MMORPG: The Elementalist

Qin Ruo and the others’ arrival at the entrance of Savis Town marked the end of the mini-war, with the victory going to the alliance of Fallen Angels and Violent Army.

In the process, Raziel was killed. Dark Dragon lost a Divinity as a result of the daring bet. The Order of Eight Gods was completely annihilated by Fallen Angels. While Pharaoh clan was cornered and trapped in Savis Town for hours before finally evacuating in the last minute. Video clips depicting the battle from different viewpoints were soon uploaded to the official forum and was being heavily discussed in the H&G world.

The next day, Qin Ruo woke up and walked into Xin Yu and the pretty mixed race lady in the garden. A laptop was placed on the coffee table and the two ladies were bending their attractive body figures forward with their eyes fixed on the laptop screen, apparently watching something with full interest.

Before he could get around to behind them and figure out what they were watching, Xin Yu noticed his presence first.

“Good morning, Brother Qin!” Xin Yu straightened up.

“Good morning,” Qin Ruo walked over and asked, “What are you two watching?”

“Great stuff. Come and look at it for yourself.” Pretty Woman didn’t even bother to raise her head and ask Qin Ruo to come over like how a close friend would do. She no longer bore the hostility she showed Qin Ruo when they first met.

Qin Ruo walked to behind them and took a good look. The high definition video replayed his fight against Dark Dragon repetitively. On top of the video was an eye-catching title.

“Super Ultimate—Double Dragonswing vs. Double Spell Swift Manipulation!

‘What and what?’

Qin Ruo was confused. ‘Super ultimate? Why does it sound like some lame arcade game? Also, what’s with the Double Spell Swift Manipulation?’

After Pretty Woman replayed the video that was more than ten seconds two more times, Qin Ruo finally understood the content after he read the comments written by the person who uploaded it.

Ultimate—Double Spell Charge: Extremely demanding skill. Two spells were released simultaneously. This requires a highly precise timing and strong mentality. It’s deadly against the opponent if executed correctly.

Ultimate—Teleport: Skill possessed only by an elite few of Tier 5 Champions. A great skill for evading an attack or sneaking behind the enemy owing to its element of surprise.

Super Ultimate, Combo Skill—Dark Dragon’s Double Dragonswing: Double Spell Charge + Teleport. This is the deadly combo that the veteran Tier 5 Dark Dragon had made a name for himself with.

Qin Ruo twitched his brow having read up until this point. ‘This is a fair comment.’ He thought. When he got hit by Dark Dragon with this skill, there was no way that he could have avoided it. If not because of the consumption of Great Tree Sap that had granted him 1000 HP in advance, he would most probably be killed then, or at least be in a Weakened State.

Now that Qin Ruo recalled it, that strike could be called “Super Ultimate” as it might have heavily injured him had he not strengthened himself with item beforehand.

He continued to read the analysis and was further impressed by it.

The person who uploaded this knew his stuff. He/she had managed to point out that Qin Ruo must have a set of Equipment that increased the HP limit based solely on the ten seconds short clip. The poster also pinpointed that Menace had either taken a Speed Potion or was wearing a Legendary Equipment that improved mobility judging by his Movement Speed alone (as a matter of fact, the increase in his speed was an accumulative result of combining two Speed Potions).

Further down in the article, it was also mentioned that even though Netherspirit’s Menace had used an Attribute Potion, consuming the potion did not necessarily give him an overwhelming advantage in such an intense fight. Sometimes, the sudden boost in mobility and strength might actually hinder the user from performing at the optimized level. Unless the user had an excellent micro-management skill and unmoved composure, the potion would only bring more harm than good.

The capability of Netherspirit’s Menace to survive the Double Dragonswing and immediately set up a trap, as well as controlling two different spells at the same time to retaliate at Dark Dragon, showed that he was far more superior to Dark Dragon. That was why he was rightfully called the second Winter Demon of Fallen Angels.

It was not easy for someone to have such an incisive opinion.

Qin Ruo frowned and did not look away from the computer screen until Pretty Woman and Xin Yu couldn’t stand the silence and nudged him.

“Yeah, you were saying?” Qin Ruo rubbed his nose guiltily and met the two ladies’ eyes.

Pretty Woman rolled her eyes and said, “Forget it. I went blank as well the first time I read this. I will spare you this time. So, my respectable critic, what’s your say? Who do you think is better, Dark Dragon or Netherspirit’s Menace?”

Qin Ruo filtered out the title “respectable critic” and sat down opposite of them at the coffee table.

“You still need my opinion on this?” He jutted his chin toward the laptop.

To be honest, he felt inappropriate commenting on his own fight. What’s more, he felt the video and the analysis have sufficiently indicated just how far ahead he was as compared to Dark Dragon.

“Sorry, let me rephrase. What I mean is, do you think the Aquamancer from Fallen Angels can still win so easily without the potion?” Pretty Woman corrected herself and threw the new question at Qin Ruo.

Qin Ruo shook his head and before Pretty Woman interjected him, he raised his tone. “If not because of the arena limitation, Dark Dragon would actually be defeated sooner.”

“What?” Pretty Woman was baffled. She was surprised to hear Qin Ruo being so confident that Dark Dragon would lose for sure. She first hesitated, then affirmed with a nod, “That’s right, the Aquamancer still has his unsummoned pet.”

‘Dark Dragon will lose with or without the Pet.’ Qin Ruo thought about it silently but retained a poker face. He looked at Pretty Woman who was in deep thought and decided not to further dwell on the matter. He turned and asked Xin Yu, “How many levels have you gained yesterday night?”

“Two!” Xin Yu made the victorious hand gesture and grinned proudly. “Your little sister is now Level 47. That’s pretty fast right?”

“Fast, very fast indeed.” Qin Ruo rubbed his nose again and sighed quietly.

‘From zero to Level 47 with only ten days’ effort, how is that not fast? During my time, I was still stuck at Tier 3 after venturing through the Kane Jungle for months. New players nowadays are very lucky as compared to the veterans. They have good equipment immediately after they start playing. The leveling is quicker and they can even carry a Pet with them from the start. Chut. No wonder so many budding novices are skyrocketing to Tier 5 in such a short time and threaten to challenge the veterans or establish clans in the game so boldly.’

Qin Ruo asked Xin Yu a few more questions about her mastery on several Bandit’s signature skills like Stealth, Assassinate, Lurk, and Sap. He was satisfied with her progress.

‘She did well.’ Qin Ruo smiled contentedly.

Xin Yu did not waste her time unnecessarily in the past few days. Her Mastery on the few important skills had been honed adequately. Other than that, her Pet was going to hatch in another two days too. Once she got her pet leveled up, Qin Ruo believed that she would ease past the Advancement Quest with the help from the supreme Cyclops Commander Galbis.

Qin Ruo looked straight at Xin Yu and said, “Bandit usually played solo. You should start practicing fighting alone. Stop your leveling at the moment and wait for the Pet to hatch in the coming two days. Then, have a walk around some low-tier farming zone and level up your Pet instead.”

“Understood!” Xin Yu nodded obediently and promised Qin Ruo.

“Eh?” Pretty Woman suddenly raised her head when she heard the word ‘Pet’. “Qin Ruo, you are headed back tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, I am on leave only until the day after tomorrow. My flight will be in the afternoon tomorrow.”

“Then…” Pretty Woman drawled. A flash of slyness appeared in her eyes. “It’s time for you to tell me your IGN. And also, what Pet have you given to Xin Yu. The naughty girl still refuses to tell me up until this day. Since we are not going to meet anytime soon, why don’t you enlighten me now?”

“Well.” Qin Ruo laughed mysteriously and said, “I will tell you when I leave.”

“Tsk! What’s with the secrecy…”

She clicked her tongue disappointedly after receiving the same answer and bowed back down to surf the forum.

“You are going back tomorrow, Brother Qin?” Xin Yu was reluctant to see him leaving. But she also understood that Qin Ruo could not have stayed longer due to work. So although she was unhappy, she did not plea for him to stay.

“Alright. You are pouting like a piglet. I will see you soon in the game, alright? I promise you, I will give you a special present once you advance into Tier 5.”

Qin Ruo’s words were oddly comforting. Xin Yu’s mood immediately turned better and she nodded with a bright smile.

“Promise?!”

“Promise.”

***

On the night before the departure, Qin Ruo wasted no time and logged into the game around 10 pm.

News on the battle that took place last midnight had spread within the Clan like a wildfire. The clan channel was buzzing. A few people kept crying on about how regretful they were for not being able to witness the fight or being involved in the plan plotted together by the three alliancing clans.

The previous gloomy atmosphere within the clan caused by the “imprisonment” of their Clan Leader in the Underworld had now completely vanished. Everyone was busy prying for news about the newly emerged Netherspirit’s Menace.

‘But they will learn nothing about him…’

It was, after all, just a made-up name created by Qin Ruo for fun. People would only think that Netherspirit’s Menace might have opted for the strictest privacy setting and erased his details from the ranking when they couldn’t retrieve any information about him. Not many people did that, but it was still a rather common practice among some low profile players. No one would ever suspect Qin Ruo.

Qin Ruo first checked his storage account balance as soon as he entered the game.

The large amount of equipment that he brought back from the Underworld had been transferred to Little Rice for sorting. The better specs would be put on sale in the Clan’s private space and all income from a successful transaction would be directly transferred into the clan account, which meant the leader’s—his—account.

The debit on the first day was quite decent—A total of 1,400,000 gold coins. Several Dark Gold and a batch of Gold Equipment had found their respective owners in under a day.

There were tens of Legendary tier equipment currently on sale in the inner circle. Qin Ruo only donated one out of six of them, while the rest were contributed by other clan members.

According to the rule set by Little Rice, Legendary quality merchandise would be sold at a price lower than the market price. However, only Field Commander or player who had contributed to the clan sufficiently was allowed to make a purchase. Besides that, a member could only buy one Legendary piece at a time and the item bought must be fitting to the buyer’s Class. (This was to prevent the member from reselling the item to someone outside and earning from the price difference.)

As for clan contribution, it was determined by first dividing a member’s Honor Points by ten as base Contribution Level. Then, based on the player’s involvement in clan activities. or the amount of equipment they turn in for the clan. Or how much they had helped with the clan modal liquidity, the player would be credited accordingly.

As for now, since the clan had just been established only recently, and their members were mostly rookies, the Contribution Level amassed was generally low. At most, someone had only achieved the level to buy Gold or Dark Gold Equipment.

This credit system had instilled a positive vibe among the clan members. They competed healthily against each other to earn more credits since the member price set for the equipment was way cheaper than the market price.

Qin Ruo turned off the account window after he withdrew the desired amount of gold coins. He then brought up the storage interface of his backpack and the Ring of Honor to reorganize the items in it. It had turned into such a mess when he was in the Underworld, with lots of bottles, mana cores, as well as some unidentified Legendary Equipment thrown all over the place.

Suddenly, Qin Ruo noticed a lone vial and the black broadsword resting beside it at one corner in his ring.

They were the Evildoer’s Ashes and Evildoer’s Weapon.

The desire of the skeleton remains to return to Mythical Continent that was far beyond reach, as well as the despair and resentment embodied by the words struck deep on the aged letter, came alive in Qin Ruo’s mind immediately.

***

“Let’s head home now.” He murmured and walked resolutely out of the bank. His destination? The Mercenary Guild.