MMORPG: The Elementalist

The Goblin Mountains of Bailey Town was approximately fifty kilometers away, and that place was famous for its rich mineral deposits across the Mythical Continent! There were more than five hundred mining caves across that land. It was a blessed place for countless players who mined and forged high-tier weapons as well as equipment for a living.

It was not Qin Ruo’s first time setting foot upon this land. Back when he first entered the game world, Qin Ruo could not decide on what Profession to choose and what kind of part-time he would do in the game…

The first lines he considered were relatively easier for him to get into. They were the more rigid ones such as mining for minerals and resources, hunting monsters for raw materials, and also gathering Herbs for a living.

The first two were pretty obvious. Mined ores could be traded in the Blacksmith shop or the Alchemist Guild. Players could even progress into a higher tier of the Profession and do some Blacksmithing, where they could forge high-tier weapons and equipment for themselves. In other words, that was a Profession with endless possibilities to earn money.

But then, the Miners had already grown vast and they formed an army of great scale. There were already hundreds of thousands of Miners in the Goblin Mountains alone. If Qin Ruo had jumped into that field back then, he would have struggled to gain any benefit in the early stage.

However, Gathering was a different case though. Some low-tier Potions materials were necessary Herbs for HP and MP recovery. The demand for those Potions was extremely huge, and they had a fixed market price as well. Some raw materials from monsters could also be used for Blacksmithing, Sewing, and also crafting some low or intermediate-tier weapons as well as equipment…

The thing that appealed to Qin Ruo the most was the fact that, along with the increase in the player’s level, the player could kill monsters of a higher level, and the value of the raw materials gathered would also increase. Some rare Mana Cores and Potion materials that were hard to come by could be obtained too as long as the player did not give up. That was also the reason why Qin Ruo did not become a member of the community in the Goblin Mountains.

Now that he thought about it, Qin Ruo could not help but feel regretful!

Fortunately for him, he had chosen Gathering as his Profession. If he had chosen Mining, he would probably still be dealing with spiders, mice, and goblins back in the humid mines. He would not be having the same luck he currently had by nature.

***

Upon arriving at the main entrance to Bailey Town, Qin Ruo met with Brother Da, who was waiting there.

Brother Da was wearing a set of bright armor, which gleamed with faint violet light. He seemed quite powerful and mighty by the looks of it. However, his fat face was not revealing even the slightest hint of excitement. That was until he noticed Qin Ruo walking out of the warp portal. The color of joy flashed across Brother Da’s eyes for a brief moment, but soon, Brother Da swiftly recovered to his normal self.

Brother Da was very clear about it. The most important thing at that moment was to stay calm and steady. He could not let any outsiders notice anything out of the ordinary. If he unintendedly aroused some unwanted suspicion, he would bring quite a lot of unwarranted troubles to their upcoming operation. After all, the Goblin King was a Tier 2 Overlord. Any ordinary Tier 4 party stood a chance to win the battle. Their claim of victory over this operation all depended on whether news leaked to the other players or not…

After walking past Brother Da, Qin Ruo cautiously sent him a voice message.

“What about the others?’

“They’ve gone to restock their scrolls. It’s a Tier 2 Overlord after all. We can’t look down on it, right?” Brother Da turned around without saying a word, as though nothing had happened. Meanwhile, he responded to Qin Ruo through the voice message. Soon after, both of them blended into the crowd in town. They then walked out of the small town’s main entrance side by side without attracting the attention of any players there.

Once he learned about the Dinosaurcerer’s specific whereabouts, Qin Ruo nodded. He then walked toward the Goblin Mountains together with Brother Da—the two of them sprinted the moment they set foot outside of town, just like all the other players who were hustling toward their destination.

While they were on their way there, Qin Ruo asked, “How did you guys discover the Goblin King?”

The moment Qin Ruo brought that up, Brother Da was truly marveled by his capability to change the topic.

“Haih… That’s a long story. You, brat have no idea at all… You also have no idea how Xiaoxiao has become close to Little Kitten’s younger sister. She even called me, Li Lanlan and her sister to accompany her in grinding her level. Gold Digger Babe, that little brat had even prepared a few sets of decent newbie equipment for Xiaoxiao. It’s a wonder where she found all the money to do that… All of the pieces of equipment were quite superior in their quality… That really pisses people off…. A Level 0 newbie killing a Level 3 monster is just like chopping a vegetable. She could level up real quick!”

Qin Ruo nodded and smiled, but he did not answer. Gold Digger Babe and Xiaoxiao seemed to have a tight bond. Not to mention, newbie equipment with no tier was not very difficult to come by. Normal Clans would all have that sort of equipment stored. Having to wear such equipment while grinding her level, of course, her level would increase rapidly.

But Brother Da’s evaluation astonished Qin Ruo a little.

“…I never expected Xiaoxiao to actually possess the gift to play games though. She only spent less than an hour before she reached Level 10 and switched her Class. You, brat have no idea how hard I worked for that back then. Motherf*cker… when I first played the game, I put my full effort in grinding for more than ten hours… And this little girl did it in an hour. She actually switched her Class and pulled us over to battle monsters with her…”

Less than an hour for her to reach Level 10 and switch her Class? Qin Ruo was a little stunned as he gazed upon Brother Da with shocked eyes—that speed was unusually fast. Even with good equipment, normal players did not seem capable of utilizing their time that nicely! Even Qi Ruo found it barely possible to do that.

“Really?’

“Cut the crap! Why would I waste my time trying to lie to you? The few of us even made a bet with her. If she could level up to Level 10 within an hour and a half, we’d be her babysitter in the game and guide her for one full night. Who knew that little brat would go ahead and really do it. We always thought we were looking at a pretty girl who seemed like a little animal that needed love and protection. But the moment she hit the game, she’s a genuine slayer of monsters! Tsk, tsk… We can only describe her with one word: incredible!” Brother Da was getting hyped while talking about it. The moment he noticed that Qin Ruo was looking at him funny, he immediately kept his exaggerated expression to himself and swore that what he said was all true.

“After that, how did you guys go to the Goblin Mountains?”

Qin Ruo did not believe Brother Da’s words though. That Big Mouth King had always liked to exaggerate things. However, the fact that Xiaoxiao had managed to level up to Level 10 was as real as it could get. It was also not bad at all for her to be able to progress that fast. At least, she was not the type of player who would drag others back by just standing there and doing nothing when they encountered monsters. Or else, Qin Ruo would definitely not know what to do if he needed to play games with her in the future.

“It’s all thanks to me. Hehe, I’m just a busybody who said something out of ordinary. I told her that you’ve thought of staying there to do hard labor and you’ve thought about digging the mines to earn some money. She suddenly suggested that we should get over there to have a look at the place. Since Little Kitten and her sister also agreed to come over, I just followed them… Tsk, speaking of which, we’re really lucky! We just went over there for a stroll and happened to discover the Goblin King…”

So that was the real story!

Sadness appeared between Qin Ruo’s furrowed eyebrows. Even though Xiaoxiao knew how to take care of herself in the game, she knew that Qin Ruo needed to earn more money in the game. That was why she did not look for Qin Ruo straightaway to accompany her. Instead, she looked for Brother Da, Little Kitten, and her sister to keep her company. It seemed that she was thinking about experiencing Qin Ruo’s state of mind and his feelings when he first arrived at the Goblin Mountains.

*Whistle…*

Along with the sound of the wind, Qin Ruo gently sighed. He then continued to ask about Xiaoxiao’s situation in the game.

“Oh yea, what’s Xiaoxiao’s Class?’

“Aquamancer!”

“What?!” The answer, which came out of Brother Da’s mouth caused Qin Ruo to freak out a little! He suddenly stopped moving as he revealed a strange expression on his face and stared at Brother Da. He could not believe what he just heard. He asked again to confirm, “Aquamancer? Water Elementalism?!”

“Cut the crap, will you?! Of course! My common language is very on point. Would you be convinced that you heard my words wrongly?”

“Why would she pick Aquamancer?!”

Qin Ruo frowned as he muttered to himself. However, Brother Da was smiling wretchedly as he moved closer to Qin Ruo. “Hehe, so what’s wrong with picking the Aquamancer Class? I see that it’s a pretty good choice! The two of you can now perform a great show as the Icy Snow couple…”

“Alright! Let’s hurry up! If we delay any longer, the Goblin King’s going to become someone else’s trophy!”

“What the f*ck. You’re the one who stopped first!”

The two of them, with one leading in front and the other following, continued to sprint in the direction of their destination.

Ten minutes later, Brother Da had led Qin Ruo into a relatively remote mining area in the Goblin Mountains. Qin Ruo could roughly remember that the rate of mining in that place, where not many players frequented, was generally lower than that of the other large mines.

“How could you bring them to such a place in the middle of nowhere?”

“Shh! Are you saying that I should bring them to the large mining areas? Pretty girls like them would become the targets of many men the moment we set foot in those places! I’m not an idiot, you know.”

Qin Ruo was speechless.

“It’s not like you don’t know about those large mining areas. During normal times, there aren’t even many monsters spawning there. Even when there’s one, the monster would be surrounded by a large number of players the moment it spawns. So, it seemed much wiser to pick someplace that was far from the crowd. The more remote the place, the better. No players want to lay their hands on the goblins. And coincidentally, we’re giving Xiaoxiao a good spot to grind her level. But it looks like our luck today isn’t bad at all. We’ve even found the Goblin King.” As they approached their destination, Brother Da seemed to be getting more excited. Well, who could blame him, right? They were now nearing the opportunity to kill an Overlord, which would likely drop Dark Gold Equipment.

All of a sudden!

Just as Brother Da pointed his finger in the direction of the mines where the Goblin King was, a few Tier 4 players walked out from the cave! They coincidentally met Qin Ruo and Brother Da face-to-face!

The both of them were stunned at first. Soon after, Qin Ruo suddenly felt a heavy weight upon their hearts as the two of them looked each other in the eye with a bad look.

This was bad! Someone had discovered it!

Before Qin Ruo and Brother Da could respond to the situation, the other players appeared to be momentarily stunned as well. They then gave Qin Ruo and Brother Da a quick glance before they hurriedly ran into the mining area!

“What just happened?” Brother Da felt a little stuffy at the moment. The other players whom they ran into seemed much more anxious than they were.

Fortunately, Qin Ruo was able to think pretty fast. He immediately remembered that Xiaoxiao and the other ladies did not mention to Qin Ruo and Brother Da that there were outsiders involved in their operation. He felt that something was not right. Qin Ruo swiftly sent a voice message to Xiaoxiao and asked, “Someone’s entered the cave, did you not notice it?!”

“Someone?! No! We didn’t see anyone! There’s only the three of us here, and a few Tier 1 Miners… Did you guys go to the wrong spot?”

“Impossible! Brother Da’s with me right here, right now! Quickly! Pass the news to Xinqin and Little Kitten. Inform them to be aware. Someone may be there to cause trouble! We’ll be there to meet all of you right away!!”

After Qin Ruo said what he wanted to say, he and Brother Da swiftly charged into the mines!