Chapter 91: Crimson Cloak

Translator: alyschu

“Desperate Gambit?”

Both our eyes lit up at the same time. The boss nearly one-shot Gui Guzi just now, and his Desperate Gambit was only at Rank 5. It proved just how powerful the skill was!

Beiming Xue smiled lightly. “Yeah! I was going to sell this and earn some money, but I think I should contribute something now that I’m a member of Bloody Mercenaries.”

I nodded. “You’re right, there’s no reason to benefit others over your own family. How about this, I’ll pay you 200 gold for your skill book using our operational budget. Is that enough for you?”

“Ah? 200 gold? That’s a lot of money...” Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue in reply, but didn’t forget to shoot a Devil Piercing Arrow at the boss.

“Then that’s settled. We’ll discuss who’s the best fit for this Desperate Gambit after the boss is killed.”

“Okay~”

We turned our focus back onto the boss. Gui Guzi was currently low on HP, so it was my and my pet’s turn to act as the tank. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen’s Wasps had poor Defense and lousy base numbers, so they were out of the question. Although both pets were over Level 40, their HP and Defense only amounted to 65% of the Dark Wasp’s. Just from that one could see how important base numbers were for a pet.

Puchi!

I sank my sword into the boss’s neck and pushed harder. The Ghost Ice Soul exploded with the green light of Slayer Slash and sliced right through!

1870!

Hell yeah! Pardon is such an amazing skill!

“Roar...”

Crimson Hell let out his death throes as his body slumped to the ground, his worthless life of carnage coming to an abrupt end. A couple of items and magic stones dropped from his body, so I supposed that his life had been worth something after all.

Beiming Xue stood where she was and waited. Clearly, she was as wise as she was beautiful. Instead of hurrying to pick up the loot, she left the decision to her party leader.

I nodded in my mind and confirmed once again that recruiting Beiming Xue was a wise decision. From this day onward, Bloody Mercenaries were no longer lacking in DPS.

I was the party leader, so I walked up to the loot and held everything in my arms. Then, I turned around and smiled. “I’ll be keeping these 5 Phantasmal Magic Stones so I can sell them later and put the gold in our treasury. Besides that, the boss also dropped three items. Come take a look! If it fits, take it. If it doesn’t, we’ll sell it for more gold.”

“Mn, mn!” Beiming Xue nodded with a smile.

I checked the items I was holding. The first loot were dark-colored leather wristguards with a reddish glow. The second drop was a shiny steel spear, and the third item was a black leather cloak. I waved my hand once and brought up the wristguards’ stat window.

Crimson Wristguards (Dark Steel–grade)

Defense: 40

Agility: +13

Passive: Increases user’s hit rate by 0.7%

Level Requirement: 50

......

It was a fairly impressive stat-boosting item. 13 Agility bonus was useful for both archers and assassins, but the 0.7% hit rate made it way more useful for archers. Archer skills were incredibly stat-reliant in the sense that 35% of their accuracy depended on player skill and accuracy, and 65% depended on the archer’s hit rate. Without good stats, it was impossible to hit anything even if the archer was the incarnation of Li Guang himself, the Arrow God.

Therefore, I passed the Crimson Wristguards to Beiming Xue and said, “You’re an archer, so these wristguards are yours.”

Beiming Xue smiled sweetly. “Thank you, Lu Chen!”

“No problem, you deserve it.”

The next item was a silvery spear. My heart skipped a beat as the possibility that the spear might be Silver-grade entered my mind. I waved my hand, and my expectations were met.

Coral Spear (Silver-grade)

Attack: 70~105

Strength: +14

Stamina: +18

Passive: Increases user’s Attack by 2%

Level Requirement: 50

......

Tsk tsk, 105 Attack? This Silver-grade spear is amazing! It also added 18 Stamina. This weapon was clearly designed with Magic Knight in mind!

Right now Gui Guzi had high survivability but low offensive power because he was lacking a good weapon. Every time he leveled up, he allocated 3 points to Strength and 2 points to Stamina. This meant that he wasn’t actually lacking in either HP or Attack department. If he had a good weapon, he could become a powerful attacker, a defender, or both!

I tossed the spear to Gui Guzi and smiled. “Little Gui, catch!”

Gui Guzi caught the weapon hastily. His face was flushed with excitement. “Thank you, boss!”

“Hah, you’re welcome!”

Beiming Xue also laughed. “Can I address you as boss too, Lu Chen?”

“Do as you wish!”

Finally, it was time to check out the third drop. A quick check revealed that it was a black cloak with amazing stats, meaning that we struck gold in our mini excursion today.

Crimson Cloak (Dark Steel–grade)

Defense 37

Agility +12

Passive: Increases user’s evasion rate by 1%

Level Requirement: 50

......

It was yet another Dark Steel–grade leather cloak that added 12 points of Agility. Just like with the wristguards, it was the perfect stat boost for archers, assassins and other Agility-based classes. Normally, archers and assassins only allocated points into Stamina and Agility. Agility boosted player’s attack power, attack speed and defenses slightly, so it was the best natural stat for archers and assassins.

Clearly, this equipment was also going to Beiming Xue!

I tossed the cloak to the beautiful dark archer and smiled. “Lil Beiming, that’s quite the haul you got today, don’t you say? Two Level 50 Dark Steel–grade items and 25 Agility in total! That has to add at least 20 points to your Attack, am I right?”

Beiming Xue nodded with a smile. “That’s right!”

The cloak appeared behind her immediately when she equipped it. It greatly accentuated her cold beauty to the point where it transcended her race, and she looked like a hunter who lived and breathed the forest with her bow by her side. She was so stunning that Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen forgot to speak for a time.

I couldn’t help but smile at her. “Beiming, are you attending university?”

“Yes, I’m in my first year right now.”

“How will you study if you come to Suzhou?”

“Don’t worry, I deferred my studies about two months ago, so I have an entire year to explore Suzhou. I haven’t been there before, so I’m looking forward to it~”

“Alright then!”

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Now that the loot had been fully distributed, Beiming Xue took out a crimson skill book from her bag and showed it to everyone. She smiled. “This is the skill book for Desperate Gambit. Who wants it? Er, at Rank 1 it increases attack damage by 10% and lowers the target’s Defense by 5%. At Rank 2, it increases attack damage by 20% and lowers the target’s Defense by 10%. It’s very powerful!”

I pondered for a moment before replying, “Both Gui Guzi and I can use this. Should we roll the dice?”

But Gui Guzi shook his head without hesitation. “It’s fine. I’m building my character to have a perfect balance of Defense, HP and Attack, but you are building fully offensive, right? This skill book is clearly a classic offensive-type trump card, and it’ll only be wasted on someone like me. It can only display its full power in the hands of an attacker like you.”

We were too close for pretenses, so I said, “Alright. In the future, any offensive-type skill book we get is mine, and any defensive-type skill book we get is yours.”

“No problem!”

I accepted the skill book from Beiming Xue and gave her 200 gold in return.

Swhoosh!

The skill book vanished from my hands, and a new skill appeared in my skill list. It was as amazing as Beiming Xue said: At Rank 1, the damage boost was 10%, but at Rank 10 the damage boost was a whopping 150%, meaning that it was 1.5 times more powerful than a critical hit! It was much, much stronger than Slayer Slash, so it looked like I would be changing my standard combo to Ice Ray + Slayer Slash for the slow debuff, followed up by Pardon + Desperate Gambit for one-shot in the future.

We left together to turn in our quest. To our surprise, Beiming Xue’s headquarters was also Frost Mound. It was only now that we realized that Beiming Xue was a Night Creature herself. Maybe it was because she was a female player, but her appearance was nothing like the walking abominations that were Gui Guzi and I. Her skin was perfectly flawless.

“Lil Beiming, how did you come by this class?” I asked.

Beiming Xue gave me a naive smile. “Well... almost everyone in my family has a congenital heart disease. On the launch day, I got a bit too excited and fainted right after I created my character. Thankfully, the game equipment detected my condition and sounded the alarm, so I survived after being sent to the hospital...”

It was a terrifying story. “Fuck, please don’t get too excited when you come to Suzhou!”

Beiming Xue smiled. “I might get just a bit excited if you’re a handsome man in real life, boss...”

I looked at Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen. Then, I patted my chest in relief and said, “Well, that’s a relief because there are no studs in Bloody Mercenaries.”

Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen cried rivers of tears while Beiming Xue hid a giggle behind her hand.

A while later, Beiming Xue asked, “Boss, are you planning any more events in the near future?”

“What’s wrong, is your login time erratic?”

“No, I just want to know. I often log into the game after 5 pm.”

“Okay. Everyone should work hard to increase their levels for the next couple of days. Actually, I’m just going to set a goal for you all: I want Gui Guzi to reach Level 55, Du Thirteen to get Level 50, and Beiming Xue, Level 55, in three days. After that, we should find a priest so that Bloody Mercenaries can officially challenge bosses that are Level 60 and above. Our ultimate objective is to score a Hero’s Token in half a month’s time!”

“Oh, okay! Sure!”

Beiming Xue smiled innocently. “I missed being part of a team. I’ll work hard to increase my level as instructed. You all should work hard too!”

“Mn.”

We disbanded the party and went to bed on our own time after the quest was done. I wanted to adjust my sleep schedule and log in during the day.