It was only after the words escaped my mouth did I realize that my IQ had devolved to the level of my pet’s. Unfortunately, my blood sometimes boiled up before I knew it, and I had no idea if it was a good or a bad thing. At any rate, it was too late for regrets. Who knew how many undead warriors there were in this camp alone!

……

"Jie jie, this lowly adventurer!" An undead knight spun his spear while laughing. "Brothers, let’s kill him and wet our blades with his blood!"

A bunch of swordsmen and knights charged at me, and I retaliated with Burning Blade Slash + War Crush and activated Deterrence the moment the timing was right. Although their level was so high that Deterrence only reduced their stats by 15% instead of the promised 25%, it was still pretty good. 15% less HP and Defense makes the battle much easier than it would’ve been.

Activating Martial God and boosting my attack power by 200%, I clashed directly against an undead knight and began swinging my sword recklessly. Instead of pursuing parries and Guards like I normally did, I did my best to maximize my damage output. In this scenario, fighting aggression with aggression and healing myself with Blood Rage was the royal road to victory!

Bang bang bang!

Cyan sword auras spread across the body of the skeletal soldiers as I attacked them. The main reason my grinding speed was among the best in the entire world was thanks to the 40% splash effect of the Cyan Netherworld Sword!

The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf vigorously bit and clawed at its adversaries with every available tool, but unfortunately it simply didn’t have enough attack power to do much to the high-level undead at all.

Some distance away, Dada was lying under a bush and whining sorrowfully at us. It looked like it wanted to help, but couldn’t muster the courage to face the powerful enemies.

……

Clang clang clang…

Swords and spears pierced my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor and ate away my HP very quickly. It just wasn’t possible to survive while being surrounded by a bunch of Level 165 ancient mobs. Unable to endure the sight of my rapidly emptying HP, I hastily activated both God’s Rage and Blood Fiend. Only then I was barely able to leech enough HP to stay afloat.

"Little wolf, you bastard, we need to withdraw now! Can’t hold on much longer!" My order was somehow ignored, so I hollered at the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf instead.

My pet was a master of agility. With its tail between its legs, it left the combat zone and escaped into the forest behind it immediately.

Bang bang bang!

After killing the skeletal knights behind me with War Crush and Burning Blade Slash, I hurriedly slipped away into the forest as well.

I ran across the rock and leaves like lightning. The knights couldn’t chase me into the forest, and the swordsmen retreated after giving chase for a while. Finally, I was out of combat. This really was a shitty place to grind, especially for a solo player.

That being said, I felt much better after taking a glance at my experience bar. The battle had lasted less than ten minutes, but my experience bar had risen by almost 5%. If I had a priest by my side, this would be a completely different story. I might even be able to get 2 or 3 levels in a single day. Well, there’s no hurry. I will come back and annihilate every last soldier in this camp eventually!

……

I looked back and saw the dog, Dada, crouching inside a bush. Its murky eyes were staring at me.

I extended a hand toward it and gave it a friendly smile. "I won’t hurt you, Dada. Do you want to come with me? I’ll protect you and search for your master together with you…"

"Whine…"

Dada wagged its tail, but it immediately turned frightful when it saw the Cyan Netherworld Sword behind my back. It quickly turned around and escaped into the forest in the blink of an eye.

"Sigh…"

Just what drove such a weak dog to approach the camp and adventurer’s inn it feared again and again? Was a hundred years, a thousand years, even ten thousand years not enough to grind away its love and loyalty for its master?

A moment of silence later, I decided to put this to the back of my mind. It wasn’t like I could do anything about it right now. Speaking of which, I hadn’t picked up the loot from the undead soldiers I killed. I should pick them up and lure some undead soldiers to me while doing so. Maybe I’ll spend the afternoon grinding here slowly.

I took a moment to calculate the statistics. The Level 165 ancient mobs dealt about 2000+ damage to me each time, and my burst damage was about 50k+ damage or so, or 5000+ HP. With pots and Regeneration of the Undead, I should be able to fight 5 Undead Roland Soldiers at a time. That wasn’t too bad all things considered.

I returned to the camp with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. The quest could wait until I cleared out the mobs at this place. When I got close enough, I used Dark Pupils and read the undead knights and undead swordsmen’s stats—

Undead Roland Soldier (Ancient)

Level: 165

Attack: 2550~2980

Defense: 2750

HP: 240000

Skills: Heavy Slash, Dying Strike, War Zeal

Introduction: When the Roland Empire collapsed, these brave soldiers were corrupted by the undead plague and turned into puppets of the undead. These bloodthirsty soldiers are extremely scary because they not only retained their original fighting capabilities, but also gained the zeal of the undead.

……

Oh, no wonder they hurt this badly. If even I had to cry foul with my level of Defense, I couldn’t imagine how another person would do in this place.

The fact that these mobs were so powerful meant that these Undead Roland Soldiers wore very impressive equipment and the massive amount of experience they yielded meant that they were exactly the mobs I needed to kill right now. After all, my goal was to hit Level 150 as soon as possible and become the first mounted warrior of the game. This was the royal road to victory in war!

I tried looking for a choke point, but unfortunately, no such thing existed in this open field. Having no choice, I decided to strain myself more than usual and make up the lack of advantageous ground with pure skill. With my current movement speed and skill, I should be able to aggro 10 to 30 Undead Roland Soldiers and make them run into themselves constantly, reducing the amount of damage I would take. At the same time, I would reduce their numbers rapidly with AoE skills. It shouldn’t be too difficult like this.

My mind made up, I gripped my sword and walked toward the camp. But unlike the beginning where I charged head first into the thick like a headless chicken, I cautiously wandered around the edges and got a tail of 20 or so Roland Undead Soldiers before I realized it. I hurriedly backed away and moved further away from the zone!

Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh...

I tossed three Ice Cyclone Domains across the open field to cover a large area. When the twenty or so Undead Roland Soldiers entered my attack range, I immediately turned around and executed Burning Blade Slash + War Crush!

Bang bang bang...

The sword auras ravaged the undead’s bodies and dealt a ton of damage. It was always pleasing to watch big numbers popping off a mob’s head.

As planned, I didn’t hang around to be beaten up by them. I zigzagged within the Ice Cyclone Domains and let the icicles slow down the Undead Roland Soldiers and toss them into the air. The extra blanket of safety was definitely appreciated.

Just like that—using the 7-second cooldown War Crush as my timer—I turned around and tossed 2 AoE skills at the mobs every 7 seconds. Sometimes, I would even use Thousand Ice Slash + Burning Blade Slash for even bigger damage. The amount of damage the Level 165 high-level mobs could do to me was minimal as I roamed the fringes of the Ice Cyclone Domains like a patient hunter. I never got into direct contact with the mobs, relying purely on my AoE skills to reduce their HP.

"Roar roar roar…"

Eventually, the group of Undead Roland Soldiers collapsed to the ground and died. The battle was over in less than 3 minutes. They dropped a lot of high-quality magic stones and even a couple of equipment drops. Items already dropped very frequently for me thanks to my high Luck, but it was even better when the mob was of a higher level than me.

I walked up to two grayish golden metal armor equipment sitting quietly in a bush and picked them up. It was a pair of wristguards and a helmet—

Roland Wristguard (Purple Gold–grade, Outstanding★★★): 450 Defense, 375 Magic Resist, Strength +125, Stamina +120. Increases user's attack speed by 8%. Outstanding Property: Increases user’s critical hit rate by 3%. Level Requirement: 135. Part of the Roland Equipment Set.

Roland Helmet (Purple Gold, Outstanding★★★): 480 Defense, 395 Magic Resist, Strength +135, Stamina +125. Increases user’s Accuracy by 400. Outstanding Property: Increases user’s max HP by 2000. Level Requirement: 135. Part of the Roland Equipment Set.

……

Oh wow, I wasn’t expecting set equipment to drop from these mobs, much less 3-star Outstanding Purple Gold–grade one. If I could collect a full set and put it up for auction, it would sell for an exorbitant amount of money for sure!

I happily tossed both equipment into my bag before getting back to the grind. There was nothing better than grinding levels and earning money at the same time!

I kept up the routine until 4 pm or so. I was just 3% away from hitting a heart-pounding Level 144 when two system announcements suddenly interrupted me—

Ding~!

System Announcement: Player "Diamond Dust (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Purple Gold Rank Boss, Dark Valley Plunderer, and reached Level 137. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the twenty-ninth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and a Famous General Skill, "Knight General"!

Knight General: Increases Attack and Defense of all mounted players in the party by 25%. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. This Famous General Skill is not unique and can be learned by multiple players.

Ding~!

System Announcement: Player "Nongfu Spring (Vanished God City)" has successfully defeated the Earth Rank Boss, Forest Giant King, and reached Level 137. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the thirtieth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and a Famous General Skill, "Bow General"!

Bow General: Physical ranged attack power increased by 25%, and attack speed increased by 10% for all allies. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. This Famous General Skill is not unique and can be learned by multiple players.

……

Holy shit, it looked like two players had become Famous Generals at almost the same time, and they both learned the poor man’s version of existing Famous General Skills. This meant that there were two players with Knight General in China now. One of them was our Heaven’s Rain, but this new person, Diamond Dust, was a complete enigma to me.

Bow General, the poor man’s version of Beiming Xue’s Bow God, had appeared as well. Although its power was not even half of Beiming Xue’s Bow God, it was still fairly amazing.

I hurriedly opened my friend list and sought out Chaos Moon. Currently, she was designated the diplomat of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls because she was beautiful, eloquent, popular locally, and online for many hours a day.

I said immediately after the call connected, "Chaos Moon, can you recruit these two Famous Generals?"

She replied, "I can give Nongfu Spring a try, but not Diamond Dust…"

Giant disappointment welled inside my heart for a moment. I was hoping to build a super cavalry unit, so of course the more Knight Generals we had the better, but Chaos Moon had shot me down immediately. A while later, I asked, "But why not?"

Chaos Moon burst into a giggle. "Lu Chen, you idiot, Diamond Dust is already a member of our guild. Did you forget that magic knight who acted coquettishly around you already? You bastard, I knew you wouldn’t be able to recall all the women you’ve been together with…"

"Fuck…"