MMORPG: The Elementalist

In the days after the ‘Graveyard of the Gods’ event had ended, one earth-shaking development after another rocked the entire Mythical Continent!

The first one was a pretty big deal to millions of Tier 4 players.

In the span of a few short days, the number of Tier 5 Supreme Champions in ‘Honor and Glory’ leaped from barely thirty to over two hundred and forty, and more continued to appear every day!

On the Level Leaderboards, there had suddenly appeared over two hundred names displaying levels of fifty or greater. Among them were Field Commanders from various Leagues and Clans who had long made a name for themselves, but there were also solo players who had remained unnoticed until now.

Ever since the introduction of Pets in the game, and the way they greatly increased a player’s abilities, everyone was progressing by leaps and bounds! Just like that, they’d pushed their way into the ranks of the Tier 5 Supreme Champions, and now commanded the attention of the masses!

However, attaining Tier 5 did not make one invincible. Based on a popular thread in the official forums, fans of the game had begun to group Tier 5 Supreme Champions into several classifications:

Those who had squeezed their way into Tier 5 by taking advantage of the new Pets, they were considered to be the least among the Tier 5 players.

Above them were the original Tier 5 Supreme Champions, bearing a full set of Legendary equipment, their prowess in battle undisputed.

Finally, with Divinity granting them Angelic or Demonic Wings, the top ten Supreme Champions!

In the Angel Faction, the five Tier 5 Supreme Champions who had achieved Divinity were Scarlet Bauhinia, Netherclaw, Majestic Hero, Homme Fatale, and the Clan Leader of the Black Jail Clan, Black God!

There was no doubt that the Bauhinia League had been the biggest winners during this round of the ‘Graveyard of the Gods’ event, and they were now considered the foremost among the Three Great Leagues of the Angel Faction.

However, there were those who knew that at any time, the winds of fortune could turn in favor of another.

The Trading Hall of the Casanova Clan had revealed four pieces of Divinity, each with different properties. If any of the major powers within the Angel Faction should somehow lay claim to all four of them, there was a very real possibility that they could become the new dominant power.

But there was virtually zero chance of that happening!

***

The second matter concerned the Buried City!

Several ex-members of the Netherspirit’s Claw League had been on the run from a Hunter Team of the Bauhinia Clan. Expelled from League and Clan, they exposed a secret on the official game forums which shocked the world!

A Warp Portal had opened to the fabled Buried City, said to contain untold treasures!

The exposé article even mentioned the ‘Winter Demon’ (Qin Ruo’s nickname), and included a video recording, captured in-game, of him working together with an Amethyst Orc to help an entire party get on top of a strange magical phenomenon.

The clicks on this article were through the roof!

For the past couple of days, Savis Town had been packed with people, adventuring parties from every city stampeding through the warp portal.

At every hour of the day, there were countless players sifting for secrets through the Aricus Ruins!

The competition was especially fierce at the entrance to the Ruins, where the Crypt Messengers regularly spawned. Hundreds of players were constantly fighting over the best spots—small parties from minor Clans, and even elite parties from the Three Great Leagues!

It had become a common sight for dozens of player corpses to be strewn about before the Crypt Messengers had even appeared, while bloodshed continued all around!

Ultimately, the area around the Aricus Ruins entrance became an arena for showdowns between the Field Commanders of the Three Great Leagues, a no-man’s-land which lesser players avoided!

Besides the Crypt Messengers, players were also fighting viciously over the Gorefiend Spider Demons found on the second level. At first, the Bauhinia Clan sent their best Hunters after this prey, but when things got to the point where they had to contend with countless champions from across the length and breadth of the Angel Faction, nothing was sacred anymore.

To borrow the words of one player on the forums: From that day onward, the Bauhinia Clan and the Netherspirit’s Claw were no longer the masters of the Aricus Ruins!

With only seven places where Gorefiend Spider Demons appeared, and just the one area to find Crypt Messengers, not to mention the rumor that the way to the Buried City only opened once per day… in the end, only a fortunate few managed to make it through each time.

It was all-out pandemonium!

Eventually, a way was found into each of the other seven gateway towns around the Buried City, and the chaos within the Aricus Ruins gradually died down.

However, when the truth behind the Buried City was revealed, the craze began all over again!

***

The final matter, closely followed by countless players, was the growing fame of a new rising star, surpassing perhaps even the reputation of the Winter Demon, Qin Ruo—the Lizard Bandit!

‘Lizard Bandit’ was just a nickname, inspired by the weird lizard-like monster which the Bandit had taken as his Pet.

Three shocking cases of instant death were displayed in a series of wordless posts. The likeness in the pictures was startling!

In the screenshots, man and beast snuck up on a player together. The Bandit would instantly break their defenses, while the Pet quietly slipped up, both lizard heads opening their mouths to unleash a two-pronged effect: petrification and freezing.

What a terrifying combination!

At that moment, right when its defenses had been brought down, the target was hit by the Two-Headed Lizard’s attack, their body at once turning gray and coated with frost.

As everybody knew, no matter what class you were playing—even if you were the best of the best—if you were incapacitated by a magical effect while under attack by a Bandit, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Especially if it was a skilled Bandit who knew what he was doing, it could only end in one way—death!

Of course, a Bandit catching someone on their own and killing them off was hardly an impressive feat on its own. However, the real issue was that none of these three victims were your average, run-of-the-mill players.

The first one was a Field Commander, from the Head Clan of the Netherspirit’s Claw League. Having just attained Tier 5, he’d been practicing some magic alone somewhere, when he tragically became the Lizard Bandit’s first stepping stone.

As for the other two, one was an Elementalist of the Black Jail Clan, while the other was a Tier 5 champion in the Hall of Heroes League.

All three were players with considerable skill and connections, successively killed off by the same person. This caused the Lizard Bandit’s infamy to soar, until it overshadowed other well-known Bandits such as Tiger Cub (the ‘Savage Cub’) and the illustrious Fateless.

It also meant that the Lizard Bandit’s head was wanted by the Netherspirit’s Claw, the Hall of Heroes, and the Black Jail Clan!

Indeed, the Lizard Bandit had acquired a rather unseemly nickname: Worthless!

***

While the entire Mythical Continent bucked and swayed in the face of these exciting developments, Qin Ruo once again ventured down to the Eternal Barrier over the Buried City. Darius greeted him with a familiar smile as Qin Ruo entered the warp portal.

As usual, after Qin Ruo had inquired with Darius about the time before the next sweep of the Eye of Hades, he went into his Aquamorph form.

Ten seconds later, when he’d gathered enough water together, Qin Ruo made use of his latest technique: keeping close to the ground, he gently slid down the side of Eternity Peak.

There was nothing else to be done about it: since he wasn’t on a quest for Darius, he hadn’t been given another Elemental Shard, and Qin Ruo didn’t want to start on the rest of the quests yet. As such, he had to make use of his elemental form in Aquamorph, gradually making his way down the steep mountain slopes until he reached the bottom of the pass.

Luckily, certain sides of Eternity Peak were always clear of Skelewing Dragons. Qin Ruo descended safely to the same perch above the mountain pass that he’d used the past few times. Pausing upon that protrusion on the mountainside, he quickly brought up his dual defenses, and then hopped down to a slightly broader platform below.

“Million Arrow Sleet!” The Undead Horde beneath him was scoured by the frigid rain.

There was a flash of golden light.

Activating its Shadow Form, Poochie flashed like a bolt of lightning into the midst of the Undead in the pass, disposing of the ones who were outside the effect of the Million Arrow Sleet.

The golden streak of light danced continuously between the Undead in the mountain pass. With a series of dull thuds, the Skeleton Warriors, Zombies, and Hellhounds were ejected from the mountain pass with startled howls.

The Undead in the area were wiped out in short order, while more of them came marching numbly right into the Million Arrow Sleet!

The slaughter had commenced!

This was what Qin Ruo had been doing recently, following this routine to train up his levels. He didn’t spend that much time on this, but due to the characteristic terrain of Eternity Peak, as well as the never-ending stream of Undead pouring through the area, this little bit of effort was allowing him to rush through his levels several times faster than other players who spent the whole day training.

His levels had soared up from 43 to the bottleneck limit of 49!

However, today would be the last day! One more level, and Poochie would be at Level 49. Pets couldn’t surpass their masters in level, so Qin Ruo wanted Poochie’s abilities to improve just a little more, before returning to town to begin the Tier-5 Advancement Quest.

Qin Ruo looked at Poochie, who’d returned to his shoulder and was now making a little yawn in an adorably bashful way.

‘There are already over two hundred Tier 5 players,’ he thought, ‘And I’m only going for my Advancement now. Doing things this way, I won’t draw too much attention to myself, right?’

But today would not go by so peacefully.

When she logged on, Violet Orchid had already sent him a word of warning: today’s Crypt Messenger and key had been picked up by Skyreach, Vice Clan Leader of the Carefree Clan, which was part of the Netherspirit’s Claw League. He’d been leading seven Tier-5 champions to take it by force.

By now, they should already be making their way through the Aricus Dungeons, and would probably reach the Buried City before long.

Violet Orchid went on to add that Netherclaw had probably provided the Gorefiend Spider Demon’s parts to Skyreach, and there was no telling what sort of scheme they’d hatched together. Bauhinia had been hogging most of the Gorefiend Spider Demons for a while, and the Carefree Clan shouldn’t have been able to collect any parts themselves.

Qin Ruo naturally understood what kind of ‘scheme’ Violet Orchid was hinting at. The parties coming in of late hadn’t yet bumped into Qin Ruo, usually having been sent to the other Eternity Peaks instead. It was because of this that Qin Ruo had been able to spend the past few days speeding through to Level 49 without incident.

This time, a party of eight Tier 5 champions were making an expedition through the Aricus Dungeons, right at the same time that Qin Ruo was online. This meant there was a high likelihood that he might have an encounter with people from the Netherspirit’s Claw!

He would have to stay on his toes!

He required about ten more hours of uninterrupted training to get from Level 48 to 49. Even if the other Tier 5 players within the Netherspirit’s Claw League might not pay much heed to Dark Dragon’s vendetta against him, he had to do his best to avoid any potential complications!

If he ran into Skyreach, who owned a full set of Legendary equipment, Qin Ruo would have no choice but to beat a hasty retreat, and withdraw from the Buried City.

***

One hour later.

Pure white Angelic Wings sprouting from his back, a player soared out from the Eternal Barrier overhead. Circling through the sky, he entered Qin Ruo’s view.

The figure seemed to take note of the unusual situation in the mountain pass below, and began to fly directly that way.

Furrowing his brow, Qin Ruo watched the incoming player for a moment. And then, steeling his heart, he resolutely drew up two Frostramparts before himself.

Not so bad. Just a newly promoted Tier 5 champion. That was all.