Chapter 77: Shadow Dancer

Translator: alyschu

Even at night, the city was bright. The enchanting sky above made for a beautiful blanket for an equally striking city.

This was what I saw on the bus.

I turned and asked Lin Yixin behind me, "Why don't you drive?"

Lin Yixin said, "I’m saving on gas, it’s too expensive. I told you I was very poor. You don't believe me. If I wasn’t poor, I wouldn't have come to be a model.”

I made a sound of acknowledgement and said, "Come to the front, I have an empty seat next to me...”

"No!" Lin Yixin snorted and looked warily at me. "I didn’t eat dinner tonight or else I would’ve beaten you up. So embarrassing. How many times did you go to the washroom in half an hour?"

I smiled awkwardly. "Alcohol just flies through the stomach...”

"Hmph!"

Soon, a young child, six years old or so, sat next to Lin Yixin. The child looked up at Lin Yixin and said, "Older sister, you are so beautiful!"

Lin Yixin was extremely happy. "Thank you, little friend!"

I turned and said, "Little friend, do you think that this older brother is handsome and a good match for this sister?"

The little friend said innocently, "Uncle, you are not handsome at all...”

Lin Yixin burst into laughter. I could not suppress my anger. I lamented the present, reminiscing about the glorious past. "I had once been called ‘proud friend of all hooligans, two iron fists that beat up the old, weak, and sickly’!"

At this moment, we stopped at the traffic light. Beside the road, a golden retriever was humping a small white-haired dog happily right next to the Golden Eagle Mall.

The little friend asked, "Older sister, what are those two dogs doing?"

Lin Yixin flushed, thought about it, and said, "They are fighting!"

I glared at her speechlessly.

"What are you looking at, do you want to fight?" Lin Yixin demanded loudly.

I did not say a word, and just looked at her. Lin Yixin's face grew redder. She gritted her teeth as though she was thinking of a reason to kill me.

......

When I returned to the workshop, it was already 9 pm. Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were already sleeping in their rooms. My head cleared on the trip with Lin Yixin, so I logged in instead. I will first use the night to reach Level 45 to wear my Silver-grade war boots!

Whoosh!

Even during the night, Floating Ice City was still prosperous and busy, many small stalls filling up the streets. I left the inn and strolled through the roads paved with white stone. The plaza by the eastern gate was a very busy business area with heaps of people selling materials and equipment. There were also some second-promotion tamers selling their pets as well.

The game had been developing for nearly half a month now, so pets were no longer items for nobility. In fact, Wasps with BN between 15 and 20 sold for about 5 gold. With just a little bit of savings, ordinary players could buy pets to aid them. Of course, even more players decided to buy Sealing Cards and try to capture the pets themselves. Sunshine Forest where Green Praying Mantises spawned, as well as Venomous Wasp Forest and its Wasps became filled with swathes of people and teams hunting the Level 1 mobs.

After repairing my equipment, I bought potions. I took the Level 45 silver boots out of the warehouse and placed them in my bag. I had to reach Level 45 equipment with the next quest!

It was time to depart. My goal was the Violet Forest behind Frost Mound. The map was solid red. Typically, that meant the monsters there were of very high level. I was strong now, and I also had my Dark Wasp that was even stronger. Grinding there shouldn’t be that big of a problem.

I opened the world map, and sprinted with the Dark Wasp. My crimson red name rippled over my head. My cloak flapped in the wind. As I moved past with my sword, the ground cracked. There was no doubt that I was devastatingly handsome in the game.

I passed Frost Mound and talked a bit with Trainer Suren. I did not have any new skills to learn. There were few skills that could be learned from the trainers to begin with. As players increased in level, they had to get the higher-level skill drops from monsters or bosses. Therefore, one’s strength couldn’t be associated with just level anymore. Players had to have strong skills too. For example, Lin Yixin. While she was only Level 46, she possessed the super skill Killer Wind Swordplay. This skill alone would let her reach Level 100 without a care.

Not a long time later, I stepped into Violet Forest. The surrounding scenery became exceptionally dark and lifeless.

Shasha...

The withered fallen leaves moved, and a rotten scent came with the ghostly wails in the wind. Everything seemed to tell me that this place was extremely dangerous.

I frowned and continued forward. I didn’t make it far until a black shadow pounced at me It was an undead knight. However, its level seemed relatively low and its bone spear had been broken. It wore a crude, damaged leather armor that didn’t help much with its defenses. Sitting on a white bony horse covered in rusty armor, its blood-red glistening eyes glared at me!

Undead knight. While it may be low tier mobs on this map, it was still very hard for me to defeat at my current level. I had to be careful. Otherwise, I would be easily defeated.

Violet Undead Knight

Level: 49

Attack: 240~320

Defense: 200

HP: 4200

......

I was already Level 44 so I could read the monster's status window. This undead knight's stats were slightly higher than mine in both Attack and Defense. It had more than four times my HP. If I met it head-on, I could only fight it to a standstill with my skill advantage. Even if I did manage to kill it, I wouldn’t have much HP left.

I mentally ordered the Dark Wasp to attack while I took a detour and attacked from the side!

Whoosh!

The Weeping Fire Blade cut at the side of the Violet Undead Knight, causing a large MISS. Then I rapidly swung again, my blade covered in green light rather than red this time. A Rank 4 Slayer Slash came down!

1465!

Yes, not bad. However, my damage had decreased greatly. My attack power clearly could not keep up with my level. While the Weeping Fire Blade was sharp, it only had so much attack power. I had to quickly reach Level 50 and change it to my Gold-grade sword—Ghost Ice Soul. Then I would be able to kill this undead knight in two blows!

After receiving high damage, the Violet Undead Knight roared furiously. He turned and suddenly stabbed, his spear covered in thick flames. This was clearly the most basic of Magic Knight’s skills, Flame Thrust!

Puchi!

My chest felt a pain at being struck. The light of the Ghost Deity Armor flashed around me and hummed. A large damage number flew above my head—287!

I was stunned to see this. Despite the protection of the Ghost Deity Armor I still lost so much HP. The attack power of this Level 49 undead monster wasn’t a joke!

The Dark Wasp took the opportunity and stung twice. I slashed with a basic attack of my own. As soon as my attack landed, I retreated out of range so that the next attack would be targeted at my Dark Wasp. I had already ascertained that Violet Undead Knight would have 2.5-second delay between its attacks. Since my delay was lower than half a second now, I could take it down without receiving any damage. As for the Dark Wasp, it served me as an offensive meatshield. Who coded this Dark Wasp to have such high HP?

Crack!

My sword brushed past the chest armor of the undead knight, and caused 314 points of damage. This Level 49 undead knight finally fell down off the horse with a scream. It was dead!

Pop!

A Big Magic Stone dropped. I quickly put it away, and reached out with my palm. Death Plunder. I didn't even get a hair. The next thing to do was naturally absorb the undead spark. Taking advantage of this opportunity to kill undead monsters, I had to quickly grow, and reach the realm of Asura. Until then, my undead face couldn’t be considered handsome.

My experience bar grew by a lot. The experience from challenging a high-level monster alone was indeed abundant.

I took my sword and walked deeper into the Violet Forest, more Violent Undead Knights entering my view soon after. All of them were Level 49 or 50.

I lured a single Level 50 monster and killed it, albeit with some difficulty. I lost half of my HP, and the Dark Wasp only had 30% HP left. I decided to only hunt Level 49 knights instead. After I reached Level 45 and equipped Stormy War Boots, my Defense would increase and I would hunt Level 50 ones easier.

All of this was possible thanks to my skill and mechanics in fighting, as well as skillful dodging right at the attack intervals of monsters. A reasonable estimate for my dodge rate would be about 75%. If this was an ordinary player using a “direct” method to kill these monsters, they would probably return to town after a few knights. I, making full use of my high Defense and high HP regeneration of the Dark Wasp, could grind there for a long time, and wouldn’t leave until my stock of health potions run out.

After killing a dozen undead knights, my experience had increased by 15%. It was so pleasant. With this leveling speed, I probably could reach Level 45 in two hours. After I put on the Stormy War Boots, I could challenge Level 50 monsters on my own.

As I fought, I entered deep into the Violet Forest. After killing two more Level 49 Violet Undead Knights and absorbed their undead sparks I suddenly heard sobs of a young female in the bushes.

Immediately, my heart jumped. I felt suspicious. This Violet Forest is filled with high-level undead monsters. Could human NPCs survive here?

Even if they did, they would definitely be undead monsters. This caused me to think of the naga in the Hundred Grass Garden. A beauty that hid behind the walls and called you was not really a beauty. You only saw her beautiful face, and not her lower snake half.

However, I was a dead man. I wouldn't worry so much. Could someone kill me again?

Thus, sword at the ready and Dark Wasp by my side, I strode into the forest bushes. I pushed the branches away and saw the wails’ source. The sight stunned me.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

On the ground, under the starry sky, a young girl in leather armor lay on the grass under the trees. Her skin was white, and her hair long and red. It was a succubus. She had the same pointed ears and adorable fangs as Lin Yixin. However, her pupils were not purple but an intimidating red!

Lying by her side was an exquisite longbow, clearly high-level. This was an archer NPC!

Shadow Dancer Xue Wei LV-55 Night Creature General Rank NPC

The row of words above the young girl's head told me her identity.