MMORPG: The Elementalist

Steel Dude’s “Style”, Black Rock’s “AoE Petrify”, Subjugator’s “Obstruction skill”, Judge’s “Instant Guard ability”, and Fateless’s revelation of the “Bandit vs Bandit ultimate skill” as well as Snowleaf who was the most cunning one, with her personal secret “no boyfriend at the moment”, caused poor Black Rock who was full of anticipation to only end up with a major headache.

In this game of truth, the unluckiest one was him. He was the one who revealed the most earth-shattering secret, yet not a single one in the party had the conscience to reveal an equally shocking secret. Maybe it was because no one else had a secret that was comparable to his Dark Gold accessory, or maybe they had some unspeakable reasons for keeping the secrets to themselves, all he felt was a melancholic depression at how things turned out.

Luckily, Qin Ruo was one who was relatively pure and honest as he revealed the secret about the Amethyst Orc’s Sealed Core. At least Black Rock was able to feel slightly better about all this.

The origin of the Tier 5 Miniboss Sealed Mana Core was indeed an important news that was highly valuable even to champion players…

With the magnitude of this burning question everyone had, no one dared to pry and always left Qin Ruo alone. No one would have ever imagined that the tight-lipped Qin Ruo would volunteer to share such a crucial secret on his own volition.

With the revelation of his secret, the other nine members in the party felt such passion and excitement course through their veins!

All the members gathered excitedly next to him, ears perked with anticipation, listening attentively to Qin Ruo’s detailed explanation of how he entered the Emerald Plain and searched for the Lost Merchant, accepted the quest and proceeded to complete all the tasks. Upon hearing his explanation, all of them instantly became deflated and dismayed.

The level of difficulty and requirements needed to complete the quest were too high!

Firstly and most importantly, to fulfill the Bloodthirsty Tree’s 180-second long drain-time was in itself on an insane scale…

Even if they were lucky enough to enter the Great Tree Forest, it was apparent that the quest was not meant for common Classes. It would probably be better for Aquamancers, but then it did not mean that they would be able to appear exactly nearby Mikel which needed a Vampire Crystal. Besides, in the situation where a map was not available, the Bloodthirsty Trees would be constantly attacking them. If they were to appear nearby NPCs like Isabelle, it would not be of any help in places like the Emerald Plain as they would not be able to return to the Great Tree Forest to kill Tier 5 monsters.

Although Qin Ruo’s explanation cleared the mystery surrounding his acquisition of the Amethyst Orc, the blatant fact is that knowing how he did it served them no good whatsoever…

Black Rock thought to himself in contempt, ‘Now I know who is the most cunning of all… The secret involving the Amethyst Orc and the Lost Merchant did not even tell us anything about him personally. Even if he tells us this secret it does not affect Qin Ruo in any way. This is so despicable of him!’

Qin Ruo who was the winner of the previous battle had been waiting eagerly to ask all of them one question each, but they crushed that hope of his and asked him to choose only one person to question.

Dejectedly, he realized that he misheard the rules. After contemplating for what felt like ages, with the others secretly dropping hints of who to choose, he finally chose crafty Snowleaf as the unlucky one to question…

She could only blame herself for revealing such a nonsensical secret about having no boyfriend.

“Alright then Snowleaf, it’s gotta be you. Tell us your secret.”

Steel Dude and the rest of the unruly guys stood right by Qin Ruo and looked cheekily at Snowleaf who was hugging Poochie and standing very much alone.

“Yeah, tell us.”

Under their insistent pressure, Snowleaf, who was staring at Poochie snuggled within her embrace, finally blurted out with much resentment and helplessness, “I acquired the Cryospider summoning skill from the second floor of the Graveyard of the Gods. It is an Magic-type monster with a self-exploding ability that ignores all the target’s basic defenses, Magic Damage 170… Happy now?” said the beautiful Summoner who finally revealed a useful secret about herself.

Magic-type monster! Not bad, not bad.”

“… I knew it.”

“You tricky thing.”

“Alright everyone, the time for idle conversations is up! The warp portal is right up ahead. The one guarding it is a Tier 5 Wind-type Boss “Skelewing Dragon”. I would like your input on this…” Sister Violet cut their pointless rambling short and continued on asking, ” What do you think our probability of defeating the Tier 5 Boss is like with Tiger Cub watching us so closely?”

“…”

***

War was continuously raging on the fourth floor of the Graveyard of the Gods, whereas the fifth floor was emanating a harmonious vibe.

Bauhinia League’s Master Scarlet Bauhinia, Homme Fatale, Bloodstained King (Bauhinia League’s Blood Mary Clan Leader) as well as Netherspirit’s Claw League Master Netherclaw, Dark Dragon, Hall of Heroes’ League Master Majestic Hero, and Sword Emperor were all Supreme Champion players who were rarely seen on a daily basis. Yet on this fine day, they were all assembled on the fifth floor of the Graveyard of Gods.

Cladded in complete sets of Legendary equipment, standing side by side on a strategic spot that allowed them to see a party marching toward a small mountain—it was the Demon Faction’s team.

“Whose turn is it to attack this time?”

Scarlet Bauhinia said those words casually, yet her gaze was directed at Netherclaw.

The latter cursed and jokingly replied, “It won’t kill you to just say my name you know, if it’s my turn then so be it. I’m from the Netherspirit’s Claw, I’m not afraid of death.” he said with much indignation. Yet, the moment he turned his back on the rest, his eyes could not hide his deep sense of weariness and rather obvious apprehension…

Behind the seven people was a Champion party that was in no way less powerful than the seven Supreme Champions! Almost all of them were equipped with complete sets of Dark Gold equipment, with some Legendary equipment thrown into the mix.

They were a powerful group made up of all Field Commander level champion players!

Among the group, aside from champion players from the Three Great Leagues, there were three members who were from a more renowned elite clan “Black Jail” from the Angel Faction in the party as well.

Netherclaw turned around and looked at a group of members sporting the Netherspirit’s Claw League insignia on their chests marching forward. Their faces were etched with a surge of passion and determination to win for justice.

Around him, the other clan members had the same look of determination on their faces.

This time it was Netherspirit’s Claw’s League’s turn to take charge and give the Demon Faction party a piece of their minds. The rest of them not in the front lines were responsible for covering their backs and to reinforce if things went south…

Their objective was simple, which was to get rid of as many Demon Faction people as possible.

***

In the eyes of hundreds of millions of players who died in the first few floors of the Graveyard of the Gods, the fifth floor was full of mystery and terror. To them, those who were able to enter the fifth floor were all assuredly Master players with formidable abilities.

They probably believed that these players have already obtained an abundance of rewards along their journey there…

This however, was something only those who have really stepped foot onto the fifth floor would know!

The fifth floor of the Graveyard of the Gods was evidently not a place fourth-floor players could survive in… The setting here was a hundred times more perilous and terrifying than the players could have ever imagined.

Just a mere Tier 6 monster’s battle power was comparable to that of a Tier 5 Miniboss, albeit having lower HP, its ability was not much different; plus it had higher intelligence and was more devious than the players…

Halfway through battles, they would suddenly turn tail and run, summon their friends with deafening howls, call for reinforcement, or rather just scamper back to their nests looking for their boss for protection.

Many Tier 4 players who were strong and ferocious when in the outside world did not even have a chance here. They would face such harsh and cruel obstacles and situations, meeting unspeakable deaths and ends.

Sometimes, after a long and exhausting battle with one monster and the taste of victory was right in front of them, it just took one random howl from the monster and all possibility of victory would vanish. With just one howl, several other Tier 6 monsters would appear seemingly out of nowhere, with menacing looks in their eyes, charging toward the players. The feeling where all the hard work had gone down the drain and the experience of being driven out war-torn and utterly helpless were something too embarrassing to recount.

Monsters that were shrewd would choose to hide themselves in their nests, or if they were favored by their boss, get their boss to fight their battles for them instead…

It did not matter whether it was a Tier 6 Miniboss, Tier 6 Elite Miniboss or Tier 6 Boss, any one of them would mercilessly crush a Tier 5 Supreme Champion. There was no chance in hell for Tier 4 players.

As for the worst possible outcome…

Sometimes, after players had given their all in attacking and killing a Tier 6 monster, they might even end up with nothing at all from the kill. That crushing feeling was so frustrating that they would feel so much anger and bitterness.

Once you got used to what happens there, players in the fifth floor should have a clearer understanding of how the Graveyard of God worked as it was pretty much similar to skipping levels when hunting monsters…

On the first and second floor, there were no attractive Divinities or Legendary Equipment as rewards, but the Tier 5 Boss was equipped with quite a number of Gold and Dark Gold equipment. With that said, these equipment alone were not attractive enough for the players as they could also be easily obtained from the outside world.

On the third and fourth floor, the difficulty level increased because there were less number of players. The players could find hidden rewards in various places; yet these were top-tier players who were fighting Tier 5 Minibosses and Elite Bosses on a daily basis—to them, these bosses did not hold much of a threat nor were appealing enough.

With the introduction of the Pet System, the players who were at the top of the Tier 4 player list had a sudden realization—they knew that they were the only ones who had the highest chance of becoming the next batch to advance as Tier 5 Supreme Champions.

As such, the fifth floor became the goal of almost all if not all top-tier players—by then, the Tier 5 Supreme Champions who owned Divinity would rewrite the present structure of the Champions.

Even so, once they had truly stepped onto the fifth floor, the harsh reality would hit them: The difficulty on this floor was of another level! The difference was unbelievably immense, to the extent where people found it hard to accept!! It was like how a dozen newbie level players who suddenly came face to face with blood-sucking Tier 3 and Tier 4 monsters. The gap between the abilities on both sides rose ever so sharply, which gave the Tier 4 Master players problems in getting used to this difference.

At this point in time, all of them would then think of the Radiant Priest Class…

***

However, the Radiant Priest was a Class that had the highest death rate in the Graveyard of the Gods. It was rare to see the Class even on the third and fourth floor, what more the fifth floor? When it came to that, what they had to depend on was their ability to react swiftly…

Whichever side was able to hasten their attempt at sending a Radiant Priest onto the fifth floor of the Graveyard of the Gods, that side would surely be able to greatly increase the party’s battle power. The reason being that it would give them the edge and ability to counter Tier 6 monster groups and the Tier 6 Boss.

However!

A party from the Demon Faction which clearly had more Champion abilities compared to the Angel Faction beat them to it. Their Radiant Priest successfully entered the fifth floor, not only that, they had been killing off all of the Angel Faction Radiant Priests outside of the fifth floor—inciting the inevitable highest level war between the Angel Faction and Demon Faction.

Those who were in the Angel Faction’s Three Great Leagues were sure about one thing:

The Demon Faction’s power and force were so overwhelming that they had successfully surpassed the Angel Faction! If Angel Faction were to continue letting them take all the glory and advance on at this rate, they would surely be able to obtain even more Divinities! It would even reach a point where they would push and humiliate them even further by sending the Angel Faction back to ground zero… In the chance that Demon Faction achieves this feat, the Angel Faction’s Three Great League would face the threat of being forcefully disbanded and all the clans’ Honor Points would be cleared to where they first started…

In order to prevent this from happening, they had to do something or else the League’s Honor Points would trickle from their hands and never to be seen again…

Even if they were facing a Demon Faction party that clearly had stronger abilities than they did, even if they had to pay the price of an enormous sacrifice, those under the Three Great League had no other choice!

That was the hardship these players had to face behind their glorious status and reputation as top-tier players, it was a fact unknown to the hundreds of millions of other players.

With glory comes great responsibility!

Bauhinia League, Netherspirit’s Claw League, and Hall of Heroes League…

With this heavy responsibility placed on their shoulders, under incomprehensible situations, they took turns to valiantly sacrifice their League’s strongest batch of warriors. In sacrificing their highest grade equipment, they ensured in return that the gap between the Two Great Leagues did not widen any further.

Using their lives over and over again just so they can delay the Demon Faction party’s progress!

As the Netherspirit’s Claw League members were getting ready to set out, Scarlet Bauhinia abruptly turned towards Netherclaw and said, “Netherclaw, if all goes well, we will have reinforcements coming to the fifth floor, they are seven players with Field Commander abilities and a Radiant Priest… But before that, I hope that you will assure that your people will not go against the people of our very own Angel Faction.”

Netherclaw frowned slightly, looked at Scarlet Bauhinia thoughtfully and from the side of his eyes saw Dark Dragon who seemed to know something as a hardened look was shown on his face, then proceeded to nod his head.

“I got it, this I can promise you.”