MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

Li Yi was not the only one within the gargantuan Labyrinth of Clouds. There were at least tens of thousands of players moving back and forth within the dungeon, and Li Yi was only one of them.

A sea of clouds dotted the azure blue sky, and it made for quite a decent scenery. However, the moment Li Yi thought about the despair-inducing questions, he could not help but curse.

Furthermore, there were plenty of others who shared this mindset with Li Yi. Without exception, all of them were nearly driven to madness by the questions.

On paper, passing the Labyrinth of Clouds was easy as it only required 200 steps forward. Alas, there was a pitiful shortage of players who were able to even pass 100 steps.

He moved up and down, back and forth, and after being tormented for about half an hour, Li Yi was still stuck at the starting point.

He had not even taken a single step forward…

Half of the players who entered the labyrinth at the same time with him had already given up. After all, clearing the labyrinth was not compulsory. So, rather than wasting more time there, they would rather try their luck somewhere else.

Another half an hour had gone by and Li Yi was still going at it. The number of players who had given up was gradually increasing, and at that moment, there were only a few thousand players who were still in the Labyrinth of Clouds.

Just as Li Y was about to take his first step, Jiaojiao hoisted her greatsword, stood behind Li Yi and pushed his back.

Jiaojiao winked and gave a half-smile. “Young man, you look like you’re having fun.”

“Scram!” Li Yi snapped bitterly at her. An hour had barely gone by and he was already fuming.

“Young man, what’s the reward for clearing the labyrinth?”

“How would I know?”

“Pretending again I see.” Jiaojiao brandished her greatsword and pursed her lips as if she was not satisfied with Li Yi’s answer.

They said no more words. Instead, they mustered up their mental strength and headed into their own paths.

Li Yi was really oblivious about the reward for clearing the labyrinth. He had considered abandoning it early on, but by then, he had already blown a fuse. He feared that if he left right then and there, he would be unable to enjoy a good night’s sleep.

‘Others can do it, so why not me?’

Hundreds of other players had passed the Labyrinth of Clouds, which fueled Li Yi with even more vigor.

“Please state the total number of players who are currently online.”

“…”

The moment Li Yi heard the question, he clenched his fist tightly and …

After giving his answer, Li Yi fell out of the labyrinth once again…

“Hahahaha, dammit!”

Jiaojiao, who was on the other side had erupted into laughter. She then proceeded to encounter another similarly insane question, and she dropped down right after Li Yi.

“Hah! Keep laughing you wench!” Li Yi was feeling pretty good.

Jiaojiao made a face at Li Yi and summoned her mount to fly back up.

“What’s one plus one?”

The moment Li Yi stepped into the labyrinth, he was given a new question.

Li Yi was stunned. He stood there for about nine seconds before answering, “Two.”

He was thrown off by the question. All his questions before this had been insanely difficult and were essentially unanswerable, so, who could blame him for overthinking when he finally had an easy question?

However, reality had proven that his overthinking was unwarranted. A melodious tune rang out and Li Yi was pushed twenty steps forward.

Ding!

[The God of Wealth has descended! You have received 10 Copper Coins!]

[Your Fortune has risen!]

The two system notifications had stunned Li Yi once again.

He did not think that he could obtain money from playing the absurd labyrinth.

‘However… Fortune has risen? What does that mean?’

“What’s the main difference between a Legendary Mount and an Epic Mount?”

“They are sentient!”

A new question had appeared, and Li Yi immediately answered it.

[Your answer is correct! Move three steps forward.]

“Why is it only three steps…”

Li Yi was not satisfied with the system’s decision. However, at that moment, he heard two ringing sounds and was blown away by a strong gale. The system’s notification had rung out once again.

[A strong gale has blown you away…]

The strong gale flung Li Yi tens of meters away, and when he landed, the step panel displayed his current steps at a hundred and ninety-nine steps. He was only a step away from passing the labyrinth!

Jiaojiao’s whining could be heard from afar. After all, she had been attempting the Labyrinth of Clouds for almost three days by now, and the best result she obtained was only about sixty or so steps. Furthermore, seeing someone making all the way to the finish line from a single breeze was a first for her as well.

“Lil Jiao, are you envious? Hahahaha.” Li Yi was leaping with joy, but he did not forget to take a few jabs at Jiaojiao while he was at it.

“Hmph! You still have one more step though, blehh! Hahahaha! It’s definitely going to be an absurd question. You’re gonna fall! You’re gonna fall…” Using all her strength, Jiaojiao waved her slender arms in an attempt to demotivate him.

Li Yi remained calm and collected. He stylishly flicked his hair at Jiaojiao’s direction and with a light hop, he made it to the finish line.

Jiaojiao was dumbstruck.

“My apologies, but the final step has no questions. All I need to do is to walk forward. Hahahaha, take your time now, cause I’m about to leave.”

Li Yi summoned Onyxia and took off.

“I’m about to blow up!” Jiaojiao was so furious that she ignored her current question, brandished her greatsword and forcefully spurred forward.

Crash! Boom! Bang! Slam!

Hundreds of bucket-thick thunderbolts slammed into the labyrinth, instantly charring Jiaojiao…

“Are you kidding me? If you want to die, then die, but why drag us in as well?”

“Queen Jiaojiao of the Invincible Continent, you’ve gone overboard!”

“Motherf*cker, where on earth did this aggressive woman come from? Does she even know how to play?”

There were at least several hundred players who were killed by Jiaojiao’s actions. They spat curses like no tomorrow, and Jiaojiao was so embarrassed that she covered her face and logged off without even attempting to corpse run.

About five minutes later, Jiaojiao logged back in. The moment she did so, she caused a ruckus. “What happened just now? Why wasn’t my movement restricted? GM! GM! Scr*w you! I wasn’t even doing anything just now, so how would you explain my random movement!?”

The moment the players saw Jiaojiao’s pained expression, they sewed their mouths shut.

‘So it wasn’t on purpose, huh. Fine then….’

In the end, the matter was settled peacefully.

The rewards for clearing the Labyrinth of Clouds was pretty decent. The grade that Li Yi had obtained was ‘SS’, and he had obtained two Life Seeds (Each seed provides 10 additional HP points). Currently, the record holder for the fastest Labyrinth of Clouds’ clear time was Little Elf from the Magical Realm. She had aced it with the grade of ‘SSS’ and had cleared it even faster than Li Yi.

The clouds around Li Yi gradually dissipated, revealing an azure sky. In front of him was a bunch of players who owned flying mounts neatly lined up. As soon as a gunshot could be heard, they sped forward.

The next challenge was pretty easy, and it just so happened to be Li Yi’s favorite as well. The reason was that the challenge required no technique. As long as players owned a fast mount, they were able to clear it.

Onyxia’s SPD was 350%, and being the Legendary mount she was, even if she did not exert all her strength, she could still effortlessly pass the challenge.

“Ladies and gentlemen, in order to go against the King of Soul’s evil army, we need the most elite of air faring heroes. Come now, come to my side. Fly together with me, and if you’re able to catch up with me, you’ll become a full-fledged member of the flying army.”

A Paladin NPC who was riding on top of a Blue-horned Griffin declared with an air of confidence. He was the trainee instructor for the current flying test, Bill Buggy.

Those who were interested in joining the flying competition flocked behind Bill Buggy and silently waited for the ringing notification.

The requirements for clearing the challenge were simple. All they had to do was to follow Bill Buggy and not get left behind.

The flying competition occurred once every ten minutes, and when the competition was going on, no other players were permitted to watch.

“The heck, that’s Onyxia!”

“A head with a comb of a chicken, yep, that’s definitely Onyxia.”

“Motherf*cker, this punk’s definitely Dark Wing. To think that he managed to ride the Black Dragon Princess…”

Most players had yet to see Li Yi’s mount. So, the moment Li Yi used Onyxia to participate in the tournament, it had caused quite an uproar.

‘Who doesn’t like to flaunt in games? Who wouldn’t like to have their own unique mount?’

“Roarr—”

Onyxia was roaring delightedly. She possessed a high level of intellect, and as such, she understood that the surrounding players were envying her master.

King of Pantheon had operated officially for more than two years now, and aside from Li Yi’s Onyxia, the participating players owned plenty of eye-catching mounts as well. Of course, that was if they were not compared to Onyxia.

To illustrate, under Amber Sword Heart’s crotch was an Epic-level Green Dragon Whelp. It was an even rarer and valuable species than the proto-dragon series. However, if one were to nit-pick, the Green Dragon Whelp’s appearance was sort of ugly. It had a serpent-like neck and a basilisk-like head. Compared to the elegant and beautiful Onyxia, it was nothing.

However, objects were judged based on their prestige. It was hard not to draw attention when one rode a dragon among a group of horned griffins, gryphons, and repelling wind beasts.

Besides Amber Sword Heart’s Green Dragon Whelp, the Skeletal Gryphon that Reigning the World’s Night Moon rode was also pretty eye-catching. Though it was only a pile of bones, its flying SPD could reach 280%, which was double the speed of an average flying mount.

“Go forth, heroes!”

After Bill Buggy’s shout, a gunshot could be heard. Bill Buggy led the way with his Blue-horned Griffin, and in a blink of an eye, he had put a great distance between the players and himself.

The players were not allowed to move after the gunshot. Instead, they needed to wait until Bill Buggy had gone far ahead in order to regain their freedom of movement. The system was really cheeky…

“We can fly now!”

“Time to go! I’m warning you, nobody touch me! I’ll visit your mother if you do.”

“Stay away from me! I’ll smash anyone who dares to touch me to death!”

With a thunderous cry, the players soared down the road.

There were at least several thousands of players who were competing in the flying competition, and with such a huge group chasing after only one target, was it even possible to avoid colliding into one another?

Before they had even met Bill Buggy, there were already hundreds of players who had crashed into one another and plummeted towards the ground.

Dropping was immediately considered as a failure. Those who wanted to become a ‘full-fledged aviator’, were not allowed to drop down.

Initially, the two fastest mounts were Amber Sword Heart’s green Dragon Whelp and Night Moon’s Skeletal Gryphon. Since both of their mounts were small and quick, the rapid flapping of their wings quickly pushed them ahead of the rest of the flock.

Compared to them, Onyxia was looking a bit clumsy. With its over thirty-meter long massive body, the moment she sped up, she would undoubtedly crash into the surrounding players.

The system had ruled that too many collisions with other players would result in disqualification from becoming an aviator.

“ROAR! ROAR—”

Onyxia angrily roared twice. Wisps of flames were flared from within her mouth, and it looked as if they would be unleashed at any moment.

The surrounding players jumped in shock and immediately opened up a path for Onyxia to advance.

The Dragon Clan was gifted with a God-given talent on birth, it was called, ‘Draconic Aura’!