Chapter 132: Tempest Shadow (1/2)
Xue Wei sucked in a deep breath and pointed at the forest. “You’ve probably seen it with your own eyes, but the reason we spent half a year building a poor fortress like this was to recover our homeland and rebuild the Violet Empire on the soil of Eternal Song Forest!”
“You want to recover your homeland?” I asked in surprise.
“That’s right!” Xue Wei watched Queen Sophia’s departing back seriously before continuing, “Did you know that Sophia used to be the princess of the Violet Empire? Unfortunately, even she was turned into a Night Creature during the invasion that destroyed the empire. But we didn’t surrender our souls to the darkness.”
Xue Wei clenched her fists and declared, “That is why we wish to return to our homeland and drive out all the evil creatures that occupy Eternal Song Forest. We will build a new undead country where there is no killing or oppression. There will only be eternal power and law.”
I opened the map before saying, “Eternal Song Forest is huge, but it is located between Floating Ice City and Sky City. You must be aware that both of these cities are under control of the Silver Moon Alliance, right? Founding a country here would be like digging a hole on another person’s land. Moreover, Sky City is a huge city that belongs to humans. Did Her Majesty not realize that her dream, grand as it is, won’t be easy to make true?”
Xue Wei smiled. “Of course she did. That’s why Her Majesty sent me to speak with the current monarch of Sky City. The good news is, my diplomatic quest was a relatively successful one. The Silver Moon Alliance and Blood Dance Alliance agreed that we share the same short-term objective, and that is to repel the Night Creature Legion’s invasion. Not only would our efforts to rebuild the Violet Empire go undisturbed, they might even send us aid once in a while.”
I nodded with a smile. “How peaceful. It’s just like me visiting Mad Dragon and showing Coldmoon Rose the care she deserves every once in a while…”
“...”
Unsure how to respond, Xue Wei changed the topic and said, “Anyway, what I wanted to tell you is that we’ve sent our army to take out the evil undeads who inhabit this land. However, we are seriously lacking in manpower right now, so I would like you to assist in the effort as well!”
“Tell me!”
Xue Wei pointed at the forest. “A huge number of undead swordsmen have appeared inside Eternal Song Forest, and these well-trained undeads are very powerful. I need you to head there, kill 200 undead swordsmen and collect 40 Skeletal Fingers for me!”
Ding~!
System Notice: Do you accept the quest [The Threat in Eternal Song Forest]? (Quest Rank: A+)
Description: Head to Eternal Song Forest and kill at least 200 undead swordsmen. Bring 40 Skeletal Fingers to Shadow Dancer Xue Wei for a generous reward!
...
Xue Wei nodded. “Add them to our warehouses!”
“Yes, my lord!”
I guess I no longer have any business here. Time to go do my quest!
I checked out my character screen and saw that a new faction-based military rank window had appeared. Right now, I was just an insignificant Skeleton Soldier at the bottom of the hierarchy.
Skeleton Soldier
Kill Points: 0 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 1%
Skeleton Horseman
Kill Points: 150 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 2%
Steel Guardian
Kill Points: 400 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 3%
Ash Knight
Kill Points: 1000 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 5%
Phantom Knight
Kill Points: 2500 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 7%
Huntsman
Kill Points: 7000 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 9%
Bloody General
Kill Points: 20000 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 11%
Netherworld Knight
Kill Points: 50000 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 13%
Shadow God General
Kill Points: 120000 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 15%
……
I was stunned. Nine military ranks? Although the effect wasn’t particularly impressive, especially at the beginning—even at the highest level, it only granted the player a 15% EXP reduction—it was still pretty useful at the late game. For example, assuming that I and another player were grinding at the same speed, it would take me 85 days to level up, and it would take the other 100 days.
Moreover, I gotta say, these titles sound pretty cool, especially Huntsman, Netherworld Knight and Shadow God General. It was the perfect prefix to have when dating girls.
…Or not, actually. It seemed like all the beautiful women around me were immune to this kind of stuff. For example, He Yi was the Asia Region Vice President of the GGS company. She was immune to fancy-sounding titles since a long time ago. Lin Yixin was famously known as the Fruit Knife Goddess. Considering her naming sense, it didn’t take a genius to know that she cared little about titles as well. Murong Mingyue might actually like this, but unfortunately for me, my love for her was completely platonic.
Anyway, it was time to stop fantasizing and get back to my quest. I needed to accumulate “Kill Points” to increase my military rank, and I had a feeling that it was given when a quest related to the Blood Dance Alliance was complete. Once I completed this quest, I would know if my suspicion was correct or not.
……
The only thing present in Eternal Song Forest was a terrifying silence.
The Level 70 elite mobs were like mines that only triggered when you entered their territory, so I had no choice but to roam the forest aimlessly like a ghost. That being said, I had killed enough undead swordsmen to know their behavior, and could secure a kill without any danger. At the beginning, I wasn’t able to kill a Level 70 elite mob without it chewing out a huge chunk of HP from the Dark Wasp. But now, neither of us dropped below 75% HP anymore.