Ding~!

System Announcement: Player “Wind Fantasy” has successfully established China’s first guild “Snowy Cathaya". Rewards obtained: Level +3, Strength +10, Luck +1, and reward item “Snow Shadow Sword” (Level 50 Silver-grade)!

……

The melodic sound of a bell echoed in the skies above Floating Ice City and lasted for a long time. I raised my head to look in the direction of the city. Floating Ice City’s first player-made guild had finally been created.

As the player who established the first guild, Lin Yixin’s rewards were plentiful. Three levels, permanent increase of 10 Strength, 1 Luck and a Level 50 Silver-grade sword. As I had expected, the value of Hero’s Token was way beyond a Silver-grade shield.

Beep!

Du Thirteen sent me a message: “Too bad, if we had taken the Hero’s Token and established Bloody Mercenaries, the Snow Shadow Sword would’ve been yours, Lu Chen!”

I couldn’t help but smile at that thought. Forget it, a Gold-grade Ghost Ice Soul still lies in our warehouse. I don't need that Snow Shadow Sword. I replied, “Don’t worry about it, Thirteen. We’re only three people. If it weren’t for Lin Yixin’s hundred-man party, we wouldn’t even have gotten the Hero’s Token. Besides, we’ve already agreed in advance to give it to them. We have to keep our promises. Without trust, we won’t survive, you know. Besides, it isn’t like Hero’s Token is some godly item. We can just get another. Once we do, it won’t be too late to make a guild anyway.”

“Mn, got it. What are you going to do now?”

“Leveling, rushing to 50!”

“Okay, I’ll go level too with Little Gui.”

“Sure. Don’t bother with earning money in the next few days. Focus on leveling first!”

“Okay!”

……

I closed the chat window and then swept my sword to kill a Level 52 Violet Undead Knight. A pillar of golden light fell onto my head. Level 49. I was only 3% away from it after killing the boss earlier, so that didn’t take long. If I continue working hard, I will get Level 50 by tomorrow morning!

I opened Floating Ice City’s Heavenly Ranking and discovered that the level discrepancy had widened—

NameLevelClassWind Fantasy53Light WandererBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand49Undead SwordsmanDominating Heaven Blade47WarriorClear Perfume46ArcherGui Guzi46Undead KnightDominating Archer God46ArcherDominating Mage God46MageDominating Warrior God46WarriorInconstant45Magic KnightPurple Marquis45Warrior

…...

Lin Yixin had a dominant lead at Level 53 thanks to the reward from the Hero’s Token while I jumped to 2nd place after killing the Level 70 boss. Dominating Heaven Blade tightly held onto 3rd place while Gui Guzi and Clear Perfume who were in the same party as us also soared through the rankings, both at Level 46. Three heroes of the Domination Clan took up the following three places while Purple Marquis had risen and claimed 10th place.

I heaved a sigh of relief, then thought about Purple Marquis. That person’s mechanics and equipment were pretty good. He had definitely gone somewhere to grind to reach Level 45. This guy was also a talent though it was too bad that I couldn’t use him. He seemed to have a close relationship with the Shadow Clan which I had already fallen out with.

The official forum was loaded with discussion threads. I browsed as I killed the mobs nearby. There was a long golden title at the top of the homepage—Floating Ice City’s Goddess Wind Fantasy Establishes China’s First Guild—Snowy Cathaya!

The thread read: Floating Ice City Heavenly Ranking’s 1st place, female expert Wind Fantasy, teamed together with the 2nd place expert, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, and challenged the mighty Mad Dragon guild. Both sides warred in the Violet Forest with Wind Fantasy and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand ending up to be the victor. Mad Dragon was defeated and had even lost Heavenblessed’s first Hero’s Token, thus losing the qualifications to become overlord of Floating Ice City!

That made me smile. Seems like I took some of Lin Yixin’s light, huh. I might become famous in the China server. One thing was certain though—Fruit Knife Goddess Lin Yixin was at the peak of her fame, her popularity slowly dimming Martial God Candlelight Shadow’s light!

I opened the thread and read through the responses—

1st comment (Lakeside Falling Leaf): Wind Fantasy’s so awesome. She’d actually snatched the first Hero’s Token from Mad Dragon’s rubbish group.

2nd comment (Love To Sing And Dance): I heard that it was Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand who got the Hero’s Token. Wuuwuu, Brother Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, do you still remember the girl from the starting village?

3rd comment (Spicy Sprite): Sure he does, pretty good skills for that low a price.

4th comment (Hidden Night): Aaah, Beauty Fantasy, go out with me! PS: 5th commenter’s my son!

5th comment (Heavenblessed Administrator’s Police Dog): Woof woof woof...

……

A quick glance noted that there were over ten thousand responses not even twenty minutes since Lin Yixin had established Snowy Cathaya. 50% or more of these comments were asking Lin Yixin out, and 49.9% were people mocking one another. The remaining tenth of a percent were comments acknowledging my strength… four fifths of that from girls who wanted to date me.

I stroked my terrifying skeletal face, somewhat speechless. I wondered if they would want to date me after seeing my disgusting face.

But there was one good thing about Heavenblessed. The moment a player locked in their identity helmet, it would automatically distinguish their gender so there absolutely wouldn’t be a tragedy like finding out the girl you had an online relationship with turning out to be a man many years later.

I collected myself and continued my grind!

One man, one sword, and one wasp strolled into the depths of Violet Forest. Since my level had risen, I now dared to challenge monsters around Level 55. Ghost Deity Armor was Rank 4 and increased my Defense by 14%. If I added the HP regen from Regeneration of the Undead, staying alive was no longer an issue.

It was just that my DPS was a bit low!

Right. Level 55 Violet Undead Knights had approximately 5000 HP but my basic attacks only dealt 250~350 damage. The Weeping Fire Blade’s attack power was not enough for my level anymore. It was imperative for me to swap to the Gold-grade Ghost Ice Soul!

Moreover, my main combat skills were only Pardon and Slayer Slash. I didn’t have any other active attack skills other than those two. This caused my overall DPS to be low. Compared to Lin Yixin who had Killer Wind Swordplay, my damage output would be considered great if it was even 75% of hers!

I had to get to Level 50 quick. Every class could learn new skills from their trainer once they reached Level 50. I have to grind to Level 50 by tonight or I’m not going to sleep!

Determining my plan, I continued to grind. Even though my damage output was low, my Dark Wasp’s attack power was still thankfully significant. My Dark Wasp was already Level 47. Its Attack, Defense, and HP stats had increased substantially and its DPS had long surpassed mine. With an ace pet helping me fight, the difficulty of me reaching 50 had greatly decreased!

As I was leveling, I heard a beep. It was a message from Lin Yixin: “Still not sleeping?”

“Nope, I’m rushing Level 50 tonight!”

“Hoho~~ Good luck, then. I’m going to sleep, so tired~~”

“Mn, go ahead!”

Her name went dark. In our united assault against Mad Dragon, Lin Yixin’s attitude toward me seemed to have gotten much better. She didn’t act like I owed her a ton of money anymore.

The night was endless. I didn’t know how many people were crazily leveling like me.

The reason why I picked Violet Forest as my place to grind was because the undead mobs here gave high enough experience and their loot table wasn’t too bad either. The other reason was that the place yielded a great number of Soul Sparks of the Undead. I had to quickly reach the level of Bone General or Asura. Only then would I dare show myself to the world. I’ve been hiding under that hood for far too long.

……

Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi had not logged off yet. They were probably also hoping to get to Level 50 as fast as they could so the Bloody Mercenaries could quickly rise.

I grinded all the way to 8 in the morning. I couldn’t remember how many skeleton knights I had killed but I successfully leveled to 50 in a golden streak of light and could finally learn new skills!

I returned to Frost Mound and approached Undead Swordsman Suren with large strides.

“Young Night Creature, your growth is astonishing!”

Suren laughed heartily. “It appears that you are already strong enough, so let me teach you some unique skills!”

Swhoosh!

An interface window opened, displaying the few skills I could learn—

Ice Ray: Deals an additional 15% ice damage and lowers target’s movement speed by 50%. Lasts for 10 seconds.

Energy Amplification: Increases the user’s Magic Resist.

Blaze: An all-out attack that deals additional 20% fire damage.

……

Ice Ray and Blaze were both trademark skills of Level 50 melee players. I had long seen them in the officially-released data. I could only learn one out of the two skills because they mutually conflicted with each other. Ice Ray’s attack power was a bit lower but it had a movement speed reduction effect. Blaze had no effect but it was very strong and was a one-shot type of skill.

After thinking over and over again, I chose Ice Ray. Compared to a one-shot skill, I liked a crowd control skill like Ice Ray better. As long as my mechanics were good enough, Ice Ray was the superior choice. In a duel between two experts, a one-shot wasn’t very likely to happen but a skill that lowered an opponent’s speed like Ice Ray would make them wish to die!

The other important reason was the fact that my destined weapon at Level 50 was the Ghost Ice Soul. It enhanced ice attacks by 7%, so it had good synergy with Ice Ray. It was pretty much a godly weapon created for that skill!

Every skill cost 10 gold. It was a tad overpriced but it was still acceptable!

Ding~!

System Notice: You have learned Ice Ray I!

Ding~!

System Notice: You have learned Energy Amplification I!

……

Two Rank 1 skills acquired, I swung my Weeping Fire Blade, icy sheen concentrated on my sword. An icy arrow condensed at the tip of my sword and shot forward. It cut through the air and stabbed a large hole through the wooden stake, leaving an icy streak in its wake. It was too strong. If anyone were to get hit by that, it’d be weird if they didn’t become a block of ice!

Energy Amplification was a passive skill that could greatly increase the user’s magic resistance. It was a necessary skill to learn because I would die a miserable death if I were to encounter a mage later in the game. I’d already experienced Fire Dragon Spell and Fire Dragon Roar previously. They really made people want to cry!

Mn, time to go to Floating Ice City’s warehouse to retrieve the Ghost Ice Soul!

A Gold-grade Level 50 longsword with a max attack of 150. My blood boiled at the mere thought. Oh how it made me wait in anticipation all these days!