Ding~!

System Notice: You’ve accepted the quest [Traitorous Blood Shadow Army]! (Quest Rank: C-)

Description: Enter Reflection Hills and kill 100 Blood Shadow Skeleton Warriors. This traitorous army is very strong so you must take care. Cruel and ruthless, they are hostile to Night Creatures and humans alike. They will attack any target that poses a threat to them.

……

Quest in hand, I left, Reflection Hills my destination. After all, I didn’t come here to grind, my main objective was foraging the Rank 5 Cooking ingredient—Garlic.

I saw multiple conical hills within a dense forest in the skies above. This was a kind of mystical phenomenon that shouldn’t appear in real world, but there was nothing impossible in the game. This hill zone was one example of it.

I raised my head and looked up at them, afraid that these hills in the sky would randomly fall down. If that happened, even a Bone Lord like me would instantly become meat paste.

The hills were still part of a mountainous region. I heard a fierce tiger roar, and, sure enough, a fierce, blood red tiger pounced out of the forest, giving me a scare. Once my eyes swept over, I calmed—

Hill Tiger LV-47

Still okay, it’s only a Level 47 wild animal. I lifted my sword and met it head-on, unleashing Pardon followed up with Slayer Slash, alongside my Dark Wasp’s 3-hit Flurry. Two seconds later, I struck again with a basic attack, felling this Hill Tiger in three seconds. Death Plunder netted me a Rank 4 Tiger Skin, also a type of pelt. Its usage was not much different from wolf skin’s.

I continued on. As I went deeper and deeper, the surroundings began to change. Little wooden houses appeared between the ridges of the hills. These were all the living quarters of the local hunters. At this moment, a few undead-type monsters had also appeared on the map. Blood Shadow Skeletons!

These were high-level skeletons that shone with red light. They were at least Bone Creatures, so I couldn’t help but feel happy. The undead sparks provided by these Bone Creatures had to be abundant in energy. If I could rise to the level of Bone General and eventually reach Asura, my handsome face would finally be preserved. Things like picking up girls and killing enemies would no longer be a problem.

Blood Shadow Skeleton Warrior LV-50

A Blood Shadow Skeleton Warrior was standing not too far away, blankly looking around while screaming at random times.

I stealthily closed in with my pet, and sent my cannon fodder in first!

With three swhooshing sounds, my Dark Wasp pierced through half of the Blood Shadow Skeleton’s HP. I lunged over and used Pardon. With another two strikes of my sword, the first Blood Shadow Skeleton Warrior collapsed into pieces with a loud bang.

Pop!

A sparkling Big Magic Stone and a skeleton finger fell to the ground. My luck’s pretty good, my first kill actually dropped a magic stone and the quest item I need.

I picked up the Big Magic Stone. It was 100 Quality. It seems like the quality of magic stones increases with the level of mobs they dropped from.

My experience bar had also soared by 1%. It looks like it won’t be a problem for me to reach Level 42 here.

I found another Blood Shadow Skeleton Warrior, this time deciding to strike first. Its response was to roar and swing its battleaxe!

Bang!

The battleaxe fell on my shoulder, pain shaking me at the very core. Ghost Deity Armor resurfaced, but it too was shaken, its vibrations letting out a high-pitched hum. The opponent’s attack power was really high!

315!

I was speechless once I saw that number and quickly retreated. It’s better to let my Dark Wasp take the tank role. It had already reached Level 39. With 307 Defense and 1294 HP, its survivability was higher than mine, and by not-so-small a margin too. Though to be fair, the problem stemmed from my equipment. If I was wearing a full set of Silver-grade armor, my pet wouldn’t even be in the same league.

I let out a helpless sigh. At the current stage of the game, barely anyone in the game had Dark Steel–grade equipment, let alone Silver-grade that was one grade above it. According to my guess, only bosses over Level 50 could drop Silver-grade equipment.

I didn’t even know if the first piece of Silver-grade equipment would land in my hands. Now that made me really worried!

I took down this Level 50 Blood Shadow Skeleton Warrior with my Dark Wasp, obtained a useless rag after using Death Plunder, and then absorbed its undead spark. After all that, I went to search for my next target.

Blood Shadow Skeleton Warriors were individually scattered all around the map. It was, after all, a high-level monster. If they came in groups, a solo player like me wouldn’t be able to deal with them. I was sure that if I lured three of these at the same time, both me and my pet would be dead meat. A single hit from the skeleton could take third of my health, or about sixth of the Dark Wasp’s. Thankfully, both I and my pet were offensive damage dealers and we could kill them quickly and efficiently. Otherwise, potion expenditure during lengthy fights would spell my doom.

If current players wanted to grind here, the best way would be having ten mages stand in a row and use Fire Dragon Roar together to instantly kill a Blood Shadow Skeleton. Two rounds would be enough and there wouldn’t be any deaths either. It was just that this strategy would be too cumbersome on their MP. Unleashing a Rank 4 Fire Dragon Roar required 40 MP and a Level 40 mage only had about 800 MP, which meant that they could only fire a few rounds before they were completely out. Maintaining their leveling speed would require many Magic Consumables.

And these happened to be extremely expensive. As a black-hearted Cooking God, I would love it if anyone employed such tactic.

Time to continue. I needed to find the place where Garlic grew. Upon return, I would start mass producing Rank 5 Magic Consumables to make some dirty money!

I looked at my skill window and saw that my Cooking skill was still at Rank 4, but the proficiency bar was at 96%. I could easily reach Rank 5 by the time I went through the ingredients in my warehouse. Hmph, I was certainly the only hero in all of Floating Ice City who could make Rank 5 Consumables!

I continued my search while killing numerous Blood Shadow Skeleton Warriors on my way and finally found the Garlic I needed. Rank 5 Garlic grew everywhere in this dark valley!

As a gaming shut-in, I had a profound knowledge of a spice like garlic. This was because wherever I lived, I would always plant a few garlic bulbs. When I logged off in the evening, I would always crack an egg and add some garlic leaves when I cooked my noodles. This kind of delicacy was something only a shut-in would have experience of.

I began gathering. My Foraging was Rank 5 and my Cooking was Rank 4. Quite proud of my achievements, I stretched out a hand and used my Foraging skill to gather the Garlic—

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, you have gathered Garlic x3, Foraging Proficiency +5!

Continue, all clusters of garlic are nearby!

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, you have gathered Garlic x3, Foraging Proficiency +5!

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, you have gathered Garlic x3, Foraging Proficiency +5!

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, you have gathered Garlic x3, Foraging Proficiency +5!

……

In about half an hour, almost all the Garlic in this remote valley had been gathered. My bag was now filled with high-rank ingredients. I had a total of 40 stacks of Garlic, and I had even thrown away some low-quality Big Magic Stones. In terms of profit, even a max-quality Big Magic Stone was 20 silver, while a stack of Garlic could help me make five Rank 5 Magic Consumables. One would sell for at least 50 silver, so it was child’s play to calculate their worth.

I smugly looked at my bag full of Garlic and chuckled. Time to turn in the quest. After I turn it in and head back to the city, see how a Cooking God like me strut through the market!

I glanced at the map. Guess I’ll pass through the canyon. This was the shorter route. There would be too many detours if I went back the way I’d come, and the Blood Shadow Skeleton Warriors I had killed along the way have probably respawned by now. There’s no point in me wasting my time on them.

I had already risen to Level 41 91% and forgotten to eat my midnight snack. It was now 3 am. I was most likely going to stay up all night today. I checked out my friend list and saw that both Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi’s names were lit. These two guys were tacitly going to stay up late with me. They were too kind!

Lin Yixin’s name was also lit, no wonder why her level was still as high as ever. I looked around and saw that many people in Floating Ice City were already Level 40. The next race to Level 50 would be intense. Everyone was scrambling to reach Level 50 and kill a Level 60 boss. If someone dropped a Hero’s Token, they would be pioneers who established the first guild in Floating Ice City, reigning supreme!

As I passed through the valley, I discovered something didn’t feel quite right when I approached the central region. Why was the little hill in front of me moving?

Yes, that thing was actually moving!

Realization dawned on me in the next instant. This wasn’t even a little hill but a monster, a gigantic golem. Good lord, what level could this thing be?

It was a huge stone giant with green vines crawling all over its body. It moved extremely slowly. When it swung its stone arms, crunching sounds could be heard due to the friction. The stone giant’s head was at least six meters wide and when it turned, its black, innocent eyeballs moved about.

Hill Protector God (Silver Rank Boss)

Level: 60

Attack: ???

Defense: ???

HP: ???

Skills: ???

……

I was immeasurably shocked. Even though I couldn’t see all of the boss’s stats, what I saw was enough. This boss had broken away from the F-SSS rank division and was a magnificent Silver Rank boss. The equipment it dropped would already be the best of the best.

Was a Level 60 boss something I could take on?

I felt happy and a bit tickled for a moment. I had the same kind of feeling when Lin Yixin lifted her face to let me kiss her that night. At that time, I was pleasantly surprised but also nervous. Kiss her? I didn’t dare to. Don’t kiss? But I wasn’t willing to do that either! These kinds of conflicting feelings could tear one apart!

A huge, magnificent boss was right before me. If I went to fight it, the chances of me winning were below 1%. But I wasn’t willing to give up. This Hill Protector God’s level was so high. If I was able to cross the bridge of 19 levels and kill it, its drop rate would at least be doubled and the chances for a Hero’s Token would be huge.

I tightened my grip around Weeping Fire Blade. Forget it, let’s just go. YOLO!

I dashed over. My Dark Wasp zoomed in before me and ruthlessly stung at the boss’s thigh!

Crack!

44!

Shit! My Dark Wasp’s attack power is so high but it only dealt such pitiful damage? I-isn’t this too exaggerated? If it were me, how much damage could I deal?

Let’s try it!

My sword swung down as I executed my strongest combo: Pardon + Slayer Slash!

MISS!

1009!

Not bad, Rank 3 Pardon lowered the boss’s Defense by 60% and raised the user’s attack power by 45%. Being able to deal 1000 damage was already really good. Meanwhile, the Dark Wasp had attacked the boss when it had 100% of its Defense, and couldn’t break through it.

“Roar!”

The Hill Protector God discovered enemies in its territory and was immediately enraged. It roared and turned around. Its huge fist swung down and landed right on top of my Dark Wasp.

Bang!

1448!

My pitiful Dark Wasp shrieked. It had actually been instantly killed. Even though it had more than 300 Defense, it had still been one-shot so how could my 165 Defense self endure that?

I swiftly retreated, fleeing at top speed. The Hill Protector God was in hot pursuit. Although it wasn’t fast, it chased me at the same speed I ran. One person and one stone dashed through the wilderness.

As I ran, I thought about how I could deal with this Level 60 boss. A flash of inspiration appeared in my mind. Got it. The canyon that I was gathering at was very narrow. There was no issue if I entered but this stone giant could forget about it. It couldn’t even squeeze a fist inside. Since this was the case, I should take that chance!

With a plan in mind, I ran back to where I came from and went inside the canyon.

“Roar…”

The Hill Protector God angrily roared as it chased after me but it was soon stuck between two hills. Furious, it randomly swung its fists around, causing rubble to fly about.

I took advantage of this and went forward. I struck the stone giant’s ankle and then quickly retreated.

“Hahaha!”

I couldn’t hold my laughter. This was my chance! At this rate, I could totally kill this Level 60 Hill Protector God here.

For a moment, the prospect of countless gold coins and high-grade items flitted across my eyes.

……

Yet at this time, multiple blue dots suddenly appeared on my map. Those are… players?

My level was pretty high, so I could spot lower-leveled players on my map. A huge number of players was coming over!

I couldn’t fight the boss anymore, or else I’d definitely die. Anyone would want to kill such a high-level boss. I wouldn’t be able to reap the rewards!

When I thought about that, I firmly used a skill—Earth Escape!

Swhoosh!

I became a streak of red light and entered the ground, vanishing in place.

The stone giant was disoriented when it lost its target and started wandering outside the canyon.

……

Several minutes later, a party appeared in my field of view.

A hot succubus archer girl wielding a longbow walked in front. It was none other that the Coldmoon Rose I had encountered before entering the canyon!

A group of people appeared behind Coldmoon Rose and three people were at the forefront—

Roaming Dragon!

Iron Pardon!

Inconstant!

It was… the Mad Dragon guild!