Shura's Wrath Chapter 87: Cloud Trotting Horse

Man, this chapter makes no sense to me. What has to be going through your head to decide to go solo a LV80-100 or above super nightmare impossible difficulty level dungeon at LV11 where dying or failure to complete the quest completely screws you over.
Should I accept this quest?
Ling Chen was not surprised at all about Azure Dragon’s mayor giving him a relatively difficult quest. Because any quest with either of the attributes “Hidden” or “Unique” are all exceptionally hard, and quests with the “Hidden Unique” attribute are even more difficult. But what Ling Chen didn’t expect is the penalty suffered if this quest fails… Fame directly dropping to 0, mayor’s favourabilty greatly decreases, unable to receive any quests in Azure Dragon City…
The fuck, is there a quest penalty more brutal than this!! This is practically even scarier than level dropping by 3! If he really fails this quest, this failure penalty will cause him to struggle greatly in Azure Dragon City. This quest penalty also seems to have just a bit of a soul… If he doesn’t accept the quest then that’s that, nothing will happen. But once he accepts it Azure Dragon’s mayor will attach the hope of saving his son to him. If he succeeds he will naturally be thanked profusely, but if he fails… and then the mayor’s son dies, then all of his resentment will be directly focused on Ling Chen. Who cares whether or not he’s War God’s successor, his favorability will directly drop to the level of disgust. Once news of this spreads there won’t be an NPC in Azure Dragon City willing give him a quest…
Moreover, this quest’s difficulty has been directly determined by the system as “Impossible to complete”, and it is accompanied by such a terrifying failure penalty. Do I really accept it? Hidden unique quests are indeed accompanied by generous rewards, but the difficulty is also extremely high, at the same time there will also be the brutal death penalty. The levels of Azure Dragon City’s city guard’s at the very least have to be LV80 and above, even people of this level of strength directly vanished after going to Silent Soul Ridge, he’s just a player that just reached LV11… Anybody would think that this is simply suicide, and suicide isn’t the end, a big pile of scary penalties will be smashed downwards closely afterwards.
But…on the flip side, doesn’t the scarier the difficulty and penalty of a quest mean that after completion, one will be able to obtain increasingly greater rewards?
“Okay, I accept! Within one month I will bring back Black Flame Grass.”
Ling Chen lifted his head, focusing his eyes and giving Azure Dragon’s mayor his response. After responding the worry and hesitation in his heart instantly vanished without trace. The reason that an extremely little number of people can be different from the vast majority of people is because they dare to do things that most people don’t have the courage and resolution to do. In this world there has never been anything that is “absolutely impossible”, just like War God’s trial that he passed before, isn’t that also an impossible to pass trial in their mouths? But the result is that he chose it and passed.
“Good!” Azure Dragon’s mayor joyfully nodded his head: “Truly the person that can pass War God’s trial, just this resolution of not being afraid of hardships and death is enough to impress people. Even though your strength right now is very low, I can feel an inexplicable sense of trust from you. The journey towards Silent Soul Ridge is long, going towards there it’s best if you go to the mount shop and pick a mount, oh right…” Azure Dragon’s mayor took out magic pen and paper and rapidly wrote down a few lines of words. He then sealed it in an envelope: “Take this and then hand it to the mount shop’s store owner. He will gift you the mount shop’s best mount for free.”
“Even though I am anxious and uneasy in my heart, I still suggest that you first increase your strength before going to Silent Soul Ridge. You have inherited War God’s strength so your levelling speed should be very fast. The higher your strength the better your chances. When you’re prepared to go towards Silent Soul Ridge, leave from the east and continue heading east, when you can’t find the path you can ask the citizens along the way. Any random person will know where the path is towards Silent Soul Ridge. After all that is a forbidden area that everybody knows. Young man, I can no longer bear to let countless city guards go die, all of my hope is placed on you, I await your triumphant return…”
I am a dividing line…
“I’ve accepted a really troublesome quest.” Holding onto [Azure Dragon’s mayor’s Letter of Introduction] and walking out of the mayor’s residence, Ling Chen said so in a low voice. This is undoubtedly the hardest quest he has ever seen along with the most brutal quest penalty. Forgotten Continent’s countless masters don’t even dare to set foot there, a forbidden area where whoever goes there dies. I’m just a tiny player, can I really complete this quest? He was worried… But in reality, the depths of his heart was jumping with excitement. He was born as the kind of person where the harder something is, the more he wants to challenge it.
“Since I’ve accepted it then I will prepare properly.”
Heading towards the item he used the big pile of gold coins dropped by the Zephyr Bird to max out his yellow potions and dark blue potions. After thinking for a moment he then bought some luxury items… The green potion that can instantly recover 800 HP, lastly he got a copy of Azure Dragon City’s map and then walked out of the item shop.
On the Azure Dragon City map he locked onto the location of the mount shop and then headed straight there.
The mount shop is not big, there is only a shriveled, old little man watching the shop. Maybe due to there being no business the little old man is sitting there listless, hearing someone come in he also only moved his eyelids, too lazy to even open his eyes.
Ling Chen swept the surroundings with his eyes and did not see any mounts or anything related, but on the wall behind the little old man there hangs the codes and prices of all kinds of mounts.
[Bay Horse]: Grade 1 mount, after mounting movement speed+20, no extra abilities, cannot be upgraded. Price: 200 gold.
[Big Horse]: Grade 1 mount, after mounting movement speed+30, no extra abilities, cannot be upgraded. Price: 500 gold.
[Thousand Mile Horse]: Grade 1 mount, after mounting movement speed+40, no extra abilities, cannot be upgraded. Price: 2000 gold.
[Akhal-Teke Horse]: Grade 1 mount, after mounting movement speed+50, no extra abilities, cannot be upgraded. Price: 5000 gold.
[Cloud Trotting Horse]: Grade 1 mount, after mounting movement speed+60, no extra abilities, cannot be upgraded. Price: 20000 gold.
The mount shop only sells a total of 5 kinds of horses. Following the increase of the added movement speed the prices also rise at a staggering pace. That last mount the Cloud Trotting Horse that adds 60 movement speed is actually sold at 20000 gold! At the current moment where currency exchange has yet to open, this is an astronomical price that nobody can pay. Although these prices also visually display the importance of movement speed in the game world. Regardless of which profession, movement speed is always an extremely important attribute, nobody has ever doubted this. Due to this, no matter what equipment it is as long as it adds movement speed then it is the best of the best.
“Boss, get a horse.” Ling Chen took a few steps forward, taking out Azure Dragon’s mayor’s letter of introduction.
Hearing Ling Chen’s voice the little old man selling horses finally opened his eyes by a slit. Seeing the letter in Ling Chen’s hands his eyes finally opened fully. He took an extra glance at Ling Chen and then carefully took over the letter. After opening it he quickly looked through it twice and then sat up straight, saying seriously: “Since it’s Mr. Mayor’s will, then, I’ll temporarily lend you a horse.” Finishing speaking he waved his hand, a beam of white light landed on Ling Chen’s body.
“Ding… You have obtained mount ‘Cloud Trotting Horse’, now exists in your mount space.”
Holy shit! Cloud Trotting Horse! The Cloud Trotting Horse that is a whole 20000 gold coins!!
Faced with such an expensive gift Ling Chen also couldn’t help but be excited for a moment. But his excitement only lasted for two seconds and was then immediately dowse by a notification sound,
“Ding… The Cloud Trotting Horse that you have obtained is temporarily lent to you by the mount shop. If you complete the ‘Looking for Black Flame Grass’ quest then you will not need to return it. If you do not complete the ‘Looking for Black Flame Grass’ quest then you must return the Cloud Trotting Horse after one month. If the Cloud Trotting Horse cannot be returned due to death or other such reasons then the money you possess will be gradually deducted until 20 thousand gold has been deducted.”
Ling Chen: “God freaking! @#￥%…”
It’s actually just borrowed!!
Can you not be so cheap!
Ling Chen grinned and did not say anything more, directly leaving the mount shop. Looking at the time he held up the communication device and connected to Ling Shui Ruo who was far away at novice village number 49554.
“Ruo Ruo, where are you right now?”
“Beating up little monsters and doing quests. Oh right brother, two high level big sisters said they want to help me level up. These two big sisters both look very gentle and even helped me chase away a number of guys that wanted to approach me. Should I agree?”
If a man wanted to get close to Ling Shui Ruo Ling Chen would definitely not agree. Ling Shui Ruo herself would also oppose because she knows her own charms, but females… Two high level females, why would they voluntarily get close to a young girl that has just entered the game? Could it be…
“What are their names?” Ling Chen asked.
“Names, um… One is called Yao Yin, one is called Qian Mo.”
Yao Yin and Qian Mo… So that’s how it is. Ling Chen’s expression eased up. He said with a light smile: “They definitely think that you’re very cute which is why they want to voluntarily bring you along. Then just agree to them. With them carrying you levelling up will definitely be a lot quicker.”
“Ok! Then I’ll agree now.”
With those two people around the worry that Ling Chen has for Shui Ruo eased up a lot. After ending the call Ling Chen summoned the Cloud Trotting Horse. Getting on the horse with a jump his movement speed instantly increased greatly, he headed straight towards the eastern gate of Azure Dragon City. One month can be a long or short period of time. As Azure Dragon’s mayor said, before going to Silent Soul Ridge the most important thing is increasing his level. At the very least he has to level up to the point where he can equip the Zephyr Blade. After equipping the Zephyr Blade his strength will greatly rise up again.
Current SP: 2180.
Killing the three Lord bosses and a Zephyr Bird in War God’s Trial Ground Ling Chen obtained a huge amount of SP. This SP is enough for him to upgrade the battle soul profession’s basic skills by a good number of levels. He opened his skill page and after pondering for a decent amount of time he chose to place 1600 of the SP into [Item Manipulation Technique].
“Ding… Your skill Item Manipulation Technique has successfully upgraded to LV3.”
[Item Manipulation Technique]: Current Level: LV3, Highest Level: LV10. Sp to Upgrade to LV4: 2400. Ancient battle technique, after practice equipment that surpasses your current level can be equipped. Effect: Ignores any piece of equipment’s level requirement by 3 levels.
Item Manipulation Technique upgraded to LV3, like this he only has to wait for his level to increase one more time and he will be able to equip LV15 equipment — Including the Zephyr Sword.
Ling Chen put the remaining 580 SP into Four Corners Star Formation. A beam of light flashed by and Four Corners Star Formation Upgraded to LV3.
[Four Corners Star Formation]: Current Level: LV3, Highest Level: LV10, SP required to upgrade to LV4: 800. Using the power of the battle soul to sweep the surroundings, instantly forming a formation of destruction in a 10 meter radius around yourself. The raging battle soul power will deal devastating damage towards all targets within the formation. Damage is equal to 400% of regular damage, Critical Hit Rate+10%, 100% chance to trigger knock back, MP Consumption: 100, Cooldown Time: 60 secs.
The power and critical hit ability of the upgraded Four Corners Star Formation once again increased, and his SP also only remained the last 80 points. Finishing allocating his SP Ling Chen increased his speed, heading straight towards the east gate.