Chapter 54 - Honesty

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Farming monsters in a party or alone were conflicting concepts. If players did not team up, they would not get better equipment. It could not be denied that equipment could frequently determine the outcome of a battle. A player with completely rubbish equipment could never win against a peer with Rare or Epic equipment. No matter how high a player’s stats were, they would only have five times more attribute points compared to their peers. Rare or Epic equipment would easily add points a few levels’ worth to the player’s stats. It was impossible to win with such a huge difference. On the other hand, if a player played with a team, they would slowly but surely get too comfortable with the concept, and would soon forget what it felt like to level up alone. They would certainly forget how to operate their character.

However, every player had limited time. It was impossible to take care of both ends. Hence, the server was divided into two extremes. There were many with good operation skills, but there were more players who would not survive outside a team setting.

That Shadow Wizard was the weakest link in a PvP. Lin Fei committed this to heart. This was because the Shadow Wizard had already lost against her in their little battle before this.

Other classes had skills to detect an invisible Rogue as well. However, they were not as useful as a Shadow Wizard’s Spying Eye. Since she knew the Spying Eye’s detection range, Lin Fei’s delicateness would never allow herself to be detected by the Shadow Wizard. All she had to do was hover along the perimeter of the detection range.

The Evil Alliance players moved along smoothly under the Necromancer’s guidance. They went all the way toward the Boar Mine’s interior. The seemingly fragile skeleton soldiers were a force to be reckoned with once they put their scythes together. They would wash over any monster they encountered like the tide and decapitate it in an instant. A colony of ants could kill an elephant. This could also be applied to these skeleton soldiers.

They encountered a Crazed Boar King along the way. This randomly spawned miniboss could be considered formidable. It managed to take down six skeleton soldiers. However, it soon buckled under the attacks of the other skeleton soldiers and was drowned in their attacks. Lin Fei felt a chill run down her spine as she looked at the skeleton soldiers’ scythes bearing down on the Crazed Boar King’s huge body like pincers of the ants. It was a sea of skeletons conjured up by the Necromancer! It was almost too horrifying to watch. Melee users or spellcasters would certainly die under the sheer number of these skeleton soldiers.

Lin Fei tried to decipher the Necromancer’s sign language. If she could understand his sign language, she might be able to take the initiative in the battle. However, he was making signs at too high a speed. Also, with this distance between them, Lin Fei could not even see it clearly. She gave up.

Tian Kuang, Tian Fei, Tian Xin, and Xiao Ling were following behind her. They kept 100 yards between Lin Fei and themselves. They passed by numerous Boar corpses on the ground along the way. When they set eyes on the scene of carnage, they felt their jaws drop.

“This is too terrifying. Did the Necromancer do this all alone?” Tian Xin could not help but wonder aloud.

Tian Kuang kept hitting his right hand with his staff. He thought to himself before speaking, “That staff of his is too powerful. There must be some handicap for a staff that powerful. Usually, the more power the user can unleash, the weaker the user will become. If we’re to engage him in battle after this, don’t try and mess with his skeleton soldiers. Kill him first. Without him controlling, those skeleton soldiers will be good for nothing!”

‘Understood,” Xiao Ling and the others replied.

Along the way, Tian Xin picked up 13 gold coins and a piece of Rare equipment from the pools of blood. He knocked a gold coin on a rock, confirmed that it was authentic, and clicked his tongue as he commented, “What a rich bunch. They’re leaving the dropped items lying around.”

Tian Fei rolled his eyes. He caught up to Tian Kuang and Xiao Ling.

The cave was getting darker and their visibility was dropping. In the darkness, monsters had an advantage over the players. This was clearly a setting to make it more difficult for players to farm monsters. Tian Kuang and the others did not mind. The lower their visibility, the more difficult it would be for those Evil Alliance players to kill the Demon Boar King. That meant higher chances of their sneak attack ending in success.

The deeper they went, the muddier the floor became. The gusts of cold wind brought with them dense demonic aura. Xiao Ling was not affected by it, but Tian Kuang disliked it very much. His brows were tightly knitted together. He showed a more pronounced reaction compared to Tian Fei and Tian Xin.

Xiao Ling was curious. Tian Kuang was a Shadow Priest who went over to the dark side. He should have been used to demonic aura. However, he seemed to be greatly affected by it.

Tian Kuang wielded his seemingly ordinary and simple Redra’s Staff. It was glowing with faint white radiance. The light enveloped the staff and seeped into Tian Kuang’s skin. Tian Kuang felt much better now. Xiao Ling was curious again. Tian Kuang’s staff usually shone with black light, but it had just shone with white radiance.

For an instant, Xiao Ling’s ring buzzed and burst forth with black radiance. Tongues of black flames licked and covered Xiao Ling’s arm. His arm was now flaming, forming a sharp contrast with the radiance of the Redra’s Staff. It was as if they were standing off.

Tian Kuang and Xiao Ling exchanged shocked looks. Then, they could not help but burst with laughter. At this moment, both of them knew that the other person had an item that was beyond Legendary and had chosen to keep it as a secret. However, neither blamed the other for keeping this secret. After all, one did not parade everything they owned while being out in the world.

At this moment, it was impossible for the two of them to keep their secrets any longer. This also meant that barriers and distance they had between them were now nonexistent.

Xiao Ling felt a strange sensation. It was the same feeling Yu Xue, Luan Ying, and the others gave him. Xiao Ling finally realized that he was not used to being alone, but it was just that people who made him feel like a friend such as Tian Kuang, Yue Xue, Luan Ying, and the others were hard to come by.

As Tian Kuang walked, he eyed Xiao Ling’s ring, which was burning with black flames. “What’s the name of that ring?”

“Hilaire’s Demon Ring,” Xiao Ling replied.

“That must be the reason for your General Warlock skills, right? I’ve had that hunch for a long time now, but I couldn’t be sure,” said Tian Kuang with a smile.

“Yes. With this, I can take up all three Warlock specializations and learn their skills,” said Xiao Ling with a nod.

Tian Kuang paused before saying, “Are you a Warlock as well?”

“No, I’m a Mechanical Alchemist,” replied Xiao Ling. At this point, there was no reason to withhold information.

Tian Kuang, Tian Xin, and Tian Fei looked at each other with a hint of fright. All three Warlock specializations and a Mechanical Alchemist. Good heavens, that was scary!

They understood the implications of such a class. When battling a Boss, the player’s aggro was not lumped together with a mechanical puppet’s. As a Warlock, Xiao Ling could deal twice the amount of damage compared to a melee user. A mechanical puppet could also deal some damage. Such a player was too great of a boost to a team.

Tian Kuang asked, “Where’s your mechanical puppet, then?”

Xiao Ling blushed. If he had not built a mechanical puppet before this, he would not have known how to answer Tian Kuang. This basic mistake of his was too humiliating. Xiao Ling waved his hand and summoned the mechanical gargoyle from his sub-space.

The mechanical gargoyle beat its metallic wings. When it saw Xiao Ling, it began to squeak with excited tones. Its hideous face kept contorting. It was a comical sight.

“A mechanical gargoyle!” exclaimed Tian Kuang, Tian Fei, and Tian Xin. Tian Kuang understood it now. Xiao Ling had bought the gemstones from them the other day to build this mechanical gargoyle! A mechanical gargoyle’s rarity aside, he was sure that there were no more than 100 players with a mechanical gargoyle on their side.

“I’ve built it with the gemstones I’ve bought from you guys. It’s a rank 1S, the lowest rank of a mechanical gargoyle,” said Xiao Ling. He was feeling slightly disappointed. His engineering’s expertise rating was too low for his liking. Building this mechanical gargoyle was the most he could do.