MMORPG: The Elementalist

More and more onlookers arrived at the appraisal shop. The increasing number of players looked numbly at the Winter Demon—the infamous player who went viral in the official forum just recently. Meanwhile, he waited for his items to be appraised. Intriguingly, the crowd was completely silent…

Except for Qin Ruo’s five comrades who were by his side of course.

Chain Lightning:

Tier 4 Thunder Element Spell

Consumes 15 MP

Locks on any target within range and triggers five times chain damage.

First strike of Magic Attack deals 40 damage; deducts five points from Magic Attack with each consecutive lightning strike (40, 35, 30, 25, 20).

“Not bad.” Judge, Black Rock, and the others nodded simultaneously after they read through the appraisal. “Too bad it’s not an Aquamancer skill.”

Subjugator supported himself against the counter and laughed in an exaggerated manner. Learning that Qin Ruo had gained yet another Magic Skill Book that he could not put into use immediately, he gloated at his buddy’s misfortune and ridiculed Qin Ruo who was laughing bitterly. “Qin Ruo, oh Qin Ruo, the kind of luck that you’re having… Cerberus consists of the Water, Fire, and Thunder Element. You already have a Fire Skill Book, yet you’ve gained a Thunder-Type instead of your desired Water-Type. How unfortunate!”

The bunch of players behind Subjugator looked at him in disdain after he finished his sentence. ‘You call this unfortunate? Try going to the Graveyard of the Gods and getting a handful of Dark Gold Equipment plus two Magic Skill Books if you’re so capable!’

***

Qin Ruo himself was not very surprised when the two Magic Skill Books were proven to be of the Dark and Thunder-Type. From the beginning, he never expected that the Magic Skill Books he obtained from the Graveyard would so happen suit the Aquamancer Class.

No matter what, the attributes of the Magic Skill Books had been revealed and their prices were fixed. Even if he could not find any equivalent Aquamancer Magic Skill Book to exchange them with, he could still sell them at a rewarding price. The only thing that bothered him now was the oddly-stressful atmosphere within the appraisal shop.

Every time he took something out from his backpack, he could literally feel the eager stares directed at him from the entire hall. He felt largely uncomfortable being under the spotlight.

If he had not been anticipating the Legendary Equipment’s attributes as well, he would have already left the suffocating place long ago.

After he took a deep breath, Qin Ruo finally pulled out a feather-light robe from his backpack. The robe was the first Legendary Equipment he obtained after he took down the Tier 5 Megaboss, Skelewing Dragon.

Now, even other Appraisers behind the counter spun their heads in Qin Ruo’s direction when he handed over the robe. Such high-grade Equipment was extremely rare with no more than 1,000 pieces across the entire H&G world. As a result, the number of Appraisers who had the chance to examine a Legendary Equipment was also extremely little.

The Appraiser serving Qin Ruo ran his finger across the robe with mixed emotions. A few seconds later, milky-white rays emanated from his palm, which he gently stroked pass the blurry images on the robe with. Wherever he touched, gorgeous chromatic radiance shimmered on the surface.

Ten seconds later, beads of perspiration formed on the Appraiser’s forehead, and the appraisal of the Legendary Equipment was finally completed.

Darkscale Skelewing Robe

Legendary Grade

Defense +50

Magic Defense +30

Shadow Magic Damage +12%

Dark Element Condensation Speed +8%

Shadow Magic Attack +10%

Elemental Damage taken reduced by 10%

Intelligence +10%

HP +300

Movement speed +5%

Active Skill: Specter Summon (Consumes 20% MP; summons an equal level Specter Monster from the Underworld to assist in battle; limited to one use per day)

Requires at least 110 Intelligence

Level Limit: 50

Limited to Shadowmancers.

When the attributes of the equipment were reflected in Qin Ruo and company’s eyes, they were all equally stunned by the magnificent traits of the Legendary Robe, especially the last associated Active Skill. It was simply…

‘Too OP!’

With that Active Skill, the player who wore the robe would automatically gain an extra summoning skill in comparison with other common Elementalists. Moreover, the summoned monster was a powerful Tier 5 Specter!

‘Luckily, it’s limited to one use per day, and it can only be used by a Tier 5 player. Or else, this guy would become way too OP.’

Deep in his own thoughts, Qin Ruo packed the item and took out another Legendary Equipment, which he robbed from the Undead Sovereign. It was the warrior helmet that housed the Divinity inside the chest.

***

‘Here comes another one…’

Seeing that Qin Ruo consecutively took two Legendary Equipment out to appraise, the League members, who were watching at the back, could no longer sit still. They silently spread the news to their respective League Forum.

Even though a Dark Gold Equipment may be comparable to a Legendary Grade one after it was embedded with a Mana Core or Stone, the value of the Legendary Grade Equipment still topped the ordinary Dark Gold Equipment.

Basically, from every player’s perspective, owning a Legendary Equipment was a symbol of superiority and greater strength. The probability of advancing to Tier 5 was greatly enhanced with the help of a Legendary Equipment as well. Clans under Battle Leagues usually followed news on the emergence of Legendary and Dark Gold Equipment closely. This was because the higher the supply of such rare high-tier equipment in the Clan, the more powerful the Battle League would become.

Although the Legendary Equipment that belonged to Qin Ruo could only be wielded by a Tier 5 player, it was still popular among the Leagues—because so far, not every Tier 5 Supreme Champion owned a complete set of Legendary Equipment.

Besides, the launching of the Pet System meant that a lot of Master players at the pinnacle of Tier 4 would now have the chance to be promoted to Tier 5 much sooner. Aided by a Tier 4 monster, the Tier 5 Advancement Quest had now become easier to conquer.

Consequently, the number of Tier 5 Champions would grow exponentially in a short span of time. So it was only reasonable that a Legendary Equipment would be greatly sought after by the Leagues in the near future.

***

“Two of them?”

Within the Netherspirit’s Claw League, a lot of Field Commanders at Level 48 or 49, especially Electromancers and warriors, were moved by the news.

However, once they heard from the source that the Legendary Equipment belonged to none other than the Winter Demon, Qin Ruo, they were immediately discouraged.

Recently, Netherspirit’s Claw had been holding a deep grudge against the guy, who was involved in a conflict with Dark Dragon. The influential leader of the League had ordered the members to kill Qin Ruo on sight. So it was practically impossible to buy equipment from Qin Ruo at such an intense period.

Netherspirit’s Claw members could only sigh in disappointment. ‘Even if the kill order’s retracted, Dark Dragon will never permit a deal with the Winter Demon. Let’s say if Dark Dragon consents, Qin Ruo will also treat us unfairly due to our previous tension.’

‘Great! Just great!’

***

On the other hand, the atmosphere over on the Bauhinia League side was way more euphoric. Once they heard that Qin Ruo possessed two Legendary Equipment, which were suitable for Shadowmancers and warriors, Clan members quickly struck an enthusiastic discussion.

“The helmet’s attribute isn’t too shabby. Tsk, when Slayer’s Heart gets back, I’ll beg him to help me bargain with the little guy so that he’ll allow me to buy it with gold coins.”

“Come on, you think you’re only one with gold coins around? Besides, with your little savings, how are you going to afford the helmet? Don’t tell me you want to keep a tab?”

“F*ck you!”

“It won’t work. Brother Slayer’s overly upright. It’ll be just like before, only exchanging and not selling.”

“That’s right.”

“But… But how are we, the poor going to find a Legendary Equipment to exchange with him?”

“Don’t try to pretend to be poor!”

“…”

“You guys should stop daydreaming. Only the Leader will have something worthy of business with him now. I heard that they’ve progressed well so far. They’re going up against a Tier 5 Miniboss. Now six Tier 5 Supreme Champions have collaboratively finished off two waves of Demon Faction Parties and captured a few hills. Rumor says that even the arrogant, high-surging Death Jesus has been brought down, hehe. So, I believe our big boss must have gained a Legendary Equipment or two…”

“I’ve heard about that too. Haha! Don’t you guys think Death Jesus is one big moron? He assumed that he was invincible after he fused with the Divinity, thinking that he could dominate the Graveyard of the Gods at will. The Divinity only granted him a pair of wings and nothing else. He overestimated his own capability when he flew in and tried to disturb our backline. Fatale put him down in no time using the White Tiger Shaman’s head as cover. Damn it, do you know how pitiful that guy was? Dozens of players immediately jumped on his falling body and took him apart. We laughed hysterically then. Until now we still don’t know which bastard stole his Legendary wristguard.”

“Haha. I guess that moron’s weeping under his blanket now.”

“That’s right, that’s right! Hahahaha!”

***

When the discussion in the Bauhinia League Channel diverted to Death Jesus, Qin Ruo and his five other comrades had swiftly exited the appraisal shop. They hastily hid inside Champion’s Restaurant in Savis Town like guilty thieves after they escaped the fury of more than ten players who had rushed out of the shop behind them.

Apparently, after the appraisal of the last Legendary Equipment…

Helm of Storms

Legendary Grade

Defense +66

Magic Defense +22

Physical Attack absorption 10%

Physical Attack +10%

Shadow-Type Damage +10%

Player’s normal attack will be equipped with Corrosive Damage; 50 damage per second; lasts for three seconds

Limited to Level 48 Shadow Element Swordmaster

Qin Ruo decided to keep the Divinity on hold first (it was not a good time to appraise it). He suggested that Judge and the others pick an appraised Dark Gold Equipment from his hand.

The five of them smiled mysteriously at that moment. “We knew you’d say that.”

“Hehe, keep the items to yourself and exchange them with Dark Gold Equipment that suit your Class. We don’t want the equipment in your hands, but we do need you to help us run an errand.”

“Yeap!”

“Huh? What kind of errand?” Qin Ruo asked in confusion.

“Well, let’s discuss it somewhere else.” Subjugator as well as Black Rock secretively dragged the confused Qin Ruo to Champion’s Restaurant and began to walk him through their pre-planned scheme.