MMORPG: The Elementalist

As the system informed him that Poochie had successfully stunned the opponent, Qin Ruo knew that the fight was already over. He immediately activated his Aquamorph once he landed and left the stunned Summoner about ten meters away from Poochie. He quickly turned around and scanned his surrounding environment cautiously—Poochie had trained continuously for one whole night and half a day prior to that. As a result, it had reached Level 31 and its strength was almost on par with that of a Tier 4 warrior, which was more than sufficient to take care of a Summoner stunned for as long as three seconds.

Even though the opponent did initially manage to put Qin Ruo in a life and death situation, his slight carelessness led to an entirely different outcome. He could only blame it on luck for picking a fight with the wrong target.

Due to the unexpected ambush, Qin Ruo remained extremely alert as he was still unsure where he was and what other dangers may lurk in the surrounding area.

Under the cover of his Aquamorph, Qin Ruo quickly confirmed that no other players were around him. He was soon fascinated by the scenery that unfolded before him. His eyes were fixed on a nearby giant tree about ten-meters in width. He was greatly amazed.

‘What… What kind of world is this?’

After a while, Poochie’s voice brought Qin Ruo out of his daze. He sneaked near the item dropped by the Summoner and retrieved the gold boots into his backpack without paying attention. His mind was completely overwhelmed by the environment there.

Haaa!

Qin Ruo let out a deep breath.

That world was crazy. As far as the eye went, there was an exceptionally great amount of giant, ten-meter-wide trees. The sky was completely shaded by its humongous canopy, and the whole forest seemed to have no end with the area underneath it looking like a confined space. Qin Ruo could not help but imagine players actually being shrunk and transported into a different dimension—because, in Qin Ruo’s view, even the relatively shorter trees found in the forest were much larger than a bungalow. Their two-to-three-meters long leaves were especially daunting. The leaves were large enough to be used as blankets…

‘Damn, this is where the gods live?’ (*Cough*, after they die)

Qin Ruo was greatly startled!

He finally understood why so many gods fell into that dimension, and also why the place was known as the Graveyard of the Gods.

Since the vegetation there was so gigantic, the monsters there were most probably…

Qin Ruo laughed bitterly in silence and dared not dwell further on the possibility.

He swiftly pulled Poochie back and once again made sure that no other players were present around him. Shortly after, he turned on his voice chat to contact Slayer’s Heart, intending to ask for their location.

However, as soon as he activated the voice chat, he received bad news.

Voice chat is disallowed in the Graveyard of the Gods. ¹

‘Ehhhh?!’

Qin Ruo was bathing in his own cold sweat.

He proceeded to look for other information, and almost fainted upon finding out that despite the location info showing that he was in the Graveyard of the Gods, it would not display any details on his exact coordinates!

***

“Damn it, motherf*cker!”

Across a barren desert in the Graveyard of the Gods, its sky was “decorated” with more than ten sandstorms, which looked like several giant black dragons had connected the land to the sky. It was in that exact environment where Brother Da wholeheartedly cursed the in-game system (it just reminded him about the unavailability of the voice chat function) with a classic expletive.

Brother Da was not as “lucky” as Qin Ruo for getting ambushed right after he entered the Graveyard. But he was also not unfortunate like the Summoner who had put up a disastrous fight. Nonetheless, the hostile environment still left him speechless and baffled…

No wonder all the gods fell!

In the damned, deserted land, all a person could get was just sand with no sign of water. Plus, there were so many horrifying giant sandstorms. No way in hell could any creature survive in that extreme environment!

‘The system even disallows voice chat? That’s even more depressing. When am I going to see the edge of such a huge “Sahara”?’ Facing the endless land of yellow sand and being exposed under the piercing sunlight, Brother Da could only grieve alone with a heavy heart. ‘Why aren’t I even given the chance to share my current feelings with someone else?’

After he walked out about a hundred meters, Brother Da suddenly straightened his body on full alert. A dimensional rift suddenly appeared not far away in front of him. Like himself, another unfortunate lad was thrown into the desert through it…

“F*ck!”

Both of them cursed simultaneously once they figured out each other’s identity!

The opponent was depressed by the fact that he immediately encountered an enemy from the rival faction once he was thrown in; on the other hand, Brother Da was unhappy because he immediately figured the approacher’s class based on his outfit…

Bandit!

It was the particular class that Brother Da was most unwilling to fight in the Graveyard of the Gods! Brother Da’s chubby face was all tensed up, but he immediately recalled Little Apple and Slayer’s teachings. “Battle always favors the more courageous fighter!” At that instant, Brother Da made the wisest choice of his life.

‘Damn it, if I’m going to lose and die, so be it! At worst, I’ll only lose a piece of equipment!’

Determined, a layer of faint purplish battle aura carrying the sound of thunder and storm rapidly streamed out of Brother Da’s Gold equipment. It was as if he had transformed into a golden chubby bear!

Awooo!

For a brief moment, the energy and impulse that Brother Da displayed made him look like a true champion.

Once the newly-arrived Bandit saw his opponent dashing towards him like a starving predator in full Gold equipment, which glared brightly under the hot sun, he almost lost it. He thought that his opponent was probably a powerful foe. Thus, he decided to flee as quickly and as far away as possible at that moment!

However, the Bandit on Stealth had completely forgotten that he was actually running across a desert…

The sand kicked up by the Bandit’s turbulent footsteps completely exposed his trail. The Bandit’s abrupt escape further exacerbated Brother Da’s fighting spirit. He sped up to close in on his enemy. During such an instance, Brother Da suddenly found that the freaking hot weather was not so torturing after all. Even the depressing endless desert seemed to be a much comfortable place now.

Kill!

***

Great Tree Forest.

Qin Ruo had quickly acclimated to the goddamn environment surrounding him, and all the harsh restrictions present inside the Graveyard.

“I’m fine without the coordinates since everyone will be sharing the same fate.”

Qin Ruo remained optimistic regardless of his current situation. He quickly picked a direction and walked straight on with extreme care. Despite not knowing if the path would lead him in further into the Great Tree Forest or out of it, he did not plan to stay stationary at his arrival spot. He was in the forest to hunt. At least for the moment, he needed to prioritize on removing his red tag before he exhausted his MP Potion supply!

Only then could he fully focus on other missions in the Graveyard of the Gods. It was extremely dangerous to be hunted down by players from both factions at the same time. Besides, he also needed his red tag to be removed so that he could return to the town safely and continue his unfinished preparation.

In the meantime, he was in no mood to completely submerge himself into the exploration of the graveyard!

***

After a half-a-minute walk, Qin Ruo felt like he had stepped into a dangerous prehistoric area!

A number of Iron Lizards at six to seven meters high and more than ten meters long entered Qin Ruo’s field of vision. The lizards were like a horde of moving iron stronghold that stunningly appeared in front of him.

Level unknown!

Attribute unknown!

Qin Ruo warned himself in his mind to get away from those “little creatures”, judging from the ferociousness they demonstrated with their gigantic bodies. He highly doubted that his encounter with the monsters would end happily.

He immediately halted his steps and altered his direction forward as he cursed silently.

Who the hell told me that there are only Tier 4 monsters on the first level of the Graveyard of the Gods? What a shameless liar! If the gigantic Iron Lizards were only Tier 4 monsters, I’d consume them alive!

In his opinion, the aura emitted by the seemingly normal Iron Lizard was in no way weaker than the Level 47 Miniboss, Darkshadow Archdemon. This could only mean that those lizards were actually Tier 5 monsters!

‘These Iron Lizards are all freaking Tier 5 monsters!’

If the Great Tree Forest was full of monsters at such a level, he was going to give up. A Tier 5 monster was everything a Tier 4 Miniboss was, except for its slightly lower HP and normal drop rate like common monsters.

This was exactly why no player had ever attempted to train through Tier 5 monsters, because it was extremely dangerous!

***

After he moved away from the herd of Iron Lizards, Qin Ruo finally found a creature that was likely a Tier 4 monster. It was a giant black wolf that was larger than the Galewind Wolf King.

Darkfiend Wolf, level unknown!

The Darkfiend Wolf was entirely black in color. It stood at three meters tall and its body was six meters wide. Its body shape looked intimidating even from afar. Its muscles were visibly protruded, showing that the wolf was extremely agile and explosive! Not to mention, its ten-centimeter-long sharp claws and powerful tail. Overall, Qin Ruo considered that it was possibly as strong as the Galewind Wolf King.

Is this really a Tier 4 monster?

Qin Ruo was dismayed by his insufficient level. At Level 41, he was only granted the right to access the information of monsters at Level 46 and below. Hence, he could not accurately determine if the Darkfiend Wolf in front of him was a monster at the peak of Tier 4, or an unapproachable baseline Tier 5 monster.

He did have the confidence to take down a Tier 4 monster, but it was unlikely if the opponent was a Tier 5 creature. He did not have enough experience against the latter so he was not able to anticipate the potential outcome. But apparently, the forest area was surrounded by all kinds of horrible monsters. Qin Ruo knew that if he failed to find a breach among them, he could be stranded in the forest forever until some other players came and eliminated all the monsters.

As he was contemplating his next move, the arrival of an uninvited guest did him a great favor.