Chapter 74: Coldmoon Rose’s Invitation (1/2)

After exiting Crow Ridge, I followed a narrow and winding road to the bottom of the ridge. According to the map, there should be an occupied human town not far to the south. On the map, the zone looked so red it might as well be black, meaning that it was extremely dangerous to a player of my level.

I checked the time. It was past 11 pm. Looking at my friend list, Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were still fighting, while Lin Yixin and Murong Mingyue had already gone offline.

I suddenly felt like visiting He Yi to see how she was doing. This wasn’t the first time I was seized by such an impulse, but even if I managed to gather the courage, what would I even say to her? “Boss, take me as your lover since I died for your sake”?

I was not immune to wealth or poverty, but I did have a bottomline. I had always tried to rely on myself and not become a burden to others. I was unwilling to live on someone else’s charity or owe others.

After all, it was the only way I could be true to myself and lead a carefree life.

……

In the middle of a nearby town, I saw a huge cooking pot with venom, bits of flesh and white bones churning inside. The thick, greenish liquid boiled and bubbled before evaporating into a column of deadly smoke.

The cooking pot was surrounded by a horde of low-level Night Creatures called Imps, a type of evil humanoid monsters. They had short, crooked bodies less than a meter tall, and their blood-red skin made them look like midgets whose skin had been completely peeled off from their flesh. However, unlike midgets, their expressions were ruthless, and would occasionally let out incomprehensible cries while swinging the sticks in their hands.

As I sneaked my way into the town, I spotted a lone Imp doing exactly that. It was Level 46, and it was perfect fodder to level up my character.

“Get him, Little White Rabbit!”

The Dark Wasp heeded my call and zipped toward the Imp like lightning. Three consecutive hits later, the Level 46 Imp had lost two-fifths of his HP. At Rank 3, Flurry was a truly powerful skill.

The Weeping Fire Blade rose and fell squarely on the Imp’s body. Pardon and Slayer Slash easily took away its remaining HP.

Swhoosh!

An impressive stream of experience flew into my chest and bumped by experience bar a little. At this rate, my bar would fill up after cleaning the entire area. I would probably hit Level 44 once I turned in the quest too.

I spotted a group of three Imps not far away from me. They wouldn’t be as easy to kill as this lone Imp, but I didn’t hesitate too long before coming to a decision—kill! Imps were sociable creatures. If a group of three was too much for me, I could give up on the quest anyway.

Luckily, the situation was far from hopeless. I couldn’t challenge three Level 46 monsters alone, but my boss-tier pet, the Dark Wasp, helped even out the odds. Though I definitely still needed to plan out this battle carefully and ensure that the Dark Wasp never fell below half HP. Otherwise, it would mean the death of me.

A term suddenly flashed across my head. “Luring”!

Luring was a simple concept, but it was definitely worth the time to polish. Normal luring only reduced the number of aggroed mobs, whereas true luring reduced the amount of damage a player would take.

Splitting my attention into two, I took control over both myself and my Dark Wasp before progressing carefully. Now that I think about it, I suppose this counts as dual multitasking? Of course, this level of multitasking was nothing to me. Back in the days, I had crushed Candlelight Shadow, the so-called “Starcraft Emperor”, I had to do four different things at the same time. That was something he wasn’t willing to accept even to this day.

The Dark Wasp flew forward, paused for a second and deleted 40% HP from an Imp using Flurry. Under my control, it quickly flew to the right and dodged the attacks of the other two Imps. At the same time, I charged the wounded Imp from behind and killed it in three strikes.

The Dark Wasp was fast, and it was able to sting the Imp in front of it before the Imp’s aggro was transferred to me, dealing an impressive 754 damage.

Not only did I follow up the attack like a shadow and slashed at the back of the Imp’s head repeatedly, I purposely positioned myself so that the third Imp couldn’t get to my Dark Wasp. This basically meant that the Dark Wasp and the second Imp were locked into a one-on-one fight. As a result, it was able to regain most of the HP it had lost just by regenerating normally.

Crack!

The Dark Wasp stopped escaping after I had cut down the second Imp. Together, we ended the third Imp’s life in under 10 seconds!

“Aoo….”

The Imp let out a scream of pain and died. The entire battle took less than two minutes to conclude, and the Dark Wasp only lost 19% HP. I didn’t lose a single health point. All in all, it was an excellent fight. I was sure no one in Floating Ice City could achieve such teamwork and synergy between the master and their pet.

I sucked in a deep breath to compose myself. Multitasking two things at a time demanded a lot of brain power, and back in Spirit of Grief one minute was enough to tire me completely. But now, after two minutes of intense multitasking, all I felt was an unprecedented level of energy, calmness and clarity of mind. It looked like my mind had transcended to a whole new level.

Suddenly, a cheer broke out from behind me. “Beautiful! This is the first time I’ve seen such excellent control! You really are one of the best pros in Floating Ice City, if not the best!”