“Clap clap clap…”

I responded to Lin Yixin’s thread. “Impressive, goddess. You’ve won my heart…”

I was replying using my own ID, “Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand”, of course. I couldn’t use a dummy account because I had logged into the forums from inside the game.

My reply attracted plenty of attention as I expected it to. Since my reply was among the first ten replies, someone quickly made a scathing accusation. “How did you reply to this thread so quickly? Were you spying on our goddess all day long?”

I couldn’t refute it.

Lin Yixin replied with an ellipsis, and a bunch of people immediately replied, “We get you…”

And that was how a perfectly normal friendship was embellished into an adulterous relationship.

Anyhow, I logged out of the forums and went back to grinding. Staying cooped up on the forums all day was boring!

…...

Four hours or so later, I had killed enough undead swordsmen and obtained enough Skeletal Fingers to fulfill the quest requirement. It was time to turn in the quest.

I returned to the temporary camp at Eternal Song Forest, and this time no one tried to stop me like last time. It was because I had the emblem of the Blood Dance Alliance on my shoulder. In the eyes of these NPCs, I was now one of them.

There was a big, imposing tent at the center of the camp. It was where Queen Sophia was living. Shadow Dancer Xue Wei was standing just outside the tent with her longbow at the ready.

I walked up to her and turned in the quest.

“Hehe, I knew you wouldn’t let the queen or me down!”

Xue Wei smiled approvingly at me before continuing, “Young warrior, you have completed a difficult quest as a member of the Blood Dance Alliance. This is the reward you deserve!”

Ding~!

System Notice: You have completed the quest [Eternal Song Forest’s Menace]. You have gained 120000 EXP, 1000 Reputation and 80 Kill Points! Congratulations, you have gained the quest reward, “High-grade Army Pouch”!

...

High-grade Army Pouch?

Surprised, I looked inside my backpack and found a new item. It was a purple bag, and it was a lot bigger and spacier than the Army Pouch I had gotten at Wildfire Plains.

High-grade Army Pouch: 100 slots.

I was overjoyed. What a godsend! I never felt like I had sufficient inventory space, especially when I was out foraging for ingredients. My old Army Pouch only had 40 slots, but this High-grade Army Pouch had 100 slots! It was exactly what I needed right now!

I hurriedly changed my current bag for the new one. Only one Army Pouch could be equipped at a time, and with this new bag I could carry a total of 120 items with me. I could just imagine how much my wealth would grow if I came back with a full bag.

I checked my experience bar afterward and noted that I was level 63, 47% full. I was right behind Lin Yixin.

I made up my mind to surpass her level in the next two days to come. At the very least, Bloody Mercenaries wouldn’t look bad if we were unlucky enough to be paired up with Snowy Cathaya during Who Will Fight Me.

…...

Rustle…

The little skeleton finally answered my summons and appeared to me. I had been trying to summon her for the last couple of hours, but she had disobeyed my order for some reason until now.

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, your pet “Xinran” has gained a talent boost in the Netherworld and an item, “Frost Iron Spear”!

……

My eyes widened at the notification. As reported earlier, the little skeleton was now holding a glowing spear instead of a bone sword. It looked like my pet was changing her equipment faster than I was, not to mention that this Frost Iron Spear was clearly no ordinary weapon. Moreover, her attack scaling was much higher than the Dark Wasp’s. She was only Level 21, but she had 350 Attack already. The Dark Wasp had at most 250 Attack when it was at her level.

“Ah…”

Shadow Dancer Xue Wei suddenly stared at the little skeleton in shock. I thought I even saw a trace of fear and respect behind her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“No, it… it’s nothing…” Xue Wei shook her head, but she couldn’t help but glance at the little skeleton again. “I thought I felt a terrifying domain power, but… it was probably just my imagination. There are no divine experts on this continent anymore…”

Instead of probing further, I asked, “Is there anything else I can do to help you?”

“Well, since you asked!” Xue Wei smiled at me before continuing, “We have a small sentinel outpost directly south of Eternal Song Forest. However, it is currently under attack by the Night Creatures and in need of a powerful warrior to bolster their defenses. Please, protect that sentinel outpost and ensure that it doesn’t fall into our enemies’ hands, young warrior!”

Ding~!

System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Reinforcing the Sentinel Tower]! (Current Quest Rank: A)

Description: Head to the south of Eternal Song Forest where the Man-eater Flower Graveyard lies. A sentinel tower belonging to Blood Dance Alliance is under attack by the Night Creatures. Defend the sentinel tower for 3 hours and wait for reinforcements to arrive!

……

Beep!

A countdown timer appeared in my window. It said, “2:59:59".

A timed quest? Wonderful! All I need to do was ensure that the sentinel tower doesn’t switch hands for three hours, and the quest will automatically be completed. Though there’s no telling how difficult the quest will be...

There was no time to waste, so I gripped my sword and started running toward the south.

The Man-eater Flower Graveyard wasn’t too far away from where I was. On the map, it was presented as a jade-green region. However, the areas around the graveyard were blood-red in color. It was a warning to the player that the area was extremely dangerous and deadly.

Surprisingly, Xinran was following behind me. I didn’t put her back into the pet summoning space, however. She couldn’t assist me in battle as she was, but she could leech some EXP and grow a couple more levels. To be honest, I wanted to see if she would change once her level grew higher.

While I was running, a rabbit suddenly ran across the path in front of me!

Puchi!

However, it barely lasted a fraction of a second before it was replaced by a colorful flower bud, leaving behind only a pool of blood and a couple of rabbit fur. The flower bud was wriggling and contracting as if chewing something. Clearly, the flower bud had consumed the rabbit!

Man-eater Flower

Level: 70

Attack: ???

Defense: ???

HP: ???

Skills: Poison

Introduction: The guardian of the Man-eater Flower Graveyard, this brutal and venomous flower eats flesh to survive.

……

I looked around for a different way, but there was none. I was sure that I would encounter a lot more Man-eater Flowers along the way. I guess I have no choice but to do this the hard way!

Shiing!

I pulled out the Ghost Ice Soul, ordered the Dark Wasp forward and charged!

Swhoosh!

I appeared in front of the Man-eater Flower in a flash and plunged my sword into its stem. Red liquid that looked like blood instantly flowed madly out of the wound. Ice Ray also caused ice to appear all over the Man-eater Flower’s body, freezing it and slowing down its attack speed drastically.

The Dark Wasp flew forward and hit the Man-eater Flower four times in a row. Flurry was seriously impressive at Rank 6. This was just the first round, and the two of us had deleted over half of the Man-eater Flower’s HP.

Splash…

Suddenly, the monster opened its mouth and revealed its insides. It was completely covered in sharp thorns and disgusting liquid. Moving at lightning speed, it tried to catch me and swallow me whole!

I knew that it would do this, however. The moment it opened its mouth, I jumped sideways to a safe spot.

Thud!

The Man-eater Flower missed me completely and hit the ground instead. The impact was so huge that dust flew all over the place, its sharp teeth sinking deep into the ground. I couldn’t help but feel a chill behind my back. Holy shit, if a human got bitten by this thing, they would literally break in half, wouldn’t they?

I suddenly recalled the day I saw some couples holding roses while I was strolling the streets. They probably thought the gesture was very romantic and heartwarming. I wondered how they would feel if the rose suddenly opened its “mouth” and bit a certain something in half when they were inside a hotel and enjoying their sexy time. I’m sure it would be pretty hilarious.

I executed Pardon and Desperate Gambit on the Man-eater Flower while impure thoughts ran rampant inside my mind. It let out one final growl before falling flat on the ground.

Pop!

The mob dropped a quality 92 Big Magic Stone. Not bad!

I picked up the Big Magic Stone and aimed my open palm at the mob as usual. Death Plunder!

Swhoosh!

I was surprised. A bottle filled with greenish, poisonous liquid appeared in my hand.

Man-eater Flower Poison: Rank 6 ingredient, one of the essential poison-crafting ingredients for Assassin.

……

Tsk tsk, I wasn’t expecting to get an Assassin-exclusive item from the mob. In Heavenblessed, assassins were natural born killers and poison-makers. During the later stages of the game, most of their skills had something to do with poison, such as Blind, Poisoned Weapon, Crippling Poison and so on. Assassinating and poisoning others were the nature of this class.

However, I didn’t know any assassins whom I would call an acquaintance, much less friends. There were no assassins in Bloody Mercenaries or Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls either. Oh well, I guess I can keep this and see if there’s any demand for it back at Floating Ice City. In the future, I might want to recruit a top tier assassin into Bloody Mercenaries. After all, it was essential for a party to have an expert who was good at scouting, dealing damage and picking off single enemies.

I tossed the Man-eater Flower Poison into my bag and continued forward. So far, it wasn’t a hassle to kill a single Man-eater Flower. It had taken me less than half a minute to kill another Man-eater Flower. They gave a passable amount of EXP. That being said, it would be terrible if any one of these monsters managed to take a bite out of me. Not only would I lose a ridiculous amount of HP, I would be poisoned and turned as green as a leaf. That would be a really ugly sight.

After killing an innumerable amount of Man-eater Flower and reaching the inner depths of the graveyard, a simplistic sentinel tower made out of stone soon entered my view. It looked like it would crumble at any moment, and it was currently being attacked by a dozen or so skeletal monsters. The mobs were literally hitting the tower with their bony swords while two Blood Dance Alliance undead soldiers tried to chase them away. The one on the ground was a warrior, and the one inside the tower was an archer firing arrow after arrow from above!

Pop pop...

Unfortunately, the archer didn’t have very good aim. His arrows kept sliding in-between the ribs of the skeletal soldiers and dealing absolutely no damage at all.

Meanwhile, the Night Creature’s skeletal soldiers howled and they swung their bony swords at the walls like crazy. Once their weapons were destroyed, they started swinging their arms, and once their arms were destroyed, they ramming with their heads. It was only after they cracked their own skulls that they finally stopped moving.

I felt like spitting blood as the battle continued. NPC battles truly are as bizarre as they come!