MMORPG: The Elementalist

“Enter the Graveyard once more?”

After he listened to Subjugator’s request, Qin Ruo who was drinking a beverage almost spit the drink in his mouth on Black Rock’s face.

He coughed lengthily and raised his head afterward. He looked dismayed and shook his head hard. “Brother, Sister, spare me, please. I can’t even recall how many hours I’ve spent online. I’ve barely slept these few days and I’m very hungry and sleepy now. I beg you all, please let me go offline and have a good rest.”

He had gained Divinity, two Legendary Equipment, about twenty Dark Gold Equipment (let’s skip the Gold Tier ones), in addition to two Magic Skill Books and a Tier 5 Elite Miniboss Pet Egg from the recent expedition. Such a gain had far exceeded Qin Ruo’s prior expectation of the event. So it sufficed to say that Qin Ruo was more than content!

His only wish left was to remove the virtuhelm and jump on his bed immediately to get a good night’s sleep. After that, he wanted to scan through his Bank Vault once again when he woke up the next day to appreciate the sumptuous harvest he had obtained from the Graveyard of the Gods. Hence, it was natural for him to resist the idea of going back to suffer in the Graveyard.

He no longer wanted to experience the kind of tension in which he needed to be constantly on guard against Bandits or enemy ambush—at least, not in such an exhaustive state.

However, Fateless and Judge joined the conversation and explained to Qin Ruo, “We’re not asking you to go all the way to Level 5 again. What we mean is we’d like you to go to Emerald Plain and farm for more credits, then exchange them for a Magic Skill Book or Pet Egg that may be suited to our needs…”

“Even if there’s none, it’s good to bring some Great Tree Sap out too. That item’s extremely useful! When I was ambushed by Tiger Cub, it was thanks to the Tree Sap that I managed to hold on for another second. Or else, the Divinity in your hands would most probably be in Tiger Cub’s grasp now.”

Qin Ruo was speechless. He felt cold sweat streaming down his back.

Judge added on after Fateless, “Yeah. Besides Great Tree Sap, there’s also a Boss Sealed Mana Core, which is worthy of redemption. I reckon there must be a reason why the Amethyst Orc was being resummoned. Since there are more than 10 hours left before the event ends, you should go and check whether you can still get some of them. With these items, the Tier 5 Advancement Quest will be a piece of cake for you!”

Qin Ruo felt the cold sweat again. ‘You guys have really thought this through and far. It’s indeed easier to tackle the Tier 5 Advancement Quest with Great Tree Sap and the help of a Tier 5 Miniboss. But…’

“The entry to the Graveyard of the Gods is highly randomized. Why are all of you so certain that I’ll be able to return to the Great Tree Forest?”

“That won’t be a problem. If you agree, I’ll immediately ask my Clan brothers to get the Spirit Orb ready and send it over,” Subjugator continued to persuade Qin Ruo, seeing that he was slightly moved by the suggestion.

“Do you know how many times I need to get in and out?” Qin Ruo smiled bitterly. But honestly, he was indeed tempted.

If the supply of Spirit Orb Scrolls was sufficient, and there was a person on standby next to the Warp Portal to continuously pass him the Spirit Orb Scroll and Return Scroll, then there was a high chance that he would reach the Great Tree Forest again. Once he was there, he was 100% confident that he would be able to go up to the Emerald Plain!

That being said, his great performance in the Graveyard of the Gods was thanks to the Lost Merchants. So it was definitely worth a shot to look for Mikel again, earn some credits, and spend them on Special Roasted Snails as well as Great Tree Sap.

Furthermore, the summoning of the Amethyst Orc still remained in effect. By relying on the Miniboss’ speed, the time required to reach Mikel would be significantly shortened.

‘This plan… could work. I should be able to last a few hours more since there isn’t much risk involved.’

***

“All right, I’ll try.” Qin Ruo was persuaded, and he agreed to his comrades’ farming plan.

“But I’d like to make some clarifications first. Legendary Equipment is too expensive so it’s definitely not redeemable. On top of that, due to the time constraint, it’s better that you make it clear to me beforehand what kind of equipment and attribute you’re looking for. Every person is limited to an item below 2,000 points. In case the points are insufficient to get what you requested for, I’ll redeem Great Tree Sap instead to be split evenly among all of you. You can then pick a piece of equipment that you like from my vault after my return if that’s the case.”

“Okay!”

“No problem.”

The five of them responded positively and eagerly sent their respective requests to Qin Ruo.

“As an Ignis Swordmaster, I need a set of equipment that carries Fire Elemental Attack and ignores Defense. The Defense stat doesn’t need to be too high, and Gold Tier’s fine with me. If you see any Gold Tier in the merchant’s store, redeem as much as possible, and one will do if it’s Dark Gold.” Subjugator had long decided on his future plan, so he conveyed his attribute requirements to Qin Ruo with little hesitation.

Qin Ruo nodded. “I’ll keep an eye out.”

The accumulated attack attribute of one whole set of high Fire Damage equipment would be horrifyingly powerful. A normal attack alone may be able to inflict higher damage than a Tier 4 spell. However, such an attribute, though appeared frequently in Pyromancer Equipment, was considered rare for the Ignis Swordmaster Class.

“I don’t need any equipment since the one from Tiger Cub will do for now…” Fateless saw Qin Ruo raise his eyebrow and stare at him furiously before he could finish his sentence. “All right, all right, get me a few bottles of Great Tree Sap, will you?”

“Me too.” Judge’s aim had always been the Greet Tree Saps. At the moment, he did not desire any specific equipment. According to him, the full set of Dark Gold Equipment on his body was tailored precisely to his own needs. Each one had a great basic Defense stat coupled with extremely high Physical Attack Resistance, making his equipment very useful against both melee and ranged attacks. He would also like to have a Pet Egg, preferably a Ranged-Type one, or one as powerful as Poochie (which was highly unlikely).

Black Rock gave it a good thought. He was now a Terramancer who possessed a Dark Gold Ring with AoE Petrify Skill, so he planned to do some micromanaging and switch to a melee-style Elementalist. But before he could find a Pet, it would still be unclear which specific direction he would evolve to. Thus, he told Qin Ruo in an ambiguous tone, “Please help me check if there’s a high-tier warrior-type Monster Pet or any high HP, high-attack Dark Gold Equipment…”

Qin Ruo sensed the great uncertainty in Black Rock’s request but he nodded without giving any comment. He then looked at the last person, Snowleaf.

“How about you?”

Qin Ruo’s instinct told him that the pretty Summoner, who was insanely keen on gems, would definitely go for Embedded Stones.

As expected…

“Embedded Stones. Pick those that look gorgeous for me.”

Her final sentence shocked the five men.

There was silence.

“Wait… what?” Qin Ruo, unsure, asked to confirm, “What do you mean by gorgeous?”

“Gorgeous as it literally means. Nice, good looking, pretty,” Snowleaf demanded. “By the way, don’t pick the black ones. I prefer orange and purple ones. Hmm, green and yellow come next. Blue’s a bit depressing, so no,” Snowleaf spoke as if she was some “color consultant”. Qin Ruo and the others were rather speechless when they heard her.

“You don’t mind the attributes at all?”

“Never mind that. I guess the attributes of the Embedded Stones collected by Lost Merchants will be more or less fine. So just help me pick the ones that look nice. Here, take back your Poochie.” When Poochie jumped back on Qin Ruo’s shoulder, the men were relieved by Snowleaf’s explanation. ‘I see’. If Snowleaf had collected those gemstones solely based on color preference, they would have needed to question how she had managed to come so far.

“Okay then.”

Qin Ruo memorized everyone’s request and turned to Subjugator. “I’ll go in now. In the meantime, get as many Spirit Orb Scrolls and Return Scrolls ready by the Portal.”

“Please remember to deposit the items in your backpack first to avoid it from getting overloaded again…”

Qin Ruo was at a lost for words.

***

An activity codenamed “Insane Travel” soon took place at the Savis Town warp portal.

That day, Savis Town was filled with many outrageous rumors!

According to witnesses on the scene, the infamous Winter Demon, Qin Ruo seemingly discovered Legendary Treasure containing Divinity at Level 1 of the Graveyard of the Gods. For more than half an hour, a player was seen waiting next to the Warp Portal. The player supplied Qin Ruo a great amount of Spirit Orb Scrolls and Return Scrolls, while Qin Ruo traveled back and forth insanely between Level 1 of the Graveyard and the Savis Town’s warp portal.

The frequency was rather sickening.

A lot of players claimed that Qin Ruo must have discovered some sort of bug in the H&G system. So he traveled, went offline, and replicated equipment repeatedly. This rumor was further exacerbated by those who were present in the appraisal shop. A few dozen players described in excitement how Qin Ruo and his comrades had appraised hundreds of Dark Gold Equipment and dozens of Legendary Equipment.

The rumors got out of hand as time passed. Many players even tried to imitate Qin Ruo’s actions by traveling in and out of the Graveyard.

The crazy incident lasted for an hour long before it gradually subsided.