Not long after I exited Fire Maple Forest, cyan flora appeared in front of me. The tang of blood hung thick in the air, and there were human bodies, weapons, and pieces of armor scattered around the shrubberies. They all had animal bite marks on them.

Crack!

I accidentally stepped on an unfortunate fellow’s bones and crushed them as I moved forward. These people must’ve been killed by Cyan Battle Tigers. So far, it definitely looked like the mob was as powerful as Zatch claimed.

I didn’t walk far before I was greeted by a mighty roar. A Cyan Battle Tiger appeared from the forest, and it was almost as big as the Fire Rhinoceros. It looked like it was covered in steel needles instead of fur, and its head was as sinister-looking as its gaping mouth and bared fangs. Judging from the way it was glaring at me with its light red eyes, the beast had already designated me as its next victim.

I scanned the Cyan Battle Tiger and read its stats screen—

Cyan Battle Tiger (Shadow)

Level: 162

Attack: 2240~2550

Defense: 2400

HP: 220000

Skills: Barbaric Rend, Wild Roar, Claw Pounce

Introduction: The guardian of the Cyan Tiger Forest. They are cruel, violent and barbaric, and they feed on anything that is made of flesh and blood. Due to prolonged exposure to poisonous air and magical energy, their bodies have been transformed and their skeletons have become much stronger than before. Now, it is the king of this forest, and no creature alive is a match for it.

……

"Roar roar!"

The Cyan Battle Tiger’s Attack was even higher than the Fire Rhinoceros’, and it was clearly eyeing me with violence in its mind. Lifting its front paws slightly, the Cyan Battle Tiger abruptly jumped into the air and pounced toward me in a beautiful arc.

I steadied my footing and calmly waited for the attack to come. Then, I abruptly thrust my sword forward and hit the Cyan Battle Tiger with Burning Blade Slash—

9903!

14782!

19820!

My attack power was seriously out of the world thanks to Martial God and the Cyan Netherworld Sword. The Cyan Battle Tiger was a shadow-rank mob with a whopping 2400 Defense, but my attack still penetrated its flesh with ease.

The Cyan Battle Tiger roared in frustration, but before it could turn around, I stabbed it in the butt with Universe Break!

22091!

If the tiger wasn’t pissed off before, it was now. The moment it turned around, it immediately smacked me on the shoulder. The attack carried the Rend effect and dealt 6984 damage to me!

The critical hit actually deleted a small chunk of my HP. It definitely deserved to be a Level 162 shadow-rank mob. Luckily, the Cyan Netherworld Sword had a lifesteal effect, so another Burning Blade Slash and Universe Break later, I dealt around 70k damage to the mob and healed myself for 7000 HP, basically nullifying all its efforts.

I didn’t need to heal myself at all in this fight. Lifesteal and Rank 10 Regeneration of the Undead were enough to deal with this Level 162 shadow-rank mob.

"Roar roar..."

Eventually, the Cyan Battle Tiger let out a thunderous roar before collapsing limply to the ground. After collecting the bloody and poisonous tooth it dropped, I went to look for the next Cyan Battle Tiger!

……

About seven or eight kills later, someone suddenly asked in the guild channel—

Xu Yang: "Is it just me, or has boss been absent the entire day?"

Li Chengfeng: "No, and it’s not just the guild leader either. Vice leader Murong isn’t on as well. Did something happen, Lu Chen, Beiming Xue?"

Beiming Xue: "I think it’s better if you speak with big bro…"

I replied, "It’s nothing. Eve and sis are needed at the company for the foreseeable future, so they won’t be online for a while. If there’s anything you need, please come to me directly. Starting now, I’ll be overseeing everything that happens in the guild."

"Oh, I see…" Xu Yang said, "By the way, Lu Chen, do you remember the Split Galaxy sets you kept at the guild warehouse earlier? They are Outstanding Purple Gold–grade equipment, and they are very powerful. I was thinking about distributing them to the gang before they become outdated. What do you think?"

I nodded immediately. "You’re right. I completely forgot about it until you reminded me. Chengfeng, Little Gui, Beiming Xue, how do you think we should distribute them?"

Li Chengfeng replied, "There are 15 Split Galaxy sets in the warehouse right now. In my opinion, our magic knights should have the first priority. They have mounts that greatly increase their stats, and they’ll be even stronger with this new armor. Even in our guild, guild leader, Eve, Gui Guzi, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun are the only magic knights who are wearing Spirit or Earth–grade equipment. Everyone else is still stuck with Dark Gold or Purple Gold–grade equipment. Therefore, I believe we should give them to the Top 15 magic knights with the highest contribution points. For fairness’ sake, all their contribution points will be reduced to zero. But of course, this is just a suggestion. You’re the guild leader now, and you are the one who grinded these equipment. It’s entirely up to you how to distribute these equipment, Lu Chen!"

I smiled. "No, you’re right, our magic knights should have priority over these items. However, I would like to make a small correction. It’s about time the top players of our guild upgraded their equipment, so I would like to give Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, and Du Thirteen a set each. The rest will be distributed as you said earlier. Does everyone think this is fair?"

Gui Guzi laughed, "Sounds fair to me, boss! Haha, looks like the Fireblade Cavalry are gaining another 12 OP riders!"

Beiming Xue giggled. "You shouldn’t boast, Brother Gui. You realize that your Fireblade Cavalry has been outdated for a long time now, right? A Volley is all I need to kill an entire group…"

Gui Guzi: "..."

Gui Guzi couldn’t say anything in front of the powerful dark archer. It was because she was stronger than him, and his chances of winning against Beiming Xue in a one-on-one fight were less than 40%. Her class, equipment, skill, and technique were all super-tier, and she was a walking weapon of mass destruction that could down even Candlelight Shadow’s mood on sight!

Beiming Xue was definitely right when she said that the Fireblade Cavalry was outdated, however. Most experts at the current stage of the game had crossed the level 130 mark, and the Fireblade Cavalry was just a level 100+ low rank mount. Suffice to say, it could no longer keep pace with the times anymore. Even if we could capture enough Fireblade Horses to make a big cavalry, its low rank would diminish the impact of a cavalry charge. After all, an opponent with a higher rank mount could easily break the flow just by counter-charging because their mount had higher mount tenacity, speed, and strength. It would be annoying to say the least.

……

The guild channel was rife with merry for a moment. All the magic knights who got the Split Galaxy set looked so happy they could die. The Purple Gold–grade equipment set was worth at least a million RMB on the market, so being able to get it for the mere price of all their existing contribution points was a steal.

This was a good thing. Only a small number of players would get the equipment, but it still motivated the rest of the guild to gather more contribution points. And how do you gather contribution points? You grind levels, kill enemy players, kill bosses and more. It was basically a virtuous cycle that benefited the whole guild.

I continued killing Cyan Battle Tigers for a while. Suddenly, a Cyan Battle Tiger that was smaller than the regular ones appeared in front of me, and I froze like I had seen a ghost. It was because the mob was a capturable Rare mount!

I slowly approached the Cyan Battle Tiger. The lines of text floating above its head were pleasing to read—

Cyan Battle Tiger (Purple Gold Rank Mount)

Strength: +345

Stamina: +350

Attack Increase: +24%

Defense Increase: +20%

Attack Speed: +40%

Movement Speed: +90%

Attack Range: +27 yards

Max HP: +7000

Turn Rate: -65%

Mount Tenacity: +40%

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

Level Requirement: 125

Reputation Requirement: 70000

……

I could hardly believe my own luck. Not only was it a Purple Gold Rank mount, it was better than even He Yi’s Snow Domain Windchaser! Even Lin Yixin’s Frostscythe Warhorse was only slightly better than this Cyan Battle Tiger!

Overjoyed, I sent a message to Gui Guzi immediately: "Little Gui, abandon everything you’re doing, make a hundred-man magic knight party and come to these coordinates right now! They must all be trustworthy people! Everyone including you is getting a new super mount today!"

Gui Guzi sounded confused. "Is the mount really that great? Your reaction seems a bit excessive."

I immediately sent him the Cyan Battle Tiger’s stats screen.

"Holy motherfucking shit!"

Gui Guzi swore loudly. "I’m coming over right away! Just give me a moment to summon Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun so he can lead the party with Flying General. We’ll be there in half an hour at most!"

I nodded. "Good! Bring as many magic knights as you can, and make sure to keep the coordinates a secret. I have a feeling that the Cyan Battle Tiger isn’t the only Rare mount in the area. This may be our chance to build another elite cavalry regiment! If you confirm there are a lot of Cyan Battle Tiger mounts in the area, contact Li Chengfeng and tell him to station a party nearby. We don’t want an enemy guild catching us by surprise."

Gui Guzi laughed happily, "Got it, we’ll be there in a jiffy. Haha, this is awesome! Oh right, why were you there, boss?"

"Grinding, duh. Now go, quickly!"

"Okay!"

……

I continued to grind while waiting for Gui Guzi and the others to arrive, killing all the Cyan Battle Tigers in the area except the Rare mount. To my utmost pleasant surprise, I found a second Rare mount less than 200 yards away from me when I killed the last mob!

Jackpot. The new cavalry troop we would build was sure to cause a quake in the entire Sky City, for sure!