MMORPG: The Elementalist

“Devil’s Snare”, one of the rare Grade 4 Herbs, could be used to make Potions with normal attributes. Its market price was much higher than the value of other Herbs the likes of the Grade 5 Earth Essence. It was also as valuable as a set of fairly good Tier 4 Violet Equipment. Naturally, many other players besides Qin Ruo would also drool over it and want to get their hands on it!

There were many players who were unwilling to put themselves in front of danger on the battlefield. So they quietly turned their attention towards the Devil’s Snare and a few other Potion materials around it.

Nonetheless, it would, of course, be better to possess a higher-level of Gathering to collect that sort of high-grade Potion material. That way, the quality of the gathered Potion materials would be better preserved.

If a player used high-level Gathering to collect a Grade 5 Frost Lotus, that player would be able to preserve 100 % of its quality—a perfect gather. All lotus petals would not suffer even the slightest point of defect once the materials were gathered…

However, if a player only had Intermediate Gathering, his skill would be barely passable for the task. In all likelihood, the player may lose over three to four pieces of Lotus Petals. That would eventually cause the initial value of the Herb, which was more than 1,000 gold coins to decrease to a value equal to that of a Grade 6 Herb.

Of course, those with Gathering at its full level would never face such a problem—their experience in gathering materials was known to be perfect. They could gather and pick up any grade of herbs in their perfect state…

However, it would take a lot of effort to get Gathering to the maximum level. Other than time, rate, effort, and MP, one would also require patience. Qin Ruo, who did not gather raw materials to make a living, would find it extremely difficult to refine his Profession Skill up to that level.

So, when Qin Ruo asked the question, the few people around him did not make a sound…

Gold Digger Babe and Little Kitten actually had Gathering but their levels were too low… One only upgraded it up to an Intermediate level while the other was still at Novice level. If they had used Gathering of that level to pick up the Grade 4 Herbs, a majority of the players would have condemned them to death!

In the end, the helpless Qin Ruo could only choose to do it himself—he had originally planned for the ladies to pick up the other Herbs farther in front of them while he remained in the dark corner to cover them. By doing so, their chances of gathering the Herbs in the area would almost be a definite success. However, it would be impossible for everything to remain perfect forever.

***

There were at least six to seven groups of players who were marching towards the locations where the Devil’s Snares grew. These players had their own parties and the Gathering skill. But there were only a few dozen Herbs in the area. Not to mention, there were only two clusters of Devil’s Snares attached to the walls in the far corner between the cliffs.

Compared to ordinary Grade 5 and Grade 6 Herbs, it was obvious that the value of the Devil’s Snare was much higher. However, the current situation was extremely obvious—there were too many monks and too little gruel!

With that being the case, competition immediately existed among all the players there. At their fastest speed, several parties had begun to approach the location where the Devil’s Snares grew. Among those players, more than ten warriors even relied on the powerful and tough equipment on them as they ignored the existence of the Gargantuan Demoncrocs within the area. Charging towards several sought after “high grounds”, they ignored the attacks of those monsters as they constantly spammed their potions to recover their HP!

They acted as though “whoever reached the spot first would be the king of that spot”!

“Big Brother Qin, why aren’t you getting over there yet? We’re going to miss every single bunch of Herb if you move later!”

Seeing that those dozens of players were about to arrive at the destination, Gold Digger Babe appeared anxious as she urged Qin Ruo to make his move right then. However, Qin Ruo remained steady, not making any moves. He just gestured at the two ladies, asking them to wait a little while more.

Although he was also unsure about it, the Gargantuan Demoncroc would definitely summon two Elite Minibosses the moment someone reached for the Devil’s Snares. But with only a few of them bravely approaching the spot and snatching the Devil’s Snares, they would not get many benefits. Perhaps they would even fall in the deep end.

That was why he decided to bet on it!

Finally!

One of the parties that was more powerful seized the first opportunity. Three Beastblood Berserkers had seemingly charged over to the spot where the Devil’s Snares were growing. They rapidly shifted into their stances as they faced their backs towards the cliff and protected the Devil’s Snares as well as a bunch of Herbs behind them. This was to prevent other players from approaching them.

But at that very moment…

The Elite Minibosses did not appear. Qin Ruo felt slightly disappointed as he witnessed the core players in the opposing party take control of the situation around their target. Two Bandits had squeezed themselves into the space and they were now reaching out with hands that were gleaming with a faint purplish light. Each of them was gathering the Devil’s Snares…

Suddenly!

A few other parties arrived dozens of players surrounded the spot at the same time.

“What the f*ck?!”

“Motherf*cker! You think having that spot surrounded will stop others from interfering? Who do you think you are? You think you planted that in your backyard?!”

Among that particular group of players, one Elementalist made the first move on the others. The method or skill he used was unknown, but he instantly interrupted the two Bandits from gathering. After that, that Elementalist spoke with joy.

“Step aside!

“Everyone shall compete fairly for this! Or else, all of you will never get your hands on the prize!”

The two Bandits who were suddenly attacked turned their heads around and looked at the Elementalist. Their cold eyes flashed with a hint of disdain as their bodies vanished amid the surrounding Berserkers.

“Watch out!”

The moment the two Bandits concealed themselves and remained invisible, someone in the vicinity immediately shouted to alert the rest.

The Elementalist who started the first assault was shocked and his face caught a grim expression. He never thought that the Bandits would act so directly. Before he could hide himself in between his comrades for protection, an excruciating pain struck his senses—a dagger tainted with fresh blood was pierced through his chest from the back!

Bam!

The Elementalist’s corpse collapsed to the ground. It was an instant kill!

That unfortunate fellow even dropped a Cloak. The moment the Cloak fell onto the ground, an invisible hand snatched it and vanished without a trace.

Soon after, a cold and emotionless voice echoed from the opposite side, “I welcome anyone to make a move on the people from my ‘Black Jail’. ‘Black Jail Clan’ is always ready to keep you company.”

“Black Jail?!”

The surrounding players appeared a little frightened the moment they heard that name. Many of them suddenly became more vigilant and cautious. The people those players surrounded in a hurry were actually part of a mysterious Clan called Black Jail. It seemed to have a certain reputation and prestige on the official website’s forum!

***

Black Jail. Their reputation did not precede the reputation of the Seven Great Leagues and Clans. The number of their Clan members was not that many. There were merely over three hundred members. A Clan of that scale could only be labeled as a small Clan. However, the name, “Black Jail” was much more famous than some of the large Clans that possessed over tens of thousands of members…

This was all because of a great battle among the Clans, which created a lot of commotion!

The main cause was merely a Tier 4 Boss. Two parties were in conflict, and by the end of it, Black Jail had annihilated a party on an expedition by a large Clan.

After that, the large-scale Clan decided to seek revenge. Over three hundred members from Black Jail were dispatched across the board as they tightly suppressed thousands of players in the safe zone of a town. Since then, those players never dared to reveal their sorry faces out of the safe zone.

Although Black Jail had also suffered quite a huge loss, when the battle was posted on the official website’s forum, the news shocked the entire H&G community!

Many people started to investigate the matter and found out that Black Jail’s Clan Leader, “Black God” had set an extremely strict system for new members.

All new members had to possess a specific extent of strength and they had to have a recommendation from an existing member of the Clan. Furthermore… the strength of the new members had to be recognized by half of the members in the Clan before the new members could officially join Black Jail!

A long time ago, the same system was actually used by many players. They had also planned to use it as a blueprint for their recruitment to gather a group of pure elites. This was so that they could build a powerful Clan with formidable strength.

However, in a few months, most of the Clans that implemented the system were not given attention by anyone. After their own Clan Leaders could not bear such anguish, they were forced to abolish the system. Whether it was due to the Clan Leader not having the charm to attract strong players, or the Clan Leader not being capable enough to command a group of powerful players with formidable strengths… they ended up failing one after another!

The only Clan that was capable of using the system was Black Jail!

The Clan Leader, Black God, as well as the group of outstanding core members under his command… not only had rich experiences in PvPs, killing monsters, raiding Dungeons and laying siege on Bosses, it was rumored that they also had close connections with many Merchant players. Because of that, they were able to trade firsthand the trophies as well as spoils they obtained from grinding and killing monsters for equipment and resources they needed.

The most important thing was…

They also managed to gather and recruit a large bunch of skillful players who possessed the same strengths as they had. On top of that, they were also able to create a few Parties that possessed uncommonly powerful battle power!

After that battle, they became famous. The large Clan who had made enemies of Black Jail tried to find fault with them several times. However, they ended up provoking Black God as he decided to fully retaliate. After three days of relentless pursuit and slaughter, the opposition Clan was finally forced to acknowledge Black Jail’s members. They had to immediately fly back to the city or try to go around these people. Or else, they would likely be tortured by Black Jail with all sorts of treacherous methods until they died.

In the end, the Clan Leader of that large Clan could no longer lift his head to face his fellow Clan members. He felt so guilty that he deleted his account and trained from the scratch with a new account in the game. A large-scale Clan that was once powerful fell apart because of that. The news further fueled the reputation of Black Jail, spreading its name across the entire server H&G server.

So, once those people were determined to be members of Black Jail, the players who surrounded the spot no longer dared to have grand thoughts. They hastened as they backed over ten meters away from those people. Even that Elementalist who was instantly killed revealed a horrified expression on his face after he was revived by a Priest. He quickly fled the scene without a trace.

There was a popular saying on the game’s website.

To court war with Black Jail?

Not unless you were a member of the Seven Great Leagues!

Qin Ruo was not a member of one of the Seven Great Leagues. He was not even a member of any puny combat party. So of course, he could only realize his position and choose to stay put at the side. That was why he did not go over to the scene to try and snatch the Devil’s Snares from Black Jail. Nevertheless, he remained curious. Did a famous party like that really come all the way to the Devil’s Swamp just for two clusters of Devil’s Snares?