Night fell and the Frozen Alley was soon covered with frost. The moonlight reflected off the snowy ground Under the moonlight, the whole ground was white as snow, like it had been covered with snow.
“Pa Ca!”
The sound of sharp blade cutting through flesh echoed through the silent forest. The intense battle in the forest was still continuing.
With a “gu dong”, I downed another bottle of health potion and stared resolutely at the Iron Bear’s and my own health bars. My mouth involuntarily thinned into a grim smile. Although my smile looked sinister, it was still a sincere smile from my heart.
As I rained a combo of attacks on the Iron Bear, I could finally foresee its demise. With my current attack speed and my footwork control, killing this Iron Bear was a cinch.
“Pu Chi!”
My Green Forest Blade pierced straight into the Iron Bear’s skull. A large damage number appeared – 284!
It was a killing strike. The Iron Bear let out a loud groan as blood spurted out from his head, and collapsed to the ground.
A large Magic Stone bounced out from the Iron Bear’s corpse. Furthermore, it also dropped a green coloured Leg Guard, which made me extremely excited. It dropped an equipment! I am really striking it rich today!
Immediately, I examined my loots. I had received a Large Magic Stone with a quality of 57 points, it could be exchanged for 11 silvers! The green-coloured Leg Guard, on the other hand, was a leather armour.
[Bear Leather Leg Guard] (Black-tier)
Agility: +2
……
Tsk tsk, leather armors’ defense was indeed much inferior to heavy armors’. However, this additional two points on agility could probably be converted into 0.1% increase in movement speed and 0.2% of dodging rate. Anyway I didn’t have a leg guard equipped currently, I should just wear it first and gain the extra 7 points in defense.
“Shua!”
With a flicker of light, the Bear Leather Leg Guard immediately appeared on my legs. Yeah, there was no need for these wonderful and beautiful legs to be exposed to public any more.
“Eh…?”
I cried softly, as I felt something wrong in my body. There seemed to be something wriggling in my leg bones and ribcages. What the heck was that? Was it a maggot?
Frantically taking off my armor, I looked at it closely. It wasn’t a maggot, but a piece of blood-red, human flesh sticking out from my ribs. What kind of situation is this?
With the question still unanswered, I immediately chopped off the Iron Bear’s head. I shall think about it again after I go back to Frozen Mound and submit the quest!
……
“Ah ha, Little Skeleton. You are indeed brave without compare. You are a promising bright star amongst the Undeads!”
The Sentinel Skeleton Leader sung my praises and rewarded me with huge experience points that boosted my level to 16. Once again, I had managed to enter the top 100 of the Floating Ice City’s Player Ranking Board. I was the 97th. In the early stage, the rankings in the Player Ranking Board changed at an unbelievable rate. Wind Fantasy, who topped the list yesterday, had also dropped below the top 100. I guess he would be weeping tears of blood when he woke up later on.
Looking at my accomplishment of reaching level 16, I happily looked for the Undead Swordsman Master Su Lun and asked, “Master Su Lun, why don’t we annihilate the Undead Leader in the Graveyard? It is our biggest threat right now!”
“Don’t be too anxious, Little Skeleton!” Su Lun replied with heartfelt words, “You are not strong enough currently. What if that Undead Leader killed you and absorbed your Undead Flame? Then we, the Frozen Mound would have lost a valiant and brave little Skeleton Swordsman…”
“d.a.m.n!” I quietly cursed. Then, I asked again, “Master, is there any use for an Undead’s Undead Flame? I have absorbed quite a lot of them.”
“Oh, that thing…” Su Lun placed his hands akimbo as he laughed out loud, “The Departed Spirit is one of the core factions amongst the Undead Alliance. The higher the level of an Undead, the higher ranked it would be. In addition, the Undead Race is a race that feeds on each other. If you absorbed sufficient Undead Flame, you would be able to evolve to an even higher ranked Undead Swordsman.”
“Higher ranked?”
“Yes!” Su Lun nodded and said, “You are currently a little Skeleton Swordsman. But if your body started to grow flesh, it would serve as a proof that you had started to advance in rank and become a Bone Spirit.”
“Is the Bone Spirit the highest ranked of the Undeads?”
“No, it is still one of the weaker races. Above Bone Spirits, there are still Bone Spirit Leader, Bone Spirit Commander and these other monsters that rely purely on physical attack. When a Departed Spirit gained enough strength, hehe, his flesh would completely grow out, and he would be no different than a human being. That state is called – Asura!”
My jaw dropped, immediately looking forward to the future, “Haha, no different than a human being? Then…then wouldn’t I be able to enter Floating Ice City as and when I please to pick up girls?”
Undead Swordsman Master Su Lun threw me a disdainful look, “Brat, are you ever going to grow up? When you have evolved into Asura, would you even worry about not being able to have women? An Asura’s strength is extremely powerful, far more powerful than your wildest imaginations. I tell you, an Asura’s strength could rival a whole empire’s, it’s an existence equivalent to a King. Furthermore, above Asura, you could still evolve into King Asura, G.o.d Asura…Aish, these are the realms that both you and I could never attain in our lives!”
I yearned to become an Asura even more. “An existence like a King? Oh my, then wouldn’t that be…then wouldn’t I be able to establish a new Kingdom and choose three thousand beauties to serve my harem…? HAHAHA!”
(TLN: Chinese emperors are known to have 3000 women in his harem)
Su Lun looked at me with disgust as he grunted, “Stinky brat, just train diligently and don’t let other Night Spirits absorb your Undead Flame. In the future, maybe you would have the opportunity to step into the realm of Asura. In any case, it will be impossible for me to do it.”
……
Even After bulls.h.i.tting for the whole day, I could not manage to get another quest. There was no other way, I should probably grind levels. The leveling speed shouldn’t be too slow. There were originally only a few quests available in . I had been fortunate enough to receive quests continuously in Frozen Mound probably because I was one of the few players training here. Players in the Floating Ice City, on the other hand, might not even know what a quest look like even at level 15!Selling off the Large Magic Stone in my inventory, after struggling for a few hours, I managed to gain a 27 silvers profit. I could probably pa.s.s off as a little millionaire!
Examining my equipments I found that I had a Wrist Guard, Armor, Leg Guard and a Weapon. Everything was black-tiered, a newbie set of equipment. This was indeed the age of black-tiered equipments, where the owner of black-tiered equipments would have the most power. However, I could probably go to Floating Ice City with this set of equipments.
In the forums, there was quite a lot of players who were dealing in equipments. An armour or Wrist Guard that added +2 Strength could probably be sold for $100, especially because there was very little amount of equipment with extra attributes available in the early stages of the game. Furthermore, the Floating Ice City Armour Store only provided newbie white-tiered equipments, which was much inferior to black-tiered equipments.
From this, it could be seen that the equipment I wore on my whole body currently was worth at least $400. But this was just a conservative estimate. My Green Forest Blade alone might even be worth $400, there were scarcely any equipments with extra attributes available in the early stages of the game!
After some thoughts, I decided to visit the Floating Ice City. As a player who was designated to the Floating Ice City, there was no reason for me to not visit it.
En route to the Floating Ice City, I pa.s.sed through the Frozen Alley. I went into the forest alone and avoided level 20 monsters that crossed my path. After twenty minutes, I arrived at the edge of the forest on the outskirts of Floating Ice City. My name was still marked in red and it could not be hidden. If another player saw this, they would definitely think that I was a Chaotic Player.
From a far distance, the majestic metropolis Floating Ice City appeared in my view. It looked like, of the four seasons, the city experienced winter alone. Its walls were covered with snow and the Imperial Palace looked solemn, like it was frozen in time. The base of the city looked like a floating block of ice. This was also the reason for Floating Ice City’s name.
I cautiously followed the trail out of the forest. When I was about only a hundred metres away from the City Gates, I immediately charged forward, dashing into the city a hundred metres in 8 seconds. The moment I stepped into the city, my name naturally turned a healthy green colour. This made me feel very happy as I would not need to sneak any more.
……
Arriving inside the city, there was not many players on the city plaza. Everyone looked to be in a hurry as this was still the second day of the start of the game. They were all busy training and getting equipments, who would have the time to idly sit here?
I stuck out like a sore thumb standing still in the middle of the city plaza as I took out the Green Bone Fan from my inventory and shouted, “Selling level 15 black-tiered Fan, attack 24, stamina +1, tactics +1. It’s a must have item for any adventurers, a powerful killing weapon. It can be used by Tacticians and Priests. It is fashionable and suitable for female players. Those who have wives can take a look at it for a while, those who do not can buy it for others’ wives too. Come quickly and take a look!”
My shout invited a crowd of people who flooded towards me from all directions. Very quickly, more than ten people had surrounded me and spoke altogether –
“d.a.m.n! Someone has gotten a level 15 weapon already. What a powerful item, it actually has 24 attack! So strong…my own weapon only has 1-3 attack…”
“Heavens, this weapon is so strong! I didn’t thought that someone could get a weapon that adds to the Tactics attribute this early in the game!”
“Why does this seller look so weird?”
“Not weird, it’s just a skeleton that has grown a little bit of flesh.”
“……”
Looking at the crowd bustling with excitement, I shouted out, “Is there anyone who wants it? I will immediately sell it straight away if the price is right. Call out your bids or lose this chance forever!”
Immediately, someone replied, “2 silvers, would you sell?”
I opened my eyes wide, “You won’t get it so cheap even at a NPC stores!”
The crowd immediately burst into laughter. At this moment, a level 16, youthful looking Tactician came forward and sincerely replied, “I only have 11 silvers after putting together all three of us had. I know the amount won’t be enough, that’s why I would be willing to add this into the deal. If you think we can have a deal, then we can trade straight away. Otherwise, can we still be friends?”
Saying that, he took out a black coloured boots, his gaze falling on my gorgeous white bony legs. What he meant could not be clearer.
I looked at the boots. Hmm, it’s not bad. It’s a black-tier equipment although the level was a little low.
[Porcupine’s Boots] (Black-tier)
Stamina: +3
……
My eyes lit up immediately. The major advantage of these boots was that it added 3 points to stamina. This would convert to 30 health points. I was a swordsman with a full strength build, adding all 5 points immediately to strength whenever I level up. What I lacked the most was health.
Thinking it out, a Green Bone Fan would not be of any use to me. This person had offered a level 10 boots with 11 silvers to trade with me. I guess it was more or less a good deal.
Thus I nodded my head and smiled happily, “Alright! Brother, you are a really nice person!”
“Alright!”
The other party was also elated. The Tacticians did not have a strong attacking power in the beginning after all. If he had a weapon that has a 24 attack, he would have conquered his own weakness, and would not be ridiculed or feel embarra.s.sed in his party.
After the deal was done, I received 11 silvers and a black-tiered boots to boot. At long last, I could cover my whole body.
Wearing the Porcupine Boots, my defense immediately rose to 37 points and my health also rose to 310 points. My survivability had advanced by leaps and bounds!
After the deal, I happily went out from the Floating Ice City. I had not even taken a step out from the city when a cold voice called out to me from right behind me. “Brat, are you just going to leave like that?”