MMORPG: The Elementalist

Dinosaurcerer was not a short-sighted man. Although he too saw that Qin Ruo’s plan was quite difficult to pull off, Dinosaurcerer was willing to include his Violet Army Clan as the model of Qin Ruo’s “Monster Knight” plan. He could foresee that this legion of “knights” would become the Fallen Angels’ secret weapon! After the Currency Exchange System goes online, they would then be able to rise to the top of “Honor and Glory” by using this trump card.

However…

Violent Army Clan didn’t want to just establish any sort of knights; they wanted a legion of flying knights!

Due to the rarity of the flying monsters’ eggs and their popularity among the player community, he didn’t face much objection to establish this special “knight unit” in the Violet Army Clan, at least not as much objection as the Fallen Angels did.

Dinosaurcerer immediately agreed to this plan; the two clan leaders then moved the discussion from the Monster Knights to the currently ongoing Last Man Standing Contest.

“Alright, we’ll talk about this later… I’ve sent the Mana Core to your bank. You can retrieve it from your bank any time you want… and we should get back to the Mythical Mirage. If not, the Demon Faction would be the only one that takes all the spotlight.”

After hearing Dinosaurcerer’s words, Qin Ruo then remembered he was still in the midst of the third phase of the Last Man Standing Contest…

He wasn’t looking at the time when he was discussing the Monster Knight plan and now wondered how everyone was doing on the Leaderboard now.

Wasting no time, he immediately summoned out the Leaderboard and took a quick scan.

And…

Hmph.

It was like what Dinosaurcerer said—there were only two Angel Faction players in the Top Ten and both of them were in the seventh and tenth place.

Demon Faction had indeed taken all the spotlight.

However, Veteran Champions like Sinistress, Savior and the others hadn’t risen up on the Leaderboard yet.

The number one player was still that Demon Faction Berserker—”Genteel Monk”. His score was now inching toward 160,000… the second place on the Leaderboard had about 140,000, and his score was still gradually increasing by the minute.

And this was the fourth round of the Contest…

Still no word from the Veteran Champions?

Qin Ruo was bummed out.

Supposedly, every area that they could recon should be completely explored within an hour. At best, they could completely explore every single thing in an hour and a half.

Yet, none of them seemed to want to act at all. Their scores still remained the same as the first time Qin Ruo checked. There was no change in their scores at all.

And it wasn’t just the Demon Faction’s Veteran Champions; there wasn’t a sign from the Angel Faction’s Veteran Champions too, like Majestic Hero, Netherclaw, Scarlet Bauhinia, Homme Fatale. It was like they had all disappeared from the surface of the planet.

Were they trying to stall for more time? Or they were waiting it out until the final minute? Or perhaps they had a bigger target?

Qin Ruo couldn’t help but to frown as he thought this.

If that was the case… it would be an uphill battle for him to rise to be Top One. God knows just what kind of trump cards these Veteran Champions had under the table? Could there be something unexpected that would happen in the last minute?

“…”

“It would seem that we’ll need to raise the difficulty, huh?”

Qin Ruo slowly walked toward Savis Town’s bank while pondering whether to take on another Boss right after defeating the Tier 5 Overlord “Jebel Pangolin”…

***

After arriving at the bank, Qin Ruo saw the black shining Mana Cores that were newly placed in his storage. Raising one of the cores near in the air, he could see a flicker of light beaming from within.

Being Tier 6 Shadow-type Mana Core, there was a “Shadow Soldier Ant” sealed within. Shadow Soldier Ants were masters of Shadow-type Tier 6 Magic Attacks, and possessed the Gifted Magic “and “Monstrous Strength”.

These monsters each possessed around 18,000 HP and 480 MP.

And there were a total of fourteen similar Mana Cores in his storage, much more than he anticipated. Dinosaurcerer must have gone through a lot of trouble to seal in these high Tier monsters.

As he was impressed by Dinosaurcerer’s efficiency, Qin Ruo looked through his backpack to double check all the items he needed for combat…

Magic Scrolls, a bottle of Darkfrost Potion, a piece of Special Roasted Snail, a bottle of Giant Tree Sap, a bottle of Movement Speed Potion, a bottle of Guardian Potion, a bottle of Sacred Potion, six pieces of Mana Cores and two Tier 5 Mini Bosses’ Mana Cores.

***

After getting everything prepared, Qin Ruo took a deep breath to calm himself. Then, he carefully recalled every single detail that he saw earlier in the third level of Mythical Mirage.

Every player had only half an hour to accumulate the scores after all.

Unlike the normal Champions, the Veteran Champions’ objective was not to defeat some lowly Bosses or taking out as many Bosses as possible in that half-an-hour time limit…

Every single step and detail could change the tide of the battle. They must exercise caution or else, it could result in them losing over tens of thousands of scores, or it could lead to them dying and failing.

Qin Ruo intended to go all-out in this battle. He wanted to use every trick and trump card under his sleeves to defeat this Jebel Pangolin. That was why he was making so many meticulous preparations.

If he failed, he would have used up his peak form. There wouldn’t be another chance for him to go all-out like this unless a miracle materialized from somewhere.

However, as Qin Ruo prepared to leap back into the Mythical Mirage, there was a huge uproar tremor inside the bank!

“Ha!”

“We did it!”

“Haha… we have surpassed them!”

“The Angel Faction’s champions have finally acted! Heh, those darn Demon Faction bastards are now finally kicked down from the leaderboard!”

“Hahaha!!! It’s so exciting! She was able to race to a ranking that’s so high on the leaderboard! And she’s a Bandit too! How unbelievable!”

“What’s so unbelievable about that? What? You don’t know? That’s Bandit is the Fallen Angels’ Gravity Field Caster…”

The name “Fallen Angels” trembled in Qin Ruo’s ears like a massive earthquake. He reflectively looked at the players who were celebrating in the bank.

Gravity Field Caster?!

Xin Yu?!

Qin Ruo quickly threw a glance at the surrounding players and then summoned up the Leaderboard.

And there she was!

Xin Yu’s name was on the top spot of the Leaderboard!

180,000 points—Angel Faction’s Fallen Angels League, Level 50 Bandit “Xin Yu”!

This row of words in golden font was glaring on the leaderboard, surpassing the Demon Faction’s “Genteel Monk” by 20,000 points.

180,000 points?

A smile beamed on Qin Ruo’s face.

This little girl sure worked really hard. It was quite unexpected of a Bandit like her to defeat a Tier 6 Megaboss…

‘Even Xin Yu had climbed up on the Leaderboard’s rankings now. I should probably start acting too.’

Qin Ruo quickly vanished from the bank’s lobby.

***

“Fuck!”

“Bandit!!”

“I was kicked down by a Bandit girl!!”

Even though he was mentally prepared to be kicked down from the top rank on the get go, Genteel Monk still felt a sting of dismay after hearing the news. After he saw that it was a Gravity Field Caster from the Angel Faction, that Bandit, that girl! He couldn’t help but sigh heavily!

“This is so motherfucking unreal…” Genteel Monk hid in a secluded place and cursed dejectedly, “Since when did the Bandits become this powerful? Bandits are supposed to die right away when they encounter any Boss!”

***

It was not only Genteel Monk. Even Tiger Cub, from the Demon Faction, was confused when he heard this…

The “Gravity Field Bandit” was already quite famous at the time. Everyone was stalking her on the official forum. Even the names of the famous “Savage Cub”, “Great Bandit” and “Lizard Bandit” had now faded to oblivion.

She first rose to fame by defeating the “Winter Demon” Qin Ruo… now, she was even able to kill a Tier 6 Mega Boss and rise to be the top on the contest’s Leaderboard. Even though he knew this was only a temporary sight, Tiger Cub couldn’t help but to feel a lingering threat from this newly risen Bandit.

This wasn’t the kind of threat where one would be killed on the battlefield. No, it’s the threat of getting replaced and forgotten.

He didn’t feel that big a threat even when the “Great Bandit” or “Lizard Bandit” rose to fame.

Yet, this time… he genuinely felt that he was being surpassed in the field of Banditry and he was quickly becoming obsolete in the scene.

Tiger Cub’s eyes were glimmering. This Bandit was a lucky fellow who owned an Ultimate Boss as her pet. There’s no way he could compete with her in this round of the contest. All he could do was to hope that he would encounter her on the battlefield in the fourth or fifth round.

***

In the meantime, in the Neversleep Restaurant of Sin City.

Two players were standing on the restaurant’s balcony, watching the beautiful night and bustling crowded streets from above.

“You know… whenever I stand here and look at all this, it reminds me of the time when the Angel Faction successfully besieged this city. It all felt like a dream… everything’s so unreal…”

One of them, radiating an aura of a noble, was playing with the glass in her hand. Her voice sounded calm as she looked at the night sky, it was as though she was talking to the air. As she finished her words, a barrage of murderous intent bombarded out of her eyes.

“Then you’ll need to thank the Angel Faction. If it weren’t for them, you’re would never have lived the dream.” The other man leaning against an ashen jade pillar, threw her a glance and spoke.

“And, don’t you really think you’re actually the ‘savior’ of the Demon Faction, you prick! I really hate you acting like this…”

“…”

Savior shrugged and took a sip of wine.

“Don’t you go all soap opera-ish with me. Someone from the Angel Faction has defeated a Tier 6 Megaboss… so, when are you going to act?”

“Heh…”

Savior smiled and looked at his company. “How about you? Aren’t you going to act too?”

“Didn’t I tell you that I’m waiting to fight the Winter Demon?”

The latter turned and shot a glare at him.

Savior smiled and replied.

“You’re waiting for the Winter Demon… but I’m waiting for you…To me, only you, Sinistress could compete with me to be the number one in ‘Honor and Glory’!”