After exiting Crow Ridge, I followed a narrow and winding road to the bottom of the ridge. According to the map, there should be an occupied human town not far to the south. On the map, the zone looked so red it might as well be black, meaning that it was extremely dangerous to a player of my level.
I checked the time. It was past 11 pm. Looking at my friend list, Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were still fighting, while Lin Yixin and Murong Mingyue had already gone offline.
I suddenly felt like visiting He Yi to see how she was doing. This wasn"t the first time I was seized by such an impulse, but even if I managed to gather the courage, what would I even say to her? "Boss, take me as your lover since I died for your sake"?
I was not immune to wealth or poverty, but I did have a bottomline. I had always tried to rely on myself and not become a burden to others. I was unwilling to live on someone else"s charity or owe others.
After all, it was the only way I could be true to myself and lead a carefree life.
……
In the middle of a nearby town, I saw a huge cooking pot with venom, bits of flesh and white bones churning inside. The thick, greenish liquid boiled and bubbled before evaporating into a column of deadly smoke.
The cooking pot was surrounded by a horde of low-level Night Creatures called Imps, a type of evil humanoid monsters. They had short, crooked bodies less than a meter tall, and their blood-red skin made them look like midgets whose skin had been completely peeled off from their flesh. However, unlike midgets, their expressions were ruthless, and would occasionally let out incomprehensible cries while swinging the sticks in their hands.
As I sneaked my way into the town, I spotted a lone Imp doing exactly that. It was Level 46, and it was perfect fodder to level up my character.
"Get him, Little White Rabbit!"
The Dark Wasp heeded my call and zipped toward the Imp like lightning. Three consecutive hits later, the Level 46 Imp had lost two-fifths of his HP. At Rank 3, Flurry was a truly powerful skill.
The Weeping Fire Blade rose and fell squarely on the Imp"s body. Pardon and Slayer Slash easily took away its remaining HP.
Swhoos.h.!.+
An impressive stream of experience flew into my chest and b.u.mped by experience bar a little. At this rate, my bar would fill up after cleaning the entire area. I would probably hit Level 44 once I turned in the quest too.
I opened my palm and executed Death Plunder. However, I didn"t get a single item from its corpse. Imps were servants of the Night Creatures, and it looked like they were as poor as their status entailed. That being said, their undead soul sparks were surprisingly abundant in energy. I felt quite invigorated after absorbing just one, and the rotten flesh clinging to my bones was slowly but surely improving for the better. It was probably a sign that I was about to evolve into a Bone General.
I spotted a group of three Imps not far away from me. They wouldn"t be as easy to kill as this lone Imp, but I didn"t hesitate too long before coming to a decision—kill! Imps were sociable creatures. If a group of three was too much for me, I could give up on the quest anyway.
Luckily, the situation was far from hopeless. I couldn"t challenge three Level 46 monsters alone, but my boss-tier pet, the Dark Wasp, helped even out the odds. Though I definitely still needed to plan out this battle carefully and ensure that the Dark Wasp never fell below half HP. Otherwise, it would mean the death of me.
A term suddenly flashed across my head. "Luring"!
Luring was a simple concept, but it was definitely worth the time to polish. Normal luring only reduced the number of aggroed mobs, whereas true luring reduced the amount of damage a player would take.
Splitting my attention into two, I took control over both myself and my Dark Wasp before progressing carefully. Now that I think about it, I suppose this counts as dual mult.i.tasking? Of course, this level of mult.i.tasking was nothing to me. Back in the days, I had crushed Candlelight Shadow, the so-called "Starcraft Emperor", I had to do four different things at the same time. That was something he wasn"t willing to accept even to this day.
The Dark Wasp flew forward, paused for a second and deleted 40% HP from an Imp using Flurry. Under my control, it quickly flew to the right and dodged the attacks of the other two Imps. At the same time, I charged the wounded Imp from behind and killed it in three strikes.
The Dark Wasp was fast, and it was able to sting the Imp in front of it before the Imp"s aggro was transferred to me, dealing an impressive 754 damage.
Not only did I follow up the attack like a shadow and slashed at the back of the Imp"s head repeatedly, I purposely positioned myself so that the third Imp couldn"t get to my Dark Wasp. This basically meant that the Dark Wasp and the second Imp were locked into a one-on-one fight. As a result, it was able to regain most of the HP it had lost just by regenerating normally.
Crack!
The Dark Wasp stopped escaping after I had cut down the second Imp. Together, we ended the third Imp"s life in under 10 seconds!
"Aoo…."
The Imp let out a scream of pain and died. The entire battle took less than two minutes to conclude, and the Dark Wasp only lost 19% HP. I didn"t lose a single health point. All in all, it was an excellent fight. I was sure no one in Floating Ice City could achieve such teamwork and synergy between the master and their pet.
I sucked in a deep breath to compose myself. Mult.i.tasking two things at a time demanded a lot of brain power, and back in Spirit of Grief one minute was enough to tire me completely. But now, after two minutes of intense mult.i.tasking, all I felt was an unprecedented level of energy, calmness and clarity of mind. It looked like my mind had transcended to a whole new level.
Suddenly, a cheer broke out from behind me. "Beautiful! This is the first time I"ve seen such excellent control! You really are one of the best pros in Floating Ice City, if not the best!"
I turned around and found a s.e.xy succubi archer standing behind me. She was a member of the Mad Dragon guild and Roaming Dragon"s woman, Coldmoon Rose!
Honestly, I was surprised to see her here. What is an archer who isn"t even Level 40 yet doing at this place? Is she suicidal or something?
I turned my back against her and moved on to the next group of Imps without hesitation. Right now, my current goal was to increase my level as quickly as possible. Once I leveled up to 50, I would be able to wield the Gold-grade Ghost Ice Soul and unleash its early-game potential to the max.
Coldmoon Rose was clearly bothered by me ignoring her, so she stomped her foot and asked, "Hey, what"s wrong with you? You robbed me of my boss back at Reflection Hills, and now you"re not even looking at me when I"m talking to you?"
I turned around, pressed the brim of my hood and smiled at her. "Leave while I"m still in a friendly, non-murderous mood. Otherwise, I make no promises about controlling my impulse."
Coldmoon Rose was stunned by my reply for a second. Then, she started laughing to the point where her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were bouncing wildly under the leather armor. As I thought, it would be wise to stay away from this seductress.
"Are you kidding me? You really think I"m afraid of a man"s impulse?" Coldmoon Rose giggled lovingly at me. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, feel free to come all over me if you can. Show me what your "impulse" looks like, or are you all bark and no bite? Hmph!"
I chuckled. "Forget it, you"re Roaming Dragon"s woman. I won"t touch you."
"Why? Is it because you"re afraid of him?" Coldmoon Rose curled her lips seductively.
I shook my head indifferently and replied, "No. I simply don"t want to get my hands dirty…"
"You!"
Slightly angry, Coldmoon Rose said, "Listen well, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. The Mad Dragon guild"s fate is to hang above Floating Ice City like the afternoon sun, so on behalf of Roaming Dragon I am here to offer you two options. One, you can keep trying to fight us, but we swear to PK you and your friends—Gui Guzi, Wind Fantasy and everyone else—down to Level 0! Two, you can cooperate with the Mad Dragon guild. With your support, Mad Dragon will become even more invincible than we already are, and…"
Coldmoon Rose puffed her chest out a little and smiled seductively. "If you come to Mad Dragon, I will have someone to talk to. What do you think? I"m currently at Shanghai if you want to meet me~"
I laughed on the inside. What is this? The carrot or the stick?
I put the Weeping Fire Blade on my shoulder and laughed loudly. "Sis, seriously, tell Roaming Dragon to send someone else over if he really plans to win me over with a honey trap. Tell me, what else are you worth besides two flabs of fat? Hmph, I"ve met far prettier women than you, so stop polluting my eyes and stay out of my sight!"
"You!"
Coldmoon Rose flew into a humiliated rage. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you"re making your life harder than it needs to be! I thought you were an okay person, but you"re really just a savage!"
I sneered at her and shot right back. "Savage? I"m savage only when I"m dealing with people like Roaming Dragon and you. Neither of you are deserving of humility from me!"
"You!"
Absolutely furious, Coldmoon Rose drew her bow in an attempt to unleash the powerful Devil Piercing Arrow!
The temperature in my eyes dropped several degrees colder, and I dashed toward Coldmoon Rose like an invisible shadow. By the time she was done channeling her spell, I was already right in front of her. Even the Dark Wasp was floating behind her and blocking her path of retreat. Coldmoon Rose"s level was so far behind mine that there was no way she could resist at all.
Bang!
I reversed my grip on the Weeping Fire Blade and hit Coldmoon Rose hard on the shoulder. Collapsing on the ground with a painful groan, she glared at me hatefully and said, "Im… impossible, there is no man who can resist my wiles. You cannot possibly be a man…"
Her comment made me feel like vomiting blood. "Say that to yourself and your whole family! Hmph, I admit that you"re young and beautiful, but so what? Your beauty is second-rate at most…"
I was speaking from the bottom of my heart. Maybe I would"ve thought that Coldmoon Rose was a top-tier beauty half a year ago, but after seeing He Yi and Lin Yixin? She really was nothing special compared to them.
I held up Coldmoon Rose"s sharp chin with my forefinger and smiled. "A woman can be proud, but not arrogant; headstrong, but not unreasonable; flirtatious, but not fickle; forceful, but not intolerant."
I got up and shot her a cold look. "Never show your face to me again, or I promise I won"t be merciful next time!"
After that, I walked away and proceeded to engage a group of four Imps in battle along with my Dark Wasp.