Chapter 59 – The Crafty City Lord

“Fatty, what should we do?” Liu Lan looked at Fatty anxiously.

“Take a look at the geezer,” Fatty indicated the guild masters to look at the viscount.

“What about him?” the guild masters were rather annoyed after hearing that they did everything for nothing. When they heard Fatty’s words, they immediately looked towards the old man, but didn’t notice anything wrong.

“Look at his name,” Fatty gave them a hint.

“Viscount Linkin. I don’t see anything wrong with it?” Liu Lan asked with confusion thick in her voice.

“Red! It’s red! It was white just earlier, and now it’s red!” Fierce Dragon TheTalent said quietly.

“What do you mean red?” Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord asked in confusion.

East Gate BlowingWind immediately understood. “His name is red, that means we can attack him!”

Can attack? The other guild masters’ eyes lit up at his words.

“Rally your people and hurry!” Fierce Dragon TheTalent called out softly, then immediately took out his communicator. The other guild masters also did the same and gave similar orders.

“Warriors, why have you lot not left yet? Is there something else?” Linkin looked at the players.

“Oh, my lord, although the mine has been reclaimed, a very important problem has not been dealt with,” Fatty spoke slowly.

“Very important matter has not been dealt with? What is it?” Linkin looked at Fatty in confusion.

“Do you even know why the bat swarm took over this place? It’s because there is a crack in space, which opens up to the Demon Realm, allowing them to absorb the powers of the Demon Realm. That’s why, although the bat swarm has been chased away, they will return,” Fatty’s words were not a complete lie. There was a crack leading to the Demon Realm, but the bat swarms might not actually return.

“What? What should I do!?” Linkin yelled frantically. “I just reclaimed the mine, am I going to be shamed again? No, I will not permit it. Damn it, what should I do? If I lose the mine again, then that damn Lin Xi will not return the mine to me when its reclaimed once again.”

As Linkin muttered to himself, 500 people from each of the five major guilds hurried over, forming a 2500 player strong army.

“Huh? So many people now? What are you lot trying to do?” Linkin suddenly noticed something amiss. When he looked up, he saw him and his 200 subordinates get surrounded by a large group of players just like a little lamb surrounded by a wolf pack.

“Hah, what do you think we want?” Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord spat on the ground. “F*cking hell, we worked so hard to finish the mission, then you f*cking came out of nowhere to take our rewards. Tsk, do you really think we can be pushed around like this?”

“I am a viscount that the kingdom officially recognizes. You dare to do something to me!?” Linkin yelled. Yet, when he saw the looks of disdain on the players’ faces, he immediately shrunk his neck. “Uhm… heroes. Let’s take it easy. Take it easy…”

“Who wants to take it easy? Guys, let’s start. We’ve got trouble to take care of outside,” Fierce Dragon TheTalent said quietly. Nearly half of Black Tortoise City’s guilds were waiting eagerly on the flank. They will enter the moment Drucker leads the NPC army away, and that meant another fierce fight for the five guilds.

“Attack,” the guild masters gave their orders determinedly.

2500 players attacking together was a real scene to behold. Although most of the attacks did not land on Linkin and his private army, the small portion that did hit them instantly engulfed them.

“Ahhh, you dare to attack a viscount of the kingdom!? His Majesty will not let you off!” Linkin let out a final wail as his life ended.

Although there were no drops from killing all the NPCs, the guild masters cared not for that, as their people waiting outside said that Black Tortoise City’s army has left, so the various guilds are preparing to enter the cave.

“Let’s go. It’ll depend on you guys to see whether you can actually keep your turf,” Fierce Dragon TheTalent said plainly, then led the Fierce Dragon Gang away.

As the guilds all left to claim and defend their territories, only Fatty was left with the equally bored God Familia and TheFugitive.

“Brother Grubber, what are you doing to do now?” HeadofGod asked the bored Fatty with a smile.

Although HeadofGod was a rogue, he did look rather good. If there was any ‘flaw’ about him, then it would be that he looked thirty something.

“Just going to turn in the mission. Ahhh, I’m so bored,” Fatty stretched. This mission better give me something good for doing it. Not only did I have to spend so many days on it, I caused everyone to drop one level too.

“What are you guys going to do?” Fatty asked the God Familia when he saw them checking the state of their equipment.

“Hehe, we’re going to settle some personal grudges,” HeadofGod smiled evilly. Fatty instantly understood. They’re probably going to fight the Ice Rose Alliance again. I wonder what sort of grudge do they actually have with the Ice Rose Alliance? Not only did they kill Ice Witch and Rosethorn twice, they ended up dying twice too.

“Then, see you,” Fatty nodded, then disappeared into stealth.

…

When he arrived at where the old skeleton was, Fatty could tell that the old skeleton was very excited. In fact, even though the old skeleton didn’t have a heart anymore, Fatty was still kind of worried that the old skeleton would suddenly have a heart attack and die on him.

“Thank you so much, young traveler. Thank you so so much,” the old skeleton seemed a lot brighter as he looked at the torchlight in the surrounding areas. “Black Tortoise City’s equipment need can be satisfied now that the mine has been reclaimed. We no longer have to be afraid of a war.”

Fatty took out the 1000 miner badges. The old skeleton immediately trembled, and caressed them as if he was crying. “My poor companions. You can finally rest in peace.”

After a long while, the old skeleton finally calmed down. “Young traveler, thank you for your aid. Who knows when the mine could be reclaimed without your aid. And without you, my poor companions would still be unable to rest. Please accept these, they are rewards that you should get.”

Ding.

System Notification: Congratulations. You have completed the mission “Reclaim the Mine”. +500000 EXP. +1000 Reputation. Mining Mastery Level +1.

Ding.

System Notification: Congratulations. You have reached Level 23.

Ding.

System Notification: Congratulations. You have completed the mission “Eliminate the Zombie Miners”. +150000 EXP, +300 Reputation. You have received “Miner’s Whip”.

Fatty was truly please when he saw the three system notifications. Ignoring all the other rewards, his Mining skill rank being increased by 1 was already enough for him to spend so much time on the mission. Although there are some players who focused on their secondary profession do have an advance rank in Mining, but there was definitely nobody with as high a level as Fatty with such a high mastery level in Mining.

Fatty nearly laughed his butt off when he saw the only item reward he got.

Miner’s Whip

Bronze

Whip

Level Requirement: 30

Attack: 1

Passive: Whipped players will gain +1 rank in Mining for 3 hours. Cooldown: 600 seconds.

It was another item that increased Mining mastery level by 1. All skills grew harder and harder to rank up as the game goes on. If a player finds a good mining spot that they could mine freely, then it would take less than a day for them to rank up their Mining skill from Novice to Intermediate. However, it would take around a week for Intermediate to Advance. If Fatty estimated it correctly, it would take around six months to level it to Master, while it was impossible to rank it up from the Master rank to Grandmaster rank in a timely manner.

When the mastery level of Mining increased, not only did the necessary experience to rank up increased, there will be higher requirements for the required ores. For the novice rank, a simple piece of common metal ore could give 1 point of experience, but for the Intermediate rank, a common metal ore can only give 0.5 point of experience at most.

That’s why an item that can help increase skill Mastery Level would definitely be able to sell for a high price in the end game.

Fatty put the whip away with a smug look, then thought about it before deciding to go over to the City Lord’s manor to receive his reward. After all, Lin Xi had promised him a reward in person.

Meanwhile, the whole Bat Cave was already in a huge mess. The five major guilds took over the best mining pits, while the guilds that entered later were able to take over a slightly worse mining pit if they were lucky, while the unlucky ones won’t able to get anything. They all knew that taking over a mining pit would help their guild’s development greatly, so the various guilds called over all their players. And that was why, a huge chaotic battle ensued in the cave.

“Keep fighting. Lord Fatty’s level will only seem super high once you guys all die,” Fatty muttered to himself and returned to town using a Recall Scroll, before he went straight to the City Lord’s manner.

Fortunately, he didn’t need to pay this time because Drucker was already waiting outside for him.

“The City Lord just gave out the notice that Viscount Linkin of the Grande family was killed by the monsters inside the Bat Cave after accidentally entering. It was very fortunate that Money Grubber and other fighters were there, so Viscount Linkin could be avenged,” Drucker said as they walked into the manor.

Fatty shuddered and nearly fell down.

What an amazing City Lord.

“My Lord, allow this civilian to pay his regards,” Fatty immediately said a lot more courteously when he saw Lin Xi again. F*cking hell, this guy is way too crafty. That Linkin geezer didn’t even know how he died. Man, I should be more polite in this situation.

“Welcome, our hero,” Lin Xi nodded. “We feel a deep loss for Viscount Linkin’s death. It was fortunate that you and your friends were there to take revenge for him. Otherwise, Viscount Linkin would definitely be unable to rest in peace.”

I doubt he can rest in peace if he finds out you are responsible for all this. Fatty muttered in his mind. However, he still replied, “It was all thanks to City Lord Lin Xi’s teachings.”

Lin Xi smiled, “Young hero, may I ask you for a favor?”

Here it is. Fatty thought to himself. I knew he would do something with this dirt. He doesn’t look like an idiot at all.

“My Lord, please order me about as you please.”

“You know that there is a crack leading to the Demon Realm within the mine. Although there are no negative influences right now, this peace will not last long. It will bring dangers sooner or later. When that happens, miasma will spew forth. Not only will monsters be demonized, even us humans cannot escape that ill fate. So, please help us to seal the crack,” said Lin Xi.

“I am happy to help,” Fatty stood up straight.