Zhan Long

Chapter 720 Good Walks, Evil Leaps

Our 5-man group rampaged through the Blood Demon Forest and sent the brainless Blood Demons scurrying all over the place. My Dragon Reservoir Sword and Brilliant Flame Emperor had cut down numerous Blood Demons which were basically unbeatable existences here. It was only after we’d obtained the 9th piece of equipment did we collect a whole set. With a full set already completed, I got word from Li Mu and the others. A troop of around 7000 [Zhan Long] members were approaching, and will be entering the map in 100-man parties for maximum efficiency and safety.

With people like Li Mu and Wang Jian handling things, we shouldn’t be needed over there. I lead my group of young maidens deeper into the forest instead. Just as Wan Er suggested, to not make full use of my 506 points of Charm is simply a waste. The number of Blood Demons is limited and there’s no knowing if they’ll respawn again. So the more I kill, the more sets that [Zhan Long] will likely obtain.

Once I posted the full set properties in the guild chat, everyone became tongue-tied——

Li Mu: “Holy Crap! What the hell is this!? Where’d you get such a fine set?”

Wang Jian: “Those stats…just brutal……”

Yue Yao Yan: “……”

Me: “Hehe. It’s a specialty product of this map. You guys send word down to the others. Any and all pieces of this [Black Flame Set] that drops cannot be claimed by any individuals. The guild will buy out every piece for 2000RMB each. Anyone that violates this order will be expelled on the spot!”

“2000RMB per piece!?” Li Mu faltered, “…Xiao Yao……you know… I don’t know if I should say this…… [Note: Roughly $300 USD at the time of writing.]

“Shoot.” I answered him.

Li Mu continued “I’ve always thought of you as my own brother. But no matter if it’s Dragon City or National Beauty everything is a result of your sweat and blood; no one can deny that. The thing is…… you’ve been dumping all the profits from both of them right back into the game instead of taking any for yourself all this time. Have you not thought about preparing a dowry for when you marry Wan Er later on? I mean, we understand. You’re putting all your thoughts into the wellbeings of our comrades and the guild but there’s no need to take it so far! You should put some more considerations towards your own future. I’m saying all this from the standpoint of a brother so I hope you won’t mind the frankness.”

I paused for a second, then a heartfelt smile surfaced from my chest, “Nothing to it. No matter if it’s [Zhan Long] or Dragon City that is becoming stronger, those are my rewards. Speaking of which…aren’t dowries prepared by the bride’s side? Why should I worry about that……”

Wolf snorted in glee, “Godd*mn. Xiao Yao-ge* is planning to marry into money? Sis-in-law you hear that?! He’s planning to marry into your money! Does your dad know?”

Note: This is an affectionate term for older male peers, often looked up to. Similar to Onii-chan

Qing Qian cracked up too, “So mean! That’s just making Cang Tong-jiejie* marry for free……”

Note: This is an affectionate term for older female peers, often looked up to. Similar to Onee-chan

Wan Er, who was beside me, was already blushing to the very tip of her ears, “Wh…when did I say I’m gonna marry him…… Hmph!”

Old K sniggered, “Oh… it’s not Guildmaster? Then are you gonna marry me or Fox?

Wan Er went pale, “…I’ll marry him……”

Everyone else immediately broke out in roaring laughter; even I couldn’t resist sneaking in a chuckle or two. Her already red face became a shade darker from shame as she gave me an evil eye.

“Jerk. Only good for embarrassing me. Hmph!”

I did not say anything else and simply carried on killing while carrying a grin on my face.

……

The Blood Demons were worth a surprisingly abundant amount of EXP and had great drop rates to boot. That made the grinding even a pleasure of sorts. Our group has abandoned any notions of sleep. By 4a.m., Wan Er, Dong Cheng’s and my inventories were filled to the max with Black Flame Set pieces. Between just the three of us, we should already have at least 50 completed sets. The estimated value of these sets shouldn’t be low at all; at least 100 grand for each one. If you think about it, we’re actually getting a pretty sizable income from the game like this.

Near 5 a.m., we ran into another group from [Zhan Long]. Wang Jian, on top of a Steel Blade mount, rode at the front and upon seeing us, delightedly laughs.

“What a coincidence! Xiao Yao, you guys are here too!”

“Wang Jian, have you collected a complete set yet?”

“Ah yea, we have. About 10 sets so far……”

“Couldn’t bring yourself to abandon your Rage skill equipments, eh?”

I gave him a knowing smirk.

He sheepishly laughed a bit, “Yea, I got 3 pieces of gear that carry a Rage skill. Crowd Control, offensive and defensive abilities. Really can’t bear to part with them. Also, my leg guards are Celestial-tier; they’re even harder for me to give up.”

“Take off your current gear and put on a set. Just let us see what your stats will be like?

“Sure!”

Since Wang Jian already had a complete set on him, with a “Kacha”, his entire outfit changed in an instant. A pure black armor that releases energy ripples that resembles black flames certainly looks imposingly impressive. With a wave of his arm, he calls out his stat window for us to view, chuckling, “I’m a full strength build. Weapon and accessories has been unequipped. This is the pure stat boost from the set!”

【General Wang Jian】（Platinum Swordsman）

Level: 122

Attack: 3971-4240

Defense: 9221

HP: 37860

MP: 7720

Charm: 197

CBN Battle Ranking: 20

……

Seeing that he can achieve this kind of stats with just the armor, I contently smiled, “If you add on the stats from your weapon and accessories, your base attack should definitely near 10,000 with defense probably around 9500. When mounted, your HP should break 40,000 for sure with MP around 8000. That should be enough for you to spam skills now.”

Wang Jian nods and equipped everything else, “It’s just as Xiao Yao-ge said. My HP is around 47,000 now; even higher than with my real equipment. Just a pity there’s no Rage skills whatsoever. But this [Black Flame Ward] ability is quite neat. Reducing all damage by 30%… it’s simply perfect for the charging cavalry classes.”

I agreed with him, “Do a headcount of how many Moon Elves there are within our [Steel Blade Cavalry]!”

He paused, then cautiously asks, “Xiao Yao-ge, are you planning on hooking up with all our Moon Elf players? I mean… all you gotta do is send them a whisper…… I don’t think there’s even a couple Moon Elf girls within our guild that hasn’t thought about getting intimate with you……’

I began choking and coughing out of thin air, “Fuck! What the hell are you even thinking, you little punk!? I’m talking about forming a [Moon Elf Regiment] within our [Steel Blade Cavalry]! To be the blade that cuts into enemy mage formations when we’re at war!”

Wang Jian slaps his thigh, “Ooooh, so that’s what you mean…… Woops, I thought… Hehe……”

Wan Er scoffed at me from the side, “Hmph!”

I returned a helpless smile, then continued to give Wang Jian new arrangements. When a piece of the set drops, there’s no need to decide ownership on the spot. All of them are to be stored directly into the guild bank and I’ll be deciding who will be their eventual owners. [Zhan Long] has never requested anything from its members in exchange for the spoils of war. It’s all up to their contributions to the guild and personal abilities. Guilds like [Vanguard] and [Heroes Tomb] actually required their members to exchange a set amount of gold + contribution points for their set equipments and mounts.

What’s laughable is a guild like [Wrath of Heroes] that actually requires its members to directly inject gold into the guild bank for the right to obtain a set and only the one who gave the most would get it in the end. This sort of reward system was just preposterous and absolutely worthy of everyone’s ridicule. The world isn’t stupid and its people aren’t blind. It’s painfully obvious just which guilds are worth their loyalty and dedication and which aren’t.

……

Before we knew it, it was already almost noon. However, there still seemed to be a substantial amount of Blood Demons in the forest. We already had Wolf send people over to help us clean out our inventory several times now. Roughly guessing, by the time we finish clearing this map, we should have at least a full 1000 Black Flame Sets. This figure is kind of frightening but at the same time, it serves as an even greater incentive for us to carry on with this.

What worried me though was that with each piece was priced at 2000RMB, meaning our expenses would go over 10 million RMB. Between Dragon City and National Beauty, our total wealth on hand was only around 10 million. Was this even a good thing anymore?

Luckily, under Li Mu and Wang Jian’s encouragement, many of the players that might potentially receive a set agreed to forgo their share of the money. That saved me a ton. With this, expenditure will only be around 7 million. It’s still painful though. But if I think about it, once [Zhan Long] really does form a group of 1000 Steel Blade Cavalry geared in the Black Flame Set, I have complete confidence that just this group of 1000 can sweep away the Greedywolf Brigade that’s 10x their numbers.

The [Greedwolf Brigade] only has so much offensive power. It might not even be enough to break the combined defense of the Steel Blade Cavalry + [Black Flame set]. If pitted against a sufficient number of Black Flame Steel Blade Cavalry, they probably won’t be able to do anything other than get cut down.

……

On the other hand, Fox oversaw the continuous task of taming Steel Blade mounts while Yue Yao Yan supervised the farming of Frost Swords; there’s word that we already have more than 2000 swords. Just like this, [Zhan Long] was secretly operating on three fronts with a complete monopoly of the Steel Blade Mountain, Broken Blade Gorge and Blood Demon Forest. In a sense, our cavalry’s place on the throne as Tian Ling City’s No.1 cavalry regiment should be immovable. I truly believe that, no matter what Enchanting Art, Lu Chunyang or Q-sword do or how hard they work, our Steel Blade Cavalry will definitely be the strongest within Tian Ling City.

After killing the nth Blood Demon, I opened up the mission window. The individual kill count listed on top and I’m leading in first by a long shot——

1. Xiao Yao Zi Zai　Kills: 2774

2. Cang Yue　Kills: 1239

3. General Li Mu　Kills: 772

4. Cang Tong　Kills: 711

5. Lika a Flame　Kills: 544

……

Our 5-man group is moving independently so the high kill counts are understandable. As for Li Mu, his dps ability is getting better and better so it isn’t surprising. Xing Lie, however, gave me a scare. This kid has just joined the guild not long ago and he’s already showing great promise. A kill count of 544… it’s not something that can be achieved simply just by gunning for the last hit. This kid’s long range dps is definitely terrifying. If it comes to single target focus firing, his damage potential might even be above Dancing Forest and Thousand Suns. That’s the No.1 expert marksman of Hangzhou’s Protector Squad for you.

With my high kill count, I suppose I should be getting a pretty good reward once we finished the mission. This map is pretty wide though; it might even be a match for the Gale Forest that serve as a natural barrier for Tian Ling City. [Zhan Long] ended up delegating around 10,000 members over here to grind all night and about 20% of the map still has Blood Demons leftover. Looks like we might still get quite a few more sets.

We couldn’t stay much longer though. It was approaching noon fast. We needed to quickly log out and have lunch before the testing started; only two more exams before winter vacation officially begins!

…Hmmmm… the term ‘winter vacation’ seems pretty foreign to me…… Oh right, the last time I had a winter vacation was when I was thirteen and in middle school! Because of that female classmate bullying incident, I threw a brick that hit the self-proclaimed class bully Long Dongqiang in the head and turned him stupid so I withdrew from school. Then lying to Auntie, I left the city and end up joining the Peaceful Life Sect of the Zixia Caves in Hunan. It was all so long ago now that I think about it. No wonder people say life is like a song with all the highs and lows; the upbeats and downbeats.

……

Afternoon.

The exams went as smoothly as before. The testing site had, in fact, implemented signal jamming devices. No phone could receive a signal at all. But the glasses produced by the TianXin Group were simply just OP. The shortwave frequency basically masked the transmission of the glasses’ signals. As they say, it’s difficult to be a good person but simple to become corrupt. And so, I’ve managed to safely cheat my way through the exams this time, spared from the torture of repeating a year.