Chapter 13

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Meanwhile, not knowing everything happening outside, Nie Fan was continuously leveling up his Bloodthirsty Veins skill when he suddenly received a message. It was instructions from Tempest Wings studios that he must assemble at Moxxi before ten tomorrow, and that they would be punishing fringe members who were absent.

Nie Fan was gloomy after reading the message. The first few days when a game began was a critical period for gamers to level up, so what were the admin messing around with, having him travel so far away to Moxxi? Really, whose dumb orders could it be?

Should he go tomorrow?

It was for certain that much time would be wasted if he went, but when he thought about going, he remembered that he had only became a part of Tempest Wings days ago and signed a contract with them, not to mention that the headgear Lin Quan provided him was the reason he could play Blade of Tyranny. Moreover, with the trade platform of the game yet to be established in its first months, the players would have a hard time earning in-game currency.

In other words, Nie Fan would starve to death without the salary from Tempest Wings.

Would he be forced out of the studio if he didn’t obey instructions? It would be even more troublesome if they took back the headgear as per their contract. How would he afford another?

Nie Fan suddenly thought of Lin Xinyan—if he asked her to apply leave in his stead, would Tempest Wings be a little more accommodating? He should talk to her after leaving the game…

Whatever. He’ll keep leveling up Bloodthirsty Vines!

Hence, Nie Fan kept unleashing that skill just as the number of Intermediate Mana Spring Water and Novice Mana Potion continued to decrease. Nonetheless, his proficiency rate of Bloodthirsty Wings was increasing exponentially, and once again, his skill bar shone white soon enough.

[Bloodthirsty Vines: Skill Level 4, summons 1 vine, attack 55, tenacity 13, HP 150, casting time 4.2 seconds, 15 mana cost, cooldown time 14 seconds, hardened wood attribute. Damage -3%]

At Level 4, all attributes of Bloodthirsty Vines such as Attack, Tenacity, and HP had increased by significant margins, with a much shorter cooldown and casting time and even evolving a Novice hardened wood buff. Most players would only reach Level 3 in one or two skills at Level 30, Level 4 at Level 50—meanwhile, Nie Fan had already reached Level 4 by power-leveling Bloodthirsty Vines, which was equal to a Level 10 player wielding a Level 50 weapon.

To players of the same level, that was an assured instakill.

But Nie Fan did not stop, and kept cultivating that skill of his.

Level 4 was not enough; he must reach Level 5!

In fact, he was also improving his Black Oil and Mini Fireball skills as well, with his numerous Intermediate Mana Spring Water and instant recoveries ready to sustain him for another four hours.

That being said, leveling Bloodthirsty Veins up to Level 5 takes 5000 skill proficiency points and would need five hours. Most players would probably reach Level 16 by then, and they could run into Nie Fan if he stayed here.

Nie Fan did not want anyone else stumbling upon his special skill training and proceeding to imitate him.

He would be profiting right up to Level 60 if he could improve Bloodthirsty Veins up to Level 5! With another five hours, his Black Oil and Mini Fireball would also rise to Level 4, and the combo of the two would be quite stunning then as well.

Pair that combo with Bloodthirsty Vines, and his capacity for destruction would be devastating.

***

Xue Yu messaged him again then.

“Nie Fan, both Suyue and I reached Level 10. Where should we go now?” He asked, since their progress was now slowing down.

“Tell Suyue to buy a Flaying Knife from the grocery shop in Tajit Village and learn the Flaying skill,” Nie Fan told him. “Then go back and farm Level 6 Feral Deer: you’ll attack, Suyue will do the Flaying.”

“Farm… a Level 6 beast?” Xue Yu drew a blank for a moment.

“You won’t get much EXP, but one Feral Deerskin is worth three bronze coins,” Nie Fan explained. “It is definitely one way to make a profit in the early game. Get rich, and I’ll take you two to level up when I’m done leveling up my skill. It’ll be much faster than having you guys level up by yourselves.”

“Got it. We’ll go right away.” Xue Yu replied. He could basically cut down Feral Deer with one swing of his sword at his current level, and with Suyue focusing on flaying as well as Nie Fan’s tip that one skin was worth 3 bronze coins, he would definitely earn money efficiently.

Moreover, most players would be busy leveling up right now, and they would not be farming Feral Deer since those beasts yield low EXP—not even one-third of the EXP gained from other beasts of the same level. That was why not many of them would farm Feral Deers at the moment, meaning that Xue Yu did not have to worry about other players trying to steal their kills. When they finally realized the creature’s worth later on, there would be crowds of players forming parties to farm them.

When that happens, they could not even dream of getting one!

“I’ll keep training my skill; I’ll contact you later.” Nie Fan said.

He would soon reach his ten-hour playing limit, but he still had 36 hours of free time for the month that he could allocate as he like. After all, most players would never log out on day one of a new game—time was of the essence!

Meanwhile, Xue Yu and Lin Suyue returned to Tajit Village. After taking some time to manage their inventory, they bought a Flaying Knife as Nie Fan instructed and had Suyue learn Flaying, before heading south towards the spawn point of the deer herd.

They arrived a dozen minutes later. Xue Yu gasped then—every other spawn point was plagued with crowds but this place was empty. Not even players would come to farm Feral Deer at Level 7, whereas other players who are now above Level 10 had naturally gone off to high-level maps since there was no EXP to be gained here. As such, the deer were spawning here herd after herd, spreading all over the place, so much so that Level 6 players would have been drowned instantly before they could farm them.

Xue Yu dashed ahead, brandishing his sword and killing one Feral Deer per swing. Soon, a pile of them dropped to the ground, although the others began to encircle and attacked him. Nonetheless, one [Miss] sign after another popped up over Xue Yu’s head, with the occasional [-1] mandatory damage.

While Xue Yu held the full attention of the herd, Lin Suyue dropped to a crouch and collected Deerskin from the corpses. Flaying each took her around five seconds, and she did not move more than two steps to reach another corpse and collect another. At this rate, she could at least collect more than 500 in an hour, meaning that they could earn fifteen hundred bronze coins at minimum!

“Nie Fan is so awesome. It’s like he calculated everything… how did he know that coming here is so profitable at Level 10?” Lin Suyue exclaimed excitedly. She was a friend of Nie Fan’s since childhood as well—a tomboy from the start, cheerful and open-minded, she had always been on good terms with Nie Fan and Xue Yu. Still, she thought that she did not quite get him at the moment.

“Insider tips from Tempest Wings, of course.” Xue Yu replied as if it was almost natural.

“No way! If Tempest Wings knows, why aren’t they here to farm as well?” Lin Suyue shot back.

“Oh… right.” Xue Yu scratched his head with a goofy smile. “I don’t know, but we shouldn’t ask since there must be a reason Nie Fan wouldn’t tell us. Listen to him and we’ll be alright.”

“Alright.” Lin Suyue didn’t dwell on it as well. Although Nie Fan might be acting like a prodigy at the moment, he was definitely sincere towards them.

***

With everything proceeding as Nie Fan intended, a bright white light flashed in his skill bar five hours later. He lowered his gaze to find that his Bloodthirsty Vines skill was now Level 5 while both Black Oil and Mini Fireball were Level 4, while his bag only had two stacks of Intermediate Mana Spring Water and three bottles of Novice Mana Potion left.

[Bloodthirsty Vines: Skill level 5, summons 1 vine, Attack 75, Tenacity 17, HP 190, casting time 4 seconds, 21 mana cost, cooldown time 13 seconds, hardened wood attribute. Damage -6%]

He could leave now—other players might notice him if he stayed.

With his goal achieved, Nie Fan left the Burning Redwood Nymph and dashed towards a clearing to the eastern side of the Redwood Forest, sprinting rapidly through the woods.

He arrived at his destination and found five Redwood Nymphs wandering back and forth, one of which was larger than the rest and holding a massive wooden hammer.

It was a Redwood Nymph Warrior, an elite monster!

[Redwood Nymph: Level 16, 550 HP]

[Redwood Nymph Warrior: Level 17, 1320 HP]

Hiding in a dense bush, Nie Fan looked towards the western corner of the clearing: beneath a towering Redwood lay a wooden treasure chest—although it was low level, it could drop nice items. Now, Nie Fan was ready to clear away the Redwood Nymphs, open the treasure chest and return to Tajit Village… or it would be depressing if someone passed by and unlocked the chest. After all, players might reach this place after their levels increased.

He looked at his skill bar then. He could now test the power of Level 5 Bloodthirsty Vines now!

Picking an angle, Nie Fan started to chant his spell.

Nature Force began to surge wildly.

The Redwood Nymphs noticed Nie Fan when he was chanting his spell then. With a sharp squawk, they began to approach him. Even so, they would never reach him in four seconds since they moved so slowly!

Bloodthirsty Vines!

One of the Redwood Nymphs was striding ahead when a red vine suddenly shot out from the ground and rapidly coiled around him, rendering it immobile. Then, with a thud, the vine slapped it, and a [-95] damage value appeared over the creature’s head.

Level 5 Bloodthirsty Vines had 75 Attack, almost reaching a hundred with Nie Fan’s Spirit buff!

The Redwood Nymph swung its wooden hand to attack the wine. One [-17] damage value appeared over the vine, but it was so tough at Level 5 that not even the Level 16 Redwood Nymph could break it after ten attacks.

On the other hand.

[-98], [-157] …

Nie Fan’s vines had managed to strike a critical hit, promptly splintering the Redwood Nymph into pieces of wood strewn all over the ground.

He, at Level 10 had actually destroyed a Level 16 Redwood Nymph! There would be no telling what others would think if they could see him right now!

But even as his EXP shot up to 63%, Nie Fan quickly retreated when he saw the Redwood Nymph Warrior and three other normal Redwood Nymphs come towards him. He also cast Black Oil at the Redwood Nymph Warrior, which takes only three seconds at Level 4 and slowed the Redwood Nymph Warrior considerably. Almost immediately afterwards, a Mini Fireball shot out, and a scorching blaze that reaches the skies ignited with a boom.

[-60], [-65], [-69] …

The Redwood Nymph Warrior screamed miserably in the fire which also blurred its vision, while the creature itself lost all control over its own movements. Beside it, the other three Redwood Nymphs had quickly dodged aside to avoid being touched by the flames as well.

Glancing at his skill bar to find that the cooldown period for Bloodthirsty Vines was over, Nie Fan killed another Redwood Nymph with that skill.

His vicious destruction continued afterwards, and just a minute later, there were three Redwood Nymph corpses on the ground.

Such terrific damage—high-level skills are so frightening!

Even Nie Fan was stunned by the sheer power.

Still, high-level spells did have a rather high mana cost. Taking a long at his MP, Nie Fan saw that three castings had consumed almost half of his MP.