Chapter 13: Silver Ring (Silver)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Once again the Cat Demon got stuck on the tree, as its sharp claws shredded the tree bark into pieces!
That scene reappeared once again, yet another accurate strike! The first time Lin Jie performed this feat, people could still think that it was just that he had sharp instincts. After all, having a monster get stuck on the tree required some luck.
But the second time… That was not something that could be explained just by luck!
“Water, stand under that tree and shoot the Cat Demon with the Fire Gun, stop it from scratching away the bark. Focus all your fire on the one that Midnight is on and leave the other one for me!” Lin Jie shouted. He rushed forward towards Netherblue and swung his Broken Blade right onto the advancing claws of the Cat Demon.
“Rebel’s Fight!”
Parry successful! -32!
The appearance of the damage number did not seem to attract anyone’s attention at all. Since they were all focusing their fire on the Cat Demon stuck at the tree fork, how could they even have any extra energy to notice the immense awe of Lin Jie’s damage and skills?
Except for Mighty Wings! His eyes had never left this level 2 newbie warrior – his steady, careful and systematic strategy could actually be effective in this Expert-level dungeon. He didn’t even say a word, and yet he could obtain the approval of others.
This was unacceptable! In such a party, there could only be one Alpha male! Mighty Wings’s eyes became filled with hatred, as waves of thoughts of plots stirred up inside his chest and made his face look especially fearsome.
Lin Jie got whacked right on his chest by a Cat Demon and instantly lost 55 health points! With the sudden loss of half his health, Lin Jie was shocked. His defense capabilities were too weak. He inched closer to a huge tree, and as the Cat Demon pounced towards him, he tilted his body suddenly. With a loud thud, the Cat Demon collided head first onto the tree, and it stood up, dizzy and with a significantly reduced critical hit chance.
Using dodging and positioning, Lin Jie survived 5 minutes, and the first Cat Demon was finally killed. Everyone immediately shifted their aim. Midnight took over Lin Jie’s monster, the cold pride in his eyes vanished. He nodded his head, took away his hatred and produced a flurry of vicious attacks, once again killing the monster.
The last Cat Demon was hung high up on the tree and had even less of a threat. It eventually got killed by Qiu Yuan’s and the Priest’s spell casts.
Lin Jie’s heart beat faster. He sat down heavily and took out some bread to restore his health. On the other hand, Mighty Wings, who had all along been positioned at a safe and stable location to execute his skills, went ahead light-heartedly to collect their dropped rewards. The 3 Cat Demons dropped a total of 1 Skill Book and 1 piece of equipment, it was considered a huge drop!
[Skill Book: Havoc]
Casting Resource: Action, Rage
Skill Description: You spend 10 Rage points and cause an additional 30% damage to your target. Skill Cooldown Time: 30 seconds
Job Restriction: Warrior
[Sharp Claws Greaves] (Bronze)
Requires: Level 3
Defense: 7-10
Strength: +3
Both were the equipment used by Warriors. Mighty Wings was elated and said, “I lack a pair of Bronze Greaves. Practically speaking, let me have this. On the other hand, the Skill Book should be given to our Brother Fu Sheng, but he is not even level 3. Even though… hehe. But what is most important is that the Skill can achieve its intended effect, and so I guess I would accept it. Is everyone with me on this?”
Qiu Yuan rolled her eyes and said, “Everything has been said by you. If we disagree, then wouldn’t we be disrespectful?”
Mighty Wings held on to the equipment and Skill Book and smiled without saying a word. Netherblue had more of a weak and quiet personality and would not say much. As long as Midnight did not interfere…
“Give both the Skill Book and equipment to Fu Sheng,” Netherblue said solemnly, “If it had not been for him, we would not have gotten these things. The 4 pieces of Bronze Equipment that we got previously should be traded according to their market price and then given to Fu Sheng and Midnight.”
Lin Jie smiled faintly and said, “It’s fine, let Brother Mighty Wings have them if he wants.”
Mighty Wings smiled in an embarrassed manner and held on tightly to the equipment and Skill Book. [Havoc] was the level 2 skill of a Warrior and was definitely a decent active ability. He was very adamant about not giving it up to someone else just like that.
Midnight coldly looked at Mighty Wings and sneered, “Practically speaking? These words came out from your mouth really righteously! Since what is the most important about the equipment and skill is to immediately discover their effects, let me have them all then. As a head MT, asking for an active ability is not something overboard, is it?”
Water was highly impressed with Midnight’s skills and nodded continuously, “Not overboard, not overboard.”
“You…” Mighty Wings was about to rage when he realized that the looks towards him by other people changed a great deal. Anyone but him was involved in surviving the onslaught of the battle, how could he even have any rights to make a fuss out of it?
“Since our brother wants it, take it.” Mighty Wings flatteringly smiled.
Midnight emotionlessly took the Skill Book and equipment from his hands and handed them into Lin Jie’s hands.
Lin Jie shrugged his shoulders and put on the greaves and learned the ability. Havoc was indeed a decent ability. As a percentage addition to the damage of active abilities, it was highly sought after.
After arranging his attire, he patted his own ass and laughed, “Let’s all get up and get ready to move on!”
His expression was as if nothing had ever happened. He was indeed a talent at being a phony gentleman!
Netherblue bit her lips and said sternly, “I have decided that for the next battle, Fu Sheng shall be the commander. What do you guys think?”
Mighty Wings, Lao Mo, Banana and the others opened their eyes in shock. The team commander role had always been in the hands of Mighty Wings all along. Suddenly handing it over to an outsider had a very high chance of creating an internal conflict!
On the other hand, Qiu Yuan was elated about it. Lin Jie was the one she invited. Her little egoistic pride got satisfied.
Midnight nodded. “Should have been the case from the start.”
“Since all have agreed, we’ll leave it to Brother Fu Sheng.” Anticipating Mighty Wings to start talking again, Qiu Yuan suddenly interrupted and said it in a stern manner. Her stern look made Lin Jie smile.
“Alright, then I shall accept the commander role.” Lin Jie looked up and thrust his chest out and said, “My battle plan is simple: all monsters shall be dealt with using this type of method, kill them one by one! This process could take an entire day from you. If you can’t endure it, you can back out.”
“Ha, Expert-level dungeon. How can there be such a thing as backing out?”
“If our Netherblue Party can clear the Expert-level dungeon, I wouldn’t mind spending an entire day. Even if I had to spend 3 days and 3 nights, I would do it!”
The atmosphere was great! Lin Jie nodded his head, thankful.
Mighty Wings folded his arms and looked at the tree and asked, “Brother Fu Sheng, why don’t you force all the Cat Demons up the tree? Wouldn’t it be more efficient? Or is it that, you can’t do it?”
Lin Jie looked at him faintly and then looked at the Cat Demon stuck in the tree fork. He then faintly smiled and did not reply, as he turned around and continued his preparations for the next wave of battle.
Everyone followed his line of sight and looked over, realizing that the Cat Demon stuck in the tree fork had almost scratched the tree into pieces and was about to break! If all the Cat Demons were forced up onto the tree, the tree would probably get scratched to shreds, and the entire party would probably get wiped out.
Even Banana looked at Mighty Wings with an ‘are you an idiot?’ look, as he followed Lin Jie’s steps and walked on ahead.
“Darn it!” Mighty Wings’s eyes got cold, as he clenched his fists so tight that it was apparent he was filled with anger that he could not release!
There were 2 MT in the party. Midnight’s skills spoke for themselves. The issue was with Water. His battle skills were too bad that he frequently caused the hate of others to emanate. The only useful thing he could do was to act as a meat bait to lure away the monsters.
Regarding that, Lin Jie had also given him a great deal of advice. Including positioning, vision control and the practical striking areas of a shield strike. He went on in a detailed and an organized manner to prevent him from being the cause of errors while fighting the Boss. Even as Lin Jie intentionally tried to hide his superior skills from his 7-year experience, the teachings reeked of experience and seemed to reveal some sort of prediction of the future. Apart from Water, even Netherblue and Midnight kept nodding and improved their battle skills.
The battle against the enhanced Cat Demons was about to reach the crucial stage. Battle frequency increased, and everyone’s attention was much more focused. Their eyes were like those of an eagle making a death-stare at the prey in front of it.
“1 means strike the head, 2 means strike the tail, then spam all skills on the face!” Water kept repeating the line and ended up, surprisingly, landing a series of beautiful chain strikes. After the Cat Demons ate all the damage, their hatred doubled, they definitely did not produce hatred OT. He happily looked at others and tried to fish for some encouragement and praise. But the teammates who were focused entirely on battling did not notice him at all. Mighty Wings looked at him briefly but coldly looked away.
“Water, nice strikes, you’ve improved a lot!” Lin Jie praised and generously gave a thumb up.
Water’s fleshy face almost melted with gratitude as he said, “Thank you Expert…”
At this moment, the image of Lin Jie in Water’s mind was infinitely enlarged!
Time passed by seconds by seconds. After clearing all the small monsters, a good 12 hours had passed! Everyone entangled in battle were too engaged to even realize that!
When they were about to face the Boss, a ray of golden light rose. Lin Jie finally leveled up to level 3!
Not only that but a crisp sounding item fell and attracted the sight of everyone. On the floor, a bright silver ring shone brightly.
[Silver Ring] (Silver)
Requires: Level 3
Endurance: +3
Additional Effect: Increase maximum health by 60 points
“Oh my gosh!” Qiu Yuan could help but exclaim, “Silver- Silver Ring!”
Jewelry-type equipment had all along been the most unlikely to drop, and it was even a Silver Ring!
Not only that, that ring was even one used by MT. With an augment of 3 in endurance and an additional 60 health points, it was definitely a divine equipment for MT! What was the idea behind having an additional 60 health points in the early game? That meant that you had 30% more health points than other MT!
Midnight’s hands also started trembling as he excitedly said to Netherblue, “I am willing to return 20 bottles of Slow Restoring Mana Potion and even offer 10 silver coins to buy this ring! Not only that, the Triumphant Midnight shall owe you a favor.”
Silver MT Ring had too much of an impact on a party! MT was the key to the party, as long as the MT did not die, the rest would be able to survive, and that meant that they had a chance of clearing the stage. This ring could instantly transform an MT into a thick bull.
Netherblue took a deep breath and looked at Lin Jie with a slightly mystified look. If it had not been for him, how would the party have advanced until this stage? Looking at the current Netherblue party, everyone was handsomely rewarded in this dungeon. They had at least half a body’s worth of Bronze Equipment. And all that was due to this person!
Lin Jie alone had already attained items worth a total of 5 Silver Coins! Although he strongly rejected it, under Netherblue’s and Qiu Yuan’s persuasion, he finally accepted it. The ring’s sudden appearance… it just proved that they had so much to owe him for.
Netherblue looked at the ring and looked at her teammates and said solemnly, “Sorry, I’m not selling.”