MMORPG: The Elementalist

All this while, Dinosaurcerer had considered himself the big brother of the gaming community within his company. Several times during group activities, he had been praised for his abilities by his peers, somehow becoming sort of a legend within the faction. Whenever a party was being formed, his fellows would tend to nominate him as their leader.

However, in recent moments the Dinosaurcerer was becoming increasingly aware of how far he still had to go to catch up with the truly great players in this world.

Although there were over two hundred people in his company playing this game, most of these were the sort of casual players who did not really have a regular gaming habit, and only managed to gain levels by accident in between chatting and hanging out in the game.

Where battle tactics and combat experience where concerned, they had virtually none to speak of. Comparing himself to them, simply because he was somewhat more dedicated to this game than they were, Dinosaurcerer felt like he had been the biggest frog at the bottom of a secluded little well somewhere, crowing vainly about his glory without any conception of the wider world out there.

However, ever since that time in the Devil’s Swamp, when he had been betrayed by his own friends, and then mercilessly humiliated by the Order of the Eight Gods Clan, his pride had been left broken and shattered.

That was when he began fervently seeking greater power, and better equipment!

However, even with a full set of Gold Equipment, traveling with this party, he still felt insignificant. Apprenticed beneath Slayer’s Heart, Qin Ruo, Violet Orchid, Little Apple, Little Arrow, and the others… with each moment that he spent carefully studying their methods, he was left even more in awe at the true strength of expert players.

And yet he was discovering, to his dismay, that his Tier 4 Shadow Summoner’s abilities were of so little benefit to the party that they were hardly worth mentioning.

One could not even begin to compare him to champions of such skill as Slayer’s Heart, Qin Ruo, and Violet Orchid. These three were basically the pillars upon which the rest of the party stood upon: a close and long-ranged combatant, and one more providing support—they were a complete set, in flawless harmony with each other.

Not far behind were Little Apple, Burning Rose, and Little Arrow.

Little Apple was also a player of skill, with a deep understanding of the Zephyr Swordmaster. Under her guidance, even Wang Da had made great strides.

Burning Rose, although terribly overshadowed by Qin Ruo to the point that she seemed to fade from notice entirely—when it came to long-ranged firepower, no one could replace her. The perfect timing on her fire magic, and her uncanny coordination with the team—these qualities had not escaped Dinosaurcerer’s notice.

Little Arrow, the dextrous Bowmaster, rarely caught much of Dinosaurcerer’s attention. Today however, through the Kane Jungle, and the second and third levels of the Underground Ruins, his eyes had been opened, and now he understood the dancer’s grace of an elf. With impeccable timing, and reflexes as quick as lightning, the sight of him in combat had been a spectacle that continued to play in Dinosaurcerer’s mind.

Finally, there were those people who had joined this party together with him.

Wang Da had shown tremendous improvement over the past few days, and everybody had noticed. By now he was practically considered to be one of the main close-combatants.

Violetmoon Devilite, under Violet Orchid’s guidance, was gradually approaching her mentor’s mastery over the support skills of a Radiant Priest. When to heal, when to refresh support spells, when to dispel enemy magic, and when to wade into hand-to-hand combat… she was improving steadily, which made life easier for Violet Orchid as well as the rest of the party.

Gold Digger Babe, needless to say, was irreplaceable by virtue of being the only one in the party of her Class. Upon the Mythical Battlefield, several items of Dark Gold quality had been acquired all thanks to her. Furthermore, working together with Qin Ruo and Slayer’s Heart, she had helped get the party out of a dangerous situation twice. There was no doubt that she was a Bandit worth keeping around.

When he compared himself to everyone else in the party, Dinosaurcerer only felt more depressed. That’s why every time he had a free moment, he would be deep in thought, or trawling through the forums, looking for ways to improve his gameplay, and how to make his Summoner ever more powerful.

At last, he found the following article in a thread somewhere:

Mastering the Summoner: You’ll need one of these three things!

1. Money: With enough coins, you can collect lots of Mana Cores, which will allow you to bind as many higher-level monsters as you please… At Master Rank, you can even bind a Miniboss.

2. Luck: If you can learn any secret Summoner skills, granting you mighty Summoned Beasts, it’ll be hard not to do well.

Lastly, one can excel by being the only Summoner in a party of substantial ability—class-specific equipment is all yours, and so are all the Mana Cores. This path will also lead you to become an a ll-round great Summoner.

Dinosaurcerer paid no heed to the first two suggestions!

Though his family was wealthy enough, he was not so much of a fool that he would trade away his fortune for Tier 4 Mana Cores costing up to a thousand gold. Similarly, he definitely was not going to spend like crazy over something like Summoner skills.

Without any Skill Books, the second suggestion was equally worthless.

Which left the final idea…

After they had made it down into the Underground Chambers, Dinosaurcerer finally found his path to power!

Once they had wiped out the massive horde of Chameleon Spiders and Violetwing Venomspiders, Dinosaurcerer received at least a dozen Tier 4 Intermediate Sealed Cores ¹ from the spoils of battle. Even more to his delight, as he was claiming these Mana Cores for himself, Qin Ruo reached into his backpack and fished out a high-grade Mana Core from the body of a slain Mutated Darkshadow Archdemon!

At that moment, Dinosaurcerer felt as though the future looked bright indeed.

With the high drop rate down here, he estimated that the loot afterward would include over thirty Mana Cores, at the very least.

Using the Mana Cores dropped by Chameleon Spiders and Violetwing Venomspiders to bind those very same creatures, the compatibility was pretty good, which meant the chance of a successful binding would be extremely high!

Chameleon Spiders and Violetwing Venomspiders were Tier 4 Intermediate monsters, with high mobility and unique attacks. They were far superior to the normal fare on offer from the Alchemist Guild. If he could bind a few of them here, he would be able to deal with future encounters in the same way as what happened back in the Devil Swamp—summoning Chameleon Spiders and Violetwing Venomspiders, then fusing with them to greatly increase his Summoner’s combat ability.

During the journey here, Dinosaurcerer had enthusiastically shared these thoughts with the others, which met with immediate approval. As a result, the Mana Cores in his backpack had increased twofold.

In truth, it was not that many Mana Cores he had obtained after a full day’s work with this party, but neither was it too little. Either way, Dinosaurcerer anticipated that today’s efforts would contribute greatly to his future success.

With the Chameleon Spider’s ability to blend in with its surroundings, not to mention its phenomenally high physical resistance and speed, it was an excellent subject for fusion with.

And what about the Violetwing Venomspider? Maybe it could give him a set of fluttering, iridescent wings—that would be a lot of fun!

Qin Ruo and Slayer’s Heart would be as good as their word: toward the end, they would spare one last group of Chameleon Spiders and Violetwing Venomspiders for him, and help him to successfully bind as many of them as he could, in order to produce a bunch of powerful Soul Stones.

Touched by everyone’s support, Dinosaurcerer could feel himself getting all fired up!

In this disastrous encounter with both a Gorefiend Spider Demon as well as a Deathvenom Spider, Dinosaurcerer not only stood his ground, he straight-away summoned a Death Toad, and then began a Beastform Fusion with it.

Enduring the physical stress and pain brought on by the process of fusion, one’s features and appearance would twist gruesomely. When it was complete, he would appear from head to toe to be an Advanced monster.

However, after the fusion, Dinosaurcerer’s dark magic would indeed become more powerful—roughly comparable in potency to that of Burning Rose, even, so that he could be the third long-ranged powerhouse of the party.

***

The Twelve Frostramparts Formation was in place, and for the Gorefiend Spider Demon and the Deathvenom Spider, their doom was now assured.

However, what happened afterward left Qin Ruo speechless: it was the sort of loot he never received despite having slain dozens of Bosses upon the Mythical Battlefield—and yet, here in these Underground Chambers, he had accidentally picked one up just by doing away with a mere Elite Miniboss.

The Pet Egg of a Deathvenom Spider!

The Pet Egg of a Tier 4 Elite Miniboss!

After vanquishing the Deathvenom Spider, Slayer’s Heart found the egg beside its reeking, filth-covered remains—he did not know what to make of it. Regarding it with mixed feelings, he could not decide whether this was a good or bad thing.

If it had been a Pet Egg for the Gorefiend Spider Demon, Slayer’s Heart would have cried out in triumph right away! But instead it was for the Deathvenom Spider.

Making no effort to hide his disappointment, Slayer’s Heart straightened up and turned around, waving the egg about for the others to see.

“Anyone want this?”

***

Of the ten of them, nine responded with disgust and chagrin.

When Slayer’s Heart first displayed the egg for all to see, their eyes had lit up, but a moment later everyone backed away in revulsion, terrified that they might be asked to take it. The looks on their faces said it clearly enough: the egg that Slayer’s Heart was offering, rather than anything a player ought to be excited about, looked more like a ticking time-bomb to them.

And no wonder! That it was a Tier 4 Elite Miniboss was all fine and dandy, but did it have to be so ugly? And its looks were one thing, but when you also considered its foul, vomit-inducing stench…

It was mission impossible—no one could be asked to take this on!