The next day, very early in the morning, we bade Fei’er goodbye before going our separate ways. It was time to return to Suzhou. Luckily for us, the traffic was pretty smooth today, so we reached our workshop around 9 am or so.

I went online. It was time to check out the equipment I had won in the tournament!

Swhoosh!

I appeared at Sky City as a Level 115 Undead Swordsman. One of the rewards of being the runner-up of Who Will Rise was 2 levels, and the MVP reward was another 4, so I had gotten 6 free levels in total. I was sure that Candlelight Shadow was rolling in envy right now. How many days would it take for him to grind and catch up to my level? How many more days would it take if I grinded just as hard and widened the gap even more? Alternatively, I could do something else to strengthen the guild and prepare for the upcoming wars.

……

But first, I opened my bag and stared at the God Suppressing Necklace and God Suppressing Helmet. Two 5-star Outstanding Spirit-grade items, man. This is so awesome!

I equipped them immediately and felt a tremendous surge of energy inside my body. I was actually shocked when I checked my own stats—

ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder)

Class: Undead Swordsman (Dark Gold Swordsman)

Level: 115

HP: 12200

Attack: 1674~2130

Defense: 1920

Magic Resist: 1715

Reputation: 120764

Tactics: 119

Luck: 22

……

Incredible. My max HP was now 12200 thanks to the +2400 HP from the God Suppressing Helmet. I also had over 2100 max Attack and almost 2000 Defense—in fact, my real Defense should be equal to a 3000-Defense player because of my skills, equipment passives and properties.

I also had 22 Luck. This meant that I had better chances than most to hit my max Attack value or dropping good items!

More importantly, I now had 119 Tactics, which meant that the effectiveness of my Tactics skill was boosted by 119%. In other words, instead of the base 40%, Martial God now boosted my Attack by a whopping 87.6%. How awesome is that?

After that, I tossed the Explosion Necklace and Purgatory Helmet into the sales corner of Air Force One for sale. Both equipment were still pretty good by today’s standards, so I expected them to sell almost a hundred RMB each. Long story short, my overall strength had improved drastically after the Who Will Rise tournament!

……

It was at this moment a beautiful knight walked out of Sky City’s inn. It was none other than He Yi, of course. She walked up to me with a smile and asked, "Do you want to see my mount, Lu Chen?"

"Sure!"

"Okay!"

He Yi opened her palm and summoned a magic hexagram in front of her. The next moment, a snow white war horse appeared in front of her and let out a neigh. It was the reward she had gotten during the battle of Skull Castle, the Purple Gold Rank mount Snow Domain Windchaser!

"Have you learned Mount yet?" I asked.

"Of course!"

He Yi smiled and pulled herself up her horse. She looked ridiculously cool the way she was holding the reins with her left hand and the Soul Stealing Spear with her right. The mount itself was cool enough, but the way her armor glinted under the sunlight made her look even cooler. Sigh, the spring of Knights had finally arrived!

All around us, a lot of Sky City players were shooting us looks of astonishment. Although the mount system had been open for some time, and all magic knights and wanderers above Level 100 could learn the skill "Mount", the actual mount itself was so god damn rare that even the Fruit Knife Goddess herself didn’t have one yet, let alone everyone else!

Therefore, it was only natural that a magic knight as beautiful as He Yi riding a mount this handsome would draw looks from her surroundings.

"Can I see the stats of your mount, Eve?" I grabbed the reins of the Windchaser and asked.

"Mn."

He Yi nodded, added me into her party and shared her mount’s stats with me. I was surprised by what I saw—

Snow Domain Windchaser (Purple Rank Mount)

Strength: +240

Stamina: +220

Attack Increase: +14%

Defense Increase: +10%

Attack Speed: +35%

Movement Speed: +75%

Attack Range: +25 Yards

Max HP: +4000

Turn Rate: -70%

Mount Tenacity: +30%

Passive: Movement state cannot be easily interrupted, resistance to ice magic +40%

Level Requirement: 100

Reputation Requirement: 40000

……

I was speechless for a moment. I already knew that a mount could transform a player and boost their power to a whole new level, but the sheer amount of stats a high-rank mount like the Snow Domain Windchaser could provide still startled me. Not only did a mount boost its rider’s Attack, Defense and HP drastically, it also gave the rider the ability to attack from range. The era of cavalry had finally arrived!

"What’s wrong? Don’t you want to make a comment or something?" He Yi said with a smile.

I shook my head. "What can I say? I suppose I regret not picking magic knight as my class back then…"

He Yi burst into a giggle before climbing down her mount and grabbing my arm. She said, "Relax, I’ve read through the official data, and I read that Mounts aren’t completely locked to other melee classes. If you’re Level 150, after sixth promotion and a Famous General, then you will automatically get a mount pet slot."

"Really?" My excitement bubbled. If He Yi was right, then all I needed to do was grind to Level 150! I was already a Famous General after all.

"Of course it’s real. Why would I lie to you?" He Yi smiled again.

"This is great!" I gave her a tight hug before letting go. "It’s still early. Do you have any plans for the morning? Are you going to grind some levels or?"

He Yi replied, "It’s a bit unrealistic to find a new leveling map right now, and I’m sitting at 99% experience right now. Why don’t I kill a couple of mobs at Sky Forest and level up to 109 first before we come to a decision?"

"Sure. See you later!"

……

I checked my own experience bar and noted that I was a long, long way away from hitting the next Level. In fact, I could grind for three days straight and still not hit Level 116. Oh well, it was always going to get harder and harder to level up. I had leveled up 6 times thanks to Who Will Rise and had fun admiring my loot, so it was now time to get to work.

I decided to level up my Cooking to Rank 10 first. I had plenty of time anyway.

To do that, I needed to make Rank 9 Magic Consumables, and to make Rank 9 Magic Consumables, I needed to seek out a new food ingredient called the Dragonfish Meat!

Of course, when I said dragonfish, I didn’t mean arowanas. Oh no, this dragonfish was the kind that could totally kill someone if they weren’t careful.

I brought up the official forums and searched for the term "dragonfish”. As I thought, a lot of people shared similar thoughts as I. There was a surprising number of high-level chefs, it seemed!

I found what I was looking for a while later. In Sky City’s borders, there was a seashore called the Crystal Coast. The Dragonfish could be found in the shallow water areas. Apparently, a Dragonfish was a mixed breed between the mythical fish Aoyu and a low-level dragon. This creature was violent by nature and amphibious, meaning that it could be found on land as well. They were carnivorous animals with a disgusting Attack, and countless brave hunters who tried to hunt them down became the hunted and were turned into fish excrement. It was why not a single Rank 9 Magic Consumable had appeared on the market yet even though the Crystal Coast was known to all three super cities for a while already.

However, I was now a Level 116 super expert. I think it’s time I take a look at this Dragonfish!

……

After repairing my equipment and stocking up on pots and Magic Consumables, I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and went on my merry way!

I still had a long way to go even after I had passed through Sky Forest. From where I was, Crystal Coast was about an hour away on foot. Still, it would be worth the effort if I could gather the Dragonfish Meat and grind my levels at the same time.

It was around this time Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue joined He Yi’s party.

Murong Mingyue asked, "Eh, where is Lu Chen? And what are you doing, Eve?"

He Yi sounded excited on her end. "Oh, I’m soloing a Level 110 Dark Gold–grade boss called the Porcupine King. I had already deleted one-third of his HP, hehe…"

"Ah?" Murong Mingyue exclaimed in astonishment. "Since when is our Eve this brave? Where are you? I’m coming to help. Don’t die before I make it there, please…"

"It’s fine, really~" I could hear the confidence in He Yi’s voice. "With my current Defense and HP, I can tank everything with just War God Recovery!"

Well, that was true. He Yi was a walking fortress right now, not to mention that she had the Level 100 magic knight skill, "War God Recovery”. The skill healed her for 100% HP in 60 seconds, and with her mount equipped, she had almost 20k HP and over 3000 Defense. At her current stats, it would probably be harder for her to kill herself!

……

I continued on my journey until finally, a salt-scented wind tickled my nose. Crystal Coast, here I come!

Even from afar, I could see that the coast was covered in bushes of beautiful, translucent crystals about two humans tall. It was no wonder it was called Crystal Coast.

Rustle rustle…

I strode across the sandy ground with the Heaven-stealing Sword at the ready. Beside me, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf suddenly bared its fangs and let out a low growl. Clearly, there must be a powerful mob directly ahead of us.

As I thought, a wild animal covered in golden scales emerged from behind a clump of crystals. It looked like a fish, but it had a pair of legs and a flapping tail that enabled it to move on land. In fact, it moved way faster than you might expect from something its size, and the rows of sharp teeth inside its mouth looked motor-powered and strong enough to bite through anything. The creature stared at me murderously with its black eyes. That’s right, it was none other than the legendary dragonfish I came to kill, a powerful mob that could crush metal armor with its teeth.

I scanned its stats and found it as powerful as I expected it to be—

Crystal Dragonfish (Shadow)

Level: 140

Attack: 1550~1780

Defense: 1550

HP: 100000

Skills: Mad Strike, Devour, Rend

Introduction: A fearsome beast that lives at Crystal Coast, the Crystal Dragonfish is as violent as it is powerful. It has a huge appetite, and most of its time is spent roaming about in starvation. Therefore, it will never let go of any potential prey.

……

I couldn’t help but smile at the mob’s introduction text. What a coincidence, I was here to look for food as well. I wondered which was sharper, the Heaven-stealing Sword in my hand or the dragonfish’s teeth?

I locked onto the Crystal Dragonfish and activated Thunderous Charge!

Whoosh!

It was a successful stun. Next, I dished out a two-hit Ice Ray + Desperate Gambit combo! I wanted to freeze it first so I could kill it easier!

5012!

6435!

Two huge damage numbers appeared above its head. As I thought, my Attack had increased by leaps and bounds after I equipped the God Suppressing Necklace and God Suppressing Helmet. The necklace boosted my Attack by 30%, and the helmet buffed my Attack and attack speed by 15%. It was only natural my damage would soar!

The dragonfish screamed in pain when my sword sank into its flesh. I noted that the cry of a fish sounded weirdly sorrowful for some reason.

It tried to mount a counterattack, but it wasn’t nearly powerful enough to bite through my Defense. It did only 700 damage or so; so little that my HP regeneration alone was enough to keep me above 90% HP at all times.

……

It was at this moment a system ding swept across the coast—

Ding~!

System Announcement: Player "From Water (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Dark Gold Rank boss, Porcupine King, and reached Level 109. They have met the criteria to become a Famous General, and they are the fourth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +3, and an exclusive Famous General Skill, "Royal Road"!