MMORPG: The Elementalist

At the Mercenary Guild of Moonrise City.

A giant marble table was placed in front of the Guild Master Delia. On top of it were five pieces of equipment and a staff. Beside those were lined six crystals with different colors and each with a different degree of luster.

The aging Guild Master moved in slow motion. She took up one item after another and seemed to struggle with it. However, her eyes were beaming brightly with a mixed sense of seriousness and acknowledgment. From time to time she raised her head and peered at the young guy sitting nearby with a friendly smile to express her satisfaction.

The League Master of the First League of the Angel Faction.

Only a few days after she first met him, the young man had transformed into one of the most influential characters in the Angel Faction.

‘No wonder he is called the infamous Winter Demon and he’s even recognized by the Ring of Honor.’

She retracted her sight and once again focused on the equipment and crystal placed on the marble table.

‘Enchantment!’

Performing six Enchantments simultaneously was a very demanding task. Moreover, it would take up a great amount of time for the equipment and crystal to sync perfectly for it to reach its maximum potential. (Qin Ruo obtained the other crystals through internal trading from the League)

***

Without his equipment, the shabby looking Qin Ruo sat quietly on the wooden chair at the hall near the second floor of the guild. He placed both of his arms in front of his chest and observed the human flow under him through the specially made glass wall with a tranquil mind.

Qin Ruo did not show any impatience when Delia reminded him that the Enchantment of six crystals might take at least an hour to complete.

He had ample time ever since he took the unpaid sabbatical. He usually filled it with leveling and farming activities in the game and rarely found time to rest. So he was now making use of the interval to take a breather.

Qin Ruo sat there calmly and thought about the plan Majestic Hero and Black God had suggested to him, as well as the issue Xiaoxiao had raised to him in private.

***

So far, he had successfully expanded his Clan into a League.

Netherspirit’s Claw had drastically toned down their usual arrogant attitude toward Fallen Angels. Thanks to that, the Angel Faction had entered an unusual peaceful period. This should be the ideal time to figure out a plan on persuading all the great Leagues and Clans of Angel Faction to converge under a common alliance and take down Sin City together.

All this while, it was always the Demon Faction that took the initiative and attacked Angel Faction. The former threatened the latter with a huge margin of advantage, to the point where Moonrise City had fallen into their hands.

But now, the Angel Faction had fully resurrected from the ashes with the formations of all the great and powerful Leagues. Nevertheless, there were only 25 days left in which Moonrise City would remain protected by NPC.

After the protection comes to an end, the Demon Faction which had twenty Leagues by now would not be so kind to coexist peacefully with Angel Faction. They would for sure become their old selves again and launch yet another ferocious attack on the Angel Faction.

‘Majestic Hero was right when he said that we Angel Faction must retaliate before it’s too late.’

Demon Faction could only defend while the protection was still in effect. Before the Demon Faction launches another unstoppable attack, the Angel Faction should take this chance and break through Sin City first. They need to be given a taste of their own medicine and experience the hardship of starting everything all over again.

This was the redemption Angel Faction needed throughout the long history of being the feeble one of the two factions.

Nonetheless, it was an uphill task to get everyone in the Angel Faction to fight under the same page, let alone defeat the stronger Demon Faction.

First of all, the Demon Faction had a far greater number of Champions as compared to Angel Faction. They would also have the home advantage this time, with the convenience of local Warp Portals and protection by the city walls. The weaker Angel Faction had to hold ground on top of the city wall for more than one hours under such a disadvantage…

Qin Ruo scanned the street when he thought of this.

‘The chances that we will pull this off are extremely slim.’

‘Unless…’

He turned his face sideways and looked at the busy Guild Master near the table.

“Guild Master, may I ask you a question?”

“Speak up,” Delia gazed at him and answered him in a straightforward manner. She returned to her work at hand almost immediately after that.

“The bottle that you passed to me before this, is it possible to use it to destroy the Warp Portals inside a Demon Faction’s city?”

“It’s possible,” answered Delia subconsciously without raising her head. But as soon as the answer came out from her mouth, she paused and then raised her eyes and looked at Qin Ruo wisely and sharply. “However, I don’t think it will be very useful against the Demon Faction.”

“Why?”

“Well, because it was a creation invented by all the God-tier Champions together on this Mythical Continent! After all these years, don’t you think the Portal Handler in Demon Faction would have developed some sort of countermeasure?”

Delia shook her head and picked up the Frost Witch’s Rage and gestured it to the Vampire Crystal. “Though you may pull it off, the Demon Faction’s Portal Handler will quickly substitute the destroyed warp portal with a new one. The portal system inside Sin City will not be brought down so easily.”

“I see…” Qin Ruo was a little disappointed. He never thought that such an effective tool against the Underworld will become so powerless when the enemies were human players of similar intelligence. But then again, it was too good to be true if the Warp Portal could be destroyed so effortlessly.

Delia had begun the Enchantment process as Qin Ruo contemplated.

Powerful Elemental Magic quickly embraced the Vampire Crystal and it rolled rapidly in front of Delia. Strain after strain of frost aura was continuously released from within the crystal.

Instead of saying the aura was being released from the core, it would be more accurate to say that the aura was being extracted out from the crystal under Delia’s lead.

Qin Ruo did not speak another word…

He watched quietly as the Vampire Crystal shrunk to two-thirds of its original size. The extracted aura turned into a transparent icy element which was trapped by Delia in midair.

After half a minute, the solid Vampire Crystal had been completely dissolved. In its place was the pure Element form of the crystal.

Under Delia’s manipulation, the transparent Element that looked like spring water flowed down and gradually infused into the Frost Witch’s Rage on the table. The moment the Element and the Staff came into contact, sizzling sounds could be heard.

As if a burning iron was being placed on water, the transparent Crystal Element had completely turned black. Under the cloud of white gas, the Element attached to the equipment in the form of an ancient diagram.

Delia worked fervently and elevated the staff to the air with magic. The staff spun in midair slowly as the black Element, filled with life energy around it, actively carved one after another ancient diagram.

As the diagrams spread out, the Element started to vanish. The Enchantment process was nearing its end…

After two minutes, the last strain of Crystal Element made the final stroke on the Staff.

Letting out a long breath, Delia once again covered the entire staff with her magic. Then, she did something and suddenly, bright gold radiance exploded from the staff full of black carvings.

Qin Ruo could not help but close his eyes.

When he reopened his eyes, Delia had already begun the second Enchantment. The newly enchanted Frost Witch’s Rage had been cast aside on the table.

Qin Ruo could not hold his excitement back and quickly walked over.

He figured that the black carvings on the staff had disappeared. The staff looked just like it did before, other than a red glimmer that flashed periodically on the tip of the staff.

Qin Ruo picked the staff up and almost fainted.

Enchanted Frost Witch’s Rage: Unidentified

‘F*ck…’

***

The disgruntled Aquamancer went straight to the Appraisal Shop after he came out from the Mercenary Guild. He was pissed after spending 70,000 gold coins to complete the appraisal of all the newly enchanted equipment.

‘70,000 gold coins! What kind of appraisal costs so much?’

He never expected the NPCs will still con of him a fortune after going through all the trouble collecting the required amount of Reputation Points for the enchantment. ‘This is daylight robbery!’

Qin Ruo quickly investigated the appraised equipment inside the hall. Players around him consciously avoided him due to a scowl on his face.

***

Enchanted Frostplain Greaves:

Legendary tier

Defense +40

Magic Defense +27

Water Element Damage +12%

Water Element Condensation Speed +10%

Water Element Spell Effect +8%

Fire Type Damage Reduction 20%

Water Element Effect Damage Reduction 50%

Increase Max HP by 200

Increase Max MP by 50

Prolonged Status Effect: Frozen by 1 second

Requires 28 Strength

Requires 28 Agility

Requires 100 Intelligence

Level Requirement: 45

Limited to Aquamancer Class

***

Enchanted Chaos Frost Bracer:

Legendary tier

Defense +42

Magic Defense +33

Water Element Magic Damage +10

Water Element Condensation Speed +10%

Water Element Spell Effect Damage +12%

Water Element Damage Reduction 10%

Fire Element Damage Reduction 10%

Intelligence +12

Increase Max HP by 200

Increase Max MP by 100

Chilled Effect +15%

Magic Attack Speed +20%

Requires 105 Intelligence

Level Requirement: 50

Limited to Aquamancer Class

***

Enchanted Mirror Cloak:

Dark Gold tier

Defense +36

Magic Defense +19

Water Element Condensation Speed +10%

Water Element Magic Damage +8%

Water Element Damage Reduction 10%

Fire Element Damage Reduction 10%

Increase Max HP by 200

Increase Max MP by 50

Equipped with active skill “Memory”—After activation, the first spell cast will be automatically recorded. The second activation will release the memorized spell instantaneously. MP cost is twice the original cost of the spell. Skill cool-down time is two hours. (The same or a different spell needs to be recorded again before release)

***

Enchanted Mystic Frost Robe:

Legendary tier

Defense +50

Magic Defense +30

Water Element Affinity +10%

Water and Fire Element Damage Reduction +15%

Intelligence +10

Increase Max HP by 300

Chill Effect +10%

Increase Max MP by 100

Equipped with summoning skill “Winter Demon”—Costs 20% MP to summon an equal level Water Element Monster from the extra-dimension to aid in battle. Limited to one use per day.

Requires 108 Intelligence

Level Requirement: 50

Limited to Aquamancers

***

Enchanted Chaos Frost Boots:

Legendary tier

Defense +42

Magic Defense +28

Water Element Magic Damage +10%

Water Element Condensation Speed +10%

Water Element Spell Effect +12%

Water Element Magic Damage Reduction 10%

Fire Element Magic Damage Reduction 10%

Intelligence +10

Movement Speed +25%

Equipped with active skill “Liquid Form”—Allows the caster to take a liquefied form under Elemental Perception. Consumes 30 MP to perform small area (30-meter radius) instant teleportation. Two hours cool-down.

Requires 105 Intelligence

Level Requirement: 50

Limited to Aquamancers

***

Enchanted Frost Witch’s Rage

Legendary Grade

Magic Attack +62-67

Water Element Condensation Speed +15%

Water Element Magic Damage +12%

Intelligence +15

Stamina +20

Absorb 15% Water Element Damage

Absorb 15% Fire Element Damage

Equipped with active Attacking Spell “Frost Witch’s Rage”—Magic Attack 40. This spell wakes the soul of the staff and releases three overlapping Raging Frost Roar while simultaneously covering an AoE of 10 meters. Cost 25 MP. Thirty minutes cool-down.

Equipped with the passive attribute “Life Steal”—users HP will be healed by 2% of the total damage dealt on any enemy.

Requires 30 Strength

Requires 30 Agility

Requires 118 Intelligence

Level Requirement: 52

Limited to Aquamancers

***

Qin Ruo’s mind was saturated by all the numbers at first. The attributes of the enchanted equipment looked similar as before…

The first three items only received a minor boost in damage (by 2%), some increment in Magic Defense (mere 5 points), and a slight increase in movement speed. The seemingly negligible improvements made the enchantment an unnecessary item.

But once Qin Ruo did the math, he realized the improvements were still worth it at the cost of sixty reputation points and 70,000 gold coins. There were a total of 5% increased Water Element Damage, +5 Magic Defense, +5 Movement Speed, and a 2% increase of Water Element Affinity.

On top of that, his Magic Damage alone was boosted by 7%.

The increment might have felt tiny at first, but judging by Qin Ruo’s current attacking prowess, 7% was a substantial amount. All in all, Qin Ruo was quite satisfied with the observable upgrades.

He was especially enthralled by the Life Steal attribute. The Vampire Crystal that he obtained from the Graveyard of the Gods was actually the lowest grade among the six. Unexpectedly, it had given birth to a phenomenal attribute!

Besides dealing damage to an opponent, the user could drain 2% of the total damage to heal themselves at the same time.

A whole 2%! It may appear to be an insignificant percentage at first, but apply it in a pitched battle and this would become an absolutely huge number!

Based on Qin Ruo current Attack, as long as he did not go up against a unique Boss, his damage would easily reach 4 digits. If there were multiple targets, it was even possible to steal hundreds of HP, or maybe more, at one go.

The occurrence of Life Steal cleared away the dark cloud shading Qin Ruo’s mind. He put on the enchanted equipment happily and left the Appraisal Shop amongst the confused sight of the onlookers.

As he reached the entrance of the shop, Qin Ruo stopped short and linked to the Underworld quest that he intended to attempt. It was Xiao Xiao’s suggestion of recruiting troops to challenge the Underworld.

He groaned and slowly took out a tattered map from his waist bag.

The map was taken from the Heaven Peal Lion’s chest.

After the appraisal, Qin Ruo was told that this map could only be triggered when it was opened inside the Underworld. It was clearly stated on the map that only a Tier 5 player would be able to trigger the map and enter the other dimension. The details of the quest would only be unfolded once the player stepped into the quest land.

And the quest land had a hell of name…