Chapter 47

[System Notice: You have 1 unread message]

At the same moment that Dharma sent some news to Ye Chen, Ye Chen received a system notice. However, he knew the details before even opening the message. It was the usual reminders from the Trade Lobby when the stall rental time was up. They were returning all of the money earned and the un-sold products by mail to the adventurer.

As Ye Chen opened the mail, he asked Dharma, “What happened?”

“We are at the bar, drowning ourselves in sorrow. Do you want to come over?” While it may sound like an invitation, Dharma’s tone was needy, begging Ye Chen to go over.

“Give me the room number, I will be there shortly.” Having asked for the details, Ye Chen glanced at the message. “Wow! It sold faster than I thought!”

While the prices were slightly discounted, Ye Chen did not expect the outcome. Initially, he had thought that selling half of the items listed would already be a huge haul. However, all of the higher tier equipment was sold, leaving just a few pieces of lousy scrap metal. Unbeknownst to him, the Warring Dragon Guild was his most supportive client.

Collecting his sales, Ye Chen returned to the city with the Town Return Scroll.

Going to a bar was a risky business for Ye Chen. The bar was commonplace for interacting with NPCs and especially the owner. While Ye Chen could not be sure about the other NPCs, he knew that Titan Megacity’s bar’s boss was definitely not a Holy Believer. In the past, he had taken on a mission from him and discovered the owner’s atheist stance. Not only that, but this owner had also dabbled in some shady business.

Within the Boundless World, the bar was a drinking and entertainment area. While booking virtual rooms were slightly more costly, it would ensure that no outsiders would enter the room. When Ye Chen reached the bar, he punched in the room code and requested for entry.

The moment he obtained access, the dull and gloomy atmosphere slammed onto Ye Chen like a suffocating blanket. Dharma, Queen, and even Purple Olive were also gathered at the table.

“All killed by the Warring Dragon Guild?” Seeing their sullen expressions, Ye Chen could immediately guess the problem.

“Queen and I got killed thrice… Purple Olive got killed 5 times…”

“Fucking Warring Dragon Guild, they better watch out! We are implacably hostile and irreconcilable forever!!” With no care for her saintly, moe mask, Purple Olive roared, and bellowed uncontrollably.

If not for the bounty on her head placed by Warring Dragon Guild, she could already be a highly famous star across the entire Oriental Region. Owing to the enormous sum her head was now worth, the money-faced, uncompassionate womanizer, Limitless Love, killed her without blinking once. After that failure, she was more cautious. Alas, she was like a walking pot of gold, conspicuous yet defenseless. She was then killed four times more, all due to this hefty compensation the Warring Dragon Guild had promised for her death!

Hearing their tragic ending, Ye Chen could only sigh.

In the real world, prevalent corruption within the government had incurred heavy losses for the people, while politicians reaped luxurious profits. Understandably, citizens harbored hatred for politicians and ministers. However, not many would hesitate much when the opportunity arose for them to be corrupt. Within the game, it was the same. Numerous parties and guilds hated the Warring Dragon Guild. The Warring Dragon Guild’s pompousness and bigotry had rubbed adventurers off the wrong way. While the latter may dislike Warring Dragon Guild, a substantial portion was still thinking of methods to get into the Warring Dragon Guild. After all, the benefits and remuneration were fantastic. This was just like corrupt ministers in real life, colluding with influential multinational corporations for their own individual interests.

The Warring Dragon Guild was aware of this and seized the chance. If any adventurer tipped off the Warring Dragon Guild regarding the positions of their wanted man, they would rush over. In the event of accurate news, the adventurer would be offered a spot in the Warring Dragon Guild.

This spot in Warring Dragon Guild was highly alluring to many adventurers. They were more than willing to sacrifice another adventurer for it as long as they did not have deep-rooted feuds or were at odds with the Warring Dragon Guild.

“Boss, what do we do now?” Helplessly, Dharma looked to Ye Chen. Now, he honestly tasted the strength of the Top Guild in Titan Megacity.

“I need to make some preparations. Later, I will bring you all to do some leveling,” Ye Chen said, after some contemplation.

“Alright. We cannot afford to waste more time. We already literally wasted the entire day and even lost some EXP!” Dharma agreed without a thought, and so did the Queen.

The blatant opposition and bullying from Warring Dragon Guild had sparked immense hatred and dissatisfaction within the duo. Now, their hands were fidgeting, impatiently waiting to boost their own fighting abilities.

Ye Chen’s head tilted to Purple Olive. “You?”

“Of course I’m going!” Stilling fuming with rage, Purple Olive snapped. She had no other choice. Her gorgeous beauty gave her away too quickly. Finding a random party to level was looking for death now!

“Great, let’s go then.” Her agreement was perfect for Ye Chen. Leveling without a Priest was much more inefficient for a three-man party.

Leaving the bar, Ye Chen got Dharma to go to the general stall to stock up on goods while he brought out a piece of equipment from his vaults.

Like always, Dharma did not question and did as he was told. When he passed the items to Ye Chen, confusion was all over his face. “Boss, why do we need these?”

“Hehe, wait, and see.” A mysterious smirk surfaced on Ye Chen.

“Boss, where are we going?”

The three of them followed tightly behind Ye Chen to the transportation circle. Again, Dharma was perplexed. None of the lower level monster points needed the use of a transportation circle.

“Big Snowy Mountains! Transport to No. 9 Outfield Transportation Circle!”

With his instructions, a bright white light engulfed the party. Titan Megacity blurred out with the light, and the next instant, the wilderness appeared in front of them.

Sprawling land covered in fluffy white snow, flanked by long stretches of towering mountains. The Big Snowy Mountains was an area with Level 22 monsters. The location was quite a distance for Titan Megacity and required the use of the Transportation Circle for traveling. However, it would cost 10 gold. Coupled with the high HP, vicious Frost ability and threatening attack of the Ice Bear, not many adventurers were willing to pay the hefty cost to level here. Once an adventurer was frozen by the ice bear, their movement and attack plunged permanently. This would last until a Priest nullified the status’s effect with the skill Dispersion. Alas, this skill was only available to the Priest after Level 25. With all of the above reasons snowballing together, the number of adventurers in the Big snowy Mountain was limited.

Ye Chen led the party along the pathway into the Big Snowy Mountain. The closer they got to the mountains, the snow collected along the sides, thickening over the barren trees and ground. With the heightened frost, the entire party could feel the sharp tingling chill on their skin. If not for the thick coats that Dharma had got them, they would not have been able to withstand the frigid chills.

“Here will do.”

Halfway up the Big Snowy Mountain, on a sprawling sloping field, Ye Chen stopped. “The number of monsters here is favorable. We can pull them in in two batches, bombing them with the Durian Bomb Tree. Don’t pull too much in the first wave. We need to judge their state and the damage of the Durian Bomb Tree on them first before making another decision.”

Ye Chen briefed the party of his plan. They did not have a Knight with them, causing their pulling and killing strategy to be slightly different from the convention. However, they did possess advantages that regular parties did not have. Amongst the four of them, three of them had powerful AOE skills. Coupled with a skilled Priestess, their leveling would be much more efficient if done right.

The other nodded when they heard the plan. When Ye Chen transplanted the Durian Bomb Tree, Purple Olive could enhance the attributes of the others. After this, they would begin by pulling in the monsters on the left. Facing the Ice Bears, none of them could be sure of the effectiveness of their plan. For a start, each of them only pulled three monsters along.

Being far range attackers, pulling monsters was comparatively more straightforward. With just their basic attack with effectively no cool down, they attracted the aggression of the towering two-meter ice bears. The balls of snow-white fur charged over to each of them brimming with flame-red anger.

Despite the massive number of monsters, the party coordinated impeccably. With their previous experience of working together, they successfully lured six monsters to each of Ye Chen trees.

While using the Withering Light, Ye Chen watched the progress of the others while his own attack mostly did not damage the massive bears.

He did not bother much about Purple Olive’s damage. As a Priestess, her Holy Bullet barely took more HP off the monsters than his Withering Light. On the other hand, Queen and Dharma were leaps and bounds ahead, with the Queen being the highest DPS amongst the team. That was to be expected, mages were designed to deal more damage than archers, not to mention a Spatial-Type Mage.

Holding the bears under the region of attack of the Durian Bomb Tree, Queen and Dharma individually attacked the monsters, not using their strongest AOE skill yet. The Queen’s DPS was truly fearsome. If not for the fact that she had to rally between three monsters, she could have possibly killed one before it reached close enough to look at her facial features.

Even so, by the time the three monsters reached the Durian Bomb Tree, their HP was reduced by more than half.

Before long, the twelve monsters were under the canopy of the Durian Bomb Tree, bringing symphony of unceasing explosions.

“Illusions of Time!” Ye Chen cast the gray space-time warp onto the Durian Bomb Tree on the left. Beneath this tree, the monsters lured in by Queen and Dharma were gathered. Coupled with the heightened damage by the Durian Bomb Tree, the monsters soon dissipated as white light.

Having cast his strongest buff skill, Ye Chen watched the twelve monsters closely.

However, before he could analyze anything, Dharma cast his ultimate AOE skill. “Meteor Arrow Shower!”

Like a shower of shooting stars, the arrows glistened in the night sky, raining upon the Ice Bears. With each landing arrow, severe damage, at least 300 each, rose above the monsters.

These Ice Bears were Level 22 monsters, each boasting high defense. However, the Meteor Arrow Shower lived up to its name as one of the most coveted Archer’s AOE skills. Its attack prowess was shockingly high. Coupled with the boosted Durian Bomb Tree, the Ice Bear’s HP plunged like a falling boulder, dying within seconds.

As Dharma attacked the Ice Bears, Purple Olive swung her staff, adding another layer of buff onto the Durian Bomb Tree on the right. Under this status, the yellowish-green Durian Bomb Tree paled into a grayish white. The crimson damage above immediately cushioned significantly.

This was Purple Olive’s new skill, Fossilization. Amongst the skills available to the Priestess, this was definitely one of the better ones. When cast on an ally, the skin would harden, nullifying the majority of the negative statuses while boosting the ally’s defense significantly! Not only that, but it could also even be cast on the enemy with adverse effects. The enemy would enter a rock-like state. Even if the skill was just at Level 1, the enemy would already be frozen for a solid two seconds, unable to move or attack!

Of course, this skill also had many disadvantages. When dispelling the negative status of allies, the beneficial conditions would also be dismissed. Additionally, the movement speed of allies would suffer a decrease. When used on enemies, their defense would be strengthened. Resultantly, any attacks on this enemy would not deal damage unless the attacks were comparable to a Boss.

In any case, if Fossilization was used well, it could potentially be a game-changer for the party!