you so long!”

“Sorry, I overslept! Where are you guys?”

“We’re already inside. Where are you? I’ll come get you! We got a private box, it’s a great spot!” That guy Eagle sure knows how to live it up, actually getting a private box!

“Alright, send someone out.”

The person who came out after I ended the call was, surprisingly, On-Time Big-Pot Rice. “Purple Sun!”

“It’s you!”

“Come on, let’s go inside!” Seeing me looking around everywhere, On-Time Big-Pot Rice also started looking around. “Are you looking for something?”

“No, a friend of mine is about to arrive. Let’s wait for him for a moment!”

It wasn’t long before Ah Wei came running up. Seeing him panting for breath, he must have had a tough run! “B-Boss… What’s going on?! I ran over here like my ass was on fire…!”

“You’ll know once you’re inside!” We followed On-Time Big-Pot Rice in.

As soon as we entered the auction house, we turned towards the side of the entrance, where a staircase led to the second floor. The stairs opened up to a corridor, but it was curved so you couldn’t see either end. It was clearly a circular hallway, and one side must have faced the main auction hall inside! Following On-Time Big-Pot Rice to Room 2179 almost made my head spin! One side of the corridor was practically a solid line of doors, one right next to the other. The distance between any two doors was definitely no more than a meter. Wouldn’t the rooms inside be just tiny slits!

When he pushed the door open, the scene inside shocked me. Beyond the large door was what could only be described as a separate, grand hall. I couldn’t help but step back out to look at the door, then peek back into the room again. Eagle shouted from within, “Stop looking. These boxes aren’t built on a one-to-one scale. It’s a game, after all. Virtual space makes anything possible!”

Thinking about it, he was right. It was just a game. The laws of reality didn’t apply here!

The people in the room were all familiar faces. Besides Eagle and Bailing, there were also Bingbing, Yuzhe, and Gold Coin. What surprised me was that Shura Ziyi was here too! Including On-Time Big-Pot Rice, Ah Wei, and myself, there were nine of us!

“What took you so long! It’s about to start!” Everyone greeted me and waved me over when they saw me enter.

I walked over to a balcony-like area and looked down at the hall below. From here, the hall didn’t seem very large, probably to avoid too great a sense of distance, which would make it hard to see the stage! The hall below was already crowded. Since it hadn’t started yet, everyone was chatting amongst themselves, and the noise was a clamorous din. Of course, the sound level inside the private box was still acceptable!

Staff members on the stage at the front of the hall were moving things up, likely the auction items to be displayed! “Eagle, how many items are being auctioned today?”

“I’m not too sure! Looks like there’s quite a lot!”

“Then what number is the National Artifact we want?”

“Probably last!” Bailing said, looking at the staff who were now in position on the stage. “The good stuff is always saved for last. A National Artifact is a high-end item no matter how you look at it, so it’s got to be the grand finale! Look, it’s starting!”

Sure enough, a middle-aged man walked out onto the stage below. Eagle told me this was a staff member logged in as a real person, an auctioneer whose job was to handle the auction! The middle-aged man walked to the center of the stage and said, “Thank you all for waiting. The auction will now begin! First, we will present today’s first item for sale.” Snap. The auctioneer snapped his fingers, and two beautiful hostesses carried out a war spear that was over three meters long.

“As you can see, this is the first auction item, Long Cloud. It is a Knight’s long spear, Gold Equipment—equipment below Gold-tier cannot be auctioned. Its attack is 381, and it comes with an Amplify Damage attribute. It is a top-tier piece of equipment for this stage of the game. The starting bid is ten thousand Crystal Coins, and each increment must be at least one thousand Crystal Coins and a multiple of one thousand. Let the bidding begin.”

“Eleven thousand!” Someone immediately started bidding.

“Fifteen thousand!”

“Twenty thousand!”

“Twenty-five thousand!”

The scene instantly spun out of control. I watched the chaotic crowd below as the price soared all the way to eighty thousand before it stopped! “It’s just a crappy long spear, is it worth fighting over like this? Have these people all lost their minds?”

“You just don’t get it! The equipment shortage out there right now is no less severe than the shortage of Magical Pets! Hordes of players are over Level 300 and still wearing stuff from before Level 200. You think everyone is like you?” Shura Ziyi said without looking up, busy with some calculation or another.

“You guys watch first. Call me when the National Artifact is up. I’m going to catch up on some sleep!” I called up the system, selected the assisted sleep function, and rested right there in the game. I’d had this function for so long but never used it!

When I was woken up, it was almost six o’clock. “Is it time?” I asked On-Time Big-Pot Rice, who had woken me.

“Almost. The second to last item is being auctioned now! The National Artifact is next! Get up first!” On-Time Big-Pot Rice looked at me with a strange expression. “Although Eagle already told me, I really hope I can confirm it one more time.”

“What?” I looked at him, feeling puzzled.

“Are you sure you’re a man?”

“Rising Dragon Fist!” I sent him flying to the ceiling with an uppercut. “You’re asking for it!” Fuming, I walked to the balcony and looked down at the auction hall. It was surprisingly quiet. All the bidders were from the private boxes. It seemed the big spenders were all here!

“Five hundred thousand!” The voice from the adjacent box was truly shocking. How could they shout out a price like that!

“Five hundred and ten thousand!” My god, it seemed adding ten thousand at a time was the new trend!

“Five hundred and ten thousand, anyone going higher?” the auctioneer yelled with all his might. “Five hundred and ten thousand, going once! Any other bids? Five hundred and ten thousand, going twice! Anyone else? Five hundred and ten thousand, going three times! Sold!”

It was finally over, which meant it was time for the final item. The auctioneer personally brought a box up from backstage. A hostess beside him took out the Battle Robe of the Celestial Lord and displayed it for everyone. “This is one component of the National Artifact set that will be used to open the national security system during the National War: the Battle Robe of the Celestial Lord. Its attributes are: 700 Defense, doubles all Taoist spell attack power, 50% damage resistance, 25% faster mana regeneration, and it comes with the skill Heavenly Aegis. The effect of this Heavenly Aegis is to automatically defend against attacks and absorb a percentage of the damage. The starting price is four hundred thousand Crystal Coins. The rules are the same as before. Let the bidding begin!”

“Five hundred thousand!” Eagle took the lead and shouted. This was the strategy we had just discussed: start with a high price to scare off the small fry and prevent the price from getting too high before the real contest began.

“Seven hundred thousand!” A sudden bid from a window next to us startled us all!

“Eagle, how much money do we have in total?” I couldn’t help but start planning for other options! This buyer seemed even more ruthless than us!

“The money from your Magical Pet egg plus what we pooled together is one million six hundred thousand Crystal Coins in total! That should be enough, right?”

My expression turned grave. “Although I rarely do business, my parents are merchants, so I know a little about it. This guy next door is clearly not considering the value of the National Artifact. I’m certain he’s an agent for the Japanese. His goal, or rather the Japanese’s goal, is to prevent China’s National Artifact set from being completed at any cost. They are thinking far beyond its practical value, so the final bid will definitely be an astronomical price. We need to be prepared!”

“Then what do we do?” Everyone was tense.

Just then, someone from a window opposite us called out a new bid. “One million five hundred thousand!”

Crash! Shura Ziyi tumbled out of her seat. “They’re crazy! They’re all crazy! These people have lost their minds!” she muttered as she climbed back up from the floor.

“One million five hundred thousand, going once!” The auctioneer below had already started the countdown!

I slapped the stunned Eagle next to me, and he immediately shouted, “One million six hundred thousand!”

“Alright! We have a bid of one million six hundred thousand over there! Is there a higher bid?” The auctioneer’s voice was clearly a little off-key now! This price was too stimulating!

“Two million!” the room next door shouted.

Crash! Crash! Everyone in the entire hall fell out of their seats. Besides me and the people in the opposite room, no one could withstand it anymore! Eagle helped Bailing to her feet. “I need to go out for some air, I can’t take it! My heart can’t handle it! This isn’t buying something, this is risking your life! Bailing, let’s get out of here!” As he reached the door, he turned back and asked, “Should we get ready to make a move?”

Without turning back, I just gave a slight nod. “Get ready!” It seemed there was no other way but to snatch it!

“Anyone else? Two million, going three times!” Just as the auctioneer below was about to declare it sold, the room opposite them bid again.

“Two million three hundred thousand!” The room shook again. People who had just gotten up fell down once more. My palms were sweating. Just who were these people in these two rooms!

“Two million five hundred thousand!” The room next to us yelled out another sky-high price. In the hall below, many people were clutching their chests and running for the exit. It looked like most people’s hearts couldn’t take it anymore!

As if not to be outdone, the room opposite them spoke up again. “Two million six hundred thousand!”

The bidding increments were gradually slowing down. Seeing that the end was near, I quickly contacted Eagle. “Eagle, contact the Great Necromancer quickly. I need to know who bought the item the instant it’s sold!”

“Got it, he’s right next to me. This kid couldn’t take it either, the last price almost made him pass out! We’ll know as soon as there’s a result!”

“Two million seven hundred thousand!” the room next door bid again.

Before the sound of his voice had faded, a new voice, different from the first two, shouted, “Three million!” Someone else had bid, and it wasn’t either of the previous two! There were hidden players. Today’s show was getting interesting! I told Eagle again, “There’s a new development here. It looks like the price will continue to climb. Take care of the Great Necromancer, don’t let him get so excited he goes into shock!”

“You should have said so earlier, the kid’s already fainted!” Eagle said helplessly. “I’ll try to wake him up. You keep an eye on things over there!”

“Okay! Don’t worry!”

“Three million one hundred thousand!” The room next to me bid again. Who were these people! Three million one hundred thousand Crystal Coins, that was thirty-one million RMB!

“Four million!” The third voice that had just joined in suddenly shouted. I spat out the mouthful of tea I had just taken. Down on the floor, even the auctioneer and the hostesses took a great fall. On-Time Big-Pot Rice ran over to me and said, “I didn’t mishear that, did I? Four million? These are all madmen! Did the local asylum leave its gates unlocked?”

“Are you kidding me?!” Everyone was stunned by this astronomical price!

“Five million!” The window next to us dropped another bombshell. The hall below was instantly a field of fallen bodies, with a large number of people stumbling and crawling towards the entrance. “These people aren’t human! They’re throwing money around like it’s nothing!”

“Five million five hundred thousand!” The newcomer’s voice bid again, truly terrifying! I never would have thought the price would soar this high!

“Six million!” The voice from the window next to us was starting to sound anxious. It seemed this wouldn’t last much longer!

“Six million one hundred thousand!” The other voice sounded like it was squeezed through gritted teeth. It seemed both sides were nearing their limit!

“Six million five hundred thousand!” the window next to us yelled, the person clearly straining their voice!

The hall fell silent for a good while. The voice that had joined later remained quiet. After a long time, the auctioneer below remembered to shout. “Six million five hundred thousand, going once! Anyone higher? Six million five hundred thousand, going twice! Any other bids? Six million five hundred thousand, going three times! Are there no more bids? Alright, so—” Just as the auctioneer’s gavel was about to fall…

“Seven million!” a woman’s voice cried out. The auctioneer’s falling gavel suddenly flew out of his hand, and he himself fell off the stage. Even I was starting to feel my heart pound. This was too frightening!

Before anyone could react, the bidder from the box next to mine yelled out, “Ten million!”

“Whoa!” This time, even I fell flat on my back. Everyone in the hall started to crawl towards the exit, because no one could even stand up anymore! Ten million Crystal Coins was one hundred million RMB. Which madman was this!

“Eagle! Quick, it’s over! Is the Great Necromancer awake? The other party bid ten million Crystal Coins, it should be over. There’s no way this is going any higher, I don’t believe anyone else would dare to bid!”

“He’s awake. Quick, the buyer’s name is Toxin. Go!”

“Got it, he won’t get away!” I used Star Pupil to track him. The guy had already reached another city. It looked like he had a teleportation scroll on him. He was well-prepared, but unfortunately for him, he ran into me. “Found him. The target is in Land’s End.”

“What Land’s End?”

“It’s a city name. The city is called Land’s End. This guy has a teleportation scroll on him! You guys hurry over!”

“We’re already here!”

“Huh?”

“We were at the Teleportation Array just now. You guys come quick!”

“Okay.” I told On-Time Big-Pot Rice and the others the location and teleported away myself. When I appeared at the Teleportation Array in Land’s End, I saw Eagle, Bailing, Gold Coin, and Yuzhe, who had arrived before me.

“That way!” I shouted, pointing in a direction. They immediately ran over, and I quickly followed. I ran while tracking him, and finally, we saw an Assassin running ahead. According to the coordinates, it was him.

Eagle asked anxiously, “What do we do?”

I said, “You guys get out of the city, find an open space, and then tell me the coordinates. I’ll teleport him out there!”

“Okay!” Eagle led everyone out of the city, while I just continued to follow. This Assassin was running very fast. It seemed someone was waiting to receive the goods. How unfortunate, it looked like this was the traitor working for the Japanese! At first, I had hoped some patriot had bought the item, but I never expected it to fall into Japanese hands first. The reason I was sure he was sent by the Japanese was that a domestic player wouldn’t need to run so far in such a panic, nor would they be in a rush to hand it over to someone else!

Soon, a call from Eagle came through. “Purple Sun! These are the coordinates!”

“Got it!” I lunged forward, grabbed the Assassin, and instantly activated the Teleportation Ring. The next second, we appeared in the middle of a crowd. In the confusion, I had messed up the coordinates and teleported to another city. Realizing my intentions, the guy jumped up and ran. I quickly went to catch him, planning to teleport again.

Although my stats were quite good, my speed was still slightly inferior to this Assassin’s. Most importantly, this guy was clearly a much higher Level than me! “Nightshadow!” Just because I couldn’t outrun you didn’t mean I couldn’t catch you. It was strange, why did I keep finding myself rampaging through cities on horseback lately? After a few turns, the guy disappeared. Damn it, I lost him. I quickly used my detection skill. How were his coordinates overlapping with mine? I looked up and saw the guy hanging from a rope above me.

Realizing I had seen him, he immediately swung down. “Run, I dare you to run!” I gave chase and took out my Knight’s spear. “Demonic Dragon Heart-Piercing Thrust!” The tip of the long spear promptly exploded, the spearhead flying in all directions and hitting quite a few pedestrians, but I couldn’t be bothered. The National Artifact was more important right now! At least two spearheads hit the target. I yanked the long spear, pulling the Assassin to the ground.

Nightshadow reared up and then slammed his hooves down, cracking the stone pavement, but his target did a roll and dodged Nightshadow’s iron hooves. “Spirit Herald Knights! Seize him for me!”

“Charge, noble steeds!” The leader of the Spirit Herald Knights was as pumped as ever! A troop of Spirit Herald Knights charged forward in perfect formation. The Assassin, however, dashed into a hotel next to them. But the Spirit Herald Knights didn’t care about that. With a stoop, all of them rode their horses straight into the building. Left with no choice, I had to follow them inside.

Having waited too long without any news, Eagle sent a message to ask, “What’s wrong?”

“Teleported to the wrong place. I’m in pursuit!”

“Where? Need help?” Bailing also asked anxiously.

“No need, I have plenty of little brothers, you’ve met them! Hold on, talk later!”

I quickly hung up, because the Spirit Herald Knights were actually chasing the Assassin up the stairs. Their horsemanship was impeccable; they could actually ride up a staircase! I didn’t care if I could do it or not, I just had to follow. Our group of men and horses charged up to the second floor but saw no sign of the Assassin.

“Over there!” a Spirit Herald Knight suddenly shouted, pointing at the roof of the opposite building.

“Yeehaw!” The Spirit Herald Knight leader actually spurred his horse towards the balcony. Upon reaching the window, the warhorse leaped and landed on the opposite roof. The other Spirit Herald Knights all backed up, then charged forward at full speed, crashing through the window and flying onto the opposite roof!

I looked at Nightshadow. “Can you…?” I had no confidence in performing such a maneuver!

“Piece of cake!” Nightshadow, however, was full of confidence. As he spoke, we also charged forward. Sure enough, we cleared the seemingly wide street with ease. Although the rooftop wasn’t perfectly flat, the well-trained warhorses charged across it as if it were level ground.

“You, stop right there!” I raised my right hand and fired a crossbow bolt. Although I couldn’t hit him, it would affect his speed. We soon closed in on him. Realizing we weren’t slow on the rooftops either, the Assassin jumped down to the ground. We had no choice but to follow!

I summoned Rose Vine and Phantom. “Phantom, go interfere with his movements. Rose Vine, tie him up like a rice dumpling for me!”

Phantom quickly ran over but soon ran back. “Master, he has something on him that resists my powers! I can’t get to him!”

“What! Forget it, just Merge with me to boost my stats!” After merging with Phantom, my speed increased, but the Assassin kept picking narrow alleys or diving into crowds, making it really hard to chase him! Just as the Assassin turned his head to check our position, the ground suddenly cracked open, and several tentacles shot out to entangle him. He immediately did a backflip to dodge them, and Rose Vine gave chase again. The paving stones on the ground were violently thrown up as if something was passing underneath, sending bricks flying everywhere. A deep trench appeared wherever Rose Vine passed. I hurried to follow.

“Spirit Herald Knights! Javelin toss!” The leader of the Spirit Herald Knights finally called out their ultimate move. A volley of long spears blocked an alley the Assassin was about to enter. The Assassin quickly turned to run in the other direction. I summoned The Dart, instantly blocking his path. Let’s see you run now!

“Get him!” In that short moment, ten Spirit Herald Knights had surrounded him. “Kid, hand over the item and we’ll let you go. Why would a Chinese person help the Japanese?”

The guy didn’t answer. I could tell he wanted to log out, but unfortunately, I had already attacked him, so he was in a combat state and couldn’t log off! I lunged forward and activated my teleportation again. This time, we appeared right next to Eagle. Gold Coin was quick on her feet. She went up and used a flurry of steal skills, leaving the Assassin stunned for a good while, wondering what had just happened! And I had to admit, that girl had some serious skill. I originally thought we’d have to use both persuasion and force to get the item, but she actually managed to pickpocket it in just a few tries!

“Is this it?” Gold Coin dangled the battle robe in her hand. “The stats are pretty good!”

“That’s the one! It’s yours!” I said. “This is a set with those boots you’re wearing. Just don’t lose it, and you’re not allowed to sell it to anyone! If you agree to help us wreak some havoc in Japan in the future, I can help you complete the whole set.”

“Are you really giving it to me? It’s a deal!” Gold Coin found it a bit hard to accept. She had seen the auction just now; this thing was worth a hundred million RMB! “Let’s not even mention that I don’t like the Japanese. Just for this set of equipment, I can’t say no to going to Japan with you to cause trouble!”

Eagle also ran over. “Haha, I didn’t think we’d get our hands on it so easily!”

Gold Coin said, “That was just good luck. Although my steal skill has a fairly high success rate, he had so many things on him, it’s random which one I get. Getting this item in just a few tries means my luck was good! You don’t actually think I can just point and take whatever I want, do you? If I had that kind of ability, I’d definitely strip Purple Sun bare first! I’ve been eyeing his gear for a long time! Hahahaha! Just kidding, just kidding!”

While we were happily celebrating our success in retrieving the National Artifact, the Assassin next to us suddenly cried out, “Great heroes, please save me!”

“What are you doing?” I took a step back, who knows if this guy had a steal skill!

“If you take this item, my boss will fire me. Please, I beg you to kill me!” the Assassin said, tears streaming down his face.

“Your boss is Japanese, isn’t he?” Bailing quickly guessed that the person who had orchestrated this was definitely Japanese.

The Assassin slowly said, “My name is Toxin. The money to buy that item was exchanged for cash by my boss! My boss is Japanese, and he wanted this item very much. But the auction rules stipulated that only players with Chinese nationality could buy it, so my boss had me come in and buy it for him. Now that you’ve taken the item, I’ll be killed when I go back!”

“This is China, not Iraq! Even if all Japanese were terrorists, you don’t need to worry! The most he can do is fire you. I can introduce you to a better job.”

“That’s not it!” Toxin was on the verge of tears. “They were afraid I would run away with so much money, so yesterday they sent my wife and my mom to Japan. The boss said that since I made such a huge contribution to the company, he was letting them go to Japan for a few days’ vacation, but I know they’re hostages! Please, I beg you, save me!”

“Those beasts!” Bailing said hatefully. “Purple Sun, what do we do?”

“Tell me your address and contact information, as well as the names of your mother and wife. I’ll help you get them back.”

“Really?” Toxin was a crying mess.

“Don’t worry!” I told Toxin not to tell his boss that the item was lost after he logged off. “Just say you were surrounded and chased by Chinese players, and you had to log off. Just stall for time. I’ll take care of the rest. I’ll contact you when your family is safe.”

After arranging these matters, I quickly logged off to contact my Dad. This was a matter of life and death, and something could really go wrong! After briefly explaining the situation, my Dad quickly came up with a solution. Although Longyuan didn’t have much influence in Japan, rescuing two civilians was not a problem. My Dad told me he would handle it, and all I had to do was hurry up and plan our little sabotage trip to Japan. Before hanging up, Dad even chewed me out for scamming him out of so much for that Iron Armor last time. I could only laugh sheepishly. I had already gotten the benefits, it’s not like he could take them back!

When I logged back on, everyone had scattered. I hadn’t had a proper rest since yesterday, and it had been over thirty hours. No wonder Eagle and the others couldn’t hold on any longer! Apart from Ah Wei and Gold Coin, no one was around. I was about to ask Ah Wei to go level up, but the kid actually said he wanted to accompany Gold Coin—a classic case of choosing girls over bros!

With no other choice, I had to go level up by myself. I asked a passing player in the city of Land’s End and learned that this place was bordered by a desert on one side and a great sea on the other. It was also the easternmost point of the Chinese continent, which was why it was called Land’s End.

What did the great sea look like? I wondered if I could go in! After some thought, I decided to head to the desert first. The sea was unfamiliar and therefore very dangerous; safety first. Besides, the sea wasn’t going to run away. There would be plenty of time to see it!

Outside the city was a stretch of grasslands. The desert was also visible, but it seemed to be some distance from the city. Not long after venturing into the grasslands, I reached the desert. There were surprisingly a lot of camels here, with many players active in the area.

A young warrior next to me was being chased all over the place by a camel. I happened to want to ask someone about the monsters here. I casually cast a ring of fire to trap the camel, then killed it with a few flashes of lightning. It didn’t seem to be a high-level Magical Beast, only around Level 300.

“Are you alright?” I helped the young warrior up.

“I’m fine! Ah…” Seeing my face, he froze instantly. I knew another youth had fallen victim to my looks!

“Hello? Anybody home?” I had to wave my hand in front of his face for a good while to bring his scattered wits back.

“Oh! I’m sorry!”

“It’s fine! I’m a man, you can look if you want. But could you first tell me why there are so many people here?”

“They’re catching camels.” He was still staring at me nonstop, clearly thinking my claim of being a man was a lie!

“What are they catching camels for?”

“To ride!” he said simply. “Camels can be used as mounts. Although their stat bonuses aren’t as high as horses, they run faster than horses, and only they can travel in the desert. Horses get easily trapped in quicksand!”

“Oh!” Now that I understood the situation, I bid him farewell and prepared to venture deeper. Who would have known that the guy would shout from behind me, asking if I wanted him to join me. How could I dare keep such a lovesick fan around! I pretended not to hear and ordered Nightshadow to run away at top speed!

Chapter 24: Monsters

“That little warrior was right, the desert really isn’t suitable for horses,”

Nightshadow started sinking into the sand after just a few steps. We had to pick our way through gullies where the sand looked more compacted just to make any progress. Watching other players occasionally gallop past on camels, I finally understood why they were called the ships of the desert!

After a while, I had to recall Nightshadow. His movement speed was now slower than my own on foot. It was better to walk than to crawl along on his back. Although the sun was a bit unbearable, the desert scenery had its own unique charm.

As I walked, the ground beneath my feet suddenly gave way, and I began to sink. Crap, I’d stepped into quicksand! “Rose Vine!” With a thump, a tendril shot out from the ground in a spray of yellow sand and pulled me back to solid ground. It seemed the soft desert terrain was perfect for Rose Vine; it moved much faster here than on solid earth. I carefully skirted the quicksand pit and continued onward. There were fewer and fewer players around now; the deeper parts of the desert were probably more dangerous, so not many people ventured this far in.

“Help!” A faint cry for help came from not far away. The sound seemed to be coming from underground, feeling very muffled.

I followed the voice and ran over. After cresting a nearby sand dune, I finally spotted my target. A player of the Assassin class was struggling there. A strangely shaped forehead guard covered his entire face, leaving only a small area around his eyes and mouth exposed. I couldn’t make out what he was wearing because everything but one hand and his head was already buried in a sandpit!

“Don’t panic!” I jumped down from the dune. “Don’t move around. The more you struggle, the faster you’ll sink!”

Hearing my words, the Assassin immediately stopped struggling. I directed Rose Vine to extend a tendril across the surface of the sand. Quicksand is fluid, so even Rose Vine couldn’t enter it directly; it could only pull from the outside. “Grab on, quick!” Once the Assassin had a hold of it, I commanded Rose Vine to pull backward, and in no time, we had dragged him out.

“Thanks! I was almost a goner!” The Assassin was still on the ground, panting as he thanked me. “My name is Dao Shi Wuqing. I’m a Slayer. You can call me Ruthless! And how should I address you, miss?”

“Hello, my name is Purple Sun. Also, I’m a man. Don’t call me miss, or don’t blame me for throwing you back in!” I didn’t mention my class, letting him guess for himself. It’s not lying if you don’t say it! “This is the desert. It doesn’t seem very suitable for an Assassin to level up, does it?”

Though he was shocked to hear I was male, he cooperated and said no more, likely fearing I’d actually throw him back into the quicksand. “I’m not here to level up!” Ruthless finally stood up. Only now did I realize how tall he was, probably around 180 centimeters. He was quite handsome, too, but whether it was because of his tight-fitting Assassin gear or some other reason, he looked very slender. I was so envious! At 172 centimeters, I was a whole head shorter next to him! “I took on a quest. The description told me to come here and eliminate the monsters in the sand dunes to open The Lost Desert Path.”

“An interesting quest! Are there any rewards?”

“The reward is ten thousand Crystal Coins, a Magical Pet egg, and a Warrior’s Medal,” the Assassin said without any hesitation. “But you can only accept it once. It’s a one-time quest, not something everyone can do! If you want, you can party up with me. The quest says I need many teammates to assist me. But the rewards don’t increase no matter how many people there are, so I came alone!”

“Then wouldn’t I be taking a share of your things by teaming up with you?” I didn’t like accepting favors for no reason.

“You’re my lifesaver, so consider it me repaying you. Besides, this is a one-time quest. If I die, I’ll never be able to accept it again!” Without waiting for my reply, he sent me a party invitation. Since he put it that way, it was hard for me to refuse, so I accepted.

As soon as we partied up, my quest log chimed. I opened it and, sure enough, an unfinished quest had appeared. The destination wasn’t very far from here; according to the map, we were almost there. The quest description was brief, so I only half-understood it and had to ask Ruthless. “Do you know what kind of monster we have to deal with?”

“It seems to be something called Legion Bugs.” Ruthless shook his head as he spoke. “Actually, I have no idea what these Legion Bugs are. I used to level up in Atlantis; this is only my third time in the desert.”

“What?” I had to admire him for daring to come here alone knowing nothing. I suddenly had the feeling I’d been roped into something bad! In Zero’s game design, Magical Pet eggs were extremely rare. For a quest to give one out directly as a reward, plus a sky-high monetary prize, and also suggesting a party was needed… it meant this quest either required a lot of coordination or was so difficult it needed human wave tactics or a war of attrition to take down a super-boss. And this fool came alone! Now I’ve gotten myself mixed up in this, too. I should have found out all the details before deciding. Regrets, I have a few! “Didn’t you ask around for some basic information before you came?”

“Why waste so much time? We’ll see them when we get there!”

I was rendered speechless. I’d run into a quest idiot! But there was nothing I could do now. Leaving the party would count as failing the quest, and the penalty was forfeiting all the quest rewards plus losing a level. How did I get so unlucky?

“We’re here!” Ruthless, acting as if nothing was wrong, suddenly stopped.

“What?” I was still imagining my own tragic demise. “This is it?”

“Over there!” He pointed to a hole in the ground on a sand dune ahead. We cautiously approached the entrance, and Ruthless circled around to the other side. Peeking his head in carefully, he saw nothing but darkness inside. Hiss hiss! A sound from behind us made us both spin around at the same time, and we froze in fear. A tawny-colored monster that looked very much like a crab stood right in front of us. Luckily, it too seemed to be stunned for a moment. This was clearly a high-intelligence monster. I’d recently concluded that high-intelligence monsters would sometimes freeze up due to sudden events, whereas low-intelligence monsters would just charge the moment they saw you.

I was the first to snap out of it. I swung the longsword in my hand and slashed at it. This was no time to worry about exposing my identity; my life was on the line! This time, I didn’t strike the monster’s body but swept at its legs. It was obvious at a glance that this enemy couldn’t be killed with a single blow. It was more practical to use this surprise attack to cripple its mobility rather than waste the opportunity. Besides, its armored body didn’t look easy to deal with, while its eight long, slender, pointed legs looked quite fragile.

My idea was a success. With one slash, I easily severed six of the creature’s legs. It clearly hadn’t learned how to stand on just two, and it toppled over with a thud. “Run!” I grabbed the still-dazed Ruthless and took off. Once he came to his senses, the guy actually ran faster than me, but neither of us made it to a safe distance.

A deafening roar accompanied a monstrous wave of sand. The sand dune in front of us vanished in an instant, and a swarm of over three hundred monsters appeared where it had been. These newcomers were larger than the one whose legs I had just cut off. They looked a lot like the hairy tarantulas often seen in primeval forests, and right now, each one was about the size of a water buffalo!

Ruthless drew his short dagger. “Be careful. These are Desert Wolf Spiders, level 507 monsters. They usually act alone. I can’t believe they’re appearing in a group today!”

“Do you know what that thing I just took down was?” I had just appraised the creature, but hearing Ruthless call these things Desert Wolf Spiders gave me a bad feeling.

“What was that thing just now?”

“The Desert Wolf Spider King!”

“No way! They look so different!”

“I’m sorry to tell you, but yes, it was!” I started planning my next move. Maybe I could summon Lucky and attack from the air.

Just as I was figuring out how to handle the situation, another change occurred! The ground suddenly began to tremble. A moment later, a smooth, black hemisphere appeared behind the wolf spiders. I suddenly realized what it was! That bald back could only mean one thing—an Iron Armor Beetle! I never thought I’d find those things here!

Soon, the small black hill rose up, and an Iron Armor Beetle crawled out from under the sand, followed by a second, and a third. Now we were in huge trouble. It seemed we had well and truly poked a hornet’s nest!

“What are those huge things?” Ruthless had clearly never seen an Iron Armor Beetle.

“Iron Armor Beetles, level 650 monsters. Their defense is ridiculously high. You probably can’t even break through it!”

“That insane! Then what about the one behind us?”

“Behind us?” I turned around and nearly collapsed onto the ground. The cave entrance from before was now completely gone, replaced by an Iron Armor Beetle two or three times larger. One look and you knew it was the Iron Armor Beetle King! “I have a suggestion!”

“What?”

“Let’s run!” With that, I started sprinting. Ruthless was a step too slow. The Iron Armor Beetle King beside us shot out a blast of green flame, and in an instant, Ruthless vanished.

I fled in a panic, but my private message alert went off. “Purple Sun, I got insta-killed!”

“I know! That thing’s at least level 700. Insta-killing an Assassin like you is a piece of cake! Now don’t bother me, I’m fighting for my life!” I quickly closed the private message. The Desert Wolf Spiders behind me were already charging. This was frustrating. Without Nightshadow’s help, I couldn’t outrun them! “Lucky!” I quickly leaped onto the dragon’s back. It was too dangerous down below!

Just as Lucky was about to take off, the wolf spiders behind us suddenly spat out a white object that flew toward us. Lucky couldn’t dodge in time and was hit squarely, but it seemed to have no attack power. The problem came next. Lucky failed to take off; a tremendous force pulled us back down.

I looked back and finally understood! Dammit, that white blob was spider silk! A dozen strands were wrapped around Lucky’s rear. Countless smaller spiders were pulling on the other end, completely immobilizing him!

“All of you, out!” I summoned all my Magical Pets and Demon Servants in one go. If I couldn’t run, I might as well go all out!

The moment she appeared, Xiao Feng created a row of fire walls, separating us from the monsters behind and giving us a moment to breathe. She also burned away the spider silk on Lucky’s rear. I called over the Spirit Herald Knight Boss and quickly assigned tasks. “You and the other Spirit Herald Knights, hold back the Iron Armor Beetles behind us. Xiao Feng, you’re in charge of the sea of fire. I want a large area burned! Little Dragon Girl, do you have anything that can temporarily trap that Iron Armor Beetle King?”

“Yes, my Sealing Demon Array can trap it, but only for thirty minutes!”

“Let’s do that for now! You seal it first. Phantom and I will Merge. Rose Vine, you specialize in causing chaos. Drag all those lone spiders underground and kill them! The Dart will stay on the perimeter and disrupt their line of sight! Nightshadow’s movement is restricted, so he’ll support us with magic from the outside. Lucky, you’ll attack with me! Alright, let’s move out!”

Xiao Feng quickly replaced the wall of fire with a sea of fire. Blue flames instantly covered a huge swatch of the surrounding ground, and the Desert Wolf Spiders were sent running and screaming inside it. “Lucky, Dragon Flame!” With enemies this密集, Dragon Flame was the most suitable attack!

Lucky opened his mouth and let out a gout of Dragon Flame, instantly clearing a path before us. The Spirit Herald Knights quickly ran through the channel. Although they couldn’t ride their horses, they were plenty fast on their own. By the time the wolf spiders on either side closed in again, they had already broken through the spiders’ defensive line and were approaching the Iron Armor Beetles. I stored my disguise, the mage robe, in my bracelet. Now was the time to fight for my life! I drew both Dragon Fang Swords and jumped into the spider swarm myself!

Lucky ascended and began clearing a path for me with his Dragon Flame. I, in turn, fought my way toward the Spider King whose legs I had crippled. The surrounding spiders probably realized my intent, as they all rushed to block my path. However, this only enhanced the effect of Lucky’s Dragon Flame. Because the spiders were so densely packed, each blast could mow down a huge swathe of them.

A particularly large wolf spider suddenly leaped out of the swarm. I was in the middle of a chaotic fight with the spiders around me, so how could I have a free hand to deal with this monster falling from the sky? At this moment, I truly wished I were a spider. At least eight legs meant I could hold a few more weapons!

Seeing the spider falling towards me from above, I swiftly plunged the Dragon Fang Sword in my right hand into another spider’s mouth. Green liquid sprayed all over my face. The sword was stuck. I decisively let go of it, raised my hand towards the falling spider, and with a flick of my fingers, the Dragon-Tendon Flying Cords flew out. With a tearing sound, the spider in the air was split in two, and a shower of green blood drenched me once more. I spun around and whipped the flying cords out in a horizontal sweep. A series of cracking sounds followed, and wherever they passed, green fluid flew. Only now did I realize that the most powerful weapon in the Demonic Dragon Set was the Dragon-Tendon Cable! But I also discovered another problem. Cutting things with the flying cords consumed Mana. Sweeping away a whole group of spiders just now was indeed satisfying, but my Mana was now down to just a few dozen points.

Another wolf spider shot out and leaped at me. I didn’t dare use the flying cords again. With a flick of my wrist, a Soul-Chasing Arrow flew out. I had no other choice! One arrow pierced through the leaping spider. I released my grip and let fly another arrow, this time a normal one, which only managed to injure a spider that was preparing to jump!

Just as I was about to fire another arrow, a massive force suddenly slammed me to the ground from behind. I knew a spider had jumped onto my back! But the force suddenly vanished. I turned to see Lucky swinging his massive tail to score a beautiful home run! One by one, spiders were sent flying, knocking over a few more when they landed. But there were too many of them; this was hardly effective.

Suddenly, I felt the pressure around me lessen significantly. The wolf spiders were retreating. I looked into the distance and saw that the Spirit Herald Knights had already finished off all thirteen Iron Armor Beetles. Only their corpses remained on the ground! They were already charging back. No wonder the pressure on my side eased up!

Rose Vine had also finally snuck up to the Spider King. Six tendrils appeared at once. With a whoosh, the entire Spider King vanished into the sand. I didn’t know if Rose Vine had finished it off, as I had no attention to spare, and my experience bar was spinning like a speedometer, so I couldn’t use it to tell if the Spider King was dead.

The Spirit Herald Knights quickly fought their way to my side. The wolf spiders, hundreds of levels below them, were no match at all. It felt like watching special forces soldiers in a kindergarten; a casual swing could take out a whole group of spiders. In comparison, I was in a miserable state, not only covered in cuts and bruises but also with my health and mana bottoming out! Because Lucky and the others helped share the damage I took, I hadn’t carried Potions for a long time. It seemed I’d have to start carrying some from now on.

“Behind you!” I saw the Iron Armor Beetle King seemed to have broken through the Sealing Demon Array. I wanted to warn the Spirit Herald Knights, but I was a step too slow. The three knights at the rear were sent flying by the monster, which was even larger than Lucky.

I saw the health of the knights I’d struck plummet to the bottom, but thankfully they weren’t dead! I quickly recalled the three of them. Demon Servants were not resurrectable; losing them would be a huge loss! The remaining seven knights in front quickly scattered as the Iron Armor Beetle King charged straight for me. The creature was clearly indiscriminate, trampling countless wolf spiders that didn’t get out of its way!

Just as the Iron Armor Beetle King charged right in front of me, Lucky swiftly came over to block it. Unexpectedly, Lucky was sent flying, tumbling several times on the ground before he barely managed to steady himself! This thing’s Strength was just too immense! “Little Dragon Girl! Help!”

Little Dragon Girl appeared above us like a lightning bolt. “Tenth-level Lightning Strike!” A super-charged bolt of lightning struck the behemoth’s back, but after a few arcs flashed, it was completely fine. My god, what kind of monster was this!

“Master! Rose Vine has killed the Wolf Spider King!” Phantom suddenly reminded me. The surrounding wolf spiders retreated like a tide! It was terrifying. In that short time, I had actually gained two levels! I had no idea how many wolf spiders Lucky and the others had killed, but the desert before me was now completely covered in the spiders’ green slime.

Suddenly, only this massive monster remained. I took the opportunity to use Star Pupil on it. “Golden Armor Beetle, Level 900 Insect-type Magical Beast, Attack 10-2300, Defense 5000, Speed 100, Health 100,000, Mana 5000. Attacks have poison damage. Innate Skill: Acid Spray, damage 1000 and causes continuous damage for 10 seconds. Physical attack effectiveness halved, Magic Resistance 45%, ???.” This was outrageous. It was practically a tank! Its skills were formidable, but what was with the question marks at the end? Was there a skill that Star Pupil couldn’t Appraise?

Giving me no chance to breathe, the Golden Armor Beetle charged at me again. “Xiao Feng!”

Xiao Feng streaked over like a bolt of lightning and carried me into the sky. The Golden Armor Beetle looked up, a ruby-like object in the center of its head flashed, and a beam of red light struck Xiao Feng. The force of the blow sent us tumbling out of the sky. This thing’s attack power was terrifying. Since when did it have laser weapons?!

The remaining Spirit Herald Knights threw their long spears in unison, but unlike with the Iron Armor Beetles, this time the spears clanged against the Golden Armor Beetle’s armor, and not a single one managed to pierce it.

“Xiao Feng, are you alright?” After being shot down, Xiao Feng couldn’t get back up from the ground, so I had no choice but to recall him. This was all that Ruthless’s fault. What Ruthless? More like brainless! Was this a quest a single person could take? In my opinion, this was clearly a Guild quest!

But complaining was useless; I still had to fight. I quickly gathered the Spirit Herald Knights to reform their ranks. Right now, they were the only ones who could go up against this thing! According to Star Pupil, its health wasn’t full. The knights’ previous attacks hadn’t been completely useless. Even though it was a level 900 monster, the Spirit Herald Knights were level 850. Being ganged up on by seven of them, even with its high defense, it was bound to take damage!

The Spirit Herald Knight Boss took the lead, charging forward with his long spear. Who would have known the Golden Armor Beetle still had tricks up its sleeve! After a flash of light, the Spirit Herald Knight Boss was sent flying back. The remaining six knights had to work together to catch him. This Golden Armor Beetle was different from the Iron Armor Beetles. It had more than just six legs; it also had a pair of attacking forelimbs!

Chapter 25: Tank

This fellow was different from an Iron Armor Beetle. It had a highly specialized forelimb, one that had clearly evolved into a weapon of war! It was a strange-looking limb, folded against the Golden Armor Beetle’s chest a moment ago. The limb was very long, with a normal main section. However, near the tip on its outer side, there was a prominent bone hammer, while its inner side was lined with sharp, interlocking, sickle-like blades. The whole thing looked like a stone tied to the back of a sickle!

What a vicious weapon! The Spirit Herald Knight Boss had been sent flying by the bone hammer on the back of that limb. But now, the limb was fully extended, and we had to face a huge, mantis-like scythe! To make matters worse, the bone hammer was located slightly above the middle of the limb, so its tip remained exceptionally sharp. Just looking at that cold, glinting point sent shivers down my spine! The Golden Armor Beetle scraped its two modified limbs together, just like a person about to dine, sharpening their knife and fork!

I recalled The Dart and Nightshadow; they couldn’t help in this situation. Xiao Feng was unable to fight, so I recalled her first. Of my ten Spirit Herald Knights, only seven were still battle-ready. My casualties were truly heavy!

“Attack!” I shouted. The Golden Armor Beetle zeroed in on me and swung its scythe. I dropped to the ground, dodging the blade, but the tip of its other scythe stabbed straight down. Just as I thought I was done for, Little Dragon Girl suddenly swooped down. She wrapped her body around the Golden Armor Beetle’s scythe and began to discharge electricity. I never knew she had electric eel genes in her!

Dozens of Rose Vine’s tentacles shot out from underground, wrapping around the Golden Armor Beetle’s body again and again. The extra tentacles coiled around the beetle’s six thick, supporting legs.

Lucky immediately pounced, biting down on the joint connecting the Golden Armor Beetle’s head and body. This was likely the only spot on its body unprotected by armor, but it was usually hard to attack, as the beetle could hide it simply by lifting its head. Now that the beetle was immobilized, Lucky had found the perfect place to sink his teeth in.

The Spirit Herald Knights were not to be outdone. They charged forward with their long spears. These elite fighters were battlefield veterans, specifically targeting the joints where the armor was much thinner than on the main body.

I scrambled up, rushing forward and bracing my Dragon Lance against the Golden Armor Beetle’s head. I activated my skill, “Demonic Dragon Heart-Piercing Thrust!” Boom! The force of the explosion sent me flying backward. The Golden Armor Beetle abruptly stood up. The first to suffer was Rose Vine; its tentacles were snapped one by one! The Golden Armor Beetle tightened the scythes on its forelimbs, and Little Dragon Girl, caught between the blades, cried out in pain, but her cries quickly ceased. The beetle snapped its scythes shut. Little Dragon Girl was sliced into several pieces, and her golden blood sprayed all over me and the Spirit Herald Knights who had been trying to save her!

For a moment, I thought my heart was going to stop! Now I knew what heart-piercing pain felt like! Before I could recover, I saw the clenched scythe flash out like lightning. The bone hammer on its back easily sent two Spirit Herald Knights flying. I reached out to catch one, only to be knocked away myself. Thankfully, the desert ground was soft, so the landing wasn’t too painful!

Lucky had climbed completely onto the Golden Armor Beetle’s back, biting down on its neck and refusing to let go! The beetle tried to reach him with its scythes but found they weren’t long enough. It thrashed from side to side but couldn’t shake Lucky off. In its frustration, it started spinning in circles!

Perhaps realizing that the thing on its back was under my command, the Golden Armor Beetle gave up trying to shake Lucky off and charged toward me instead. With its massive body now carrying Lucky, its steps were like an earthquake. The Spirit Herald Knights seized the opportunity to harass it from behind.

Phantom’s voice suddenly rang out. “Master, please don’t be sad. Little Dragon Girl is only gone for a moment. She’ll be back soon!” As soon as she finished speaking, a dark cloud appeared in the sky, and Little Dragon Girl emerged from it. I almost forgot! Xiao Feng’s resurrection skill had spread to all of us because of the Guardian Collar. Little Dragon Girl had one chance to revive! Besides, even if she had truly died, she would have only lost a level! I had been so anxious that I’d forgotten everything. Seeing Little Dragon Girl restored, I finally relaxed and remembered!

“Master! Want to see my new skill?” Little Dragon Girl’s voice came from the clouds, her form flickering in and out of sight.

“What skill?”

“Overturning Clouds and Rain!”

“What kind of skill is that? Let’s see it!”

Little Dragon Girl suddenly dove into the cloud and disappeared. The dark cloud grew larger and larger, gradually becoming a massive cloud bank that covered a large area above our heads. A strange thought popped into my head: this move would be great for blocking the sun in the desert next time!

Rumbling thunder suddenly echoed from within the dark cloud. A bolt of lightning struck the ground, but it missed the Golden Armor Beetle by a wide margin. It seemed this skill had poor accuracy! Just as I was thinking this, the sky erupted with continuous flashes of lightning and peals of thunder as bolts rained down密集ly. My god! This wasn’t rain, it was a downpour of lightning! The thundercloud continuously dropped pillars of lightning, so dense they swept across every inch of the battlefield. The Golden Armor Beetle and all of us were bombarded by the storm of lightning!

However, it was clearly a magical attack with a friend-or-foe identification property. Although I was struck by many lightning bolts, nothing happened except for arcs of electricity dancing across my body. The Golden Armor Beetle, on the other hand, its once-golden armor now covered in black spots from the electricity, looked like a ladybug with who-knows-how-many spots! Lucky was still latched onto its neck, refusing to let go, but I could see from the status panel that his health was dropping steadily and was about to bottom out!

After the lightning ended, the dark clouds didn’t disperse. Suddenly, huge drops of water began to fall from the sky. The lightning was followed by a torrential downpour, the kind you’d see in a severe storm! I was surprised to see my health in my status panel rapidly recovering. The same was happening for Lucky and the others. It seemed this rain could heal all allied units!

Rose Vine, still underground, probably loved this rainy weather the most. Its tentacles, which had been severely injured just moments ago, quickly recovered. Countless tentacles shot out from the ground and wrapped around the Golden Armor Beetle’s body. Bound tightly by Rose Vine, the Golden Armor Beetle suddenly began to inhale. Its abdomen swelled larger and larger. It looked like it was about to breathe fire again!

I signaled for everyone to retreat quickly. Lucky was relatively safe on its back; at least it couldn’t spray its own back! Finally, the Golden Armor Beetle stopped inhaling, but what it sprayed out was not fire, but a green liquid. The first to suffer were the Rose Vine tentacles at its feet. The substance was like an herbicide; Rose Vine instantly lost most of its tentacles and retreated underground. A Spirit Herald Knight was knocked into the green liquid by the beetle, and his armor instantly dissolved! I quickly recalled that Spirit Herald Knight. This was clearly some kind of bio-acid!

The Spirit Herald Knights were forced to retreat by the acid. Although their armor could automatically regenerate after a certain amount of time, the knights themselves only had one life! It was too dangerous to continue resisting now!

Just as I was recalling all the Spirit Herald Knights, the Golden Armor Beetle suddenly sprayed the acid in my direction! I didn’t have time to dodge in my haste. I only managed to lower my helmet’s faceplate. The viscous green liquid instantly coated my entire body! I heard a hissing sound all around me. I lifted my hand to look. Apart from constantly emitting smoke, there seemed to be no damage! I checked my equipment’s durability; that hadn’t changed either!

“Excellent!” I couldn’t help but shout. The Demonic Dragon Set was actually immune to bio-acid! The acid spray, the Golden Armor Beetle’s life-saving skill, was useless against me! Hahahaha! Today, you’re not getting away alive!

I don’t know if the Golden Armor Beetle suddenly realized I was immune to its acid, or if it had run out of acid, but it stopped its futile spraying. But just because it wasn’t spraying acid didn’t mean it was idle. After the green acid came green flames. I deliberately didn’t dodge. I was very satisfied with the results—completely harmless!

The Golden Armor Beetle was truly out of luck this time. Nothing it sprayed worked on me! Just as I was getting carried away with my success, the Golden Armor Beetle suddenly turned its strange mouthparts toward me. Below its mouth were two parallel holes. With a dull thump, I was inexplicably sent flying. A large chunk of my health disappeared. Two more hits like that, and I’d be finished!

“Phantom! Did you see what hit me just now?”

“I didn’t see. Maybe it was that big hammer?”

“No! Its hammer can’t reach this far!”

Little Dragon Girl, still in the sky, chimed in, “It looked like something shot out of its mouth. But I didn’t see anything!”

Phantom said, “Rose Vine says it felt something fly past, hugging the ground!”

The Golden Armor Beetle’s chest swelled again and then rapidly deflated. I was sent flying once more. Damn it, I saw it this time! The guy was equipped with an air cannon! Those two holes below its mouth must be something like nostrils. It sucked air into its body, rapidly compressed it, and then shot it out at high speed from the two bone cavities in front. I never thought an air cannon like this could be so powerful!

Just as I was bracing for a third air cannon blast, the ruby on its head flashed. It was that laser from before! Damn it, are you even going to let a person live? This thing is a mobile turret! What’s the difference between this and a tank?!

While I was considering how to dodge the air cannon, the Golden Armor Beetle suddenly started digging into the sand. It was hard to believe. A creature that large sank into the sand with incredible speed. The surrounding sand quickly flowed in, covering the hole it had made. Since Lucky couldn’t burrow, he had to let go of the Golden Armor Beetle and fly back into the sky. Now, even my only effective source of damage was useless!

“Rose Vine! Report its position!” That guy actually dug underground! What a troublesome foe!

Before Phantom could translate Rose Vine’s message, the sand in front of me suddenly bulged. Then the ground began to shake, and a jet of dark-black, green-tinged liquid suddenly shot out of the sand. The liquid flowed out, soaking a large patch of sand!

I didn’t need Phantom to translate to know what had happened, because the system had already notified me: Rose Vine had been easily killed! That jet of dark green liquid was Rose Vine’s blood! I summoned the newly revived Rose Vine back. Sending it out now would be suicide. It was better to keep it back and conserve my strength!

Suddenly, a row of huge spikes erupted from under my feet. I quickly did a side handspring, narrowly dodging the attack. But just as I landed, another row of spikes shot out from my new position. I spread my Demonic Dragon Wings and rose into the sky. This guy was really a pain!

After losing its target, things went quiet for a moment. Then, a row of spikes suddenly appeared under one of the Spirit Herald Knights. The knight immediately transformed into a bat and flew up. The other Spirit Herald Knights quickly followed suit, taking to the air.

What am I supposed to do now? It’s moving underground, and our only underground unit, Rose Vine, can’t beat it!

With no other choice, I summoned Xiao Feng again. After a short rest, she was clearly much better. “Xiao Feng, can you use fire underground? That thing just now burrowed into the sand!”

“I’ll try!” Xiao Feng flew into the air, circled twice, and then dove headfirst into the sand.

Before we could understand what was happening, the sand on the ground began to slowly dance. Soon, we could clearly see the surface of the sand turning red. The ground began to shake again, and a sand mound swelled up. The Golden Armor Beetle’s massive body reappeared. “So you finally couldn’t take the heat! Xiao Feng, you can get out of there now!” I recalled Xiao Feng and continued my standoff with this difficult opponent.

Although our side had suffered heavy casualties, I could clearly see through Star Pupil that the creature only had two or three hundred health points left. Lucky’s long-lasting bite hadn’t been in vain. All that bleeding finally wore it down!

Right, a creature this powerful should be captured as a Magical Pet. Why didn’t I think of that earlier? Good thing it’s not dead yet!

Focusing my power into the Fire Diamond on my forehead, a dense swarm of Bee Dragons flew out. I commanded them to attack the unprotected, soft parts of this giant. Although the Golden Armor Beetle had high attack power, it was helpless against these small, agile, numerous creatures. Its air cannon was now truly like using an anti-aircraft gun to shoot a mosquito; powerful, yes, but it could only take out two at a time, and it took a long time to prepare. It was useless now! It seems being big has its advantages, but being small has its moments of brilliance too!

Seeing that the big guy had only about thirty health left and was swaying, on the verge of collapsing, I quickly recalled the Bee Dragons and had Lucky return as well. Just as Lucky landed, the Golden Armor Beetle swayed twice and collapsed with a boom. It had about twenty-something health left. I deliberately summoned The Dart and had him use normal attacks on the Golden Armor Beetle. As an Agility-type Magical Pet, The Dart could only deal one point of mandatory chip damage to a high-defense creature like the Golden Armor Beetle, but that was exactly what I needed. Seeing the Golden Armor Beetle with only 1 health point left, I shouted for him to stop. To not capture such a powerful Magical Beast would be a criminal waste of resources!

After about a dozen Capture attempts, I succeeded. The Golden Armor Beetle, with one drop of blood left, finally turned into a green egg. I eagerly dripped blood on it to claim ownership. The eggshell cracked, and a pitch-black, miniature version of the Golden Armor Beetle ran out. Sigh! It turned black again! All my Magical Pets, except for The Dart, are black. And The Dart isn’t truly white; I’ve checked. His fur is silver-white, but if you part his long fur, you’ll see his skin is black too! This demonization effect of mine is really a headache!

The Golden Armor Beetle in my hand was now only about a foot long, but that was fine. One day, it would grow back to its original size! I named the little thing Tank, since it truly was a tank. I opened up his stats to have a look.

Golden Armor Beetle, a Level 900 creature. Current level: 0. Attack: 100-200, Defense: 500, Speed: 100, Health: 1000, Mana: 500. Attacks carry poison damage. Innate Skill: Bio-acid Spray, deals 1500 damage and 150 damage over time for 10 seconds. Physical attack effect halved, Magic Resistance 45%.

It seems he’s still young, so he can’t use many of his skills yet! But it doesn’t matter. Magical Pets level up quickly anyway. Based on my experience raising so many, they usually level up easily. In the end, it’s often my level that restricts theirs!

Doing a quick count, I realized I had quite a few Magical Pets now. Lucky, Xiao Feng, Little Dragon Girl, Nightshadow, Phantom, Rose Vine, The Dart, and now Tank made exactly eight. I was just one away from my limit of nine. I’d have to be more selective in the future. But that was fine; so far, all the Magical Pets I’d captured were powerful characters. Although I was currently relying on the Spirit Herald Knights to tank for me, in the future, when my level was higher, the real powerhouses would be super-bosses like Lucky and Little Dragon Girl.

As I was thinking, my private message alert chimed again. I looked and saw it was Ruthless again. “What’s up?”

“I saw the quest status change to ‘Completed,’ so I went to the quest giver and collected the reward. When you get back, I’ll give you the stuff.” I didn’t expect this kid to be so decent. Most people would probably have taken the items and logged off!

“You don’t have to give me the stuff. Keep it for yourself. Just think of it as me power-leveling! I gained 3 levels in less than two hours. A few more quests like this and I could storm the Level Leaderboard!”

“That’s not happening!” Ruthless actually sounded anxious. “You have to take the items. You did the entire quest. I just brought you there; I can’t even be considered a guide!”

“Well, let’s talk about it when I get back!” I looked around for any loot. After rummaging around, it was all junk. So many monsters had dropped nearly a thousand items, and more than half of them were necklaces! I really didn’t get it. Why drop the same type of item over and over? Was it because I was killing the same kind of monster, and they liked to collect necklaces? Whatever. I needed money anyway. A little money is still money! With superhuman patience, like a scrap collector, I picked up all the miscellaneous junk on the ground. How depressing!

Just as I was about to finish, a private message from Ruthless came in again. “Great hero! How are you not back yet? Did you fall into a pit or something?”

“Don’t bother me! I’m picking up money!”

“Picking up money?”

“Yeah! A whole field of junk. It’s probably worth a dozen Crystal Coins!” I couldn’t help it. Who told me to owe someone money? I hadn’t used the money from selling the Magical Pet egg, but it still wasn’t enough!

“No way! You mean White Equipment!” Ruthless exclaimed.

“No! They’re all necklaces, about 700 of them! They all just add a few stat points. Total trash, not a single one worth looking at! The rest are some weapons or equipment with one or two stats, but nothing I can use!”

Ruthless was stunned. “Are you serious? Are they necklaces?”

“Yeah, what about it? I have over 700 of them, all sorts of styles. If you want, I can give you a handful!”

“Just come back first! It’s hard to explain here!”

“Alright!”

This time, I teleported directly back to the city teleportation station in Land’s End. I messaged Ruthless, and he was at the city gate. It took him a long while to run over. “You have a Town Portal Scroll! I thought you were going to walk back!”

“Tell me where the system shop is here. I’m going to sell all this junk!”

“Wait!” Ruthless requested a trade with me. In the item window was a Magical Pet egg, a Warrior’s Medal, and ten thousand Crystal Coins. “Yours, take it!”

I looked at it. “I’ll take the money. You take the Magical Pet egg and the Warrior’s Medal!”

Ruthless considered for a moment and took back the Magical Pet egg. “You have to take the rest. I’m already getting a huge bargain! If you refuse, you’re looking down on my character!”

“Alright, fine!” I accepted the trade. I took out the Warrior’s Medal to inspect it. This thing gave +1 Luck and +10% health regeneration speed. The stats weren’t bad! “Here’s a necklace for you, as a souvenir!”

“A necklace?” Ruthless took the one I offered him. “How did you get this? Are all of yours like this?”

“I have over 700 more, with pretty much the same stats. This thing only adds one or two stat points. Wearing it is like wearing nothing!”

“Don’t you know what necklaces do?” Ruthless’s eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. “This necklace adds to your base stats! That means it’s added to your base values. Just think about how many points that is when it’s multiplied by your level!”

“No way!” I quickly took out a necklace and put it on. Sure enough, this +1 Strength necklace I equipped immediately made all my base stats 14! This thing wasn’t much worse than a Divine Artifact! I’ve struck it rich, I’ve struck it rich! Good thing I didn’t throw them away just now! That was a close call. If it weren’t for needing to pay off my debt quickly, I would never have picked this stuff up! It looked like my debt crisis was about to be resolved!

Ruthless, standing beside me, watched me grinning foolishly and thought I had gotten overexcited and lost my mind. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” I wiped the drool from my mouth. “Come on, let’s go celebrate!”

Chapter 26: Master (1)

I grabbed Ruthless and ran to a tavern. Wondering how I knew its location? It was right next to the Teleportation Array, and the massive banner with the character for ‘wine’ on it was impossible to miss.

“Do you have to be so dramatic? So you made some money, no need to be this happy! Stop pulling me!” Ruthless lamented as I dragged him into the tavern.

“Oof!” As the ancients said, extreme joy begets sorrow. They really had a point! The moment I stepped through the tavern door, I slammed headfirst into someone’s embrace. The immense force sent us both flying apart. I landed flat on my butt, and it felt awful! Ruthless, who was right behind me, had it even worse. The rebound sent me flying right into him, knocking him clean out the door.

The person opposite me stumbled back several steps, knocking over a table before he managed to steady himself.

“Watch where you’re going, kid!” the man I’d just knocked over cursed as he scrambled to his feet. “Don’t you know how to walk? You looking for a fight?”

“Sorry, so sorry! I didn’t see you!” I quickly apologized. It was my fault, after all, and this was no time to be stubborn. “Are you hurt?”

“…” The person I’d knocked over suddenly froze, staring at me, completely at a loss for words. After sputtering for a moment, he finally recovered. “A fairy…!” That was the first thing he said after getting up.

“I’m really sorry about that, I didn’t see you. If you’re okay, I’ll be heading inside!” I had no time to explain my gender to him. If we were going to be leveling up together or something, it might be necessary, but since we just bumped into each other and were about to go our separate ways, it was completely pointless to waste energy explaining.

Unfortunately, it seemed things rarely went according to my plans. “My lady! You are so beautiful! And your voice is so lovely and pleasant, it’s like the voice of an Angel!”

Good grief! My vocal cords might be a bit strange, but it was just a boyish tone. There should still be some difference from a female voice, right? Even if the difference wasn’t huge! “I think you’re mistaken! Sorry, I need to go upstairs!” I turned and grabbed Ruthless, intending to head up.

The man darted in front of me, blocking the stairs to the second floor. “Miss, don’t be in such a hurry to leave! I was rude just now. Might I have the pleasure of dining with you?”

I sized up the person before me. He was about 176 cm tall with a very average face, dressed in a classic Chinese martial arts training uniform. He was probably a Hidden Profession player. “Sorry, I’m not interested. Could you please move? My friend and I need to get upstairs.”

He glanced at Ruthless behind me. “Pretty boy, be smart. This chick is a natural stunner, she’s way out of your league. You can go. I’ll take good care of her!” Great! This guy had completely misunderstood what I said and thought Ruthless was my boyfriend!

Ruthless looked at me, then at him. “Purple Sun! Seriously, are you sure…?” I knew what he meant. This guy had never believed I was male either!

“Ahem!” I turned to Ruthless and said, “Let’s find another place!” With that, I grabbed Ruthless and started to walk out.

But the guy was one step ahead again, blocking the door. “Miss, my name is Smokeblower, and I formally request to date you!” Behind me, Ruthless suddenly sucked in a cold breath. I had no idea why and just ignored him.

“Why can’t I get through to you!” I grabbed him by the collar. “Listen up, I’m a man. And I’m not gay—I like women. So please, stay away from me. I don’t like being this close to other men! If you keep pestering me, I don’t care if you’re Smokeblower or whatever—I’ll still beat you until you’re swallowing teeth and spitting blood!”

“Even if you want to reject me, you can’t use such a lame excuse! Beautiful lady, please don’t hurt this poor, lonely boy!” He was still not giving up!

“Big Bro, what are you doing?” A few more people came down from upstairs, clearly part of this guy’s group!

“Whoa! Where’d this beauty come from? She’s gorgeous!”

“Is this our sister-in-law?”

“When did Big Bro score? And he didn’t even tell us!”

Not a single one of these morons noticed that something was off. Kids these days! Though, I suppose I wasn’t that old myself.

“Would you please move? Don’t force me to get rough, alright?” I was starting to lose my composure.

“So she’s not our sister-in-law!” a sleazy-looking guy said. “Little miss, don’t get so worked up! Do you know who our big bro is? He’s Smokeblower, second on the Level Leaderboard. He just reached Level 497 this morning, the same level as that SlayerBlade guy who’s number one! But even though our big bro is only ranked second in Level, his combat power is number one! Stick with our big bro, and I guarantee you’ll be able to walk all over anyone in Zero!”

“You’re second on the Level Leaderboard?” I was suddenly interested in this guy. After spending so long leveling up in semi-seclusion, I had no idea where my own strength stood. This guy was second on the Level Leaderboard and claimed to be number one in combat power. He should represent the pinnacle of other players, right? So if I were to test my skills against him… ! “Are you sure you’re number one in combat power?”

Smokeblower gave a strange smile. “You don’t even check the system rankings?”

“What system rankings?” It had been a long time since I’d looked at any leaderboards!

Ruthless sidled up from behind me. “There are a lot of leaderboards in Zero. This Smokeblower guy is second on the Level Leaderboard and tied for first on the Comprehensive Combat Power Ranking! You didn’t know that?”

“It’s not in my help menu,” I asked, puzzled. Could there be something wrong with my character?

“It’s not in the help menu. You just have to ask any NPC Guard in the city, and they’ll tell you the latest rankings! It looks like you do even fewer quests than I do, not even knowing about something like this!” Ruthless continued to explain for me.

“So?” Smokeblower looked at me. “How about it? Sticking with me has a very promising future!”

“First, answer a question for me.”

“Ask away! When it comes to beautiful women, I always tell all I know and speak my mind!”

“You’re tied for first. Who are you tied with?”

“The system’s calculations are fuzzy, so there are a lot of people tied. Besides me, there are three others tied for first. One is called BasicallyARogue, a Level 493 Super Beastmaster. Another is Stinger Serpent, a Level 487 Hidden Profession. No one knows what profession exactly, just that he’s incredibly strong. The last one is Drifting Wind, a Level 479 Fallen Angel. He’s a Celestial Demon, so his stats are insane. Even though he’s tied with us and has the lowest level, he’s probably the strongest of the four of us!”

“Is that so!” I quickly opened the system log and recorded what Smokeblower had just said.

“Miss, have you made up your mind?”

“Let’s have a fight, shall we?” I didn’t answer his question.

Unexpectedly, he misunderstood. “Are you saying you’ll agree if I win?”

“Win first, then we’ll talk!” I’m a man, what’s there to be afraid of? Besides, would I lose?

“Alright! You said it, no take-backs. Let’s go to the Dueling Arena. PK there doesn’t give you a red name, you don’t drop items, you don’t lose levels, and you revive on the spot!”

“Fine! You lead the way!” Ruthless and I followed Smokeblower towards the Dueling Arena.

After arriving at the Dueling Arena and paying a fee, we entered. The place looked a lot like a small-scale ancient Roman Colosseum, probably because this city wasn’t very large! Just as we were about to start, the previously empty stands suddenly filled with people. Smokeblower’s lackeys had actually gone to rally a crowd to cheer him on! For heaven’s sake, weren’t they just making things more complicated for me!

“Go, Boss! Go, Boss!” Smokeblower’s cheerleading squad had appeared in the stands. On the other side, a large group of girls were also screaming at the top of their lungs. “Smokey, we love you, you can do it!” Good grief! Was this the celebrity effect?

Smokeblower looked at me first and said, “Once I start fighting, I won’t show any mercy. Don’t blame me if you get hurt!”

“Go ahead and use your full strength. I’m not made of paper! You should be careful yourself. My attacks are no simple matter. Don’t get so embarrassed you commit suicide if you get insta-killed!” I was quite confident in my own abilities. After all, I was decked out in top-tier Divine Artifacts!

Clang! A crisp sound signaled the start of the duel.

Smokeblower charged straight at me. He probably saw my Mage Robe and thought I was a mage, figuring he would win for sure if he closed the distance. As always, I met the changing situation by remaining unchanged, watching him rush towards me. With such a great opportunity, he surprisingly didn’t attack. “Have you given up?”

I was baffled by the question. “Why would I give up? We haven’t even fought yet!”

“You’re a mage. What’s the difference between a warrior getting in your face and defeat?”

So that’s what he meant. I smiled faintly, and just as I expected, he entered a brief daze. “Die!” I suddenly struck. “Demonic Dragon Heart-Piercing Thrust.” This was the most powerful attack among my Knight skills at this stage. I wanted to see if the number one combatant could take this hit! If he got insta-killed, it would mean this so-called ‘number one’ was nothing special. If he survived, then I’d have to study him, and perhaps the other three as well!

With a boom, a completely unprepared Smokeblower was sent flying. His face went pale with fright. He did a few backflips to create a huge distance before steadying himself against the wall. “Was that thing you’re wearing a disguise? You’re a warrior-type profession?” I could no longer see any hint of flirtation in his eyes. That one attack had elevated me to the level of a true opponent in his mind!

I just smiled. “You figured it out! How did that feel? That was a special move I prepared just for you!”

While he frantically chugged Potions, he kept a wary eye on me, afraid I’d launch a sneak attack. I actually knew why he was so scared. The moment I hit him, Star Pupil had read all his data. The guy had only 4,737 HP in total, and my attack had just wiped out 4,592 of it, which was practically an insta-kill. I had actually landed a maximum damage hit, since I saw the red damage display, which usually only appears on a max hit. But he didn’t know that. From his perspective, it just meant I had the ability to one-shot him, and he had just gotten lucky!

“Don’t hide so far away! We’re both melee professions, how are we supposed to fight with you all the way over there?” Seeing his health bar gradually fill up, I started to taunt him into another exchange. Since it was impossible to insta-kill him, I needed to study his fighting techniques! “If you don’t come over here, I’ll use a ranged attack. Don’t say I’m bullying you!” I raised my right arm and aimed at him. I hadn’t adjusted the Avenger’s sights yet; he would make a perfect test subject.

With a flick of my finger, a feather-tipped arrow shot out. Smokeblower clearly hadn’t realized I had a Crossbow on me, and the sudden arrow caught him completely off guard. But while it startled him, it failed to hit him. Hmm, the sights were a bit to the left! I began adjusting the Crossbow. With the Avenger firing one shot every four seconds, the wall on Smokeblower’s side was soon bristling like a porcupine. The audience below had completely lost their initial enthusiasm. They were wondering how a mage like me had suddenly pulled out a Long Spear to stab someone, and now had produced a Crossbow, apparently with so many arrows! There had to be at least a thousand arrows stuck in that wall, but that didn’t matter to me. I had collected enough feather-tipped arrows in the last cavern quest to last a lifetime. My Bracelet’s storage space was huge, so I just brought them all!

After firing the nth arrow, I suddenly received a system notification: “Avenger Sniper Crossbow has been upgraded. Attack Power upgraded to 680-890, Firing Speed upgraded to 1 shot per 3 seconds. Soul-Chasing Arrow quantity upgraded to 3.”

How did it upgrade? I didn’t remember the Avenger having an upgrade feature! Right, the Avenger was now integrated with the Demonic Dragon Set, and the Demonic Dragon Set pieces were all upgradable, so the Avenger upgraded along with them! What great luck!

While I was lost in thought, Smokeblower actually charged forward. “Leaf-Sweeping Kick!” With a low spinning kick, he swept me off my feet. The crowd immediately erupted in thunderous cheers. Was I really that detestable? Was all this necessary? When I hit him, they were all like wilted cabbages, but when he hits me, they get all fired up!

With no chance to catch my breath, Smokeblower followed up with a sliding tackle that kicked me into the air. He then leaped up and swung his fists down at me. I was wondering why he wasn’t carrying a weapon, but now I saw he was wearing metal knuckles! If that landed squarely, it would be lethal!

“Protective Barrier!” I was half a mage, so how could I not know this self-protection shield spell that every mage had a copy of? A mage’s typical combat sequence was: cast shield, cast spell, recast shield, cast another spell. Since I usually had my Magical Pet protecting me and was half a warrior-type myself, I never bothered with shields. But now, I had no choice!

Ping! The shield shattered, and I was hit in the waist. What incredible strength! Although the magic shield was pierced, it had absorbed most of the force. I was only grazed and wasn’t seriously injured. The moment I landed, I retaliated. “Heavy Strike!” It was the simplest but fastest skill, and there was no way he could dodge it now.

“Iron Shirt!” He actually activated a skill to take the hit head-on, and to my frustration, my attack didn’t even break his defense, only dealing 1 point of damage!

What an incredible skill! An invincibility state, huh! I’d like to see just how high your defense can go. “Nightshadow!” I summoned Nightshadow and leaped onto his back. “It’s a huge disadvantage for me, a magnificent Dragon-Phoenix Knight, to fight you on foot! Go ahead and summon any Magical Pets you have!” With that, I tore off my disguise, drawing a collective gasp from the audience below.

“So you really are a Knight. I’ve never seen a mage carrying a lance before!” He didn’t summon a Magical Pet. Did he not have one? Impossible! A player of his Level couldn’t possibly fail to get a Magical Pet. Just from the number of fans he had, I knew he was at least a prominent figure in Land’s End. A person that famous wouldn’t be without one.

“Why aren’t you summoning your Magical Pet? Are you looking down on me?”

“That’s not it! My Magical Pet isn’t a combat type, so it’s useless to summon it now!” He took out another set of knuckles from his back and put them on. “Be careful, I’m getting serious!”

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, he charged. I nudged Nightshadow’s flank, and he instantly understood, dodging to the side. No matter how fast Smokeblower was, he couldn’t outpace Nightshadow. We easily dodged the attack. I commanded Nightshadow to charge at Smokeblower, who had overshot his mark. “Thrusting Lunge!” My Long Spear shot out. Smokeblower executed several continuous rolls on the ground, dodging the spear’s shadow. He was quite agile!

Just as Nightshadow and I were about to turn for another pass, Smokeblower charged again. “Flowing Cloud Palm!” I don’t know if you could call this flattering a horse’s behind, but Smokeblower’s palm landed squarely on Nightshadow’s rear. In excruciating pain, Nightshadow immediately performed a horse’s reflex action—front legs planted, back legs kicking up for a precise, pinpointed mule kick!

“Argh!” Smokeblower was sent flying as if hit by a truck. With a loud boom, a human-shaped crater appeared in the wall of the Dueling Arena!

I wasn’t faring much better. That palm strike was clearly very powerful. After kicking, Nightshadow immediately collapsed. I did a little hop to avoid the tragedy of being crushed underneath him! I rushed over to check on him, my heart aching. The armor on Nightshadow’s rear was actually imprinted with a human hand-shaped dent! With his rear injured, Nightshadow was temporarily unable to run, so I had no choice but to unsummon him.

Smokeblower also climbed out of the crater, dusting himself off. “Your horse is pretty fierce. It took my ultimate skill and still managed to hang on long enough to kick me before going down! Also! What did you put on its hooves? How did it have piercing damage?” I could already see several small holes on his body, and blood had stained a large patch of his clothes. It seemed Nightshadow’s Iron Treads were quite useful. Maybe I should train Nightshadow how to kick people from now on!

“That’s what you get for touching Nightshadow’s butt! You’d better not try any more improper moves! Otherwise, there’s no telling what might kick you next!” Though I was joking, I was taking his attack very seriously in my mind! Someone who could incapacitate Nightshadow with a single blow wasn’t someone you saw every day! “But then again, your attack does have some serious power. My Mount isn’t some little pony. Being able to take him down in one hit shows you’ve got some skill!”

“Then let me show you my real strength!” He suddenly charged forward. “Wind Fang, Sky Fist!” I felt a wall of air press down on me. In an instant, I had no idea how many punches I took. A dense rain of fists covered my entire front!

“Agh…!” I was sent flying, rolling on the ground a couple of times before stopping. What a powerful move! But when I got up and checked my condition, it was fine. I hadn’t lost much health, only over seven hundred. It wasn’t that amazing after all! It was probably because my defense was too high, and he was using a move that relied on quantity over quality, so the actual effect wasn’t great! “You’ve got some skills! But why are your punches so soft? Barely any effect!”

He, of course, saw the effect of his attack. From my damage display, he could probably calculate how much health I’d lost, which was a huge blow to his confidence.

“Phantom Javelin!” This was a new skill I had learned, a special technique of the Dragon-Phoenix Knight. A volley of phantom spears rained down on him. Smokeblower scrambled to dodge, but how could he possibly evade hundreds of spear shadows flying at him at once? With no other choice, he activated his Iron Shirt skill again, but this time, he miscalculated! Countless spears landed around him and quickly vanished. Only one lance pierced his abdomen, remaining stuck in his body. “Idiot! Those were all illusions, only this one was real! I even told you it was a Phantom Javelin, and you still fell for it!”

Smokeblower looked at me in disbelief. “You… you… how did you break my Iron Shirt?”

“I can’t break your Iron Shirt! The problem is, that spear Ignores Defense! You lose!” I went up to grab the still-quivering shaft of the spear to pull it out. Who knew that Smokeblower would suddenly slap the spear shaft from the front, driving it all the way through his body. The long spear flew out from his back, and I grabbed at empty air.

Taking advantage of my hesitation, Smokeblower closed in. “Mountain-Splitting Palm!”

“Argh!” I took the palm strike completely unprepared, feeling an insidious, soft force send me flying. “Pfft!” The moment I landed, I spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. And then…

Chapter 27: Master (2)

“Ah!”

Caught completely off guard, I took the full force of the palm strike. I felt a soft but insidious power send me flying.

Pfft!

The moment I landed, I spat out a mouthful of blood. An aching pain spread through my entire body. I struggled to my feet, but just as I found my balance, there was a sudden boom! A bloody gash exploded open on my back, spraying blood far and wide.

Cough, cough, cough! I spat out another mouthful of blood—I’d lost count by now—and collapsed onto my hands and knees, coughing violently. “You…”

After retracting his stance, Smokeblower also dropped to his knees. “Heh heh, cough…” He tried to laugh, but the large hole in his stomach made him spit up a mouthful of blood as well. “That long spear of yours is pretty impressive!”

“Your palm technique isn’t bad either!” I managed a weak smile. “Too bad you still can’t beat me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure!” Smokeblower was brimming with confidence. “You’ve been hit by my Mountain-Splitting Palm. You won’t be able to move for a short while. How about it? Just give up!”

“Really?” I raised my right hand, aimed at him, and with a thought, a feathered arrow instantly embedded itself in Smokeblower’s arm, making him cry out in pain. “I know how much health you have. Watch me ‘shoot’ you to death, slowly!”

“You underestimate my skills too much!” he said with a ghostly smile.

Boom!

An explosion suddenly erupted on my arm. The force of the impact made my arm tremble, and the arrow I was about to fire shot up into the sky. Damn it, it could actually explode! That Mountain-Splitting Palm just now was clearly not as simple as it looked. This was obviously a delayed-damage attack!

“You really are something!” I said calmly. “But will I let you win? Will I lose? No! I will not lose! I will not lose!”

Seeing my current state, the corners of Smokeblower’s mouth curled up in delight, but my next action wiped the smile from his face. I shakily got to my feet.

Boom!

Another explosion erupted on my left arm. The shockwave sent me staggering to the right, but I quickly stabilized myself.

Boom!

My left leg exploded next, splattering blood and gore far and wide, but I forced a smile. “How many times can this thing of yours explode? Five times? Six? Or…”

Boom!

My right leg also burst open in a bloody wound, a mist of blood spraying out. I swayed again, almost falling.

Down below, no one in the audience was clapping anymore. They were all stunned. People began to whisper amongst themselves. Was this person a monster? This was unbelievable!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The explosions came one after another, growing more and more frequent. I felt as if many people were shoving me back and forth. The explosions didn’t stop; they only intensified! My health was constantly dropping, and finally, it bottomed out. But thanks to the effect of the Guardian Collar, I couldn’t die. Lucky’s and my other Magical Pets’ life force rapidly refilled my depleted body.

The moment my own health hit rock bottom, the explosions finally ceased. So, the skill did have an end! It probably just depleted the target’s entire health bar. But I had eight Magical Pets sharing their life force with me—how could I be taken down so easily?

I stood there, drenched in blood. I casually stretched my limbs and said slowly, “Not bad! A very powerful skill, it almost cost me my life! But alas!” I made a gesture with my hand, showing a tiny gap, and gave him a slight smile. “You were this close! What a shame!”

“Nightshadow!” I summoned Nightshadow, who had already recovered. Since getting Xiao Feng’s Rebirth ability, their recovery speed had increased dramatically. I raised my left hand toward the knight’s long spear still lying over there and made a grasping motion. The Demonic Dragon’s Tail Spike flew swiftly into my hand. With a casual flourish, the long spear was in position again. “To beat me this badly, you can be considered a master! I’ll give you a dignified death.” I spurred Nightshadow with my knees, directing him to charge. “Piercing Thrust, Aerial Kill!”

Aided by Nightshadow’s charge, I easily skewered the completely immobile Smokeblower on the tip of my spear, lifted him into the air, and hurled him away with all my might.

The long spear carried Smokeblower, who was unable to move, flying out of the arena and pinning him to the main viewing platform in the spectator stands. The tip of the spear was still trembling slightly, but Smokeblower no longer struggled. A single thought was running through his mind: An absolute disparity in power cannot be bridged by technique. An exceptional martial artist can defeat an enemy much stronger than himself, but he’d be helpless against a tank. An absolute gap in power is not something martial skill can overcome!

Down on the stage, I was thinking: A master is a master, after all. If it weren’t for my Magical Pets sharing their life with me, if it weren’t for my long spear’s Ignore Defense ability, if he hadn’t underestimated me at the start and held back his fiercest attacks, the outcome would have been really uncertain! Maybe it’s time I learned some more technical skills. Although I possess absolute power, there’s no guarantee I won’t run into another character like Smokeblower!

Now that the battle was over, there was no need to waste any more time. Smokeblower’s health finally hit zero, and he disappeared from the viewing platform in a flash of white light. I raised my hand, and the Dragon Lance automatically flew back to me, where I secured it in the rack on my back. In another flash of white light, Smokeblower reappeared in front of me. So this was in-place resurrection. Pretty neat, indeed!

He stared at me, his gaze unnerving. “What do you want? We had a deal, if I won, you’d scram!”

He just kept staring at me without saying a word. A few seconds later, he suddenly lunged forward and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Heroine! Take me in! I’ve decided to follow you from now on!”

Seeing him lunge at me, I quickly turned to run, but I was a step too slow and he still tackled me! “Help!” I struggled to crawl away, but the problem was he was clinging to my leg and wouldn’t let go. “Help! I’m a man! Don’t come near me! Sob… Why do women never do this to me?!”

“Ouch!” Smokeblower got pricked by the barbs on the leg guards of my Demonic Dragon Armor. The moment he loosened his grip, I quickly scrambled away. The kid actually tried to pounce again, so I hastily summoned my Bee Dragons. More than six hundred Bee Dragons formed a solid, impenetrable wall between us.

“If you come any closer, I won’t show you any more courtesy!”

“Heroine! Please take me in!”

“You’re not a stray dog. From the looks of it, you have a sizable Guild of your own. Why would you want to follow me? No matter how you look at it, you’re a celebrity here! Besides, I’m not a woman. I’m really a man!”

“Fine, I admit you’re a man. Then take me in!”

“Why can’t you understand what I’m saying?” This was hopeless! “How about this? I’ll take you in, in name only, alright? From now on, you can consider me your brother!”

“Is that so?” He thought for a moment. “That’ll work! Let’s go with that for now!”

The moment I recalled the Bee Dragons, he was about to rush over again, so I quickly yelled, “Stop! Keep your distance, keep your distance! I have a fear of men. I’m allergic to everyone except pretty girls!”

“Fine! I won’t come over, then! From now on, if you ever need help, just call me. No matter what I’m doing, I guarantee I’ll be there at a moment’s notice!” Judging by his expression, I believed he could do what he said.

“Great! See you around!” I quickly scurried away. To my surprise, Ruthless was waiting right by the entrance. “Why are you…?”

“Don’t blame me! It’s not that I didn’t want to go in and cheer for you! The problem is, that guy’s fans are insane! The moment I shouted ‘Go, Purple Sun!’ I was thrown out!”

“I get it! I get it!” I wiped away a cold sweat. “Let’s get out of here! I really can’t take it anymore, it was disgusting! I need to find a pretty girl to console my wounded soul!”

Dragging Ruthless along, we finally escaped the vicinity of the Dueling Arena. Just as I was about to take a breather, I was bumped into again! “Which bastard did that?!” I was fuming. Getting bumped into twice in one day—can’t a person even walk in peace anymore?

“S-s-sorry… oh!… I… I… I didn’t… didn’t mean to!” The person who bumped into me was swaying on his feet, making me suspect he could fall over at any moment. He was slurring his words, and his face was flushed red. The guy was obviously drunk off his rocker!

Since the other person was drunk, I couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. I grabbed Ruthless and tried to go around, but who would have thought he’d sway to the side and block our path. “Three b-beautiful ladies, h-how… do you all look… so much alike? Are… are you triplets?”

“Three?” I looked around. It was late, and there were very few people on the street. Besides me and Ruthless, there was no one else nearby. Right! This guy was so drunk he couldn’t even see straight. “Hey! Can you stop staggering around in front of me? You’re making me dizzy!”

“Incredible!” he slurred. “H-how… did you know… m-my… name?”

“Your name? How would I know your name!”

“Didn’t you just say my name?”

“Did I say your name? What is it?”

“I… I’m called Staggering!”

“How fitting!” Ruthless remarked from behind me. “Truly a wine immortal-level character! We’d best not disturb his drinking.” Ruthless also pulled me to go around him.

I still said, “We won’t disturb your drinking any longer. We’ll be on our way!” and quickly ran off. The stench of alcohol from this guy was about to kill me!

We had to jog a fair distance to shake off the drunkard. That guy was really something else; he could barely walk straight, yet he managed to chase us for so long. By the time we lost him, we were already outside the city gates. The sky had turned dark, but the bright, clear moonlight ensured visibility was still excellent. This was a special setting in the game. To accommodate office workers who liked to play at night, the nights in Zero always had a bright moon. Otherwise, how would people who logged on at night even play?

Ruthless grabbed me and asked sheepishly, “Do you know how to hatch a Magical Pet egg?”

“Ugh! Another one!”

“What do you mean, ‘another one’?” Ruthless was confused by my reaction.

“A lot of my friends don’t know how to hatch Magical Pet eggs! That’s why I said ‘another one’ when you asked.”

“Is that so strange? I feel like very few people around have pets, so the majority of players probably don’t know! The number of Magical Pet slots in Zero is basically just for show. Everyone has between one or two, and at most four or five pet slots, but in reality, no one can actually catch any Magical Pets. Having empty slots without any pets is as good as having none!”

“You’ve got a point! It seems the settings in Zero are a bit on the strict side! Right, didn’t the quest reward you with a Magical Pet egg? I’ll teach you how to hatch it. Let’s see what comes out!”

“Okay!”

I taught Ruthless the hatching method. Soon, the eggshell cracked open, and a cute little black kitten crawled out from inside. “What?! What is this! The system is ripping people off! Such a difficult quest for a toy cat!” The moment I saw the cute, utterly non-threatening little black cat, I cried out.

“No way! It’s really just a cat!” My outburst made Ruthless, who was standing beside me, sound like he was about to cry. To think that the Magical Pet egg he had worked so hard to get was a toy-type pet!

“Don’t get upset just yet! Check its stats first!” Although it looked like a cat in every way, I still tried to console Ruthless. “Magical Pets are always small when they first hatch. Who knows what it might turn into later!”

After hearing my words, Ruthless began to check his Magical Pet’s stats. I watched as his expression shifted from disappointment to excitement, the corners of his mouth gradually turning up. He suddenly jumped up. “It’s not a cat! It’s not a cat! It’s a level 780 Flying Leopard King! Hahahaha! It’s a leopard, and a king at that!”

Watching Ruthless singing and dancing over there, even I was infected by his joy. The guy was so happy he was like a little kid!

“Alright, alright! If you want to be excited, can you go do it where no one’s around? Don’t dance around at the city gate. People who don’t know any better will think you’re crazy!”

Ruthless saw the looks people passing by were giving him and immediately composed himself. “Sorry! I was just too excited!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. You can take your time being excited if you’re not done yet. I have to log off. I made plans with a friend to level up tomorrow morning. If I don’t log off now, I won’t be able to get up tomorrow!”

“Level up?” Ruthless looked at me as if he had something to say.

“A real man doesn’t mumble. If you have something to say, just say it!”

“Can I join you guys tomorrow?”

“Join us?”

“Yeah!” Ruthless nodded affirmatively. “I’ve made some enemies here, and people are always trying to hunt me down. That’s why I went off on my own to do that weird quest! So I was hoping I could join you. At least that way, no one will bother me!”

“Alright!” I arranged a time to meet him online the next day and then logged off.

Chapter 28: The Two of Me

“

“

I logged on early today. As agreed, I was supposed to meet up with Ruthless first, then we would level up with Eagle and the others. Ruthless was already there when I got online. “You’re so early! Am I late?”

“

“

“No!” Ruthless checked the system time. “You’re not late. I was early!”

“

“

“Then follow me!”

“

“

I grabbed Ruthless and used the Teleportation Ring, sending us directly to the Teleportation Array in Goddess City. We had agreed to gather here before we parted yesterday. When we arrived, no one was there. We were probably early! We found a spot on a nearby street corner where we could see the Teleportation Array and sat down. I boredly watched the pedestrians passing by, while Ruthless was amusing his little black cat with great interest!

“

“

“Hey, Ruthless, don’t you think sitting here like this makes us look like vagrants? What if someone throws a coin in front of us?”

“

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Ruthless looked up at me, then lowered his head to play with his cat again. “They wouldn’t for you. Maybe for me, though!”

“

“

“Why?”

“

“

“This disguise Mage Robe of yours is clearly a high-end item. Look at the people on the street. Who isn’t dressed more shabbily than you? If someone takes you for a vagrant, there’s probably something wrong with their eyes, or their brain!”

“

“

“Hey! The mage over there!” a female voice called out. I looked around. It seemed I was the only one nearby wearing a Mage Robe! “Are you talking to me?” I looked up at the speaker. I wish I hadn’t. One look and I was completely stunned. This woman gave me a sense of familiarity, as if we had known each other for a long time and saw each other every day, yet I couldn’t remember where I had seen her!

“

“

As I stood there stunned, the female warrior was also looking at me with a puzzled expression. “Have we… met somewhere before?”

“

“

There was a male warrior with her. He jumped over, looking back and forth between me and the female warrior several times. Ruthless, who had been sitting beside me, also stood up and stared at our faces.

“

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The female warrior finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. “You…” She wanted to speak but didn’t know how to start.

“

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The male warrior stared for a full minute, then rubbed his eyes furiously and shook his head. Finally, as if accepting something, he looked at me and then at Ruthless. “Are my eyes playing tricks on me?”

“

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Ruthless met his gaze and said, “I’m afraid not!”

“

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The female warrior, as if struck by lightning, suddenly whipped out a mirror from behind her back, held it up, and stared at her own reflection. Then she looked at me, then back at the mirror. Just as I was wondering what they were doing, the female warrior abruptly flipped the mirror around to face me. I saw myself in the mirror, and then I froze!

“

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“You… you… you… I… I… I…” I stammered for a long time but couldn’t get a single word out. I turned to Ruthless and said, “Wait for me for five minutes!”

“

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“What are you doing?” I logged off amidst Ruthless’s shouts.

“

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The moment I logged off, the female warrior did as well.

“

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After exiting the game, I didn’t get out of my Iron Armor. Instead, I used its phone function to connect to my Dad and Mom and switched on the multi-party conference mode. “Son, what’s up so early in the morning?”

“

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“I have a question for you two, and you have to give me a clear and honest answer!”

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“What’s wrong, son?” Seeing how serious I was, Mom thought something had happened and became very anxious.

“

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Dad also grew tense. “What is it?”

“

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I thought for a moment about how to phrase my words to fully express my meaning without hurting my parents’ feelings. “Are you sure I’m your only son?”

“

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Mom paused for a moment. “Son, what’s wrong with you? Why are you asking this?”

“

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“Right now, I just need an answer! Are you certain I’m your only son? Are you sure I don’t have a twin brother or sister or something?”

“

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Dad laughed. “What kind of crazy talk is this, kid! What, you want a little brother or sister now?”

“

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Mom said indignantly, “You brat, you don’t believe your own mother? Or do you think I can’t even remember how many children I’ve given birth to?”

“

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“No, no, no! That’s not what I meant!” I quickly apologized. If I angered Mom and she dragged me back to manage the company, I’d be screwed! “I just ran into a small problem and came back to confirm! I won’t disturb your work anymore, bye-bye!” I quickly cut the video call. Any more talk and I’d be in for a scolding!

“

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I re-entered the game and saw the female warrior on the other side just logging in as well. We stared at each other, and as we stared, we unconsciously started circling one another. I was the first to speak. “My name is Purple Sun. And you…?”

“

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When the female warrior heard my name, her pupils rapidly dilated and then returned to normal. I knew she had a strong reaction to the name. “My name is Purple Moon! Celestial Demon.”

“

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Now I understood why she was so shocked to hear my name. Her name and mine were a perfect match! “I’m also a Celestial Demon, a dual-class Player.”

“

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“I’m dual-class too. What a coincidence! I just logged off. I think we did the same thing.”

“

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I nodded. “I imagine our parents’ answers were the same, then!”

“

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“I don’t have any siblings!” we said in unison, and then we both burst out laughing.

“

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I suddenly remembered how my looks often caused misunderstandings, so I quickly asked her, “Are you… a girl?”

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She looked at me strangely. “I’d like to think my looks are rather outstanding. Can a man be as beautiful as us?”

“

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“So you are a girl?” I confirmed again.

“

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“Of course!”

“

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I started to laugh. “It’s not just women who can be beautiful! Hehe! I’m a guy!”

“

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“What?” Purple Moon looked at me in shock. “You’re not joking, are you?”

“

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“Do I look like I’m joking?”

“

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“Are you serious?” She moved closer to inspect my face. “You didn’t use your original appearance when you created your character, did you?”

“

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“Nope! I toned it down by ten percent and straightened all my facial lines to look as masculine as possible.”

“

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Purple Moon laughed. “What a coincidence! Me too! But my goal was to make myself look colder to keep the flies away! I wonder if we look exactly the same in real life, too!” As she spoke, she took out that mirror again and held it up to show both of us, comparing our faces for a long time. “It’s like we were carved from the same mold! It’s so much fun to run into something like this!”

“

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“Where are you from?”

“

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“New Nanjing! What about you?”

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“Me too. I go to school at New Dragon Academy!”

“

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“No way! I’m at Nine Heavens Academy!”

“

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“You’re from Nine Heavens? Isn’t that just a wall away?” Nine Heavens Academy was right behind New Dragon Academy. The two schools were built back-to-back, even sharing the dividing wall between them!

“

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“I’m free tomorrow!”

“

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“I’m free anytime!” We looked at each other and smiled. It was a strange feeling. The girl in front of me was like another version of myself. Not only did we look the same, but our thoughts were in sync. Now I finally understood what it meant to be on the same wavelength! You knew what the other person was thinking without saying a word. That feeling… was indescribable!

“

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“Right, let’s do an experiment!” I suddenly had a mischievous idea.

“

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“You want me to trick someone?” She guessed it right away. We really were in tune!

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“They’re my friends. They’ll be here any minute.” I started giving her a brief description of Eagle and the others’ appearances. Just as I finished, Eagle appeared, with Bailing beside him. More people trickled in after them. Even Rose, whom I hadn’t seen in days, was online! I pulled Ruthless and the other male warrior aside to hide, while Purple Moon strode forward to greet them as if she were me.

“

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“Husband! Did you miss me all these days?” Rose threw herself into Purple Moon’s arms and started to act like a pampered or spoiled child. Even Rose didn’t recognize her. We really were identical! No wonder we both thought we’d found a long-lost twin when we first met and separately logged off to ask our parents if we were an only child!

“

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Eagle also walked over and patted Purple Moon’s shoulder. “You’re on pretty early!” I expected this big oaf not to notice. His awareness was probably the lowest of the group!

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On-Time Big-Pot Rice ran up. “Purple Sun! After catching that Magical Beast with you the other day, I finally know what real strength is. You have to lead us well today, too!”

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Shura Ziyi walked over and looked at Purple Moon. She seemed to sense something was off but couldn’t quite put her finger on it. “Purple Sun, why did you change your armor? And where’s that robe?”

“

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Purple Moon was quick-witted. “This set is to deceive people!” Her answer was ambiguous, feeling incomplete but without any obvious flaws.

“

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“What happened to your voice?” Bailing also found a flaw. “How did it get so high-pitched? Now you really sound like a woman!”

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“Hahahaha!” Purple Moon suddenly burst out laughing and looked in my direction. “You can come out now! I can’t hold it in anymore! Hahahaha! This is too much fun!”

“

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Everyone was stunned when I appeared. Rose, however, leaped out of Purple Moon’s arms and stood far away. “What…? You two…?” Rose looked back and forth and finally ran to my side. “Purple Sun?” she asked, looking at me for confirmation.

“

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I nodded. Rose immediately hugged me. “Who is he?”

“

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I didn’t answer her question, asking instead, “How did you know for sure that this was the real me?”

“

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Rose looked up at my face and said, “I don’t know! It’s just a feeling! But, who is he? If you hadn’t come out, I really wouldn’t have been able to tell you apart!”

“

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“Her name is Purple Moon! My twin sister!” I pulled Purple Moon over to stand with me.

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Eagle was as straightforward as ever. “No wonder! You look like you were poured from the same mold!”

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On-Time Big-Pot Rice also looked back and forth. “I thought you learned a cloning technique! You’re basically the same person!”

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Almost everyone nodded, praising how much we siblings looked alike. Except for my fiancée-to-be, Rose. She had been to my house and done some investigating. If I had a twin sister, there was no way she wouldn’t know. But this time, she intentionally didn’t expose us, smiling as she watched to see what we were up to!

“

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In the end, it was Purple Moon who couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Hahahaha! You all fell for that!”

“

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“What’s wrong?” On-Time Big-Pot Rice looked at us strangely, not knowing what we were laughing about!

“

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It was Rose who came forward to explain. “Purple Sun is an only child. He doesn’t have any siblings! Otherwise, Longyu—” I quickly clapped a hand over her mouth. Good thing she didn’t finish! If everyone found out so early that I was the successor to Longyuan, they’d probably all start asking me for equipment! Little did they know that I had to work hard for my own gear, all thanks to that damn quest!

“

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“Alright, alright, Purple Sun, aren’t you going to introduce us? And those two next to you?” Eagle asked.

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“This is Ruthless, a friend I made yesterday during a quest. He’s a high-level Assassin. I noticed our team was lacking this class, so I invited him to join! As for this beauty who looks just like me, her name is Purple Moon. We just met as well, and that’s all I know! The gentleman over there came with Purple Moon. I haven’t been introduced yet!”

“

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“I’ll do it myself!” Purple Moon was a very generous girl, with what felt like a boyish air about her! “My name is Purple Moon, a dual-class Player of the Celestial Demon race. My first class is Dragon Knight, and my second is Sealer. It’s a pleasure to meet you all. Purple Sun just told me about you, so you don’t need to introduce yourselves. This gentleman next to me is a friend I just met today. His name is Passerby A, and I think his class is Chaos Knight. Oh right, I was so happy to meet you all that I forgot my real business!”

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“You have business? What is it?” We looked at her, puzzled.

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“I want to rob Goddess City of its defensive cannons!” Purple Moon really knew how to make a shocking statement!

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“You mean that Magic Crystal Cannon?” Eagle pointed at the massive cannon perched on the distant city corner.

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On-Time Big-Pot Rice looked at the thing in astonishment. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

“

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I also stared blankly at the cannon, which was the size of an observatory. “Are you crazy? Whether the Magic Crystal Cannon can even be moved is one thing, but even if it can, how would you move it? That thing weighs over ten tons, at least, and it’s on a high platform. How are we supposed to get it down?”

“

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“It’s not convenient to talk here. Let’s find a safe place outside the city to discuss this!”

“

“

Purple Moon led us to a clearing in a forest far outside the city before she continued. “I’ll show you my Magical Pets, but don’t be scared!” With a wave of her hand, she called out, “Skyfire, down!” A sudden gust of wind swept through the air, and a red dragon that looked identical to Lucky descended from the sky. Besides being red, this fellow was just slightly larger than Lucky. “How’s that?” Purple Moon stroked the dragon’s large head and continued to summon. “Daming, Xiaoming, come out!” With a tremendous crash, two giants taller than the city walls appeared beside us.

“

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“Titan Giants!” Everyone took two steps back in fright. This girl had quite the collection!

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Seeing our expressions, Purple Moon asked happily, “So? With Daming’s and Xiaoming’s help, we can move the entire cannon platform! All I need are some helping hands to block the attacks from the city’s NPCs. Daming and Xiaoming are strong, but they don’t have much combat ability and will be overwhelmed by large numbers! Skyfire and I alone can’t hold off so many NPCs, so I’m looking for help! How about it? If you help, I’ll pay a commission!”

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Eagle and I exchanged a look. I said, “Our group is planning to go cause trouble in Japan when the National War starts. If you’re willing to go to Japan and help us, we’ll help you steal that cannon!”

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Purple Moon looked rather embarrassed. “Not that cannon! It’s those cannons!”

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“What? You want all of them?” Gold Coin looked at those massive things and shook his head. “I thought I was greedy, but there’s someone even more impressive than me!”

“

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“You’ve misunderstood!” Purple Moon quickly explained. “I’m doing this for our country! I plan to move these things to the exit of the National War zone between China and Japan to serve as a final line of defense! Otherwise, why do you think I’d want to steal this stuff? To keep as a fun collectible?”

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“So you’re one of us! Hahaha!” Everyone started laughing.

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After considering for a long time, I interjected, “Don’t get too excited. There are still a lot of problems!”

“

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“What problems?”

“

“

“Getting into the city is no problem, but do you know how to get out?” I looked at everyone. “You can summon your Titans inside the city, but how do you get them out? Can a Titan carrying a cannon platform climb over the wall? As for the main gate, don’t even think about it. Forgetting that the gate is probably as small as a doggy door to them and they might not even fit through, even if they could, I guarantee that cannon won’t! Also, messing with siege equipment is the same as launching a siege. This time, it won’t be the thousand-man garrison that Gold Coin and I ran into. I’ve heard that a system main city like Goddess City can spawn one hundred thousand regular troops during wartime. With just us, won’t we be flattened in an instant?”

“

“

After hearing my words, everyone fell silent. This problem was indeed very troublesome!

“

“

I continued, “Even if we manage to get out, it’s useless! Goddess City has five Magic Crystal Cannons. If we move one, three of the other four can see us. What if those three cannons open fire? By my estimation, the Magic Crystal Cannons probably ignore defense and attack power. A direct hit is an instant kill! Even if you aren’t afraid of dying, what if they destroy the cannon we stole? Do we go back and carry another one?”

“

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“Sigh!” My words had nearly drained all the energy out of Purple Moon. “I thought it would be easy, but listening to you, it sounds completely impossible!”

“

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“Well, not necessarily impossible!” Hearing this, everyone stared at me intently, waiting for what I would say next. “Is your Skyfire strong?”

“

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“He’s not weak, anyway!” Purple Moon looked at me strangely. “What do you mean?”

“

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“Lucky!” I summoned Lucky with a wave of my hand. “Do you think the two of them working together could lift that cannon platform and fly?”

“

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Purple Moon didn’t answer, but Eagle shook his head. “It’s not very likely. Even if they could get airborne, it would be a huge strain!”

“

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“Xiao Feng! Little Dragon Girl!” I summoned all my flying Magical Pets. “How about now?”

“

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Purple Moon started laughing. “That’s enough, more than enough! They can definitely fly! I can’t believe you have a dragon too, and two of them at that! I just don’t know who’s stronger, your Lucky or my Skyfire!”

“

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“No need to guess. Unless your Skyfire is already level one thousand, he can’t possibly beat my Lucky,” I said proudly.

“

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“Why?” Purple Moon was clearly unconvinced.

“

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I opened Lucky’s item window to show her. “Lucky is the Dragon King. His attack and defense are doubled against all other dragon-type Magical Pets. And because of Xiao Feng’s Rebirth ability, Lucky now has one chance to revive each day. I highly doubt your Skyfire has what it takes to kill him twice!”

“

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“It really exists!” Purple Moon drooled as she looked at the crown in Lucky’s item slot. “I wish my Skyfire had one too!”

“

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“That’s a crown, you think it’s a hairpin? If everyone had one, it wouldn’t be a crown!”

“

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“When do you guys plan to make your move?” Eagle asked. “If we can really move that cannon to the National War zone, that would be great!”

“

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“What do you think about tonight?” Purple Moon suggested.

“

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“I think we’re better off doing it during the day!” Gold Coin spoke with the air of an expert. “This isn’t reality, after all. NPCs are just as alert at night. If we wait until night, we’ll be the ones who are sluggish! Besides, the light is better during the day, so we can fight at our full potential. We can’t do that at night! Especially since you need to airlift such a huge object. It’s impossible without unified command! We can use hand signals during the day, but what about at night? Plus, NPC vision isn’t affected by darkness, you know!”

“

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“Gold Coin has a point! I agree with him!” I stated my opinion.

“

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“Then let’s go prepare now. We’ll make our move this afternoon!”

“

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“Alright!” I said. “First, let’s see what we need!” I began to plan things out. “First, Potions are a must, and we’ll probably go through a lot, so everyone should stock up. Second, we need a few sufficiently long ropes!”

“

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“What are the ropes for?” On-Time Big-Pot Rice asked, confused.

“

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Shura Ziyi gave him a sharp rap on the head from behind. “You think you can move something that heavy without tying it up with ropes?”

“

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“Oh!”

“

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“Alright! Everyone, hurry up and prepare!” I directed everyone to disperse and get to work.

“

“

But Purple Moon was looking at me. “You’ve sent us all away. What are you going to do?”

“

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“Me? I’m in charge of coordinating and commanding!”

“

“

“Hah!” I was tackled to the ground by an angry mob!

Chapter 29: The Escape

Soon, everyone was ready and gathered at the city gate. Eagle was truly resourceful; he had actually purchased a large quantity of hemp rope from an NPC shop and twisted them together to create a cable strong enough to lift the cannon platform!

“How is it now?” Purple Moon had fashioned the numerous cables into a massive harness. Xiao Feng, Little Dragon Girl, Lucky, and Skyfire were each responsible for one end of the rope. This four-cornered traction system ought to be able to pull the cannon platform! Even though the thing looked like an observatory, who knew how much it actually weighed!

“Should be about right!” Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Then let’s do this quickly!” Purple Moon was already getting impatient.

“Hold on!” On-Time Big-Pot Rice ran over. “Shouldn’t someone be up there during the lift? How can you command the magical pets on their own?”

“Then it’s you!” Shura Ziyi shoved On-Time Big-Pot Rice onto Lucky’s back. “Be careful not to fall off!”

“No! I have a fear of heights!” On-Time Big-Pot Rice tried to climb down from Lucky’s back. With a wave of my hand, Lucky let out a dragon’s roar and flew up with the other three magical pets, carrying the wailing and screaming On-Time Big-Pot Rice! But they didn’t fly high, because Skyfire remained where he was, refusing to go any higher. Being connected to him, my other three magical pets were forced to accommodate him and couldn’t ascend.

“What’s wrong with your dragon?” I looked at Purple Moon. “Don’t tell me he has a fear of heights too?”

“You’re the one with a fear of heights! That’s my magical pet. If I’m not up there, where do you expect him to fly? Don’t tell me you don’t know that commanding a magical pet has a distance limit?”

Purple Moon’s words reminded me. Eagle had told me the same thing when we were rescuing Rose. Other people’s magical pets could only operate within their line of sight, but mine were unusual and could run all over the place. “Then you go up and command them too!” I signaled for Lucky and the others to descend. Purple Moon was swift. She simply summoned her Titan, had it place her on top, then recalled it. How convenient!

“You guys head into the city and wait! I’ll fly high up, directly above the cannon platform. Once you’re inside and ready, let me know and I’ll come down!”

“Alright! Let’s go!”

The large group galloped toward a corner of Goddess City, where one of the five Magic Crystal Cannons was located. Goddess City had a total of five Magic Crystal Cannons: four ordinary ones installed at the four corners of the city walls, and one extra-large one on a high tower in the very center of the city. This layout ensured that no matter where you attacked from, at least three cannons could target you simultaneously!

Our target this time was one of the four smaller cannons at the city corners. It wasn’t that we hadn’t considered the big one in the center, but based on its appearance, we judged that we probably couldn’t lift it. So, we decided to tackle the smaller one first. If we could easily lift it, we’d find another chance to move the big one next time!

We carefully snuck to the base of the cannon platform at the southeastern corner of the city. After crossing the street and a small alley, we reached the city wall and could see the towering platform. Forged from bluestone slabs, the square pedestal was as high as the city wall, and the hemispherical, observatory-like Magic Crystal Cannon stood upon it. Below the platform, thirteen Warriors stood in a circle, their backs to it. A nearby, unassuming house was actually a spawn point. Should the city be attacked, one hundred thousand level 800 to 850 NPC regular troops would pour out from five identical little houses like this one—one at each corner and one in the center. Then we’d really be in for it!

“Is there any way to seal that main gate first?” I asked Eagle, pointing to the door of the spawn point.

Eagle looked at the door. “Sealing it is unlikely, but delaying them shouldn’t be a problem!”

“Oh? Quickly, what’s the plan?”

“See the cannon platform?”

“What about it?”

“What do you think would happen if that thing toppled over and smashed the entrance of the spawn point?”

“You’re truly devious!” I said, giving him a thumbs-up.

“Both of you, quiet down. The operation is starting!” Bailing was getting impatient.

I quickly contacted Purple Moon, telling her she could come down.

A black dot in the sky rapidly enlarged, and in what seemed like an instant, the temporary transport team formed by Lucky and the other three magical pets arrived. Purple Moon deftly leaped onto the cannon platform and began tying the ropes. The moment she touched the platform, the NPC guards below immediately turned and saw her.

But before they could react, our group had already charged. Led by my ten Spirit Herald Knights, we swarmed them, taking down the thirteen guards in an instant! I gave a thumbs-up to the sky, and Purple Moon quickly commanded Skyfire and Lucky to begin beating their wings with all their might.

With a tremendous crash accompanied by billowing dust, the cannon platform finally lifted off its base and slowly rose. At the same time, hordes of NPC troops began to spawn from the small house! Purple Moon’s Titan Giant appeared at once, and under our command, two Titan Giants successfully pushed the platform over. Countless stones rained down, burying the entire spawn point.

But then, I suddenly spotted something strange in the ruins. It was a peculiar three-legged stand and a long, thick iron tube. Wait, why did this thing look like a huge cannon! I looked up and almost fainted! Lucky and the others had only lifted the hemispherical shell covering the platform. The real Magic Crystal Cannon wasn’t very large at all; the giant shell was just to conceal its overly long barrel!

I quickly contacted Purple Moon. “Come back! Stop flying! You’ve got the wrong thing!”

“What?” From Skyfire’s back, Purple Moon saw us amidst the ruins below, waving frantically at her and desperately pointing behind her. Only then did she realize the real cannon was still on the ground!

I couldn’t afford to wait for Purple Moon to react. I directly had Phantom use Mind Control to command Lucky and the others to return. Xiao Feng, ever direct, unleashed a ring of fire that instantly burned through all the ropes. The giant hemispherical platform plummeted from the sky and smashed directly into the city wall, blasting a gaping hole in its thick structure. Countless bricks fell, sending us below scrambling for cover!

After receiving my command, Lucky swiftly turned his body and dove downwards. But the super-sized Magic Crystal Cannon in the city center had already swiveled to face him. With a strange “thump,” the Magic Crystal Cannon fired! A purple projectile, like a meteor trailing a long tail, soared through the air. Its trajectory was high; Lucky was clearly the target.

Lucky performed a beautiful evasive maneuver in the air, twisting his body to dodge the projectile. The purple cannonball, with its long fiery tail, flew past the city and landed on a small mountain in the distance. Even from so far away, we could hear a distinct explosion. Through the hole in the city wall, we could see the mountain that had been hit. Nearly half of its peak had been shaved off by the shockwave of the blast! Such terrifying power! Let’s hope no one was on that mountain just now!

After successfully dodging one shot, Lucky continued his descent, but then the cannon at the city’s northeast corner opened fire. The projectile flew swiftly towards the diving Lucky, and this time, he couldn’t evade it. The cannonball struck Lucky’s body directly, and the formidable dragon was insta-killed on the spot! The powerful explosion sent a potent shockwave sweeping towards us. The already rubble-strewn ground was scoured clean by the blast, kicking up a sky full of dust. We didn’t even bother with the main gate anymore; relying on memory, we ran straight for the breach in the city wall.

Before we even reached the opening, the dust was dispersed by a strong gust of wind as Little Dragon Girl descended, her body twisting and turning. A Chinese dragon’s body is long and slender. Although her overall size was not much smaller than Lucky’s, hitting her was no simple task!

But Little Dragon Girl only took a single shot from the southwest cannon before successfully landing on the ground. She swiftly coiled around the Magic Crystal Cannon and soared into the sky. Lucky, thanks to the Phoenix’s Rebirth skill, revived at once. He immediately beat his wings to put distance between himself and the cannon. That last hit had left a deep impression on him. It was the first time anything had managed to insta-kill him. Even when fighting the Dragon God, Lucky had been able to withstand a blow. This time, he was killed in one shot!

All of us quickly scrambled out through the breach in the wall. Faced with the moat, it was like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea—everyone showing their special prowess. The Nightshadow I summoned really made me proud, managing to precariously leap across the moat while carrying me, Rose, and Bingbing. Eagle, on the other hand, suffered a great embarrassment! Blazing Sun, carrying him and Bailing, failed to clear the moat, falling just short and splashing into the water, drenching me in the process!

Gold Coin was quite amazing, running directly across the surface of the river, leaving a parted wake behind him. Such incredible speed, to be able to run on water!

Yuzhe used a Water Escape Technique, teleporting directly to the other side!

Shura Ziyi summoned her Ashura, and the little guy actually had his own mount—a silver pegasus! The silver pegasus easily carried her and Ashura across the moat!

The friend Purple Moon had brought along, Passerby A, also summoned his magical pet! What a huge cockroach! Someone actually tamed a cockroach as a magical pet; no wonder I’d never seen him use it! Cockroaches have wings, so for one of this size, carrying a person across the river was a piece of cake! Still, I had to admire him. Just seeing a cockroach that big scared me! It’s instinctive for girls to be afraid of insects, but my fear of cockroaches comes from how filthy they are; I hate dirty things most of all! Watching Passerby A nonchalantly fly across the moat, clinging to one of the cockroach’s furry legs, sent a cold shiver down my spine!

Finally, only On-Time Big-Pot Rice and Ah Wei were left. They looked at each other, then nodded forcefully as if to encourage one another. Then, holding hands, they jumped into the moat and started swimming to our side! I was speechless.

“What are those two doing?” Rose asked, puzzled, watching the two guys who were happily doggy-paddling in the water.

Bingbing also asked in confusion, “Why aren’t they summoning their magical pets? Why are they swimming themselves?”

Shura Ziyi rode over on her pegasus, holding Ashura. “You haven’t seen Big-Pot Rice’s pet. That thing can’t swim, so he has to swim himself! As for Ah Wei, I’m not sure!”

I laughed. “Ah Wei doesn’t have a magical pet at all, and his only two Demon Servants are landlubbers!”

“How pitiful!” Bingbing’s sympathies began to overflow.

“Stop fooling around, get them out of there! The pursuers have arrived!” Bailing and Eagle urged as they clambered miserably out of the water.

I smiled and summoned my Rose Vine. “Get those two out of the water for me!” The Rose Vine swiftly extended two tentacles and fished the two guys out. “Stop messing around, you two, let’s run!” I turned my mount and began to retreat with Eagle and the others.

Ah Wei cried out from below with a pained expression, “I don’t have a magical pet, what do I do?”

Yuzhe also said sheepishly, “I don’t have a magical pet either!”

Bingbing looked at me and said, “Purple Sun, don’t you have a lot of magical pets?”

I shook my head. “Little Dragon Girl has to transport the cannon. Lucky and Xiao Feng will have to intercept the enemy soon, so it’s inconvenient for them to carry anyone. The Spirit Herald Knights also have to help block the pursuers, so of course they can’t carry people either! The only one left who can carry anyone is Nightshadow, and the three of us are already on him. You wouldn’t want him to carry another person, would you?”

Passerby A generously clapped Ah Wei and Yuzhe on the shoulders. “You two can ride with me on my pet! My little guy is super fast; riding on his back feels like you’re in a race car!”

“Alright!” Ah Wei reluctantly climbed onto the back of the giant cockroach, looking utterly hilarious. Yuzhe, on the other hand, was less talkative. He crossed his arms over his chest and stood ramrod straight on the cockroach’s head!

On-Time Big-Pot Rice finally summoned his own magical pet—a gray Wild Boar as big as a small calf! I almost fell off my horse! He had actually chosen a Wild Boar and even fitted it with a saddle! I had heard of wolf riders before, but I wasn’t so familiar with boar riders!

The NPC army didn’t give me time to think. A troop of cavalry suddenly burst out from the distant city gate. The vast and mighty cavalry force charged toward us like lightning. What a magnificent sight! Though the scene was spectacular, we had no time to watch. We turned and fled.

Besides the flying magical pets, the fastest on the ground was, of course, Nightshadow. Surprisingly, second place went to On-Time Big-Pot Rice’s Wild Boar. I would never have guessed that its four short legs could run almost as fast as Nightshadow’s four long ones!

Gold Coin ran on foot and still managed to keep up with our speed! Bringing up the rear, ironically, was Eagle’s unicorn, Blazing Sun. It was hard to believe that Blazing Sun’s long legs, which were no shorter than Nightshadow’s, couldn’t outrun On-Time Big-Pot Rice’s Wild Boar! Appearances really are deceiving!

The cavalry behind us was on our heels in no time, forcing us to pick up the pace. I recalled Lucky and Xiao Feng, whose transport duty was over, to intercept the pursuers. Lucky maintained a low, level flight, flying from the front of the cavalry-line to the back, breathing fire all the way. The level 850 City Defense Cavalry were one thing, but the warhorses they rode couldn’t withstand Lucky’s Dragon Flame. Every horse that emerged from the Sea of Fire was injured. Xiao Feng, cloaked in purple demonic flames, delivered another baptism of fire. With a flash of white light, thousands of cavalrymen became infantrymen.

The Spirit Herald Knights timed their charge perfectly, rushing in for a round of slaughter. The Spirit Herald Knight leader was, after all, a veteran of war. He grasped this opportunity perfectly. Just as the City Defense Cavalry reacted and began to organize a counterattack, he had already rallied the Spirit Herald Knights and turned to flee.

We soon put a good distance behind us. Goddess City had shrunk to a small dot. I thought we were safe, but an indescribable sense of oppression washed over me!

Eagle seemed to notice something was wrong with me. “Purple Sun, what’s the matter?”

“It’s nothing! I just feel like something is watching us!”

“Something? What kind of something? We’re already far from Goddess City. Nothing should be chasing us this far, right?”

Just as he spoke, a strange shriek came from the sky. We all looked up to see black dots suddenly appearing from within the clouds.

“Griffins! Take cover!” Yuzhe actually recognized the creatures in the sky and warned everyone to hide.

The swarm of griffins numbered well over five thousand. A massive, dense flock appeared above us, blotting out the clouds and sun. The sound of such a large squadron of griffins in flight was something you’d never forget in your lifetime!

“Watch out!” A griffin suddenly did a flip, broke away from the main group, and dove down. My warning wasn’t fast enough to change the outcome. On-Time Big-Pot Rice was snatched up high into the air by the griffin. Xiao Feng suddenly flashed over from the side like lightning and collided with the griffin. The griffin couldn’t withstand Xiao Feng’s attack and was knocked out of the sky. Passerby A’s giant cockroach quickly flew back, caught On-Time Big-Pot Rice, and began to retreat.

I was about to call Lucky back to help, but a single glance showed me he was already surrounded by a flock of griffins mid-air, locked in a fierce battle! I summoned all my magical pets, whether they were useful or not, to come and help. The Dart took the opportunity to jump onto Xiao Feng’s back as she flew past. When Xiao Feng got entangled with the massive griffin flock in the sky, The Dart actually leaped onto a griffin’s back. Because there were so many, the griffins were all crowded together.

The Dart leaped from the back of one griffin to another. Strangely, as soon as he left a griffin, it would immediately tumble downwards. For a moment, the sky was a spectacular rain of falling feathers!

“Hahahaha! Purple Sun, that magical pet of yours is amazing!” Gold Coin laughed after inspecting one of the fallen griffins.

“You mean The Dart? Is he that good?”

“See for yourself!” he said, pulling open the dead griffin’s wing. One look and I immediately understood why the tiny Dart had taken down so many griffins so quickly. He had been plucking their feathers! The rear edge of the griffin’s wing had been plucked clean! Griffins don’t have tail feathers, so they rely on the long feathers on the trailing edge of their wings to help control their flight. The Dart had plucked all the large feathers from this area; no wonder the griffins lost control and plummeted!

Yuzhe suddenly cried out. “How did I level up? I didn’t kill any monsters! Do these city defense NPCs count as monsters? Do you get Experience Points for killing NPCs?”

His words made me notice that my own experience bar was also rising, though I hadn’t gained enough to level up yet! Tank, next to me, was leveling up nonstop. To him, the experience from a level 800 griffin was enough for several levels! I watched as the originally palm-sized Tank grew in an instant. At this rate, he’d reach standard size in no time!

Just as I was celebrating, Phantom suddenly warned me to catch The Dart. I looked up and saw him falling. I immediately had Nightshadow rush over, and I reached out and caught him. He had been knocked down by a griffin rider. The riderless griffins were easy to bully, but some of them had griffin riders, so unfortunately, The Dart was struck down!

Despite the diversion provided by Lucky and the rest of us, most of the griffins broke through and caught up to Little Dragon Girl and Skyfire ahead. Purple Moon commanded Skyfire to engage the griffins in battle, and the sky once again became a chaotic flurry of feathers. In the end, Little Dragon Girl couldn’t shake off the swarm of griffins, and before long she was entangled and unable to fly freely.

With no other choice, Little Dragon Girl had to drop the cannon and fight the griffins that swarmed her. Before the cannon could even hit the ground, it was caught in mid-air by a dozen passing griffins. From below, we watched helplessly as the dozen griffins carried the cannon back the way they came, passing right over our heads!

Just as I was getting anxious, a buzzing sound came from nearby. I turned to look, and Tank, now almost the size of an elephant, was beginning to extend the wings folded under his shell, attempting to take off! After a moment of drying its wings, Tank actually managed to fly, the massive noise it made no quieter than a bomber! Tank’s sudden appearance caught the dozen griffins completely off guard. Whether it was because his shell was hard or because he had poor control from just learning to fly, Tank rammed head-first into the griffin transport team.

The griffins were knocked from the sky by the surprise attack, and the cannon, instantly losing its support, began to fall. Passerby A’s cockroach immediately rushed over to catch the falling cannon. Bingbing’s second chapter of Death’s Variation was almost complete. It looked like things were about to turn around!

Unfortunately, plans can never keep up with changes. A griffin suddenly dove down and grabbed Bingbing. I was fighting another griffin and had no time to split my attention to protect her. I shouldn’t have let her and Rose off my mount! When the battle started, we knew we couldn’t outrun them, so we all spread out to intercept the griffins chasing Little Dragon Girl. Now it seemed that spreading out too much was not a good plan for us!

Bingbing’s low level and even lower health meant she was killed almost instantly. She vanished in a flash of white light, and the nearly completed variation was interrupted! Before I could even react to the shock, Rose was snatched up as well. In trying to save one, I had lost the other!

Chapter 30: Alteration

Passerby A, who had gone to retrieve the cannon, was intercepted by several griffins. Without support, the cannon plummeted straight to the ground. With a loud crash, it shattered into pieces. What was worse, the cannon actually misfired the moment it hit the ground, and the shell went flying!

The projectile, leaving a long trail behind it, flew directly toward Goddess City. We had thought it would be fine from such a distance, but we were mistaken. The shell landed precisely on the city’s gatehouse. A massive explosion sent shards of stone flying everywhere, and a number of people were struck by the debris. A hundred or so people near the city gate were killed on the spot, and the number of injured was even higher! Now I knew what they meant by “when the city gate catches fire, the fish in the moat suffer”!

“Ah! Why is this my fault again?” I suddenly saw my Evil Value shoot up by a huge amount! Even though the cannon misfired because my Magical Pet crashed into the griffin transporting it, they couldn’t just blame all those deaths on me!

This was trouble. The people in the city who were accidentally injured must have all received a notification that they were maliciously PKed by me. And just like that, the second-largest massacre in Zero after the avalanche incident had occurred! I was being framed! It had nothing to do with me! Fortunately, I was already the number one most-wanted criminal, so the system didn’t broadcast my great deeds again! But I felt a bit more at ease than last time. After all, I still had the Shrouding Bracelet to fall back on!

Seeing the cannon destroyed, the griffins no longer entangled with us and turned to fly back toward the city. Before they left, however, they managed to injure Xiao Feng. Luckily, Rose had been rescued!

Watching the griffins retreat, we could only clean up the mess! The busiest person among us was actually Rose; she was the only medic in the entire team. Although Bingbing could also serve as a temporary medic, she had, unfortunately, just been killed!

Rose’s first order of business was to quickly resurrect Bingbing. If the protection timer ran out, Bingbing’s soul would be forcibly teleported back to the city’s Resurrection Hall to be revived for a fee, or she could wait a certain amount of time to revive automatically for free. Rose used her resurrection skill on Bingbing’s body three times before finally succeeding. It was very fortunate; Bingbing only lost one Level. It seemed Rose’s Resurrection spell was quite valuable!

With Bingbing’s help, the two of them quickly healed everyone’s injuries. I looked at Purple Moon, who was standing there staring down at the Magic Crystal Cannon, now just a pile of scrap metal. I shook my head, walked over, patted her on the shoulder, and pulled her into my arms. “Don’t be sad. Don’t we still have several other cannons? If we fail this time, there’s always a next time!” Faced with this person who looked exactly like me, it was really hard to remember the old rules about propriety between men and women. Holding her felt like holding another version of myself! What a complex feeling!

“What do we do now?” Yuzhe walked up and asked. “Do we take advantage of the chaos to snatch another cannon, or do we wait for a while to build up our strength before making a move?”

Before I could answer, Bailing cried out. “Purple Sun, what is your Magical Pet doing?”

“Huh? What?” I turned around to see Tank. The little guy was over there with his head down, doing who-knows-what! I walked closer for a look. Good heavens, the fellow’s mouth was covered in blood as it devoured the griffin corpse on the ground!

“Whoa! That’s so disgusting!” Gold Coin said, looking at the gory, mangled corpse. “Where did you pick up such a pervert?”

“Who said Tank is a pervert!” I defended Tank, displeased. “You guys just haven’t seen how amazing he is. If you’d seen Tank in his prime, you’d know what invincible means!”

After my earlier comforting, Purple Moon had calmed down a bit. “Is he really that amazing?”

“Of course! Back then, he suddenly lunged at me. Lucky crashed into him to save me, but not only did Lucky fail to stop him, he was sent flying!”

“He can knock back a dragon? That’s a bit too monstrous!” Bailing said suddenly, “Right, check his stats. Maybe eating corpses is one of his special skills! I remember some Magical Pets can eat corpses to replenish their health or mana!”

“Right, right! Check it quick!” Shura Ziyi urged.

“Alright, I’ll take a look!” I opened Tank’s status screen, and my jaw dropped in astonishment! “This… this…”

“What’s wrong?” Rose ran over and asked me. “Can he really heal himself?”

I shook my head. “It’s not for healing! His health hasn’t changed!”

“Then what is it?”

“He gained a new skill. It seems like eating a corpse lets him learn the skills of the Magical Beast he devoured!”

“What? That’s insane!” Gold Coin squeezed in and told me to enable the system’s public view option so everyone could see. After I turned it on, they all saw it. “Griffin Explosive Shell! It really is one of the griffin’s skills! What a monstrous guy. If he ate a dragon, wouldn’t he learn Dragon Flame Breath?”

Before I could answer, Ruthless spoke up. “He doesn’t need to! He can already breathe fire, and it’s quite powerful!”

Gold Coin looked at Ruthless and asked, “What do you mean?”

“I was one-shotted by his flame breath. That thing’s power is no less than Dragon Flame!”

I added, “His flames still can’t quite compare to Dragon Flame, but they’re close! When I was catching him, he had a fire-breathing contest with Lucky, and Lucky even came out on the losing end! But considering his Level was higher than Lucky’s at the time, their flame breaths are probably about equal in power under fair conditions!”

While we were discussing this, Tank finished eating the griffin all on his own and then slowly crawled away. We were all so engrossed in our discussion that we didn’t notice him leave. By the time we remembered him, we realized Tank had crawled off! “Hey? Where’s your Magical Pet?” Bailing was the first to react. She looked around and saw Tank right behind her, gnawing on something.

I thought he was chewing on another griffin and ran over. “You big glutton, one after another, how many are you going to…” I froze once again. The others saw my strange reaction and ran over, and they were all struck dumb!

“Parts! The parts!…” Tank was actually gnawing on the Magic Crystal Cannon’s components. A moment ago there had been a huge pile of parts, but now they had been eaten down to just a few screws and broken springs! Heavens! How can you even eat a cannon?!

“Purple Sun, quick, look at his skills!” Since the skill display was still visible to everyone, Shura Ziyi noticed another skill had been added to the list.

I quickly looked. “Magic Crystal Shot? What kind of skill is this? Could it be…?” I hurriedly told everyone to get back and then gave Tank an order. “Tank, see that mountaintop over there? Use Magic Crystal Shot on it!”

I waited a moment, but there was no reaction. I asked Phantom, “Why isn’t he using the skill?”

“Let me ask!” After a moment, Phantom said, “He says that skill can only be used at full health, and his health isn’t full!”

I quickly said to Rose, “Rose, hurry and heal Tank! He needs full health to be able to use his skill!”

Rose immediately began healing Tank, and soon his health bar was full. The moment his health was topped off, Tank immediately turned to face the mountaintop. He then extended his six supporting legs, digging them a certain depth into the ground to anchor himself. After that, he lay completely flat, his abdomen on the ground, and extended his two offensive forelimbs, digging them deep into the earth as well. Finally, Tank slowly opened the shell on his back. I had thought he was going to extend his wings, since that’s what he did before, but this time, a large, cannon-barrel-like tube emerged from the center of his back. This appendage, clearly a part of Tank’s body, slowly took aim at the mountaintop. Then the long, pale green tube began to glow. Suddenly, with a recoil like a real cannon, the barrel jerked back. A projectile, identical to one fired from a Magic Crystal Cannon, flew toward the mountain. The only difference was that this shell was green!

The shell landed directly on the mountain’s peak. A visible shockwave rapidly expanded, and the top of the mountain strangely vanished. But it was still quiet all around us; we hadn’t heard a thing. It wasn’t until the shockwave reached us that a deafening, tremendous roar, accompanied by the shaking of the earth and a sky-blotting cloud of dust, washed over us. We all had to throw ourselves to the ground to avoid the blast!

After the shockwave passed, Tank, having fired the shot, suddenly collapsed sideways. It gave me a scare; if I hadn’t reacted fast enough, I would have been buried under him! I frantically checked Tank’s stats. His health had dropped to one, his mana was at zero, and all his skills were grayed out. Above his status screen, a translucent notification box displayed a message: “Weakened State, unable to act. Time remaining: 700 seconds (online time)!” The countdown timer at the end was still ticking down, second by second.

Eagle and the others ran over, covered in dust and grime. Shura Ziyi coughed and said, “If we had known it was this powerful, we should have picked a target farther away! What exaggerated destructive power. I didn’t expect it to be so immense!”

I pointed to the countdown timer for them to see. “Unfortunately, there’s a time limit!”

Gold Coin said, “Don’t be ungrateful. This thing is like an atomic bomb. If you could use it without limits, you could single-handedly wage a National War against Japan. Just find a Japanese city, stand there, and you could level a medium-sized city in five shots!”

Bailing also chimed in, “Even with a time limit, it’s not bad. He’s a mobile artillery platform now. He really lives up to the name Tank!”

Passerby A jumped in and said, “Wrong! Before, you could call him a tank, but now he should be called a self-propelled howitzer!”

Ruthless also looked at this strange cannon and said, “Besides the slow rate of fire, don’t you all think he has another fatal flaw?” “A fatal flaw?” Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

Seeing that he had everyone’s attention, Ruthless began to explain. “This cannon on Tank is actually a skill, and the consequence of using this skill is that Purple Sun’s Magical Pet, Tank, will be forced out of commission for a period of time!” After a slight pause, Ruthless continued, “Also, don’t be fooled by this skill’s great power. In reality, there aren’t many situations where it can be used! We definitely can’t use it in close-quarters PKing. You all just saw it; the shell is too powerful and obviously doesn’t distinguish between friend and foe like an offensive spell would! If we’re in a melee with the enemy, a shell landing in the crowd would mean mutual destruction. I don’t think any of you would enjoy taking the enemy down with you, right?”

Purple Moon offered her opinion with great composure, “What we need is siege warfare. As long as Purple Sun’s Magical Pet can blast open the city gates or fire a shot into a crowd of city defense NPCs, it can solve a lot of our problems!”

“That’s a fair point! But did you see how long it took for Tank to deploy just now?” Ruthless once again dampened everyone’s enthusiasm. “Tank requires all his stats to be full to use this skill, and the deployment time is as long as one minute. If an enemy hits him with any attack during that time, as long as it forces even a single point of health loss, it will interrupt the launch. So in reality, this is a white elephant of a skill—looks good but isn’t practical!”

Everyone’s spirits sank after hearing that. Although they didn’t want it to be true, upon careful consideration, it was pretty much the case. Just as Ruthless said, the skill’s attack power was undeniable, but it didn’t distinguish between friend and foe, and its area of effect was so wide. This was no joke; I couldn’t just use it in a crowd of my own people!

“Actually, everyone doesn’t need to be too upset. It’s better to have it than not.”

“Exactly!”

“So what do we do now? Go move another cannon?”

“I don’t think we can do that right now!” The NPCs in the city hadn’t completely disappeared. We should probably wait until tonight or tomorrow to make a move.

“I agree with Eagle’s opinion. If we really go over there now, we’ll very likely run right into a large squad of NPCs, so it’s best to wait for a while.”

“Why are we so unlucky!” On-Time Big-Pot Rice complained. “A perfectly good cannon was just smashed into scrap metal. We thought it could be used after Tank ate it, but it turns out that’s no good either!”

Gold Coin suddenly remembered something. “I know of something else, I just don’t know if you all dare to steal it!”

“What is it? Just say it! We’ve already moved a city defense Magic Crystal Cannon, what else would we not dare to touch?”

“Do you know why the three major system cities are considered main cities?” Gold Coin started to keep us in suspense, but seeing her expression, it was clear she wouldn’t talk unless we played along!

“Why is that? Isn’t it because they’re bigger?”

“Wrong!” Gold Coin said, puffed up with pride. “The system’s main cities aren’t actually the largest cities in the game. I’ve seen a city bigger than Goddess City, but it wasn’t a main city. The real reason they are main cities is that these three cities have an Imperial City within them.”

“You mean the Inner City?” Eagle seemed to have heard something about this. “It’s true that only main cities seem to have an Imperial City! But I haven’t found anything of value to exploit there! Players have never been allowed to enter the Imperial City. Besides, is there anything noteworthy in there?”

Gold Coin smiled and wagged a finger in front of her. “Doesn’t every major city have five Magic Crystal Cannons?”

“Nonsense! I know that much!”

“But you’ve all overlooked one thing. The Imperial City is the central part of the city, which means the largest Magic Crystal Cannon is actually set up inside the Imperial City.”

“I still don’t quite understand what you mean.”

“The next part is a simple question. The crux of the matter is whether you’re willing to lose a level to get the cannon, or if you’re willing to give up on getting a cannon at all!”

“What do you mean?” I still wasn’t clear on what she was getting at.

“Let’s just say I know a little system bug! But this bug is useless to most people, though for us, it’s very useful!”

“A system bug?” My ears perked up immediately. “I can’t believe Zero actually has bugs. This is big news; I have to remember this and tell Dad when I get back.” “Hurry up and tell us!”

“It’s a very strange setting that I stumbled upon by accident! One time, I stole something and was being chased with nowhere to run, so I climbed into the Imperial City. Do you know what happened?”

“What happened?”

“The City Guard NPCs chasing me automatically retreated. None of the City Guard NPCs can enter the Imperial City.”

“You call such a serious bug a small problem?” I was shocked that Zero could have such a serious flaw!

Gold Coin said, “Let me finish! The City Guard NPCs really can’t enter the Imperial City, but the Imperial City has its own Imperial Guard. Those guys are Level 900 super-soldiers, and each hundred-man squad has a Captain, a Level 950 monstrous boss of incredible power. Once you enter the Imperial City, you won’t be chased by the City Guard NPCs, but you’ll have to deal with the Imperial Guard instead.”

Eagle said hastily, “Then what kind of bug is that! There’s no loophole at all! And isn’t trading for Level 900 Imperial Guards even harder to deal with?”

Gold Coin said loudly, “Wrong! I managed to run for a long time in the city by relying on my high speed before I was caught. The Imperial Guard doesn’t capture people; they just killed me on the spot! Although I died in there, I discovered something. The Imperial Guard NPCs are few in number and almost never respawn. In other words, they’re understaffed. If several groups of people attacked from different directions, what do you think would happen to them?”

“Even if they’re understaffed, we’d still be killed. Carrying that cannon, we’d be killed before we could even run out of the Imperial City.”

“We don’t need to carry the cannon out all at once! Even if we could, we shouldn’t.”

“Then how do we steal it?”

“Before I was killed that time, the City Guard NPCs just surrounded the outside of the Imperial City, waiting for me to come out. But after I was killed, they just dispersed. Later, I went back to the Imperial City, and do you know what I saw? The stolen things I dropped when I was killed by the Imperial Guard were still there. After I experimented a few more times, I discovered a few key things. First: the City Guard NPCs don’t care at all if someone enters the Imperial City; they were only chasing me last time because I stole something. Second: things dropped in the Imperial City won’t be picked up; the Imperial Guard doesn’t pick up items at all. Third: when I went back into the Imperial City to get those things after being killed, only the Imperial Guard tried to get me, but they stopped chasing me as soon as I left the Imperial City, and the City Guard NPCs never appeared again. This means the Imperial Guard was chasing me either because I was trespassing, or because I was taking stolen goods, but they can’t leave the Imperial City. And the City Guard NPCs completely ignored the fact that I went back to get the loot. This is where the bug lies!”

“You mean that regardless of the reason, the Imperial Guard only attacks intruders inside the Imperial City. But the City Guard NPCs will chase anyone who touches something they shouldn’t, but once that person dies, they are no longer pursued. The City Guard NPCs only handle the killing but not the recovery of items, is that it?” Bailing was the first to grasp Gold Coin’s meaning.

Gold Coin said, “More or less. But it’s not that the City Guard NPCs don’t recover items, it’s just that if they can’t recover them, they consider it impossible to recover, so they stop trying. The things I stole were supposed to be recovered by the City Guard NPCs and returned to their owner, but since the items were in the Imperial City, they couldn’t get them, so they gave up. Even when I brought them out again, they didn’t care anymore!”

“But what does this have to do with us stealing the cannon?” Passerby A asked, looking at us curiously.

Seeing that some people around understood and some didn’t, I explained, “What Gold Coin means is that as long as we start moving the cannon inside the Imperial City, the City Guard NPCs will gather outside the Imperial City, waiting to hunt us down and recover the cannon. But all we have to do is move the cannon to a spot not far from the Imperial City’s gate, and then let the Imperial Guard kill everyone involved. Afterward, all the NPCs will return to their posts. But then we can revive, go back into the Imperial City, and carry out the cannon we moved to the gate beforehand. At that point, neither the Imperial Guard nor the City Guard NPCs will bother us! We can just waltz right out the main gate with the cannon!”

Chapter 31: Imperial City

“What a great idea!” Passerby A said.

“The method is viable, but doesn’t everyone who participates in the first operation have to die once?” Yuzhe looked at the group. “So we must plan the numbers for this operation carefully. We’ll only take the necessary people. It doesn’t seem worth it for all of us to go die together! Also, everyone should swap their gear for junk equipment. We’re facing level 900 monsters, so we’ll be insta-killed no matter what we wear. It would be a huge loss if our good gear drops and we can’t get it back!”

“Right, Yuzhe has a point!” Bailing agreed. “Bingbing and Rose, you two shouldn’t go. You’re not primary damage-dealing classes, and your Strength is too low to be of much help!”

I looked at Bailing. “You shouldn’t go either. We need tanks, mainly to transport the cannon as close to the gate as possible. Your class isn’t suited for this kind of task. For a suicide mission like this, the fewer people who go, the better!”

Eagle nodded as well. “Bailing, you shouldn’t go. Stay outside and hold my equipment for me!”

“No, I’m going!” Bailing looked at Eagle with determination. “How can I not be by your side when I know you’re going to your death? What do you take me for?”

“Bailing!” Eagle said solemnly, putting his arm around her shoulder.

Bailing threw herself into Eagle’s arms and said, vexed, “You big, dumb bear!”

“Ahem!” On-Time Big-Pot Rice faked a couple of coughs. “Hey, hey, hey! You two, watch it. There are single people here! Mind the occasion! Stop putting on a melodrama and have some consideration for us single folks!”

The words had barely left his mouth when he received the same reply from both Eagle and Bailing. “You! Go stand in a corner! This is a matter between us, don’t you butt in!”

I kindly walked over and patted On-Time Big-Pot Rice on the shoulder. “You should know better. Don’t you know they’re a model couple?”

Who knew that On-Time Big-Pot Rice would shrug off my hand and run over to grab Passerby A. “Only us single people know the pain of being single!”

Passerby A also clamored at me. “You’re surrounded by beautiful women! How could you possibly understand our pain!”

Rose walked over and bonked each of the two guys with her mage staff. “You’re getting off topic!”

I began to announce the decision. “For this mission, the fewer participants, the better. I’ll now announce the roster; no objections. Purple Moon and I have to go; the main transport task will rely on our magical pets. Eagle has to go too. As our strongest tank, he’s very useful! Ah Wei won’t participate; mages are useless in this kind of close-quarters combat! Bingbing and Rose won’t participate either. We’ll be inside for three minutes at most. Bingbing’s skills are too slow to take effect, and as for Rose’s healing, there won’t be enough time. Rose, you should wait outside to resurrect us. Losing only one level will be a huge gain!”

Rose had wanted to object, but seeing the logic in my words, she held her tongue. With her there, we would only lose one level upon revival, which was a massive advantage!

I continued, “Bailing’s skills aren’t very useful, so don’t come in either. Stay outside and coordinate our personnel! Gold Coin, you have to come in with us. You’re fast and you know the routes, so you’ll be a convenient guide. Ruthless, you don’t need to come in either. You can’t kill level 900 NPCs, and besides, assassinating them is useless! On-Time Big-Pot Rice and Shura Ziyi still have to come with me. You two can be considered tank-like classes, and Shura Ziyi’s Ashura has decent combat power! Passerby A, you can decide for yourself whether to come or not. I’m not too familiar with your class’s characteristics, so you decide!”

Passerby A immediately said, “Of course I’m going. You guys don’t know about my special skill yet! It’s a secret monster-luring technique!”

“You have a special skill?” Purple Moon asked, looking at Passerby A. “How come I don’t know? You never told me!”

Passerby A said sheepishly, “Well, it’s actually my magical pet Xiaoqiang’s special skill. But it’s kind of disgusting, so I don’t usually use it in front of girls. But don’t worry, it’s definitely a super practical skill!”

“Alright then, you can come with us!” I really needed the manpower right now, but since the plan required all participants to die inside, I didn’t want too many people to join. It was a real contradiction! “Yuzhe’s Ninja is also an Agility-based class. It might be fine against ordinary people, but it won’t work against these level 900 NPCs with their absolute power advantage. So Yuzhe, you shouldn’t participate either. Help Bailing with coordination outside!”

Yuzhe didn’t reply, just nodded. Among everyone here, apart from the rather cold Ruthless, Yuzhe was the most composed.

“Shall we start now?” Purple Moon was still anxious to get that cannon; after all, she was the one who had proposed the plan in the first place!

I checked the system time. “Not now! The NPCs who were just chasing us probably haven’t completely settled down yet. If we go back to grab the cannon now, we’ll probably get blasted by it before we even reach the city gate!”

Bingbing raised a small hand and said, “Aren’t there three main cities?”

Purple Moon threw her arms around Bingbing. “You’re so smart, I could just die! I love you!”

This gesture made Bingbing’s little face turn as red as if she had a fever, which was adorable. But why did she look like a young girl with her first crush? Purple Moon is a girl too! It made no sense for her to blush like that from another girl’s hug! Could it be…? Don’t tell me she’s associating Purple Moon with me! Ugh! “What a great idea!” Eagle’s sudden comment interrupted my thoughts. “Besides Goddess City, there’s also Divine City and Cloudtop City, two other system main cities! Which one are you guys planning to hit?”

“Let’s do Cloudtop City!” Passerby A suggested. “I used to be based in Cloudtop City, so I’m more familiar with the terrain there. Plus, Cloudtop City is the smallest of the three system main cities. I figure if the outer area is smaller, the palace should be relatively smaller too! That would make it easier to work with!”

“Then we’ll do as Passerby A says! Everyone gather at the entrance to the Imperial Palace in Cloudtop City. Those of you with teleportation scrolls, share them around. Teleport to any city first, then use the teleportation platform to get there!” With that, I grabbed Rose and used my Teleportation Ring to go directly to the teleportation platform in Cloudtop City.

Not long after we emerged from the teleportation platform, Eagle and the others started to arrive one by one. Everyone had plenty of Town Portal Scrolls. Passerby A even had a teleportation scroll directly to Cloudtop City. According to him, the three main system cities were places you had to visit often, so he usually carried teleportation scrolls for all three for convenience.

With Passerby A leading the way, we quickly ‘snuck’ our way to the main gate of the Imperial City. That enormous gatehouse was nearly as tall as the outer city walls!

“How are we supposed to get up there?” Eagle stared blankly at the high walls.

Passerby A smiled mysteriously. “This is where my Xiaoqiang’s invincible skill comes in!” he said, summoning his magical pet, Xiaoqiang.

“What are you doing?” I looked at him, not knowing what he was planning!

“Everyone who can’t get up, come over to me, grab one of Xiaoqiang’s legs, and I’ll send you up!”

“You can’t be serious! You want me to hold a cockroach leg? I’d rather ‘kill myself’!” Shura Ziyi was a girl, after all, and took hygiene very seriously!

Gold Coin nodded in support of her opinion. “Forget the cockroach, that’s disgusting! Doesn’t Purple Moon have a dragon? Carrying ten or twenty people should be a piece of cake! And even if there’s not enough room, doesn’t Purple Sun have one too?”

“Yeah, yeah!” Although On-Time Big-Pot Rice was a man, it was best to stay far away from something like a cockroach if you could help it! “Purple Sun’s two dragons and a phoenix can airlift a ton of people, can’t they? There are only a few of us!”

“We’re on a secret infiltration mission, not a sightseeing tour!” I said, annoyed. “If we fly in from the sky, won’t we be spotted from miles away? Do you think the NPCs are all blind? A dragon the size of a small mountain flies into the Imperial City and no one will see it?”

“That’s a good point!” On-Time Big-Pot Rice nodded in understanding.

Seeing the airlift plan rejected, Passerby A began to push his Xiaoqiang again. “Come on, come on! My Xiaoqiang is fast and safe, not to mention noise-free and low-pollution!”

“Rose Vine!” I didn’t pay any attention to Passerby A’s cockroach. The truth was, if I had no other choice, I would consider the cockroach. But I had a choice now, so it was better to stay away from it! “Give us a ladder!”

Rose Vine grew rapidly, intertwining with itself. In just over ten seconds, a staircase made of vines was complete. I took off my armor and gave it to Rose, then climbed up first. Although the steps were a bit narrow, as long as you weren’t too careless, you could make it up. We smoothly reached the top of the wall. Getting down was easy; we just jumped, losing only a bit of health. Most of us who came were warriors, so we didn’t care about a little health loss.

The Imperial Palace was unbelievably huge. I suspected this Imperial City was also a product of hyperspace technology. It didn’t look this big from the outside!

Just as everyone jumped down from the wall, a squad of Imperial Guards emerged from the corner up ahead. I rolled behind a rockery, and Eagle promptly jumped over as well. Shura Ziyi jumped directly into a flowerbed, and On-Time Big-Pot Rice, who was right behind her, dove in too. Gold Coin quickly ducked behind a boulder, and Purple Moon, in her panic, squeezed into a crevice in the rockery. The only person still out in the open was Passerby A. He had insisted on riding his cockroach, Xiaoqiang, up the wall, so he was a step slower than us. And because he was that one step too late, by the time the NPCs appeared, he had just jumped down from the wall and hadn’t even found his footing yet!

I thought it was all over, but then a miracle happened. The squad of NPCs walked right past Passerby A without a hint of recognition. As soon as the NPCs were far away, we hurried out.

“What do you think you’re doing? Standing there without moving, you trying to get killed?” Gold Coin was the first to flare up.

“Did you use some kind of skill just now?” Eagle asked. “Why did those NPCs run past even though they clearly saw you?”

Passerby A said, “This is one of my Xiaoqiang’s special skills. It’s called Mimicry. As long as I stand still, I can blend into the background. I didn’t move just now because I was afraid I’d be discovered if I did!”

“Damn! You’ve got quite a few skills!” On-Time Big-Pot Rice ran over and said.

“Hehe! Just a humble display!”

As we were talking, another squad of Imperial Guard NPCs walked over. Everyone immediately dove for cover, some into the flower bushes, others behind the rockery. Passerby A, of course, remained rooted to the spot. Once this squad of Imperial Guard NPCs passed, we quickly ran out to find a new position.

“This way!” Gold Coin took the lead and dashed into a room opposite us. But just as she got inside, the Imperial Guard patrol appeared again. Luckily, the rest of us hadn’t come out yet! Otherwise, being caught in the middle of the path would have been a real spectacle!

When the Imperial Guard patrol disappeared again, Gold Coin stuck her head out of the room, beckoned to us, and shouted in the party channel, “One at a time, run!”

This time, I dashed out. I was only halfway across when the Imperial Guards appeared. I quickly threw my cloak over myself and stood perfectly still. Thank goodness I had kept my cloak and the jewelry that was less likely to drop when I’d taken off my gear earlier!

Thanks to the cloak’s invisibility, I was perfectly hidden. The squad of NPCs walked past less than a meter in front of me, so scared I didn’t dare to breathe! I waited until they finally disappeared before I dared to run over and join Gold Coin. After that, I used the party channel to tell everyone to wait. After observing for a while, I realized it wasn’t just one squad of Imperial Guards passing by. Apparently, two patrol teams passed through here, but their patrol cycles were different, so every so often, both patrol teams would appear at the same time.

Finding the pattern made things much easier. Back in the day, I used to play a game called Commando Squad IVX a lot. That game was all about finding timing gaps, and this was much simpler than that. Once we figured out the pattern, all of us quickly got into the room.

Gold Coin led us out through another door in the room and straight into the adjacent courtyard. After that, it was a constant cycle of taking cover, running, taking cover, and running again. Soon, we ‘snuck’ our way to the base of the Magic Crystal Cannon. There were no guards here. Haha, we’d lucked out!

With everyone ready, I gave the order and we all burst out at once. This time we had experience. The first to appear were Purple Moon’s two Titan Giants. They easily lifted the huge, hemispherical cover off the Magic Crystal Cannon. Little Dragon Girl simply hooked the cannon with her tail, and then Skyfire lifted it and flew towards the main gate. The goal this time was to move the cannon to the main gate. As long as it reached the gate, we’d be safe!

The moment we touched the Magic Crystal Cannon, all the NPCs in the city began to react. Countless City Guard NPCs were spawned, but they could only surround the Imperial City in vain, unable to get in. On our side, the Imperial Guards also discovered our intrusion, and several patrol teams immediately charged us.

My Rose Vine immediately entangled the Imperial Guards who were trying to interfere, but unfortunately, in less than five seconds, all of Rose Vine’s tendrils were ripped out and chopped to pieces! As expected of level 900 Imperial Guards, their strength was on a completely different level from the City Guard NPCs!

Skyfire, carrying the cannon, could only fly slightly higher than the surrounding walls, which created an opportunity for the Imperial Guards blocking our path. A whole squad of crossbowmen suddenly appeared in front of us. Seeing their raised crossbow bolts, their target was clearly Skyfire above our heads.

In an instant, countless arrows flew over. We didn’t even have time to react. But Lucky did. With no time to cast anything, Lucky used the most direct method and shielded Skyfire. Countless arrows instantly turned Lucky into a porcupine. But incredibly, the powerful Lucky’s invincible dragon scales blocked most of the arrows. Although he was shot miserably, the arrows didn’t actually penetrate very deep, so Lucky survived. However, I could see directly from the system notifications that Lucky’s health was no longer enough to withstand another attack!

In that brief pause, Skyfire flew over the heads of the large group of Imperial Guard crossbowmen. The crossbowmen who had just turned around hadn’t even had time to load new bolts before the arriving Xiao Feng hit them with a Firestorm, and then Little Dragon Girl hit them with an Ice Storm, giving them a taste of both ice and fire!

Although this sudden attack sent the crossbowmen into disarray, a second group of crossbowmen quickly took their positions. Lucky once again blocked a volley of arrows, and this time, he was insta-killed. Xiao Feng immediately rushed up to fill the gap, but the assault was too fierce, and Xiao Feng, who had just charged up, was also quickly killed. However, Xiao Feng was a Phoenix, and her resurrection ability activated. But the attack was too intense, and the newly revived Xiao Feng was immediately insta-killed again!

After this death, I would have to wait a while before I could re-summon Lucky and Xiao Feng. But the fourth volley of arrows appeared before us, giving us no time to breathe. The Dart shot out and intercepted a good number of the arrows, but the remaining ones still posed a serious threat to Skyfire.

A huge shadow suddenly appeared. One of Purple Moon’s Titan Giants stood in front of everyone and took the hit, but the Titan Giant was immediately killed! Watching the Titan Giant fall with a crash, everyone seemed to have an epiphany.

What followed was a boring but grand series of self-sacrifices. Each of us used our magical pets to block the arrow rain for Skyfire, and they all vanished. After the magical pets were all dead, it was our turn. Our resistance was even weaker than our pets’. Soon, only Passerby A, myself, and Purple Moon, who was commanding Skyfire, were left!

Just as countless Imperial Guards charged at us, Passerby A’s Xiaoqiang suddenly unleashed its power. Xiaoqiang had been saved for the last moment to help Purple Moon’s Skyfire block the final volley of arrows, but now it was acting ahead of schedule. I saw Xiaoqiang’s abdomen suddenly expand and release an extremely foul stench; I nearly vomited on the spot. Then the ground around us began to shake, and countless smaller Xiaoqiangs suddenly crawled out.

It was actually summoning its own kind. It seems Xiaoqiang is a cockroach king! Usually, only kings can summon their own kind!

The summoned little Xiaoqiangs frantically swarmed the Imperial Guard NPCs. Although these little cockroaches didn’t have much attack power, their sheer, overwhelming numbers were a crushing force! In an instant, all the NPCs were covered in cockroaches. The swarm of roaches made the NPCs constantly swat at themselves, but no sooner had they knocked one off than a new one would crawl on!

Perhaps realizing they could never get rid of all the little cockroaches, the NPC army suddenly ignored the roaches covering them and began to frantically attack us. But in the moment they hesitated, we had already rushed to the wall. Outside was the area beyond the Imperial City. Our mission was over.

The NPC army quickly charged over, and a volley of arrows flew at us. The few of us remaining were pinned to the wall! In the moment of death, I kind of understood what those revolutionary martyrs who died heroically must have felt like!

Our souls were teleported to the Hall of Resurrection Mages after the protection time expired. An NPC Resurrection Mage immediately came over to solicit business, which I of course refused! Rose was already waiting for us there. She ran over as soon as she saw our souls appear. Bailing and Bingbing were following behind her, but since they weren’t Resurrection Mages, they couldn’t see players in their soul state.

Rose’s Resurrection spell was truly impressive. After all of us were revived, only the rather unlucky Shura Ziyi had dropped two levels; everyone else only dropped one. If we had let that old NPC resurrect us, there probably would have been at least two more people in our group who would have dropped two levels!

Once we got our armor back from Rose, we started running towards the Imperial City. Although Gold Coin had said the cannon wouldn’t disappear if left by the wall, we still felt it was safest in our own hands. So as soon as we recovered, we started running back.

By the time we reached the Imperial City wall again, a full half hour had passed since we died. As expected, the City Guard NPCs here had completely withdrawn; not a single soul was left! This time, I summoned Rose Vine to get us over the wall. Purple Moon immediately summoned Skyfire, and with the help of her remaining Titan Giant, they easily moved the cannon out. Because we only went in by the wall to grab the cannon and then came right back out, the Imperial Guards spotted us, but by the time they charged over, we had already slipped away!

Just as Gold Coin had said, as soon as we left the Imperial City, the Imperial Guards stopped chasing us, and the outer city’s City Guard NPCs also turned a blind eye to us. A patrol of City Guard NPCs had just walked past us, scaring us half to death, but they had absolutely no reaction to us carrying a super Magic Crystal Cannon! On the other hand, more and more players were gathering around us, and many even came up to chat. We had anticipated this. I mean, how could a Titan Giant carrying a huge cannon through the city not attract attention!

“Miss, what is this thing?” some guy with bad eyes asked, looking at me.

“Can’t you see for yourself? You can’t even tell if I’m a man or a woman!” I was not polite at all. I hate it most when people get my gender wrong!

A warrior-class player nearby said, “It looks like a cannon! But how can there be a cannon in this game? Could it be…”

At his words, everyone looked up at the turret in the center of the city, which usually stood there like a Huabiao.

“They’ve taken the city’s defensive Magic Crystal Cannon!” someone shouted, and then all hell broke loose! Countless players swarmed over, surrounding us so tightly that not even a drop of water could get through! In the end, it was actually the City Guard NPCs who came to our rescue.

A large detachment of City Guard NPCs ran over. The captain in the lead began to disperse the crowd on the grounds of obstructing traffic. But even though they managed to clear a path, we were still surrounded by a lot of people. We had just painstakingly shuffled to the city gate when the Titan Giant made a huge mistake!

He actually slammed into the city gate while carrying the cannon! I don’t know if it was our incredible luck or a quality issue inherent to the Magic Crystal Cannon, but in any case, this super Magic Crystal Cannon misfired again! A cannonball flew out of the Magic Crystal Cannon, which the Titan Giant was carrying on its shoulder. Due to the steep angle, the cannonball didn’t fly very far before landing in the crowd in the city center.

Before we could even recover from the shock, the Titan Giant’s sharp turn caused the cannon’s base to hit the top of the city gate again. And again, a second cannonball landed at close range, right at our feet! The exploding cannonball kicked up a storm of blood and gore, and the massive shockwave sent us flying right out of the city gate. The Titan Giant, hit by the shockwave, lost its footing and dropped the Magic Crystal Cannon in its hands. This was the cannon everyone had worked so hard to get; it couldn’t be allowed to shatter into pieces!

“Spirit Herald Knights!” I called out my final trump card. “Catch that thing!”

Following my finger, all the Spirit Herald Knights looked up at the flying cannon. Ten Spirit Herald Knights shot out in an instant, reaching it just as it was about to hit the ground. The ten Spirit Herald Knights steadily caught the cannon. Seeing that the cannon was fine, my heart, which had been in my throat, finally returned to its proper place!

“Get them! Don’t let them escape!” A voice suddenly appearing from behind made me freeze. I’d never heard of NPCs shouting slogans like that when chasing people! Could it be…?

Chapter 32: Chaos

I glanced back, and just as I’d guessed, a huge crowd of players was charging up behind us.

“Don’t run!” the player in the lead shouted at us.

What an idiot. If we don’t run, are we supposed to wait for you to catch us? “Gold Coin, Yuzhe, Ruthless! You three, hold them off for a bit!”

“Got it!” The three of them immediately ran out to block the road, trying to obstruct the players behind them. I’d chosen the three of them mainly because they were all Agility-based classes. Even if they couldn’t win a fight, as long as they started running, no one would be able to catch them!

Unfortunately, my plan seemed to have a slight problem. Sending out Agility-based classes wasn’t the issue, but I shouldn’t have sent Yuzhe. The lead player spotted Yuzhe’s strange attire and immediately yelled, “Attention, they’re from Japan! Everyone, charge! Those Japanese bastards are trying to destroy our city’s defense system! We can’t let them succeed!”

Listening from the front, I nearly tripped and fell. Does this guy have a brain? This isn’t how you destroy a city’s defense system! If that was all it took, why would we go to all this trouble to move a cannon? Besides, that gun emplacement automatically respawns in twenty-four hours. Even if we wanted to destroy it, we’d do it right before a siege battle! But unfortunately, there was no way for us to explain now. If they refused to listen and destroyed the cannon, that would be a disaster!

Behind us, Ruthless’s group of three had already engaged the enemy, and the stream of players quickly closed in. Gold Coin charged at the very front, with Ruthless and Yuzhe flanking him. Gold Coin’s target was the leader. It seemed this guy was either looking for trouble or just had a few screws loose. In any case, he didn’t seem like the righteous hero type!

Seeing Gold Coin approach, the leader immediately broke into a wicked grin. He saw Gold Coin’s cloth armor and guessed this wasn’t some high-attack power class, so this high-level warrior confidently charged forward to meet him.

A strange smile also bloomed on Gold Coin’s face, mirroring the obliviously confident fool’s. The opponent saw Gold Coin’s smile and froze for a moment, but he quickly understood why Gold Coin was smiling.

When he was still five or six meters away from the warrior, Gold Coin suddenly leaped, landing right on top of the leader. His sharp dagger plunged into the man’s body all the way to the hilt—this was Gold Coin’s self-created skill, Desperate Strike. In an instant, before the warrior could even register what had happened, he had turned into a flash of white light and died.

All the charging players froze. The shock of having their leader taken out right in the middle of a massive charge stunned every single one of them. That moment of hesitation was all we needed; they could no longer catch up. In almost an instant, we had charged out of the city.

“Purple Moon, take the cannon and go on ahead!” I grabbed Bingbing, who was next to me, and tossed her onto the dragon’s back. “Take Bingbing with you. She knows the way. Go to the City of the Lost and wait for us!”

Although Purple Moon felt like she was deserting her post by fleeing alone at a time like this, she knew that transporting the cannon was the most important thing right now. So, without another word, she took Bingbing and commanded Skyfire to lift the cannon and quickly leave the battlefield.

Watching Purple Moon leave put my mind at ease. Once a dragon was airborne, it was nearly impossible to shoot it down, unless confronted by a much more powerful enemy.

After seeing Purple Moon off, I turned to check the battle. The enemy had already surrounded Yuzhe and the others. I didn’t want to fight them, since they were only attacking us because they thought we were a Japanese sabotage team, but I couldn’t just abandon my comrades!

“Eagle! Get them out of there, and try not to hurt too many people!”

“Right!” Eagle nodded at me.

“It’s been a while since I had to fight myself!” I stretched my limbs. “Most of my Magical Pets are out of commission. Looks like it’s up to me for now!” Usually, I had Lucky, my super tank, holding the front line, with so many support units at my side. It was rare for me to have to fight personally, so for a long time, I had been directing battles from the shadows. Today, my five main powerhouses—Lucky, Xiao Feng, Little Dragon Girl, Tank, and Rose Vine—were all down. I had no choice but to step in myself!

“Nightshadow, The Dart! Come out and help!” I summoned the only two Magical Pets I hadn’t called out yet; Phantom had been on my person the whole time. I vaulted onto my mount and grabbed my extra-long Dragon Lance, readying for battle.

Eagle and Bailing were also forced to separate. Once the fighting started, Bailing could no longer sit on Eagle’s shoulder as she usually did. Anyway, she had her own pegasus now, so she didn’t need to crowd him!

Passerby A, on the other hand, was the most combat-effective among us. The moment his Xiaoqiang squad appeared, it scared a bunch of female mages half to death. No wonder he didn’t summon his Magical Pets often! With a pet like that, it’d be a miracle if any girls dared to get close!

Ruthless’s group was already in a chaotic brawl with a large mob of people, so we didn’t have time to plan formations or anything like that. The Spirit Herald Knights behind me raised their lances to the sky and roared, “Charge!”

“Those who block my path shall die! Forward!” The ten Spirit Herald Knights plus a sham Knight like me still managed to produce a thunderous sound of hooves. It was probably because our mounts were all quite large, and all of them were equipped with trampling Iron Treads!

The squad of players on the other side was completely spooked when they saw us Knights suddenly charge at them. Although online games had skills like a Knight’s Group Charge, a coordinated charge was something else entirely. In a game, players usually trained on their own unless they were in small parties. How could there possibly be a large group of Knights practicing Group Charge together? Have you ever seen a game where a Guild organized its members to practice coordination instead of leveling up? The very nature of gaming meant that people were never as serious as they were in the outside world. Thus, most Guilds were loosely managed. It was basically impossible for organized units like a knightly order or a swordsman battalion to appear in a Guild.

Our eleven-man Knight charge was already an unprecedentedly large formation in Zero, so the enemy was immediately intimidated by the sheer force of the thundering hooves. “Quick, scatter!” someone in their group finally reacted, but he shouted a little too late. We hadn’t gotten far from the city, and turning back meant we were on them in an instant. Moreover, most of them were still packed onto the bridge over the moat, making it impossible to disperse.

We swept through them like an autumn wind, knocking them all into the moat. Once we were in the crowd, we lost our momentum and had to rely on our weapons to force a path. I used my Shield, swinging it left and right, and soon cleared a path through the throng.

The Spirit Herald Knights behind me were even more impressive. Since I’d told them not to hurt anyone, they had stowed their weapons and were now grabbing people with both hands, one person per hand, and tossing them aside. A large number of players charged forward to try and take down the Spirit Herald Knights, but anyone who got close was thrown into the moat. The number of people in the river grew and grew. And these guys, who had no sense of chivalry whatsoever, treated the female players the same way—they’d just pick them up and toss them into the river!

By the time I noticed they had charged into a circle of mages, it was too late. That unlucky little circle, composed entirely of female Priests and mages, immediately erupted in shrieks. With a flurry of flying figures, more than thirty girls were dropped into the moat!

Maybe it was karma. Just as the group of girls was being attacked, a problem arose on our end. Bailing and Rose had somehow been left isolated. Eagle and the others were a dozen meters away at the closest, and in the chaos of battle, it was impossible to move!

A dozen or so guys who noticed this started moving toward them. It looked like they were planning to take advantage of the chaos!

I saw Bailing draw one of those super homing arrows from her back, the same kind she’d used against Gold Coin. It seemed she knew how dangerous the situation was. Bailing was an Archer, and Rose was basically a priestess. Neither of them was suited for close combat, and now they were surrounded in the middle of a large enemy force. This was not a good situation!

“Eagle!” I yelled to Eagle, who was the closest. Once he noticed me, I pointed toward Bailing. Eagle glanced back, immediately understood what was happening, and instantly turned to charge over.

But before Eagle could get there, the opportunists arrived first. A few guys who looked like bad news pounced. Although Bailing was an Archer, that didn’t mean she was defenseless. She released her bowstring, and the Freezing Homing Arrow she had already nocked went flying. With a boom, the guy at the front was instantly turned into a huge block of ice, and the people behind him didn’t escape unscathed either.

But the power of a single arrow was limited, and too few people had been frozen. A few others charged in from the other side. Just as I thought Rose and Bailing were done for, a white figure flashed past, and the charging players were immediately sent flying. The white shadow quickly materialized in front of Rose. Seeing that figure, I instantly felt a lot more relieved. After all this time, I’d completely forgotten that I had given Rose a white Wolf King once. It had grown so big in the time I hadn’t seen it!

After suffering a major setback, the attackers hesitated. In that brief moment, Eagle had charged over and was now protecting the two of them. With Eagle and the white Wolf King’s protection, Bailing and Rose began to show their true strength. Rose’s super healing spell allowed Eagle to charge recklessly without a second thought. Relying on his own high defense and Agility, the rate at which Eagle lost health was actually matched by the rate at which Rose healed him.

Bailing was even more terrifying. Her arrows took down swathes of enemies, one person per shot. Since the goal wasn’t to kill but to survive, Bailing aimed for people’s eyes every time. Though one arrow wouldn’t kill someone, do you think anyone could keep fighting after taking an arrow to the eye?

Seeing that things were under control over there, I continued to push towards Gold Coin’s position. Eagle’s group had everyone blocked on the moat bridge. The narrow bridge, despite the large number of players, prevented them from spreading out, so their numerical advantage was completely negated. A large number of players inside the city didn’t know the gate was blocked and that they couldn’t get out, so they were still crazily surging towards the gate! The entire gate area was now packed so tightly you couldn’t even stick a pin in.

I and the ten Spirit Herald Knights had charged in, tossing people aside, to rescue Gold Coin and the others, only to see them escaping on their own after we had fought our way into the city! Gold Coin was advancing by leaping from head to head. The crowd at the gate was packed solid, but by hopping across people’s heads, Gold Coin was able to move forward, and no one could do anything about him! Many people’s arms were pinned by the crush and they couldn’t even pull them free!

Yuzhe was even more impressive. He was using an earth-escape technique to travel underground. Apart from a few experts who could detect him, most people were helpless against him. And even if they did detect him, in a crowd this dense, even an expert couldn’t do anything about it!

What surprised me most was Ruthless. I originally thought he was just an ordinary Assassin, but now I realized he was a complete killing machine! Ruthless’s attack skills were like a bee’s sting—he’d hit and run, and anyone he touched was either dead or seriously injured! The little leopard he had with him, though not yet fully grown, was just like its master, leaping through the crowd and scratching many people!

While I was focused on them, I carelessly let a Half-orc Berserker get close to me. Suddenly, a massive force struck Nightshadow. With a painful cry, Nightshadow fell to the ground. Caught off guard, I was knocked from my mount. This guy probably saw me in a mage’s robe holding a Long Spear and figured I must be a Magic Swordsman, and a mage-leaning one at that. So he assumed that as a warrior, he had an absolute advantage over me and knocked me right off my mount.

Now I finally understood how stampedes could be fatal. In a moment of carelessness, I was trampled by many people. Not only was I covered in footprints, but I also couldn’t get up! Luckily, Nightshadow was quite formidable. After taking that sudden Heavy Strike, it actually managed to get back up. Then, without using any skills, it just turned its rear to the Berserker who had hit it, suddenly leaped, and gave him a vicious kick with its hind legs. And so, this incredibly strong Half-orc Berserker, who thought so highly of himself, went flying out of the crowd, over the city wall, and into the moat!

Nightshadow pushed through the crowd, stood over me, and shielded me with its body. Only then was I finally able to get up. I was scared to death! I was nearly trampled to death! There are just too many people in China! But this was fine, too. Thinking about how all these people could be used to trample the Japanese in a future National War, I didn’t mind being trampled on today so much anymore!

I might not mind, but I still had to run. I quickly climbed onto Nightshadow’s back. At this height, things were much better. No one around me was as tall, so I could easily get a view of the whole situation. As per my instructions, the city gate was now completely blocked by the Spirit Herald Knights. The gate wasn’t wide to begin with, and with ten level 850 monsters blocking it, not even a god could get through!

Gold Coin and the others had already escaped the city gates. I, on the other hand, the one who had come in to rescue them, was still trapped inside! How frustrating!

On the other side, I also noticed quite a few people on horseback. A few were players, but they were also packed in and couldn’t move. Most of them were the city’s NPC guards. They had obviously noticed the commotion here long ago, but the massive crowd was blocking their path, and NPCs couldn’t harm players who didn’t have a red name. As a result, a large contingent of city guards had been stuck over there for ages, unable to get through!

I struggled with great effort to move just a tiny distance in the crowd. When I’d charged in, the crowd wasn’t this dense, and I had used my momentum to smash my way through. I also had ten Spirit Herald Knights clearing the way for me. Now, the Spirit Herald Knights had all gone outside to help block the gate, leaving me stuck in the mob. But thanks to the sheer number of people, I was just stuck there, and no one was attacking me. Or rather, no one could attack me.

Nightshadow strained to push towards the gate. From its back, I used my Long Spear to pick people up in front of me and toss them behind to clear a path, but the gaps I created were filled up again almost instantly. After all that effort, I had only moved a few steps!

Finally, I ran out of options. Looking at the dense crowd around me, I had to consider whether I should use my Demonic Dragon Wings to fly away. But seeing so many people around, I was hesitant. Showing off my power in front of this many people was not a good idea.

I patted Nightshadow, wanting to see if it had a way to get out. “Can you move?”

Nightshadow looked left and right, then said, “Hold on tight!”

“Huh?” Before I could understand what was happening, Nightshadow had already leaped into the air. Jumping in such a densely packed area was no joke. When we landed, we crushed a whole bunch of people. Before they could even start screaming, Nightshadow had jumped again. We advanced just like that, hopping through the crowd. After hundreds of leaps, we finally reached the gate. It was exhausting. If it hadn’t been for all these people, Nightshadow could have covered this distance in just three jumps!

After we charged out of the city gate, Eagle quickly gathered everyone to retreat. The gate was suddenly unblocked, and a massive wave of players poured out. The scene was truly spectacular; there were even more players charging out than the NPC city guards we had provoked last time.

Fortunately, most of our people had mounts, so we quickly left the pursuing crowd in the dust. Only when we could no longer see any sign of our pursuers did we slow down.

“Purple Sun!” Eagle came up beside me.

“What is it?”

“Have you seen Big-Pot Rice?”

“Big-Pot Rice?” I looked around. “Why isn’t he here? Didn’t he charge out with us just now?”

“I’m asking you because I don’t know!”

“Ziyi?” I called over to Shura Ziyi. I seemed to recall she was with On-Time Big-Pot Rice earlier.

Shura Ziyi immediately ran over. “What’s wrong?”

“Have you seen Big-Pot Rice?”

“On-Time Big-Pot Rice? Didn’t he come out with you?” Shura Ziyi’s strange question caught me off guard.

“With me? I charged into the crowd to save Gold Coin and the others. Wasn’t Big-Pot Rice supposed to be with you guys blocking the gate?”

“No! I saw him follow you in on that Wild Boar of his!”

“What? Big-Pot Rice followed Purple Sun in?” Eagle nearly fainted when he heard that. “What was that idiot thinking, charging in there!”

“So, should we go back and save him?” Shura Ziyi asked.

While Eagle was considering it, I spoke up first. “No need. If he could have gotten out, he would have by now. If he couldn’t get out, then even if he wasn’t hacked to death, he was definitely trampled to death!” I was telling the truth. It wasn’t that I was heartless, but mainly because if Nightshadow hadn’t helped me back there, I probably would have been trampled to death myself. On-Time Big-Pot Rice’s Wild Boar was nowhere near as big as my Nightshadow, so I couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t be trampled!

“That’s true,” Eagle agreed with my point. It really wasn’t worth it for everyone to risk dying and losing another level for On-Time Big-Pot Rice. “Worst case, he loses another level. We’ll just help him level back up!”

After running for some distance, our combat status display finally switched back to normal mode. (In the game, whenever two parties fought, they would enter combat mode, during which things like Town Portal Scrolls couldn’t be used. If one party initiated the PK, the party being PK’ed could still use a Town Portal, but since we had charged their ranks, we were considered the attackers.) Everyone promptly took out a City of the Lost Town Portal Scroll (Bailing had prepared one for each of us beforehand) and teleported directly to the City of the Lost.

When we emerged from the teleportation point, we were surprised to find Purple Moon and Bingbing already standing there. Purple Moon was saying to Bingbing, “See? I told you they’d come back through the Teleportation Array! And you said they’d come through the city gate!”

Purple Moon walked over. “How’d it go?”

I looked around at our battered and bruised group and said, “Basically fine, although it looks pretty bad! We just lost someone!”

“Oh, Mom! I finally escaped!” Just as I was about to break the news of On-Time Big-Pot Rice’s disappearance, I saw him come rolling miserably out of the Teleportation Array, right to our feet.

“What happened to you?” I asked, looking at him. “We were about to turn back and look for you, you know?”

On-Time Big-Pot Rice quickly scrambled to his feet. It was only then that I saw a huge boot print on his face, covering almost half of it. “It wasn’t easy for me, either!”

Eagle came closer. “Ziyi said you charged into the city. Where were you?”

“Don’t even mention it! I had the worst luck. There were too many people on the bridge, so I got stuck in the crowd before I could even charge in. Then I saw Purple Sun go hopping past me on his mount. I was about to call out for him to save me, but then he landed right next to me and knocked me and a bunch of other people into the moat!”

Chapter 33: The Plan

“How are you so unlucky! Hahahaha!” Everyone burst out laughing.

But to our surprise, On-Time Big-Pot Rice also started laughing heartily. It made us think the shock had been too much for him, and that our teasing on top of it had broken his spirit.

Shura Ziyi nudged Big-Pot Rice, embarrassed. “Are you okay? We weren’t really laughing at you, honestly!”

She looked at us, and we all nodded frantically until our heads spun. “See? We all mean well. We’re definitely not laughing at you!”

On-Time Big-Pot Rice suddenly flashed a V-sign at me. “Thank you for knocking me off the bridge so I could experience such bliss!”

“Did he hit his head when he fell?” Eagle stared at Big-Pot Rice, completely baffled by his behavior.

Yu Zhe looked at the footprints all over Big-Pot Rice’s body and said, “Maybe he was trampled into a stupor!”

Ruthless suddenly noticed something odd. “Didn’t you fall into the river? Why are you covered in footprints? You’re not even a little wet!”

“That’s right! Didn’t you fall in the river?” Only then did everyone realize something was definitely off with Big-Pot Rice. Why was he so happy after falling into the river, and how did he not get a single drop of water on him?

Hearing our questions, Big-Pot Rice finally looked down at himself. “Water? Where would I find water? Brother Purple Sun, I admire you so much! My admiration for you is like a surging river, endless and magnificent!”

“What did I do?” His words were making my skin crawl.

“You don’t know! You and your Spirit Herald Knights pushed so many people into the moat, and since the moat wasn’t deep to begin with, the entire area under the bridge was packed with people! When I fell, there were so many girls down there! I even landed right on top of one! That feeling… sob… I was so moved!” He actually started crying with emotion. It was just a few girls, was it really that exciting?

Eagle cut off Big-Pot Rice’s emotional tirade. “Alright, let’s get serious. Purple Moon, where’s the Magic Crystal Cannon?”

“I left it in the central plaza. Skyfire’s watching it! But I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. This City of the Lost is like a ghost town, not a soul in sight.”

“This place is actually pretty nice. No people is even better.” I led the way toward the central plaza, chatting with them as we walked. “I’m practically the lord of this city. I can use anything I want! It feels amazing! By the way, Eagle, do you still have the money from when I sold the magical pets?”

“I do. I’ve been carrying it. It doesn’t drop on death, and putting it in the bank is a hassle. Do you need it now?”

“Yes, trade it all to me. I need to pay someone back!”

“Pay someone back?” Purple Moon looked at me, puzzled. “You owe someone money?”

“It’s an NPC here. My armor needed repairs once, but I didn’t have enough money at the time. The NPC spotted me the cash, and I never had the money to pay him back. Now that I do, I should pay him back as soon as possible!”

“An NPC can spot you money?” Almost everyone, except for Rose and Ah Wei, was slack-jawed.

“What’s wrong with that?” I curiously patted Eagle. “Give me the money. You guys head to the central plaza first, I’ll be right there.”

“Clark?” I burst into Clark’s shop, but there wasn’t a soul inside. That guy, nine times out of ten, he’s never here. He must have run off to the clothing store again! A classic pervert! I dashed all the way to the clothing store, and sure enough, Clark was there. “Why are you always wandering around instead of staying in your own shop? Here, this is the one hundred and fifty thousand Crystal Coins I owe you.”

Clark took the Crystal Coins. “How did you suddenly get rich?”

“I sold some things and made a bit of money. Oh, right! Do you know how to use a cannon?”

“A cannon? You don’t mean a Magic Crystal Cannon, do you?”

“Yes, a Magic Crystal Cannon. We stole one, but we have no idea how to use it! And we’re not sure about the best way to use it, either!” As a former Demon Army Commander, Clark was the perfect person to ask about this.

Clark thought for a moment. “Where is your cannon? I need to take a look at it. My troops used both mobile cannons and fixed batteries, and their designs are different. I need to see it to know how to use it!”

“Then come with me!” I walked around Clark and called out to the shopkeeper inside, “Sister-in-law, I’m borrowing Big Bro for a bit!”

“Go on!” The shopkeeper actually blushed!

Clark followed me to the central plaza, where Eagle and the others were already waiting. Seeing Clark walking behind me, Eagle was so startled he immediately drew his longsword. “Purple Sun, watch out! There’s a Shadow Warrior behind you!”

I didn’t even turn my head. “It’s fine, he’s a friend!” Clark and I walked straight to the cannon. Clark seemed to have no interest in anyone besides me and Bingbing. It looked like Eagle and the others hadn’t invested much in their Charisma stat!

Clark looked at the cannon, which was over two meters tall, then climbed up and fiddled with it for a moment. “Pretty good. This is a top-tier, fortress-grade Magic Crystal Cannon! The City of the Lost has plenty of these!”

“The City of the Lost has Magic Crystal Cannons like this?” I didn’t think I’d ever seen one!

“Yes, in the moat. When the Eye of Hell opens completely, they will rise from the water and attack any approaching enemies. You can’t see them now! You stole this one from Cloudtop City, didn’t you?”

“Huh?” I jumped in surprise. “How did you know?”

Clark pulled out a massive purple crystal the size of a human head from underneath the cannon. “The Magic Power Crystal still has Cloudtop City’s emblem on it. Look!” We all crowded around to look. Sure enough, there was a strange symbol on it. Although we couldn’t understand what it meant, it definitely looked like some kind of mark.

“This crystal is the Magic Crystal Cannon’s power source, so be careful. Each time you fire it, the crystal will get a little paler. When it turns completely white, it’s useless!” Clark jumped down and said to me, “When this crystal is used up, don’t throw it away. Sell it back to me, I’ll recycle it!”

“What do you want this for?”

“This stuff is excellent material for forging high-level armor. What do you think I want it for? Also, this cannon can’t be fired continuously. You need to wait at least thirty seconds between shots. If you fire it too rapidly, it’ll self-destruct very quickly!”

“Oh! Got it!” I hadn’t expected it to be so finicky. “So, where can I get a replacement for this purple crystal when it’s used up?”

“That I don’t know. I think you could try asking Domingle. That kid will definitely have a way!”

“Okay. Um, how do you operate it?”

“Here!” Clark pointed to a handle-like thing on the cannon’s base. “Pull it back. One pull, one shot. It will automatically return to its position after firing.”

“Thanks a lot!”

“Don’t thank me. Just help me gather more materials. You’d better be diligent about collecting the items on that list I gave you last time!”

“Alright, alright! I won’t forget!”

After seeing Clark off, Eagle ran up and asked me, “Is that guy really an NPC? He feels different from the others.”

“The NPCs in this city are all different. Just be polite to them and you’ll be fine! Okay, what now? What do we do with this cannon? We can’t just leave it sitting here, can we? The National War is still a long way off!”

“I know a place where we can use it!” Ruthless suddenly stepped forward. “Since it’s for resisting Japan anyway, why not use it for naval battles first?”

“Naval battles?” Eagle glanced at Ruthless, then at me. “What are naval battles?”

Seeing that no one knew, Ruthless began to explain slowly. “Purple Sun, didn’t you go to Land’s End last time?”

“Yeah! That’s right, that’s where I ran into you!”

“You left in too much of a hurry last time. Land’s End is actually a port city.”

“A port city? Does that mean there are a lot of ships?” Passerby A asked excitedly. “My dream was always to be a sailor! If there are ships here, I can finally live my dream!”

Bailing also asked excitedly, “Is there a seaside resort? I’d love to go on a vacation!”

Ruthless smiled. “There are, but there’s one thing I’m sure you don’t know about!”

“What?” This question came from everyone at once.

“Japanese pirates!”

“The Japanese?” A palpable wave of shock went through the group.

“That’s right, the Japanese!”

“Hasn’t the National War started yet?”

“The National War hasn’t, but don’t you know the world is connected? In this game’s world, all the countries exist in the same environment. We’re actually connected to Japan, just separated by a large sea! China is also connected to its neighboring countries, but the borders are blocked by mountains. This means you can actually go to any country, you just have to pass through a specific region. The game company created artificial barriers between nations. It’s said that when the National War begins, various channels connecting the countries will appear, and then the real war can start. Right now, while a full-scale war isn’t possible, small teams of thirty to fifty people can still cross the borderlines! The border between China and Japan is a sea, so you can cross it by ship.”

“Doesn’t that mean the Japanese can transport all their people over by ship?” Purple Moon was a typical Chinese nationalist extremist. She got agitated whenever the Japanese were involved.

“Theoretically, yes, but for some reason they haven’t. However, they do frequently organize players to come over and rob and slaughter our players along the coast.”

“What?” Purple Moon’s eyes turned red. I was genuinely afraid she would charge off to seek revenge against the Japanese pirates right then and there! “So what are the Chinese players doing? Just letting them kill us?”

“Chinese players have patrol teams organized by various guilds, leveling up by the sea while keeping an eye on the water. And it’s said that many guilds in the coastal regions have their own warships. But the Japanese pirates appear at irregular times and places, and we can’t watch the sea twenty-four hours a day, so they often slip through the cracks!”

“I’m furious! I can’t take it anymore!” Purple Moon looked like a bull flaring its nostrils, a terrifying sight.

“Calm down! Calm down!” A group of us rushed to cool her down. If this continued, there was no telling what she might do! The girl’s audacity was terrifying! Just think, she even dared to steal a Magic Crystal Cannon; what wouldn’t she dare to do?

I quickly changed the subject. “You said the Magic Crystal Cannon could be put to use. What for, exactly?”

“Think about it. When the Japanese pirates come, they have to take ships. What if we sink their ships?”

“Great idea!” Purple Moon jumped up again. Eagle and I together couldn’t hold her down. “Let’s go, let’s move this cannon to the coast!”

“Wait a minute!” Bailing stopped everyone. “China has a coastline of over twenty-six thousand kilometers. This one cannon won’t do much, will it?”

“Well…” Everyone fell silent. Our motherland, while beautiful, was indeed a bit too large. How were we supposed to defend such a long coastline!

“Didn’t Ruthless say some guilds have warships? How about we build a ship of our own?” On-Time Big-Pot Rice offered a very insightful suggestion. “Putting it on a turret can only intercept enemies in a small area, but a warship would solve the problem!”

“Right, right, right! Let’s do that! Quickly, quickly!” Purple Moon’s third rampage of the day had begun! “Skyfire, take off!”

Urged on by Purple Moon, our group practically stumbled our way to Floodflow City, one of China’s largest port cities. The reason we didn’t go to Land’s End was mainly because it was a small city incapable of building large ships, and our Magic Crystal Cannon was clearly not suited for some small sampan! By the time we arrived in Floodflow City, it was already night. After our repeated persuasions, Purple Moon finally agreed to let us log off and rest, putting the plan on hold until the next day.

The next morning, after entering the city, we headed straight for the port district. The sight was truly magnificent! The massive port, over ten kilometers wide, was filled with ships of all sizes. Aside from a few fast ships that were clearly built for combat, the majority were fishing boats.

The largest sailing ship caught everyone’s attention. Many people were busily working on the enormous wooden vessel; I couldn’t tell which were players and which were NPCs! A huge triangular sail hung from the giant mainmast, which was over ten meters tall. At the very top of the mast was a small flag. Actually, the flag probably wasn’t small; it just looked that way because the mast was so high. A sun was drawn on the flag, much like Japan’s Rising Sun flag, but next to the sun was a shark, its bloody maw wide open as if to swallow it.

As we stood there stunned, a strange voice suddenly spoke from beside us. “The Sea’s Might is Floodflow City’s largest warship. Over the past two months, we’ve relied on her to sink seven of the Japanese pirates’ cursed ships.”

I turned to look at the person behind me. He was about 1.78 meters tall, wearing what should have been a fine set of black battle armor, but it was severely rusted. He had a very ordinary, common face, which, paired with a pair of dignified, thick eyebrows, actually made him look quite dashing.

Seeing that I had noticed him, the man politely extended a hand. “Hello, my name is Dashing King, president of the Anti-Japanese Alliance.”

“Hello! I’m Purple Sun!” I politely shook his hand. “This belongs to your guild?”

“Yes! This is a large oar-sailed ship our guild members collectively donated to have custom-built. It cost us five hundred thousand Crystal Coins back then! But considering how many Japanese warships she’s sunk, she was worth every coin! Are you interested in joining us, miss? Our gui…? Miss?”

I’d already collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth. Another one who got it wrong! My pride is wounded! Purple Moon took my place, shaking Dashing King’s hand, which was frozen in mid-air. “The Anti-Japanese Alliance, is it? A good name! China needs talent like you!”

Dashing King had clearly only seen me and not Purple Moon. He was so surprised that he couldn’t react for a moment. He pointed at Purple Moon, then at me, then back at Purple Moon. Finally, after taking a deep breath, he said to Purple Moon, “Your older sister?”

Purple Moon didn’t answer him, instead asking directly, “Where did you get this ship commissioned?”

“You want to order one too, miss? These things are very expensive!”

“Just tell me where I can get one!” Purple Moon’s mind was now completely focused on building a ship to fight the Japanese pirates.

“Then follow me, miss!” Dashing King led the way, not forgetting to chat with us. “What’s your name, miss?”

“Purple Moon.”

“Purple Moon, Purple Sun? You really are sisters! No wonder you look so much alike!” Purple Moon just looked back at me and smiled, not bothering to explain. I had just managed to get up, only to faint again!

We followed Dashing King for a long time before reaching the edge of the port. There was a huge berth here, but it was clearly separate from the others, and it even had a roof! “We’re here. This is the shipyard. Just find the NPC inside to order a ship.”

Just as he was about to lead us in, a person ran in from outside. Seeing Dashing King, the person hurried over. “Finally found you! Quick! The Japanese are here again, the Sea’s Might is about to set sail.”

“They’re here again? Good, let’s show them what we’re made of! Let’s go!” Dashing King started to run off, then suddenly turned back. “We’ll be back after we take care of those little Japanese thieves. We can talk then.” With that, he ran off.

“What an interesting person!” Eagle looked at me. “Come on, let’s go order our own ship. We can be pirate-hunters too in the future!”

“Yes, yes!” Purple Moon was fired up again, dragging me inside. “Hurry up, older sister!” That girl was deliberately trying to annoy me!

We ran into the shipyard and saw many people bustling about. The keel of a medium-sized ship was laid out, and many people were fitting planks onto it, apparently a new order for the shipyard. I grabbed a person running by and asked who we should see about ordering a ship. The person told us to find the designer in the small room inside.

Our group immediately ran to the dilapidated house in the corner of the shipyard. Pushing the door open, we saw an old man drawing something on a piece of paper. Seeing us enter, the old man put down his pen. He was dressed in light blue cloth robes with a large apron tied around his chest, looking just like a carpenter, the only difference being that he wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. “Are you here to order a ship?”

“Yes! We need a special kind of ship!” I quickly spoke up. I had the highest Charisma here, so it was more convenient for me to talk to NPCs.

“Then come over here!” The old man walked over and opened another door in the room; I hadn’t expected a back door. Following the old man out of this door, the first thing that caught our eye was a row of giant ship keels. The old man pointed to the smallest one. “These are keel models. The size of the ship is determined by the keel. This smallest one is the keel for an ordinary fishing boat. If you want to hunt whales or sea monsters, you’ll need these larger keels over here.”

“Please wait a moment!” I interrupted the old man’s introduction. “We need a warship!”

“A warship! You should have said so earlier!” The old man continued forward, bypassing the row of keels. Behind them were even more keels, but it was obvious that not only were these much larger, but their frames were also more densely packed. It seemed warships were much sturdier than ordinary ships! “These are warship keels. The equipment can be decided later, but the keel determines how big a ship will be, so it must be decided first. Have you taken a good look? See any that you like?”

“Do you have anything bigger? To be honest, we have something very large that we need to install on this ship. Do you have any larger keels? We need an extra-large ship, the bigger the better!” The largest keel here was only about fifty-odd meters long. A finished ship would probably only be slightly larger than the Sea’s Might outside. But our Magic Crystal Cannon would clearly be unsuitable for a ship this size. Seeing the recoil when Tank fired the cannon, a ship like this would probably sink itself from the recoil of a single shot!

The old man looked at us and thought for a moment. “I do have one treasure, but…?”

An opening! I quickly stepped forward and showered him with praise, using almost every complimentary adjective I knew! The old man finally said, “Seeing as you’re such a smart young man who respects his elders, I’ll tell you! I actually have a gigantic keel.” At this, he suddenly looked around cautiously and then leaned in to whisper in my ear. “It is the remains of an ancient giant beast left after its death. Its rib cage is perfectly suited to be a ship’s keel. But because it was originally a demonic beast, even though it’s been dead for a thousand years, it still overflows with a demonic aura! If you use that as the keel, not only can your ship be built to an immense size, but its durability will also far surpass any ship today. But…?” The old man stopped right at the critical part!

Chapter 34: The Bones of a Demon Beast

“But what?” I was itching with curiosity. This Old Man really knew how to keep someone in suspense!

“But, the skeleton is too big. We can’t transport it!”

“It’s not here?” Purple Moon stepped forward and asked anxiously.

The old man answered slowly. “It’s in the mountain behind this one. You’ll need to haul it over here yourselves. Besides, a bunch of monsters showed up in that cave recently. They’re guarding the entrance, so even I can’t get in! If you’re willing to help me drive those monsters away and bring the skeleton here, I’ll build you an extra-large warship! And I won’t charge you for the Keel.”

“Deal!” I immediately started to rush toward the back mountain with everyone, but the Old Man called us to a halt.

“What’s your hurry? I’m not finished! That demon beast’s skeleton still has Demonic Aura clinging to it, which makes it extremely dangerous. You have to use this to purify the Demonic Aura before you can touch the bones!” As he spoke, the Old Man pulled out a crystal bottle from behind his back. “This is Holy Water; it can purify Demonic Aura. Just sprinkle a little on the skeleton and you’ll be fine!”

“Got it!” Purple Moon snatched the bottle and took the lead, running out.

The so-called back mountain was actually just a small hill, about the size of a public square. It took us half an hour to cross it, and sure enough, there was a large cave. But besides some weeds, there was nothing at the huge cave entrance.

“Didn’t he say there were monsters?” Gold Coin looked around but couldn’t find anything.

“They might be inside the cave!” I reminded everyone to be careful. Just in case, I drew my weapon and held it ready. Seeing my caution, everyone else took out their weapons and prepared for battle.

We carefully entered the cave mouth, which led down a single passage. After no more than ten meters, we came upon a massive stone chamber. A ring of blue magic lamps on the chamber walls lit the cave brightly. The enormous skeleton of some unknown monster lay peacefully in the depths of the cave.

Judging from the skeleton, the creature must have been at least three hundred meters long in life. Even a fully grown Lucky would be a dwarf to a giant next to this. The skeleton was currently coiled up inside the mountain cave. Its rib cage alone looked to be fifty meters long. By that proportion, the ship we built could also be fifty meters long—a length I believed would be more than enough to fit several Magic Crystal Cannons.

“Who is it that disturbs my peace!” An ancient voice suddenly rang out, making us jump. It wasn’t that we were cowards; the voice had just appeared too abruptly!

Purple Moon looked around but saw nothing, so she called out to the empty air, “Who are you?”

“I am the Divine Beast, Biling!”

“Where are you?”

“Am I not right in front of you?”

“In front of me? Why can’t I see you?”

“You cannot see me, with my great size? Little girl, you jest!”

“Are you this pile of bones?” I finally figured it out and asked on Purple Moon’s behalf.

“Of course!”

“Aren’t you dead?”

“I am a Divine Beast. How could I die?”

“But you’ve turned into bones!” Bingbing’s sudden comment seemed to stun the self-proclaimed Divine Beast for a moment.

“My body was too gravely wounded, so I abandoned it!”

“Then why haven’t you disappeared?”

“I cannot accept it!” The voice suddenly grew agitated. “I want revenge! I am filled with hatred! I cannot accept this! It shouldn’t have ended this way!” The voice grew more frantic, and the entire cave began to shake. Countless bits of rock fell from above, sending us scrambling! It seemed the monster the Old Man mentioned was the soul of this Biling!

“Calm down! Calm down!” I quickly tried to soothe it. If it kept this up, we’d be buried alive with it! “Tell us who harmed you. Perhaps we’ll have a chance to help you get revenge!” The moment the words left my mouth, I felt I’d misspoken. This thing was so powerful even in death; whatever killed it must be even more terrifying! Could we really handle a monster like that?

“The one who injured me was the Nine-Headed Serpent from the land of the Japanese pirates. It is said to be one of their deities!”

“The land of the Japanese pirates? Isn’t that just Japan?” Purple Moon exclaimed.

“So you were killed by Japan’s Nine-Headed Serpent! Is that thing very powerful?”

“Hmph! What is it to me? Do you know of the Four Holy Beasts of China?”

“We do! The Vermilion Bird, the Black Tortoise, the White Tiger, and the Azure Dragon, right?”

“The Azure Dragon of the East and the Vermilion Bird of the South are my disciples! Back then, the Nine-Headed Serpent was no match for even them. Unfortunately, I fell for their trap and was ambushed by the Japanese and the Nine-Headed Serpent. Though I fought my way out, my injuries were too severe to heal, and I ended up as a pile of white bones here! But I cannot accept it!”

Hearing it start to get agitated again, I quickly cut in. “I’ve heard of that Japanese Nine-Headed Serpent, but doesn’t that thing only have eight heads?”

“That creature did indeed have nine heads originally, but I ate one, so now it only has eight left!”

“No wonder!” Purple Moon said with a laugh. “I always thought the Japanese couldn’t count straight, insisting on calling an eight-headed creature a nine-headed serpent!”

I struck while the iron was hot. “Lord Divine Beast, we are currently engaged in a naval war with the Japanese to resist their invasion of China. We need a keel to build a ship, so we were hoping to borrow your remains to construct a warship to fight back against the Japanese attacks!”

“If you wish to strike at those Japanese pirate scoundrels, then take them. This pile of bones is of no use to me anymore!” A Divine Beast indeed, and a very generous one at that!

“But what about your soul?”

“It’s no matter. When you build the ship, just don’t dismantle my skeleton. Build the ship around it as it is. That way, I can continue to guard my remains and, incidentally, help you protect the ship you create!”

“Thank you so much, then! In that case, we’ll start moving it!”

I summoned Lucky, Rose Vine, Little Dragon Girl, and Xiao Feng to help move the skeleton. Tank couldn’t be summoned yet as he was on cooldown. Purple Moon’s two Titan Giants and Skyfire also came out to help. Along with Passerby A’s Xiaoqiang, we just barely managed to move the massive skeleton.

After a great deal of effort, we finally got the skeleton to the Shipyard. It was already afternoon; we had spent the entire morning dragging and pulling the Divine Beast’s remains over. When the Old Man saw us return, he was so happy he circled the skeleton several times.

“Excellent, excellent! The skeleton of Biling truly lives up to its reputation!”

“Alright, alright! Hurry up and build our ship!”

“Yes, yes, of course! So, shall we discuss the requirements and the price?” The Old Man was back to business. “Tell me what you require, and I will give you a price based on the final specifications.”

I looked at the Old Man, a bit troubled. “To be honest, this is our first time building a ship, so we don’t really know what we should be paying attention to. Could you help us out?”

“Not a problem!” The Old Man took out a small booklet and handed it to me. “This is the ordering guide. Just follow the instructions!”

Wow, they even had something like this! I held up the booklet and read it aloud so everyone could hear. “Ordering Guide, item one. First, specify the ship’s keel. Different keels can be selected based on the ship’s size and purpose.” I glanced at Eagle. “Looks like we can skip this part!”

I flipped through a few pages to find the second item and began to read. “Once the keel is selected, the next step is to decide on the materials. The following materials are generally available.” I skimmed through, skipping over the obviously useless, trashy materials and went straight to the strongest ones. “There are a few here that I think look good. You all can choose. Oilwood: average protection, but its advantage is being lightweight, which can increase the ship’s effective carrying capacity. The disadvantage is that it’s flammable! Ironwood: very high protection, and not easily flammable, but it’s extremely heavy. Crimson Sun Wood: average protection, average weight, but has a certain resistance to magic and will not catch fire! And the last one is Crystal Wood. It has many advantages. Exceptionally sturdy, super-high defense, average weight, great magic resistance, and it’s fireproof. But the price is several times that of the other three! Alright, which one do you want?”

“If we’re talking about what we want, of course it’s the last one, Crystal Wood, but that price…!” Purple Moon was a little hesitant.

Rose said simply, “How much money do we have left?”

“I have one million Crystal Coins on me,” I answered after checking.

Eagle also took a look. “I have five hundred fifty thousand Crystal Coins here. It’s what everyone pitched in!”

“So that’s one million, five hundred fifty thousand!” Rose then asked the Old Man, “Based on this keel, how much would it cost for us to use all Crystal Wood?”

The Old Man glanced at it and said, “You brought the keel yourselves, so it’s a gift. We won’t charge for it. Based on the volume of this rib cage, five hundred thousand Crystal Coins should be about right!”

I quickly added, “Biling told us not to break up its bones!”

“Can’t be dismantled?” The Old Man looked at it. “It’s possible not to, but once it’s built, the warship will be over three hundred meters long! And the material cost won’t be five hundred thousand, but more like six hundred thousand Crystal Coins!”

Rose continued, “How much do you charge for labor?”

“That depends on how you arrange the cabins. Complex layouts are more expensive, simple ones are cheaper. But even for the most complex design, I think five hundred thousand Crystal Coins should be about right!”

Rose did a quick calculation and said, “Based on this rough estimate, we should have enough for Crystal Wood. Since we’re building a ship, we should build a good one. Otherwise, it would be a disservice to Biling for contributing its own skeleton!”

Purple Moon immediately said, “Right, Rose is right! I have fifty thousand Crystal Coins here, count them in too!”

I said, “Then it’s decided, we’ll use Crystal Wood. The next item is… found it! Deciding on cabin arrangements. First, do we need rest quarters and supply warehouses? For long voyages, we’ll need supply holds and crew quarters, otherwise players might die during the journey! Do we want them?”

Purple Moon jumped up and said, “Of course we do! After we beat the Japanese pirates, we’re going to Japan!”

“Right, then let’s design a supply warehouse and rest quarters!”

The Old Man asked, “How many sailors will you need? We need to know the number of sailors to determine the number of rest quarters and supply warehouses. One rest quarter can accommodate twenty people, and one supply warehouse can sustain one hundred people for ten days.”

“Let’s put a pin in that for now! Let’s look at the next item!” Eagle also felt this was hard to calculate at the moment.

I started reading the next part. “Next is the oar room. Oar rooms are symmetrical, appearing in pairs on the left and right sides. Each oar room has one long oar and requires four sailors. The maximum number of oar room decks is determined by the ship’s freeboard, and the maximum number of oar rooms per row is determined by the ship’s length.”

Rose asked the Old Man, “How high will our ship’s freeboard be?”

“About eight to almost nine meters high, which is basically five decks’ worth of cabin height. But you’ll need to plan well. If you have too many oar rooms, there won’t be any space for gunports!”

“Then what’s the maximum number of oar rooms we can have in one row?”

“Based on this keel, one hundred twenty-five should be no problem!”

Rose did a simple calculation. “Three decks of oars, one hundred twenty-five per deck! That’s a total of seven hundred fifty oar rooms on both sides, requiring three thousand sailors!”

I continued reading. “Placement of gunports. Gunports use the same locations as oar rooms, but they can also be placed on the top open-air deck. Additionally, a forward-firing gun room can be installed at the bow.” I looked at the Old Man. “Can you modify the forward-firing gun room into a rotating platform? We want to mount the Magic Crystal Cannon on it!”

“I can!”

“Then for the remaining side cabins, how many gunports can we fit? Fill them all up!”

“The gunports use small gunpowder cannons. Their power can’t compare to your Magic Crystal Cannon! Your ship still has two decks of windows plus a row on the top deck, for a total of three decks of space. Each deck can fit one hundred gunports. Each gunport has one cannon and requires three sailors to operate. You’ll need six hundred cannons and one thousand eight hundred sailors in total.”

“Next is deciding on the masts. Do we choose one, three, or five?”

Gold Coin said, “A ship this big needs five, of course!”

“Five it is, then. Next is installing the sails. What type of sails? There are three options. One is the square sail, fast with a tailwind, but not very good at utilizing crosswinds! One is the triangular sail, average speed with a tailwind, but can utilize crosswinds. The last option is to install both square sails and triangular lateen sails. This ensures sufficient power in both crosswinds and tailwinds, but it’s more expensive!”

“That’s a no-brainer. The composite sails, of course!” Purple Moon decided.

Eagle nodded as well, so I said, “Composite sails it is. Next is the rudder. We need to decide on the rudder’s position and quantity. I don’t know much about this. Old Sir, could you give us some advice?”

“The rudder is naturally best installed at the stern, but your ship is quite large, so I suggest you use multiple rudders. Two at the bow, three at the stern. This will make it easier to control.”

“Alright, we’ll do as you say!” I continued reading. “For the bow, should we install a ramming prow or a figurehead?”

“With so many cannons, we probably won’t be using a ramming prow much. Let’s go with a figurehead,” Eagle analyzed.

“A figurehead then. Also, do we want external armor plating? The options are iron plating, Magic Silver Armor, and Crystal Wood Armor.”

“Let’s use the Magic Silver! It’s rust-proof and can resist magic attacks!” Bailing leaned over to look at the description and said.

“Alright, that’s everything decided. Could you please help us arrange the rest quarters and warehouses? And then calculate the final price!”

The Old Man came over holding a large roll of paper. “You have a total of three thousand rowers, one thousand eight hundred gunners, three hundred sail handlers, and two hundred service crew. That’s a total of five thousand three hundred people. You’ll need two hundred sixty-five rest quarters. Assuming a one-month voyage, you’ll need one hundred fifty-nine warehouses. At this rate, your ship will still have a lot of empty space!”

I made a rough estimate and said, “In that case, help us arrange for four hundred rest quarters, build forty two-person rooms, and turn all the remaining space into warehouses!”

“Alright, I’ll calculate how many can be designed and figure out the price for you right away. Oh! How should the captain’s quarters, chart room, and other essential cabins be arranged?”

“You can decide on those! Just install everything to the highest specifications!”

“Okay, I understand!”

Since the Old Man’s calculations took a long time and he still needed people to take actual measurements of the ship, it looked like he wouldn’t be done anytime soon. We were bored, so we went to the harbor to enjoy the view. Unexpectedly, we saw the ship commanded by that person named Dashing King, whom we had met this morning, returning!

From a distance, we could see The Sea’s Might listing to one side, billowing thick smoke as it drifted toward the port. I say drifted because it only had half a burning mast and a few scattered oars left! We all ran to the pier where it was about to dock, waiting to ask about the situation.

As The Sea’s Might drew closer, we got a clear look at her. Her severely listing hull was riddled with holes of all sizes. Countless sailors were running around busily on deck. I saw Dashing King directing people to put out the fire; his main mast was almost completely burned away!

Under everyone’s astonished gazes, The Sea’s Might slammed head-on into the pier’s buffer ropes. The long ropes slowly brought the warship to a halt. Countless people on the pier also began to help extinguish the fire. A large group of NPCs from the Shipyard rushed over, carrying ladders, hammers, lumber, and other materials. It looked like The Sea’s Might needed a complete overhaul!

I couldn’t just stand by and watch. After all, they’d ended up like this fighting the Japanese pirates. As Chinese, it was our duty to help! But we didn’t know how to repair a ship; putting out a fire, however, was something we could consider. I summoned Little Dragon Girl to help. “Little Dragon Girl, can you control water?”

“I am a dragon. Controlling water is an instinct!”

“Good, then help me put out the fire on that ship!”

“Yes!” Little Dragon Girl dove headfirst into the sea. Only now did I truly understand the meaning of ‘a dragon entering the sea.’ After hitting the water, Little Dragon Girl was like a completely different person. In an instant, the sky filled with dark clouds, and a small, concentrated downpour lasted for just thirty seconds, completely extinguishing the massive fire before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared! After putting out the fire, Little Dragon Girl even began to play excitedly in the sea, appearing and disappearing on the surface. I was now absolutely convinced that dragon palaces were built at the bottom of the ocean. I had never seen a creature that loved water so much!

After the fire was out, Dashing King came down from the ship. Seeing our group, he immediately walked over. “How’s it going? Is your ship built yet?”

“How could it be that fast? We’re building a warship!” Gold Coin mumbled.

“A warship? Are you guys going to fight the Japanese pirates too?” Dashing King wiped his soot-blackened face with his hand, which only managed to make half his face black, making his teeth look particularly white!

I looked at the battered Sea’s Might and said in a low voice, “Is it always this brutal every time you fight?” The loss rate was just too high! I never thought fighting the Japanese would be so fierce!

Dashing King gave a helpless smile. “Not every time. We were unlucky today and ran into a large fleet! A full seven warships ganged up on our one! We sank one, heavily damaged another, and then ran for it!”

Purple Moon asked excitedly, “Aren’t there ships from other guilds participating in the fight?”

“There are, but not many, and their warships are too small to engage in cannon battles with the Japanese ocean-going warships! The price of a warship is too high; not everyone can afford one!”

“That’s true!” Everyone fell silent. It was a fact that the Chinese people weren’t as wealthy as the Japanese. There was nothing to be done about it! Although our total assets were greater than Japan’s, once it was divided among individuals, we were done for!

“Repairing your ship this time must cost a lot of money, right?” Purple Moon asked.

“It’s alright. We earned quite a bit from fighting pirates the last few times, and the experience points are pretty high, so it’s still manageable!”

“What? Experience points? Are the Japanese monsters?”

Dashing King quickly explained. “No! The other side are players too, but when players from different countries kill each other, it counts for experience. And killing the Japanese gives a lot of experience because a player’s EXP value is calculated based on the highest-yield monster of the same level. So killing the Japanese is faster for leveling up than killing monsters. Most importantly, every time a ship is sunk, everyone on board dies!”

“No wonder!” Bailing sighed. “I was wondering why you guys were so motivated! Turns out you’re reaping the rewards of both glory and gain!”

“Hahahaha!” Dashing King’s laugh was so awkward it made the rest of us feel awkward too!

Chapter 35: The Sky-High Warship

“You’re here too?” the Old Man’s voice came from behind us.

“What is it? Are the calculations for our ship complete?”

“They are!” The Old Man held a ledger in his hand. “I’ve run the numbers. This vessel will be equipped with 750 oar rooms, 600 gunnery rooms, 400 rest cabins, 40 two-person rooms, one large chart room, one combat command center, 16 damage control rooms, and 8 modification bays. Let me explain a bit. Since you had so much leftover space, to save on materials, I combined the adjacent holds into eight large cargo holds. I also added a temporary brig that can hold five hundred people, which will be convenient for taking prisoners! And one of each of the following: an infirmary, a kitchen, a mess hall, an armory, a vault, and a backup combat command center. The sails will be composite sails, with five mainmasts, for a total of twenty-five mainsails and forty-five auxiliary sails. Since the keel can’t be demolished, I installed a mid-mounted ramming prow for you. It can ram enemy ships without getting in the way of you mounting a figurehead. I also designed three rotatable platforms on the bow, which will be convenient for you to install those Magic Crystal Cannons. I’ve prepared two rotatable platforms on the stern as well, so you can decide where you want to mount the cannons later! Finally, I’ve calculated the price for you. It comes to a total of 2.2 million Crystal Coins. Seeing as you’re allowing me to complete such an outstanding piece of work, I’ll give you a discount. 2.2 million will do!”

“2.2 million Crystal Coins?” all of us exclaimed almost in unison.

Rose began to calculate. “Purple Sun has one million, Eagle has 550,000, and Purple Moon is donating another 50,000, for a total of 1.6 million. We’re still short 600,000!”

“It really is a sky-high price. Now I understand why other guilds can’t build big ships!” Gold Coin lamented.

“Just how big of a ship are you building?” Dashing King asked in astonishment upon hearing our ship’s price. “My The Sea’s Might is already huge, and it only cost a bit over 500,000. Your ship costs 2.2 million! One ship costs almost as much as an entire fleet!”

I said very seriously, “An army’s value is in its quality, not its quantity. The combat power of one ship built with the money for a fleet will definitely surpass that of an entire fleet!”

“I don’t disagree with that!” Dashing King nodded. “But you don’t have enough money, do you?”

“That is a bit of a problem!” I nodded helplessly. “We’re short 600,000!”

“I guessed you wouldn’t have enough. It took us a long time to save up that 500,000! By the way, is your 2.2 million the ship price or the total price?”

“Ship price? Total price?” We turned to look at the Old Man, awaiting his answer.

The Old Man looked at us and said, “This is the ship price. The materials and labor fees already add up to this much. You’ll have to figure out everything else on your own! It’s not like I can pay for it out of my own pocket!”

“You mean there are other expenses besides building the ship?” we asked, staring at the Old Man.

“Of course! All I’m building is the ship itself!” The Old Man started counting on his fingers for us. “If your ship is to set sail, you’ll need sailors! You have to hire them from the Sailors’ Association, and different sailors cost different prices! The ones for the oar rooms seem to be cheaper, gunners are a bit more expensive, and then you have doctors, cooks, and the like. Of course, you can also hire players! Also, if you want to fight, you need to hire combat sailors, such as NPC archers for ranged attacks and melee sailors for close-quarters combat. In short, all of these cost money. And the cannons for the ship have to be purchased from a blacksmith that specializes in selling siege weaponry. Different types of cannons have different firepower and prices. Oh, and don’t forget the gunpowder! Cannons without gunpowder and cannonballs are just a pile of scrap iron! Also, you need to buy a figurehead. That’s a magical item, you have to buy it from a Mage Association. Different Mage Associations sell different kinds, so you’d better shop around and choose carefully before buying. They’re not cheap, and there are no refunds! Right, you also have to buy food. Although you players don’t have a hunger meter, the NPC sailors need to eat on time. Once their hunger is full, they’ll mutiny, and that will be difficult to handle!”

“Is there anything else?” I was about to faint. At this rate, the final cost would likely be no less than three million!

“That’s about it for now!”

“Umm…!” Rose paused for a moment before asking, “We don’t have enough funds. Can we pay in installments?”

The moment he heard about a delay in payment, the Old Man’s expression changed. “No way. Let me tell you, construction has already begun. The money will be deducted directly from you. You must gather the outstanding amount before it’s finished, or I’ll sell it to someone else!”

“Then how long will it take to build?”

The Old Man held up one finger. “One month? That’s fine, we should have enough time,” I said with a nod.

The Old Man shook his head.

I asked in surprise, “It’s not one year, is it? By the time you finish, the National War will be over!”

“It’s one day! It doesn’t matter how big or small the project is here, I deliver in one day! You can pick up the ship tomorrow at noon!”

“You’ve got to be kidding! One day? How are we supposed to make it in time!” I cried out in shock. The one-day setting was certainly convenient for players, but we didn’t have enough time to raise that much money! “Can’t you give us a few more days?” I began to put my flattery skills to work.

Relying on my super-high Charisma score, I actually managed to persuade the Old Man. “If you can help make this ship the most famous, invincible warship in the world and advertise for me, I can reduce the fee a little more.”

“What do we have to do? And how much can you reduce the fee by?”

“First, you must let me put my shipyard’s name on the hull. That will count as advertising. Then, within one week, you must sink enemy ships with a total value exceeding this ship’s original construction cost. If you fail, the ship will be confiscated and you’ll be fined! How about it?”

“That’s doable, but how much money can you cut for us?”

“How much do you have?”

“1.6 million Crystal Coins!”

“Then I’ll just charge you 1.6 million Crystal Coins.”

“Thank you so much!” I was so excited I almost went up and kissed him. A 2.2 million Crystal Coin ship, and we got it for 1.6 million in the end! What a score!

The Old Man cut me off. “Don’t get too happy just yet. You still need to hire sailors at the very least. Without a crew, your ship won’t be able to move at all!”

“Okay, we’ll figure something out!” I turned around and asked Dashing King, “Do you know where the Sailors’ Association is?”

“Of course. I was just about to go there to replenish my sailors anyway. I lost quite a few in the last battle! Come with me!”

“Great, please lead the way!”

Just as we were about to leave, the Old Man called us back again. “Don’t go yet! You have to tell me the ship’s name.” “Let’s call it The Biling!”

After settling things with the Old Man, we followed Dashing King out of the port and across half the city. We finally saw a house with a lifebuoy hanging by the door, and the words “Professional Sailors’ Association” were written on the main gate. After entering, Dashing King pointed us in a direction and then went to take care of his own business. We followed his directions to the room at the very end of the hallway. Pushing open the battered wooden door, we stepped inside. It was a small reception room, where an old man was sitting behind a desk.

I walked up and prepared to negotiate. I had no choice; who told me to add so much Charisma in the first place! “Hello, we need to hire some sailors. Could you please tell us what the procedure is?”

“No procedure needed, it’s very simple!” the old man said politely as he looked at me. “You just need to tell me the ship’s name and type, the captain’s name and level, and the types and quantities of sailors you need!”

“Our ship isn’t finished yet, it’ll be ready tomorrow. The name is Biling. As for the type, what does that mean?”

“The type is just to ask if it’s a warship, a fishing boat, or a yacht!”

“A warship!”

“And the captain?”

I looked back at Eagle and the others to ask for their opinion, but Eagle just blurted it out. “Purple Sun.”

“Purple Sun! Alright. Your level?”

Since my name was already out, I didn’t refuse. “Level 339.”

“What types of sailors do you need? And how many of each?”

“We need 3,000 oarsmen, 1,800 gunnery sailors, 300 sail handlers, and 50 service sailors. We also need a set of essential crew, like a doctor, a cook, and so on! And combat sailors, but I’m not sure what kinds of combat sailors there are. Could you tell me?”

“There aren’t many types of combat sailors. There are light-armored cutlass-wielders for boarding actions, heavy-armored swordsmen also for boarding, a type of short-range archer, a long-range archer, and a long-range fire archer. Finally, there are mage troops, divided into four elements: water, fire, wind, and lightning. Which kind would you like?”

“How are these priced?”

“Are you buying or renting?”

“Buying.”

“Oarsmen and service sailors are 50 Crystal Coins each, gunners are 100 Crystal Coins, sail handlers are 150 Crystal Coins, and the essential crew like doctors and cooks cost a total of 10,000 Crystal Coins. Among the combat sailors, cutlass-wielders are 200 Crystal Coins each, swordsmen are 500 Crystal Coins each, shortbowmen are 300 Crystal Coins, longbowmen are 400 Crystal Coins, and fire archers are 500 Crystal Coins. Mages are all the same price, 1,000 Crystal Coins each.”

Rose nudged me and whispered, “Husband, the essential sailing crew alone will cost 395,000 Crystal Coins! We have 400 rest cabins for sailors. By my calculation, we can still hire a few hundred combat sailors, but no matter which type we hire, we don’t have enough money!”

I said very politely to the NPC old man, “I’m sorry, we need to discuss this before we decide.” With that, I quickly pulled everyone and scrambled out of there. I didn’t take a long breath until we were out on the street. “That scared me to death, it’s so expensive!”

“It’s always been this expensive! This stuff is designed for guilds to purchase from each other, not for a small group like us,” Gold Coin said with a nod.

“That’s right! We should form a guild too!” Purple Moon suggested.

Bingbing immediately said to me, “No need to go through the trouble of creating one. Brother Purple Sun has his own guild, with just him and Sister Rose. It’s perfect, he can just invite all of us in.”

“You have a guild?” Purple Moon had only just noticed I was wearing a guild emblem. “That’s perfect, I want to join!”

“Huh? I just made that one for fun. Wouldn’t you all be held back if you joined?” I explained.

“What’s this about being held back? None of us were planning to join any guild anyway. Joining yours is so much more convenient. In the future, we can just shout in the guild channel to find people when we get online. It saves the trouble of the party disbanding when you log off and having to reform it all over again!” Purple Moon seemed dead set on it!

“Alright, alright!” I couldn’t win against everyone and had no choice but to invite them all in. Now my guild had quite a few people. I was the President of a “large” guild now (in reality, there were only twelve of us, including me)! I thought to myself smugly.

“What do we do now?” I asked everyone. “We’re still short by a lot of money!”

“Why don’t we go ask about the prices for the cannons and the figurehead first?” Bailing proposed. “If we know how much we’re short in total, we’ll have a goal, right?”

“Then let’s go ask!”

After asking for directions, we finally arrived at the Siege Weaponry Shop. It was certainly hard to find, built right next to the city wall! The whole shop felt like a factory, with half-finished cannons piled everywhere. After asking around, we finally found the head blacksmith standing in front of a massive furnace. “Hello, we’d like to purchase cannons for a warship. What models do you have here? And what are the prices?”

The blacksmith was bare-chested, his sweaty body glistening brightly in the light of the furnace. When he spoke, his voice was rough and booming. “Follow me.” He led us to a row of different cannons along the wall and said, “The worst is this one, a flat-trajectory cannon. Range of two kilometers, can fire two shots per minute, has very poor power, and is prone to barrel explosions.”

“Excuse me, what’s a barrel explosion?”

“It’s when the cannonball blows up in the barrel instead of firing out!”

“Oh! Please continue!”

“The flat-trajectory cannon is 1,000 Crystal Coins per unit. This is a cannon, range of 2.5 kilometers, can fire three shots per minute, average power, 1,300 Crystal Coins per unit. This is a heavy cannon, range of 3 kilometers, rate of fire is four shots per minute, greater power, 1,500 Crystal Coins per unit. This is a chain cannon, range of 3 kilometers, rate of fire is six shots per minute, power is the same as the heavy cannon, 1,800 Crystal Coins per unit. And lastly, this is a breech-loading fortress cannon. It has a range of four kilometers, a rate of fire of six shots per minute, and tremendous power. 3,000 Crystal Coins per unit. Alright, that’s all of them. Take your time to decide. Call me when you’ve chosen.”

Seeing the blacksmith walk away, we quickly slipped out as well. Rose, our economics major, once again took on the role of accountant and calculated, “To have a firepower advantage, we’ll have to buy those fortress cannons. We need 600 of them, which will cost 1.8 million!”

“Heavens! That’s more expensive than the ship!” I really couldn’t take the blow anymore. “Money! Money, I need money!” I roared at the sky.

“How much do you need?” A familiar yet unfamiliar voice suddenly interjected, startling me.

“You are…? Feng Yin Piao Miao!” I finally recognized him. Wasn’t this the big spender who bought my Magical Pet egg last time? “What are you doing here?”

“My guild’s sub-branch is located here. I heard they’ve been taking a beating from the Japan pirates recently, so I came to have a look!”

I suddenly grew tense. Feng Yin Piao Miao was Red Moon’s brother. Since he was here, that meant Red Moon couldn’t be…!

“I finally found you!” Speak of the devil! Red Moon came running over from the side. “Last time I just logged off for a moment and you slipped away. This time I’ve caught you, haven’t I!”

“Heh heh!” My laugh was unnatural. “What are you doing here too?”

“Our Divine Maiden Alliance’s coastal sub-branch was also attacked. I came with my brother to check on it. But you, tell me, what are you doing here?” After a few days, Red Moon was as fierce as ever!

“We’re also here to fight the pirates!”

“That’s perfect, we can team up then!” Feng Yin Piao Miao said with a smile. “You were just shouting about money. Don’t tell me you’re short on cash for a ship?”

“How did you know?” I looked at him in surprise.

“Last time you even had to sell a Magical Pet to gather one million Crystal Coins. Building a ship costs several hundred thousand, and with all the peripheral equipment, I estimate you won’t get away with less than a million or so. Tell me, how much are you short? I’ll lend it to you!” Feng Yin Piao Miao was truly worthy of being the President of the number one guild in the Central Plains. He was indeed generous and knew how to handle people!

Red Moon blocked Feng Yin Piao Miao. “Wait, I’ll lend it to him!” I stared at Red Moon in surprise, wondering when she had a change of heart! But her next words confirmed that she hadn’t changed at all. “Purple Sun! From now on, I’m your creditor, so you have to listen to me, okay! If you can’t pay me back, then don’t! Just use yourself to pay the debt! I don’t mind!” Damn, this girl wanted to buy me! Too bad my status was different. In the game it might be possible, but no one could afford my real net worth!

“Piao Miao, I really do need the money. I won’t be falsely polite with you; being coy isn’t my style. But I will pay you back as soon as possible!”

Feng Yin Piao Miao smiled and said, “It’s fine, I don’t mind. In fact, I’d rather you didn’t pay me back!”

“Huh?” I was taken aback. This brother-sister duo didn’t both want to buy me, did they?

“Those few Magical Pet eggs you sold last time nearly caused a few of our guild elders to start a brawl. If you have time, helping us get a few more would be better than paying back the money!” So that’s what he meant! Scared me to death! I thought he had that kind of hobby!

“No problem! I’ll definitely find some time to help you catch some good ones!”

“That’s settled then! Tell me, how much do you need?”

I turned to look at Rose, who immediately understood my meaning. “Four million!” This wasn’t Rose making an outrageous demand. The cannons alone would cost 1.8 million, and the essential sailing crew would be about 400,000. That was already 2.2 million. Add in the cost of hiring combat sailors, and it would probably reach 3.5 million. And we still didn’t know how much the figurehead would cost! Judging by the usually exaggerated prices of magical items, the remaining 500,000 might not even be enough!

“That much?” Although Feng Yin Piao Miao was very rich, he hadn’t expected us to need so much money for a ship. “How many ships do you have?”

“One!” Seeing Feng Yin Piao Miao’s jaw drop, I gave an embarrassed smile. “Heh heh! It’s just a little bit bigger!”

“I’m afraid it’s more than just a little bit bigger, isn’t it?” Feng Yin Piao Miao had his own fleet; he knew very well how much a ship cost! “Four million is just the shortfall. Your whole ship will probably cost over five million, then?”

“You’re quite a good guesser! Our ship’s construction fee is 1.6 million. The four million I’m borrowing from you is to buy the peripheral equipment!”

“A 1.6 million ship shouldn’t be that big, should it? Does it really need that much money?” Feng Yin Piao Miao suspiciously took out a shipyard construction manual. “My ship is already the largest, and the construction fee was only 1.8 million. The peripheral equipment didn’t cost nearly as much as yours!”

Rose stepped forward to explain. “Our ship is a special case that Purple Sun requested. His Charisma is quite high, so the shipyard pulled some strings to custom-build a super-large warship for him. The actual construction cost was 2.8 million Crystal Coins. Because we didn’t have enough money, we made a deal with him and settled on a price of 1.6 million!”

“Heavens! Then doesn’t that mean the actual total cost of your ship will be 6.8 million Crystal Coins? When will it be ready? I have to go and admire the splendor of the number one giant ship in the China region!”

“If you’re interested, come to the docks tomorrow at noon to wait for us. We can watch her launch together. After all, you have an investment in her too, don’t you!”

“Here’s the money. I still have to go solve my own guild’s fleet problem, so I won’t accompany you.” After speaking, Feng Yin Piao Miao pulled Red Moon away. That woman! She scared the life out of me!

With the money in hand, I first went to the blacksmith and ordered the cannons, then I went to the Sailors’ Association and hired the essential crew. Looking at Eagle and the others, I asked, “What about the combat sailors?”

Bailing said, “We should hire more melee sailors. Our ranged firepower is already ridiculous. Mages and archers are actually of limited use! If the enemy really dares to charge into the range of our mages and archers, it’s clear they’re aiming for a boarding battle, so it’s better to recruit more melee sailors.”

Rose said, “Then let’s get 300 heavy-armored swordsmen, 500 fire archers, and 50 mages of each of the four elements. That’s exactly 1,000 people!”

“Then it’s settled!” I reported these numbers directly to the old man in charge of hiring sailors. Another 1.3 million Crystal Coins were gone. Including the essential sailors, we had spent 1.695 million Crystal Coins just on hiring the crew! Add to that the 1.8 million for the cannons, and in a short while, 3.495 million Crystal Coins were gone! Spending money is really easy!

Clutching our last 505,000, we arrived at the Mage Association district. The Mage Associations in the city felt like a traditional Beijing courtyard house, with a circle of high towers enclosing a small plaza. “Dark Mage Association, Chaos Mage Association, Fire Mage Association, Water Mage Association, Light Mage Association, Support Mage Association, Spirit Mage Association, Undead Mage Association… Life Mage Association!” On-Time Big-Pot Rice counted them off one by one. “Good grief, there are over seventy of them!”

“What do we do? There are too many!” Bailing’s head was spinning just from looking at them!

“Why don’t we split up and search?” I suggested. “Each person takes a few, notes down any useful figureheads they see, and then we’ll compare and pick the most suitable one when we’re done. Then we can decide on a few key targets and go look at them together.”

“Alright! Let’s split up!” We divided the tasks and went our separate ways. I was responsible for the seven in the very center.

Fortunately, although there were many associations, none of them were very big, at least not the ones I looked at. The items in these seven associations were all quite good. I ultimately took a liking to the Dark Association’s Archdemon Figurehead, the Fire Mage Association’s Ifrit Figurehead, and the Light Mage Association’s Holy Angel Figurehead. The three figureheads each had their own special features, and their prices were all similar. The most expensive was the especially popular Holy Angel Figurehead, which actually cost 510,000 Crystal Coins. I suspected its beautiful appearance was the reason for its high sales volume! In the end, it was the poorly selling Archdemon Figurehead that was the cheapest; it could be easily obtained for 470,000! It seemed even the net worth of gods was affected by market supply and demand! Poor demon!

By the time everyone came back out, it was already nighttime. We deliberated for a long time but still had too many choices. The main contenders were the Archdemon Figurehead, which could significantly increase our ship’s melee power; the Ifrit Figurehead, which could prevent fires and provide a certain boost to cannon firepower; the Holy Angel Figurehead, which greatly accelerated the recovery speed of all crew members’ health and other attributes; the Iron Hammer Figurehead, which made the ship sturdier and harder to damage; the Skull Figurehead, which caused fear and frequent errors among the enemy crew; the Half-Moon Figurehead, which put our ship in a state of semi-invisibility; the Maiden Figurehead, which greatly boosted crew morale, increasing travel and firing speed; the Great Dragon Figurehead, which significantly increased the warship’s ranged firepower and sturdiness; the Great Shark Figurehead, which made the ship very difficult to sink and greatly increased its speed; and the Wind God Figurehead, which ensured the warship was always in a state of favorable wind.

After a heated discussion that yielded no results, we had no choice but to rank them by price. We first eliminated the Angel and Maiden figureheads, which we couldn’t afford. Then we removed a few with poor cost-effectiveness. In the end, we were still unable to decide between the Archdemon, the Skull, the Half-Moon, or the Great Dragon figurehead!

Finally, with no other choice, we resorted to the most boring, most helpless, most foolish, and yet most traditional, most practical, and most effective method to decide which figurehead to use!

Chapter 36: The Emergence of the Warship Biling

“It’s 3! It’s a 3!” Gold Coin was the first to shout.

“That means it’s the Great Dragon Figurehead!” I nodded in confirmation.

“Yeah! The Great Dragon Figurehead is pretty good, too!” Eagle also nodded.

Purple Moon was the most delighted, as she had been one of the Great Dragon Figurehead’s staunchest supporters from the very beginning. “See! The heavens are on my side! I told you we should use the dragon! We’re going to fight the Japanese, so putting a Chinese dragon on the prow is the only way to properly set the stage for a fierce battle between us, the descendants of the Flame Emperor and the Yellow Emperor, and those little Japanese!”

To decide which figurehead to use, we had specially fashioned a tetrahedron out of clay (not a cube; a tetrahedron only has four faces, so don’t ask what would happen if we got a six), carved numbers on it, and used it as a die. Whichever face landed down determined the corresponding figurehead. My roll was a 3, so according to our agreement, it had to be the Great Dragon Figurehead!

“Let’s install the Great Dragon Figurehead, then!” I went directly to the Taoist Association (a bit of an awkward name, I know, but if Mages have an association, you can’t just leave the Taoists out) to negotiate the price. The old Taoist in charge of selling the Great Dragon Figurehead was surprisingly straightforward. When he heard we were going to resist a foreign enemy, the old fellow actually gave us a twenty percent discount! The five hundred thousand Crystal Coin figurehead ended up costing us only four hundred thousand. The remaining one hundred thousand was just enough to buy supplies and fresh water from the market.

It was getting late, so we all agreed to meet up the next morning. Tomorrow was Saturday, the day when the Japanese were most rampant in their activities. When our ship sets sail tomorrow, they’ll be our first course!

I logged off to rest for the night, and we all came online early the next morning. When I entered the game, everyone else had already gathered. It seemed they were all very excited about their ship’s launch!

The first order of business was to go to the Sailors’ Association to pick up the sailors. When we arrived, we were truly taken aback. The sight of eight thousand NPC sailors standing in the small square before us was utterly spectacular! Dashing King also happened to be there to replace the sailors he had lost yesterday. Seeing the magnificent scene on our side, he hurried over.

“Heavens! Purple Sun, what are you guys planning? There must be nearly eight thousand people here, right?”

“Exactly eight thousand! All my sailors! I didn’t expect eight thousand people to look this spectacular either!” I was also startled looking down at the massive crowd.

“Isn’t your ship a bit too big? Eight thousand men could crew an entire fleet! My Sea’s Might only has a little over thirteen hundred sailors in total!”

“What can I do? I can’t just set sail with a few of us in an empty ship, can I?”

“I won’t keep you. We still have a lot to do!” After bidding farewell to Dashing King, we led the eight thousand sailors straight to the Siege Weaponry Shop. Those six hundred Fortress Cannons were still there!

Everyone summoned their magical pets to help with the transportation, and the NPC sailors also began hauling the cannons, with a large group for each one. Although there were only six hundred cannons and we had eight thousand sailors, the Fortress Cannons were ridiculously large. It took a good number of sailors to barely move a single one. The most effective transport team, however, turned out to be my Lucky and Purple Moon’s Skyfire.

Lucky grabbed one cannon in each of her four claws and clamped another in her mouth, carrying away five at a time. Purple Moon’s Skyfire did about the same, but her two Titan Giants were even more formidable. Those two guys could each pick up eight cannons at a time and run towards the coast.

We started at eight in the morning and worked until almost eleven, and only then did we manage to move all the cannons to the docks. That Old Man was strange; he blocked us from entering, not letting us see what the ship looked like, and only permitted the NPC sailors inside the Shipyard! We had no choice. We left seven thousand sailors there for Eagle and the others to command, helping the shipyard workers load the cannons onto the ship. Rose and I took one thousand sailors and headed for the marketplace. We spent one hundred thousand Crystal Coins to buy out the entire market’s food supply, then had the thousand sailors start hauling it back to the docks. After that, we used our last five thousand Crystal Coins to buy ten thousand barrels of fresh water. Staring at the mountain of wooden barrels, we had no idea what to do!

Leaving Rose to watch the barrels and direct the sailors, I hurried back to the port myself to see if our warship was finished. Before I even reached the port, I saw Feng Yin Piao Miao and Red Moon from a distance, surrounded by a large crowd on the docks. Only then did I remember that Feng Yin Piao Miao had mentioned that their guild’s ship was also launching today.

“Piao Miao!” I walked over and called out to Feng Yin Piao Miao. “Where’s your ship?”

“It should be out any moment now!” Feng Yin Piao Miao looked at the enormous, fully enclosed shipyard at the far end of the docks. “This old man is really strange. He won’t let anyone watch while he builds the ship. Not only did he kick us out, but he even sealed up the roof!”

“Isn’t that better?”

“What do you mean?”

“He can give you a surprise!”

“Unfortunately, I can’t wait!” Feng Yin Piao Miao sighed.

I looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“The Divine Maiden Alliance’s fleet was ambushed by the Japanese this morning! My fleet has already gone to the rescue. I’m waiting for this ship to go provide reinforcements!”

“Ambushed?” I didn’t expect something like this to happen! “What’s the situation now?”

“I don’t know!”

“Huh?” I looked at him, not understanding what he meant.

He looked back at me. “It’s not that I won’t tell you, I genuinely don’t know! The private message system has a limited range at sea, no more than eight kilometers! Right now, I have absolutely no contact with my own fleet!”

“Then how do you know the Divine Maiden Alliance’s fleet was ambushed?”

“With this!” Feng Yin Piao Miao took out an adorable, white carrier pigeon. “This is a nautical carrier pigeon. It can be used for communication within five hundred kilometers, but there’s a time delay. The last pigeon I sent out hasn’t returned yet!”

Just as he spoke, a white carrier pigeon flapped its wings and descended from the sky. Feng Yin Piao Miao extended a hand, and the pigeon immediately landed on it. I watched as he removed a small bamboo tube from the pigeon’s leg and took out a slip of paper from within.

“How is it?” Red Moon, who had been squatting to one side, immediately ran over when she saw the pigeon return. It seemed she was truly anxious today, so much so that she had no interest in bothering me!

“The Divine Maiden Alliance’s fleet of seventeen warships was ambushed. Thirteen have already sunk, and four are heavily damaged! The Fervor Alliance’s rescue fleet of twenty-one warships is currently in a fierce battle with the enemy!”

After hearing this, Red Moon stumbled back several steps and fell straight into the sea. A few girls nearby quickly jumped in to pull her out and comfort her.

I looked at Feng Yin Piao Miao and whispered, “Does she care about that fleet that much?”

“It’s her lifeblood!”

“Huh?” I didn’t understand what he meant.

Seeing my bewildered expression, Feng Yin Piao Miao explained, “Red Moon made a wager with our dad. She has to rely on her own abilities to organize a fleet and occupy a Japanese coastal city for at least one day before the National War.”

“What’s at stake in the wager?”

“If she succeeds, Red Moon will take over fifty percent of the family business’s shares and decide her own future. If she fails, she has to marry the future heir of another corporation according to Dad’s wishes, and she’ll only receive money from the family, with no shares in the company! Isn’t it a very cliché plot?”

“A little! But that’s just how it is. This storyline has been going on for centuries!”

“You sound like you come from a prominent family, too?”

I was growing more and more impressed with Feng Yin Piao Miao. He always seemed to be able to deduce so much from the slightest clues! “A ship is coming out! I wonder if it’s yours or mine!” I changed the subject.

“It’s definitely mine!” “How can you be so sure? I placed my order first! It should be first come, first served; mine should be out first!”

“Your people are still over there moving things!” he said, pointing at the sailors constantly going in and out of the shipyard. “If your ship were leaving port, how could you possibly leave your sailors behind?”

Sure enough, an exceptionally beautiful warship appeared before us. Tall masts, gracefully curved hull, and a gleaming gold figurehead—it was truly a work of art! I suddenly noticed the figurehead was very familiar. It was the Maiden Figurehead we had rejected! It certainly suited Feng Yin Piao Miao’s style—all for show!

The warship, about a hundred meters long, slowly pulled up to the dock in front of us. As soon as the rope ladder was lowered, a furious Red Moon stormed up it. Feng Yin Piao Miao bid me farewell, “Sorry, we have to go. Red Moon probably can’t wait any longer! I’ll have to see your warship next time!”

I grabbed him and said, “Tell me the coordinates of the battle. As soon as my ship is out, I’ll come help you!”

After a moment’s thought, he took out a piece of paper and handed it to me. I took it and saw it was a simple sea chart. “Give this to your First Mate; he’ll know how to get there!”

“Okay! I’ll be as quick as I can!”

As I watched Feng Yin Piao Miao’s warship swiftly leave the port and disappear into the distance, I felt a strange sense of emotion. Red Moon might be a very annoying woman, but in some ways, I had to admit she was a decent person! At least she was strong-willed. Compared to women who could only beg for a man’s protection, she seemed far more outstanding!

“I’m exhausted!” Rose appeared behind me. In front of her was a large wooden barrel lying on its side, clearly one of the kind we had bought to store fresh water. Seeing the sweat on Rose’s forehead, I knew she had rolled it all the way here! “I’m dead tired, and you’re over here enjoying the sea view all by yourself?” Rose complained.

“Why did you come over here? What about the other side?”

“Bingbing is there! Everyone else went over, so I came back!”

“Why are you doing this yourself? Can’t you just let the sailors do it?”

“I just wanted to be faster!”

“Here, let me help you!” Rose and I pushed the barrel in front of us to the outside of the shipyard, waiting for the NPCs inside to come out and haul it in. When we reached the shipyard entrance, we saw the Old Man standing there, so I called out to him. “Is our ship ready?”

“It’s built, but you have way too many cannons. They’re still loading them onto the ship!”

“Then please be as quick as you can! By the way, I saw someone using a carrier pigeon. Do you know where I can buy them?”

“Carrier pigeons? I have some right here. Do you want them?” The Old Man actually said he had carrier pigeons, which saved me the trouble of searching everywhere!

“Yes! Of course, I do!” I quickly agreed. “How much for one?”

“They aren’t sold individually, but by the pair. You get a pair at a time. Also, they have different levels, so the prices vary. But since you let me build such a masterpiece that I’m so satisfied with, I’ll give you a top-tier pair for free. Wait here!” The Old Man ducked into the shipyard and ran out a moment later, carrying a cage with two snow-white carrier pigeons inside. He came up to me and showed them off. “These are my top-tier carrier pigeons. Their maximum communication range is six hundred kilometers, and even at max range, a round trip only takes three hours. What do you think? Pretty good, right?”

Actually, I still thought it was slow, but not wanting to be rude to the Old Man, I quickly accepted them. “Excellent, excellent! Thank you!”

“Wow! What cute pigeons!” Bingbing had returned at some point, and she ran over when she saw the two white pigeons I was holding.

“You’re back too?” I looked up and saw a mountain of goods piled up nearby. Eagle and the others were already there, wiping sweat and catching their breath. “You guys finished moving everything so quickly?”

“I’m dead tired!” Purple Moon flopped unceremoniously onto a large wooden barrel. “You’re the only one slacking off! You’ve worked us to death! My hands are numb from carrying things!”

“Exactly! You’re some captain, slacking off and leaving us fools to do hard labor while you play with pigeons!” Gold Coin also began to complain.

“I wasn’t slacking off. These are carrier pigeons. I just found out that the private message system at sea has a range limit, so I got these!”

“Alright, alright, stop fooling around. Let’s get these things moved inside!” Eagle came to my rescue, directing the large group of NPCs to start carrying the goods into the shipyard.

I took the opportunity to ask the Old Man how to use the carrier pigeons. It turned out to be very simple. A bamboo tube was tied to each pigeon’s leg, and the paper inside would automatically refresh. To send a message, you just took out the paper and could write on it with your finger, but one sheet could only record a maximum of one thousand characters, meaning you could only send a thousand-character message at a time. After writing, you put the paper back in the tube, hung it back on the pigeon’s leg, and then told the pigeon the name of the intended recipient before releasing it. When the other party received it, they could write a reply on the back of the paper, and the pigeon would fly back on its own. It was indeed very convenient.

After learning how, I wrote a message to Feng Yin Piao Miao. “My ship is almost ready. What’s the battle situation? I will arrive as soon as possible! Signed, Purple Sun.”

After releasing the pigeon, I started helping to direct the NPCs in transporting the goods. Although we had bought a lot of things, unlike the cannons, they were relatively easy to move. Basically, two sailors could carry one barrel.

Just as we were getting into the swing of things, the Old Man ran over. “Hey, where’s your figurehead?”

“Figurehead? I have it here!” I had Xiao Feng put the figurehead down. The Old Man immediately found eight sailors to carry it away, but he was still staring at me.

“What is it?”

“Where are the other two?”

“What other two?”

“I’m asking you where the ship’s emblems are.”

“What ship’s emblems?”

“You don’t know?”

“Am I supposed to know?”

Seeing that I genuinely didn’t know, the Old Man explained it to me. “The figurehead is the soul of a ship, but a ship should generally also have two symmetrical ship’s emblems installed in a prominent position on the hull. They can also give the ship a certain amount of power, just not as effectively as the figurehead! Don’t tell me you didn’t buy any?”

“How was I supposed to know to buy them? Quick, tell me where they’re sold. I’ll go see if I can still afford them!”

“Forget it, forget it!” The Old Man shook his head, cutting me off. “I have two Moon God Emblems here. I’ll give them to you! What a hassle!”

I let out a long sigh of relief as I watched the Old Man run off. I should have asked Feng Yin Piao Miao for more funds. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had enough for any more expenses!

We toiled away until after one in the afternoon to get all the cargo loaded onto the ship. Around noon, Dashing King’s ship also set sail. I heard that some “Japanese Combined Fleet” had arrived, a fleet of over two hundred warships, and all the ships from the nearby Chinese regions had gone to engage them. Dashing King and his guild had received an urgent request for help from a friendly guild, so they had rushed out to put out the fire!

For the entire afternoon, the port was a flurry of activity. Countless warships set out from the port in batches, in waves. Even some small fishing boats had sailed off. I had no idea what they were going to do! They couldn’t be thinking of fighting the Japanese in close combat with harpoons, could they? I highly doubted those little sampans could withstand a single cannon blast!

Finally, at one-twenty in the afternoon, the doors to the shipyard opened. Almost everyone still on the docks stopped and stared blankly as the behemoth slowly sailed out of the shipyard. When I first saw Dashing King’s seventy-eight-meter-long Sea’s Might, I just thought it was big. This morning, when I saw Feng Yin Piao Miao’s one hundred and thirty-meter-long warship, I felt a sense of grandeur. But now, watching that massive warship, like an iceberg, slowly approach the docks, what we felt was pure shock!

The breathtaking, oppressive feeling it gave off was simply indescribable. Immense! It was just too immense! Although I didn’t know the exact numbers, I could intuitively grasp its enormous scale just by looking at it!

At the prow, the bared-fanged, brandish-clawed, Five-Clawed Golden Dragon stood with a majestic aura, making the behemoth seem even more astonishingly intimidating! The outer hull, plated with shimmering Magic Silver, gave it a magnificent and imposing grandeur!

I was so astonished that I didn’t even notice the Old Man walking up behind me with a broad smile on his face. “This is your Biling. Overall length: three hundred and seventy-eight point three four meters. Beam: fifty-nine point seven nine meters. Draft: thirteen point six five meters. Freeboard: nine point two meters. Main mast diameter at base: two point one meters, height: sixty-one point nine meters. Auxiliary mast diameter at base: one point six meters, height: fifty-seven point three nine meters. A total of seven hundred and fifty long oars, six hundred cannons. What do you think? Impressive enough, eh?” The Old Man rambled on to himself, but I didn’t hear a word. My brain was still stuck, not yet rebooted!

“Hey? Are you listening to me?” The Old Man finally noticed I was still in a daze.

I quickly snapped back to reality. “I am! I am!” I said, wiping away drool.

The Old Man didn’t mind. He pulled me directly to look at the side of the hull. There, I saw raised letters carved on it. The largest ones read: “Warship Biling!” Below it, in a row of smaller characters: “Produced by Floodflow City Shipyard!” Geez, I guess this was what you’d call an advertisement! Although those words were much smaller than the ship’s name, on this enormous warship, even those relatively small letters were nearly a meter tall! It was impossible not to notice letters that big!

The Old Man seemed very pleased with his arrangement, nodding at the words continuously. After a minute, he suddenly remembered something. He pulled me over and pointed to a crescent-shaped emblem on the side of the bridge-like tower in the middle of the ship. “That’s the Moon God Emblem I gave you. People begged me for it for a long time, and I never sold it. You got lucky today! That thing is a magical emblem that can create a dense fog, especially at night. It can comprehensively boost all the attributes of the entire warship.”

“Great! Thank you so much!” I quickly laid on the flattery, which made the Old Man grin foolishly. I took the chance to snap Purple Moon out of her trance. “Stop daydreaming. Take Skyfire to the forest outside the city and bring back the Magic Crystal Cannons! My Spirit Herald Knights have been guarding them there for a day and a night! You still remember where we buried them, right? Be careful when you dig; don’t damage them!”

“Got it!” Purple Moon’s reply came from the air; she had shot off the moment I finished speaking.

I waited for nearly twenty minutes. Purple Moon hadn’t returned, but my carrier pigeon came back first. I opened it and saw it was Feng Yin Piao Miao’s reply! “Situation critical, reinforce quickly!”

It seemed the battle over there was extremely intense. Feng Yin Piao Miao was so busy he didn’t even have time to write a few more words! I put the message away and could only continue to wait anxiously for Purple Moon’s return. I used this time to inspect every part of the ship’s hull to familiarize myself with the layout. The Old Man followed behind me, ready to explain anything I didn’t understand.

As I walked over to the emblem on the deck, I suddenly noticed something strange.

Chapter 37: Maiden Voyage

“So this emblem isn’t actually crescent-shaped?” From below, I had thought it was a crescent emblem, but it was actually a full circle. The crescent part was gold, and the rest was silver, which blended in with the color of the deck, making it hard to tell!

The Old Man said proudly, “This crescent doesn’t always look this way. It follows the cycle of the moon in the sky. When it’s a full moon, the emblem will also become a full circle.”

“That’s pretty interesting!” I touched the emblem. It was cool and pleasant to the touch.

Past the emblem was the foredeck, where three enormous turntables were placed. This was the spot the Old Man had left for us to install the Magic Crystal Cannons. It suddenly occurred to me that leaving the cannons exposed like this would make them extremely easy to hit! “Can you build turrets for my cannons?” I turned and asked the Old Man. Seeing his confused look, I explained further. “You know, make a cover with a slit in it, so the cannon is protected and only the barrel sticks out!”

The Old Man thought for a moment and said, “Alright, I’ll have my men get right on it.”

After the Old Man finished giving instructions to his subordinates, we took another tour of the ship’s cabins. The ship’s interior was a world apart from the outside. The exterior deck was stately and imposing, but the inside was as lavish as a palace, especially the forty double-occupancy rooms I had specifically requested—they had practically been decorated like presidential suites! But hey, since I’d already paid for it, the more luxurious he made it, the happier I was.

When we reached the gun room, the Old Man suddenly exclaimed. “Why are there only cannons? Where are your cannonballs?”

“I only had so much money, enough for one thing but not the other! Besides, each of the six hundred cannons came with ten complimentary cannonballs. I figured six thousand rounds should be enough for one sea battle, so I was planning to get more next time!”

“How can that be enough!” The Old Man was even more worked up than I was. “Aren’t you just trashing my masterpiece? What if my precious creation sinks in its first battle? That would ruin my reputation!” The Old Man paced in a few circles before saying to me, “Have your sailors take my letter to the Siege Weaponry Shop and bring back another fifty-four thousand cannonballs. You can pay me back when you return!”

“You can do that?”

“What? You’re not happy about it?”

“No, no, no! I couldn’t be happier!” I quickly sent all the sailors to help move the cannonballs, while the Old Man ran off to supervise the construction of the turret casings.

I sat alone on the Docks, bored, watching the sailors scurry around loading cannonballs onto the ship. Suddenly, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to see a typical Magic Swordsman; the rune-covered magic sword in his hand was just too conspicuous.

“What do you want?”

“Have you seen The Sea’s Might?”

“You mean the Dashing King’s ship?”

Hearing that I knew of it, he immediately grew excited. “Yes, yes, that’s the one! Where is it?”

“It left!”

“Left?”

“Yeah! It left an hour ago. I heard a combined fleet came over from Japan, so all our warships have set sail to meet them in battle!”

Dejectedly, he slammed his sword on the ground and started frantically beating his own head. “Why couldn’t I have been a step faster! I missed it again!” So he was one of those guys who’d missed the boat!

After moping for a while, the man suddenly stopped, picked up his sword, and scrambled aboard The Biling like a whirlwind. I stared in astonishment as this lunatic ran onto my ship and ducked into the helmsman’s control room.

Is this guy crazy? I thought. What’s he doing running onto my ship? Afraid he might cause trouble, I climbed up after him. I had just reached the ship’s rail when he rushed out again. The guy grabbed me. “Can you sail this ship?”

“No!”

The moment he heard I couldn’t, he shoved me aside and started grabbing anyone he saw, asking if they could sail. What a madman. The only helmsmen on this ship were busy moving cannonballs; it’d be a miracle if he found anyone who could sail!

After flailing about for a bit, he rushed back into the wheelhouse. Seeing him fiddling randomly with the controls, I hurried over to stop him. “Hey, who are you? Can you please not mess with my ship?”

“Your ship?” He glanced at me, then went back to what he was doing. “Perfect. I’m with the Anti-Japanese Alliance. I’m commandeering your ship now. Please leave!”

What the hell! Who do you think you are, the police? Commandeering my ship! “Hey! Don’t you think you’re going too far? I’ll give you a chance. If you want to fight the Japanese, just stay put. Our ship will be setting sail soon enough!”

I thought he would agree, but instead, he just snorted at me. “You little girls only know how to buy Japanese things and worship everything foreign. You’ve completely forgotten you’re Chinese!”

Although his words were impassioned, I was not pleased. “Hey! Watch your mouth! First, I’m not a woman, I’m a man! Second, who told you women don’t fight the Japanese?”

“That’s right! Who says we don’t fight the Japanese!” Just then, Purple Moon ran in. “It was you, wasn’t it! You looking to die, kid? How dare you say I don’t fight the Japanese? Come on, you and me, one-on-one!”

“You two?” The guy looked at both of us, clearly startled by our appearances. “I won’t argue with you. Now get out of my way and let me take this ship out!” Having recovered, his attitude was as arrogant as ever.

“Who started this? And you won’t argue with us?” Purple Moon was an extreme nationalist. Saying she wouldn’t fight the Japanese was like poking a hornet’s nest. She walked over, grabbed the guy, and threw him onto the deck outside with a shoulder throw. “Come on! Tie him to the bow! I’d like to see who dares say I don’t fight the Japanese! You over there, hurry up and secure those cannons!”

The unlucky bastard was quickly tied to the bow by a group of sailors. Now we had two figureheads!

I paid him no mind and focused on directing the sailors to secure the gun platforms. The Old Man’s turrets were also finished quickly. Skyfire and Lucky acted as temporary cranes, lifting the turrets onto the gunports. They fit perfectly over the cannons, and now the ship really looked like a battleship!

Just as I was asking the Old Man to help us modify some details on the turrets, someone else ran up. The first thing I heard was Purple Moon arguing with him.

“Hey? What are you doing? Can you not just randomly board other people’s ships?” Purple Moon was still fuming, her words laced with gunpowder!

The newcomer was quite polite. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I’m just looking for the captain!”

“That’s me! What is it?” I walked over and sized him up. He looked a bit like a terror knight, probably not much different.

“Hello, my name is Zhange. I’m a Death Knight. I wanted to ask, is your ship setting sail? I need to fight the Japanese, but I missed the warship! So…!”

Hearing he was here to fight the Japanese, Purple Moon immediately became courteous. “Then please wait a moment! We’re resupplying. We’ll set sail as soon as everything is loaded!”

“Thank you!” Zhange said politely, then asked, “Um! Excuse me, but that person on your ship’s bow…?”

“You mean that guy?” Purple Moon said dismissively. “That lunatic tried to steal the ship!”

“Ah?” Zhange was startled. To dare and steal a ship this big! “Um! You two, I actually know that person. His name is Wuyu. We used to fight pirates together. He’s just a bit… straightforward. I’m sure he didn’t mean to steal the ship!”

“I know!” I cut him off. “But he was too agitated. If I didn’t tie him up, we probably wouldn’t even be able to leave the Port! I know he’s just anxious, but letting him loose to be more of a hindrance than a help is worse than keeping him tied up!”

“That makes sense!” Zhange nodded in agreement.

Just as we finished talking, Eagle and the sailors he was leading returned with the cannonballs. Now each gun room could be stocked with one hundred rounds. Although that was still a far cry from the standard loadout of five hundred rounds per cannon, I figured it would be enough for a while!

Finally, everything was in place. Standing on the central tower of the ship, I gave the order. “Alright lads, set sail!”

Five enormous sails unfurled from above with a great rumbling sound, and countless smaller sails opened from the sides. Watching the sailors who handled the sails swing from one mast to another like monkeys, I couldn’t help but admire their agility! Just as we left the Port, I gave another order! “Oars out!” Seven hundred and fifty long oars extended from the hull simultaneously, plunging into the water. The ship lurched forward with such a sudden burst of speed that I was nearly thrown from the high platform. What an incredible speed! I was starting to wonder if we had installed too many oars!

Two sailors in seaman’s caps came up to introduce themselves. It turned out they were my First and Second Mates. I showed the simple sea chart from Feng Yin Piao Miao to the Second Mate, and he recognized it at a glance. “Captain, are we headed here?”

“Yes! Get to it!”

“Aye!” The Second Mate acknowledged the order, then walked to the railing of the command platform and began giving commands. Since his orders were mostly shouted, I could hear them clearly. “Rudder to port, forty degrees!”

“Port forty!” the helmsman replied, beginning to turn the wheel. The Biling’s helm was so large, in fact, that it took two sailors to operate it; one person alone couldn’t move the great wheel, which was over two meters in diameter.

“Starboard sails in, revolution two!”

“Starboard sails in, revolution two!” The sail handlers responded quickly to the command.

“Retract port oars!”

“Port oars retracted!” The port-side oars immediately pulled in. I could already feel the ship making a sharp turn.

A few seconds later, the helmsmen suddenly let go of the wheel, and the massive disc began to spin wildly back. At the same time, the helmsmen yelled, “Rudder returning to center!”

The sail handlers also called out. “Wind ahead, unfurl sails!”

The long oars on the port side extended again, plunging into the water to propel the ship forward once more.

I turned to the Second Mate. “How much longer until we get there?”

The Second Mate looked at the wind vane above. “We should arrive in about two and a half hours!”

I checked the time. It was almost two o’clock! “By the time we get there, it’ll be almost five!”

I took out another carrier pigeon and wrote a letter to Feng Yin Piao Miao. “We’re on our way, will arrive before five in the afternoon.” After releasing the pigeon, all I could do was wait.

Leaning against the ship’s rail, I watched the seawater being cut by the bow, turning into white sprays several meters high before falling back into the sea. I could roughly sense that the ship’s speed was already incredible! But out on the vast ocean with no reference points, I still felt like we were moving slowly!

Suddenly, a strange idea popped into my head. “First Mate!”

“Sir!”

“Are there ropes on board?”

“Yes! What for, Captain?”

“To pull the ship!”

“Pull the ship?” The First Mate didn’t understand at first.

I cut him off, “Don’t worry about it. Just find three long, sturdy ropes!”

“Aye, sir!”

The ropes were ready in no time. I had the sailors tie one end of the ropes to the bow, then borrowed Skyfire from Purple Moon. I gave one rope each to Skyfire and Lucky, and the third to Little Dragon Girl. After that, it was simple. Lucky and Skyfire flew in the air, while Little Dragon Girl swam in the water.

At my command, they shot forward. The long ropes instantly went taut, and the entire ship lurched forward. All of us Players on deck were thrown toward the stern by the immense inertia, tumbling into a pile until we crashed against a gun turret. The NPCs, however, continued their work as if nothing had happened.

Bingbing climbed off me, rubbing her slender waist. “You guys are a little too barbaric, don’t you think?”

Potluck pushed me off of him and crawled out. “We might be in a hurry, but this speed is going to be the death of us!”

Purple Moon pushed Potluck’s leg off of her. “I think it’s great, much faster this way!”

Ruthless also climbed out of the heap. “Don’t you still have that Golden Armor Beetle? It’s pretty strong, too!”

Purple Moon remembered. “That’s right! Quick, call him out too, we’ll be even faster!”

I said, “Do you think just anyone can fly for over two hours like a dragon? The Golden Armor Beetle can only fly for short periods. It’ll be exhausted in no time!”

“Then never mind!” This was one of Purple Moon’s good qualities—she was particularly reasonable!

The warship sped across the sea at an unimaginable velocity, a-one after another being shattered by its bow.

After sailing for about two hours, the lookout in the crow’s nest suddenly began signaling with flags. The Second Mate beside me immediately ran over to report. “Captain, we’ve spotted a lot of debris on the water’s surface!”

“Debris?” I immediately leaped down from the command tower and ran to the ship’s rail, craning my neck to look down! What debris? These were all fragments of ships!

Eagle and the others also ran over to look over the side. Countless broken beams and shattered planks floated on the sea’s surface, some of the larger pieces of wood clearly from ships. I ordered Lucky and Skyfire to fly back, then recalled Little Dragon Girl as well. It seemed we had reached the battle zone. If we kept charging ahead like this, we might run straight into the enemy fleet!

“Gaff!” Eagle shouted to those behind him. Sailors immediately brought over a gaff with a long bamboo pole. We watched as he carefully fished a few pieces of driftwood out of the water. The pieces of wood still had some glittering equipment attached to them.

“That’s strange, why is there equipment floating on the wood?” Bingbing asked, looking at the gear we had fished out.

Zhange came over and explained. “Equipment drops in naval battles too, but to prevent it from sinking into the sea, whenever gear drops, it appears on these floating ship fragments. But seeing so many empty fragments floating around today means that ships have really been sunk!”

“Looks like quite a few, too!” Passerby A said, looking at the debris that stretched for several kilometers. “This is probably the ambushed fleet of the Divine Maiden Alliance!”

“There’s someone over there!” Rose’s sharp eyes spotted a person clinging to a distant piece of wood!

“Quick, save him!” I ordered the First Mate.

But to my surprise, the First Mate shouted to the crew behind him, “Stop the ship! Launch the rescue boat!”

With a bang, a hatch at the stern flew open, and the hatch cover slanted down to rest on the water, forming a thirty-degree angle with the surface. A small wooden boat, capable of carrying over forty people, slid down the ramp and into the water with three sailors aboard. The small boat quickly rowed over to the person and pulled them aboard.

Eagle suddenly asked the First Mate, “How many of these rescue boats do we have?”

“Two hundred and nineteen!”

“That many?” I was shocked. “I don’t think I told the Old Man to install rescue boats?”

The First Mate replied, “It’s regulation. Every ship must be equipped with enough lifeboats to carry all crew members, so the owner is not asked whether to install them. It’s mandatory!”

“Oh!”

Eagle quickly added, “Send out another nineteen boats to search the surrounding waters. There must be more people here!”

Just as Eagle predicted, the rescue boats we sent out picked up over thirty people. What surprised me most was that they managed to rescue both Red Moon and Feng Yin Piao Miao. Fortunately, Red Moon was unconscious! Although Feng Yin Piao Miao had also passed out, we carried him to the infirmary, where the doctor mixed a few Potions for him, dispelling the Weakened State he had entered from being soaked in seawater.

As soon as he recovered, I started questioning him. “What happened to you guys? Why are you in such a sorry state?”

“You’re finally here!” Feng Yin Piao Miao looked at me. “Do you know what we ran into?”

“Wasn’t it some combined fleet?”

“Yes! But they have something we don’t understand!”

“Something you don’t understand?” I wondered what could be called something they didn’t understand.

“Their fleet has three particularly prominent warships. You must be careful; we suffered a great loss because of them! Call your First Mate over, let him know what to look out for so he can evade them later!”

I quickly summoned the First Mate, and Feng Yin Piao Miao continued, “The enemy has three special warships: one called The Kamikaze, one The Long Island, and one The Mist Shadow!

The Kamikaze is a very large warship. Its hold is full of small boats, but unlike our rescue boats, it carries suicide boats packed with explosives! These suicide boats are fast and small, making them very difficult to intercept. Many of our ships suffered heavy losses!

The Long Island is a gunboat. It has a strange cannon mounted on its bow with a range far exceeding any of ours. It’s also very fast, and we can’t catch up to it at all! It always uses its range advantage to pick us off from outside our firing range. When we chase, it runs, and when we run, it chases. It’s extremely annoying!

The Mist Shadow is the most detestable of all. It’s basically a submarine! Our ships can’t track its movements at all, and it can always deliver a fatal blow from behind us! Luckily, it has to surface to attack, otherwise not a single one of our ships would have been left!”

After hearing Feng Yin Piao Miao’s words, everyone was at a loss. These three ships were indeed troublesome. Such dangerous enemies had to be dealt with first!

I thought for a moment and said to Purple Moon, “Take Passerby A, Potluck, and Shura Ziyi to the gun turrets to control the Magic Crystal Cannons. I want you to destroy those three strange warships at the first opportunity!”

“Got it!” Purple Moon immediately ran out with them.

Then I said to the First Mate, “Notify all gunports, the enemy’s suicide boats are the top priority. Don’t let them get close, no matter what! I refuse to believe six hundred cannons can’t stop a few speedboats! Everyone, on deck with me! We’re heading into battle!”

Just as I led everyone out the door and onto the foredeck, a tremendous force slammed into me from the right. With a bang, I crashed through the railing and was sent flying. At the same time, the First Mate finally started shouting, “Cannon fire! All hands to battle stations!”

Everyone on the ship instantly understood what had happened and ran to their posts. As for me, I climbed back onto the deck, soaking wet, pulling off the fake mage robe that had been reduced to tattered rags. “Damn it, what a shoddy product!” I muttered. “Weren’t you supposed to have no durability limit!”

Everyone else on the ship stared at me as if I were a monster, their expressions clearly asking, how are you not dead?

UNTITLED

Chapter 0: Red Moon
Chapter 1: Shopping Spree
Chapter 2: Character Creation (Part 1)
Chapter 3: Creating a Character (Part 2)
Chapter 4: Profession Certification
Chapter 5: Auxiliary Professions
Chapter 1: The Golden Holy Dragon
Chapter 2: The Lost City
Chapter 3: Company Announcement
Chapter 4: NPC Friends
Chapter 5: Shopping
Chapter 6: Leveling! Leveling!
Chapter 7: Catching Up
Chapter 8: Hunted Down
Chapter 9: The Starfall Ring
Chapter 10: Phantom
Chapter 11: The Swamp
Chapter 12: Crossing the Death Line
Chapter 13: The Death of Ah Wei
Chapter 14: A Strange Quest
Chapter 15: A Divine Artifact from a Robbery

Chapter 16: You Can Get Rich Selling Coal, Too

Chapter 17: The Cloak Quest
Chapter 18: The Invisibility Cloak
Chapter 1: PK
Chapter 2: Red-Named!
Chapter 3: The Steel-armored Beast
Chapter 4: The Cavern
Chapter 5: The Crypt Quest (1)
Chapter 6: Crypt Quest (2)
Chapter 7: Crypt Quest (3)
Chapter 8: Crypt Quest (4)
Chapter 9: Crypt Quest (5)
Chapter 10: The Strange Package
Chapter 11: A Dangerous Encounter on Campus
Chapter 12: I Have Returned!
Chapter 13: It’s Finally Over
Chapter 14: Bankrupt!
Chapter 15: My Personal Little Nurse
Chapter 16: Leaving the Great Snow Mountains
Chapter 17: How a Demon is Made?
Chapter 18: A New Decision
Chapter 19: A New Problem
Chapter 20: We’re in Big Trouble!
Chapter 21: Seeking Help
Chapter 22: The Investigation
Chapter 23: The Operation
Chapter 24: Getting Her Back
Chapter 25: Settled
Chapter 26: The Wolf King
Chapter 27: Changing Profession
Chapter 28: Spirit Herald Knight
Chapter 29: Dinner
Chapter 30: The Revived Demonic Dragon Set
Chapter 31: Equivalent Exchange
Chapter 32: The Returning Avenger
Chapter 33: Storming Dragon City
Chapter 34: Failure
Chapter 35: Escape
Chapter 36: Garden of Life
Chapter 37: Spring of Life
Chapter 38: Sowing a Flower, Reaping a Melon
Chapter 39
Chapter 1: The Experiment Fails
Chapter 2: A Summons from Dad
Chapter 3: A Storm is Brewing
Chapter 4: Eagle
Chapter 5: Bailing
Chapter 6: Fairyland
Chapter 7: The Dart

Chapter 8: The Secret Chamber’s Treasure Chest

Chapter 9: Fury
Chapter 10: An Accident
Chapter 11: Escape
Chapter 12: The Kidnapping
Chapter 13: The Tail
Chapter 14: The Homemade Ninja
Chapter 15: The Beautiful Metropolis
Chapter 16: Catch the Thief!
Chapter 17: The Temporary Salesman
Chapter 18: National Artifact Crisis
Chapter 19: A Miniature Adventure
Chapter 20: Those Indians
Chapter 21: Frantic Hunt (1)
Chapter 22: Frantic Hunting (2)
Chapter 23: National Artifact Auction
Chapter 24: Monsters
Chapter 25: Tank
Chapter 26: Master (1)
Chapter 27: Master (2)
Chapter 28: The Two of Me
Chapter 29: The Escape
Chapter 30: Alteration
Chapter 31: Imperial City
Chapter 32: Chaos
Chapter 33: The Plan
Chapter 34: The Bones of a Demon Beast
Chapter 35: The Sky-High Warship

Chapter 36: The Emergence of the Warship Biling

Chapter 37: Maiden Voyage