MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

[Demon Soul Flute, Level 100, Purple Quality Sky Vagabond Weapon. Special Effect: Increases the damage of Wind element skills by 20%.]

[Soul Boots, Level 100. SPD +9. Special Effect: Reduces all physical damage by 10%, Purple Quality Equipment usable by all classes.]

[Life Orb: No level requirement. Increases health by 10% and increases ATK by 10%. Special Effect: Upon user’s death, there is a 10% chance of resurrection with 50% health. Equipment type: Tool]

“Life Orb…”

Confused Fox sucked in a deep breath as he stepped back. Following that, the eyes of the players who read the equipment’s stats grew wide.

If one were to guess the rarest equipment type within King of Pantheon, it would most likely be the tools. These items had bizarre stats, and their functions varied greatly. However, they all shared a single attribute, they would activate upon being placed inside the players’ inventories. They did not need to be equipped.

‘10% chance of on-the-spot resurrection, and it doesn’t occupy any equipment slots…’

Equipment dropped from Light and Darkness was quite special, in the sense that the strongest Tier 2 Equipment was non-tradeable. Furthermore, when dropped by the owner, other players who pick them up would only be allowed to ‘Decompose’ them. It was for this very reason that despite their exceptional stats, they had no value. After all, only the owners themselves were able to use them, and they could not be sold even if the owners wanted to. If that did not make them worthless, what would?

Fortunately, Light and Darkness did not just drop strong Tier 2 Equipment, but also other extremely powerful items that were not so ‘special’, and thus could be traded freely.

Without a doubt, the Life Orb was one such item. Furthermore, it was also an extremely rare ‘tool’ that occupied no equipment slots and would activate immediately after being placed into the inventory.

Could such a fine item be worth nothing?

Everyone froze upon laying their eyes on the Life Orb…

At the bottommost section of the Life Orb’s stats, its drop rate was listed. It had a drop chance of one to a hundred million, which was exceptionally low.

“Brother…” Confused Fox had only muttered half of his sentence and he could not get the remaining half out. Even he was unsure whether to distribute the equipment by rolling, or based on the guild’s DKP…

Li Yi’s face had a somber expression. He had not heard a single word of Confused Fox’s.

His mind had wandered off…

The Life Orb was no stranger to Li Yi. After all, he had once possessed a Life Orb of his own in his previous life.

As a scammer that was hunted wherever he went, entering group dungeons like this was an immensely difficult task for Li Yi in his past life. As such, the reason he had obtained a Life Orb without even stepping foot into Soul Gate was due to an accident.

… Back then, Sola Aoi ¹ was still a virgin. Back then, Edison Chen had yet to receive a camera.Back then, Li Yi did not have a child, and back then, the Chrysanthemum was just an ordinary flower… ²

No one wanted him in their party, and wherever he went, he was hunted. Back then, Li Yi was out of options, and as such he was forced to fly solo and devise an insane way of leveling up.

He would only kill world bosses, and gold or green elite monsters. Everything else, he would ignore. That was the leveling method that he had chosen for himself.

Though the Northern Continent’s world bosses were too powerful for him, he was more than a match for the world bosses on the other continents. Though he would not dare to say that he could finish all of them, he was sure that he could kill at least half of them.

Killing the High-level bosses was definitely a no-go, and as such, he resorted to killing low-level bosses, such as the lowest level world boss, Wild Boar King. No matter how many times he killed it, he would gain a fixed amount of 5,000 EXP points. In other words, obtaining EXP from world bosses was unaffected by the players’ levels.

World bosses dropped top-tier equipment. This was universally known by the players, and there were many who had the same idea as Li Yi. Almost every time Li Yi encountered a world boss, he would feel a headache, not because of the boss, but due to the endless horde of players.

If you ambush me, I’ll ambush you in return. If you hit me, I’ll hit you back. Whoever had the largest fist, would be able to claim the boss for themselves. This rule was not unique to King of Pantheon, it applied to other games as well.

Being a loner whenever he was killed during battle, he would just laugh it off and proceed to search for another, lesser-known boss to slay.

How many times did he die throughout his time boss-hunting? Even Li Yi himself could not recall, but one thing was certain. Even if it was not ten thousand times, it would at least number in the thousands…

Within King of Pantheon, there exists a multitude of players who specialized in world boss hunting. Their ideology was similar to Li Yi’s, and they constantly kept an eye out for world bosses to hunt. Additionally, whenever they encountered a player with similar objectives as themselves, they would undoubtedly fight to the death.

During Li Yi’s period of world boss hunting, there was a player called Sima Weiqi who was extremely hostile to Li Yi.

Sima Weiqi was an Explosive Thief, and he specialized in using one-hit sneak attacks. He would never initiate fights against bosses, for example, were he to encounter a world boss in the open, he would not attack first. Instead, he would cast Stealth and hide nearby and wait for other players to attack it. When the boss was about to be taken down, he would then carry out his sneak attack and snatch the boss away from them.

This tactic was very underhanded, but also highly practical. Many had fallen prey to his tactics, and since Li Yi was a boss-hunter himself, he had fallen prey for more times than he could count.

However, Li Yi was not a weakling that allowed others to bully him. After being undermined several times by Sima Weiqi, he finally learned his lesson. Every time he wanted to fight a boss; he would carefully inspect his surroundings to prevent himself from falling into the same trap again.

As time went on, Li Yi finally grasped the core of Sima Weiqi’s tactic. However, since Sima Weiqi had many friends, Li Yi attempts to replicate Sima Weiqi’s tactics on him had never succeeded. Worse still, he was beaten up by Sima Weiqi’s friends every time.

Nevertheless, one would undoubtedly wet their shoes if they were to travel along a river. ¹ Being the underhanded person he was, Sima Weiqi had many enemies other than Li Yi, and one day, his day of reckoning finally came. Every world boss hunter had gathered on the Southern Continent to slay a boss at the same time, and it was then that a harsh unavoidable battle had unfolded.

Li Yi was running a bit late, and by the time he arrived, Sima Weiqi and his party had already obtained a painful victory. They had defeated all the other world boss hunters and had managed to bring the boss’ HP down to 2%.

It was a one-in-a-million opportunity, and if Li Yi were to miss out on it, there would most likely be no next time.

With Stealth activated, Li Yi crept closer to them. He first ambushed the Wizards, then the Warriors, and finally Sima Weiqi. Once that was done, he stole the world boss from them.

The items that the boss dropped were pretty decent. One of them was a tool called Thunder Stone, and it had a special skill that was usable by all classes called Thunder Fall. With that stone, any player from any class was able to use Thunder Fall as they pleased.

It was top tier, and it was fun. Thunder Fall had an additional 1% Paralysis chance, and whenever the skill was activated, it would summon a thunderbolt from the heavens. It was a long-range skill capable of interrupting channeling spells. For melee attackers like Thieves, it was undoubtedly the ultimate support equipment.

Whenever Li Yi was robbed of his equipment, he would just laugh it off. However, Sima Weiqi did not take things the same way. When he heard that it was Li Yi who stole the boss from him and received a Thunder Stone, he instantly flew into a rage. He spammed the World Channel, accusing Li Yi of being a cheater. He claimed that Li Yi had not received the Thunder Stone from the boss but had instead scammed it away from him.

After all, Li Yi was an infamous cheater, and nobody would believe his words anyhow.

Due to Sima Weiqi’s efforts, Li Yi’s infamy had blown up even more. However, Li Yi completely disregarded the situation. He did not feel bad in the least. As a matter of fact, it had left him in a great mood for a few days.

The reason was simple, as even though everyone doubted his words, there was still one person who believed in them.

Qian’er!

Back then, Qian’er had questioned him about the matter, and he explained it matter-of-factly. Qian’er finally replied, and her response had greatly moved Li Yi. “I believe in you,” were her exact words.

One must know that Li Yi and Lin Qian had yet to form a lovers’ relationship at that time. In fact, they had just met one another recently.

Just for that Thunder Stone alone, Sima Weiqi pursued Li Yi day after day. In a blink of an eye, three months had gone by, and Sima Weiqi had finally come upon an opportunity to slaughter Li Yi.

Li Yi dropped his Thunder Stone upon death, and Sima Weiqi leaped with joy as he picked it up. He flaunted it several times in front of Li Yi’s corpse, and at that moment, he was so happy that he had forgotten his position and revealed the truth.

The moment Sima Weiqi rubbed his Return City Stone, a chain of Fireballs descended from the heavens and smashed into his skull.

The attack had come from Qian’er!

Li Yi had invited her to fight a boss early on, but she was running a bit late. She had only arrived when Li Yi was killed by Sima Weiqi.

Fortune truly was not at Sima Weiqi’s side. Qian’er ambush was a success, and she had taken him out in a single blow. Following that, the Thunder Stone that he had just obtained was dropped alongside a Life Orb.

Sima Weiqi had dropped two items in one go, and both items were extremely rare tools…

It happened all too quickly. Sima Weiqi lay on the ground in shock, and only when Qian’er had picked up both items did he bellow, “XXX, RETURN MY EQUIPMENT!”

Sima Weiqi called for help, he writhed and flailed around, but at that point, Li Yi and Qian’er had already taken their leave. They were nowhere to be found.

Losing an item he had just obtained had left him in dire straits, but worse still, he had lost his Life Orb, which was his most valuable possession.

Sima Weiqi returned to his old antics. He declared that he had his possessions stolen by Li Yi and Gongsun Chuqian.

Just like that, the innocent Qian’er had been branded as a cheater as well.

Could she have proved her innocence?

The answer was, no…

Back then, Qian’er was unsure whether to laugh or cry at the situation she found herself in. She had attempted to clear her name by explaining the incident in the official forum, but all she had attracted was a wave of censure, leaving her in low spirits. However, from this incident, she could finally sympathize with the big cheater, Li Yi.

She felt that Li Yi deserved sympathy and he was actually a good person…

Though there was no unfounded hate in this world, there was such a thing as unexplainable love…

Qian’er returned the Thunder Stone to Li Yi, but Li Yi refused it. Instead, he wanted to gift it to her. Qian’er was gracious, and in return, she forced Li Yi to accept her Life Orb.

“Is this a token of love?” Li Yi remembered poking fun of her gesture of good faith.

“Hehe…Hehe….”

Qian’er neither denied nor acknowledged his remark, and as such, it left Li Yi tossing and turning throughout the night after he had logged off.

‘C-Could it be t-that she likes me?’

Thus, marks the beginning of their delightful misunderstanding…