MMORPG: The Elementalist

For the next two days, Qin Ruo would keep Xin Yu and that hateful mixed-blood beauty company by day. He would only have the time to log in and play the game by night, when Xin Yu level up with Pretty.

That was the sixth day the Underworld was opened to the public.

It had been days since Qin Ruo encountered another player. He was still alone in the Underworld, keeping company with swarms of Specters every day while staying in Camp Edgar, occasionally chatting with Camp Edgar.

It was irritatingly monotonous.

Furthermore, the information Qin Ruo received from the official forums revealed that there were few players who entered the Underworld in those few days, and there was no lack of bitter backlash from those who did come: there was even one who was pushed by the hostile influence in the Underworld to delete their account and retrain…

In the end, not everyone had Qin Ruo’s adaptability. Without support, many classes simply could not survive in that environment—they have to slay hundreds of high-tier Specters alone, and it was when that quota was completed that they stood a chance of obtaining one Spectral Mana Core, which allows redemption for just a little potion.

Although Tier 5 players could hold their own against Tier 5 and Tier 6 Spectral monsters, the monsters rarely appear alone… Additionally, Tier 5 players would not know if they would encounter Skeleton Dragons, Phantom Skeletons or Spectral Bosses in the very next second. Potions would be greatly reduced when they do encounter such monsters, their death assured!

Most who had entered the Underworld have died before, and their troubles only worsened from there: their time there would become even more troubling when they dropped a single item.

That player who had deleted his account and retrained had given up before he had died one too many times, dropping several items and losing all his potions to the point that one ordinary Tier 5 Skeleton Warrior could do him in. Unable to leave calm and without rescue in sight for days, there was simply no hope…

Then, he realized another crueler truth!

In the Underworld, players from the Angel Faction and the Demon Faction could spawn at the same encampment. In other words, in that realm that was ruthless till the very end, the player still had to face assaults from players of the opposing faction.

Surviving there was ever challenging, and it was the unforgiving place that was the Underworld that white ramparts were raised in the minds of every player toward that place… which also kept the Tier 5 players beyond the Underworld.

Compared to the stillness in the Underworld, the Mythical Continent was bustling!

***

In the Buried City, the all-out-war between the Angel Faction and the Demon Faction was slowly dying down. However, to rush as fast as possible to peak Tier 5 dynasty, most of their forces had tacitly formed borders around warp portals, occupying half of the Buried City each, leveling up swiftly!

There were only smaller skirmishes in the blank zones.

As for Tier 5 Champions, they had all returned to the Mythical Continent, waging a violent ‘War for Divinity’ while the Tier 4 charged into the Buried City to dart at full power towards Tier 5.

With the effect of the Pet System completely revealed, Tier 5 Classes appeared by truckloads, with winged Tier 5 Champions able to realize individual ability and a clan’s prosperity!

Every single place where specters appeared in the Mythical Continent was torn apart by every player. Wherever they stumbled on Liches or found swarms of specters, the Great Clans would mobilize all their forces, subjugating the spectral army while their Tier 5 slew those Liches at full force, securing Divinity…

Though battles erupted one after another, many Liches were culled as time passed… just as winged champions rapidly increased!

Be that as it may, the shadow of the commander which controlled the Underworld did not diminish amidst the players’ craziness, but became more violent instead!

The Mythical Continent was ever more dangerous. The Undead Horde was multiplying instead of decreasing, with the Liches beginning to deliberately turn up at other training spots, leading legions of Death Knights and Skeleton Dragons, waging bloody slaughters against players nearby!

For normal parties and clans, the Liches’ presence was a destructive blow. Whenever figures resembling nightmares and undead show up at level-up points, players were gone with the wind when they saw them from afar…

Powerful clans would certainly have the ability to slay Liches and repel smaller spectral armies, but the increase of Liches remained bad news. As a result, even if Liches meant Legendary items, Divinity and great riches, with the numbers of old lairs dwindling, the Undead Horde deliberately attacked, forcing the players on the Mythical Continent into passivity despite their previous activeness…

There would occasionally be signs of other Tier 5 Megaboss or Tier Six Miniboss found amongst the Undead Horde which had mobilized, along with Spectral Shamans that could cast AoE spectral resurrection spells.

Even the Liches in command would promptly turn from one into two, even three!

The shadow of the Underworld swiftly extended over the entire Mythical Continent…

***

“Snowmelt, it’s been many days but the Divinity that we at Netherspirit’s Claw obtained never exceeded Fallen Angels and Scarlet Bauhinia… It’s like your solution isn’t working.”

It was the sixth day—even Netherclaw was becoming impatient. The drastic shift of the situation in the Mythical Continent had surprised everyone!

With Tier 5 Classes leaping from four digits to five digits, Angel Faction clans were established multitudinously like trees in a jungle. Clans never heard of began to sprout one after another, catching Netherclaw utterly unawares as champions appeared by the dozens!

At present, there were already more than thirty larger Angel Faction clans that hosted over ten thousand members… Even if their Tier 5 classes of Netherspirit’s Claw stayed far ahead of everyone else, those behind were swiftly catching up.

Still there was something the Netherclaw simply could not abide by…

In the time that the Winter Demon was stranded, not only did Fallen Angels cease its progress, it had pounced to 6,000 members in a brief few days. There were now almost a hundred Tier 5 classes amongst them, and though there was no clear change in Winged Champions, they had already reached the size of a Great Clan.

Meanwhile, under Violet Orchid’s leadership, the Bauhinia Clan had captured a dozen Divinity from Liches and built a party of Winged Champions with considerable ability. They were slowly regaining the impressive presence of the former Bauhinia Clan, directly catching up with League clans at the class of the Scarlet Dynasty and the Hall of Heroes.

Now, the combined might of the two clans showed signs of catching up to Netherspirit’s Claw. Despite the latter’s strength, it was hard for them to stay in a league of their own amongst the Angel Faction: not only did they lack numerical advantage, their number of winged champions were now equal to that of Fallen Angels, Hall of Heroes, the Scarlet Dynasty and the Bauhinia Clan—in fact, even the Executors were catching up.

“Snowmelt?”

Netherclaw called out again, and Snowmelt finally appeared, his tone somber.

“There were certainly… surprises in between.”

After that, Snowmelt informed Netherclaw about the general situation surrounding the Order of the Eight Gods: a while ago, they had definitely succeeded in blindsiding the Violent Army Clan, drawing attention from Fallen Angels and Scarlet Bauhinia.

However, unusually, not only did Fallen Angels not cease their operations of searching and destroying Liches, they were even unmoved by the deaths of Dinosaurcerer and the others—Scarlet Bauhinia, Fateless and Permanent Lock simply continued hunting around the Mythical Battlefield and the Buried City, collecting Honor Points.

Meanwhile, Dinosaurcerer also seemed intent on pitting the might of the Violent Army Clan against the Order of the Eight Gods, diverting every Tier 5 Class apart from Homme Fatale to fight against the Order’s elite forces.

Through Dinosaurcer’s AoE Teleportation skill, Brother Da who had risen to Tier 5 and one grotesque flying Pet, the Eight Gods Order had their backs to the wall.

“I now really suspect whether Qin Ruo is really in the Underworld—or if he’s still there now!”

Snowmelt voiced his suspicion. In the end, it was he himself who had supported leaked the news to the Order of the Eight Gods that the Winter Demon was held down at the Underworld, which in turn got them to put more of an effort into fighting Violent Army Clan, thus redirecting the attention of Fallen Angels to elsewhere and delay their development.

However, as Qin Ruo’s level rose swiftly on the leaderboards, rumors that “the Winter Demon is about to fall” or that “the Winter Demon is in the Underworld” vanished by themselves.

Everyone knew how hostile the environment in the Underworld could be. Even Tier 5 Veteran Champions could never live so carefreely down there or level up so quickly, since the consumption of potions was the same for every player…

“…”

With Snowmelt’s suspicions being not unreasonable, Netherclaw stayed quiet for a long time before speaking again.

“Our comrade in the Underworld only saw him once there, and that was six days ago… reasonably speaking, he should not have the ability to leave the Underworld.”

“Reasonably speaking, an ordinary Tier 3 player should not have risen to his level now within two months. No?”

Snowmelt’s reply left Netherclaw silent once again…

***

Meanwhile, Qin Ruo who was now in the Underworld had been rather troubled lately as well.

Since he had gone to Beijing, Brother Da had been telling him certain unusual events happening outside in the game’s voice channels.

On the day he applied for leave, news that he had been caught in the Underworld, unable to return was leaked…

Then, the Order of the Eight Gods exacted vengeance upon Violent Army Clan: Dinosaurcerer’s party who was hunting for Liches had been ambushed… Although Homme Fatale managed to save his level and repel them, it dealt a considerable blow on Dinosaurcerer.

After that, Violent Army Clan fought many times against the Order of the Eight Gods, with both sides suffering casualties—despite reclaiming the advantage, both Violet Orchid and Xiaoxiao were worried…

For the Order of the Eight Gods to be able to stand against the Violent Army Clan for days, someone was clearly plotting against Fallen Angels!

If the Winter Demon was kept from showing his face in the Mythical Continent and the Buried City for a long time, if the Underworld was unpopular as ever without anyone entering, Fallen Angels was about to directly face that threat which the clan faces, one which had stayed behind the scenes…

Netherspirit’s Claw!

***

“Can’t wait any longer. Have to do something.”

With a rush of rings, Qin Ruo took to the skies above Walker Valley, handily casting Aquamorph and Aqua Wings to swiftly vanish from Underworld and the vision of infinite specters.

***

When he returned to Camp Edgar, the empty encampment suddenly warped as Qin Yu prepared for his descent, with a bandit dressed entirely in black agilely dropping from the camp’s walls to the outside.

The Bandit scanned their surroundings vigilantly, their figure slowly vanishing into thin air.

They were not aware that before he cloaked himself, the clan insignia before their chest had been caught by Qin Ruo’s Elemental Perception.

***

“I see.”

Qin Ruo smiled coldly inside, finally understanding how the news that he had been caught inside the Underworld was leaked.