Chapter 422 (1/2)
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WTF! Did He Yi really just become a Famous General by killing a porcupine? What kind of karma is that…
I brought up the Famous General Ranking, and it looked like my eyes and ears weren't deceiving me. China now had four Famous Generals, and He Yi's new Famous General Skill was called “Royal Road”. When I clicked on it to check its effects, I was surprised by what I saw—
Royal Road: Intimidate your opponents with your eminence. Increase all party members' stats by 15% and lower all enemies' stats by 15%. Skill exclusive to player ”From Water”!
……
Royal Road was a two-way skill that increased all allied stats by 15% and reduced all enemy stats by 15% at the same time. It had its advantages and its disadvantages compared to Lin Yixin's Bombsh.e.l.l, but long story short, both skills were about the same. Moreover, both skills were inferior to my Martial G.o.d when it came to PvE!
Inside the party channel, the girls were exploding in joy—
Murong Mingyue: ”Eve's luck is seriously amazing these last couple days. Who would've thought that she would become a Famous General right after Who Will Rise?”
Beiming Xue laughed. ”Yeah. This Royal Road is so powerful. I think it's as good as Lin Yixin's Bombsh.e.l.l in PvP!”
He Yi giggled. ”Yes, I was just lucky. The rest of you should do your best as well. If you level up by killing a boss, your chances of becoming a Famous General should be much higher.”
……
I congratulated He Yi briefly but didn't dive into a conversation. I had some grinding to do.
It had been a while since the start of the World Famous General patch. By design, anyone who became a World Famous General was going to be extremely useful in all future battles. Moreover, Famous Generals could party twice the amount of players others could. For example, the biggest party a Level 100 fourth-promotion player could make was a 20-man party, but a Famous General at the same level could make a 40-man party and share their buff with everyone. This was incredibly useful, of course. Famous Generals were definitely going to play a major role in upcoming guild territory wars and Nation Wars!
A normal Level 120 fifth-promotion player could make a 100-man party while a Famous General could make a 200-man party. A normal Level 150 and sixth-promotion player could make a 200-man party while a Famous General could make a 400-man party. How epic would it be for a Famous General with 400 elite troops behind them to rampage in and out of an enemy formation, leaving countless corpses in their wake?
Not only that, I had a feeling that upcoming battles would be decided by the number of Famous Generals a guild or a nation had, not the number of top-tier players. The more Famous Generals a guild had, the deadlier their guild would become, so Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls should do our utmost to nurture our players into Famous Generals!
According to the system, the Top 15 highest-leveled players in a major city had a chance to become a Famous General when they leveled up. Of course, if someone on the Heavenly Ranking had already become a Famous General, then they would automatically be excluded from the selection pool. For example, Lin Yixin and I were already Famous Generals, but we were hogging the first and second spot of Sky City's Heavenly Ranking. Therefore, the selection pool was s.h.i.+fted to 3–18 places of Sky City instead. And out of these fifteen players, Purple Marquis probably had the biggest chance of becoming a Famous General because he was the current highest-leveled player of the selection pool, and the current third place on Sky City's Heavenly Ranking.
I did some quick thinking before messaging everyone in the guild channel. ”Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon… as you already know, our guild leader has recently become a Famous General. Now it's your turn. Once you hit 99% experience, I want you to stop grinding and find a boss—any boss—to kill. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls must have six Famous Generals at least in a month's time!”
”Got it!”
Everyone replied excitedly before going back to the grind. Of course, I said that, but bosses weren't actually easy to find. Low-rank bosses would be dead in the hands of low-level players already, but high-rank bosses were always going to be a ha.s.sle to kill. He Yi became a Famous General only because her luck was completely off the charts today.
Well, I should get back to my own task. I continued killing the Crystal Dragonfishes and looting the Dragonfish Meat in hopes of increasing my Cooking skill to Rank 10 today. After that, I should embark on a new journey.
……
I grinded until noon before I logged out and had lunch with the girls at a Hunan restaurant. After we returned to the workshop, it was grinding and even more grinding. Hard work was the key to success.
About 4 pm or so, a system announcement dinged across Crystal Coast again—
Ding~!
System Announcement: Player ”Purple Marquis (Sky City)” has successfully defeated the Dark Gold Rank Boss, Cunning Fire Rabbit, and reached Level 110. They have met the criteria to become a Famous General, and they are the fifth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +2, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, ”Insight”!
Insight: 30% chance to see through the opponent's stratagem and neutralize it for 600 seconds. The maximum success rate of this skill is 70%. Success rate depends on the player's Tactics.
……
G.o.d d.a.m.n, I wasn't expecting another Famous General to emerge on the same day. Also what is this grinding speed? He's at the same level as Lin Yixin now! No wonder he is the strongest general of Snowy Cathaya!
Insight was an interesting skill. Upon activation, it had a 70% chance of seeing through the opponent's stratagem and neutralizing it. It was basically the Heavenblessed version of Seven Harms Fist. Insight was a pure debuff that didn't benefit the skill user or his allies in any way, but it was still pretty amazing especially if Purple Marquis gained enough Tactics to hit the percentage cap. A skill that stopped its target from using a stratagem for 10 whole minutes was absolutely vicious!
The guild channel erupted into activity again as everyone expressed their astonishment. Who would've thought that Purple Marquis would become a Famous General on the same day as He Yi?
I did a rough calculation in my head. Purple Marquis currently had around 60 Tactics or so, so the success rate of Insight should be around 50%. It was still scary. Insight wasn't a channeling skill, so he could theoretically seal off his enemy's stratagem first and swap out the Famous General Skill for a high-rank Encourage, buffing himself for around 20% Attack. It was a huge advantage, no matter how you looked at it!
That being said, it wasn't like I was the one who gained that Famous General Skill, so after my initial surprise I tossed the revelation to the back of my mind and went back to the grind again. Who knows, maybe all the Famous Generals of China would show up today. In fact, it felt like the requirements to become a Famous General had loosened a bit after the end of Who Will Rise. Otherwise, He Yi and Purple Marquis shouldn't have been able to become Famous Generals this easily. Of course, this was a good thing. There was no telling if there was a cap on the number of Famous Generals—it could be a hundred, a thousand, or there could be no cap at all—but the faster our people became Famous Generals, the better.
At around 7 pm or so, the China servers well and truly exploded with shock as the system announced yet the birth of another Famous General—
Ding~!
System Announcement: Player ”Beiming Xue (Sky City)” has successfully defeated the Dark Gold Rank Boss, Dark Shadow, and reached Level 109. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the sixth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, ”Bow G.o.d”!
Bow G.o.d: Beseech the power of the ancient Bow G.o.d and increase ranged physical attack power by 50% and attack speed by 20% for all party members. Skill exclusive to player ”Beiming Xue”!