MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

After an hour had passed, Li Yi obtained another great item.

Once again, it was a drop from a purple treasure chest, and it was called ‘Mysterious Egg’.

As a matter of fact, he already had three of these eggs on him.

“No wonder Fatty is so fond of looting treasure chests, it’s just so addictive!”

The long journey through the lava map had finally come to an end. Using ‘Fly’, Li Yi scurried into the exit. The scene before him faded away and soon enough, he saw only darkness.

He was now in a pitch-black hallway which was even hotter than before. There was a red treasure chest not far from him that radiated a soft glow.

Li Yi stepped forward and he realized that the red treasure chest was locked. To his surprise, Universal Key had failed to open up the chest.

“Could this be the treasure chest for Black Autumn’s quest?”

Thankfully, the friend summoning tool’s cooldown had ended. (The original cooldown was two hours, but after equipping Wind Sword, its cooldown was reduced by half) Thus, Li Yi pulled Autumn Love over.

“It IS my chest…”

Black Autumn was in low spirits. She let out a sigh as she sat on top of the treasure chest.

Without the quest key, the treasure chest could not be opened. As such, the Hall of Fame Quest was a failure.

“A Rank C quest, gone, just like that. Sigh, Brother Dark Wing, can you lift the chest? Do you think that it’ll work if I hand the chest over instead?” Autumn Love said while she circled around the treasure chest thrice. She then attempted to move it, but it did not budge at all.

“Even Universal Key doesn’t work on it, I doubt you’ll be able to pass the quest even if you carried it back,” jabbed Li Yi bluntly.

“Don’t shatter my hopes like that man. After all, it’s a Hall of Fame Quest that requires 20 Hall of Fame Records to unlock.”

Unwilling to give up, Autumn Love blasted the treasure chest with Blizzard and Frost Arrow Storm in an attempt to break it.

“I think you should call your friend over while my friend summoning tool is active so that she can open up a portal instead of wasting our time here.”

“I’ve already suffered such a huge loss; do you think I can leave? If I leave now, I’ll lose even moreee. Autumn Love will ALWAYS profit; she never loses and even then, she will never PAY.”

Autumn Love stubbornly shook her head and she took out a pile of Ape Fur for Li Yi to see.

“These are the materials that I gained from hunting the small monsters just now. There are 512 strands of Ape Fur and they’ll yield me 5 Gold Coins, heh.”

“…”

“Suit yourself,” said Li Yi.

With his orange bow in hand, Li Yi slowly progressed onward.

The temperature of his surroundings was pretty high, and Li Yi hypothesized that the Legendary Wicked Flaming Dragon Lair lied just ahead.

For once, his intuition had failed him.

After advancing twenty or so meters ahead, he finally stopped as he had reached a dead end.

Li Yi patiently looked for a switch, but he came to a depressing conclusion. ‘It’s a dead end…’

Li Yi had shot the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling, but there was nothing to be found.

“It’s a dead end ain’t it? After all, this hallway exists for the sole purpose of housing this red chest. It’s pretty logical that there isn’t any path ahead,” explained the enlightened Autumn Love.

Li Yi paid her no mind as he quickly re-entered the lava map.

After such a long detour, it would not take long for Jiaojiao and the rest to return. Therefore, there was no particular need to stay at the dead end.

“Brother Dark Wing, don’t abandon meee~,” said a frightened Autumn Love.

“Well, do you dare to jump? I wouldn’t mind carrying you while I jump my way back.”

Autumn Love was stunned. After pondering for a moment, she lifted a finger, saying, “100 Gold Coins, and I’ll allow you to carry me.”

“Die!”

Li Yi began jumping, and it was not long before he left Autumn Love in the dust.

“Fine, 50 Gold Coins. I’m a lady and you’re a man, what does a little Gold Coin matter in the face of a favorable deal? After all, I’ve never been carried by any man before, you’re definitely profiting… Brother Dark Wing, Brother Dark Wing…” Autumn Love shouted with all her might, but Li Yi ignored them. He jumped further and further away, and in the end, he activated God Mode. He extended his wings and in a blink of an eye, there was no longer any evidence he was there.

Li Yi stopped only after he reached the entrance. Before making his way out, he made sure to throw down a Magical Road Sign.

He made a step forward, and the scene before him changed, indicating that he had left the lava map.

Li Yi walked a few steps to the left and he took a step right after, entering the lava map once more.

The Magical Road Sign appeared in front of him. Once again, Li Yi quit the map and moved a few more steps to the left before entering the lava map.

He repeated the process many times until he could no longer see the Magical Road Sign when he entered.

The scene he saw was exactly the same as the previous times he entered. Despite that, Li Yi could boldly claim that this map was different from the previous one.

The best proof for his claim was the lack of a Magical Road Sign on the ground. After all, the Magical Road Sign was a remarkable item that if left untouched, would remain on the ground for a month before disappearing.

Now that he could not locate the road sign, it indicated that he had made his way into another map with the same landscape. In other words, he was now on the map where Autumn Love had lost her life in.

Li Yi looked downwards while standing at the edge of the cliff. Nevertheless, with the amount of lava down there, it was impossible to locate Autumn Love’s equipment.

‘Poor Black Autumn, your deeds have come back to haunt you…’

While checking the time, Li Yi hopped onto the stone slabs. Since he was still waiting for the cooldown of the friend summoning tool, he decided to survey the surroundings and to locate the end point of the map.

Initially, the current map was no different than the previous one, going so far as to position the treasure chests similarly. Nonetheless, as Li Yi stumbled deeper into the map, changes gradually appeared.

Halfway through the map, nearly all the stone platforms ahead were occupied by Inferior Fire Elves. They stood close together and their numbers appeared to be endless.

‘The greater the danger, the greater the rewards.’ Li Yi had always kept this mindset to heart and seeing such a dangerous area only made him raring to go.

God Mode could only be activated once every 15 minutes, (Effect of Wind Sword’s cooldown reduction) and without it, there was no real way to harm the Fire Elves unless they fought on the same platform.

Thankfully, the Inferior Fire Elves’ HP was not much. Their HP ranged from 200,000 to 500,000 and they were only at Level 80. Their ATK is mediocre, but they excelled at using explosive skills such as Resistive Ring of Fire. In an open space, these skills usually posed no threat, but in a small area like the stone platforms, it was highly lethal.

One wrong step and he would fall, and when that happened, no amount of HP would save him.

Li Yi’s body shuddered as he transformed into Lightning Leopard. He then entered Stealth Mode and leaped onto a platform with an Inferior Fire Spirit.

His landing was extremely precise, and his timing could not be any better. He pounced right when the Ember Spirit was turning its head and by doing so, he had avoided being seen.

Once he landed, he immediately dispelled his transformation. He drew his bow and began charging up a Powered-up Arrow. When the Ember Spirit had finally spotted him, he had already finished charging. With a ‘tch’, he sent out the Powered-up Arrow and followed it up with a Repelling Arrow!

Powered-up Arrow was already a powerful skill, adding Repelling Arrow into the mix was just plain overkill. The Ember Spirit was already on its knees after being hit by the Powered-up Arrow. There was no need for the Repelling Arrow as it doubled over and fell off the platform before Repelling Arrow could hit.

Shooting two arrows at once was just for insurance. In Li Yi’s opinion, his goal was already achieved when the Ember Spirit had fallen off the platform.

After the initial success, Li Yi decided to repeat the same tactic. By using Beast Soul’s Possession, he broke through one platform after another and he advanced effortlessly.

There was no lack of treasure chests on the map, and with around 200 Universal Keys in his inventory, Li Yi was not going to let off those treasure chests. He made sure to grab up any treasure chest he saw.

As he progressed deeper, the stone slabs began to change.

There were still Inferior Fire Elves inhabiting the stone slabs, but unlike before, the platforms were no longer stationary. Worse still, they were now single-use platforms.

Once he stepped onto the platform, it would only remain for five seconds before crumbling. Furthermore, it was not only a single platform, as it was only one out of a series of them. In order to make it past them, Li Yi had to make a continuous effort.

The position of the Inferior Fire Elves was also quite interesting. To make it to the next platform, Li Yi would need to jump from the position that the Inferior Ember Spirit was at. Otherwise, the gap would be too far.

Under normal circumstances, players were unable to proceed without defeating the Inferior Fire Elves. With only five seconds to nuke them down, it was a tough challenge…

Fortunately for Li Yi, he had an amazing item called Black Dragon’s Cloak.

Immediately after the Ember Spirit had turned its head, Li Yi leaped downwards. Upon touchdown, he instantly took off and used the special skill, Fly to glide his way to the next platform…

Thud, thud, thud!

He jumped continuously, paying no mind to the Inferior Fire Elves. He only stopped when the special skill, Fly had finally lost its steam and he descended onto a platform.

Coincidentally, the Ember Spirit on the platform had just turned around!

That was how good Li Yi’s judgment was! He had leaped over eleven platforms, and even then, he still managed to land right when the monster on the final platform had turned around!

‘Powered-up Arrow! Repelling Arrow!’

Needless to say, the Inferior Ember Spirit died after being struck by two arrow skills.

Li Yi rested while waiting for the cooldown of Fly to be over. Once it was ready again, he advanced using the same tactic.

Interestingly, the rates of dropping good items were much better on this map. After looting over 30 treasure chests, he had yet to encounter a single trash item. Even the worst item he had was of Blue-colored Quality, and there was no poisonous gas in sight.

Ding!

[You have obtained a Skill Tome for Celestial Fusion from the treasure chest.]

[You have obtained a Skill Tome for Trap Strengthening from the treasure chest.]

Ding!

[You have obtained Life Guard Potion Formula from the treasure chest.]

[You have obtained Miniature Technique Beta Experimental Blueprint from the treasure chest.]

…

Li Yi was overwhelmed by the number of Skill Tomes, Blueprints, Scrolls, and the other good items he had found.

Ding!

[You have obtained a Skill Tome for Breath of Fresh Air from the treasure chest.]

‘Yet another Skill Tome…’

All of the Skill Tomes that he had acquired were legendary ones, and none of them were trash, which was a rare sight to behold.

Celestial Fusion was one of the Ultimate Skills for Natural Summoners, its strength was similar to the Meteor Arrow of Archers. However, they needed to be at Level 100 before learning the skill, but once learned, it was pretty overpowered. After Fusing, not only do their HP increase by multiple times, they also carried a Damage Reflect effect. Once the skill is maxed out, its Damage Reflect capabilities could reach a staggering amount of 80%. To illustrate its strength, if one were to deal 10,000 damage onto the summoners, the attacker would be damaged by 8,000 HP. It definitely deserved its nickname of Shameless Hedgehog.

Trap Strengthening was also a broken skill. Once activated, all of the traps would become more potent. When maxed, it would raise their potency by 30% and even at Level 1, it could still raise their potency by 10%, which was impressive.

Life Guard Potion Formula’s effects that far surpassed that of the Advanced-level Potion, Divine Essence. Not only was its cooldown short, but it also replenished a lot of HP. Furthermore, it could also increase DEF, making it an indispensable potion in the late-game.

Miniature Technique Beta Experimental Blueprint was also no joke, as it had the same effect as the Shrinking Scroll. As for Breath of Fresh Air, it was one of the greatest HP replenishing skills for Sky Vagabonds. Its effect was similar to Holy Light Illumination of the Light Priests, which gave them five minutes of continuous HP recovery, along with increased ATK and SPD.

…

Li Yi raised his head and looked ahead. Before him was a square platform, and at each corner stood a Superior Ember Spirit. They were all guarding a huge purple chest at the center that flashed every few seconds.

Beyond them lay the exit to the map, it was the last platform!