MMORPG: The Elementalist

Just as he was about to receive the Advancement Quest, Qin Ruo checked the HP and MP Potions in his backpack again and again… they were sufficiently restocked.

After that, he nervously checked the Tier 3 Magic Scrolls one by one. Finally, he took a quick glance at the few bottles of colorful attribute-boosting potions. After that, he finally felt at peace.

Finally, he was ready.

Qin Ruo calmed down a little. He then walked to the front of the Elder of the Aquamancer Guild and activated the Tier 4 Advancement Quest.

The procedures were simple. He only had one simple conversation.

The Elder automatically asked whether or not the player wanted to proceed with the Tier Advancement Quest the moment the player fulfilled the conditions. With a nod, the player would be directly teleported to the map of a solo dungeon. The player who wanted to progress to the next Tier would be required to follow the system notification and complete the quest.

Normally, those tasks and quests were automatically assigned to the players by the system. The content of the quests contained many strange things and instructions.

The serious ones would give you a quest right away and direct you into killing monsters or perhaps some bosses. The strange ones would send some “message with a feather attached as a sign of urgency” to some tribal village, or perhaps to search for some “puppy” that some naughty doll lost in a forest full of monsters, or even picking up some Herb at a specific coordinate.

At the end of it, players would eventually need to use their brain rather than brawn to get through some difficult situations after encountering monsters and challenges. Of course, those were the situations where Qin Ruo learned about advancing into a new Tier.

But after being reminded by Slayer’s Heart and the few ladies, Qin Ruo no longer treated the Advancement Quest as a simple quest that could be completed easily.

The difficulty of the Tier 4 Advancement Quest would be adjusted based on the strength of the player. Since everyone believed that Qin Ruo would most probably end up with an extremely tough Tier Advancement Quest, Qin Ruo did not look at the quest lightly anymore.

No matter what, he must stay highly vigilant as he would need to be extra careful in the Tier Advancement Quest. Or else, many things and many opportunities would be delayed—other than some usual worries, the dungeon on the third floor of the ruins, and also the squad plan that his colleagues from Citadel were currently working on, the most important thing was that Xin Yu’s surgery must not be delayed anymore. He did not know for sure that when the situation of Xin Yu would suddenly change for the worst.

“Young bearer of the trial, remember, with great power comes great responsibility! You… are you ready?”

“Yes!” Qin Ruo nodded, determined.

The Aquamancer Guild Elder who seemed kind and divine, smiled as he reached out toward Qin Ruo. Energy wave began to gather beneath Qin Ruo’s feet. “… May the holy light always bless you… Go, my child!”

The lines of the small hexagonal portal were vanishing. Qin Ruo instantly disappeared from the great hall of the Aquamancer Guild.

***

Qin Ruo subconsciously shut his eyes the moment the teleportation began.

Before Qin Ruo could open his eyes, a strange refreshing feeling began to spread through his body. It stimulated Qin Ruo’s mind like nothing he had felt before. He felt as if he was soaked in an unusually soft and serene atmosphere. He was unbelievably comfortable.

Moaning delightfully, Qin Ruo slowly opened his eyes.

‘Huh?’

After experiencing that for half a day, it looks like he was really soaked in water. No wonder he felt so relaxed… it was like his nerves were calmed by the Water Element—Qin Ruo stood in the middle of a natural blue shallow body of water. The seawater only reached his waist and was moving around him slowly like a lover massaging him. It felt very pleasant and was sort of poetic as well. It did not feel like a dangerous dungeon at all. Instead, it was like a very good tourist attraction.

What was going on? What sort of quest is in the middle of the sea?

Coming back to his senses, Qin Ruo lifted his head curiously. Taking a quick glance around, he saw seven islands nearby. Instantly, he had more questions and doubts —What the actual f*ck is this?

The seven islands were arranged in a circle surrounding Qin Ruo. Each of the islands were approximately five hundred meters apart from each other. Qin Ruo instantly felt his head hurt as he looked around. This did not make any sense at all. If his Advancement Quest really had something to do with these seven islands, he would need to swim for half a day just to go around the area. Even though tomorrow was Saturday and he was prepared to stay up through the night, the game did not have to toy him like that.

Qin Ruo was infuriated as he realized something!

‘F*ck this, I have been here for almost half a day now, why hasn’t the system notification show up yet?’

After he sent Slayer’s Heart a voice message, Qin Ruo received a response from Slayer’s Heart saying that he had hit the jackpot. This sort of quest was a selective Advancement Quest. The difficulty was extremely high. According to Slayer’s Heart, only the commander of Bauhinia League had encountered this so far.

But then again, Scarlet Bauhinia encountered that when he was advancing into Tier 5. He stood on a small, dark peak. Beneath him was an abyss tens of thousands of kilometers deep. There were six cable bridges connected to the small peak he was standing on. Each of the cable bridges led to one destination. The player would only receive a specific Advancement Quest upon arriving at the selected destination.

“Selective Advancement Quest?” Qin Ruo frowned, a little uneasy.

Slayer’s Heart’s voice echoed from the other side of the communication system. “That’s right. According to the different choices you make, the system will give you different quests. You will be completing your quest in the region that you have selected. You must be careful though. I heard from our Clan Leader that the difficulty for this sort of quest is the highest among all others. At the same time, it is also the best opportunity.”

“Best?”

Qin Ruo smiled bitterly to himself, his heart much heavier than before. He no longer felt the gentle and peaceful feeling that comforted him when he first arrived here.

After asking Slayer’s Heart a few more questions without getting more information, Qin Ruo ended the call and observed the seven islands around him from afar.

Taking a closer look, he was able to see some varieties from his observation.

Each of the islands symbolized an element. For instance, the island with a volcano that was spewing smoke was completely red as the Fire Element was active there.

The island on the left, high waves crashed the shore and violent winds whipped the island. Tree leaves flew all over the place. Needless to say, that island was rich with the Wind Element—Qin Ruo doubted that he could even stand firm on his feet on that island.

On the other island more to the left, dark clouds layered as rumbling thunders echoed across the sky. Fierce lightning flashed over the island from time to time. Qin Ruo quickly turned away and looked at the next target—God damn it. If he really went over there, it would be the end of him if he got struck by one of those lightning bolts.

On the fourth island, everything seemed plain and straightforward. The island was bleak. Besides some grotesque, jagged rocks, there was nothing else there—that was the Earth island.

On the fifth island, a snowy mountain peak touched the sky. The gleaming white snow covered the place and it looked like there was a lake of azure color in the middle of it—it appeared very friendly.

Swiftly glancing through the last two islands, one of the islands was covered in bright light as if it was bathed in the light of the god. The other island was the total opposite. It looked gloomy and was dead silent. Dark mist shrouded the entire island, making it completely impossible to see the island.

No doubt, Qin Ruo picked the island that he had the most advantage in—Frostsnow Island.

But before that…

Qin Ruo would never forget to look at the environment here. It was already his habit and also the most basic thing to do, to explore the environment and the situation before the battle. He would never forget to use the environment to his advantage. Even if there was only a little benefit to his ability, he would want to exploit it all.

“Water!” After chanting, a “shoof” sounded and an Aquarampart of two meters tall appeared on the surface of the water. The Aquarampart was flat and still as it floated above the surface of the water in front of Qin Ruo.

Qin Ruo was astonished by the casting speed. After being momentarily stunned, he continued to summon the second and the third Frostramparts. The walls appeared quickly. The speed was just amazing!

‘Woah, f*ck!’

Qin Ruo looked at his own hands then at his own remaining MP. Then he began using Elementalism like he was possessed by a demon.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

Just as Qin Ruo rejoiced loudly, eighteen Aquaramparts suddenly lost their momentum and collapsed into the sea with a loud bang. The Aquaramparts created ten gigantic sprays of seawater around Qin Ruo.

Although he had exhausted his MP and lost the ability to support eighteen Aquaramparts, Qin Ruo was still overly excited. He began to imagine luring all the monsters on the Frostsnow Island to the sea to take them all out, when necessary. That speed was just too sensational and exciting!

After meditating for over two minutes, Qin Ruo’s MP was fully recovered at an incredibly fast speed.

Qin Ruo was excited but did not immediately move his *ss toward the Frostsnow Island. He remained silent for a few seconds. Suddenly, he turned invisible. It did not take long before he was completely camouflaged into his surroundings. The shadow of a human being in the middle of the blue sea vanished as if he had completely disappeared from the dungeon.