Porcupine Boss
Translator/Editor: Mr Voltaire
Purple Rhyme’s quest was to go to a mountain cave to the east of the Novice Village and kill a Porcupine Boss. When I asked her what the difficulty was, she smiled and replied, “Its difficulty is 150. So, do you have the guts?”
I couldn’t help but smile, “Of course I do!”
I don’t know why, but Purple Rhyme’s cheeks suddenly reddened, and she said, “Then let’s quickly go over. There were many people who accepted this quest. If we don’t get there first, we’ll have to wait 10 hours for the boss to resp.a.w.n!”
I nodded, and ran with her towards the east.
Perhaps it was because it was too boring to just run, but Purple Rhyme asked me, “Shu Sheng, what do you do in Su Zhou?”
I thought for a while and answered, “I do business planning at a digital company, but I’m not exactly sure what I’m supposed to do specifically… what about you?”
Purple Rhyme raised her eyebrows, and smiled, “Pretty much the same sort of thing. I work at an advertising company, but I haven’t been going to work lately… I’ve been farming at night and sleeping during the day~~”
I felt quite envious of her and said, “That’s such a good life. I farm at night, and go to work during the day. I can only take short naps at work…”
Purple Rhyme could not help but smile, “If you don’t like what you do, then come to our company! Oh, never mind, a professional player like you can live happily through the Money Exchange System. You probably don’t need to come to a place like that~”
I laughed, “Professional player? I’ve just had some good luck. I couldn’t compare to your Sword Flame guild… oh, by the way, who thought of the name Sword Flame? It sounds like ‘Cheap Things’.” [TLN: Sword Flame = Jian Huo; Cheap Things = Jian Huo]
“Boss Dragon Soul came up with that name; I had nothing to do with it. However, boss Dragon Soul is a good person. He’s very righteous and loyal, and will go to any lengths for his friends. Punisher, that guy, doesn’t really use his brain- luckily boss Dragon Soul is always there to watch over him.”
“What about Ghost Fire? What’s he like?” I suddenly thought of the Necromancer.
Purple Rhyme gave a slight smile, “I’ve never met Ghost Fire in person, but in-game he’s always very quiet, and looks very cold. However, I know that he’s one of those cold on the outside, but warm on the inside people. In Eternal Moon, because there was some enmity between Punisher and the guildmaster of a guild, Ghost Fire went and charged into the hundred-man guild, and killed the guildmaster~”
“Not bad, not bad, it seems that this Sword Flame guild is quite good!”
Purple Rhyme looked at me, and asked, “Do you want to join us?”
At this moment, I thought that any normal man would not be able to resist this sort of temptation. Purple Rhyme’s beauty eyes seemed to draw me in like a magnet.
However, I had reasons to refuse.
After half a minute, I gave a faint smile, “If that person abandons me, then I’ll join Sword Flame. However, before then, I want to be with her, and help her with anything.”
Purple Rhyme seemed slightly shocked and asked, “What sort of person is this? Is she your girlfriend?”
This caused me to laugh out loud, “Of course not. Why would such a beauty settle for a poor guy like me. I owe her a lot, because if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t even be able to enter this game!”
“Ahhh, I see!” Purple Rhyme smiled, “I won’t force you then, but just remember that Sword Flame will always welcome you.”
I nodded, “Thanks!”
By this time, we had reached a small cave within the depths of the forest. There practically weren’t any players around.
Purple Rhyme was a Priest, so naturally, she couldn’t take the risk of checking out the cave first. As such, I led the way, and added Purple Rhyme into my party.
It was quite dark in the cave, and it felt very uncomfortable walking on the soggy, wet dirt.
Purple Rhyme gripped a green Steel grade staff in her hand, and cautiously looked around her.
“Patter…”
A few bats were woken up by us, and charged out towards the exit.
“Ah!”
Purple Rhyme gave a cry of fear. I stood in front of her, and slashed with my Lightwave Dagger to chase away the bats.
Luckily, it seemed that the bats didn’t have any attack power, and seemed to be part of the environment, rather than actual monsters.
I looked ahead of me, and saw that there seemed to be a round, red shadow. Purple Rhyme saw it as well, and asked, “Shu Sheng, do you think that’s the Porcupine Boss?”
Purple Rhyme was LV22, whereas I was LV25, so naturally I was able to see further than her. Indeed, it was the Porcupine Boss sleeping soundly!
I nodded my head, “Yes, that’s the Porcupine Boss.”
[Porcupine Boss] (Steel grade Boss)
Level: 20
Attack Power: 165-200
Defence: 55
HP: 40,000
Attack Type: Vampiric, has 10% chance to instantly kill its target.
……
Being 5 levels above the Boss, I was able to see all of its stats. After telling Purple Rhyme of its stats, she opened her mouth in shock, “What should we do? It has such high Attack Power, but we don’t have any meat s.h.i.+elds! If I had known about this earlier, I would have asked Punisher to stay back to help. Going off to a sauna… sigh…”
I cheerfully replied, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this. All you need to do is focus on healing.”
Purple Rhyme looked at me in surprise, “Are you sure you can do this?”
“Of course I’m sure.” I patted my chest confidently.
I told Purple Rhyme to retreat to outside the cave entrance. I would bait the Porcupine Boss outside, where it was much more s.p.a.cious. After all, Purple Rhyme and I were both ranged professions, so it would be more advantageous for us to fight outside.
Seeing that Purple Rhyme had already reached the outside of the cave, I shot out an Ice Arrow from my Golden King Bow.
“Bam!”
As the blue light hit the Porcupine Boss, it lost 245 HP! Heh, with my 230 Attack Power, the Porcupine Boss’ measly 55 Defence was nothing!
“Grunt, grunt…”
The Porcupine Boss abruptly woke up, grunted twice, and charged out!
I didn’t hesitate, and immediately ran out. When I reached her, I saw that Purple Rhyme’s face was fully of worry and distress. However, when she saw me, a slight smile appeared on her face, and she quickly ran back to keep the distance between us. It would be silly for two ranged players to fight a boss standing together.
The Porcupine Boss was furious, and charged towards me with its fangs out!
“Bang~!”
A thumping sound rang out as the Porcupine Boss. .h.i.t my shoulder. I immediately felt the pain, and a “124” damage figure rose up above my head.
Not bad, it didn’t break through my Defence much!
I drew my Golden King Bow, and used a Fire Arrow this time. It did not disappoint, and dropped the Porcupine Boss’ HP by 467!
Purple Rhyme looked extremely shocked, and asked, “Shu Sheng, what’s your Attack Power? Even for Ghost Fire, the maximum he can deal against monsters with 55 Defence is 200 damage…”
I laughed, and answered in a secretive tone, “Well, let’s just say my attack is higher than Ghost Fire’s!”
Purple Rhyme smiled, and did not ask any further. Instead, she sent a ‘Weakening’ onto the Porcupine Boss!
“Ding~!”
Battle Announcement: The Porcupine Boss has been weakened by the ‘Weakening Status’, Attack Power and Defence have decreased by 5%!
……
I was slightly surprised, and could not help but exclaim, “That’s quite a good ‘Weakening’!”
Purple Rhyme replied, “This is actually one of the more inferior ones. After all, it’s only a primary ability. After changing profession again, if I can increase it to Master level, then its effect will be even more impressive~!”
While we were talking, the Porcupine Boss decided to stop attacking me, and charged towards Purple Rhyme!
Purple Rhyme did not panic, and casually healed me to full HP again. Of course, I wouldn’t let a Priest tank the damage from a boss, and once again sent out a Fire Arrow!
The Porcupine Boss ran back and forth between Purple Rhyme and myself. However, it wasn’t intelligent enough to decide to just focus on one target, and did not end up hitting either one of us.
After a few minutes, with a “Bang!”, my Fire Arrow crit, and struck a fatal blow, dealing 884 HP to the Porcupine Boss!
The Porcupine Boss gave a weak cry, and fell to the ground, dropping some gold coins and two pieces of equipment!
Purple Rhyme quickly went up to it, and collected its head into her inventory. She frowned- after all, the game’s graphics were very realistic, and the Porcupine Boss’ head was very gory and b.l.o.o.d.y.
She also collected the gold and equipment and walked up to me, and opened up a Trade Screen. She put a pair of Magician boots, an armoured helmet and 12 gold coins in there, and said, “This is all it dropped; if you’re willing, please accept this as your reward for helping me!”
I looked at the two pieces of equipment, which both seemed to be Bronze grade, and thus not much use to me. Moreover, I wasn’t lacking gold either.
As such, I closed the Trade Screen and said, “Keep the Magician boots for yourself; it’s pointless for me to take something you need. Plus, I can’t equip the helmet, so just give it to Punisher or Dragon Soul. As for the gold coins, those are the only things I want…”
Purple Rhyme gawked at me, and couldn’t help but smile, “You…”
In the end, she opened up the Trade Screen again and transferred 12 gold to me. The reason I accepted the 12 gold coins was because if I didn’t accept anything, she would probably feel bad about it. After all, although the 12 gold coins were worth far less than the two Bronze grade equipment, it would at least put Purple Rhyme at ease.
Having received the 12 gold coins, I now had 88 gold coins, an astronomical figure!
Purple Rhyme contentedly put the two pieces of equipment into her inventory, and smiled, “Well, I’m going to go and hand in the quest. You should go to sleep, Shu Sheng, don’t tire yourself out too much.”
Purple Rhyme’s voice was gentle and caring, and I felt a bit moved hearing this. It had been quite a long time since I had heard such a caring tone.
However, this pleasant feeling was immediately dispelled when we heard a voice from the forest behind us, “Eh? Boss! Someone already killed the Porcupine Boss, G.o.ddamit!”
Another voice sounded out, “d.a.m.n! Who dares to steal my quest boss; go and kill them!”