Chapter 54: Chapter 54 — Attack of the Mercenaries

“Q Sword is already level 36 and ranked first in Fan Shu City. Also he’s already made a custom [Combo] and learned an exclusive skill. Last night outside of Fan Shu City there was a battle and Q Sword single-handedly challenged 9 players that were over level 30 and won. This guy is an idol to everyone…”

Dong Cheng Yue blinked her beautiful eyes, smiled, and said: “I also heard that yesterday’s battle caused a lot of girl players to confess to Q Sword on the forums. …”

Wan Er looked deeply at me and her pretty pupils had a trace of provocation, but she smiled and said: “Mm, yeah I also feel that Q Sword belongs to the group of men that are perfect in every aspect. It’s normal for girls to fall for him…Unlike a certain person who chose the healer class and at the end…Was bullied left and right by Tyrant of Western Chu…”

I rubbed my nose and said angrily: “Miss, don’t mock me…”

“What are you talking about…” Wan Er spread her hands and looked at me innocently: “I’m just saying the truth…Which reminds me, Li Xiao Yao what’s your level right now and what rank are you in Ba Huang City?”

I thought for a bit: “Level 31 at 97% experience and almost level 32. As for the ranking, when I went offline I was around 300, but now I’m guess that it should be around 500…”

“Oh? Your level rises so fast?” Wan Er’s mouth was wide open.

I was speechless: “Not as fast as you, already level 34 and almost level 35…”

“How about you come to Fan Shu City? I’ll introduce you and you can join [Q Sword]’s guild. How about it?”

“Q Sword’s guild?” I frowned. “Isn’t that the one that’s really popular on the forums, [Hero’s Mound]?”

“Yep!” Wan Er nodded. “It’s the second ranked guild in the entire server and [Hero’d Mound] has a bit of history. There are over 80 thousand player registering. Is there any need to hesitate?”

I clenched my fist and said plainly: “Nope, I’ll build up my own guild. I won’t join [Hero’s Mound].”

Cheng Yue looked at me in a daze and after a while said: “Xiao Yao is jealous…”

While my face was red, I said: “Nope. Definitely not. Jealous? What are you talking about? How can I be jealous of this guy? Impossible!”

Wan Er giggled, hummed a song, and didn’t bother me anymore.

Cheng Yue on the other hand said: “Don’t worry about it, but Wan Er and I decided that we’re going to join [Hero’s Mound]. But our hearts will be with you. To be honest, if I ever choose a boyfriend I would prefer people like you Xiao Yao…”

I sipped my tea and said: “Thanks!”

“You’re welcome…”

……

After eating lunch, it was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. We hurried back to school and the two beauties continued to grind their levels which made me feel a bit pressured. I also wanted to quickly level up or else if I fell behind that would be pretty embarrassing. Also, Wan Er and Cheng Yue both wanted to enter the second ranked guild. I should try joining around with some guilds as well. [Prague] was out of the question. Yan Zhao was furious at me. Also, creating my own guild was even more out of the question. I had no funds, no members, and I couldn’t even attract any players.

Whatever, level grinding came first. I would think about guilds when I reached level 40!

Whoosh!

I went online and I appeared in the Desolate Cloud Swamp. Immediately when I came online, I got bitten by a huge crocodile. Damn, the crocodile I killed before noon had already respawned! I summoned Baby Bobo and I sliced towards crocodile with Jade City Sword!

I continued going forward and the crocodiles showed up less and less. In the shallow water plants, a small red dot appeared on the minimap showing that there was a monster there. But…I couldn’t see any monster, so it might be hiding under water.

Splash…

I walked in the water with my Silver Locked Battle boots and held Jade City Sword tightly. I slowly walked forward. When I got closer to the red dot, it suddenly rushed towards me under the water! At the next instant, water splashed and a huge water snake as thick as my shoulder jumped out at me!

Ssss…

The moment it came out of the water, it opened its mouth and bit my arm!

“317!”

I raised my head and looked at it. Then I see that it was a level 39 monster. So that was why it was so vicious. [Desolate Water Snake] LV-39. Indeed the attack was not bad. Let’s see how the defense held up!

Jade City Sword shook and the atmosphere around me swirled as I gathered wind for the sword. I sliced with my level 3 [Wind Blade] and it heavily chopped at the head of the water snake!

“527!”

Hm, the defense wasn’t anything special and its HP should be around 2000 points or so. With one slice of my [Wind Blade], it took away 25% of its health. Bobo also buzzed over there to sting it with his combo. My sword shook and I went in again for another attack. At the same time, the water snake flicked its long tail and it crashed into my face with a bang, OW.

“319!”

I couldn’t take anymore hits. So at the same time I used my level 4 [Combo], I also cast [Heal]!

“+600!”

With that my HP was almost full. Bobo and I combined forces and attacked together. With a few strikes, the water snake’s HP dropped and it fell with a slither. After dying, it floated on the water and tainted the water around it with a faint red tint.

I picked the 12 silver coins in the water plants silently and continued forward. Now that I had experience, when I saw another small red dot on the minimap I stood still. Then I punched into the water and cast [Binding Chains]!

Clang!

Steel chains broke through the water showing the Desolate Water Snake. The snake was completely immobilized by my level 2 [Binding Chains] for 2.2 seconds. Both me and Bobo rushed towards it. This time, killing it was a piece of cake. After finishing the water snake I scanned around. At the edge of the swamp I saw smoke rising and I also saw a person! I would go there and check it out!

……

I left the shallow water and sliced away some thorns. In front of it was a soldier with rotting legs. He was around 35 years old and over his head hovered a line of words——Garrison Leader Guche. On his shoulder there was the emblem of Ba Huang City, which provided the same buff that I got.

Guche was lying there and using leaves to cover both of his legs. Beside him was a campfire. His forehead was full of sweat and he was breathing quite heavily. It seemed like he was going to die soon.

I took my sword and quickly ran over to him. I knelt down next to Guche and asked: “What happened?”

Guche raised his head and looked at me. Then suddenly his pale face became full of color and he said: “Ah! You’re…You’re from Ba Huang City, but you also have the imprint of Dragon City. Ahh…I’m saved!”

I asked: “What happened?”

Guche said: “Under the orders of Captain Frost, I carried gold coins to nearby towns and cities to buy food to bring back to Dragon City. But I didn’t expect to meet bandits on the way and they stole all the gold coins. I then tried to bring the injured soldiers back to Dragon City. But when we were in the Desolate Cloud Swamp, I was attacked by the [Poisonous Water Snakes] in the swamp. Now my lower body is rotting from the poison. So young Scavenger of Dragon City…”

He grabbed my hands and said: “Please kill some [Poisonous Water Snakes] and bring their venom sacs back to me. I need 10 of their sacs in order to cleanse this poison! If you really help me, then I will give you my most precious thing!”

“Ding!”

System Notification: Do you accept the mission 【Sac Gathering】? (Mission Difficulty: A)

……

I quickly accepted it and said: “Don’t worry, I will find 10 bladders as soon as possible!”

“Thank you young warrior!”

I left Guche and returned to the Desolate Cloud Swamp. After receiving the mission, the water snakes had mission marks on top of their heads. These [Poisonous Water Snakes] would start dropping venom sacs, but I didn’t know the probability of it.

After killing around 10 of them, finally with a splash the snake dropped the mission item. In the water plants I found my first bladder. Okay I only needed 9 more. Then I could finish this mission.

After a good hour or so, I collected 8 more bladders. I was near the end of this mission and I was getting excited. Guche was a leader of a garrison. If I saved his life, he said he would give me his most precious item,…

As I was getting full of myself, I suddenly heard leaves rustling. In the forest, a few players appeared. Their movements were fast and in the front was a player with heavy armor and he was high leveled. He also was someone familiar——

General Li Mu - Swordsman

……

Huh, the General Family eh, what were they doing here? Behind Li Mu, General Wang Jian, Lian Po, and Ba Qi also came. They were all level 30+ high ranked players and their equipment were very high quality. 2 swordsman, 1 berserker, and one archer. Were they doing some huge quest or something?

“We found Xiao Yao Zi Zai. He’s actually here in the Desolate Cloud Swamp!”

Li Mu’s eyes suddenly went crazy and he pulled out his sword from his back and laughed: “Everyone prepare! Kill Xiao Yao Zi Zai once and we get 1000 gold coins. Kill him twice and we will have enough funds to create our guild!”

Bai Qi raised his battleaxe and laughed: “The boss and me will flank him. Wang Jian go straight and Lian Po will fire from afar! Haha! With our entire General family dispatches. This brat stands no chance!”

……

My heart trembled. Damn, these guys were here for the bounty?!

Nope. I was not going to sit here and die. That was not how I did things!

But I couldn’t attack first or else my name would turn grey or even red and I would suffer insane death penalties. So I had to wait and pretend that I was weak. Wait until their names turned gray. Only then could I start attacking.

I held Jade City Sword and didn’t back down. But rather, I charged ahead and yelled: “Li Mu, I have no grudges against the General family, so there’s no need to cling onto me is there?”

Li Mu laughed: “Xiao Yao Zi Zai, although we have no grudges against you, people die for money. If you want to hate someone, go hate Tyrant of Western Chu. Us Generals lack money, so don’t blame us for this…”

I smileD: “If you want the 1000 gold bounty then come!”

My sword trembled and a golden hexagram appeared on it. I suddenly changed my original course and I moved right towards General Bai Qi. He was a berserker with high damage, but his defense was low. So I would take him down first!

……

“Die!”

Bai Qi’s battleaxe started flaming and it fell on my shoulder. A sharp pain came from my left shoulder and my back trembled as well. An arrow had hit my back and two damage indicators popped up——

“341!”

“277!”

……

My HP instantly dropped and without hesitation I cast [Heal] and recovered all my HP back. At the same time I dashed behind Bai Qi. The agility of a berserker was too low so he couldn’t dodge. I would let him have a taste of this level 4 [Combo]!

“387!”

“401!”

“336!”

The grey-named Ba Qi fell down into the water with a cry and died just like that. This was the power of the gold-ranked weapon, Jade City Sword!

……