Bab 4: Feather Drop Gem

Editor: Atlas Studios

Lin Jie's gaze froze; the game service just started not long ago, and yet, someone was clearing the map already?

Ironwall Empire had initially been arrogant for a few months when the game launched; they cleared maps, killed many, and were extremely overbearing. There was a saying, "brutal to the meek and meek to the brutal"; there were a lot of players who, after being trampled on, joined the guild for security, thereby expanding the guild and it could seemingly become the number one guild. However, the Ironwall Empire looked tough only on the outside and was weak on the inside. They had easily been taken out by the Kingdom of Glory.

In the distance not far away, there was a conspicuous group of five. The five of them were in the same silver armor, with the team leader appearing to be in his thirties, carrying a shield half the size of a grown man. This person was a team leader of Ironwall Empire, Silver Shield.

The guild had Blacksmiths, Leathersmiths, Potioneers and other jobs for players. Those players would be in charge of providing the guild members with the same set of Blank Equipment at the initial stages. While the equipment was ordinary, their appearances were neat and homogeneous and could be considered a standard package.

If Lin Jie was not mistaken, the armor in Silver Shield's hand was also at the Bronze level!

Because of Stumbling Forest's skinny branches and sparse leaves, Lin Jie was quickly discovered.

Silver Shield was surprised as he sized up Lin Jie who possessed a Bronze Sword. His eyes gleamed with greed as he yelled, "The Ironwall Empire has cleared the map, are you deaf?"

Lin Jie coolly stared at them. Silver Shield's name appeared light red, an indication that he had killed at least three civilians. When a player maliciously attacked others, his name would turn red, and if he were killed at this juncture, there would be additional punishments such as level-down and fold-increase in spawn rate, etc.

While Silver Shield was greedy, Lin Jie was too. The re-selling price of a bronze shield was not low!

Silver Shield lifted his chin slightly, and two soldiers with default swords were ready on command. With their weapons tight in their hands, they rushed forward. When they were born into the game, they had chosen the basic warrior skill [Forward Charge]. This skill allowed them to quickly close up the distance between them and their enemies while stunning the enemies. That was the specialty of a warrior.

"Forward Charge!"

The two soldiers menacingly shouted; their aura was impressive.

Lin Jie was calm and composed, resting almost half his body on the trunk of the tree. When the Warriors were making a beeline for him, he took a small side step; the two warriors were unable to stop mid-track and knocked into the tree branch with a loud bang.

The conclusion of the attack was formed.

—'Player Silver Shield's team started a malicious attack against you, you have 20 minutes of official defense time!'

A player's name would not turn red when he killed the malicious attacker during official defense time!

"Blade Aura!" Lin Jie's sword had already cut across one of the warrior's neck before he even appeared in front of the warrior.

-21!

Lin Jie disregarded the warrior's weak defense and attacked straight at his most vulnerable area. The tremendous damage immediately depleted one-fifth of the warrior's health level.

"Such… such strong damage!" Lin Jie's continuous two sword strikes left the warrior in a state of shock and only half of his health level remaining.

At that moment, the other warrior's attack finally landed on Lin Jie.

-5!

The corner of Lin Jie's mouth curled up. Just how much damage could a warrior with default weapon deliver? Moreover, with the wrist guard protecting him, it was impossible for anyone to kill Lin Jie unless the other party also had Bronze equipment.

At this stage, the warriors had only mastered the skill [Forward Charge]. They were, however, at the complete mercy of Lin Jie in near-body combat.

"Damn it," Silver Shield cursed. He initiated relief, and suddenly appeared in front of his teammates!

'Clang-'

-10! (Blocked)

Lin Jie's attack was blocked by Silver Shield, but the tremor from the immense force caused slight pain for Silver Shield. If Silver Shield did not have something up his sleeves, how else could he have become a team leader in the Ironwall Empire? With both the Bronze shield and the capability to initiate relief, he was indeed quite capable.

Lin Jie struck his sword forward. Silver Shield raised his armor against the tip of the sword. He was taking Lin Jie's attack head-on!

At that crucial moment, with one turn of the sword blade, the sword diagonally struck Silver Shield's shoulder, exploding 16 damage points!

Silver Shield's gaze turned cold, and continued to block the next attack, but was still struck by Lin Jie from a weird angle! Being able to successfully block attacks with the shield was the prerequisite of a shield warrior's strong defense capability. Without his shielding capabilities, Silver Shield was just but a Warrior equipped with Blank Equipment.

Lin Jie's consecutive strikes with his sword had left Silver Shield's health points hanging by a thread!

"Forward Charge!"

A loud yell, and a metal, meat-grinder-like shield warrior rushed over! He sported a flat head, with huge visible pores on his face, and an especially prominent scar at the corner of his lips. With his Bronze Shield and Bronze Armor, he was really quite chunky!

That person was Ironwall Empire's President—The Heavenly Shield!

Lin Jie was taken aback; the skill level of The The Heavenly Shield was much stronger than the two rookie warriors. While The Heavenly Shield was charging forward, he changed his direction rapidly, and Lin Jie couldn't avoid him even if he tried to reposition himself.

"Bang!"

Lin Jie was charged straight on, stunned!

-10!

The Heavenly Shield's shield struck Lin Jie's face, the damage was incredible. He covered Silver Shield with his body and forced Lin Jie back by half a step.

Lin Jie's sword hung down, taking in the sight of Silver Shield who was covered in blood, he sniggered coldly.

The Heavenly Shield's gaze became heavy and ordered, "Protect Silver Shield!"

"You do not have the capability to do so," Lin Jie declared. He struck his sword across the air, and a flash of Blade Aura flew towards Silver Shield! Who would have imagined that a warrior could utilize long range attack? Silver Shield had fallen!

—'You killed the malicious attacker, you gained one point of Guild of Light reputation.'

The Heavenly Shield was triggered, and he held his shield vigorously, charging towards Lin Jie!

Lin Jie harshly bit down his teeth and gulped down his Elevation Potion. His body weight suddenly lightened, and he straightened his sword as the shield hit him!

Under the effects of the Elevation Potion, Lin Jie's body floated. Stepping on the big tree, he used the power of levitation to kick a few strides and ran towards the top of the tree, disappearing in sight.

"Boss, shall we chase after him?"

"For what?" The Heavenly Shield's face froze, and he turned back to look at Silver Shield's corpse, his Bronze Shield already spawning out. Luckily that warrior could not pick it away; otherwise, we would have suffered huge losses!

"Gather, and obtain the treasure box first!"

"Yes… Then about Team Leader Silver Shield…"

"He was too self-conceited, it is good to have been dealt a blow. Scrape off his team leader position, and I want him to be suspended for a bit!"

—————————

Lin Jie hid among the tree leaves, removing his Chanter Longsword and wrist guard into his bag. He had to purchase the Elevation Potion because the gradeless treasure box was located at the top of the big tree! Since he was forced to drink the potion earlier, he could only think of other solutions.

Lin Jie probingly crawled to the end of the tree branch, forcefully jumped ahead and landed stably on the branch of another big tree. He hugged the branch and slid his way towards the tree trunk, making his way forward like that.

As he approached the spawning area of the Gradeless Treasure Chest, the noise level increased.

Lin Jie brushed aside some of the tree leaves and saw that the bottom had been surrounded by The Heavenly Shield's men. They could only stare as they did not have the means to climb the big tree.

Not far away, a well-camouflaged treasure box hid in plain sight among the tree leaves, leaving only a small corner visible. Being able to notice the presence of this treasure box, The Heavenly Shield was quite a talent.

Lin Jie forcefully jumped and landed next to the treasure box, and immediately squatted down while holding his breath.

'Whoosh-'

"What's that sound?" The Heavenly Shield sensitively yelled.

"Maybe it's the wind?" Silver Shield, who was only at level 1 after reviving, laughed obsequiously.

The Heavenly Shield frowned and didn't pursue the topic. He waved his hand and said, "Stack yourselves, go!"

The subordinates followed his orders, leaned against the big tree and started stacking themselves.

On the other hand, Lin Jie squatted next to the Gradeless Treasure Chest and started to open it.

'Box opening: 1%… 3%…'

The sound from below was fast approaching as The Heavenly Shield had begun stepping on his guild members' shoulders to reach the treasure box.

'Kacha-'

The treasure box opened.

—'You have gained a silver coin.'

—'You have gained a Feather Drop Gem (Gold)'

—'You have gained a Skill Book: Wild Charge.'

Lin Jie continued ransacking, ensuring that there were no other items before removing his hand from the box. Half a second later, the treasure box disappeared.

[Feather Drop Gem] (Gold)

Can be used by all jobs.

Requires: Level 0, Accessory

All Attributes +1

Additional effect: Feather Drop skill, you shall have the weight of a feather, allowing you to float momentarily, with a cooldown time of 10 seconds.

Lin Jie's eyebrows jumped wildly. It was actually a Feather Drop equipment! In the game, there were many types of magical equipment. They did not have strong attributes but had various special effects. The Feather Drop equipment, for example, were spawned only before level 10, with the only announced spawning area at level 4 Arosso's Peak Dungeon, and the spawn rate was extremely low.

In his previous life, Feather Drop equipment had fetched extremely high prices. If a new player obtained a Feather Drop equipment before level 10 and sold it, the golden coins he could get was sufficient to get all of the best equipment below level 50.

Unable to believe the Feather Drop Gem could actually be spawned here, plans to clear Arosso's Peak could be canceled. In order to obtain the Heritage Broken Blade, he had to be fully prepared, and Feather Drop equipment was one of the most important and difficult aspects of it.

As for the other Skill Book, it was essential for every skilled warrior.

[Skill Book: Wild Charge]

Casting Resource: Action, costs mana.

Skill Description: You can increase 30% of your movement speed while charging forward rapidly, causing 70% damage to the first target you attack, stunning them for 0.5 seconds. When you forcefully cancel the skill, the cooldown time reduces by 2 seconds.

Job Restriction: Warriors, Bandits, Paladins

Charging-type skills were essential near-combat skills. They provided the warrior, a slow-attack job, with a very good speed-increasing skill, allowing them to achieve better effects when coupled with [Forward Charge].

When Lin Jie attached the Feather Drop Gem to his chest, he could almost feel The Heavenly Shield's breath!

'Wild Charge!'

Lin Jie's speed increased to a whole new level, activating the Feather Drop gem as he rushed out of the tree branches. With his body as light as a feather, he floated far away, to another tree as Feather Drop gem entered cooldown. After the cooldown was done, Lin Jie continued escaping.

At that moment, The Heavenly Shield, who had witnessed the disappearance of the treasure box, was extremely angry and yelled, "Chase him! Kill him at all costs!"

The entourage hunting down Lin Jie was huge, while Lin Jie continued floating up towards his targeted destination.

Within the Stumbling Forest was a lake—The Spirited Lake of the Undead. The key to learning Perfect Potion Mastery was there!

That piece of flat gray lake was within meters as Lin Jie activated the Feather Drop skill, he jumped from the top of the big tree and slid towards the lake.

"Stop!" The Heavenly Shield stared at Lin Jie's disappearing figure and angrily shouted, "Without the potion for breathing underwater, you will drown."

Silver Shield unhappily said, "Then we simply give up chasing?"

"Sea-Conquering, bring men with you and stay guard here!"

The Heavenly Shield mumbled, "The item that allows him to slide is most likely from the treasure box, which means that the treasure box is very high level. All members are to clear the Stumbling Forest until it spawns again!"

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KIRIM HADIAH

Bab 5: The Wandering Dwarf

Editor: Atlas Studios

—'You have entered the opposite shore of the Spirited Lake of the Undead.'

When the Feather Drop skill's effect ended, Lin Jie fell to the ground.

The Spirited Lake of the Undead was a magical lake. When players fell into it, they would be damaged by decomposition for 50 points per second. Any person's first instinct upon getting damaged by this would be to escape as soon as they could!

However, if one could withstand more than 20 ticks of the corrosive damage, they would gain a [Corrosive Immunity] buff, allowing them to become immune for 30 seconds to the damage from the Spirited Lake of the Undead. This 30-second window would be enough to swim across to the other end of the lake. However, with the help of the Feather Drop Gem, Lin Jie had saved a great deal of time.

The opposite shore of the Spirited Lake of the Undead was one of the few places where monsters would not respawn.

The cold and damp ground granted visibility of the dense pile of bones. The dead bodies of humans and various creatures were strewn everywhere like trash.

Lin Jie looked around and found a dying Dwarf on the shore, which looked like a mass grave. His eyes were seemingly peacefully closed. If it had not been for his shivering lips, anyone would have thought he was dead.

That NPC had no name, or rather, his name was simply 'The Wandering Dwarf.' In his previous life, the first player to arrive there was known as the 'Seven Ears,' who was a young hothead. When he had attained level 10, he had been shocked to discover the Spirited Lake of the Undead hidden in the Stumbling Forest. Hence, he had started his heroic but tragic adventure.

The first time he had entered the water, he had died!

The second time he had entered the water, he had died!

When he first triggered the [Undead Immunity] sequence of events, he had only been level 5. After Seven Ears had completed his mission, he had arrogantly pasted the entire process of the mission on the forum and even displayed the reward for completing the mission - the Perfect Potion Mastery.

That had caused countless adventurers who had been hesitating along the lake to feel much regret. Lady luck only dawned upon the prepared—that adage was not for show.

Seven Ears had made a name for himself through the Perfect Potion Mastery, and had been bought over for a high salary by the Kingdom of Glory, eventually becoming known as the 'Potion King'!

Recalling his previous life, the images in Lin Jie's mind gradually became clearer. He had a shocking memory of the in-game data and stats. When Seven Ears had announced the flow of the mission, even though it could no longer be replicated, Lin Jie could still remember it.

To save the Wandering Dwarf, one needed to fork out 10 pieces of fresh meat, which had the same effect as bread but was better-tasting and hence cost as much as one bronze coin per piece. Even Lin Jie could not afford that huge amount of extra cash.

However, the Spirited Lake of the Undead contained many piranhas, whose flesh could serve as a substitute, just weaker.

Lin Jie gathered a few pieces of rotten, maggot-infested flesh on the land filled with dead bodies and carried the flesh towards the Spirited Lake of the Undead. In reality, due to the overly pronounced simulative nature of The New Age, players had to overcome their own psychological issues first. If one were weak, timid and did not dare to face the abominable-looking Undead, one would find it very difficult to survive in the later stages of the game.

Hence, The New Age had become the training ground for females to steel them up.

[Rotten Flesh]: Consumable, reduces 20 health points every second, lasts for 10 seconds.

Lin Jie felt a deathly chill and hurled the Rotten Flesh into the water. The smell of blood and flesh spread throughout the Spirited Lake of the Undead, and the piranhas swimming around in the lake eagerly rushed over. One piranha bit the Rotten Flesh and tore it apart. However, Lin Jie's finger was cut by the tearing as well.

-8!

Blood spread among the lake. Hundreds of piranhas excitedly hovered below the water surface. It seemed like they wished they had legs so that they could rush up to the land and devour Lin Jie!

"Come up kids." Lin Jie had no fear, as he held up a huge piece of Rotten Flesh and threw it in the air. The enticing smell captured the eager looks of the piranhas, as the flesh landed on the land.

The hungry and tortured piranhas could not resist the urge of consuming the Rotten Flesh, as they jumped out of the water to devour the flesh.

-20!

…

Having lost the nourishment of the water, the health points of the piranhas dipped sharply, and they ended up dying.

Lin Jie was glad, as he used his long sword to slice off the piranhas' gills and stored them in his bag.

In reality, the mouth of the piranha was two-thirds of its body, and hence the lips that were full of sharp teeth could not be consumed. The tail was poisonous as well. The only part that could be consumed was the disgusting gills.

Lin Jie replicated the same method and gained 10 sets of piranha gills.

'This thing has a much smaller amount than fresh meat…' Lin Jie looked at the piranha gills which filled merely half of his palm and then glanced at the piranhas waiting eagerly at him to throw them more Rotten Flesh. He let out an evil smile, dug a hole in the ground half a yard deep and threw all the Rotten Flesh!

'Flop… flop…'

Hundreds of piranhas jumped onto the land and madly sank their teeth into the flesh, losing their lives after a few seconds.

—'You have gained piranha gills.'

…

Lin Jie looked at his bag. He had 101 pieces of fish gills which should be enough to feed that dwarf.

Carrying a bag full of his spoils, Lin Jie walked to the Wandering Dwarf.

"Save me… give me food… please…" the Wandering Dwarf's eyes suddenly opened, as he feebly spoke.

—'Do you accept the Wandering Dwarf's request?'

"Yes!" Lin Jie thought about it and retrieved some bread for him.

"Smack!"

The Wandering Dwarf hit the bread away with his palm and shouted, "I don't eat these! Give me something edible!"

-120!

Due to the fact that he had shouted those words, the dwarf's Health Points had been reduced in half.

Ding~

— Mission notice: The Wandering Dwarf seems to be uninterested in the food of the living. The Spirited Lake of the Undead seems to have some food. Gather 100 sets of this food and hand them to the wandering Dwarf. You have five minutes.

Lin Jie was astounded, but he immediately figured it out!

The Potion King Seven Ears had not posted the correct mission flow onto the forum! If players were to repeat this mission once again and foolishly follow the process flow and brought the fresh flesh to the dwarf, they would realize that the dwarf did not consume those sorts of food! During the time that players fought valiantly to get the piranhas, the dwarf would have starved to death.

'Cunning!'

His idea was to make use of false information to prevent a second player from learning the Perfect Potion Mastery skill!

"Here, have it." Lin Jie handed all of the fish gills to the dwarf, who opened his mouth and signaled for Lin Jie to feed him. Lin Jie grabbed the fish gills and threw them into the dwarf's mouth.

"Oh, thank you." The dwarf swallowed 100 fish gills in one go, sat up with difficulty and smiled, "Had it not been for you, I would have starved to death."

'Ding~'

—'You have completed the request of The Wandering Dwarf. You have gained 3000 experience points. You have gained Starting Health Potions × 10. You have gained the Starting Special Health Potion × 1.'

Lin Jie was elated. They were Health Potions!

Starting Health Potions could instantly restore 120 health points. The cooldown of potions were two minutes, items that could save lives. The large amount of experience points allowed Lin Jie's experience bar to spike to the maximum. He was about to level up.

[Starting Health Potion]: Helps you restore 120 Health Points and temporarily increase your maximum Health Points by 60, lasts for 10 minutes.

"As you can see, I am a Potioneer." The dwarf grabbed a piece of Rotten Flesh from the ground and swallowed it in one mouth. "I still have not asked for your name young man. What is your name?"

'Ding~'

—'Do you want to tell the suspicious dwarf your name?'

A few options appeared in front of his eyes:

1. Tell him your name.

2. Reject.

3. Maybe I need some other lines.

"Indeed." Lin Jie's suspicion of Seven Ears not having given the real information was more likely to be true now. NPCs had a high level of intelligence. Below level 10, players had system guidance for answering questions from NPCs. When players were over level 10, all answers would be given solely by the players themselves!

Lin Jie looked at the dwarf chewing on the Rotten Flesh and recalled something, 'When Seven Ears announced the presence of the dwarf, the Dark-Robed Paladins Guild had sent members to this location and immediately after, this dwarf NPC went missing. There was speculation that the Dark-Robed Knights Guild might have completed a particular hidden mission.'

Looking at the ensuing information notice, among the Dark-robed Knights Guild, there was one who had suddenly risen up to power!

'Could this be related to this NPC?'

Lin Jie chose option 3 and said, "A name is nothing but a code in the previous life. Would I look the same after dying? If this is the case, what point is there in asking for a name?"

The dwarf laughed, grabbed a piece of Rotten Flesh and held it in front of Lin Jie, "Good! I'm starting to like you. Since you see so clearly, it would not be that difficult to eat a piece of Rotten Flesh, would it?"

Looking at this piece of Rotten Flesh, Lin Jie almost puked. Even with seven year's worth of in-game experience and mental fortitude, he could not bring himself to face matters of this sort.

At the current stage, players' psychology would never have been so hardy. Anyone would probably have rejected it!

Lin Jie gritted his teeth and smiled, "The nature of all objects is the same. What could be so difficult about eating a piece of Rotten Flesh?"

'Kacha-'

He bit into the Rotten Flesh. To his surprise, Lin Jie found that this meat tasted surprisingly fresh! Turning back to look, he realized that it wasn't a piece of Rotten Flesh he was holding, it was actually a piece of fresh and tender Barbecued Lion Meat! It was a high-class food that only high-level Cooks and Potioneers could work together to produce.

'Ding~'

—'You have consumed Barbecued Lion Meat. Strength +1.'

—'Potioneer Allaso's favorability of you has increased by 100.'

Lin Jie opened his eyes. Allaso, this person was the head of the Liches, Allaso!

What constituted a catastrophe? There was no accurate definition. To a normal person, Undeads were a catastrophe! As a researcher of Undead Magic and Dark Magic, Liches faced the banishing by residents of the mainland and got exiled to a corner in the mainland.

When the Devil catastrophe happened, players and NPCs died in huge numbers. They had to retreat to the Atlas Peak to survive. The group of Lichen ostracized by many however suddenly appeared and acted as the primary defense force, neutralizing the attacks of the devils and paying a huge price for their efforts.

Allaso was the head of the Liches! It was no wonder that The Wandering Dwarf went missing after the mission's announcement. It was no wonder that after the information board was put up, somebody had risen to power. That was it!

"Young man, I need some information. Can you help me?" Allaso asked with a smile.

'Ding~'

—'Do you accept the Potioneer Allaso's request?'

Lin Jie gladly accepted.

"This is the Death Language Potion. Use this to revive the body of the dead, defeat them and bring me their [Wretched Thoughts]." Allaso paused and added, "I will give you a reward you deem sufficient."

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KIRIM HADIAH