Chapter 22

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“What is it?” Nie Fan asked in the party chat, an imperceptible smile on his lips.

He was the one who brought Xue Yu and Nie Fan there after all—of course he would know what item it was.

“Sacred Lunar Shield. How’s that for a skill?” Xue Yu asked hopefully.

“Sacred Lunar Shield? You’re lucky—that being said, it’s not quite the same as normal shields since normal shields protect the caster from every direction, whereas the Sacred Lunar Shield only deflects attacks coming from the front. Still, its defense is much stronger than other skills, and it would be quite strong if used well.” Nie Fan said, informing them with data that couldn’t be found anywhere else.

“Really?” Xue Yu looked almost reluctant to part with the skill tome after that.

“Hurry up and learn it then,” Nie Fan could not help but laugh.

“But… well, I’ll do that, then.” Xue Yu thought that it was nothing impolite with Nie Fan since they were bros, and he himself would never hold back if Nie Fan needed help.

With a move of his right hand, the Sacred Lunar Shield turned into a streak of white light.

Xue Yu glanced at his skill bar and said, “Nie Fan, use your Mini Fireball on me. Let me try this skill.”

Nie Fan forced an attack, launching a Mini Fireball at Xue Yu.

“Sacred Lunar Shield!” Xue Yu cried, and a white half-moon barrier appeared in front of himself, keeping him behind from the ball of flame.

The Mini Fireball struck the shield, spraying sparks everywhere and exploding with a bang, while a [-5] damage value popped up above Xue Yu’s head.

1

A Mini Fireball would have caused over fifty points of damage on Xue Yu under normal circumstances. Moreover, with the Sacred Lunar Shield buffing him, Xue Yu’s magical defense and physical defense had also increased considerably.

Still, it lasted five seconds before diminishing entirely.

“By the way, the level of this skill wouldn’t increase by usage,” Nie Fan added, “you need help from the Skill Trainer back in Tajit Village to strengthen it by two levels after you reached level twenty, although that costs over a thousand bronze coins.”

It was quite expensive a fee for a leveling up a single skill.

“Okay.” Xue Yu nodded, but he remained quite satisfied with his new skill.

“You even know that?” Lin Suyue asked in surprise then.

Nie Fan smiled but said nothing. He was thinking much further than either of them.

At Level 17, their leveling progressed much slower than before. Nie Fan estimated that they would need at least two hours to level up once, even if that was much quicker than other players.

Nonetheless, there were quite a few monsters in the Blazing Goblins’ settlement. Nie Fan was playing quite carefully too, since it would prove troublesome if they were encircled by the Blazing Goblins—as for Xue Yu and Lin Suyue, their task remained the same: collecting the item drops from the Blazing Goblins and occasionally searching nearby huts.

As Xue Yu combed around one particular goblin corpse, he drew out a cone bottle of yellow liquid. It was sealed with a wooden cork, although the yellow liquid within kept churning and bubbling, looking very unstable.

Nie Fan lifted a brow and looked excited when he saw what was in his hand. “Keep it, it’s a Potion of Inferno—you throw it.”

“Throw it? Got it, there are six bottles in this batch.” Xue Yue replied, knowing from Nie Fan’s look that it was a good item.

The Potion of Inferno only drops from the Blazing Goblins, and there would be more as they kept farming monsters nearby.

Time flies as they monotonously farmed monsters in the area. Two hours later, a crisp notification rang for Nie Fan to indicate that he had reached Level 18, while both Xue Yu and Lin Suyue had reached Level 17 as well.

They had also ventured deep into the Blazing Goblins’ settlement in those two hours, and Nie Fan could only ensure his current position with his present coordinates.

“Nie Fan, Xue Yu—look there!” Lin Suyue exclaimed rather excitedly.

She was pointing at a nearby clearing between several straw huts where six Blazing Goblins were pacing around. At the heart of that clearing was a wooden box that appeared quite thick, its pale-yellow bulk carved with various patterns.

It was a Level 25 Copper-grade treasure chest!

Nie Fan was slightly surprised—the map his father left him did not mark the location of that treasure chest, but it made sense when he thought about it since treasure chests could appear at random in certain locations.

“Five of those Blazing Goblins are normal, but one of them looks like an Elite. This could be difficult…” Xue Yu’s excitement from finding the treasure chest cooled after scouting out the area from the outside, since finding it means nothing if they could not obtain it. “Blazing Goblins move fast, not to mention that one of them is Elite—someone is going to die if one of us tried to lure them, and it’s even less possible for a direct fight.”

‘It seems that we can only give up,’ Xue Yu thought dejectedly.

“It would be nice if we could separate them,” Lin Suyue said simply just then, although she was also aware that was extremely difficult.

Separate them? Nie Fan muttered and suddenly thought of a strategy. After studying the outer edge, he turned to glance at Lin Suyue and asked, “Suyue, did you learn Taunt Dispel?”

“I did.” How could she not? It was the most basic skill for Clerics!

“Good. Xue Yu, have you learned Protect?” Nie Fan then turned to Xue Yu.

Xue Yu, however, made a pained smile and shook his head. He had only learned two offensive skills at the start, his third being the Sacred Lunar Shield.

Nie Fan stayed silent for a while. That means only Taunt Dispel was available without Protect, but that was enough after he thought about it—for Clerics, Taunt Dispel was a self-preservation technique that would remove the focus of monsters from themselves, avoiding from becoming targets especially in encounters with monsters of superior levels.

“Do you have a plan?” Lin Suyue asked. Nie Fan must have something in mind or he wouldn’t have asked those questions.

“It would be perfect with a Holy Knight’s Protect skill. There is no guaranteed chance of success with only Taunt Dispel, but we could try,” Nie Fan said.

In the end, a Level 25 Copper-grade treasure chest was worth the risk.

“What should we do?” Lin Suyue asked interestedly—did Nie Fan put together a plan even under such circumstances? How would he get rid of five Normal and one Elite monster flocking together?

One Elite alone would be very difficult already.

Nonetheless, Nie Fan told them about the plan in mind.

“Looks like the only way is to try,” Xue Yu said.

They could not come up with a better plan anyway.

***

Lin Suyue slowly approached the Blazing Goblins. She was feeling nervous, but her mental composure was not bad compared to other players—she was not helplessly flustered at least.

The nearest Blazing Goblin was fifteen yards away.

Thirteen.

Eleven.

Still, Lin Suyue did not catch the blazing goblins’ attention and kept wandering all around.

She took another step ahead.

That was when one of the Blazing Goblins suddenly turned its head, glaring its large round eyes at her.

Lin Suyue felt her heart tighten and stopped advancing, leaving girl and monster in a suffocating standoff.

After a moment, that Blazing Goblin suddenly roared and dashed towards her.

She turned and ran without a pause.

As the one Blazing Goblin stayed hot on her heels, the others hesitating for a moment before giving chase too.

Still, Lin Suyue did not deliberately attack them. Since the Taunt she was drawing was not high, those Blazing Goblins were not quite determined in their pursuit of her, and were also spread towards the rear.

Nie Fan stood behind one of the straw huts. His eyes were fixed on one of the Blazing Goblins, but he did not attack—the others would swarm him if he attacked it and destroy him first.

That was when two of those Blazing Goblins noticed him. They glanced at Lin Suyue who was now quite far away, and then at Nie Fan, before turning to dash towards Nie Fan.

Having drawn two of them to him, Nie Fan quickly dashed towards the opposite direction, waving his hand to cast Black Oil on one of those Blazing Goblins.

Meanwhile, after drawing three Normal and one Elite Blazing Goblin to herself, Lin Suyue had run quite far—she quickly used a Taunt-Dispel skill on herself just as the distance between them shortened to five yards. After all, she would never escape if those Blazing Goblins got any closer.

The monsters paused and looked blankly around themselves, each of them eventually giving up and turning back.

Nie Fan himself had lured the two remaining Blazing Goblins some distance away as well.