MMORPG: The Elementalist

The Tier 5 Greenstone Demon could not make it past the three minutes’ mark under the insane combination of Qin Ruo, Black Rock, Snowleaf, and Amethyst Orc.

The second Mini Boss finally succumbed to the three players and two monsters’ collaborated attack. Its body fell onto the ground. A large amount of gold coin dropped all over the place.

“Damn! Why didn’t the previous one drop so generously?”

Looking at the number equipment dropped everywhere, Black Rock stuck his numbing tongue out and glanced at the MPV of this fight—although Subjugator was the leader of this party, in most temporarily formed alliances, usually the rewards would be divided among those who contributed the most in that particular fight. Those who did not participate in the battle, like Subjugator, Judge, and Fateless in this case, did not have the rights to claim any parts of the loot.

The three of them were all experienced veterans with high credibility in the game, so they remained on the spot and did not rush to the corpse after the fight was over. They just quietly stood at the side and watched as the other three members picked up the equipment. Those equipment were transferred into the party’s Sharing Column by the Elementalists and the Summoner.

(Sharing Column: a column specifically designed for reward allocation. All rewards gained by players that formed the party will be displayed in this space. The party member can then bid for the equipment available in this column using in-game currency through auction. All the paid gold coins will then be split evenly to other party members.)

“We are lucky. There is a Dark Gold weapon, and an Embedded Stone as well…”

“It is so unfair. Why did the Embedded Stone not appear in the last fight?”

“Qin Ruo, you should have the biggest share. Go ahead and pick first. Be it Dark Gold, Gem, or any Gold equipment,” Subjugator said.

Qin Ruo knew the code well, so he showed no courtesy and directly picked the most valuable item among the rewards—a Dark Gold equipment—metal boxing gloves (Suitable for Berserker, has a shorter attack range than axe and sword but provided greater speed).

He offered one hundred gold coins for it and others sensibly chose not to match the bid.

The Amethyst Orc’s Sealed Mana Core was worth a thousand Redemption Points. Before his other unknown equipment/items were identified, it would leave a huge void in his assets once the Orc’s time was up. Thus, Qin Ruo would have to gain as many valuable items as he could in order to compensate for the loss.

Obtained Stone Demon’s Boxing Gloves!

***

Snowleaf was relieved when she saw Qin Ruo take the gloves as she had anticipated. She was second to choose and unexpectedly selected the green oval gem from the Sharing Column.

Though it was unidentified and the gem’s attribute might end up unsuitable for the Summoner class, Snowleaf was still pretty pleased with her choice. She cautiously placed the gem into her backpack.

Qin Ruo was baffled when Snowleaf gave up on the Greenstone Demon’s Crystal Core and picked the unknown Embedded Stone instead. Although, before this, he had no idea what the gems were for, he now roughly understood that it should be a type of embedding material after doing some research when he was offline. As compared to the Crystal Core, the greater advantage of using gems in embedding was its transparent Embedded Attributes.

The embedding system was generally known to be highly dependent on the individual player’s fortune. In the embedding process, the same Crystal Core might result in vastly different attributes of a particular Element at a different depth.

Luckier players might gain an enhancement in affinity or a magic spell previously owned by the monster; while less fortunate players could get a meaningless one-point upgrade on a particular Element damage, or far useless attributes.

Embedding result would not be affected by the type of Crystal Core used, regardless of whether it was of high grade or Boss Crystal Core. The factors that might influence the outcome were based on the player’s Character, the quality of the Crystal Core, as well as the intensity of the resulted attribute.

Thus, all this while, even those wealthy players dared not simply try to embed their high-tier equipment. They did not wish to see the value of a good weapon or armor diminish after being embedded with an inferior core.

However, gem embedding was completely different. Once identified, the gem’s attribute was fixed forever. Then again, gem’s attributes come in numerous forms. It was rare to discover an attribute of the highest grade.

Snowleaf’s decision to pick the gem that was more suitable for a Warrior, over the Crystal Core, raised Qin Ruo’s suspicion.

‘Isn’t it more logical for her to choose the Crystal Core? Is there any reason why she made such an odd choice?’

***

The next in line was Terramancer Black Rock. Since his and Snowleaf’s contribution were the same, he, being a gentleman, allowed the lady to go first. The only rewards left during his turn were the Crystal Core and few Gold-tier equipment (he scoffed at the Violet tier, obviously).

Black Rock selected the Crystal Core without a second thought. Then, the few leftover unidentified Gold equipment were each taken by Subjugator, Judge, and Fateless at the price of ten thousand gold coins—a valued price for a high-tier equipment dropped from a Tier 5 Miniboss. Since Qin Ruo had already obtained the better loot, he did not participate in the subsequent auction and permitted them to peacefully distribute the Gold equipment among themselves.

Subtracting the one hundred gold coins used to bid for Stone Demon’s Boxing Gloves, Qin Ruo received a net gain of eleven thousand gold coins.

After the quick rewards distribution, Qin Ruo gazed excitingly towards the valley in the distance. His inner urge to battle burned bright once again.

‘Lethal Balrog is the only creature standing in our way to enter level four now. I am getting closer to the origin of this Graveyard of the Gods, level 5! Most probably almost all Champion players in H&G have gathered there now and have begun to fight for Divinity.’

‘Netherspirit’s Claw, Twelve Zodiacs, Maverick Vatican, Scarlet Bauhinia, Seven League, plus numerous famous clans, thirty-five Tier 5 Supreme Champions from both Angel and Demon Factions, as well as those well-known lone players in H&G. The real battle is just about to begin.’

***

Battling against Lethal Balrog was of a completely different level.

The Tier 5 Elite Boss not only had an exceptionally high Magic Defense to the extent that the combined attacks by Qin Ruo, Black Rock, and Snowleaf could barely hurt its HP; its ranged spell also directly threatened the safety of the three spellcasters. The Amethyst Orc who stayed close to the Boss also could not find any opening to launch an effective attack. Every time it tried to get closer, the Amethyst Orc would have to brace Lethal Balrog’s counter-attacks while also suffering the damage inflicted by the fire surrounding the Elite Boss.

Subjugator, Judge, and Fateless initially got all feisty and wanted to get involved this time. But when they witnessed the Amethyst Orc’s HP dropping by the hundreds under the attack, they could only smile bitterly and sit back. It was suicidal to go anywhere near the Balrog with their petty Magic Defense and relatively low HP.

The center of the battle, once again, fell on Qin Ruo and the Amethyst Orc. Snowleaf and Cryopider could only play the supporting role this time due to the increase in difficulty. She constantly healed the Amethyst Orc that was losing HP, from a safe distance using Aquaheal.

This battle was far more dangerous than going against the Greenstone Demon. But Lethal Balrog was equally in a tough spot. Qin Ruo’s Lycan Barrage had a Magic Attack of more than two hundred and seventy points and the two wolves attacked at a high frequency. Since it was a continuous manipulative spells, the Lethal Balrog’s health points were consistently threatened. Though the balrog was smart enough to know that it would need to target and take out the Aquamancer first, the Amethyst Orc’s relentless harassment made it difficult for the Boss to take an aim at the human adventurer who hovered at the edge of its attack range.

Furthermore, Lethal Balrog was also sustaining attacks from Black Rock, Snowleaf, and the melee Amethyst Orc at the same time. As a result, its HP was actually shrinking at a quicker pace than the Amethyst Orc’s.

In the middle of the intense battle, nobody had realized that the few figures covered in red glow were hiding cleverly behind the trees in a groove nearby. They extended their heads out carefully and discreetly observed the battle.

***

“My merciful Saint Mary! Can anyone tell me, is it only me or does everyone else’s eyes are having problems too?” Inside the groove, a Caucasian player in Bandit equipment asked those around him with an exaggerated tone.

Those behind him were not buying the Caucasian Bandit sleazy behavior and ignored him. Finally, a player at the front turned and looked at him. He rested on the tree and answered him sincerely, “I hereby swear on the name of Jehovah, I f*cking hope that it is only your eyes that have a problem.”

“Oh, thank you for clearing the doubt. Now I am relieved.” He spread his arm and seemed to be very satisfied with the answer.

At the same time, seven other players at the back focused on the Bowmaster, who was now facing them.

“What is the situation now?” One of them asked.

Bowmaster shrugged and put the bow in his hand back to his rear. He sighed then answered the player who raised the question, “Not good. I personally don’t recommend fighting these guys. I think the damn monster alone will wipe us all out. Yeap, I believed it is at least a Level 49 Elite Boss, perhaps even up to Tier 5. I am not very sure.”

“There are six Angel Faction players. I am pretty sure that at least two of them are at the level of a Field Commander.”

“Oh,” someone scorned and cursed, “Such fantastic news.”

“Can’t we ambush them? I don’t see any Bowmaster in their party.”

Not everyone in the party was afraid of the powerful monster. Experienced players usually would not take summoned monster seriously. From their perspective, once the Summoner was killed, the rest would be history.

“I think better not,” The Bowmaster insisted and looked nervously at the person who voiced the suggestion.

“Based on my observation, the Terramancer had just reached the status of a Field Commander. The Aquamancer is even stronger than the Terramancer, as he seems to be the main attacker of this party. I also feel that the female Summoner is hiding something and has yet to show her true potential. That’s why it is hard to determine how strong she is. Most importantly, there are three more players guarding them and have yet to make a move. If this is just a temporary party instead of a long term formation, I bet that these six players are all as tough as Field Commanders judging by their seamless fighting style!”

“Even if not everyone one in the team is a Field Commander, as long as the monster is controlled by one, we still wouldn’t stand a chance against them. So I don’t think we should take the risk. Remember…” The Bowmaster paused intentionally and emphasized, “Our main objective is not to battle! We are here to make sure that everyone gets delivered to the fifth level of the Graveyard of the Gods safely.”