Chapter 171 Maxed-Out Attributes“How can I miss out on something as interesting as this?” Xiaofeng said with interest.
Si Yejing, on the other hand, did not share his sentiments. “You"re nuts! Don"t you know that this is a trap? Do you have a death wish?”
“What"s there to be afraid of?” Xiaofeng said with an air of nonchalance. “I might die once, so what. Plus, they don"t necessarily have the means to kill me. But if I don"t show, people will start thinking that I"m a coward.”
Despite his nonchalant tone, Xiaofeng himself knew that the battle might not end well for him if he went. Although Xiaofeng had achieved a G.o.dlike status in the game, he knew he wasn"t really a G.o.d. The fact was that he was just a player with good equipment and high attributes. No matter how good he was individually, vanquishing a large guild alone was a mountainous, if not impossible, task.
“You!” Si Yejing"s anxiety had rendered her speechless. Deep down, she knew that Xiaofeng had hit the nail on the head.
This was a setup from the start. If he didn"t go, a controversy would break out among the players, and it would greatly affect Xiaofeng"s reputation. In comparison, the ramifications of taking the challenge head-on were less severe, even if Xiaofeng were to end up dying at the hands of the Glory Guild, which was an inevitable outcome when one player went up against an entire large-scale guild. After all, if something was to be expected, why would its occurrence reflect badly on him?
Conversely, if Xiaofeng managed to use his strength and defeat a great number the Glory Guild"s members, the negative consequences following his own demise would be greatly reduced. The whole thing would then become a battle that showcased Xiaofeng"s skills in combat. A lot of players in Huaxia District would end up looking upon Xiaofeng in awe rather than disgrace.
No matter how one looked at it, this head-to-head battle was one that Xiaofeng had to face.
Then again, if the Glory Guild had the gumption to declare war on Xiaofeng, they had to be well-prepared. Thus, it wouldn"t be too much of a stretch to a.s.sume that Xiaofeng would be walking straight into a death battle.
Xiaofeng"s survivability in the battle, as well as his ability to bring as many casualties as he could to the Glory Guild, depended solely on his strength. Even if he didn"t manage to survive the battle in the end, the outcome would still augment Xiaofeng"s reputation instead of taint it.
“What if people find out that you possess divine artifacts?” Si Yejing said in a final attempt to dissuade Xiaofeng. Although Si Yejing understood the pros and cons of each choice, she still didn"t want Xiaofeng to walk into a suicidal battle.
“Let them find out then. They can try taking the artifacts from me if they can.” Evidently, Xiaofeng didn"t mind one bit even if his possession of the divine artifacts got blown wide open during the battle.
“You!” Si Yejing exclaimed, and then she paused. “I"m going with you!”
Xiaofeng turned his head around instantly. The look he was giving Si Yejing right then was of pure incredulity. Under her facial mask, Si Yejing"s eyes held a steely and unwavering resolve. “I think you"re the one who"s mental,” Xiaofeng said. “Why the heck would you even want to tag along? To get your a.s.s kicked?”
Xiaofeng was stating the truth. Even if Si Yejing had tremendous individual skills, she was still just an a.s.sa.s.sin who specialized in stealth. In battles like this, where the fight was out in the open, she couldn"t even survive a single round of skill bombardment. Her skillset was completely useless in a battle like this.
“Whatever! Go kill yourself for all I care!” Si Yejing"s slender form trembled in anger as she turned around and stormed off.
“What"s her problem,” Xiaofeng muttered as he glanced at the time. The battle of honor would begin one hour from the time the thread was posted, which meant he only had about 40 minutes left. Still, there was plenty of time left for him to up his level.
Xiaofeng was Level 19 now. Based on his current experience points, he was still halfway to Level 20. Once he reached Level 20, he would be able to learn a new skill, which he could then use in the battle with the Glory Guild. Without further dallying, Xiaofeng came up with a plan and headed to Bone Mountain as quickly as he could.
Despite her claim that she couldn"t care less about Xiaofeng"s fate, Si Yejing knew that Xiaofeng had a plan. As she followed behind Xiaofeng quietly, she secretly removed herself from their party. That way, Xiaofeng could gain all the experience points for himself instead of sharing them with her.
Xiaofeng didn"t say anything. Instead, he allowed her to do whatever she wanted.
In the valley of Bone Mountain, the skeleton soldiers had already resp.a.w.ned. Once again, Si Yejing found herself bearing witness to Xiaofeng"s terrifying AoE farming ability. Si Yejing watched in shock as Xiaofeng killed over a thousand creeps with one single skill cast.
Soon afterward, shock gave way to suspicion. “What kind of skill is that? How can it have such a wide AoE and yet deal so much damage? Can it be used on players?”
One couldn"t blame Si Yejing for asking, really, because that spectacle of Xiaofeng"s AoE farming just now was way too terrifying. If that skill could be unleashed on other players, then there was a good chance that the Glory Guild would fall at Xiaofeng"s feet. How could anyone stand a chance against a player capable of killing a thousand opponents with just a single skill cast?
Then again, Si Yejing was also aware that a skill as powerful as this couldn"t be used lightly. There had to be some kind of restriction or limitation to the skill. Otherwise, Xiaofeng would have become invincible a long time ago.
Si Yejing knew she was right when she saw Xiaofeng shaking his head. “Of course not,” Xiaofeng said. “This skill can only be used on undead creeps or creeps with Dark Attributes.”
Si Yejing nodded. “Now I see why you always hang around this part of the map,” Si Yejing said. “But this is a strong skill for leveling. If you go to the parts of the map with lots of skeleton creeps, and clear them out in waves, n.o.body could gain levels as fast as you do.” Si Yejing said nothing else after that. Instead, she quietly observed Xiaofeng as he killed more creeps.
After clearing out all the skeleton soldiers, Xiaofeng headed straight for the undercity grave and began clearing out more creeps in the dungeon. Actually, there were still several areas in Bone Mountain with creeps similar to the skeleton creeps. But Xiaofeng had decided not to farm in those areas because those creeps were all ranged creeps. In an open s.p.a.ce, it would be impossible to avoid a large number of long-range attacks. If a large number of ranged creeps attacked him at once, he would die in a matter of seconds. The dungeons, on the other hand, had a lot of obstacles he could take cover behind in order to avoid any long-range attacks launched at him. In addition, Xiaofeng was already familiar with the dungeons, which made the process of farming much easier.
For Si Yejing, it was her first time entering the undercity grave. When she failed to detect the levels of the creeps here with Scouting, she immediately knew that this part of the map belonged to the high-level region. Still, she couldn"t help feeling a sense of disgruntlement when she saw the way Xiaofeng was clearing out waves after waves of creeps with ease. Now she knew why this guy"s level was so terrifying. He was ranked first among all players in Huaxia District in terms of character level. In fact, he might even be number one among the several billion players in the entire game server. n.o.body could surpa.s.s his level.
Since he was in a hurry to reach Level 20, Xiaofeng didn"t summon Xiaoxue to share experience points with his character. For half an hour, Xiaofeng kept clearing out creeps and having his character earn all the experience points. All of a sudden, Xiaofeng"s body glowed brightly. “Ding! Congratulations on reaching Level 20! You have gained 1 attribute point.” Xiaofeng had done it—he had reached Level 20 before the battle of honor began.
“Come on,” Xiaofeng said to Si Yejing, “back to the city.”
Without ado, Xiaofeng took out a Returning Scroll and teleported back to Tianlong City. Then, he located the beautiful Tianlong ritualist inside the profession-change hall.
At Level 20, Xiaofeng had three options to pick from for his new skill. Out of the three options, he could only choose one. After reading through the description of each skill, Xiaofeng made his choice. He picked the one that was most useful to him now.
Protective Blessing
Effect: Raises the Physical and Magical Defenses of a friendly target. The amount raised is equivalent to 10% of the target"s Defense + the 10% of the caster"s Const.i.tution.
Effect"s Duration: 60 seconds
Cooldown: 30 seconds
This was a defensive skill, so its effects were pretty obvious. Xiaofeng learned the skill without hesitation and made a beeline for the Warehouse.
Xiaofeng planned to upgrade his equipment since he had now reached Level 20; he already had a set of Level 20 equipment stashed away in the Warehouse a long time ago. Each piece was dropped after he had killed skeleton soldiers (skeleton soldiers were Level 20 creeps). Due to the sheer number (no less than several tens of thousands) of skeleton soldiers that he had slaughtered, Xiaofeng had long since managed to collect a full set of Level 20 equipment. Then again, the entire set consist of silver grade items, and they were all defensive items.
At the Warehouse, Xiaofeng retrieved the equipment from storage and swapped it with his current items except for two—the Dragon Suit, and his golden shoes, the golden salamander feet. He kept the shoes because of their powerful pa.s.sive skills, which were very useful in group battles.
Then, Xiaofeng pulled up his HUD, and all his attributes appeared before his eyes. These were Xiaofeng"s strongest attributes so far.
Character: Dad
Level: 20
Profession: Sacred Ritualist
Fame Points: 680
Cla.s.s: Sacred
Health Points: 425/425
Mana Points: 465/465
Physical Attack: 170-170
Magical Attack: 146-146
Physical Defense: 108-120
Magic Defense: 102-102
Basic Attributes:
Strength: 179
Const.i.tution: 155
Agility: 146
Intelligence: 146
Spirit: 175
The remaining free-allocated attribute points: 0
Pet: Four-winged Angel, Xiaobai (Level 20 Faerie Pet)
Mount: Holy Light Unicorn, Xiaoxue (Level 14 Golden Mount)
Life Skills: Advanced Scouting, Primary Collection
Professional Skills:
Holy Light (Level 2): Instantly regenerates 15% of the target"s Health Points + the caster"s Spirit Points; 30 seconds cooldown time.
Purification Skill (Level 2): Remove all negative BUFFs affecting the target.
Weapon Blessing (Level 2): Increases the target"s physical attack points by 15% + the caster"s strength; lasts for 30 seconds; 60 seconds cooldown time.
Courage Blessing (Level 2): Increases the target"s magical attack points by 15% + the caster"s intelligence; lasts for 30 seconds; 60 seconds cooldown time.
Hammer of Judgment (Level 2): Deals damage to an area; damage dealt will be 200% of the caster"s physical attack points; 60 seconds cooldown time.
Life Blessing (Level 1): Increases the upper limit of the target/caster"s Const.i.tution; lasts for 30 seconds; 60 seconds cooldown time.
Protective Blessing (Level 1): Increases the target"s physical defense and magic defense by 10% + 10% of the caster"s Const.i.tution.
Expulsion Skill (Level 1): Negates the effects of lasting magical spells, BUFFs, and skill effects within an AoE.
Equipment:
Weapon: Therapeutic Scepter (Level 10 Silver Staff)
Armor:
Dragon"s Skull (Artifact, Head)
Dragon"s Claw (Artifact, Hands)
Skeleton Breastplate (Plate Armor, Level 20 Silver, Torso)
Skeleton Cuisse (Plate Armor, Level 20 Silver, Legs)
Skeleton Belt (Plate Armor, Level 20 Silver, Waist)
Skeleton Vambrace (Plate Armor, Level 20 Silver, Forearms)
Golden Salamander Feet (Plate Armor, Level 15 Golden, Feet)
Accessories:
Circle of Life (Level 20, Immortal Equipment Earring)
G.o.d"s Blessing (Level 15, Silver Earring)
Mandala Sachet (Level 15, Silver Necklace)
Hunter"s Will (Level 1, Refined Ring)
Ring of Faith (Level 5, Silver Ring)
Fast Ring (Level 15, Rare Ring)
Fashionable Dress: Skeleton Mask
Honorary Badges: Bright Apostle, Archbishop
These stats were Xiaofeng"s strongest by far. He had more than 400 Health Points and, with a boost from his plate armor and Spirit Points, his Mana Points exceeded 450.
Xiaofeng had only 170 physical attack points since the therapeutic scepter didn"t raise its user"s attack. But if Xiaofeng equipped the Golden Bull Totem, his physical attack points would approach 200.
Even if Xiaofeng showed up at the battle wielding a non-attack-boosting weapon like a therapeutic scepter, he could still slaughter any player in seconds after applying the Weapon Blessing BUFF to himself.
Now, it was time for him to face the battle.
Night Cooer had run off some time ago. Xiaofeng didn"t pay much attention to her anyway. Alone, he stepped into Tianlong City"s Transmission Formation and selected Nature City as his destination.
From the time Xiaofeng was still leveling until now, a lot of players he knew had sent him messages. Xiaofeng didn"t reply to any of them except Qian Duoduo because if he didn"t, Qian Duoduo would actually show up in his room.
Xiaofeng went through his attributes one more time. If he found any mistakes or anything missing, he could still reset his attributes.