Chapter 210: Recruiting An Army (2/2)

[Quest objective: Curry friendliness with the Long-Ears above ‘Respect’, and convince the chief of the Long Ears to allow the construction of a Lifestone in their settlement]

[Quest Item: Lifestone blueprint (Throw it on the ground and it’ll build itself)]

[Quest Reward: Certain EXP and game coins, Ring of the Lion King (Purple, rare item): Buff yourself with ‘Splendor of the Beasts’ when fighting against the target of your vengeance and his minions]

[Note: What King of Beasts are you if you can’t deal with rabbits?! —an anonymous Player named Simba]

Zonyan and Vulcan shared a glance after receiving the quest, immediately understanding that they need to change their original plan of ‘hiring a Long-Ear to guide the way→get to the Grayclaw Tribe→defeat Swordtail’.

Now, it appears that the course of their quest had turned to ‘gain reputation with the Long-Ears→build a Lifestone→have them lead the way to the Grayclaw tribe→kick Swordtail’s butt’.

Moreover, Zonyan understood that Swordtail might not be weaker than he was after fighting the Tigerman Warrior.

After all, that Tigerman Warrior did mention that he wasn’t able to defeat Swordtail yet. Though Zonyan’s level was higher, his overall ability was inferior if templates were accounted for—the only reason he won was the advantages of Game Rule.

The rich EXP rewards from killing the Tigerman made that very obvious.

As such, things won’t fare well for Zonyan if he challenged Swordtail alone, nor would his tribe acknowledge his victory if Vulcan and other players interfered—to nonhumans, a duel with the title of chief in the balance was a sacred affair.

Besides, failing once or twice wouldn’t matter if they failed once or twice. All he had to do was wait until he resurrects, sum up his experience in previous challenges and re-challenge Swordtail.

After all, Zonyan no longer lacked patience and the courage to face failure since he had become a Player.

***

In reality, every Player would have experienced the suffering of failure and horrific deaths, be it in their exploration of dungeons where every kind of danger lurks, or when they frequented the Living Dead Cellar of the Rotten Bones High Priest.

Even so, they would learn something from each of their deaths—be it the attacking pattern of their opponents, their vulnerability or a flaw the Player themselves had but did not notice before.

Those aspects are experiences and platforms with which Players defeat stronger adversaries, make up for their lacking and refine their strategies while they continue journeying towards success and new heights!

One could say that Players were Players not because they did not fear death, but because each death empowered them!

Aside from Marni.

Either way, Zonyan’s group would have to win the Long-Ears’ trust since they needed to earn their reputation. Hence, Zonyan took out a bottle of cola-cum-seawater and handed it to Laybit, who was holding on to his father’s ‘corpse’.

“If you trust me, please let your father drink this.”

“What’s that?” Laybit frowned slightly at the cola which no longer had bubbles—he remembered that he wanted to use that same bottle of liquid for barter to have him be their guide. There was curiosity on his face now, with one of his long pink rabbit ears dangling limply while the other was curved into a question symbol.

That look of wariness was as cute as a fluffy kitten.

“Forget it, Brother Vulcan.” Joey tried his best to keep the Moe-struck Vulcan pinned, fearful that his beastly side would go into a frenzy and fail their quest entirely.

“It’s a One-Time, Single-User Use Satellite Strategy Healing Potion (mixed with water),” Zonyan said, revealing the full name of the item instead of the shorter name that was more popular amongst the Players. “By the way, that blue one is called a Consumable Single-User Use Mini Reventilating Potion.”

Laybit tilted his head, left confused by the long names while his eyes narrowed into two little dots. The pink frontal fringe of his hair dangled in a lovely bemused look, and ‘I-don’t-get-it-but-it-sounds-awesome’ was written all over his face.

“By the way, Laybit, could you introduce us?” Rangka seized the perfect moment to interrupt as if it was only natural, just as Zonyan was about to make his potions play.

Unlike the young and less learned Laybit, Rangka was just three years younger than the Long-Ears’ chief. As an elder of the tribe, he naturally had experienced much of the world.

From what he knew, Nedlan the Bloodclaw was manageable since he could try to compromise amicably with the Graywolf-man even if he couldn’t win.

On the other hand, that Tigerman who had the ancient Saber-tooth bloodline was a completely different matter—his brother who was much stronger was downed with a single punch and barely survived with Tortoise Breathing. Rangka himself would probably be a one-punch kill as well.

And yet, those two fellows who came out of nowhere managed to take down those two with relative ease.

Leaving aside that weird human that smashed Nedlan to death with a tombstone, that Leo was clearly powerful—and brutally so.

The Saber-tooth Tigerman Warrior would bend steel with his heavy blows, and any normal blades would break from a single strike. Even so, the Leo handily parried the Tigerman’s fist, before stabbing the Tigerman to death with that same blade which didn’t look like anything special!

How much training did it take to get to such level!?

Rangka felt tremendous pressure at that very thought.

[1] 外甥女 the author wrote it as niece here, not sure if he’s trying to confuse us on purpose or what