Chapter 75: Elemental Barrier (1/2)
Coldmoon Rose got up from the grass while gnashing her teeth together in anger. It reminded me of a joke. A farmer went to visit a prostitute, and the prostitute said, “It costs 10 to do it once on the grass, 20 on the chair and 50 on the bed.” The farmer gave her 50, and she smiled. “It seems like you’re a tasteful person, sir!” But the farmer said, “What the hell are you talking about? I want to do it 5 times on the grass.”
……
The Weeping Fire Blade continued to glow faintly as it diced an Imp’s head to pieces. Having killed the fourth Imp, I looked at my experience bar; it had risen considerably. Dark Wasp was at 65% HP after the battle, but I was still completely untouched. All things considered, it was a pretty good result!
Right now my reaction time was about 400 milliseconds at most, whereas an average person’s was around 300 milliseconds. This meant that I would soon return to my peak state from before the first accident, although I was still a ways away from top pros out there. Through conditioning their brains and superior connection latency, some geniuses could reduce their effective reaction time to even 100 milliseconds. Vegetable Tofu Soup, Frivolous Scholar and Candlelight Shadow were all legendary pros at this level.
Still, my condition IS steadily improving. The virus might be bringing me burning pain whenever I’m under the sun, but it also helped me out of a low point in my life. Turns out this illness isn’t all bad after all! I’m sure that my brain delay would eventually return to the normal state, 200 milliseconds, or even lower in the near future!
I continued to train and coordinate my and my pet’s movements. It gave me a lethargic feeling of rebirth, as some of the skills I had long forgotten because of my crippling delay were slowly returning. I was on my way to recovering to my peak form.
Some more grinding later, Pardon, Slayer Slash, Undead Energy and Regeneration of the Undead all reached Rank 4. Killing mobs became even easier than before, and my experience just kept on rising. In less than three hours, after countless Imps had fallen to my blade, a beam of golden light marked my ascension to Level 43. I was now only one level behind the highest-leveled player in the game, Lin Yixin, though I was still at third place.
Coldmoon Rose didn’t return after being sent away. She knew there was no point. Even if she could rally a couple hundred members to cut me down, I had a top-tier skill like Earth Escape and could retreat safely. More importantly, she knew I had returned to Floating Ice City, so she also knew that the equipment from the boss wasn’t on my person. Therefore, there was no point in mobilizing so many players just for me to maybe drop a level.
I looked at my experience bar and saw that it was 97%. I should be able to level up to 44 and be on equal footing with Lin Yixin after turning in this quest. Still, I was sure that she would leave me in the dust again the moment she came back online. Her Killer Wind Swordplay was incredibly powerful and greatly increased her leveling efficiency.
Moreover, Lin Yixin wanted to build a guild of her own, so she would definitely do everything in her power to maintain her number one spot in the Heavenly Ranking. After all, who wouldn’t want to join a guild that was commanded by the strongest player in Floating Ice City?
An involuntary smile crossed my face when I thought about Lin Yixin. The girl was both a friend and a rival to me. Our relationship was slowly but surely growing more complicated over time.
I left the town and headed to Crow Ridge. Upon returning to the small house, the Court Alchemist Shuy narrowed his eyes at me before laughing. “Young undead, you truly are as powerful as you look. Come, this is the reward you deserve!”
Ding~!
System Notice: You have completed the quest [Night Creatures’ Venom]. You have gained 14500 EXP, 550 Reputation and the quest reward: “Elemental Barrier”!
……
Huh? I got an equipment reward?!
I hastily opened my bag and found a colorful, lustrous shield was sitting at a corner of my bag. It seemed to be of pretty high quality!
My mind turned blank when I checked its stats.
Elemental Barrier (Dark Steel–grade)
Defense: 72
Block: 7%
Stamina: +9
Passive: Increases user’s Defense by 1%
Level Requirement: 35
……
What the hell? I didn’t expect to see such amazing stats on a Level 35 item! It has more Defense than even my Silver-grade war boots, this is amazing!
In Heavenblessed, the only class that could equip shields was Magic Knight. It was why they were certainly going to be the tankiest class in the future, with highest HP and Defense. They were the obvious choice for the main tank in a party too!
If this is what a Level 35 Dark Steel–grade looks like, I can imagine how overpowered higher-level shields will be. All classes have their unique characteristics, I suppose. For example, Warriors like me relied on explosive power of two-handed swords to gain an advantage. Yep, this Elemental Barrier is seriously fantastic. I can sell it at Floating Ice City or gift it to Gui Guzi!
I tried chatting with the NPC a bit longer, but he didn’t have another quest to offer me. Disappointed, I had no choice but to return to Floating Ice City.
Swhoosh!
It was 8 am when I appeared at the city square. Most hardworking players had already come online and rubbing shoulders with each other at the auction house. It was a bustling scene.
I went inside and sold two Iron-grade cloth armors I had in my bag. They dropped while I was killing the Imps, and they were worth dozens of silver at most.
I sent a message to Gui Guzi and asked, “How’s your shield right now?”
Gui Guzi replied excitedly, “Brother B and I got a Level 39 Dark Steel–grade shield after we killed a boss last night. It has 65 Defense and +11 Stamina. Amazing, right?”
Well, that’s a downer. I guess I sell the shield to some other Magic Knight.
I was just about to submit it when a melodious voice rang beside me. It was a familiar voice that I had been longing to hear all this time.