MMORPG: The Elementalist

“Skeleton King!”

Qin Ruo was in the forest area that was located next to Death Valley. Hence, he paused his grinding and went over to have a look. What he saw was hundreds of players getting swept around like scattered sand by an official army of Specters! In the meantime, the Skeletal Specter that slaughtered ten high-tier players back in the tunnel was at the forefront, leading the Spectral Army— it was actually the Tier 3 Elite Boss, the Skeleton King!

Qin Ruo had heard rumors about the Skeleton King while he was still in Whitewater Town. However, he remained unfamiliar with the Skeleton King… After all, the respawn rate of an Elite Boss was unpredictably random. The moment one of these bosses emerged, countless clan parties would immediately swarm towards the Boss like a humungous flock of bees, attempting to slay the Boss. Hence, how was it possible for him to get an opportunity to see one up close?

Nonetheless, the incident that was currently happening right outside Death Valley had deeply shaken Qin Ruo.

Hundreds of players completely lacked the guts to go to the front line and face the humungous Spectral Army as well as the Skeleton King. At that instant, they kept a distance of approximately a hundred meters from the Skeleton King and Spectral Army. No one was brave enough to approach the tremendous horde of enemies.

Qin Ruo witnessed the entire incident as he furrowed his eyebrows intensely. He was rendered speechless deep in his heart by what he saw.

That was one of the inherent weaknesses of a human being. In terms of strength and power, most of the players on the battlefield likely possessed the strength of Tier 3 and Tier 4 players. If they had chosen to unite their strengths on the battlefield, they would have definitely been much more powerful than the Skeleton King and its Tier 3 Spectral Army. However, those imbeciles were blinded by their personal interests and they stayed divided into more than ten parties across the battlefield. Each party only minded their own affairs. They refused to care about the lives and deaths of the other players from other parties. Some of them even wished that the other parties around them would just die and be wiped out by their enemies. At the same time, they were hoping that they could also inflict heavy damage on the Skeleton King so that they could be the final ones to wrap up the battle and pick up the loot.

With all these selfish thoughts in their minds, how could they have possibly beaten the Skeleton King?

Perhaps, everyone would have to wait until the arrival of a clan that had enough powerful high-tier players in order to behead the Skeleton King and end the Boss battle. That was also one of the reasons why a clan was able to grow more powerful with time…

Qin Ruo smiled coldly. However, he did not immediately resume his special training to figure out the uses of his Aquamorph skill back in the forest—as more and more players arrived in Death Valley’s vicinity, that spot was no longer suitable for Qin Ruo to carry on with his training. It seemed that the area would be bustling with noise and excitement, at least until the Skeleton King was defeated.

The battle there was not going to end so soon. However… where could he find a better spot than this to continue his training?

Having no solution to his current situation, Qin Ruo was struck with distressing thoughts as he frowned and sighed.

Suddenly, Qin Ruo caught a glimpse of a party slowly approaching him from the corner of his eye. Along the way, that party seemed to be inquiring about something as they would stop and make contact with the other parties that only had two to three members.

Were they trying to convince other parties to join forces with them?

They had to be delusional!

As the saying goes, “the will of others is not ours to see”. Furthermore, among the many players in the vicinity, who would actually have the heart to get together with others to battle against the Skeleton King in a deadly battle? That would be total bullsh*t.

While he was pondering about the matter, it was obvious that not too many players had agreed to join the party. They were only able to recruit a few more players along the way. They were now moving quickly towards Qin Ruo. In the meantime, Qin Ruo was a little dumbfounded by their actions as he stared at what they were doing.

Bandits?

What are these guys really trying to do? What good would come to them by recruiting a bunch of Bandits into their party? The Skeleton King and the Skeletal Specters are all high-tier Spectral Bosses. Even Tier 4 Phantoms would not be able to approach them…

Furthermore!

The Skeleton King’s HP was abundant; it was almost 100,000 points. With only a small party of Bandits… it seemed insufficient for them to even cut off the Skeleton King’s little finger. Or, were they actually recruiting the Bandits for another purpose?

Qin Ruo’s curiosity was instantly aroused. He quietly approached the party nearest to him.

The line-up of members in the party that was approaching the others looked a little strange though. Other than three Berserkers, there were two Swordsmen, one Bowmaster, only two Radiant Priests, and seven Bandits who made up the party. There was no sign of any Elementalist on the party though.

Qin Ruo felt puzzled upon noticing that. Now, his desire to know what they were really up to grow even more…

That was the case with human beings. Once curiosity overcame a person, nothing could stop that person from finding out the truth, nothing!

…

When he finally approached the party, he was just in time to hear the Bowmaster who was leading that party greeting the others around them. However, it seemed that they were currently recruiting Bandits for a temporary quest.

“We’re recruiting Tier 4 Bandits. We’re going to enter Centipede Cavern. Of course, we’ll reward you 100 gold coins for completing the quest with us from the beginning to the end. We’ll also reward you with another 500 gold coins for locating a bunch of ‘Black Dragonfly Herb’. And we’ll reward you with another 1,000 gold coins for locating a piece of Earth Essence as well.”

After hearing their offer, Qin Ruo could not help but freeze for a moment. He then interrupted them and asked, “Is the offer really as good as it sounds?”

According to his knowledge, an ordinary bunch of Black Dragonfly Herb had seven leaves. The herb could be used to make a superior MP Potion and some other high-tier potions. Even though it was harder to find, the market price of that herb was only set at about 500 gold coins to 600 gold coins. On the other hand, the Earth Essence was a magic-potion material of a higher grade. The market price of that item was approximately 1,000 gold coins.

They would give the players who joined them 100 gold coins first. Then, they would reward whoever that could locate a bunch of Black Dragonfly Herb. They were giving the Bandits who could locate and gather herbs the best offer they could find. If a Bandit could purchase that herb from a raw material supply point at its market price and acquire the 100 gold coins as a reward from the quest, even an imbecile would know that the Bandit could take advantage of this to earn a handsome profit.

“You don’t believe it’s real? Hehe. This is the quest that I’ve posted. Upon accepting the quest, as long as you can help us locate these materials within the set duration of time, the money will be transferred directly into your account the moment the quest is done. As for the reward, it’s something that can’t be helped. We have someone in our clan who’s about to progress to Tier 5, so we also have to prepare some superior MP Potions and other magic potions!”

After the Bowmaster, who seemed to be the leader of the party gave his explanation, the players around them appeared to be moved by the offer…

“Umm, I have one question though. Why have you only recruited Bandits?” Qin Ruo could not help but raise up another question. In fact, many players were equipped with the Herb Gathering Skill too.

*Shoof! Shoof!*

The ten players around him suddenly focused their attention on him as if they were looking at an alien, or idiot.

One of them laughed and said, “Is this your first time here in Whitewater Town, brother? The monsters in Centipede Cavern are at least Level 40. Furthermore, the tunnels in the cavern are extremely complicated and confusing. It’s basically a maze down there. It’s really easy for anyone to get lost in there. Not to mention… a puny guy like you would probably not even make it into that cavern.”

The players around him laughed out loud.

Qin Ruo felt embarrassed and awkward as he immediately kept his mouth shut.

Just as they got ready to leave the area, a Bandit and a Bowmaster in the party suddenly began talking and the entire party remained on the spot…

“Alright, count me in! We’ll move out immediately after taking out the Skeleton King!”

“The parties from the powerful clans are about to arrive. You’ll stand no chance in defeating the Skeleton King yourself. Including you, we have eight Bandits now. We should get a move on and get into the dungeon right away!”

Qin Ruo seemed very surprised by the look on his face when he took a quick glance at Death Valley. The Skeleton King had led the Spectral Army and halted at a spot not far from the tunnel that led to Centipede Cavern. Not even a single player was within a fifty-meter radius of that area. Well, would it not have been suicide if anyone got nearer than that?

The moment he came across that question in his mind, he began to ask about it. But, someone else beat him to it.

The Bowmaster seemed to have planned everything out nicely. “Relax you guys. Just get yourselves ready over there. After a short while, I’ll ask a few fellow comrades of mine to lure the Skeleton King away. You guys shall seize that opportunity and sneak into the cavern!”

Everyone was silent.

Qin Ruo was rendered speechless for a brief period.

Is it really necessary to put in so much effort to get a few herbs and materials that are used to make some magic potions? Will it really be worth it? Why do I have a feeling that these people already included the Skeleton King in their plan much earlier on?