Chapter 31：Enchanting

Xiao Ling sat in the dark corner. The other players could only see his shadow. Xiao Ling's equipment did not exactly stand out, which made the other players take less notice of him. On Endace Continent, solo players were never in short supply. However, not many of them were very accomplished.

Could a solo player challenge a Boss? No! If they could not defeat a Boss, this meant that they could not get good equipment, which consequently limited their achievements. Naturally, they could buy equipment at the Auction House, but there were not many would sell treasures at the Auction House. Even if they got their hands on good equipment, they would usually prefer to trade it within their own circles.

Most players would frown upon solo players. This was because they would not understand what it meant to be in a team and work as one. If they forced a solo player into their party, that would be a surefire way of being wiped! Once a player embarked as a solo character, they would be cast aside and shunned by everybody else, doomed to the fate of being alone.

The low and battered wooden door creaked as it opened. A female and three male players walked in. The other players merely glanced at them before continuing their conversations. It was perfectly ordinary for players to come in and out of the inn.

Xiao Ling glanced at them as well. These four players were a Priest, a female Thief, a Mage, and a Warlock. He found this to be a peculiar combination. They seemed to be lacking in one party member of a melee Class. Could a Thief be the main tanker? Moreover, she was a girl. In Xiao Ling's impression, female players generally avoided running up to a monster.

The female Thief looked to be in her thirties. Her body was extraordinary. The exquisite light blue leather armor she wore accentuated her curves without reserve. Her looks were not considered unparalleled, but she was well worth a second look. Her gentle silhouette was easy on the eyes. Xiao Ling could not understand why a gentle-looking lady such as herself would choose the Thief class.

The stranger thing was that the Priest beside her was actually a Shadow Priest! Shadow Priests were different from Holy Priests. Holy Priests specialized in healing. Their powerful healing and revival abilities made them the favorites of any party. Many classes had revival abilities, but none of the other classes could hold a candle to Priests in terms of healing abilities.

"Life or death, Priest!" This was the comment of every player toward Holy Priests. A Priest with a high healing power was always in high demand; there was no worry about being unable to form a party regardless of where the Priest was.

Shadow Priests, on the other hand, were different. They sacrificed one-third of their healing power in favor of shadow damage and curses. Shadow Priests could even be equated to Affliction Warlocks in their leveling. This was very advantageous to Shadow Priests. Even without a party, they could still carry out leveling alone. However, the loss of one-third of the healing power could prove fatal to a party.

A Priest's healing power would determine the type of monsters the party could kill. Shadow Priests were often a burden in big quests. Their curses could not be compared to the Affliction Warlocks', their dps was not as high as ordinary spellcasters', and even their healing abilities were half-baked. They could not even compare to Nature Druids. Who would want such a Priest? These Priests were only fit to kill monsters with some below-average party or take on low-level Bosses.

It was said that Shadow Priests would experience a substantial improvement in stats after the second class advancement. The highest level currently achieved by players was only level 49. Who would know anything about level 60? Under such a setting, Dark Priests were as rare as Mechanical Alchemists. The solitary backs of Dark Priests could only be seen in the wild farming grounds. A party with a Holy Priest would never pick a Shadow Priest.

The warlock on the side had to be a Destruction Warlock, and the mage a Frost Mage. A Frost Mage with crowd control abilities and a Destruction Warlock with high dps. They were fine as far as ADCs were concerned, but it seemed unbalanced to be pairing up with a Thief. The problem was still there. They had a high-dps Destruction Warlock, but could the Thief occupy the monsters?

'Maybe there's still some of their other party members who have yet to arrive. If they had another Warrior among their ranks, that would be ideal,' Xiao Ling thought. He ordered another glass of fruit juice.

Xiao Ling had just taken his eyes off them when something on the Shadow Priest's light blue staff caught his eye. The round symbol on it made Xiao Ling lose his voice. 'Good heavens! It's an enchantment!'

This Shadow Priest appeared to be slightly over level 10, and yet he managed to add an enchantment on his staff!

A blue magic crystal was embedded on the top of the pure dark gold staff. Judging by the detailed workmanship, the staff had to be an Epic. Xiao Ling guessed that it was an SSS-ranked item. Otherwise, the Shadow Priest would have never enchanted his staff. Enchanting an item cost at least 1,000 gold coins. Did this mean that his staff was of such high quality that he was willing to spend 1,000 gold coins to enchant this level 10 item?

Enchantments could be categorized as followed: totem enchantment, crest enchantment, netherweave enchantment, glyph enchantment, and magic circle enchantment. The totem, crest, and netherweave enchantments were products of the Evil Alliance's technology. Only a fraction of those would find their way to the Angelic Alliance. On the other hand, glyph and magic circle enchantments were commonly seen in the Angelic Alliance.

The enchantment pattern on the staff was round. Several geometrical shapes were drawn in the center, while the edges shone with a faint bluish hue. Xiao Ling knew that the bluish glow was the product of the pulsing magic elements. The enchantment figure on that staff had to be a magic circle. Engraving one's staff with a magic circle would enable it to convert the magic elements in the air to energy for the staff.

The civilization of the Endace Continent was too rich. The Angelic Alliance's technology alone was divided into the three branches of glyphs, magic circles, and transmutation circles. These technologies had progressed over the 10,000 years they had been passed down for. Their development was endless. They produced sub-branches of their own, which made them unimaginably complex in their current forms.

Take Xiao Ling for example. As a Mechanical Alchemist, glyphs and transmutation circles were his specialty. However, he had only scratched the surface of glyphs and transmutation circles knowledge. The mechanical alchemy glyphs and mechanical construction transmutation circles Xiao Ling learned were but insignificant branches of the field of glyphs and transmutation circles.

Glyphs, transmutations circles, and magic circles were used in enchantments as well. Xiao Ling did not know much about enchantments. The only thing he knew was that enchantments granted the enchanted equipment certain unique attributes. He could not decipher what the Shadow Priest's staff was enchanted with. The only thing he was sure of was that enchanting was expensive!