Going online!
“Ding!”
An unexpected window appeared in front of me ——
System Notification: Congratulations! You have entered the top 1000 in the CBN Battle Ranking. For the first login of the day, you have been awarded 4123 Experience points and 9 Gold coins.
….
My experience bar increased by 3%, which was not bad at all. To think that the top ranking players on the CBN Leaderboard actually had these kinds of benefits, these rankings were definitely something to fight for. Especially those 9 gold coins obtained daily. Perhaps higher ranking players could obtain even more gold and experience, though it was a bit too far for me to think about right now.
Standing in the middle of Ba Huang City, I drew the Purple Tier Frost Rain Sword from its sheath. Looking down, a lavender colored frost covered the blade as the reflective body was adorned with carved runes. This Purple Tier weapon looked exceptional, and at that moment, I could confidently claim that that my attack power is peerless in Ba Huang City. Not even Jian Fen Han could reach my 2000 point base attack damage.
Blissfully standing around for moment, a ‘Ding’ was followed by Lin Wang Er’s message, “20 thousand RMB has been transferred to your account. I’m coming over to Ba Huang City now, so keep the Speed Dragon Ring safe for me, alright?”
Laughingly, I replied, “Got it, the ring is in my storage; even if I die, it won’t be going anywhere. Rest assured, when you are at Ba Huang City just give me a call.”
“Ah, ‘kay!”
….
Checking out my friends list, it looked like Song Han and the others were online. I sent them a message, “Little Wolf, what are you guys doing right now?”
“We were gathering some potions and about to continue leveling. What’s up, Xiao Yao brother?
“Come to Ba Huang City’s blacksmith, we’re having a temporary meeting about the future of Zhan Long studio in there.”
“Alright!”
Sheathing the Frost Rain Sword, its sheen was hidden once more. But in the few minutes that it was out, many people were looking in my direction and pointing fingers at the sword. They were most likely wondering if the sword was one of the top weapons on the Weapons Leaderboard.
Carrying the Frost Rain Sword and the Ancient Tablet on my back, my Icy Fire Cloak fluttered behind me as I entered the blacksmith shop. This was a stone building housing several furnaces burning with raging flames, with a blacksmith repeatedly beating an anvil with a ‘Keng Keng Keng’ sound. Leaning on the wall with my arms crossed in front of my chest, I waited for a few minutes before Song Han, Ran Min, and Fox showed up in front of the shop.
“Xiao Yao brother!” Song Han smiled slightly while he held a pair of daggers, he was a Lv 30+ Assassin now. In just three days, these guys actually somewhat caught up; their speed was very reassuring.
I nodded as the four of us sat around the brazier.
“Xiao Yao brother, what’s up?” Song Han asked.
Me: “Well, actually it’s nothing big, I just want to tell you guys that the CBN Battle Ladder came out. Surely you guys have understood the details about this Battle Ladder. Compared to the previous several games, Destiny is a ruthless game. Once CBN Battle Net is released, power struggles are inevitable. Ba Huang City’s competition is only going to become more intense, so we must start winning people over to our group. We can’t rely on four people to conquer the world.”
A slight smile showed on Fox’s face: “Boss, what you’re saying is…we’re creating a Guild?”
Taking a deep breath, I said, “Creating a guild costs 10,000 G, temporarily we can’t afford it. We don’t even have a Guild Creation Tablet yet. The cost to establish a guild is too expensive. Anyhow, even if we can’t officially create a guild, at least we need a temporary team and we have to keep expanding it if we want to compete with guilds like [Wrath of the Heroes] and [Vanguard].”
Old K held up his fist in rage, “Oh, I saw the recording of that last fight, Jian Feng Han robbed you of Heavenly Plan Sword. Shameless, people actually call this guy a great master of his time? Shameless bastard!”
Song Han opened up the CBN Battle Net and laughed, “Speaking of Jian Feng Han, he is one of the top 10 players on the CBN Battle Net and the top ten of the Grand Master Group. Right now we still lack strength, so we can’t be going around challenging [Vanguard].”
I nodded, “That’s why you guys need to quickly level up and get to Lv 40 in 3 days and learn the skills of your second job promotion. After that, look for some Healers and Mages to start building a temporary Zhan Long team with at least 10 people, and start raiding some moderate level Bosses. Strive to get a Guild Creation Tablet and–”
“Then establish the gang!”
“Then sell it for money…”
“Cough, cough, I thought too far ahead…”
Fox held out a window displaying a bunch of numbers and said, “Boss, these were the equipments you wanted me to sell. They have all been sold. Jade City Sword sold for 500G, Firewood Sword sold for 400G, Wind Chaser sold for 180G, and the rest added together to 1345G. I have already sent it to the auction house, at a 1:8 rate. A few minutes ago, it was sold for a total of 10,760RMB (~1700 USD). The studio is currently still broke, so 50% was extracted for studio funds. Here are 5380 RMB (~900 USD). I transferred it to you just now.”
A ‘Ding’ sound, signified the completion of the transfer. Since the game account was bound to one’s identity card, and the helmet could take retina data to connect the player’s bank account to the game, these systems were very easy to use.
“Alright, we’re going to go train!” Song Han stood up, holding his daggers, and said with a smile, “Let’s get there quickly today while there aren’t too many people on the highlands. I don’t want it to be like yesterday, getting mobs stolen is one thing, but Old K even dropped a level from the PK.”
Surprised, I asked, “Little Wolf, what did you say? You guys were PKed yesterday?”
“Yeah.” Song Hang nodded: “There were a bunch of guys from a family. Roughly a dozen of players between Lv 37 to 40. It was a money grinding studio, hm… what was it called again?”
Ran Min quickly grabbed his axe, “They called themselves the Thunder Spirit studio. They looked like they were players from the [Vanguard] guild.”
Raising my brows, I pulled out the Frost Rain Sword and said, “Let’s go. I’ll help you guys take revenge. Didn’t you say they were only a dozen Lv 37-40 guys? I can clean up that much on my own.”
Fox whispered, “Is this really a good idea? Those guys are from [Vanguard]. This feels like bringing trouble onto ourselves.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle, “It’s alright. Our little Zhan Long studio is probably a tiny ant for Jian Feng Han. His biggest worry right now is hunting high level bosses for the Guild Creation Tablet. He doesn’t have spare time to take care of us. C’mon. This is Zhan Long’s main principle, to go out with honor and fight for the weak! Right now we are the weak, so we have to fight for ourselves…”
Song Han and Ran Min both smiled, “OK, let’s go! To Frost Maple Highland!”
….
After stocking up on potions and repairing equipment, we walked out in a small group. With one look, anyone can see that Song Han and the other two were rookies who recently caught up; they wore incomplete gear. Conversely, I wore a suit of lean fitted armor, definitely too eye-catching. Thus I toggled my name to hidden mode, this way anyone 5 levels lower than me wouldn’t be able to see my ID. Wearing a fancy Icy Fire Cloak on my shoulders, I followed behind Song Han and the gang with a big smile on my face.
Since Lin Wang Er wouldn’t be at Ba Huang City for another two hours, I might as well have used this time to find something to do.
About 20 minutes away from Ba Huang City lied the Frost Maple Highlands, which was a medium level training area. All across Frost Maple Highlands are level 41-42 bandits. These bandits often went looting surrounding villages, so they ended up dropping a lot of money when killed. A single kill could drop at least 5 silver. At a 1:8 exchange rate, killing a bandit can earn .40 RMB. That was why gold farmers in the vicinity of Ba Huang City frequently gathered here.
I followed behind Song Han and Old K as my Silver Locked Battle Boots stepped onto the fiery red maple leaves. Fox was at my side, holding up his rifle as he laughed, “It’s still early, so there probably isn’t anyone here yet. By the time it’s nighttime, you can’t even stick a foot inside the Frost Maple Highlands, once a bandit spawns, a whole horde of players kills it in seconds.”
Me: “Isn’t the rule of Frost Maple Highlands basically first come first serve?”
“Yeah. Generally speaking, reasonable parties will discuss the matter and divide up the training grounds. The unreasonable ones will start attacking immediately. Yesterday those Thunder Spirit studio guys were being unreasonable, the type that directly starts fighting. And you know how Old K is, he is extremely short-tempered, which resulted in him dying.”
I took out a few Pardon Cards from my bag and handed them out while leaving one for myself. I laughed, “Ah, if those guys from Thunder Spirit show up today, I will show them their place, I’m not joining your party so you guys focus on killing the mobs. I’ll handle the players.”
“Alright!”
Song Han turned around and chuckled impishly, “He he, this time we have brother Xiao Yao taking care of us, it shouldn’t be too embarrassing.”
“Yup!”
….
Not too long after, the four of us climbed up to the highlands. There were actually several parties training here, but they were spread out far enough so that everyone had enough space to farm for money. This was a forested area filled with cruising bandits carrying broadswords. Song Han and the other two started killing some mobs. Old K attracted aggro while Song Han stunned to gain control and Fox sniped from far away. Basically, it was a one-sided fight, which was great for grinding.
“Pata……”
Jumping onto the top of a red rock at my side, I crossed my arms as I sat beside a 2 meter tall pine tree. Other players couldn’t see me, while I was able to see everything on the Frost Maple Highlands.
There was no movement for an entire hour.
Right as I was about to fall asleep, Ran Min’s voice suddenly said, “Boss, be careful! They are coming. It’s those guys from Thunder Spirit!”
….
A party of players suddenly emerged from the foot of the hill. Before each player’s name was a family’s title. They even had [Vanguard]’s certification emblem. (Certification Emblem: The emblem only serves cosmetic purposes and will not grant a guild buff until the guild is officially established).
Leading them was a Lv 42 Mage, ID: [Thunder Spirit Emperor], the highest level player in the group. Behind him was a Swordsman – [Thunder Spirit King], and a Berserker – [Thunder Spirit Marquis]; both were Lv 40 and had undergone their second job promotion. This family had quite an impressive name. Those three were probably the only ones I needed to worry about, the players behind them had not gone through their second job promotion and probably couldn’t even break through my defense, therefore I could probably just ignore them.
…….
“Ha, it’s those noobs again…” Thunder Spirit Marquis held his battle axe and smiled from a distance away: “Thunder Spirit studio is farming gold here for 5 hours. Unassociated people need to get out, don’t stand around here being an eyesore! I’m talking to you, Hero Ran Min, GTFO. If you’re not gone in a minute, I’ll help you lose another level.”
Old K was trembling with anger as he held his battle axe. Even though his level, equipment, and skills were all shy in comparison to his foes, he ground his teeth and yelled, “You want to kill me? Then come! Let’s see if you have even have the ability to do so.”
….
“ShaSha…”
As I sat up from the rock, slowly and silently, I drew out the Frost Rain Sword from its sheath. Joining Song Han’s party, I used the team chat and whispered: “Use a Pardon Card. This is our first team battle as Zhan Long studio. Old K, run straight into their group and let loose on Thunder Spirit Marquis. Little Wolf, stun the Swordsman. Fox, use your gun to kill Old K’s target.”
Song Han whispered, “Brother Xiao Yao, the most dangerous one is that Mage, Thunder Spirit Emperor!”
While clutching the Frost Rain Sword, I smirked: “Leave that Mage to me!”
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