It was noon. We ordered fast food at the same restaurant as before because the plan was to finish quickly and get back to the grind as soon as possible. I was Level 142, and Lin Yixin, Level 139. We were both at the level where we could start racing for Level 150, especially because Level 150 was another huge power spike for all players. Not only would the rest of the melee fighters get a mount, our “realm” would also improve drastically. As for what exactly the devs meant by that, we only had a couple of subtle hints in the official database to go from. Most likely players were expected to explore it themselves.
……
The restaurant was bustling with activity as a matter of course. Groups of people were sitting together and eating lunch. While I was chowing down my food, I looked up sneakily only to find Lin Yixin sneaking a glance at me as well.
"What"s wrong?" I asked with a smile. "Do you want me to feed you?"
Lin Yixin turned red. "No!"
"Let"s not waste any more time then."
"Mn!"
It was at this moment we heard the students sitting at the table behind us conversing with each other in a clear and articulate Suzhou accent—
"Hey, did you guys hear that the students from architectural engineering, specifically those from room 209, 211 and 213 of the hostel have joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?"
"Eh? I thought they had their own trash guild? How did they suddenly join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?"
"I"m not sure. At any rate, they somehow joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and became their eighth subguild. It"s unbelievable…"
"That"s surprising. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls usually pick their people carefully, so I wasn"t expecting them to recruit these troublemakers. Do you still remember that a.s.sault case from last month? They"re all involved in that incident!"
"Yeah, they"re truly the black sheeps of our university!"
"Yeah…"
……
I couldn"t help but frown after listening to their conversation. "f.u.c.k me, are they talking about Waste and Burn?"
"Waste and Burn?" Lin Yixin sounded surprised.
"Mn, this morning, I ran into a guild called Waste and Burn whose tactician has the potential to become the best in China. Because of him, I recruited them and made them into our eighth subguild."
"Oh, so you fancy their beautiful tactician, is that it?" Lin Yixin shot me a meaningful smile.
I stared at her. "You"re mistaken, okay? That tactician is a man, not a woman, and even if he was a woman, I would never abuse my power for personal pleasure…"
Lin Yixin giggled. "That"s hard to say…"
Seeing as I was about to lose control, I immediately produced a Durex condom from my pockets and shook it. "See this? I"ve been keeping this all this time! If you bully me again I swear I"ll use this on you!"
Lin Yixin immediately turned as red as a mature apple. She waved her chopsticks at me and said, "Are you trying to die, Lu Chen? I can"t believe you haven"t tossed that thing into the trash yet! Hmph, don"t even think you"ll get to use it on me!"
I replied, "If you think one isn"t enough, I can buy a dozen…"
Finally, Lin Yixin relented. "Fine, fine. Can we please not talk about this?"
"Mn."
"Oh right, why didn"t you investigate Waste and Burn before accepting them? Unless the guys behind us were bulls.h.i.+tting, it didn"t sound like they"re particularly good people. You really should pay more attention to this. One of the main reasons Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was able to establish themselves in Sky City is because they"re proud and strong enough not to bully the weak. It would be terrible if the guild lost its image and reputation because of a single subguild."
"Mn, I got it. Don"t worry, I can handle this!"
"Okay. Now let"s finish our lunch already!"
……
After eating lunch and sending Lin Yixin back to the university, I returned to the workshop and went online immediately!
Swhoos.h.!.+
I crawled out of my tent after appearing in Sky Forest. A beep notified me that my satiety meter was below 50%, so I took out some dried dear meat and ate it. This consumable restored 10% satiety instantly, so I ate five of them in one go. While I was filling my stomach, Lin Yixin had also crawled out of the tent with the Blade of Violet Lightning in her hand. She said, "Come on, let"s head to Dragonbone Mountain Range!"
"Okay!"
Lin Yixin hadn"t summoned her mount probably because she didn"t want me to feel bad. As we walked side by side, I felt like we looked more like a couple enjoying the scenes rather than a pair of adventurers set on a journey. My Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was running circles around us as if it had boundless energy. Lin Yixin"s Ice Fox had grown into an adult, but it was still only as big as a cat. It ran up its owner"s arm and stood atop her shoulders, fur swaying slightly to the wind and an intimidating icy aura circulating around it. Since the Ice Fox matured, the power of its ice magic had grown by leaps and bounds. It was one of the reasons Lin Yixin was able to maintain her insane leveling speed.
I looked through the official data for a bit before complaining, "G.o.ddammit, more than half of the maps at Dragonbone Mountain Range are occupied. We"re going to have to climb to the maps about 20% away from the peak to grind without interruption. However, there"s almost no chance we"re going to find an NPC up there, meaning that there won"t be a quest to accept. Our leveling speed will suffer like this."
A pair of beautiful dimples appeared on Lin Yixin"s features as she smiled. "Actually… I know a leveling map that I really wanted to grind at, but couldn"t find a powerful player to team up with. Now that you"re here, why don"t we head there? It even has a repeatable quest…"
"Ah? There"s a place like this? Why didn"t you tell me sooner?"
"I was afraid that you might invite all the guys and girls of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to that map, duh. It can accommodate 5 to 10 people at most. With our current DPS, we should have no problems grinding that location!"
"Alright then. Let"s head over first and decide what to do later. Yiyi, you be the party leader!"
"Mn!"
After Lin Yixin was promoted to the party leader, she immediately activated her Famous General Skill. Bombsh.e.l.l had already reached its cap some time ago, but an 80% boost to all stats was still very impressive, especially for me. My base Attack was 6210 after the boost, and my real attack power was way higher than that. My HP was over 53k, and my base Defense was 7317. I shouldn"t have any problem grinding Level 160 shadow-rank mobs now.
……
After arriving at the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range, Lin Yixin and I automatically hid our ID and equipment glow, as if in tacit agreement. This way, most people would think that we were just normal players with slightly unusual equipment. Besides that, I pulled up my Soul Suppressing Cloak to cover my face and my blood-red eyes. Unfortunately, the characteristics of an Asura King were very identifiable.
Lin Yixin also covered her pretty face so that people wouldn"t know that she was the Fruit Knife G.o.ddess. There were way too many players in that area, and neither of us wanted to deal with a mob asking to take photos or make memories with her.
We didn"t go far before a Level 117 barbarian magic knight sitting atop a wild boar rode up to us and asked, "Hey there, friends! Are you interested in forming a party and hunting the Level 127 Hill Boars halfway up the mountain range? I guarantee that the experience is great, and you"ll be able to reach Level 130 soon!"
I couldn"t help but think to myself. I"m Level 142 already, bro. Or are you suggesting I level back to 130?
Lin Yixin giggled once before replying in a sweet voice, "Thank you for the offer, but big bro and I are gathering herbs in the mountain today, so…"
"Is that so?" It would seem that the barbarian magic knight wasn"t especially bright. "Then I"ll leave you to be."
I took the opportunity to put an arm on my “little sister"s” shoulder. "Yo, my good sister…"
"Screw you!"
Lin Yixin immediately b.u.mped me with her shoulder. "Why the h.e.l.l are you speaking like Simon Qing?"
"Nonsense. Come on, let"s go to that map before anyone else stops us again!"
"Mn!"
……
We ran along a mountain for almost half an hour straight before we finally reached an area somewhat close to the mountaintop. The mobs here were all shadow-rank and above Level 145. They offered more experience and loot, but their power was greater as well. It was basically inaccessible to most players below Level 125.
"We"re almost there…"
Lin Yixin smiled and pointed to the front. "There, that valley entrance over there!"
"Wawa, quest, quest!" I gripped my Cyan Netherworld Sword and broke into a mad run.
When I reached the small hill though, I was shocked by what I saw. The huge valley was filled with undead creatures of varying sizes, although the majority of them were Corrosive Worms. These strange creatures almost looked like aliens from outer s.p.a.ce with their three legs and unusual mandibles. They had incredible movement speed, and when they opened their mouth completely, it was bigger than even their own head. Speaking of their head, it was triangular in shape, like cobras". It was bound to be a deadly mob, to say the least!
I moved closer to a Corrosive Worm and waved my hand. Its stats screen immediately appeared in front of me—
Corrosive Worm (Ancient)
Level: 160
Attack: 2100~2550
Defense: 2750
HP: 190000
Skill: Swallow, Rend, Corrosive Poison
Introduction: A creature of the purgatory. The Corrosive Worms are born from dead bodies, and they possess incredibly sharp fangs. They are the central force of the Night Creature Legion, and they group in shockingly large numbers.
……
I looked up. The Corrosive Worms were as numerous as the sea, but a kind of disgusting flying insect was p.o.o.ping even more Corrosive Worms, Corpse Eaters, Cave Devils, and other monsters that were flying in the sky. It looked like the Night Creatures were planning an a.s.sault and exploiting the difficult terrain of the mountaintop to their advantage. These monsters were certainly growing smarter and smarter each day. Still, this amount of worms was… Is Lin Yixin serious? Forget five to ten people, I think this sea of worms can flood over even a thousand-man party like nothing.
"Hey, are you done looking? We should accept the quest first before we grind the mobs," Lin Yixin said.
"Okay. Where"s the NPC?"
"Over there!"
The two of us rounded a corner, and behind a giant rock there was a temporary human camp that was made from stone. About a hundred or so NPCs were garrisoned here, and the scout captain, a man with a thick beard, was standing at the center with a giant sword. He took a deep gulp from his wine bottle before laughing heartily. "Hahahaha, adventurers from distant lands, do you wish to earn more gold? How long has it been since you touched a lady"s chest? If you wish to earn 1000 gold, kill 1000 Corrosive Worms and come back to me, hahahaha! Once you have gold, the ladies will strip themselves naked and climb into your tent on their own, hahahahaha…"