MMORPG: The Elementalist

After they returned from Aricus Underground Ruins, the first thing Qin Ruo did was to get rid of his fatigue. Now, he sat on the topmost deck of Champion’s Restaurant. He lied comfortably on the windowsill while enjoying the bird’s-eye view of the extensive green plain outside the small town.

Behind him sat the dissatisfied Brother Da. His wide-open eyes stared angrily at Qin Ruo who had occupied the best lookout point of the entire restaurant. However, his resentment only lasted less than a second and he soon proceeded to approach “Sister Apple” to consult about the new battle techniques she had displayed in the Underground Chambers of the Aricus Ruins…

Although Brother Da was not as masterful as Little Apple in performing Tier 1 to Tier 4 Zephyr Swordmaster’s skills, at least he could release it quicker now. He was like a newly crafted sharp-sword that was yet to be polished. At the moment, Brother Da’s skill set had progressed from basic mastery of the skill to grasping the fundamental battle techniques. Just like the Tier 1 Elementalism of an Elementalist, the most fundamental technique was also the most useful weapon for a particular class.

Seeing how excited Brother Da was in learning and discussing the experience with Little Apple, all others felt that sooner or later Brother Da would be able to catch up with Little Apple’s height, if and only if he could improve at this current rate.

***

Qin Ruo freed his thoughts from Brother Da’s boisterous voice. His mind swung back to the Pet Egg Slayer’s Heart had just shown him earlier…

‘A Pet Egg of the Earth-Enchanted Spider.

‘A Pet Egg of a Level 49 Elite Boss.

‘We finally made it!’

For the past few days, the party intentionally went all the way into the Mythical Battlefield and returned empty handed. They managed to return with a big and a small Boss Pet Egg after fighting through the Aricus Underground Ruin with a slight increase in its difficulty.

Not only that, the second Pet Egg belonged to the Elite Boss at the peak of Tier 4—the Earth-Enchanted Spider…

‘Ah! Thinking back now, all this still feel rather unrealistic…

‘We were extremely lucky!’

If it was not because of the party that died in the Underground Chambers, maybe things would unfold differently, and perhaps they would not gain any Pet Eggs at all.

Now, their party owned a “Death Venomspider” in addition to an “Earth-Enchanted Spider”. Adding those two to Qin Ruo’s Pet “Shadowfox”, which was also a Boss-tier pet, their party strength would grow exponentially in the future.

His thought was interrupted by someone’s call, “Qin Ruo!”

“Little Qin, come over quick.”

Following Slayer’s Heart and Violet Orchids’ call, Brother Da’s also raised his voice, “What are you looking at, Ruo Ruo? Are there a lot of pretty ladies on the street? Even if there is, you should not have peeked… How possible is that there are more pretty ladies on the street compared to those in this room? There is no way those women are prettier than our Sister Violet, Sister Rose, Sister Apple, Sister Arrow, Sister Devilite, and the little girl Babe, isn’t it?”

Once he got along with the party after few days of action, Brother Da started to show his gossiping nature again. He acted pretentiously and pranked Qin Ruo by initiating a “public trial” against him.

***

“Little Qin, I have shamelessly taken the biggest share from this round of loot. For the two Dark Gold equipment as well as the other Gold equipment, I’ve listed them on the League to exchange with equipment that you all need. I reckon we will get the reply tomorrow.”

Qin Ruo nodded in agreement.

As the team leader, Slayer’s Heart was the most suitable and most deserved person to receive the Pet Egg. None of the other members held a second opinion.

“Hold on,” it was Dinosaurcerer who had spoken, “Leader, I had taken two Pet Eggs and so many Mana Cores… I have collected a full set of Gold equipment as well. So there is no need to get Summoner equipment for me.”

“Hm, alright.”

Slayer’s Heart cut to the chase and agreed with him straight away. Indeed, Dinosaurcerer did not need another equipment, plus the Tier 4 Miniboss Pet Egg was worth quite a fortune. Besides, there were others in the party that needed new equipment more at this moment. They need to gear up better for the Graveyard of the Gods event due two days later.

“I still have twenty Ancient Darksteel with me, how should we deal with it?” Qin Ruo remembered the materials he gathered from the spider’s corpse.

“Oh wait!” Slayer’s Heart slapped his forehead and said, “Little Qin, before I forget, those Grade 4 Herbs have been crafted into potions right? Please retrieve it and let me have a look later on. Those potions might come in handy when we enter the Graveyard of the Gods.”

Qin Ruo nodded.

The Darkfrost Potion crafted using Dreamy Blue Ice Chrysanthemum was useful. In Aricus Underground Ruins, Qin Ruo depended on it twice to persevere and to rescue the party from total annihilation. Now he only had one left, which would be insufficient when they enter the Graveyard of the Gods. The two Dreamy Blue Ice Chrysanthemum he had given to Illegal Ignoble last round could craft six Darkfrost Potion at most…

‘Which is still too little.

‘For such a great item, the more the better!’

Thinking as such, Qin Ruo decided to stock up Dreamy Blue Ice Chrysanthemum from the market if he had the chance. If someone had it, he did not mind buying it from them at a higher price, since he had earned more than 500,000 gold coins and owned a whole lot of Gold equipment now…

Since Slayer’s Heart mentioned about the Graveyard of the Gods, the ladies turned the topic onto the Spirit Orb. They wanted to know how many Spirit Orbs they had collected thus far.

“I have two hundred and seventy pieces…”

“I have… two hundred and twenty-three…”

Qin Ruo and Brother Da raised their hands and reported the count, respectively.

Everyone was startled by the numbers.

‘That many?’

The accumulated amount of Spirit Orbs was well beyond five hundred pieces, which was equivalent to fifty entrance tickets that they could use to enter the Graveyard of the Gods.

“This should be enough. Alright, each of you take fifty orbs. Visit the Alchemist Guild whenever you are free and turn these orbs into entrance ticket.”

“Ergh… Five entrance tickets per person? Do we need that many?” Gold Digger Babe picked up a dark orb from Qin Ruo’s palm and asked Slayer’s Heart. She was still a student after all. The fees to make one entrance ticket were one hundred gold coins, which was equivalent to 200 RMB. Although her share of gold coins for these past few days had gone beyond 150,000, she was never a big spender and dared not to use her money unnecessarily most of the time.

“It’s very dangerous in there. I actually still plan to go back into the ruins for another round tomorrow and get each of you five more entrance tickets. If you think it’s too many and don’t want to craft it, then it’s up to you.”

Gold Digger Babe was shaken by such a terrifying claim.

“I think it’s not going to be enough then…”

The little girl then took her share.

Since the team leader had said it was extremely dangerous there and even five entrance tickets might be insufficient, she no longer felt secure. The little girl held her dark Spirit Orbs tightly and counted it again and again. She then looked greedily at the Spirit Orbs held by Dinosaurcerer and Violetmoon Devilite beside her. The latter, troubled by the little girl’s sight, kept her Spirit Orbs into her backpack.

Seeing her reaction, Slayer’s Heart smiled and said, “Actually there is no need to worry. The drop rate of Spirit Orbs is actually pretty low. Though we obtain a lot of them in the ruins, it does not mean that the drop rate is the same at other location. In the end, I believe its demand will definitely surpass the supply. Now some players already begin stocking up Spirit Orbs at a low rate! Each of them costs twenty to thirty gold coins now and it will keep on increasing until the Graveyard of the Gods is open. When that time comes, I think one orb will be worth at least a hundred gold coins.”

“That expensive?” Brother Da was shaken by the high price tag and spoke excitedly, “Then does it means that we can enter the ruins and earn money by collecting Spirit Orbs?”

“…”

They fell into an awkward silence for about half a minute.

Embarrassed, Brother Da tried his best to shrink down his bloated body and dared not to make eye contact with the others. Dinosaurcerer gave him a pitiful look, then turned to Slayer’s Heart and asked, “Leader, are we still going into the ruin’s dungeon tomorrow?”

In contrast to Brother Da’s redundant idea, Dinosaurcerer main concern lies in how to develop his own strength. He had learned a lot of valuable lessons after today’s trip down to Aricus Underground Ruins, but he had also acquired ample rewards!

First, he had bound himself to a Boss-tier Pet Egg. Then, he had also sealed more than thirty monsters—including the Chameleon Spider, Violetwing Venomspider, and Green Goblin Spider.

His Seal skill’s Mastery Points were increased from lower Intermediate to the peak of the same level (Even when Seal was not successfully executed, it would still contribute to Mastery Points. Since the Seal’s targets were all Tier 4 monsters, the degree of increment was way higher than sealing lower tier monsters).

Dinosaurcerer had a hunch that if he returned to the dungeon of the Aricus Ruins two or three more times, he would be able to upgrade his Seal to the mid-Advanced, or even Master… He could seal a Boss monster with it then!

Once he thought about the prospect of using the power he obtained from the Devil’s Swamp more, and perhaps at a greater extent, Dinosaurcerer could not hide his excitement and looked enthusiastically toward Slayer’s Heart.

The latter nodded and said, “There are still a lot of things left to be explored in the ruins, so of course we will continue the expedition. I am also looking forward to farm a few more Boss-tier Pet Eggs from the ruins. Hopefully, everyone in the party would be able to bind to a Boss monster after this.”

After they bound the Pet Egg of the Earth-Enchanted Spider, Slayer’s Heart was also exceptionally enthusiastic. His inspiring speech pleased the ladies. All of them raised their cups and celebrated their great harvest today.

Half an hour later, everyone arranged to meet at the same time and place the following morning, and then they left the restaurant. They all planned to use the free time they had to look for suitable training grounds to hone their skills.

Qin Ruo first went to the Alchemist Guild and crafted five entrance tickets. After that, he realized the twenty pieces of heavy Ancient Darksteel were still in his backpack. He smiled.

“How could we forget about this?”