"Ahhhhh...."
The Undead Roland Soldiers howled pitifully as my sword slashed through their ragged armors. They collapsed at the edge of the broken wall and joined the heaps of bodies that were piling up. The ground was s.h.i.+ning with prismatic light as equipment, magic stones, and skill books slowly piled up. Killing ancient mobs more than twenty levels higher than you really did give you a lot of items!
Whoos.h.!.+
Two columns of golden light simultaneously enveloped Murong Mingyue and the Phantom Wolf King. They had leveled up!
"Wow, I"m leveling really quickly…" Murong Mingyue crowed with joy as she glanced at her current level. "I actually managed to gain three levels in less than five hours!"
I laughed and explained to her, "We"re using party sharing mode right now. Even though you aren"t dealing any damage directly, you"ll earn just as much experience as Eve as long as you do enough healing. In fact, you might even be getting more than her. Alright, let"s keep grinding until the both of you reach Level 140 tonight. You"re almost there anyway!"
He Yi giggled as she nodded her head. "Yeah, we"ll definitely hit Level 140 once we turn in the quest later! Speaking of which, the players from Sky City sure level up quick. Everyone was just Level 135 a few days ago, but there"s already a bunch of Level 140 players now! Honestly, your leveling speed is really quite slow compared to theirs, Lu Chen."
I pouted and said, "Haven"t I been busy making Saint Spirit Potions to sell? If I was focusing all my energy on leveling, I would have shot straight to Level 150 by now…"
Both of the girls covered their mouths and giggled, "Alright, let"s go pick up those items before we continue grinding!"
"Mn."
I walked up and started tossing all the good equipment into my inventory. We had been grinding for so long that my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor only had 57% durability left. It wouldn"t hold up for much longer if we continued grinding at this intense pace.
However, we really did reap some fantastic rewards from our labor. There were nearly three hundred pieces of good equipment in my bag and a good number of them were Level 135 Outstanding Dark Gold–grade or Purple Gold–grade items! Every single one of these items would sell for at least one thousand gold in the auction house! With my high level and Luck stat, I would always earn good money, no matter where I was grinding.
Of course, not everyone was so fortunate. I suspected that only Chaos Moon and I could keep throwing equipment into the auction house. When players like Du Thirteen and Yamete went to grind Level 155 shadow-rank mobs, they would only get about three Outstanding Dark Gold–grade items and one Outstanding Purple Gold–grade item by the end of the day. They would earn around 5000 RMB after they sold these items and they still had to split that money among the twenty people in their party!
Once they had split the loot, each person wasn"t left with a lot of cash. They probably only had about enough to replenish the pots and consumables they had used while hunting. This was what life was like for most parties.
Luck determined the drop rates of the mobs you killed, it determined how often you would use the upper bound of your attack power to damage an enemy, and it determined your equipment drop rate when you died. A difference of just ten Luck was like the difference between heaven and earth when it came to item drop rates. Moreover, I had a whopping 38 points of Luck, something that even money couldn"t buy!
…
My eyes shone with greed as I quickly picked out a dozen pieces of extremely good equipment from the pile and threw them into my inventory! I had also managed to find four skill books! Two stratagems, Encourage VI and Prime V, one mage skill book, Dragon"s Roar, and one warrior skill book, Soul Breaker Slash.
"Not bad!" I murmured as I nodded my head in satisfaction at a particular skill book. Soul Breaker Slash would deal 170% of one"s attack power as damage and ignore 50% of the target"s Defense. There was also a fixed chance for it to inflict the "Soul Break" effect, which would render the target immobile. Even though its attack wasn"t as powerful as Barrier Break, it had a "Soul Break" effect. This made the skill a very useful and practical one. Moreover, Soul Breaker Slash couldn"t be learnt in conjunction with Barrier Break. This skill book isn"t bad at all, I should sell this to a warrior with personality!
These last few hours of grinding had also given me lots of cards! These Undead Roland Soldiers were really quite generous and their warriors and knights even dropped different kinds of cards!
Roland Berserker Card: Increases user"s Attack by 20% and attack speed by 10%. Duration: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 130
Roland Bloodknight Card: Increases user"s max HP by 40% and Defense by 15%. Duration: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 130
Thankfully, multiple copies of the same card would be stacked together in the same inventory slot. I currently had a total of 27 Roland Berserker Cards and 17 Roland Bloodknight Cards, and I had to admit that they were pretty good. I was already using the Roland Berserker Card to boost my grinding speed right now, but I would be saving the Roland Bloodknight Cards for difficult boss fights.
This card would increase a player"s health by 40%. Coupled with Pure Love"s Physique, which gave a 40% buff, and Lu Buyi"s Purple Dragon stratagem, which gave 80%, my total health would be increased by 160%. This would boost my HP by 2.6 times, to nearly 80 thousand! How wonderful would that be!
……
Murong Mingyue and He Yi were sweeping through the battlefield like two dutiful and hardworking wives. They picked up every single useful item from the ground while I circled the field and hunted down every single precious Soul Spark of the Undead. Since the soul sparks left by these Undead Roland Soldiers were extremely powerful, I wanted to absorb as many as I could find. They would definitely help me evolve into an Asura G.o.d sooner rather than later!
As I aggroed and lured another bunch of mobs toward the party, I noticed that the Phantom Wolf King had already reached Level 105. Its stats were off the charts, so now was its time to s.h.i.+ne!
Phantom Wolf King (Immortal Rank Boss)
Level: 105
Attack: 10500
Defense: 8400
HP: 84000
Agility: 52500
Skills: Phantom Form, Claw of the Storm, Purgatory Storm
Master: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand
……
I chuckled and said, "Little wolf, swap positions with the Firelight Mouse. Let it use its spells while you rip into these mobs. d.a.m.n, your 80000 HP is more than enough to deal with these Undead Roland Soldiers!"
The little wolf let out a pitiful-sounding howl as it trudged toward the front. Murong Mingyue let out a gentle laugh before comforting it, "Don"t worry, I definitely won"t let you die."
Once again, I aggroed a large bunch of Undead Roland Soldiers and started our killing spree!
Boom!
Thousand Ice Slash exploded in the midst of the mobs as damage numbers started popping up from their heads.
18904!
17290!
19023!
Yup, this kind of damage was much better! The splash effect of my sword increased my total damage by 3 to 5 times. A single blow of my sword was able to shave off about 40% of these Undead Roland Soldiers" HP bars.
The Phantom Wolf King swiftly entered battle mode. Its huge body trembled as it let out a loud howl. Its blood-red fur stood on its ends as the Phantom Wolf King brandished its sharp claws and landed a hit on its target!
Thunk!
15782!
The Phantom Wolf King was only Level 105 but its attack was almost as powerful as mine. Since it was an Immortal Rank boss pet, it would definitely have certain secret skills that we don"t know of yet.
The little wolf"s attack speed was extremely fast! It could deal three continuous strikes with its paw in just one second. When delivering its fourth strike, it would let out a howl of rage and release a freezing hurricane into the herd of mobs.
Boom! Boom!
The hurricane wreaked havoc as Undead Roland Soldiers were spun off the ground and sucked into the hurricane. The furious winds tore their way through the mobs as a string of damage numbers of around 20k started to pop up.
I couldn"t help but grin inwardly. d.a.m.n, the Phantom Wolf King"s Claw of the Storm were so f.u.c.king powerful!
I eagerly a.s.sumed control over the little wolf and unleashed its skill, Purgatory Storm!
In an instant, the proud little wolf raised its head and let out a roaring howl. The sky turned crimson and dark clouds started to cover the sky as a ma.s.sive tornado burst forth from the ground and sucked up a bunch of mobs. A column of damage numbers of an average of 100k flew up as the tornado continued to rip through the mobs.
"d.a.m.n…" My jaw went slack with shock.
He Yi was also left stupefied. She murmured under her breath, "This pet"s way too OP! If it had been around during the battle of Dark Moon City, it could have unleashed a Purgatory Storm on our enemies once every two minutes. That would have been…"
Murong Mingyue laughed heartily and said, "This is awesome! Even though we don"t have a super mage, we have an Immortal Rank pet that has super-powerful physical and magic attacks! Good job Lu Chen! Well done! Haha!"
I remained silent as I tried to contain my glee. The Phantom Wolf King"s super OP!
……
In the blink of an eye, another four hours had flown by as we continued grinding mobs.
Bang!
I swung my sword and eliminated a Undead Roland Soldier. Looking around the camp, I noticed that I had killed the last mob and that we had swept the place clean. He Yi and Murong Mingyue were close to leveling up and reaching Level 141 while my EXP bar was at 87%. I was sure that once I turned in my quest, I would be able to reach Level 145!
Noticing that it was past 1 am, I said to the rest, "Alright, we"ve killed all the Undead Roland Soldiers and have achieved our goal. Shall we turn in this quest? I"m pretty sure that there"s another follow-up quest that we can accept."
"Sure!"
He Yi hefted her Whirlwind sword over her shoulder and smiled. "Let"s go!"
I turned around and whistled, signaling for the Level 121 Phantom Wolf King to follow me. The Phantom Wolf King heard my whistle and followed me closely like a giant loyal dog. Every time I looked into its eyes, I swore that I could see a little bit of Dada"s eyes in them. Even though it could very well be a trick of the eye, I knew one thing for sure. The Phantom Wolf King would never betray me! This wasn"t just a feeling, it was a firm of conviction of mine!
……
I brought He Yi and Murong Mingyue to the capital city of the Roland empire and found Mengchuan"s remains beyond those stone walls. I immediately presented the quest items and the kill quota to him. In a low voice, I said, "Mengchuan, I"ve finished the quest according to your wishes. The soldiers in the Roland Encampment outside the city have all been killed."
Mengchuan opened his blurry eyes and whispered in a raspy voice, "Thank you, young and brave adventurers. Come, here is the reward you deserve!"
Ding～！
System Notice: You have completed the quest [Mengchuan"s Request (1)]. You have obtained 12000000 EXP, 7000 Reputation and quest reward: "Bone Eroding Arrow"!
……
Whoos.h.!.+
A beam of golden light enveloped me as I leveled up and reached Level 146. To my delight, I had even obtained a skill book, Bone Eroding Arrow. I hurriedly opened my inventory window to see a dazzling skill book in it.
Bone Eroding Arrow: Condense necrotic energy to unleash an attack that erodes the target"s bones. The target"s Defense will be lowered by 60% for 30 seconds. Cla.s.s Requirement: Archer. Level Requirement: 135. Race Requirement: Undead.
I was absolutely delighted at the requirements needed to learn this skill. This was a skill book tailor-made just for Beiming Xue! Bone Eroding Arrow could lower a target"s Defense by 60%! This is just awesome! Beiming Xue could use this skill to lower the Defense of a boss when we meet one in the future!
He Yi and Murong Mingyue were grinning from ear to ear. It looked like both of them had gotten great reward from the quest too.
I chuckled inwardly as I accepted the next quest.
Mengchuan desperately gasped for breath as he whispered weakly, "Young adventurer, I have another perilous task for you to complete."
I nodded my head and said, "Please, tell me."
Mengchuan looked toward the east as he said, "That crazy b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Thunder, dangled my king"s head above the entrance to the palace"s grand hall. He did this to scare everyone else into submission. Later on, he dispatched a powerful guard to watch over His Majesty"s head. That guard is a devil that came from the bowels of h.e.l.l itself, the Mad Warrior Buffett. Kill him and bring his head to me so I can redress the humiliation of the Roland Empire!"